3 Tips for Women's Hormone Balance
Women 35 or older may notice that hormones aren't quite as easy to keep balanced as they used to be. You may have low energy, trouble sleeping, anger issues, anxiety, depression, dry skin, weight gain, constipation or crazy food cravings. You want to do something about it, but what should do you do?
Image from Pixabay
The first thing is to consider going to see a Functional Medicine doctor, like Angelica Clark, PA, if you can. It seriously has helped me so much. She has encouraged me to work out and try to eat low sugar and that has helped a lot. You may have low progesterone or low estrogen, or men can have low testosterone. She can also do different tests to try to figure out why your levels are low.
But if you can't get to a good functional medicine doctor, or even if you can, you may want to tune-up your eating plan to support optimal hormone balance. Holistic health is about whole health, and it works best if you approach any issue you are having from several directions. Change one thing at a time, but the more variation of approach you can manage, the better the outcome. Changing your eating plan can seem overwhelming, but in this scenario I have just a handful of suggestions to get you started.
1. Eat low sugar, and consider completely eliminating refined sugar. It's not easy, but you can do it. Processing excess sugar and turning it into energy takes a lot of nutrition from your bloodstream. Vitamins, minerals and co-nutrients get paired up with these glucose molecules to get them into cells and out of your system. That doesn't leave enough nutrients to create hormones in the right amounts. So, your body is left with having to be really cheap with it's nutrient distribution. It doesn't give the sugar all the nutrients it needs, so a lot of the sugar gets deposited as fat. It also doesn't give hormone production all the nutrients it needs, or energy production, or immune defenses or sleep hormone production. Sugar causes a lot of health problems. PMS is one of them.
2. Take magnesium. If you know me at all as a nutritionist, you know this is one of the first things I tell a woman to take. Most of us are somewhat deficient in magnesium, and that deficiency in itself can cause low hormones. Women can take 300-400mg at bed time. Calcium is important as well, but if you take vitamin d, eat plenty of leafy greens, or eat a good bit of dairy, then you are getting enough calcium. Magnesium is depleted with stress, coffee intake, sweating, and eating too many carbs.
3. Eat flax. Ground flax is best. You can bake with it (try these crackers), add it to a smoothie, sprinkle it over a salad, or even take it as a supplement. Just a teaspoon of ground flax daily has been shown to reduce PMS by about 10-20%. I really wish I would have known this as a teenager. Flax helps in several ways. It can help reduce pain and inflammation, which helps reduce achy muscles and painful cramps. Lower inflammation also means improved mental health and reduced chances of heart disease and diabetes. Flax also has fiber, which helps you stay regular, and magnesium which, as I stated above, helps promote hormone balance.
A holistic approach to women's health and hormone balance is really the best way to go. When we have hormone imbalance it's our body letting us know something needs replacing. Replacing the hormones that are out of whack is one way to do it, and it works but could have long term consequenses. You can also help your body be healthier and have the nutrients it needs to balance itself out.
If you've tried the tips above and it's still not enough to get the relief you need .... you may need an eating plan overhaul and a detox. I can help! Send me a message on Facebook or fill out the form on my website, and I'll get you started on a customized eating plan to help balance hormones and a core supplement regimen. You can do this. I can help.
Image from Pixabay
The first thing is to consider going to see a Functional Medicine doctor, like Angelica Clark, PA, if you can. It seriously has helped me so much. She has encouraged me to work out and try to eat low sugar and that has helped a lot. You may have low progesterone or low estrogen, or men can have low testosterone. She can also do different tests to try to figure out why your levels are low.
But if you can't get to a good functional medicine doctor, or even if you can, you may want to tune-up your eating plan to support optimal hormone balance. Holistic health is about whole health, and it works best if you approach any issue you are having from several directions. Change one thing at a time, but the more variation of approach you can manage, the better the outcome. Changing your eating plan can seem overwhelming, but in this scenario I have just a handful of suggestions to get you started.
1. Eat low sugar, and consider completely eliminating refined sugar. It's not easy, but you can do it. Processing excess sugar and turning it into energy takes a lot of nutrition from your bloodstream. Vitamins, minerals and co-nutrients get paired up with these glucose molecules to get them into cells and out of your system. That doesn't leave enough nutrients to create hormones in the right amounts. So, your body is left with having to be really cheap with it's nutrient distribution. It doesn't give the sugar all the nutrients it needs, so a lot of the sugar gets deposited as fat. It also doesn't give hormone production all the nutrients it needs, or energy production, or immune defenses or sleep hormone production. Sugar causes a lot of health problems. PMS is one of them.
2. Take magnesium. If you know me at all as a nutritionist, you know this is one of the first things I tell a woman to take. Most of us are somewhat deficient in magnesium, and that deficiency in itself can cause low hormones. Women can take 300-400mg at bed time. Calcium is important as well, but if you take vitamin d, eat plenty of leafy greens, or eat a good bit of dairy, then you are getting enough calcium. Magnesium is depleted with stress, coffee intake, sweating, and eating too many carbs.
3. Eat flax. Ground flax is best. You can bake with it (try these crackers), add it to a smoothie, sprinkle it over a salad, or even take it as a supplement. Just a teaspoon of ground flax daily has been shown to reduce PMS by about 10-20%. I really wish I would have known this as a teenager. Flax helps in several ways. It can help reduce pain and inflammation, which helps reduce achy muscles and painful cramps. Lower inflammation also means improved mental health and reduced chances of heart disease and diabetes. Flax also has fiber, which helps you stay regular, and magnesium which, as I stated above, helps promote hormone balance.
A holistic approach to women's health and hormone balance is really the best way to go. When we have hormone imbalance it's our body letting us know something needs replacing. Replacing the hormones that are out of whack is one way to do it, and it works but could have long term consequenses. You can also help your body be healthier and have the nutrients it needs to balance itself out.
If you've tried the tips above and it's still not enough to get the relief you need .... you may need an eating plan overhaul and a detox. I can help! Send me a message on Facebook or fill out the form on my website, and I'll get you started on a customized eating plan to help balance hormones and a core supplement regimen. You can do this. I can help.
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