When you think of a fix for your hormonal imbalances, I’m guessing things like the birth control pill or hormone replacement therapy come to mind? Or maybe you’ve been told that there’s no fix and it’s just part of being a woman?
I’m here to tell you what I wish I had known.
Yes, hormones are complicated, but no, it doesn’t take synthetic hormones or the birth control pill to fix it. There are four main principles that are the first steps in balancing your hormones and here is a tip for each. These also happen to be the 4 topics we are covering in the Wellness Challenge.
Believe it or not, there’s more to your digestion than your poops. I’ve seen lots of clients with seemingly ‘normal’ digestion, that actually have a real imbalance of gut flora (the good and bad bacteria in your gut). Why does it matter? Well, more and more research is showing that the good bacteria actually help metabolize excess estrogens, one of the most common hormone imbalances!
Signs of excess estrogens include:
We are spending two full weeks talking digestion during the Wellness Challenge (early bird pricing on now), so whether or not you need to improve your actual bowel movements, there will be a lot of valuable information on the gut flora and how to improve it.
If you read my carbohydrate post this week, you know the importance of eating the right carbs at the right time to balance your blood sugar and energy. This is the absolute foundation of the Wellness Challenge because without balanced blood sugar, you have no hope of having balanced hormones, and every single meal plan you receive has high protein, low sugar recipes!
For women that experience PCOS, infertility or acne from high androgens (testosterone), step one is to balance their blood sugar. If you take away one thing from this, start your day with 25-30g of protein – you can try any of my shake recipes.
If you’ve experienced chronic stress, whether from food intolerances, relationships, work or poor self care, chances are your stress hormones are out of whack, particularly cortisol. Unfortunately, when your cortisol is in overdrive, it can actually deplete your progesterone.
Signs of depleted progesterone include:
Step one in improving your progesterone & energy is managing your cortisol. Throughout the Wellness Challenge, you will be taught super simple, yet impactful habits you can implement that are proven to balance cortisol.
Last, but certainly not least, you need to detox those excess hormones. When you detox, the weight falls off. By detox, I’m talking about supporting your liver, and removing the items you’re ingesting (food, chemicals, liquids) that are harmful to the body.
We will be spending two weeks on this in the Wellness Challenge, but to get you started, could you aim to eat one-two servings of cruciferous veggies every day? Cruciferous vegetables are cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower or Brussels sprouts. The challenge will have TONS of recipes with these foods that taste sooooo delicious.
If you are struggling with hormone issues, whether it’s fertility, terrible PMS, weight gain, moodiness, low energy or even cravings, join the Wellness Challenge and take the right steps to finally feel better in 2016.
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