How To Balance Your Hormones (And Why It Matters!)
So many health professionals make health out to be so complicated, but the truth is it’s actually very simple!
Our bodies have this inner intelligence that knows what we need at all times - you’ve had this in you ever since you were created! We can achieve optimal health when we are able to tune into these intuitive signals and decipher the messages our bodies are sending us.
But you might be wondering how on earth to do that, and how to even know if we’re getting the right messages?
The answer has everything to do with these things called hormones!
And that’s what I’m chatting about in this blog today. We’re going to explore the amazing topic of hormonal health and cover:
what hormones are
why they’re so important
and how to keep them happy and balanced!
Let’s get into it.
What are hormones?
Hormones are like little messengers that help us navigate life. Hormones are controlled by our endocrine glands, and they send messages to our body to signal what needs to happen at what time.
Hormones specifically control things in our body like:
Growth and development (which is why they are specifically important for women who plan to be, or are, mothers!)
Metabolism
Sexual function and the reproductive system
Mood
So you can see how any kind of imbalance in the hormonal system can wreak havoc on our body and our lives, especially as women!
What causes hormonal imbalances?
When we get overworked and overstressed for too long our bodies become weak and vulnerable. Because our hormones control how our body deals with stress, excess stress quickly leads to hormonal imbalances that can show up as a variety of crazy (and unwanted) symptoms.
Other things that can burn us out and cause hormonal imbalances are:
Poor nutrition quality and/or nutritional deficiencies
Unmanaged stress
Environmental toxins
Lack of sleep
Emotional distress
When it comes to hormonal health prevention is huge! Don’t wait until something is a problem to take action - it’s often much harder to fix a problem than it is to prevent one! If you can keep your hormones balanced and healthy now, you’re going to be in a much better position later in life to stay healthy and vibrant well into your older years.
Remember - Prevention is sexy!
What happens when we have a hormonal imbalance?
In Australia, 12% of women - that’s 1.5 million women - have such poor hormonal health that they have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)! PCOS is the precursor to ovarian cancer, breast cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and so much more.
If we don’t teach young women how to give their body what it needs, we’re going to end up with skyrocketing women's health issues in the next 5-10 years. Just think about the massive impact this could have on our society - the health of women impacts not just the individual, but the entire family unit
Common symptoms of hormonal imbalance include:
Fatigue and exhaustion
Tired on waking
“Tired and wired” (when you feel exhausted but you can’t get to sleep)
Overwhelmed and irritable
Brain fog
Poor immune system
These symptoms can happen to any of us at any age! But hormonal imbalance is especially common in mums due to the high stress (both mental and physical) associated with both pregnancy and motherhood.
How pregnancy and motherhood put women at risk of hormone imbalances
Growing a baby places a significant toll on the mum! And this toll doesn’t end once the baby is born, having a child causes ongoing consequences like:
Lethargy
Memory disturbances
Poor energy levels
Hormonal concerns
Did you know that, on average, a mum's brain shrinks 5% in the prenatal period as it supports the growth of the baby? How crazy is that! Baby brain is REAL!
While a woman is pregnant, there is quite a lot of support and care, but as soon as the baby is born all the focus goes to the baby and there is very little focus on the mother. Mums also tend to put their own needs to the side to serve their children and this can continue for decades.
The main problem is that women are often depleted leading up to conception and pregnancy - careers, demanding social schedules, and chronic sleep deprivation is the norm in our society. This is why prevention is HUGE for women in particular - we don’t even realise it’s happening and the profound effect this mental and physical depletion can have on our future family.
When a baby is growing it takes everything it needs from the mother, including essential fatty acids which are necessary for brain development (the mother’s brain shrinks as the baby’s grows!)
The signs of hormonal imbalance we spoke about earlier are very commonly seen in mums and we call it postnatal depletion.
Many mums will battle on through this depletion so they can take care of their children - they’re so strong they can battle on for months, even years, until their body shuts down!
Postnatal depletion is a precursor to postnatal depression, so it’s essential to correct these imbalances as early as possible.
Beware of fake health foods!
Many foods are portrayed as health foods but are actually messing with our bodies. Many of these fake “health” foods include ingredients like:
Regulators
Flavour enhancers
Emulsifiers
Synthetic vitamins
Additives and preservatives
Fortifiers
None of this stuff is natural! It’s not about being scared of it, but being aware of what you’re really putting in your body. Too much of these fake foods and not enough real whole foods can contribute to messed up hormones.
Self care and self responsibility is important because we need to know what we are putting in our body, and into our family
In addition to food additives and preservatives, other sources of toxicity in our environment include:
Industrial chemicals
Pesticides
Endocrine disruptors (plastics in the ocean leak out phthalates!)
Toxic metals
Most of us will reach for some kind of synthetic supplement to counteract all of this…but unfortunately most of these supplements are not bioavailable and aren’t helping the way we think they are!
It’s not how much we put in, but how much is absorbed over a long period of time.
How to restore hormonal balance and health
It’s all about rebuilding our body from the inside out! We’ve got to look after ourselves by nourishing our body and looking after ourselves BEFORE it’s a problem.
Nutrition is key when it comes to balancing your hormones:
Nutrition from primarily whole food sources, full of micronutrients
Correcting any deficiencies, specifically Iron, Vitamin B12, Zinc, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Magnesium, and Copper
Universally women need DHA (DHA is an essential fatty acid that babies use to build their brains) which is vital for repairing the central nervous system and brain
Including enough healthy fats in the diet - things like nuts, seeds, and healthy oils (these fats help our hormones function!)
In order to thrive and combat stress, we must take in between 9-13 serves of whole foods a day, covering the whole colour spectrum. Sounds like a lot? That’s because it is! Most people definitely don’t get the number of whole foods they need each day, and our kids don’t either!
Here’s some alarming stats about the whole food reality here in Aus:
2 out of 3 Australians don’t come close to getting the amount of veggies they need to prevent disease
Less than 2% of Australians meet their daily whole food requirements (and less than 1% of children eat enough whole foods!)
Whole foods are completely necessary for ALL humans, every single day. We often think the answer is to supplement with a vitamin, but often the answer is to just eat more whole foods!
The most simple way we have found to quickly and easily get all the whole foods into our body that we need is to use a proven whole food based nutritional support (like the one all our Healthstyle Emporium members use and love!)
The whole food nutraceutical we use is like food in a capsule - it makes meeting our nutritional needs so much easier and more sustainable. It’s also backed by peer reviewed medical research published in quality journals and it’s 100% bioavailable because it’s made from real whole foods - 30 different whole food varieties in a vegan capsule!
Not only is nutrition important, but gentle movement and stretching is also important. Living sedentary can actually worsen symptoms of fatigue and brain fog, so it’s essential to find a way of moving that you love and can do daily - even if that’s just walking!
Women also need to stretch because we tend to develop poor posture - rounded shoulders, slumped back, head stuck out forward - especially during pregnancy and motherhood, but also when working a desk job or through generally living a sedentary lifestyle.
Poor posture like this not only leads to pain and injuries, but also restricts our breathing which can impact our organ health.
When the body has its nutrient deficiencies sorted and gets support around sleep and lifestyle, hormone health almost always improves
Why relaxation and sleep are critical to our hormone health
Most of us, especially us women, don’t know how to switch off! Even when we sit down for some self-care or relaxation practice, often we are still stressing or thinking about other things.
We’ll never be completely free from stress (and we actually need some level of stress to function normally!) but we need to become resilient. Resiliency means stress can just bounce off us, rather than stress having a huge impact on the way we respond and function.
A few techniques that can help with stress-relief and relaxation are:
Diaphragmatic or belly breathing
Meditation
Using a Joy Menu (check out this blog where I talk about that!)
Journalling
Getting high quality sleep is also critical to our hormone health. It’s almost impossible for our body and our brain to function when we are sleep deprived!
Here’s how to get the best night sleep:
Keep the room as dark and cool as possible
No EMFs (that means keep phones out of your room!)
Avoid using your computer and phone or watching TV within an hour before bed time
Also try to avoid anything that will cause emotional stress close to bed time
Aim to get to sleep before 10pm if possible
Feeling tired during the day is a sign that something is out of sync. Look at your nutrition, sleep, and stress management as a whole and work to improve each area little by little.
You don’t have to overhaul your entire life in one go (that could actually just worsen your stress!) but it’s about having that awareness and respect for your body and your hormones.
Remember that innate intelligence we spoke about in the beginning? It’s time to tune in to your body and begin to notice when it needs something different and listen to what it’s asking for.
If you’re not sure where to start, just think about prevention! What can you do today to improve your health in some small way?
You could:
Move in a fun or relaxing way
Put on a guided meditation
Cook and eat a delicious and healthy meal
Take a whole food nutraceutical
Go to bed early
Do something from your Joy Menu!
We have so many ideas and resources on all of the above inside our 16 week online holistic health program, The Healthstyle Emporium! If you’re interested in learning more about how to live your healthiest life (including getting access to healthy recipes, workouts, stretching, meditations, and more!) click here to contact me and I’ll get you all the details on how to join the Emporium!
I hope this served you today,
Chani x