Hormonal Imbalance
Hormones. A topic close to my heart as I'm healing mine.
Have anyone told you that your periods, the condition of your skin and the state of your energy levels are all indicators of how well your hormones are balanced? Did anyone tell you how to find balance naturally? Our periods are truly a reflection of our self-care practises, the food that we eat, how we handle stress and our relationship to our bodies.
I've been diving deep into all the literature I could find surrounding hormonal health, how to heal from a hormonal imbalance naturally, the menstrual cycle and how, as women, to understand our own bodies, rhythms and flows. I've learned that we hold an awesome potential within our female bodies and that our menstrual cycle is just a reflection of our overall health and well being. In other words, if there is something off with our menstrual cycle, there is something off in our health too. So the big question is, what is signs of a unhealthy menstrual cycle and hormonal imbalance?
We grow up in a society where the understanding of our hormones and menstrual cycle is quite limited. In fact, the menstrual cycle has been denied, demonized and rejected within our culture. We've been led to believe it's a limitation or a weakness we must overcome to succeed and that it's a handicap that makes women emotionally unstable and inconsistent in their behaviour. We have no idea of what's going on in our bodies on a monthly basis throughout our whole life, no idea what this cycle means, what the different phases means and much less how to support ourselves through these different times. Our menstruation phase is a taboo, something we should hide and not speak about. But do you really think a cycle that follows us through our lives doesn't matter? And that the same flow has nothing to do with our health, wellbeing and how we approach life? It's true that women do change throughout the menstrual month, but those changes do not equal unreliability or weakness. In fact, having a menstrual cycle, and knowing it by being aware of it, gives a woman much more predictability around her moods and energy than someone without one. And it also gives her a wonderful capacity to work with change, the fact of life that so many of us resist.
So many women these days suffer from hormonal imbalances, many whom doesn’t even know. PMS, irregular cycles, headaches and migraines, painful cramps during the menstural phase, emotional highs and lows, infertility, PCOS, heavy periods and bleeding, endometriosis, bloating, digestive problems, difficulties loosing weight, fatigue, low libido and acne all in which are clear signs that there is an underlying hormonal imbalance. Something which many of us are told are normal, or it has been so common that it has become the norm. Women of all ages suffer through these conditions on a monthly basis, and not being aware of that they don’t have to. PMS and painful cramps are not natural or normal, unlike what society has made "normal". I repeat, not normal. It's a hormonal imbalance. As women we are not meant to suffer every single month and these hormonal imbalances can lead to more serious things if not healed.
There are many things we can do to start healing our hormones naturally and holistically. First, we must address the underlying reasons for hormonal imbalance and then use medicinal foods and lifestyle changes to bring the endocrine system (which is the system that works together to control the level of hormones circulating throughout your body) back to balance and optimal functioning. We do this by using food therapeutically to strengthen the health of the organs of hormone production and balance, such as the adrenal gland and liver.
The reason behind many of our hormonal related symptoms such as acne, PMS and endometriosis is increased levels of the hormone estrogen and the inability of the body to break this down. This again is caused by gut dysbiosis and liver inefficiency. The condition of having too high estrogen levels, is called estrogen dominance, a condition where the estrogen-progesterone ratio is out of balance. High levels of estrogen also increases your risk for estrogenic cancers such as breast, uterine, ovarian and thyroid cancer. I'll try to explain some of the reasons why you end up with high estrogen levels, and other hormonal imbalances in the first place, before helping you with knowledge on how to adapt a lifestyle that both improves the elimination of estrogen and minimizes exposure to chemical estrogens.
Some of the causes of hormonal imbalance
- Stress
- Pollution, chemicals, pesticides and other toxins in our environment
- Antibiotics, hormonal birth control and other pharmasuticals and medications
- Poor diet and digestion
- Conventional personal care, cosmetics and beauty products (containing xenoestrogens and parabens)
- Growth hormone found in conventional farmed animals (if you eat animals loaded with hormones, its gonna do something to you too)
- Heavy consumpotion of soy based foods
What we can do to balance our hormones
Clean up your personal care items
Soaps, shampoos, deodorants, lotions, perfumes, cosmetics and haircare products. Check labels, and aim for paraben and fragrance free prpoducts. As natural as possible. Conventional beauty products are loaded with toxins and harmful chemicals that our bodies absorb through our skin. Where do you think that face cream is, when the bottle is empty? It's in your body.
In average, women come into contact with 168 chemicals each day, and the women of today are exposed to more xenoestrogenic toxins in a thirty-day period than our grandmother’s generation was exposed to over the course of their entire lives. Xenoestrogens acts as an estrogen in the body, so it disrupts the natural flow, making you estrogen-dominant.
Avoid xenoestrogens
Xenoestrogens doesn't just exist in our personal care items, it's also lurking in our diet. Avoid eating conventional raised animal’s foods, as most animals raised for humans to eat, are fed soy, which contains high amounts of phytoestrogens, a type of xenoestrogens. But there are more problems with conventional meat. Not only are the animals fed soy, which makes you consume soy too, they are also most likely fed antibiotics and growth-hormones, meaning you will indirectly consume it as well. You eating antibiotics persistently is extremely dangerous, both for your health and for the risk of being resistant to antibiotics. Remember, you are not only what you eat, but you are what you eat ate.
Eat organic produce as studies show that eliminating the pesticides (pesticides are also a xenoestrogen) found on food from your diet by going all-organic for just two weeks has a hugely positive impact on your body.
Assist and support your bodies detoxification channels and organs
Our body naturally detoxifies all the time, but because we're exposed to all these environmental stressors, synthetic hormones from contraceptives, air pollution, pesticides, chemicals in food and skincare, medications and other harmful substances, our liver, digestion and other channels and organs gets sluggish due to the toxic overload.
Especially our livers which has many important functions, but only a certain capacity, can be weak after everything we're exposed to. One on the liver functions is to metabolise and excrete old and used hormones, as well as other substances and toxins.
Exercise, sweating and moving the lymphatic system is going to help press toxicity out through your skin, which is your largest detoxification organ. Sauna is a great way to push those excess estrogen compounds out of your system. Plenty of water for your kidneys and natural fiber from real plant foods for your colon. As already mentioned, detoxification processes naturally occur all the time, regardless of whether you are on a detox or not. The whole point of this is to support the functions that is already happening within your body.
Address and reduce overall stress
Stress causes high cortisol, decreased digestion and an increased estrogen level as your body convert progesterone into the stress hormone cortisol under stress. This causes a depletion in progesterone, which essentialy balances estrogen in the body and helps to keep a normal mensural cycle. If progesterone gets too low because it's getting converted into cortisol, this is automatically going to have your estrogen levels be high. Stress will also put extra pressure on the liver, as stress affects insulin and blood sugar levels, which is the livers job to keep stabilized. Emotional stress is just as bad, so try to address all the stressors in your life.
Stress also depletes essential nutrients such as magnesium and vitamin B.
Coming off hormonal birth control
Birth control pills are the most disrupted substance for our hormones, this cannot be stressed enough. If you currently use hormonal birth control of any kind I cannot urge you strongly enough to consider natural birth control alternatives instead. There are many other safer ways to prevent pregnancy. Read more about the dangers of the pill here and here.
Sleep
In all realness sleep is just as important, if not more important than nutrition and exercise. Our body heals, repairs and rebuilds itself while we sleep so it is crucial to give it enough time. Sleep in a completely blacked out room, this promotes the most production of melatonin and gets you into a deeper sleep as melatonin synthesis and release are stimulated by darkness and suppressed by light.
Keeping a stabilized blood sugar
High blood sugar equals high insulin. Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas that allows your body to use sugar (glucose) from carbohydrates in the food that you eat for energy or to store glucose for future use. Insulin keeps your blood sugar level from getting too high (hyperglycemia) or too low (hypoglycemia).
High blood sugar levels set off a domino effect of negative reactions throughout the body, and chronically high blood sugar levels set the stage for everything from weight gain, chronic fatigue, and multiple hormone imbalances to diseases like diabetes. Different systems within the body work together, interconnected and reliant upon each other, meaning that the pancreas and liver as well as the adrenal glands and cortisol (stress hormone) levels are affected by high blood sugar levels. These in turn can set off estrogen, progesterone and testosterone imbalances. When you balance your blood sugar, you stabilize systems and processes throughout the body that promote health and vitality.
The liver and pancreas function to regulate our blood sugar levels and eliminate excess hormones and toxins. If your liver and pancreas are too busy figuring out your blood sugar issues, then they won’t ever be able to concentrate their efforts on getting rid of all of the synthetic estrogens we absorb every day in the form of plastics, cleaners, beauty products and more. Therefore, a controlled blood sugar allows your liver to complete its other important duties, including processing excess estrogen so that you can avoid one of the main causes of many hormonal imbalance issues and other female diseases which is estrogen-dominance.
Persistently high insulin can lead to a high fat mass and poor hormonal balance, and this interferes with estrogen metabolism.
Foods to avoid
Transfats and processed fats and fatty foods
Like fastfood, bacon, fried foods, overly processed foods and refined oils.
Gluten
Gluten contributes to inflammation of the gut and leaky gut syndrome, and is absolutely a potential trigger for hormonal imbalances.
Dairy
This is a big one. I would literally recommend everyone to stop consuming diary products. So many people, my self included, experience a BIG difference when you stop eating all these products causing inflammation in our bodies. Aside from the fact that a lot of our dairy options include synthetic hormones that add to your body’s hormone excess, dairy containing antibiotics (which a lot of if does) will negatively impact your microbiome thereby preventing estrogen metabolism.
Sugar
Sugar triggers inflammation in your body, which again triggers PMS. Sugar depletes the body of minerals, and it also causes major fluctuations in blood sugar which contributes to worsened PMS symptoms, headaches, acne, low energy, etc.
Caffeine
Caffeine will strip your body of essential B vitamins, magnesium, and zinc as well as triggering bloating, especially in the second half of your cycle.
Processed and packaged foods
This contains high amounts of sugar, salt, MSG, chemicals, pesticides, etc. Try to choose more whole foods and be very conscious when looking at ingredients in prepackaged foods.
Alcohol
Alcohol causes gut imbalance, it messes with our stress hormones and can cause heavy cramping during our menstrual phase. Estrogen levels are increased by consuming alcohol in both men and women and it has even been shown to lower testosterone. Certain organic red wines seem to be on the safer side, but besides this, it is recommended that one avoids all alcohol for the best estrogen metabolism.
Soy
Soy products contain high levels of phytoestrogens, plant estrogens that mimic the body’s natural estrogen hormones. This can create estrogen overload and a hormonal imbalance. If your body is already struggling to break down excess estrogen, which is showing itself in estrogen-dominant conditions, then consuming soy will only add to the problem.
Unfermented soy like tofu is a naturally estrogenic high food. It is also a highly genetically modified food and contains many endocrine disrupting chemicals. Soy also contains anti-nutrients like lectins and phytates. This prevents you from absorbing nutrients not just from the soy, but also from the rest of the food your are eating, meaning you will miss essential nutrients in your diet.
With the vegan and plant based diets, more and more people are eating tofu and meat substitutes. If you need soy in your diet, I recommend choosing fermented soy products like tempeh and miso and always choose organic and non-GMO as it's easier on your hormones, gut and thyroid. Fermented soy are different from things like tofu, because the fermentation process breaks down the anti-nutrients so that you can actually absorb, assimilate and digest the nutrients found in soy.
The whole thing about soy being a health food is a misunderstanding. Soy's popularity exploded in the 1980s and '90s as a food with many health benefits. This conclusion came from the observation of Asian people and that they appear to have improved health and longevity and their consumption of soy based foods. It's absolutely right that they eat a lot of soy in Asia, but they eat a different type of soy, a fermented soy. Despite this it's usually in the form of a condiment or a side dish, never the main meal.
If you’re a woman consuming foods that increase estrogen levels, it's going to increase your risk for many of the hormonal issues mentioned earlier. If you want to read more about anti-nutrients, read one of my previous posts about sprouting here.
Foods to start incorporating
Natural detoxifying foods
Dark leafy greens are amazing for detoxification, because they contain chlorophyl. Beets will help cleanse your liver, while cucumber will help you hydrate. Cilantro will help you detox from heavy metals and other toxins stored in your body.
Healthy fats
I've already addressed the importance of stabilized blood sugar levels for hormonal balance and a healthy liver. Healthy fats helps with this, so make sure to incorporate good quality fats like avocado, extra virgin olive oil, coconut milk, coconut butter, coconut oil, MCT and hemp seeds among other high quality fats.
Fats are absolutely essential for building hormones as well as helping them circulate around the body and reach their necessary destinations. Our hormones need good fats to float around the bloodstream.
Fiber
You eliminate a lot of estrogen through your colon, and if you digestion is sluggish, your tissue will re-absorbe the estrogen, and it will get packed up in your liver, which already trying to deal with new rounds of estrogen that needs to be eliminated. If you’re not getting enough fiber, you keep recycling the estrogen over and over and over again. So we need to get enough fiber to help our bodies process and move the used and the excess estrogen compounds out of our system in a safe way.
Eat colourful veggies and seeds like chia which are full of antioxidants and fiber to aid with your body in the healing process.
Probiotics
For a healthy gut. Fermented foods is a great source of good bacteria, organic acids, enzymes and other beneficial nutrients.
Healing spices and herbs
Cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, garlic, licorice, fennel and dandelion.
