Foods And Beverages To Avoid For Hormonal Balance
Dairy
- There is evidence linking improved fertility in PCOS patients who have given up dairy from their diet Gluck, M. and Edgson, V. . It Must Be My Hormones. Camberwell, Vic.: Penguin Group , p. 145.
- Dairy products can contain both hormones and growth factors which have the potential to impact your own hormone levels, especially estrogen
Gluten
Gluten intolerance can cause an imbalance in sex hormones:
- Gluten intolerance can cause an imbalance in estrogen levels Gottfried, S. . The Hormone Cure. New York, NY: Scribner, p. 185.
- Several reports in the medical literature show that for women who are sensitive to gluten and suffering from either amenorrhea or diminished ovarian reserve, going gluten-free can reverse these conditions Gottfried, S. . The Hormone Cure. New York, NY: Scribner, p. 186.
- Can increase estrogen levels
- Can be full of hormones which disrupt your own hormonal balance
- If you do eat red meat make sure its grass fed, organic and without additional hormones Gluck, M. and Edgson, V. . It Must Be My Hormones. London: Penguin, p. 145., Gottfried, S. . The Hormone Cure. New York: Scribner, p. 164.
What Is A Hormonal Imbalance
Before we can talk about keeping hormone levels balanced, let’s first explain what happens when your hormones are imbalanced. Think of a seesaw: you might have one hormone that’s higher than it should be while another one may be low.
High estrogen levels, for example, can cause testosterone levels to drop as a result, you’re wiped out, might have a lower-than-usual libido, or can just feel “off.” When the thyroid makes too little or too many hormones, it can impact weight gain and weight loss goals, how your nails look or impact your skin. Either way, experiencing these changes is how your body communicates, telling you something isn’t right.
It’s natural for hormone levels to change at different stages of your lifethink of the surge of sex hormones during puberty vs. how it teeters off as we age . But that doesn’t mean you can’t be proactive about keeping hormonal balance where you want itparticularly as you grow older. Here’s where turning to dietary supplements can help.
Pro tip: Always speak with your doctor or nutritionist before adding dietary supplements to your daily routine.
Best Vitamins And Supplements For Hormonal Imbalance
Vitamins are necessary for your body to function properly, and getting the right balance of vitamins is crucial. Unfortunately, with hectic schedules, eating habits, and environmental factors, many people dont get the right amount of vitamins that they need to maintain good health. The best vitamins for hormonal imbalance include biotin, magnesium, folate, vitamin D, and more.
Here are the 10 best vitamins and supplements for hormonal imbalance:
You likely know by now which foods are highest in omega-3s fatty fish like salmon, sardines, mackerel, cod liver oil, walnuts, chia seeds, herring, flax seeds, hemp seeds, anchovies, and egg yolks are some of the best. If you dont eat a wide array of these omega-3 rich foods, take a high-quality fish oil supplement.
It is true that the phrase the best vitamins for hormone balance is redundant, but there are times when certain vitamins serve specific purposes. For example, vitamin B6 is one of the best vitamins for hormone balance, specifically addressing estrogen-related issues such as PMS and PCOS.
Ever wonder why PMS strikes some women harder than others? The answer might be due to deficiencies in the body of certain vitamins, including vitamin B6.
If youve noticed that you have mood swings, irritability, cramps, fatigue, and depression on a monthly basis, it might be due to the vitamin B6 deficiencies in your body.
You May Like: Does Birth Control Lower Estrogen
Lower Your Sugar Intake
Minimizing added sugar intake may be instrumental in optimizing hormone function and avoiding obesity, diabetes, and other diseases.
The simple sugar fructose is present in many types of sugar, comprising up to 43% of honey, 50% of refined table sugar, 55% of high fructose corn syrup, and 90% of agave .
In addition, sugar-sweetened beverages are the primary source of added sugars in the Western diet, and fructose is commonly used commercially in soft drinks, fruit juice, and sport and energy drinks .
Fructose intake has increased exponentially in the United States since around 1980, and studies consistently show that eating added sugar promotes insulin resistance regardless of total calorie intake or weight gain .
Long-term fructose intake has been linked to disruptions of the gut microbiome, which may lead to other hormonal imbalances .
Whats more, fructose may fail to stimulate the production of the fullness hormone leptin, leading to decreased calorie burning and increased weight gain .
Therefore, reducing your intake of sugary drinks and other sources of added sugar may improve hormone health.
Summary
Diets high in sugar have been shown to promote insulin resistance, disrupt your gut microbiome, and reduce leptin production. Thus, lowering your sugar intake may aid hormonal health.
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.
You May Like: How To Lower Dhea Hormone
Why Is Hormonal Balance Important
Hormone levels are regulated by your endocrine system, made up of several glands including the adrenal glands that release cortisol, one of the body’s primary stress hormones. When there’s hormonal balance, your body thrives. When there’s a hormone imbalance, on the other hand, everything can go haywireas those of us who have ever felt “hormonal” can attest.
Hormonal health is also influenced by external factors such as daily habits , stress management and underlying health-related factors.
Achieving Hormonal Balance At Aqua Vitality
Our mission is to help women take control of their health by balancing their hormones to revitalize their life. Our clinical team is dedicated to delivering results that restore hormonal balance in order to improve energy, maintain reproductive health, promote beauty, and so on. From natural remedies to hormone therapy, our physicians will recommend a treatment that works for you and your lifestyle.
To learn more about achieving hormonal balance, please click the button below to get in touch with us.
Also Check: Anthem Blue Cross Hormone Replacement Therapy
Can Vitamins Help Hormonal Balance
The endocrine glands requires key micronutrients to create hormones and support them in carrying out their important work. If you have low thyroid, for example, then you may have deficiencies in iodine and selenium, two minerals required by the thyroid gland to make and use thyroid hormones.
Herbs and other natural compounds can also provide therapeutic support to correct hormonal imbalances. Ashwagandha, a traditional medicine and ingredient in our Herbal Equilibrium and Adaptisol formulas, is an adaptogenic herb prized for its ability to re-regulate high cortisol, an adrenal imbalance tied to chronic stress and anxiousness. If you are experiencing hormonal symptoms in perimenopause, a sign that estrogen and progesterone are not in the correct ratio, supplementing with herbs including wild yam, black cohosh and red clover extract can help restore balance to these two hormones and relieve perimenopause symptoms. These herbs are all found in our Herbal Equilibrium formula. To increase progesterone levels, you can use a bioidentical USP progesterone cream.
These are just a few examples. There are so many herbs, vitamins and minerals that can help with hormonal imbalances. Described in detail below, the best herb and vitamin supplements for natural hormonal balance include:
Supplements For Balancing Your Hormones
#1: DIM for Healthy Estrogen Metabolism
Diindolylmethane is a phytochemical compound derived from the digestion of cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, kale, and cabbage. Following the consumption of cruciferous vegetables, a precursor called indole-3-carbinol breaks down into DIM during digestion.
DIM supports the breakdown of estrogen into healthy metabolites in your liver. It also inhibits aromatase, the enzyme responsible for converting testosterone into estrogen. Additionally, DIM partially blocks the effect of testosterone and other androgens.
Diindolylmethane supports cellular detoxification pathways and has demonstrated chemopreventive activity during all stages of breast carcinogenesis.
Research shows DIM can also improve your health by preventing obesity, providing neuroprotection, and reducing inflammation in your body.
Animal safety studies show that even a dose of DIM ten times greater than therapeutic doses is not dangerous.
In summary, DIM can help you balance your hormones by raising good estrogen levels, lowering bad estrogen levels, and blocking hormones like testosterone.
How to Take DIM
DIM-Evail by Designs for Health is an excellent choice if you want to try DIM. Each soft gel capsule provides 100 milligrams of DIM made with non-GMO ingredients. Begin with one capsule daily, taken before meals.
If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, dont take DIM. There isnt enough data to guarantee its safe during pregnancy or breastfeeding.
How to Take Maca Root
Don’t Miss: How Much Melatonin For 5 Year Old
Essential Vitamins And Supplements To Help Remedy Hormonal Imbalance
Fluctuations and imbalances of hormones affect every aspect of a womans life. Hormonal imbalances may contribute to an increase of mood swings, irritability, weight gain, appetite, and difficulty sleeping. Additionally, these hormonal irregularities can seriously impact our personal and professional lives, resulting in decreased motivation, low energy levels, and serious mental-health issues. But as harmful as these effects may appear, treating hormonal imbalances is a lot less scary and fairly easy to incorporate into daily routines. Small changes like switching to a healthier diet and increasing your intake of vitamins can help stabilize uneven hormone levels and even help lower the risk of hormonal fluctuation.
OB/GYN Associates of Alabama provides a list of essential vitamins that are proven to combat hormonal imbalance, in addition to a healthy, regular diet. While these supplements are intended to facilitate a balance of hormones, the OB/GYN Associates of Alabama suggest pairing these vitamins along with a consistent diet, and not as supplements for meals.
Here are 7 crucial nutrients researchers recommend to help regulate your hormone levels:
Hormone Balance Supplements: An Easy Guide
By:Jessica Monge, Health & Wellness Writer
Hormone balance is not something we typically think about. Most of us just go about our busy days: crossing things off our to-do list, thinking about relationships with loved ones, a looming deadlinewhat’s for dinner.
But just because we don’t think about our hormones doesn’t mean they aren’t a critical part of each of these experiences, and morefrom whether we have the energy to make that deadline to whether comfort food is on the dinner menu instead of a more nutritious entrée. Hormones are chemical messengers which support many different processes in our bodies and influence everything from metabolism to growth, sex drive and fertility, wake/sleep patterns, digestion, the rhythm of your heart beating, body temperature, mood, stress, weight and so much more. When our hormones are balanced, we are simply better versions of ourselves.
That’s why so many people choose hormone balance supplementsto help keep hormonal levels exactly where you want them. But how do you know what supplements to choose? Here’s an easy-to-follow guide to help you find what best works for you.
You May Like: How To Tell If Your Hormones Are Out Of Whack
Hormones And Your Health
Hormones are chemical messengers that help your cells communicate and trigger various actions. Theyre the bedrock of your bodys endocrine system, which regulates growth, reproduction, metabolism, temperature, and even your mood.
Hormones and the endocrine system keep your body in a balanced state of homeostasis. Therefore, having a hormonal imbalance too little or too much of a certain hormone can have harmful side effects.
Oxidative stress, infertility, and endocrine disorders like thyroid disease are just a few conditions that can result from hormonal imbalances (
13 ).
Whats more, Nigella sativa extract exhibits estrogenic activity, meaning it acts similarly to the hormone estrogen in your body .
In fact, some studies in rats are exploring whether nigella seed extracts could be an alternative to hormone replacement therapy during menopause, a time when the body typically produces less estrogen than it used to .
Concentrated Nigella sativa supplements are becoming increasingly popular and sometimes marketed as black seed or black cumin seed. Whole nigella seeds have an herby aroma and are easy to add to bread, salads, and other dishes .
Still, keep in mind that most studies on nigella seeds and hormones were conducted in animals and used concentrated extracts or isolated thymoquinone. Thus, while using whole seeds in cooking can be healthy and delicious, it may not confer the same benefits.
For Stress Hormone Balance
- Has been shown to help lower cortisol in stressful situations Gottfried, S. . The Hormone Cure. New York: Scribner, p. 103.
- Essential to support adrenal function Talbott, S. . The Cortisol Connection. Alameda, CA: Hunter House, p. 155.
- Deficiency has been shown to correlate with elevated levels of serum cortisol Talbott, S. . The Cortisol Connection. Alameda, CA: Hunter House, p. 183.
Read Also: Can You Give Melatonin To Dogs
Low Libido And Fertility Problems
Changes in estrogen and testosterone can cause a loss of sex drive and infertility. Estrogen fluctuations cause disruptions in ovulation and irregular menstruation. These changes can make pregnancy difficult. In men, testosterone imbalances can lead to erectile dysfunction and poor sperm production. Look for these signs and reach out to a doctor to confirm if the symptoms are hormone-related.
Natural Ways To Balance Your Hormones
Hormones are chemical messengers that have profound effects on your mental, physical, and emotional health. For instance, they play a major role in controlling your appetite, weight, and mood.
Typically, your body produces the precise amount of each hormone needed for various processes to keep you healthy.
However, sedentary lifestyles and Western dietary patterns may affect your hormonal environment. In addition, levels of certain hormones decline with age, and some people experience a more dramatic decrease than others.
However, a nutritious diet and other healthy lifestyle habits may help improve your hormonal health and allow you to feel and perform your best.
Here are 10 natural ways to balance your hormones.
Recommended Reading: How Do You Get Your Hormone Levels Tested
You May Like: How Much Does Testosterone Gel Cost
Focus On Fibre To Balance Your Hormones
Fibre comes from plant food and is a form of carbohydrate, however unlike other carbohydrates, it does not get broken down and absorbed by your digestive system. Instead, as it moves through your body it slows digestion, attracts water to the bowel, provides food for beneficial bacteria and makes your stools softer and easier to pass.
- It helps keep food and waste moving steadily through the intestinal system, and aids with absorption of nutrients
- It helps detoxify hormones and toxins by sweeping them along the intestines
- It helps balance blood sugar by ensuring steady absorption of glucose
- It helps maintain a healthy bacteria balance
- Allows negative bacteria to be removed
- Sustains a healthy estrogen metabolism Amen, D. . Unleash The Power Of The Female Brain. New York: Harmony Books, p. 97.
- Helps maintain healthy testosterone levels by preventing the conversion of testosterone into estrogen Amen, D. . Unleash The Power Of The Female Brain. New York: Harmony Books, p. 97.
- Increases the excretion of testosterone and estrogen in the stool
Recommended amounts of fibre
- Most women only consume around 13g per day
- Aim for 35-45 grams of fiber per day Gottfried, S. . The Hormone Cure. New York, NY: Scribner, p. 223. obtained from fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds
- Even with 7 or more servings of fresh fruits and vegetables, most women need to take a fibre supplement Gottfried, S. . The Hormone Cure. New York, NY: Scribner, p. 172.
Soluble and insoluble fibre
How To Make Your Own Natural Hormone Balancing Herbal Infusions
A great way to save money and improve the taste of hormone-balancing herbs is to make your own infusions using dried, loose herbs .
To do so, select 1-2 teaspoons of loose herbs per one cup of water.
To infuse, put herbs in a large glass jar and add 1 cup boiling water per 1-2 teaspoons of loose herbs. Let steep overnight, then strain and either re-heat over stovetop or sip chilled . Feel free to add lemon or honey to enhance the flavor.
To make a quick tea, add herbs to a teapot and bring water to a boil. Let steep for 10-15 minutes, then consume.
Don’t Miss: How To Know If Your Acne Is Hormonal
Best Foods To Eat For Hormone Balance
Give your meals a makeover with these hormone-friendly foods.
Eggs
Cholesterol in eggs is helpful in making all hormones, including progesterone and estrogen. Eggs also contain selenium, an antioxidant mineral that helps to remove free radicals that can cause damage and premature aging to the thyroid gland.
Sea vegetables
Your thyroid simply cant function without iodine. If youre deficient, your thyroid lacks a basic building block for producing adequate amounts of thyroid hormones. In the United States, conventional table salt is fortified with iodine to provide the mineral, but women who eat non-iodized sea salt or a reduced salt diet may not be getting enough. To boost your iodine intake, start eating more foods that are naturally rich in iodine, including sea vegetables and seafood .
Cherries
If you suffer from insomnia as one of your hormonal issues, snacking on cherries can help because cherries are a natural source of melatoninthe sleep hormone released by your pineal gland. As you age, you produce less and less melatonin. Studies have found that cherries have the ability to increase melatonin levels, total sleep time, and quality of sleep. Cherries also contain other hormone-balancing nutrients including magnesium and vitamin C.
Apples
Pomegranates
Flaxseeds
Avocados
Nuts
Rich in poly and monounsaturated fats, nuts aid in hormone production and help to maintain lower cholesterol and insulin levels. The best nuts for hormonal balance are: