Your hormones have a huge impact on your ability to get up and get your to-do list done.
And I teach my clients every day how to take advantage of their hormones, instead of hating them.
Estrogen dominance is when your estrogen levels are high compared to your progesterone during your luteal phase (second part of your cycle).
This leads to many symptoms that we may experience, especially during our PMS week. We’re told that having painful cramps 2 days before our cycle starts is normal. Or that needing to take the day off work because of a heavy flow is normal.
It’s common, but not normal.
Nutrition has a HUGE impact on our body’s ability to flush out estrogen and to restore some balance in our sex hormones.
Here are 5 tips that you can implement easily in your routine- my clients feel a huge difference in their symptoms within the next 1-2 cycles!
The goal here is to help your body get rid of the extra estrogen.
These dark, leafy, green veggies will help get rid of extra estrogen through your liver. They can also help prevent breast cancer, optimize heart health and help you burn more fat. Who doesn’t want that?!
Try to have 1-2 cups of the following vegetables with lunch and dinner
I hate to be the one saying this but alcohol is toxic to the liver. Every time you drink, your liver stops all the important tasks it’s doing (balance your hormones, optimize your cholesterol, metabolizes sugars and fat, etc.) to get rid of the alcohol.
You eliminate the extra estrogen through your gut, so having a healthy gut is crucial for optimal hormone balance. Resistant starches act as “food” for your healthy gut bacteria and can even help with weight loss. Try adding 1 tsp of green banana powder/ flour to your smoothies (you can buy organic green banana powder from Amazon!) and this will not only reduce your sugar cravings, but also will optimize your gut health.
All the plastic containers we’re used to using contain xenoestrogens. And our bodies can’t tell the difference between xenoestrogen and ACTUAL estrogen in your body.
So, one piece of advice is to buy clean makeup- you can use ewg.org as a resource to find out about clean brands for beauty products. I’ve also replaced all my plastic containers with glass containers to use on a daily basis.
Vitamin D, omega 3, vitex, and DIM are all important supplements to take. I’d be happy to chat about which supplements would work for you
Polycystic ovarian syndrome (aka PCOS) is a hormonal imbalance that affects as many as 5 million women in the U.S. alone and is caused by a high level of the “male” hormone: testosterone.
All women produce testosterone (and we need it too!). But higher than normal levels can affect your cycle and the timing of your ovulation.
Most women with higher testosterone can develop PCOS, and this is when we are offered birth control pills to help with symptoms rather than focusing on the root cause.
Instead, there are a few things that you can start right now to help optimize your testosterone level. First, we need to focus on insulin resistance as it is closely linked with PCOS. Here are actions you can take right now to optimize your hormones:
Building muscle mass allows your sugar levels to be more balanced, which improves your insulin sensitivity. This will lower the inflammation in your body and help you lose weight!
I recommend trying Berberine 1500mg/day to help with insulin resistance. Book a call with me to discuss the best brands out there for Berberine!
During the 2 weeks after the start of our periods, our body doesn’t necessarily need extra carbs, so focusing on protein + vegetables will help keep our sugar levels steady and will help with weight loss!
You may be dealing with adrenal fatigue or a cortisol imbalance- in other words, you may be too stressed or even burning out!
Cortisol is our stress hormone.
When you are stressed over a long period of time (ie. overthinking all the time), your body is constantly inflamed, leading to weight gain as the primary symptom.
Chronic stress overactivates your hunger and slows down your metabolism, and both lead to weight gain.
So, if you feel like you’re eating the same food as before while gaining weight, we need to start focusing on optimizing your cortisol. Here are simple actions to take that will go a long way:
This technique of breathing forces your body to go into the parasympathetic nervous system- aka the rest and digest mode.
When we are always stressed, our body goes into fight or flight mode. This means that our body thinks that there’s a dangerous situation happening all the time.
Over time, this leads to hormone imbalance, weight gain, gut issues and so much more. This breathwork is very simple: inhale twice, exhale four times. Do this for 2 minutes every 2 hours.
Nearly all my clients don’t get enough protein in their days.
The truth is that we really need to focus on a high protein breakfast in the morning if we want our stress levels to be under control all day.
Try 2-3 eggs, a protein shake, or even Greek yogurt in the morning! If you want more help with a tailored meal plan that will help you reach your goals, schedule a FREE call with me!
If you’re a gym goer and you thrive on intense workouts, this is your sign to slow down and see if taking a small break helps.
I know it’s against everything we hear, but intense workouts count as added stress to your body.
And when you’re already at the point of burn out, the last thing you need is more stress. Try to focus more on pilates, yoga, or simply lower intensity workouts!
These 2 herbal teas have been scientifically proven to help lower your stress level. So, drink them all day and thank me later!
It looks like you might not have any hormonal imbalance according to your symptoms. But the only real way to know is to do a hormone test.
The tests are super easy to do and is all done from home. Once you let me know you’re interested, I’ll send a test kit in the mail. All you have to do is send your saliva and mail to our lab for processing.
And voila! A few days later we’ll know if you have a hormonal imbalance using actual data.