Hormonal issues can cause all kinds of problems. Mood swings, sleep issues and mental health issues can often be made worse or caused by hormone imbalances. Many gynae issues such as PCOS, fibroids, cysts, fertility issues and endometriosis all require balanced hormones to give your body a chance to deal with them. Too much oestrogen encourages unwanted growths such as cysts, fibroids and endo cells where they shouldn’t be. These cause all kinds of symptoms and problems and it’s crucial to help your hormones balance if you want the symptoms to improve.
Despite hormonal problems impacting so much and being so common many people still don’t know that there’s loads you can do yourself to balance your hormones. If you have any of the issues mentioned here this is a really good place to start that healing journey. Once your hormones are more balanced, your body is often a lot more capable of dealing with the problems they are impacting.
So what can you do to balance hormones?
Much less sugar
Sugar really disrupts hormones. Insulin spikes lower SHBG which leaves us with too much oestrogen. Other than growths mentioned above this excess oestrogen can also cause weight gain, mood swings, anxiety and sleep issues. During menopause this can make hot flashes and night sweats worse too. Reducing sugar is really important for hormone balance. If you are having sugar cravings the best thing to do is take chromium.
Sugar cravings indicate your chromium levels are probably low. We use chromium to balance our blood sugar but any stages where we’ve had lots of sugar mean the chromium gets low, blood sugar isn’t balanced and then we get cravings. This usually means eating more sugar and makes things worse. Taking chromium stops the cravings which makes it way easier to reduce how much you are sugar you are eating. Take a food/natural source chromium (best for absorption) for a month. Cravings usually start to ease up after 2-3 weeks. In the meantime, try to reach for fruit first. This helps deal with the craving but also gives you fibre to help digest any sugar you do have. You can repeat this process at anytime if you overdo the sugar and cravings start again.
Do not switch to diet drinks or anything containing aspartame. Regular consumption of this sweetener massively increases your risk of strokes and heart issues.
Improve digestion
You have bacteria in your gut that stops you recycling excess oestrogen. If your digestion is bad then this can really impact hormones. Improving your gut flora can really help. Clearing any blockages out of your gut can really help to. Plenty of fibre through lots of fruit and vegetables is important for keeping the gut healthy and helps digest sugar too.
Cruciferous vegetables such as collard greens, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, kale, radishes and turnips, among others contain indole-3-carbinol. This important compound inhibits the formation of unwanted growths/tumours caused by excess oestrogen.
Abdominal Massage
This massage is great to help balance hormones. It drastically improves digestion by helping to clear old blockages and stretch out the gut. It reduces inflammation and improves circulation which helps your digestive system flow much better. This in turn lets the gut flora get back to normal which helps reduce excess oestrogen. It also helps circulation to the ovaries as well, which means hormones can flow better and balance more easily. The massage is great for helping symptoms and causes for issues such as PCOS, cysts, fibroids and endometriosis as well. To book a session click here. For more information about how the massage can help you book a free discovery call here.
Avoid hormone disrupting chemicals
Sodium laureth/lauryl sulphates (SLS), BPAs, phthalates and phenoxyethanol are some of the most common hormone disruptors. They are very absorbable and once in the blood stream mimic hormones so they wreak havoc with your body’s ability to balance everything. Switch to glass containers where possible and never heat anything in plastic you are going to consume. This also reduces cancer risks. For SLS (soap softener) switch to more natural alternatives such as hard soap, faith in nature or other products with less chemicals. Sometimes buying these from places that let you refill or in bigger quantities online make them much cheaper.
Zinc and Manganese
Zinc and manganese are two nutrients your body uses to make and balance hormones. If you don’t have enough then hormones are more likely to be disrupted. Zinc is a common deficiency but it’s also suppressed by hormonal contraceptives. If you taken these for any length of time then zinc deficiency is pretty likely. Take a food or natural source supplement 2 months to help balance hormones. If you are taking hormonal contraceptives at the moment, it’s a good idea to take zinc regularly. Zinc also helps your skin look younger and healthier too, so definitely a good one to top up.
Reduce Stress
Easier said than done but it’s important to see if you can reduce you stress. Adrenaline impacts hormone cycles and will disrupt them if there’s too much. You can’t always alter the source of your stress but you can work on how it impacts you. Mediation, deep breathing, getting out in nature, journaling and therapy have all been shown to reduce stress. Take some time for you and find what helps. If you want to get better you need to build some of that into your life regularly.
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