The dysfunctional hormonal epidemic continues at an alarming rate and everyone has an opinion on how to balance hormones. We’ve become confused, disheartened and for some, you’ve lost hope. When we really look at our hormones, we’ve been led to believe that they are the evil villain of our story. They are wrecking havoc on our daily life and preventing us from losing the weight we so wish to shed.
But are they?
Contrary to popular belief our hormones are not against us. It isn’t a massive army who rises up to take you down. Remember our bodies were never created to be against us, ever. We have to get this thought process out and stop trying to override our body of the very systems that we were born with.
As long as we try to fight our body, we’ll just end up more exhausted and worse off. Not to mention we’ll lose, 100% of the time.
The good news there is hope and in this article we’ll uncover 5 foods to avoid to balance hormones.
change our thoughts
If we can change our mind {because this is the first and most critical step in change} and understand that our body is for us, always, then we can start to get into a process of working with our body, listening to our body and providing for it.
Self-awareness is the means in which you listen to the many biofeedback loops that are circling through your body. These are the ones telling you when you’re hungry, full, worn down, energized, warm, cold, tired, etc. These are the powerful signals our body is constantly informing us of, which in the end tells us how efficiently our body is working.
To develop a deep self-awareness, we have to stop listening to the recommendations of the diet industry and start listening to our body, because when it comes down to it, we don’t need to be told how much to drink, we have thirst mechanisms for that. We just need to listen to them over what you believe will work based on a standard.
You are unique and you have your own unique needs. Honor those and simple health will follow.
the food connection
To bring this back to hormones, there is a tremendous food-hormone connection. We need to look at food as information for our body, not just as energy. Food is ultimately providing messages, nutrients and energy to our body. It provides messages on whether to run efficiently or put on the brakes and prepare for the worst.
Food has a lot of power, more than we give it credit for.
We need to make sure we set the record straight, food is the very thing giving you life, in the form of physical energy and cellular needs, not spiritual life. Food is the building blocks of achieving your goals.
How we eat and what we eat determines how our house is built. We can choose to build the strongest building made of steel and cement or we can choose to build a house of straw. Everything we are putting in our body is determining how it is being built. Obviously a house made of cement and steel is one you want to last for a long time, heck you could even slap some marble on it.
But a house made of straw, well you’re bound for quick trouble. It may look like a house but even the slightest storm can push it over the edge and back to square one.
Again, our food choices are determining our building material, they are information to the body which is far more important than strictly just the energy requirements.
Instead of looking at food as good or bad, high or low-calorie, look at food as information. Are you building a house to last with what you are eating or one that is bound to crumble at the slightest change in environment?
We need to eat for our hormones because our hormones build our house. They run our show and they tell our body precisely every move to make. Hormonally beneficial foods are those that can help you maintain a healthy body weight, slow the aging process, rev up metabolism and provide every nutrient our complex system of cells and processes needs.
If we choose to fill our diet with anything less than these, we can see hormonal swings and imbalances. This results in a domino effect of bad news and a dysfunction in production and signaling of hormones. Some would say this actually creates a stress response, which doesn’t slow aging but speeds it up. The unfortunate part, so many of these foods are what we’ve been taught to be the “choice” to lose weight because they lower your caloric load and give you more energy.
While on the surface level this can seem true, once we dig into metabolism we can see this is absolutely doing nothing for our hormones.
disclaimer
If you’re working on regulating your hormonal flow, sometimes it is best to get rid of the foods that are having a negative reaction, disrupting flow or preventing production of hormones in general. But it doesn’t mean just take them out, starve and struggle. It’s coming to a good understanding, realization and common ground that you don’t just have to do this, or hope it works but that you actually deep down desire to make a change.
You must take adequate steps to change your mind and fully believe that lasting change can only come from self-awareness. It has to be something you want, not something you do just for a quick fix.
Bottom line, our mentality, and our mind have to be right and then we can start working on hormonally positive changes that can help you regulate your flow, have more energy, reduce your cravings, balance weight and increase libido. Ultimately, releasing happy hormones that help you feel like you can conquer the world. It’s small changes that equate to big rewards.
foods to avoid to balance hormones
The endocrine system in general is a complex system that we’ll probably never completely understand, especially due to the uniqueness amongst individuals. In spite of that, here are some basic things you can sub out of your diet to boost your body’s ability to create and balance hormones.
1. caffeine
Lets just get the bad one out-of-the-way first. I know, coffee and teas tend to be the go-to morning staple of most people. Hence why the Starbucks enterprise is thriving. While coffees and teas do have some powerful healing benefits, the caffeine within them, even green tea is worrisome when we speak about hormones specifically.
Caffeine strongly affects the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal {HPA} axis. This axis influences the body’s ability to manage and deal with stress, both at rest and during activity. The adrenal glands secrete two key hormones; epinephrine and cortisol. Epinephrine, or adrenaline, increases heart rate, breathing rate and blood pressure. Cortisol frees up stored glucose, which we need in greater amounts during times of ‘perceived’ stress.
In the short-term, this function is amazing like if you’re being chased by a bear, or your crazy sister. However, as our lifestyle indicates, it’s completely damaging in what we know to be stress today, sitting in our office chair or the car for hours on end.
Basically the studies show that caffeine, re-creates stress conditions in the body, welcoming you to a world of inflammation, decrease in hormonal flow and increase in body fat production. To top it off, we generally find ourself drinking coffee in stressful events, like when we are lacking sleep. Speaking of sleep, caffeine has a half-life of 5-6 hours meaning it can take a full twenty-four hours to work its way out of your system.
Caffeine also depletes your body of micronutrients essential for hormone balance like magnesium and B-vitamins. Both of which are essential in proper flow for woman.
The quick run-down on caffeine: Coffee drinking at any time of the day increases cortisol levels in the body through signaling the adrenal glands. It also creates and increase in insomnia, given that one cup will disrupt your sleep for hours during the night leaving you tired in the morning. Lack of good sleep suppresses your healthy hormone production, which means you dump more coffee on top of it, further lowing your hormonal flow. Equating to more tiredness and depletion of nutrients. And so the vicious cycle repeats.
What to do instead?
You may be panicking at this point. First, take a deep breath, it is going to be okay. Caffeine is not actually boosting your energy like you believe it to be, it’s just giving you a false high. Not to mention, giving up caffeine will in time give you more energy so you won’t need it.
Here are some steps in getting rid of the coffee {tea, energy drinks} without having withdrawl {I’m not promising you won’t have some withdrawl but it will only last a few days and the benefits are worth it}
- Eat more for breakfast. So many people {especially woman} rely on coffee as their source of fuel for breakfast. Again, false energy only leaves you in a vulnerable spot. One great way to wean yourself off is to eat a more substantial breakfast that is savory and comforting.
- If you need something hot to drink and have to skip caffeine {which includes tea} you could try a steamed golden milk full of hormone enhancing nutrients {omit any tea in the recipe} or try sipping on Kukicha which is similar to tea but without the caffeine.
- If you must drink coffee or tea, never do it alone. Always have it with a meal and limit the serving size to a small mug {less than a cup} as you wean yourself off.
2. sugar
One of the greatest ways to balance hormones is to stabilize your blood sugar. This generally also means cutting back on sugar {some of us more than others} but not necessarily eliminating sugar.
Mismanaged, or the “sugar” rollercoaster so many of us fall victim to is another stress on the endocrine system. In response to the highs and lows of blood sugar issues, your adrenal glands respond by sending out cortisol and adrenaline. This once again, causes a dysfunction in all other hormones in the body. Even including disrupting ovulation, causing a decrease in progesterone secretion and leading to estrogen dominance.
Not to mention this increases your glucose levels in your blood system, increasing insulin and signaling fat production. The more body fat you produce the more estrogen your body has due to fat cells secreting estrogen.
You then add that estrogen to what your endocrine system produces and you can see how quickly estrogen dominance can occur {which means your progesterone deficient and your hormones are officially running crazy}.
What to do instead?
There are ample programs on the marketing claiming to help you quit sugar for a certain period of time. But given that we are rebels in nature, a quick elimination plan probably isn’t going to cut it long-term. In the end it will most likely lead you to a binge. Instead there are much easier ways to regulate blood sugar besides just quitting it all together.
Most of them include lifestyle changes rather than food changes. Simply changing when you eat and how you eat can make all of the difference in what you eat. If you’re struggling with sugar I suggest you look at it in a different way. If you need help here are some resources I would recommend:
- Focus on intermittent fasting. This will help naturally regulate your hunger and satiety hormones that are regulated through the sleeping hours, allowing you to experience less cravings.
- Join my Hormone Reset program that helps you eliminate cravings in three simple steps. It also includes a meal plan with some delicious foods and allows you to experience true balance.
- When you do eat sugar, make sure you reach for the right ones and use in them in the right ways {never eat a carbohydrate alone}. Here is a quick guide to my sugar recommendations. From what to eat and what to leave.
3. artificial sweeteners
Artificial sweeteners have been one of the most controversial foods there ever was. Although some would even argue they are not strictly a “food”, I would argue differently. Anything having an affect in the body that we ingest could be considered a food or pharmaceutical. Remember, all things, even water are acting as signals and feedback for the body, whether good or bad. So don’t be fooled by the zero-calorie label, it is having an effect.
In fact, I think we need to be extremely aware and cautious with our use of artificial sweeteners, including the ‘natural’ ones like stevia {we’ll talk more on in a minute}.
While it is true that technically artificial sweeteners are not providing energy for the body, they are still creating a cascade of signals. Since it does have an extremely sweet taste upon reaching the mouth our body assumes that it is sugar and instantly starts responding with a release in enzymes and hormones to use or store the incoming sugar. In short, artificial sweeteners are acting just like regular sugar in the body, including the same disruption of blood sugar.
Some call it trickery, others just view it as one more unnecessary stress in the body.
Not to mention the numerous other research articles stating the detrimental effects of the toxins, unknown chemicals and other ingredients in these products. Regardless, of the controversy, anything that is “toxic” in nature is again, causing stress on the body as it works to deal with that, whether through processing and excreting or processing and storing.
When we talk specifically about stevia and all the rage it has, I think we must again note that research shows both positive and negative studies on this sweetener. It is wise to use your biofeedback markers to note how your body is handling it. In my family’s case, I believe it is having a dangerous effect {you can read more about it here} and thus I choose to limit it.
In speaking of female fertility hormones, stevia is technically ovulation-inhibiting. The glycosides in stevia have a structural similarity to plant {phyto) hormones and was once used as a contraceptive in Paraguay. The studies done since then on rats have further supported the idea that stevia can negatively affect fertility and thus should be avoided. Especially in those who are already prone to hormonal imbalances.
What to do?
- Follow the same protocol for sugar as they have the same effect on the body.
4. canola oil + vegetable oil
Fats is a tricky subject. On one hand fats are essential and in fact the very building blocks of all hormones, but on the other hand the wrong fats can derail all hope of ever having a natural flow again. It is very important that we eat enough of the right fats {olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, seeds, avocado, olives, egg yolks, grass-fed butter, etc} and avoid the wrong fats like canola oil, soybean oil and vegetable oil.
Our hormones require a strict ratio of omega-3’s, to omega-6’s and even omega-9’s. When speaking of canola oil it is particularly high in omega-9 fatty acids which throws off the balance of healthy levels of omega-3’s our bodies need to reduce inflammation and produce hormones.
The problem is these seed oils tend to be found in nearly all packaged foods. Look at labels and instead opt to find products or cook with the healthy fats like coconut oil, olive oil or safflower oil. In general remember that the right fats are essential and the wrong are detrimental.
What to do?
- Avoid fried food at restaurants {and at home unless using good oils} due to the use of these inflammatory causing fats.
- Skip packaged foods and look for brands that are using coconut oil or safflower oil. If you need something crunchy, I recommend these chips.
- Utilize natural fats in every meal you eat. This means cooking in coconut oil, olive oil, ghee and adding healthy fats like pistachios, avocados, eggs, olives and other nuts and seeds to your meals.
5. Alcohol…. white potatoes…. soy….. pesticides….
Okay, number five is filling up but I couldn’t really pick one. I mean if we look at white potatoes we can see that they have a high glycemic load and can cause your blood sugar to quickly spike and crash – again inducing a stress response.
Pesticides on the other hand add to our synthetic hormone load. This causes stress on our liver and throwing off our natural hormonal levels letting us easily become dominant in one or more hormones.
Soy is another highly debatable health topic. Not all soy is bad for us but the highly processed kind that nearly all of us are getting in some form can create estrogen-dominant hormonal imbalance conditions due to the phytoestrogens soy contains.
Then we have alcohol, which is a whole topic of its own. Alcohol affects women much more greatly than men because women simply process everything at a slower rate. This means that alcohol initially causes a spike and crash in blood sugar, where it then gets to the liver to be processed using up essential stores of antioxidants and vitamin C to break it down. It can raise your estrogen levels and while you believe it makes you happy, it actually pushes your brain into a depressed state.
What to do?
- Choose sweet potatoes over white potatoes. They can be substituted in almost any recipes. If you’re not a sweet potato person, I would encourage you to try multiple cooking methods and work to find ways you enjoy them. Some of my favorite sweet potato recipes are: detox hasselback sweet potatoes, stuffed sweet potatoes, brown butter sweet potato gnocchi, sweet potato apple hash.
- Check out the dirty dozen and clean fifteen list to find out what produce items contain the most herbicides and pesticides. Opt to buy as many of those organic {frozen is usually the most economical organic} and don’t worry about the clean fifteen.
- Skip soy. Just skip it.
- Limit alcohol. But, if you’re really wanting to balance hormones, omit it for a period of time.
be realistic…
It should never be a choice of fun or health but getting to a harmony where both go together. If you want to have a drink, have a drink. If you need something sweet, have it. Just be mindful when you do. Never do either alone, always with a meal and choose the real sugar over the artificial.
The most important thing we can do for our hormone flow is reduce the stress load on our body. The includes evening out our blood sugar, skipping the toxins, reducing lifestyle stress and ultimately just coming to a mindset where you desire more.
The desire is what creates the simple action that makes all of the difference.
It’s our mindset that determines where we will go and what we will become. Believe in something greater, change your thoughts and see great {and easy} change waiting for you!
hormones out of whack?
Tired, sluggish, groggy, moody, depressed, anxious, struggling with PMS, low libido or all of the above? Check out my free one day hormone reset which walks you through a quick and easy program that can help your hormones get back in check. It’s the quick solution to reset your hormones helping you to feel more alive in just one day.
Sign up below to join me on this journey to knowing you, uncovering a the real you and helping you to live with more energy than you knew was possible.
additional resources
- Three Reasons You’re Not Losing Weight
- Four Ways to Reset Your Metabolism
- How to Lose Weight While you Sleep
