Eating For Your Hormones

Celebrating International Women’s Day

We thought since today is dedicated to us ladies, we’d dedicate this months blog post to eating for our hormones. Let’s face it, hormones have a bad rap! Hormones are our bodies chemical messengers produced in our endocrine glands and gut. They affect everything from growth and fertility to metabolism, sleep and even our blood. Hormones have the power to affect our mood and can cause serious problems with our health if unbalanced – hormonal imbalance basically means there is too much or too little of a hormone in your bloodstream.

As we age our hormones change and over the course of a woman’s life we go through 7 different stages. These impact our health, so it’s important to be aware and support our hormones through our diets and lifestyle. Some signs that your hormones are out of sync are; those dreaded pimples, weight gain, constipation, night sweats, fatigue, hair growth and different periods. Women suffer more than men when it comes to issues related to hormonal imbalance. Issues such as early onset menopause, ovarian cancer and PCOS. Lifestyle factors such as stress, environmental toxins, products we use on our skin (our skin is an organ and absorbent) and our food choices all could be reasons our hormones are unbalanced.

Food provides the nutrients we need to maintain a healthy body and if we don’t get enough of the correct nutrients our hormones can suffer therefore our health.

At Happy Farm we believe in eating seasonally and locally. Here is a list of foods that will help restore balance to your hormones:

Ground flaxseeds – about 2 tablespoons a day

Good fats and omega rich foods for example; avocado, olive oil, nuts, fatty fish, coconut oil. Please note; salmon is great source of omegas however please choose wild caught salmon if possible.

Eat the Rainbow: 1. Cruciferous veggies such as cauliflower, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, and cabbage, 2. Leafy vegetables, 3. Root vegetables 4. Fruit is a good source of energy and fibre but eat in moderation (berries are best)

Good quality protein – a protein rich diet is important as it keeps you fuller for longer and controls the hormone gherlin commonly known as the hunger hormone.

Whole-grains (complex carbs) for fibre e.g. beans, peas, quinoa, rice etc. Fibre flushes out toxins and removes excessive oestrogen. Lentils are an awesome source of fibre, they contain Vitamin B6, protein and zinc these help balance oestrogen. AVOID SIMPLE CARBS.

Include lots of herbs and spices – chilli helps you release endorphins (hello happy hormones)

Cacao – yes please! Cocoa helps reduce the symptoms of stress. Dark chocolate is a good source of cacao.

Probiotic foods are amazing for the gut. The gut is extremely important in hormone health. Foods like bone broth, plain yoghurt, fermented foods like sauerkraut

Eggs. Eggs are amazing they contain a multitude of vitamins, minerals, iron, proteins. Eggs even help control the hunger hormone ghrelin.