Need To Rebalance Your Hormones? Here’s How…
Showing the symptoms of a hormonal imbalance? Want to know what you can do to fix it? You’re in the right place.
If you’re showing signs that you have a hormonal imbalance, the easiest way to find out is by having your bloods tested. This way it allows you to really see what's going on with your body, and find the route cause of why it may be happening.
There are many things nutrition, exercise and lifestyle you can do to rebalance your hormones. Here’s a 6 step approach for your to do so:
Promote liver health and detoxification
Address digestion and gut health
Support the thyroid
Reduce your stress
Improve diet and lifestyle
Add in key nutrients from supplements and herbs
Let’s look a little deeper into each step to what it means and how you can help…
LIVER DETOX
The liver supports the elimination of excess hormones such as oestrogen through detoxification, metabolises thyroid hormones and controls blood sugar levels. When it comes to hormones, it’s highly important your liver functions optimally to allow your body to work properly.
How to help:
Detox environment - look at the chemicals in household and beauty products, buy organic food choices, invest in a water filter.
Reduce your alcohol - alcohol can increase hormone dependant cancers as the liver will prioritise the break down of toxins rather than producing sex hormones.
Eat liver loving foods - leafy green vegetables (brassicas), garlic, onions, turmeric and citrus fruits.
Supplement with calcium d-glucarate.
ADDRESS DIGESTION AND GUT HEALTH
Your bowels play an important role in eliminating toxins including hormones, so we need to address constipation. Our gut bacteria influences hormonal health through regulating blood sugar and also feeding off oestrogen and recirculating them in the body. As you can imagine, it’s important that your digestive system is efficient at disposing your waste.
How to help:
Promote regular bowel movements through hydration, exercise and increasing vegetables.
Remove refined sugar and carbohydrates and replace with fermented foods such as kimchi, sauerkraut and kefir.
Add in bone broths and cabbage soups to repair the gut lining.
SUPPORT THE THYROID
The thyroid produces the master hormones that can have an influence on every other hormone in the body. We want to support thyroid health as a key part, to allow our sex hormones and other hormones to function optimally.
How to help:
Detox your environment - there are chemicals which can disrupt thyroid such as BPA in plastic and brominated flame retardants in furniture.
Certain foods such as soy and raw broccoli can inhibit thyroid function, so it may be wise to avoid these.
Check your vitamin D levels, and top up on sources of iodine, selenium, zinc and iron.
Gluten has also been proven to trigger auto-immune thyroid condition, so stay away from gluten for that matter.
REDUCE YOUR STRESS
The body will always prioritise its survival, and when stress is apparent hormones can become imbalanced. Reducing stressors will help lower cortisol levels from creating further hormonal imbalances.
How to help:
Look at where you can make changes to your work or life.
Meditation, massage, breath work, walking, reading, find yourself a hobby - such a strategy or do something you love to reduce your stress.
Supplement with magnesium, omega 3, vitamin C and B vitamins.
Consider herbs such as adaptogens like liquorice, reishi or ashwagandha.
IMPROVE DIET AND LIFESTYLE
One of the main areas where people always go wrong, is what they fuel themselves with and how much exercise they do. By simply changing your nutritional intake, and moving your body for a minimum of an hour everyday can massively improve your hormonal status.
How to help:
Remove refined sugar and carbohydrates - as well as promote inflammation and obesity, high blood sugar can cause irregular ovulation and infertility for females.
Reduce your transaturated fats - found in foods such as sunflower oil, margarine and deep fried foods.
Keep alcohol to an absolute minimum - alcohol disrupted the livers ability to clear hormones which will trigger more hormonal imbalances.
Quit smoking - your liver with prioritise this as a toxin, which will increase inflammation, and also cause hormonal imbalances due to the lack of sex hormones being produced. Even social smoking will have a significant affect on hormonal imbalance.
Caffeine - over consumption of caffeine will cause havoc on your hormones. Keep this to a maximum of 2 cups of coffee per day.
ADD IN KEY NUTRIENTS AND SUPPLEMENTS
Adding the right nutrients and supplements into your daily diet and routine can have significant benefits on your hormonal status. It may be that you’re unable to get the right quantities from your foods, which means taking them in a supplement format.
Zinc - required for hormone function. High in oysters but also found in shellfish, meats, grains, seeds and pulses.
Vitamin D - deficiency linked to hormonal imbalances and infertility in women. Get into the sunshine or consume liver, egg yolks, fish and waked mushrooms, or take in supplement format.
Vitamin E - supports reproductive health and oestrogen. Found in nuts, seeds, avocado and leafy greens.
B Vitmins - B12, B1, B3, B6
Magnesium - 70% of the population are deficient in magnesium. It’s essential for everything, and supports detoxification. It’s found in green vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, grains and cocoa.
Iron - Iron deficiency in females has been linked to infertility and miscarriage. Sources include meat (liver), beans, nuts and dark green leafy vegetables.
Selenium - promotes healthy follicles. Found in brazil nuts, seafoods and organ meats.
For more guidance on how you can incorporate this into your daily lifestyle and routine, book in for a 30 minute consultation and start your health journey today.
