Reduce Your Sugar Intake
Sugars and refined carbs can do more damage than good, so you might want to avoid these types of food. Sometimes you feel as though your body is craving them, but in the long run these can cause a number of health problems.
Sugar and refined carbs can increase insulin levels and ensure insulin resistance in the future. You dont need to cut these foods out of your diet completely, but you should definitely think about only having them now and again, as occasional treats.
Top 13 Tips On How To Balance Hormone Levels Naturallyat Home
1. Eat More Healthy Fats
This is the first home remedy in this list of tips on how to balance hormone levels naturally. Eating a variety of foods rich in healthy fatty acids is the key to your hormonal balance. Your body needs a variety of fats to produce hormones, including saturated fats and cholesterol. These essential fats not only promote the production of hormones, but also limit inflammation, promote metabolism and lose weight.
To stay healthy, your body needs a certain amount of fat. Scientists divide fat into good and bad fats based on their function with the body. Low density lipoproteins are considered bad cholesterol, while high density lipoproteins are the good cholesterol that the body needs. Eating foods that contain good fats will increase the amount of good fats in the body. Good fats will reduce the risk of high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes and hormonal imbalances
Healthy fats such as coconut oil, olive oil, avocado, butter from herbivores and wild salmon, walnuts, flaxseed, dark chocolate and eggs:
2. How To Balance Hormone Levels Limit Eating Fried Foods
Reducing fried fats in the diet is also a way to reduce the amount of estrogen in the hormone system. In addition, fried foods often contain a lot of salt, but salt is one of the reasons that cause hormone levels disorders. For that reason, limiting eating fried foods is always advisable for you in this case.
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Hormone Balancing Tip #: Balance Blood Sugar
Having balanced blood sugar means that your body produces a normal insulin response when you consume food. A balanced meal includes good quality fat, protein, and fibre. A balanced plate might look something like this:
12 of your plate greens and vegetables 14 of your plate good quality protein 14 of your plate complex carbs 1-2 tablespoons of healthy fats
Here at Nourished, we wanted women to have an easy way to get started on their blood sugar balancing journey. We created a 100% natural vitamin for you to get started on your journey. Click the button below to see more info and add our Blood Sugar Balance vitamin to your cart.
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Types Of Hormone Imbalances
Estrogen Dominance Estrogen dominance is a quite common cause of hormone imbalance that occurs when estrogen levels are too high relative to progesterone levels. This can happen in a few ways:
Symptoms of estrogen dominance include: Tender breasts, irregular cycles long or short, bloating, acne, breast cysts, PMS, headaches, anxiety, weight gain, difficulty sleeping, fatigue, hair loss, and difficulties getting pregnant. However, this is not an all-inclusive list.
The graphic above shows a healthy pattern and 3 patterns of estrogen dominance. Please take note that all of the unhealthy patterns are still within a typical lab reference range. Your hormones will come back normal. Its the ratio between the hormones that are important! Adding a healthy pattern to the previously mentioned reasons for Estrogen Dominance leaves us with the following patterns for your hormones.
What Else Can You Do To Promote Hormone Balance
There are some other ways to treat hormonal imbalance outside of diet. Heres how to balance hormones with your overall health:
- Take care of your gut health by eating a variety of high-fiber plant foods that dont cause you inflammation .
- Exercise regularly by moving your body in accordance with the fluctuations in your menstrual cyclefor example, doing light movement like yoga during your period and saving more high-intensity cardio workouts for other higher energy parts of your cycle, like ovulation.
- Prioritize good quality sleep by going to bed and waking up at regular hours .
- Manage stress as best you can, by using mindfulness practices like meditation and journaling when you do feel stressed, overwhelmed, or anxious, and seeking out mental health help where possible if you need more tools to cope with anxiety or depression.
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Herbs Nutrients And Nutrition Options For Hormone Balance
As a Naturopathic Physician, I am lucky to have so many tools in my toolbox to provide treatment options to my patients having hormonal balance issues! Depending on symptom severity and patient preference, I can choose between a variety of options that will work best for them. This is one of the many reasons that I love Naturopathic Medicine and one of the reasons I often use supplements to balance hormones.
How Does Hormonal Imbalance Happen
StressResearch shows that stress boosts levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, which inhibits the bodys main sex hormones GnRH and subsequently suppresses ovulation, sexual activity and sperm count.
GnRH is responsible for the release of luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone by the pituitary gland, the suppression of testosterone, estrogens, and sexual behavior. Chronic stress may cause lack of libido, as well as a decrease in general fertility. Chronic stress may cause adrenal fatigue and thyroid problems.
Leading authority in womens health and wellness Dr. Christiane Northrop explains this well, The stress hormones cortisol and epinephrine, which are produced by the adrenal glands, can wreak havoc on normal hormone metabolism. For example, if you are skipping ovulations, have progesterone levels that are very low, but estrogen levels that are high your body will convert your estrogen into substances that act like additional stress hormones.
XenohormonesXenohormones are human-made chemicals. These chemicals have the ability to interfere with the natural functions and development of our bodies. Not only can they mimic our natural hormones, but they can block other hormones from binding to receptor sites. All xenohormones are endocrine disruptors. They can alter how natural hormones are produced, metabolized and eliminated.
Common Sources of Xenohormones:
- Emulsifiers in soap and cosmetics
- PCBs from industrial waste
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Engage In Regular Exercise
Physical activity strongly influences hormonal health. Aside from improving blood flow to your muscles, exercise increases hormone receptor sensitivity, meaning that it enhances the delivery of nutrients and hormone signals (
7 ).
Insulin is a hormone that allows cells to take up sugar from your bloodstream to use for energy. However, if you have a condition called insulin resistance, your cells may not effectively react to insulin. This condition is a risk factor for diabetes, obesity, and heart disease .
However, while some researchers still debate whether the improvements come from exercise itself or from losing weight or fat, evidence shows that regular exercise may improve insulin resistance independently of body weight or fat mass reduction .
Many types of physical activity have been found to help prevent insulin resistance, including high intensity interval training, strength training, and cardio .
Being physically active may also help boost levels of muscle-maintaining hormones that decline with age, such as testosterone, IGF-1, DHEA, and human growth hormone .
For people who cannot perform vigorous exercise, even regular walking may increase these hormone levels, potentially improving strength and quality of life .
Summary
Strength training, aerobics, walking, and other forms of exercise may modify hormone levels to reduce your risk of disease and prevent muscle mass decline as you age.
Hormone Balancing Tip #: Get Off The Sugar Roller Coaster
Eating large amounts of processed sugar and refined carbohydrates can lead to insulin resistance. This is where your body gets tired of receiving the signal that your blood sugar is high, and becomes less responsive to it. Excess insulin production causes inflammation in the body and increased production of testosterone from the ovaries. This can lead to irregular cycles, acne and hair growth on the face.
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Get The Right Nutrients
Vitamins and minerals are essential for healthy hormones. A holistic practitioner can help you determine which supplements work well for your needs, but there are a few basics that work well for most women. These include vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, and a bioavailable B complex vitamin.
For women: Get the fully-activated B vitamins you need.
How Long Does It Take To Balance Hormones
As you can imagine, this varies. However, research shows that by taking a holistic, well-rounded approach, you can balance your hormones in less than four months. In fact, you can significantly reduce the amount of chemicals and pesticides in your body, in one week. How so? Switch to an organic diet. And in less than 10 days, you can improve your blood sugar by eating less sugar . By incorporating more fermented foods and a potent probiotic, women can more easily detox estrogen, which helps balance hormonesin less than two months. By four months, eating a hormonally-supportive diet makes an impact, slowing the aging process and protecting fertility.
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Switch To Clean Beauty
Here at CS, we love all-things clean beauty. From moisturizers to mascaras, weve tried em all. When it comes to skincare and makeup products, clean is keen. On a daily basis, we are exposed to so many chemicals, and as women, we are particularly targeted. Chemicals are found in our beauty and personal care productswhich we use, every day. In fact, women use an average of 12 personal care products, daily, that contain 168 different chemicals. Although an individual beauty product may have small amounts of harmful chemicals, our overall exposure is what causes problems. More research is showing that the chemicals in these products can affect our hormones, fertility, and the health of our babies. Thankfully, clean beauty brands are a dime a dozen.
Image by Kristen Kilpatrick
What Causes Hormonal Imbalances
Throughout your life and even throughout the day your hormone levels naturally rise and fall.
Certain periods of life cause more dramatic changes and fluctuations in hormones, including:
- Puberty.
- Pregnancy.
- Menopause.
However, there are several other reasons why your hormone levels may be irregular at unexpected times. Some of the most common causes of fluctuating or imbalanced hormone levels include:
- Stress.
- Certain medications.
- Steroid use.
These hormonal imbalances are more likely to be temporary or fixable with a change in medication or properly managing stress.
Chronic hormone-related conditions can have several different possible causes. In general, the main conditions or situations that cause medically significant hormone imbalances include:
Tumors, adenomas and growths
Any kind of growth on a gland or organ that produces hormones, such as a tumor, adenoma or nodule, could affect its ability to do so.
Tumors
Rare endocrine tumors form in glands or in cells that produce hormones and can cause hormone imbalances. Some of the rare endocrine tumors include:
Adenomas
An adenoma is a benign tumor. Many adenomas are nonfunctioning, meaning they dont produce hormones. But some can produce excess hormones. These are called functioning adenomas. Adenomas that affect your endocrine system and cause hormone imbalances include:
Other growths
Damage or injury to an endocrine gland
Autoimmune conditions
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Your Period Is Irregular
This one may seem obvious, but Ive spoken to women who were told it was normal to go months without having a period, despite not being on any kind of birth control.
The fact is, a healthy menstrual cycle is a product of a symphony or hormones, including estrogen and progesterone, that are also the same hormones involved in regulating your mood, metabolism, mental health, libido, digestion, and so much more! If youre not cycling, we need to find out why!
Is PCOS to blame for your missing period? Read 9 Unexpected Signs of PCOS
Take Supplements As Needed
It may be necessary to supplement to fill nutritional voids that can lead to hormonal imbalance. Vitamin D and probiotics are some of the known supplements that may be recommended by your physician.
Vitamin D: Vitamin D almost keeps inflammation levels low.
Probiotics: Probiotics are healthy bacteria that can aid in repairing your gut lining that, in turn, can balance your hormones. It can also improve the production and regulation of critical hormones like insulin and leptin.
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How To Test Your Hormone Health
If you are concerned about your hormone health, you can have your hormone levels tested in the following ways:
- Saliva testing: Saliva testing measures your bodys hormones levels at the cellular level. A saliva test can measure your estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol and DHEA levels. When you provide and test multiple samples over time, your healthcare provider can formulate charting changes in hormones with saliva testing.
- Blood testing: This type of hormone test requires that your blood is collected at a lab and then measured for hormone levels. A blood test can measure free and total hormone levels, which saliva and urine testing cannot do.
- Urine testing: A urine hormone test requires that you collect every drop of urine for a 24-hour period. Then your urine is tested to identify each hormone that is present and at what levels on that particular day. This is the most extensive hormone health test because it measures your hormone levels throughout the entire day, instead of the levels for a moment in time, which is the case for blood and saliva tests.
- Follicle-stimulating hormone testing: This type of test is commonly used to measure the hormonal status of premenopausal women who are beginning to experience symptoms of menopause.
What Causes Hormone Imbalances
The world we live in today is filled with so many things that will affect our hormones and how well they remain balanced throughout the day – hint: stress is one of the biggest influencers on our hormones. Other factors that may contribute to a hormone imbalance are medications, diet, environmental toxins, exercise and many more!
Focusing on implementing a new practice daily for 7 days is the best way to start supporting your hormones in the journey of achieving natural hormone balance.
Hormones are there to help us, and they give our bodies cues on what to do and when. They will control how we feel , what we eat , how much energy we have in a day for work, play and everything else in between. When our hormones start to get out of balance it can have serious impact on the way we live our lives. It can make us feel out of control, anxious and/or just plain depressed.
Our constant exposure to toxins and chemicals can get our hormones seriously out of whack. The good news is that there are many ways we can help our bodies naturally reset our hormones back to a balanced state. To reset your hormones, you will need to address the root cause of your issues and get back in balance. It all starts with a hormone reset diet, lifestyle and exercise regime.
Are you ready to take the challenge and naturally balance your hormones?
Now, lets break down some of the daily habits well be covering in the challenge:
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You Have Poor Digestion
We already know that digestive health affects the health of the whole body, but it can also provide clues about whats up with your hormones. If youre constipated, it might be a sign of excess estrogen levels . Many women who feel bloated or sluggish after eating meals may be experiencing reduced insulin sensitivity associated with PCOS.
No matter what, when youre experiencing any digestive symptoms, its important to find out what the trigger is before it starts a domino effect with your health.
Now that you have a better idea of how to spot a hormone imbalance, lets take a look at the quickest ways to fix a hormonal imbalance.
How To Include Turmeric In Your Diet To Support Hormone Balance:
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Start with 1tsp per day added into smoothies, curries, turmeric lattes, warm drinks, stir-fries
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Try sprinkling it over eggs or toast
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Try my Warming Golden Milk Recipe: download my 7 Day Hormone Reset Program to gain access to this recipe
So there you have it, you have taken amazing steps in 7 days that will have you on the road to achieving balanced hormones naturally. Adding these habits into our daily routine can have such positive affects on our overall hormonal health and balance our hormones. Remember, if our hormones are balanced the way they are meant to be, you can avoid asking yourself the questions such as Is this normal to be in this much pain during my period? Why am I so irritable? Why am I constantly breaking out?.
Most importantly, now you should be able to answer the question: How can I reset my hormones in just 7 days?
For more tips and information, download my 7 Day Hormone Reset Program.
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