Top 10 Ways to Naturally Balance Your Hormones

Our body is full of cells that communicate each day. How do they communicate? Through hormones, they are the body's messengers that send signals to different body parts for various processes. Men and Women produce various hormones each day. Over time, specific factors such as stress, genetics, and improper nutrition can negatively affect our hormones. When our hormones become imbalanced, they can cause detrimental effects on our body, including erectile dysfunction, PCOS, infertility, and more. In today's article, I will share with you the top 10 ways you can naturally balance your hormones.

What is a hormone imbalance?

For women, hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DAGA, or cortisol can become imbalanced. When these hormones are out of balance, it creates symptoms such as fatigue, mood swings, hot flashes, night sweats, sleep disturbances, changes in their menstrual cycles, and even weight gain. These hormone imbalances can happen at any age, starting from a teenager. Therefore, catching these types of issues can help prevent long-term problems from occurring.

What conditions can occur due to imbalanced hormones?

When our hormones are out of balance, numerous symptoms and different autoimmune disorders can occur, from skin conditions to infertility. These conditions can be short-term or long-term. Some of these conditions need medical treatment, whereas others only need lifestyle changes to be treated.

Irregular periods: Several hormones are involved in the menstrual cycle. Any imbalance in these hormones can cause you to have irregular periods. Some conditions can occur from an imbalance in these hormones, such as PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) and amenorrhea. (LINK The conditions)

Acne or skin conditions: Skin conditions a lot of the time is from clogged pores. When there is an imbalance in hormones, our body is going to secret toxins through the skin, which causes conditions such as hormonal acne and acne.

Weight gain: Hormones are responsible for the way our metabolism functions. Specific hormones that travel through the thyroid govern our metabolism. When hormones such as cortisol or a low-functioning thyroid are present, then it can present fat storage leading to obesity and unwanted weight gain.

Thyroid conditions: Our thyroid is responsible for how our hormones get sent throughout the body. When our hormones are out of balance, our thyroid is negatively affected. If our thyroid cannot function properly, it causes conditions like Hashimoto's disease. These conditions are treatable through natural hormone therapy and dietary changes.

Infertility: About 9% of men and 11% of women in the U.S. struggle with infertility. Infertility is from numerous conditions that are caused by hormonal issues. Hormones that control our reproductive system are sensitive. They are affected by everything from what we eat to how we manage stress.

Men are affected too

We usually think it is a female issue when it comes to hormone imbalances. However, men can be just as affected by their hormones. From too much stress to over-exercising and lousy eating habits, these can cause an interruption in their testosterone and other vital hormones. So if you are a male and suffer from the following symptoms, you may have hormonal imbalances.

- Low sex drive

- Fatigue throughout the day

- Weight gain

- Loss of muscle mass

- ED (Erectile Dysfunction)

- Hair loss

- Depression

- Cognitive decline

What causes hormones to become imbalanced?

Our hormones are sensitive to everything that we do in our daily lives. So naturally, our hormones rise and fall throughout the day. There are natural phases in life that change our hormones. Stages include puberty, Pregnancy (female), and menopause (females). In addition, there are lifestyle, environmental, and genetic factors that cause issues with our hormones.

Fast food/ Processed food: The American standard diet food that contains harmful ingredients for our overall well-being, preservatives, seed oils, artificial sweeteners, sugar, gluten, processed dairy, and more can all cause hormonal imbalances. With our agriculture industry injecting our food with exogenous hormones and antibiotics, they are causing an increase in testosterone in women and more estrogen in men.

Eating disorders: Food plays a vital role in how our hormones function. Our metabolism, focus, energy, protein synthesis, memory, and sleep are controlled by what we consume. When we do not eat enough or the right food, those hormones cannot function properly. Insecurities, self-esteem issues, and trauma usually cause eating disorders. These disorders have been shown to cause infertility in both men and women, PCOS, Thyroid conditions, and more.

Excessive workload: Today's standard for success is to work as much as you can to be successful. Working too much can lead to being stationary for too long. These positions and stress can cause issues such as ED for men, lower sex drive, and a slower metabolism.

Chronic stress: Stress is one of America's leading causes of death. Too much pressure puts a strain on the hormones in our bodies. Chronic stress causes cortisol, our fight or flight hormone, to release. When this hormone is released too much, it disrupts our immune system, reproductive system, and metabolism, leading to anxiety, depression, sickness, and cognitive decline.

Sedentary lifestyle: As human beings, we are meant to move. We are not designed to sit still for long periods. When we do not move enough, our body can use the energy it has to function correctly, which disrupts our metabolism, sleep, digestion, cognitive function, and more.

Autoimmune conditions: Autoimmune conditions such as thyroid conditions and type 1 diabetes are autoimmune conditions that happen at either birth or genetic deposition later in life. These can be treated with medications and proper medical supervision.

Environmental toxins: Mold, pollution, gas, dust, household chemicals, and more affect our hormones. These toxins can cause serotonin disruption, dopamine decline, and melatonin dysfunction. These all affect our sleep, happiness, and behavior.

The top 10 ways to naturally balance your hormones

Eat more colorful foods: Eating various colorful fruits and vegetables expands the amount of nutrient diversity your body needs. Foods like berries, dark leafy greens, citrus, beets, carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, asparagus, etc., contain prebiotics, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals the body needs for proper nutrient absorption. These nutrients are essential for our hormones to function correctly. I recommend eating 5-7 servings of vegetables and fruits daily or as much as possible.

Eat healthier fats: Our body's primary source of energy is fat. It is the slowest digested source of energy. It is also responsible for how our hormones function. The more quality fat you consume it has improved the function of our hormones. Include the following in your diet, fatty fish, nut butter, avocados, nuts, and seeds Use quality cooking oils like avocado, coconut, ghee, macadamia nut, and olive oil. All these foods contain nutrients such as Omega 3 fatty acids, which aid in rebuilding the cells to stabilize our hormones.

More fiber: Adding to what I stated earlier about a colorful diet, adding fiber into your diet can enhance the rebuilding of your hormones. Fiber comes from grains, seeds, root vegetables, and fruits. Fiber helps to satiate the appetite and increase the way your metabolism operates. It also helps to regulate your insulin hormone, which can help prevent diabetes.

Less processed foods, dairy, and gluten: Any foods that contain preservatives, artificial sweeteners, and rotten seeds oil cause disruption with our hormones. They affect our insulin hormone slowing down the process of digestion and leading to a slower metabolism. These all cause inflammation and can lead to an imbalance in the way our hormones function.

Less sugar: The less sugar you consume, the less work your insulin hormone has to do, making it easier for your hormones to do their jobs. Replacing your sugar with monk fruit, honey, stevia, and coconut sugar are great options. They do not aggravate your insulin hormone much and are much healthier options.

Get enough sleep: I would say sleep is the most important thing we can do to improve every aspect of our health. The better we sleep, the better everything will function. Ensure your room is cold at 68 degrees to help you get into a deep sleep. Sleeping at least 7-8 hours a night is vital for proper hormone production and function.

Avoid blue light before bed: Put your phone away at least 2 hours before bed to alleviate your brain from being stimulated by blue light. Blue light interrupts how melatonin is secreted. Melatonin is responsible for putting our body in a state of relaxation for sleep. If that hormone is compromised, it can cause us not to reach a state of deep relaxation as we sleep. Sleep deprivation can generate a list of issues like headaches, brain fog, fatigue, moodiness, and irritability.

Move your body: Each day, making it a habit to move your body for at least 15-20 minutes a day is essential because exercise stimulates endorphins. Exercising also helps increase blood flow, which increases the flow of nutrients throughout the body. Increasing testosterone in men and estrogen in women are two essential hormones for reproduction.

Mindfulness: The way we think is the way we become. Our mental health is responsible for many hormones produced in our bodies. Stress, trauma, anxiety, and depression negatively affect our hormones. Seeking help from a therapist, yoga, meditation, journaling, art, and much more can help you to relax your mind, channel your stress, and produce more serotonin.

Get enough sunlight: We are like walking batteries that constantly need recharging, and the only way to restore them is through sunlight. Our nervous system gets stimulated through sunlight, which is controlled by our hormones. The More sunlight we can get, the better our hormones will function. It has been shown that a women's menstrual cycle is controlled by the amount of sun we get. I recommend getting out in the sunlight first thing in the morning to help balance your circadian rhythm.

Our hormones can be complex to understand and figure out; once we know them and eliminate the things causing us issues with them, we can take control of how they function—giving us the ability to live a life of balance and vitality.

Discretion: I am not a doctor and do not use this as medical advice. If you have a severe hormone imbalance or autoimmune disease, always seek the help of a doctor or medical professional to help with guidance before taking any of the steps I have listed in this article.