This week, I want to talk a little about hormones. Because all us women have got them. And chances are, they might not be working as perfectly as possible. If this is the case, they might leave you feeling less than stellar.
I truly appreciate Western medicine. And I’ve seen first hand how it can save lives. But one of the things that drives me batty is that doctors will prescribe medication to reduce symptoms, instead of also looking at the underlying total body imbalance. And many of us grow complacent, thinking medication will be our savior.
But the good news is that, with diet, lifestyle changes, and herbs, you’re likely able to improve how your hormones function. Healing doesn’t happen overnight. But even if you are taking medication for a hormone imbalance, many of these suggestions may work with the medication to improve your experience.
Suggestions for hormone balance
Estrogen dominance is when you have too much estrogen and too little of the other hormones. Lots of women suffer from this. And when you’re estrogen dominant, you obviously want to reduce the amount of estrogen in your body.
But before we got started, I want to make this important note. You can still be estrogen dominant even if you’ve been through menopause. You might have less estrogen in your body. But if you have more estrogen than other female sex hormones, you’re still estrogen dominant.
And how many of these foods or lifestyle habits should you add? You should add as many of the foods and lifestyle habits as possible. You want a good amount of foods that help lower estrogen’s effect on the body. And you want to rid your environment of as many artificial estrogens as possible. The herbs are more dependent on other medications your taking as well as your particular body. Talk with a nutritionist, acupuncturist or natural doctor if possible.
These foods help detox estrogen.
- Leafy greens
- Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli,, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, etc.)
- Onions
- Garlic
- Rosemary
- Turmeric
- Oregano
You can consider adding phytoestrogens to your diet. Phytoestrogens are a natural, weaker form of estrogen. And they attach to estrogen receptors in your body. And the school of thought is that this protects the body from the more dangerous forms of estrogen manufactured in the body.
Good sources of phytoestrogens
- Fermented, organic, non-gmo soy. Please stay away from other forms of soy as they are hormone disruptors.
- Flaxseeds
- Pumpkin seeds
- Sesame seeds
- Sunflower seeds
- Lentils
- Yams
Fats to help balance hormones
Your body needs fat to build hormones. But, the type of fat you eat determines the quality of the hormones you build. So focus on the most health promoting fats to support hormone balance.
- Unrefined virgin coconut oil
- Omega-3s from wild fish like salmon
- Avocado
- Raw, unpasteurized butter (from a reliable source)ined, cold processed
Lifestyle tips to help balance hormones
- Exercise for at least 30 minutes, 5 times a week Make sure to include exercise the gets your heart rate going.
- Meditate or do yoga – reducing stress hormones helps reduce estrogen
- Get a good water filter to take out environmental estrogen from your drinking water
- Stop cooking with plastics
- Avoid canned goods unless BPA free (especially avoid canned tomatoes as they easily absorb BPA)
- Use all natural cleaners, body products and cosmetics
- Don’t smoke…duh!
Herbs to help promote hormone balance.
Talk with your physician before taking any new herbs, especially if you are already on some type of medication.
- Maca
- Ashwhaghanda
- Milk Thistle
- Dong Quai
- Chasteberry
Other supplements to consider
Hey, I talked about most of these last week. But I’m talking about them again because they can support hormone balance
- Fish oil
- Probiotics
- Vitamin D-3
- Evening primrose oil
- Iodine
Again, remember to have patience
You can’t expect to live healthy for a week or two and have a long-term problem solved. We’re not waving a magic wand here. The best approach is to think of supporting your natural healing process. And the more you support healing, the better the results you’re likely to see.
If all this seems overwhelming, start slowly. Find a change you can live with and start there. More changes will follow. And before you know it, hormonal troubles might be a thing of your past.
I have so many hormone issues.. my body also disagrees with any additional hormones that may be added via medication. I do not react well. I’m ready to try lots of these, great post.
Sorry to hear you’ve had such hormone difficulty. I hope some of these additions can be helpful to you.
Great tips, thanks for sharing! Do you have any tips for balancing low estrogen levels? Would love to read if you do!
It would be some of the same things I’ve already mentioned. Especially eating the foods with the phytoestrogens that I mentioned. And you can consider supplementing with maca or donq quai which have estrogen-like qualities. And chasteberry helps naturally balance your hormones which would help if you are low estrogen. It is a little bit of trial and error to see what will work for you.
Some great tips here! I don’t think my hormones are balanced very well so I should do some of these!
Great read. I certainly have had some issues with hormone imbalance so going to try a few of these tips thanks
The older I get, the more my hormones are out of whack. Add having babies into the mix, and forget about it. I need to try some of these.
I don’t know a lot about this subject, but your article sounds helpful for those who need it! Eating the right food seems beneficial.
I know when I was on the pill when I was younger, it made my hormones go all crazy. It was super annoying. After I had my daughter though, I just didn’t take anything and felt much better. I never really looked into foods or anything to help
Hormone imbalance is something that a lot of women experience and what’s nice is that you can treat it the natural way. You can really see how much our diet and activities affect our hormones and what we can do about it and I think this is such a helpful guide!
It’s so important to take care of your mind and your body. The older we get, the harder it gets and living a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise and a halthy diet can help to combat a lot of issues- including hormonal! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for the helpful tips. There are days when I feel like my hormones all over the place. I need to take some of these supplements.
I’ve been starting to think a lot about the products I put on my body because it’s crazy how they affect hormones. I became super aware when I was pregnant.
These are such wonderful tips! I love herbs like ashwagandha. Ashwagandha is also beneficial for anxiety.
I totally agree with you that a healthier lifestyle can be a huge help with hormone problems as opposed to just being on tablets x
Having experienced this first hand, I think it’s great that you’re sharing this for other women to see and learn from. It’s good to know what we can do and what we can change to boost our health and battle hormone imbalance.
I’m all for doing things the natural way, especially since so many hormone replacement meds have very bad side effects or risks. Changing your diet and working out can really help you feel more in control of your body.
I have crazy hormone issues. I’m breastfeeding right now though so I am thinking that is why, but this is all such great info. Good to know.
Wow I had no idea all of these different foods could help balance your hormones! I am all about natural ways to help your body function better.
As a woman who suffers from PCOS I totally appreciate this post! These are things I’m trying to do in my own life, but if I’m being honest I can do better. I go stretches of doing good on focusing on what I put in my body and then I fall off the wagon. I’m happy to say exercise and meditation are pretty much daily activities for me, and I’d have no other way. 🙂
-Dean
Wow, I was looking for a post like this. Sometimes I feel like my hormones out of whack. I prefer to try natural remedies than pills.
It is so true. Doctors think that medicine can solve anything but it not needed in every case. I believe that in many cases natural remedies are best x
These are all great tips. For me it’s always all about balance. A healthy balanced diet with exercise seems to keep me feeling well but I should keep an eye on everything you mentioned too.
I think my hormones are totally out of whack, so I definitely need to try these tips. I’ll start with the supplements, since they’re the easiest to find! The herbs are all so beneficial, too. I studied up on herbs for women when I was TTC for 6 years and learned a lot.
My hormones have been so out of whack since I had my daughter 6 years ago. It’s been rough! I really need to use this post as a guide!
I think patience is the problem for a lot of people. They want the results but a lot give up after a week or two when they see none. For a lot of these things I feel like you have to do them for two months or more before you see results.
I swear Turmeric works for everything!!! I had no idea it helped with hormones. Definitely makes sense though considering all the other things it helps with
Glad to see that many of these foods are among my favorites. I’d like to get on the Tumeric bandwagon because I hear such good stuff about it.