What is the best diet to balance women's hormones?
Eating a diet high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats and protein keeps hormones balanced. Not eating enough total calories, healthy fats or fiber can disrupt hormones and may lead to conditions like obesity, diabetes, infertility and cancer.
This leads to changes in your estrogen, progesterone and testosterone, leading to those imbalance symptoms. For this reason, it's crucial to find balance. Try to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep each night, take an hour for yourself at some point in the day, eat healthily and don't skip meals.
Fatigue is one of the most common symptoms of a hormone imbalance. Excess progesterone can make you sleepy. And if your thyroid -- the butterfly-shaped gland in your neck -- makes too little thyroid hormone, it can sap your energy. A simple blood test called a thyroid panel can tell you if your levels are too low.
How Long Does It Take to Balance Hormones? As you can imagine, this varies. However, research shows that by taking a holistic, well-rounded approach, you can balance your hormones in less than four months. In fact, you can significantly reduce the amount of chemicals and pesticides in your body, in one week.
Raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries are all hormone balancing foods packed with great nutrients. Berries are rich sources of vitamin C, which regulates your progesterone levels, particularly during the luteal (PMS) phase of your cycle [1].
Pair 2-3 boiled eggs with some avocado and garlic salt for the perfect, nourishing breakfast. Eggs contain fat and protein, avocado contains additional healthy fats, and garlic contains compounds that support healthy hormone metabolism and hormone balance.
Natural ways to balance your hormones include eating anti-inflammatory polyunsaturated fats, reducing your exposure to endocrine disruptors, getting adequate sleep, and using supplements to fill in any nutritional gaps related to gut health and vitamin D levels.
Women often experience hormonal imbalance at predictable and naturally occurring points in their lives (menstruation, puberty, pregnancy and menopause). Certain medical conditions, lifestyle habits, environmental conditions, and endocrine gland malfunctions can be other causes of hormonal imbalance in females.
A Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center study involving postmenopausal, overweight, and obese women who took 2,000 IUs of vitamin D daily for a year found that those whose vitamin D blood levels increased the most had the greatest reductions in blood estrogens, which are a known risk factor for breast cancer.
A combination of diet and exercise may help symptoms. A person can perform exercises that burn fat, such as running, walking, and other aerobic activity. Reducing the calories a person consumes can also help. A person can learn more about how to reduce belly fat here.
Magnesium is one of the most essential minerals to help balance hormones. While you can take a supplement, and even spray your skin with magnesium spray, there's no better way of getting the magnesium you need than from the foods you eat.
Hormonal imbalances may be to blame for a range of unwanted symptoms from fatigue or weight gain to itchy skin or low mood. Hormones are chemicals produced by glands in the endocrine system and released into the bloodstream. An imbalance occurs when there is too much or too little of a hormone.
The five most important hormonal imbalances are diabetes, hypo- and hyperthyroidism, adrenal insufficiency, polycystic ovary syndrome, and hypogonadism.
What happens if a hormone imbalance goes untreated?
Dangers of Hormone Imbalance
Particularly in women, a hormonal imbalance could indicate early onset of menopause, polycystic ovary syndrome, primary ovarian insufficiency and even ovarian cancer, among other conditions. In men, hormone imbalance could indicate any number of conditions, including prostate cancer.
