Healthy Eating And Womens Nutrition For Your Power Type
I developed five different weight loss typesyou can take the quiz hereto help you determine which personalized blueprint your body responds to when trying to lose weight.
In the realm of womens wellness, an individualized approach is always crucial to providing your body with the right fuel it needs to heal. For example, while one person may experience great success with something like a keto diet, another persons type may find a high fat diet difficult to digest and prefer a higher protein and plant-based option.
Top 10 Supplements To Balance Hormones Naturally
Womens HealthWomens Hormones 0
Supplements are an easy, safe, and fast way to experience major health wins
Your hormones rely on key nutrients to work at their best, and it is virtually impossible to get everything you need through food alone .
If you neglect your dietary and nutritional needs, stress management, sleep, and toxic load, then the supplements will not be able to support your body in the way that they should.
But, if you are making changes already to strengthen your foundation and reduce stress levels, then some of these supplements could be a key addition to your personal healthcare plan!
Lets take a look at the best and most well-researched supplements available for various types of hormonal support!
A quick note on supplement sources and quality: NOT ALL SUPPLEMENTS ARE CREATED EQUAL. Many you find on supermarket shelves or from online retailers are not tested for qualityand many do not even contain the ingredients they claim! I created the Essentially Whole® line of supplements to guarantee a quality source of supplements you can trust for all your hormone needs.
What Is Leptin Resistance
Sometimes your brain tells you to eat more even when you have plenty of leptin and lots of fat cells. Thatâs called leptin resistance. Doctors donât test for it regularly, but experts agree itâs common in people with obesity.
Think of leptin resistance like insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes. Thatâs when the pancreas makes a lot of insulin, but the body doesnât respond to it. Leptin resistance âworks exactly the same way,â Patel says, âwhere the receptors are resistant.â
Leptin resistance can lead to overeating and excess fat storage.
Other health problems can mess with your leptin signaling too. For example, chronic inflammation and high levels of triglycerides can make it harder for leptin to cross the blood-brain barrier.
âNow you have a double whammy,â Patel says. âNot only do you have a little leptin resistance, but you also donât have enough leptin going where it needs to go.â
Though thereâs ongoing research on so-called âleptin sensitizersâ to help improve response to leptin, there arenât yet any drug therapies on the market.
But you can target insulin resistance, which often occurs alongside leptin resistance. Improve your sensitivity to insulin with medication, a healthy diet, plenty of exercise, and good sleep habits, and your leptin resistance may improve as well.
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Is There A Link Between Leptin Cancer And Inflammation
Leptin gives a kind of green light signal to many other systems in the body. That includes your immune cells. A strong immune response is a good thing when youâre sick. But too much inflammation can cause health problems.
People who have obesity and high leptin often have chronic inflammation. Thatâs linked to heart issues, cardiovascular diseases, insulin resistance, and cancer.
In women, high leptin and obesity can boost the chances of breast cancer. Leptin-related inflammatory âcytokinesâ send signals that seem to impact how breast cancer cells grow and stay alive.
Itâs important to note that not everyone with obesity will develop breast cancer. But in those who do, Sharma says, leptin can promote cancer growth and progression at every stage.
On top of that, women with obesity often donât respond as well to hormonal breast cancer treatments when compared to those with lower body weights. New research shows that high leptin levels might be to blame.
Some studies in mice have found evidence that leptin can blunt the effects of a common estrogen-positive breast cancer drug.
Future drug therapies may target high leptin levels or leptin resistance. But for now, Sharma says, itâs best to aim for a healthy body mass index , especially during breast cancer treatment. Even a 5% to 10% weight reduction can be helpful in women who have a very high BMI, she says.
Work with your doctor to come up with a weight loss plan that works for you.
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Balancing Hormones For Weight Loss: The Top Six To Know
Have you ever wondered how some people seem to diet throughout their lives while others keep a healthy weight without trying? Although they may have similar eating habits, their bodies could differ in metabolism, lifestyle, and possibly hormones.
Every person has their own personalized biochemistry. From genetic traits to distinct physiologies, we all have different makeups that make us unique.
While lifestyle choices make a major impact on health and weight, so do hormones. This article will provide an overview of the primary hormones involved in weight fluctuations and teach you how to balance them naturally.
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What Are The Best Supplements For Hormone Balance
Never skip your B vitamins and to feel balanced at all times. The best hormone balance supplements are rich in B vitamins. For this reason, all of our plant-based supplementscontain an adequate amount of natural B vitamins to fight your hormonal ups and downs. Especially for those who follow a vegan or vegetarian diet, Sanbera is an all-in-one advantage when it comes to ensuring a sufficient intake of all B vitamins.
Supplements for hormone balance: designed for women.
Hormone imbalance in men
Other Ways To Balance Your Hormones
Besides vitamins for hormone balance, you can also use some other natural strategies to achieve the same effect. Consider making a few long-term lifestyle changes that include:
- Regular exercise. Choose high-intensity interval training circuits to boost your metabolism and yoga to soothe your stress.
- A hormone balance diet, including foods like organic tempeh, wild-caught salmon, bell peppers, and veggies like broccoli and bok choy.
- Use essential oils that can help balance your hormone levels.
- Stay away from stimulants like caffeine for a while, especially as you get your hormones back into balance. Instead, opt for natural energy boosters like Pick Me Up, a herbal formula designed to give you clean energy and pure focus.
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A Neat Way To Burn Calories
Many trainers get too focused on the calories clients burn during their training session and forget about how much they move the rest of the day . This other energy expenditure is called non-exercise activity thermogenesis , and it actually makes up the bulk of calories burned in a days activity.
If your clients are sedentary, ensuring theyre getting enough movement during the day should be a top priority. The suggestion for 10,000 steps is a great place to start. In the short term, apps or fitness trackers can be very effective tools for showing clients how inactive they truly are.
It can take 812 weeks to build new movement habits. Walking to work, taking the stairs, parking as far away from the entrance as possible , or doing a daily or nightly walk with friends or loved ones are all great ways to add more movement into the day.
If you want more context on NEAT, read this resourcenext!
How Do I Balance My Hormonal Belly Fat
The best way to balance your hormonal belly fat is to eat healthy foods that contain high levels of protein and fiber. Also, try to avoid eating too much sugar and processed food. In addition, exercise regularly and drink plenty of water.
Nutrient deficiencies have been linked to increased abdominal fat. Therefore, make sure to consume enough essential vitamins and minerals.
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Dhea To Balance Hormones
DHEA is an endogenous hormone and secreted by the adrenal gland. DHEA serves as a precursor to male and female sex hormones , DHEA levels in the body begin to decrease after age 30. DHEA is also used in the treatment of adrenal insufficiency, depression, induction of labor, and systemic lupus erythematosus.
DHEA helps aid and improve persons with sexual dysfunction, osteoporosis, obesity, and in relieving conditions relating to menopause. DHEA used as an anti-aging hormone and for conditions in which DHEA levels have been found to below, however, there are very few large, well-designed human studies showing that its effective.
DHEA can cause higher than normal levels of androgens and estrogens in the body, and theoretically may increase the risk of prostate, breast, ovarian, and other hormone-sensitive cancers. Therefore, it is not recommended for regular use without supervision by a licensed health professional.
What Are The Stages Of Hormonal Change For Men
For men, andropause is a slow decline of normal testosterone levels, which begin to lower by about 1% every year around the age of 40. Because the decrease in testosterone production is slow slow, many men do not exhibit any obvious symptoms of andropause for nearly a decade after onset. Andropause is traditionally marked by low T, which features symptoms such as low libido, sexual dysfunction, weight gain, loss of muscle mass, mood swings, and more.
How Common Is It for Men to Gain Weight During Andropause?
On average, middle-aged men gain about 19 pounds during the onset of andropause, which can be a significant cause of concern for overall health. Weight gain is one of the more common symptoms of andropause and most men will experience some about of weight gain during late adulthood.
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Why Does This Happen
Hormone imbalances can occur for many reasons. The primary cause is a poor diet. If your diet is not rich in nutrients, your thyroid function may be lacking. This may be due to a lack of zinc, omega 3 fats, selenium and iodine, or others. For other people, this hormone imbalance occurs as a result of a gluten intolerance.
Vitamin B3 Aids Stress
The B-vitamins are an essential group of vitamins for hormone balance. You can take these vitamins to address stress and mood changes related to both PMS and menopause. This kind of stress can trigger tension, anxiety, irritability, and poor concentration.
While it relieves menopausal stress, vitamin B3 can also smooth the transition between estrogen production in the ovaries to estrogen production in the adrenal glands and fat cells instead.
These are both post-menopause estrogen production sites and B3 helps stabilize estrogen production there once your ovaries stop producing it.
Pro-Tip: Along with B3, consider supplementing with folic acid if youre of reproductive age. This vitamin can help prevent birth defects as well as boost a womans fertility.
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Risk Factors And Causes
Hormonal imbalances are multi-factorial disorders, meaning they are caused by a combination of factors such as your diet, medical history, genetics, stress levels and exposure to toxins from your environment.
Some of the major contributors to hormonal imbalances include:
- Food allergies and gut issues: An expanding field of new research shows that your gut health plays a significant role in hormone regulation. If you have leaky gut syndrome or a lack of beneficial probiotic bacteria lining your intestinal wall, youre more susceptible to hormonal problems, including diabetes and obesity. Thats because inflammation usually stems from your gut and then impacts nearly every aspect of your health.
- Being overweight or obese
- High amounts of stress, and a lack of enough sleep and rest
Adrenal dysfunction is the largest cause of the hormonal imbalance with the sex hormones especially because of something called the cortisol steal.
This occurs when cholesterol, which usually helps to make the sex hormones, combines with too much stress and the enzyme 17/20 lyase blocks the conversion the production of cortisol ensues. Cortisol then causes the imbalance of progesterone, estrogen and testosterone, which then decreases the sex drive.
Look For Rapid Changes In Weight
Since multiple hormones work together to control metabolism, rapid weight gain or weight loss is a typical symptom of hormonal imbalance. Those with hormone imbalances have difficulties losing weight even with diet and exercise. Women often experience unexplained weight gain due to changes in estrogen and progesterone during menopause, or conditions such as PCOS. Spikes in cortisol can also create weight gain.
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Balancing Hormones For Weight Loss
Insulin, leptin, cortisol, and insulin are all hormones involved in metabolic rates and appetite control. According to a study published in the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, your lifestyle choices, including your food habits, exercise routines, sleep patterns, and stress levels, can heavily influence these hormones.
Here are the top hormones that affect your weight loss journey and the different ways to balance each one.
Ashwagandha + Rhodiola Rosea
Ashwagandha boasts the ability to combat chronic stress levels while restoring proper reproductive function, especially where sexy time is concerned. Other benefits include supporting memory and cognition as well as alleviating symptoms associated with depression and anxiety without side effects. Rhodiola rosea also helps to fight those stressors that plague the body to revitalize overall wellness as an adaptogenic herb. The body-mind connection greatly benefits from its rejuvenating properties to balance your mood and fight symptoms of fatigue or distress. Combining the two creates an amazing blend to sustain your energy and revitalize your mind, with overall body support..
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Targeting Specific Fat Areas
Sometimes people have fat deposits that are more problematic than others. Stubborn areas might seem to always remain chubby because of biological misfortunes. There are certain types of supplements and food that you can use to target individual fat areas. And here is what Dr. Turner recommends:
The Belly
We all have ab muscles, its the fat on the stomach that keeps them from showing. Studies have suggested that too much cortisol could be a major factor behind the accumulation of stomach fat. Holy basil is an Indian herb that helps maintain healthy cortisol levels and is commonly taken in capsule form. Foods for reducing cortisol include spinach, citrus, nuts, beans and barley.
Further reading: read my previous article about 10 warning signs you have high cortisol level and how to lower it. Also find here exercises to get a flat tummy that you can easily do at home.
The Back
Fat on the back and upper trunk is less common than stomach fat but equally as challenging to take on. Its also a likely indication that you have high insulin levels. Foods containing conjugated linoleic acid such as milk, yogurt, cheese and beef will help. You should also lean toward whole-grain options and green vegetables.
The Butt
Some people like big butts, but everyone has a limit. If you have excess body fat on your bottom, it could be due to high levels of estrogen. Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are high in estrogen-blocking phytochemicals.
How To Take Hormone Balance Supplements
Learning that your hormones are out of balance can be worrying, especially if youre concerned about long-term health issues like diabetes, but you can regain your equilibrium with a little help. One simple way to bring them back under control is with supplements, but even with the best hormone balance supplements, there are certain tips you should consider to make the most of them.
The active ingredients in these supplements vary greatly depending on the manufacturer and the hormone they are meant to regulate, as do the recommended instructions. As such, there arent many hard and fast rules on taking hormone balance supplements, but here are a few tips that should help you get the most out of your chosen supplements that promote hormone balance:
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What Is The Natural Remedy For Hormone Imbalance
Hormone imbalance is a complex condition.
Not everyone struggles with hormonal issues, but plenty of women experience their share of hormonal ups and downs. Stress problems, depression, anxiety, severe PMS, and menopause symptoms can be the result of hormonal imbalances.
Hormones play a key role in the emotional state of both men and women, but as women, we are more likely to experience extreme and sudden changes in mood as a result of our hormones, mainly due to the monthly cycle and changing levels of progesterone and estrogen.
Fortunately, there are all sorts of tried and true ways to help balance hormones. One such way is by ensuring youre getting all the right hormone-balancing nutrients from your diet. Supplementing with certain vitamins and supplements may help as well. Relief is possible, with the right approach.
Using natural remedies such as vitamins and supplements for hormone balance has many benefits as they are safe and non-toxic and support the body to assist natural healing.
Natural remedies for hormone imbalance start with treating leaky gut, supporting the immune system, and changing your lifestyle. Everything is connected. Treating your body with drugs and hormonal treatments does not have to be your only option.
There are many safe natural treatments for hormone imbalance and simple self-help measures you can use to help with your symptoms. As well as diet changes, there are also many supplements to balance hormones that can help with specific symptoms.
The Problem With Deficiencies In B Vitamins
Deficiencies in B vitamins can affect different hormones and neurotransmitters and lead to negative symptoms. Inadequate levels of B vitamins can negatively impact your mood and can cause irritability. Deficiencies in these vitamins can also drain you of energy, negatively impact your metabolism, and reduce your tolerance to pain.
What They Do
Taking a supplement that includes the different B vitamins can help alleviate the symptoms of hormone imbalance. Inadequate amounts of these vitamins will affect your hormones. Taking a supplement that increases the amount of vitamin B in your body will help restore balance to your system.
Who They Help
Vitamin B deficiency can affect men and women of all different life stages. Supplementation can be particularly effective in helping balance the hormones in those who have experienced hormonal imbalance. Men and women experiencing andropause and menopause, or even women in pre-menopause, will see an improvement in their symptoms after taking these supplements.
Your mood will improve, energy levels will increase, and PMS symptoms may be alleviated. These vitamins can also help positively affect your metabolism by helping you lose weight.
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