Just the word “hormones” seems to make people cringe these days.
Whether they think it’s about teenage girls going through puberty, women during “that time of the month”, or menopausal women … all thoughts land on women’s menstruation, amiiiiiright? The beginning, middle, and end.
But that’s not an accurate representation of what hormones are at all.
In fact, everyone has hormones, men and women, and they’re critical to your health. And an imbalance isn’t just experienced by women – it’s experienced by anyone and everyone. Yeah, that includes you.
We can’t just brush off the impact hormones have on every part of your body, either – whether you’re a man or a woman!
So let’s cut through the stigma and talk about how your hormones can impact you, how to know if they’re imbalanced, and what you can do to balance them naturally (this is for you men also!).
HORMONES 101
We have seven major hormones in the body – estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, cortisol, insulin, and thyroid. We all have these hormones, just in different amounts for men versus women.
These hormones are made by the endocrine glands, which release hormones to regulate various functions throughout your body.
The endocrine glands are your pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal glands, plus your pancreas, ovaries (females), and testes (males).
As an example – Your adrenal glands produce hormones that control fluids in your body, maintain steady blood sugar levels, help you with stress, depress inflammation, and keep your immune system in check.
Your adrenals contribute to things like libido, estrogen after menopause, and stress levels. For instance, your adrenals produce cortisol and stress reduces your cortisol levels – this causes your body to use progesterone to make more cortisol.
So what happens is, when too much cortisol is needed, an imbalance between estrogen and progesterone happens. This shows how one hormone can change the balance of your entire endocrine system. Yikes!
HOW TO KNOW IF YOUR HORMONES ARE IMBALANCED
There are a million things that can cause a hormone imbalance: stress, lack of exercise, poor diet, too little sleep, nutritional deficiencies, and genetics.
Also, a change in one hormone can cause an imbalance in another hormone. Like the example given above regarding cortisol, estrogen, and progesterone. But you can’t correct one hormone imbalance without thinking of how that will impact the others!
A good way to tell if you have an imbalance really comes from knowing whether your lifestyle could be a contributor (stress, diet, sleep, etc.), or being able to notice some symptoms, like:
- Anxiety, depression, irritability, or mood swings
- Dry eyes, skin or nails
- Excess hair or hair loss
- Foggy brain or memory issues
- Headaches
- Joint pain
- Cravings
- Sleep disturbances
- Vaginal dryness
- Decreased sex drive
- Acne
- Cold extremities
- Abdominal cramping
- Fatigue
- Breast tenderness
- Changes in menstrual period or PMS
- Weight gain
Now, as helpful as this information can be to start determining if there’s a problem, never guess – always test!
There are several different tests that can be done to help give you a good read on where your hormones are at.
TESTING OPTIONS
The Saliva Hormone Panel is a simple test to do and gives some good information. You can do it through me, and I can create a nutrition and lifestyle framework that will fix the imbalances. It tests your estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, and cortisol – which is great if there’s a suspected adrenal issue!
You can also test through a urinary metabolite panel, full thyroid panel, insulin test, dutch panel, or even testing your neurotransmitters – these can all be done through your Naturopath.
HOW TO BALANCE YOUR HORMONES NATURALLY
So really, getting a personalized nutrition and supplement framework to help balance your hormones is best (book your consultation here!). But until then, here are a few suggestions to get you started balancing them naturally:
- Drink more water
- Skip the caffeine
- Try seed cycling
- Avoid soy
- Eat lots of healthy fats
- Say no to alcohol
- Get a good sleep
- Ditch sugar (no, seriously!)
- Heal your gut – NEXT PROGRAM BEGINS FEBRUARY 2018
- Remove packaged and processed foods from your diet
But realistically, getting on a personalized nutrition and lifestyle plan to address stress, sleep, supplementation, and diet are all critical for successfully balancing out your hormones. If you’re ready – you can book a consultation with me right now!
Until then, try these tips to balance them naturally.
And check out this Maple Pecan Cinnamon Rolls recipe – it’s loaded with hormone-loving ingredients. This delicious treat will fill you up while putting you in a better mood too. Yes, I’m prescribing cinnamon rolls … well, these cinnamon rolls!
