NATURAL BALANCE

Depression, insomnia, fatigue, weight gain, and acne – many women can chalk these symptoms up to hormone imbalance.  If you’re one of them, try this plan to restore hormonal harmony.

     In healthy women, the ovaries and the adrenal glands produce various hormones that handle the ebb and flow of everything from menstruation to metabolism to sleep, after which they’re broken down by the liver, kidney, and digestive systems, then excreted.  But if any part of the chain isn’t working properly, your hormones aren’t in balance, and the impact can be widespread.

     Many female health issues are due to hormone imbalance.  For most women, the problem boils down to one cause: estrogen dominance.  This affects those on either side of menopause.  If you’re among the millions of women in the 35-to-55 age bracket experiencing headaches, sleep difficulties, fluid retention, anxiety, irritability, mood swings, cramps, weight gain, breast tenderness, and heavy or irregular bleeding, fuzzy thinking, food cravings, you’re likely to be affected by estrogen dominance.

     The liver is responsible for regulating hormonal balance.  It has the job of breaking down estrogen and other hormones, and symptoms occur when the liver has trouble breaking down the excess.  The liver is responsible for filtering blood levels of estradiol, the unfavorable type of estrogen, but it can sometimes build up in the body.  When excess estrogen is allowed to enter the bloodstream, it travels to the brain and nervous system and causes depression and bizarre mental manifestations.  Excess estrogen acts as a stimulant to the central nervous system and contributes to many women’s ailments associated with the menstrual cycle.

    The body needs the most natural conditions possible to produce needed hormones on its own and to carry out functions correctly without unnatural chemical supplementation.

Stress constitutes a major factor.  When under severe stress, we’re less likely to ovulate.  If you don’t ovulate you don’t produce progesterone.  Without enough progesterone to keep estrogen in check, the negative effects of estrogen can become more pronounce.  Stress also raises levels of cortisol, which causes other hormones to get out of balance.

Eat hormone –friendly. A diet high in sugar and starch moves into the bloodstream quickly and causes insulin to spike – and high insulin levels trigger an increase in estrogen levels. Eliminating soda, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, highly processed food; and add saturated fat, red meat, dairy products and white flour to the no-no list. Foods like complex carbohydrates break down slowly and help keep blood sugar levels stable. Whole grains, plant-based proteins, good fats, colorful fruits and vegetables, green tea, and “good” sweeteners (such as fruit juice, natural organic honey, brown sugar, or stevia).  Soy foods, buckwheat, and ground flax meal are particularly beneficial. Know don’t get stressed out thinking about what you can eat – life is meant to be lived, just be more conscious of what you’re putting in you body and how it effects every aspect of your well-being.  Drink with care.  Water helps cleanse your liver and kidneys, allowing your body to excrete hormones efficiently.  We need to drink an ounce of water for every two pounds of body weight (if you weight 128 pounds, you should drink 64 ounces, or 8 cups).  Avoid caffeinated beverages as it stimulates the adrenal glands to produce more cortisol (the stress hormone), exacerbating anxiety, fatigue, and other symptoms. Consuming to much alcohol can compromise the liver’s ability to metabolize estrogen, which can cause estrogen levels to rise, so minimize its use or avoid it all together. Get your z’s.  Sleep is when the body makes hormones.  Our body systems, including the hormone system, heal and repair optimally between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. Sleep in a cool, dark room.  Drink chamomile tea before bed.  Use a few drops of lavender oil on a tissue and tuck in under your pillow.  Move your body. Exercise reduces stress, improves sleep habits and helps excrete surplus hormones.  “The body has only 5 ways to excrete toxins, including excess hormones: Breathing, sweating, menstruating, urinating, and defecating”.  At the very least, a daily 30 minute walk will do wonders.  Boost progesterone.  Hormones extracted from wild yams or soy oil that are molecularly identical to those produced by the human body.  Progesterone cream works very well for many women. However, while younger women do well on progesterone alone, women in their late 30’s or older may need to combine a progesterone and estrogen supplement. Supplement your efforts. Taking Flaxseed oil or ground flax meal will help promote more frequent ovulation, and thus more progesterone production.  Black cohosh contains natural estrogen.  It helps with hot flashes, contracts the uterus and increases menstrual flow when sluggish.  It also stimulates the secretions of the liver, kidneys and lymph’s.  It has the ability to neutralize poisons in the bloodstream, and helps uric acid and toxic waste in the body. Black cohosh contains at least 3 classes of compounds that act to regulate hormone use.  It reduces overall estrogen activity when estrogen levels are high, and has the ability to stimulate estrogen production when estrogen levels are low.  The dual action of the herb allows it to stabilize the body’s estrogen usage. Vitamin B- Complex to help support the liver so it can process estrogen more efficiently.  Vitamin C helps clean up toxins.  Magnesium is critical to helping the body produce energy and for keeping the cycle of hormone production and excretion in check.  Calcium is essential to maintaining healthy bones.  Herbal combinations such as Female Hormonal Support and Nature’s Estrogen or even trying a Liver detox or Spring Cleaning are also available at Rosha’s Remedies.

     Give these changes a try.  If you notice that between days 15 and 28 of your cycle you’re less edgy and crave fewer sweets, you’re on the road to natural balance.