Balance Your Hormones with Food For Better Moods & Better Poop
by Brenna Ortner
Feeling a bit off lately? Moody? Not feeling much love for yourself, your significant other, or anyone around you? With the lives we live today we can easily throw off our hormones, the balancers and regulators of our bodies. Those mood swings may be your body trying to tell you something.
I suggest you listen.
There are many different symptoms of hormonal imbalances such as low energy, PMS, mood changes, depression, infertility and more. Ignoring or covering up those symptoms instead of addressing the root cause can cause serious health and reproductive issues. Here are some tips to restore your hormonal balance, get rid of excess estrogen and start feeling back to your normal, happy, healthy, gorgeous self.
Foods to Avoid for Healthy Hormones
Food can be the most powerful medicine or the slowest poison, you have the power to choose. When studying and experimenting how to fix my hormonal system I noticed HUGE shifts of decreased pain during my menstrual cycle when taking the following out of my diet (and studies show many others do as well).
Coffee first thing in the morning on an empty stomach can cause your blood sugar to crash & spike for the rest of the day while your body tries to reset itself to a normal balance. If you MUST have coffee have it after eating something. A much healthier option is either tea or even better a green smoothie powering up your body with vitamins, minerals and tons of healthy energy.
Alcohol damages the liver and prevents it from excreting excess estrogen.
Dairy consumption worsens hormonal imbalance because there are so many hormones present in milk. The same goes for meat. Our body is trying to get rid of excess estrogen so adding hormones in (and un-natural ones from another mammal at that) is clearly not helping our cause.
Certain toxins from pesticides (sprayed on non-organic food), dry cleaning chemicals, antibacterial soaps and other products, behave like estrogen in your body. Choose natural products and find new, healthier ways to wash your clothes, body and home.
How to Reduce Stress to Improve Your Hormones
Whether it be from nutritional stress, environmental stress, external stress, emotional stress, or even simply worrying about stressful situations, it’s all the same to your body. Dealing with stress is critical to hormone health.
Your adrenals are an essential part of your hormonal system. They produce DHEA which responds to stress in your body. They are very hard working little glands for everything we put them through. Dealing with stress helps relieve the pressure on your adrenals. Take baths, go for walks, practice meditation and breathing methods or take yoga classes.
Slow down and breathe 🙂
How to Build Your Hormone Health
Exercise is very important for overall health, stress relief and of course, balancing hormones. So move your body! You have time. For even 10 minutes, do something. Aim for 3-5 times a week of either cardio & weight training to build human growth hormone which is a key hormone for strength and longevity.
Constipation worsens hormonal imbalances because your body cannot excrete excess estrogen. When this happens estrogen is re-circulated and dumped back into your bloodstream through the gut after your liver has done the work to get rid of it.
Optimal bowel movements are 3 times a day after each meal. To go more often increase fiber intake from vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds and beans. Flax seeds, in particular, are especially helpful in correcting constipation and balancing hormones. Put them in a shake or sprinkle them on salads or other meal. Flax seeds contain lignans that help balance hormone metabolism and block the negative effects of excess estrogens.
Imbalances in gut bacteria can increase the amount of estrogen reabsorption in the body. Replacing healthy bacteria in the gut will help normalize estrogen and hormone metabolism. The best way to get healthy bacteria in your gut is through delicious fermented vegetables.
Supplements to Improve Your Hormone Health
I try my best to recommend nutrients from whole foods but there is no getting around supplements because the food quality is not what it used to be. A few that have been shown to help ease hormonal imbalance symptoms in the female body are:
A little bit of raw chocolate provides a lot of healthy magnesium for your body and can help ease PMS issues. Enjoy my healthy recipe below:
Raw Chocolate Coconut Macaroon Recipe:
Ingredients:
- 3 cups raw coconut
- 1 ½ cups raw cacao powder
- 1 cup raw honey
- ½ cup raw coconut oil
Directions:
Mix together, drop by spoonfuls, refrigerate and ENJOY!
Healthy Little Tip:
After making your delicious treats, take a nice long bath. Coconut oil can be used as a moisturizer and stress reliever when you get out (or try the oil in the bath!). It’s a wonderful pampering treat and your skin will soak it right up.
How Do You Keep Your Hormones Happy?
Please take a moment in the comment box to let me know what tips you’ve tried to keep your hormones happy! We’d love to share your tips on the blog!
Meet Our Love Coach, Brenna Ortner
Brenna Ortner is a Certified Holistic Health Coach and a Board Certified and Accredited Member of The American Association of Drugless Practitioners. She helps people create a completely personalized “roadmap to health” that suits their unique body, lifestyle, preferences, and goals.
She specializes in working with women who have hormonal issues with symptoms ranging from weight gain, lethargy, mood swings, PMS & cramps, to irregular periods or infertility. You can find out more about Brenna and her work by clicking here.
Check out Brenna’s previous posts, How to Find Love in All the Right Places, Are You Thinking Your Way to Love and How to Create Love This Valentine’s Day.