Hormone balance is an essential part of wellbeing, especially for women. Our hormones fluctuate a great deal throughout the month, and throughout our lives — your hormones are quite different in your thirties and forties than they were in your twenties. To help get your hormones back in check, hormone balancing foods can help.
Hormone balance plays an important role in almost everything your body does. And because hormones all influence one another, if one hormone gets out of balance, the consequences can ripple throughout your body causing discomfort for women with hormonal imbalance. In my clinical practice, I see a lot of women who come in with fatigue, brain fog, sudden weight gain, hair loss, and other symptoms of hormone imbalance.Â
The good news is that there’s plenty you can do to influence your hormones. Your cycle, age, diet, exercise, and stress levels all play a major role in your hormone balance.Â
If you’re one of the many women suffering from hormonal imbalance, diet is one of the most powerful ways you can rebalance your hormones and take back your health. With that in mind, here are my top four hormone balancing foods for women.
1. Avocado
Avocado is one of my favorite hormone balancing foods. Avocados are low in carbs and rich in heart-healthy, anti-inflammatory monounsaturated fats. The healthy fats and low carbs promote stable insulin, one of your key metabolic hormones. Stable insulin keeps your energy steady and prevents your blood sugar from crashing.Â
On top of that, the healthy fats in avocados are building blocks for sex hormones, including estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. The plentiful fat in avocados gives your body the raw materials to make hormones it needs.Â
2. Fresh berries
Raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries are all hormone balancing foods packed with great nutrients.Â
Berries are rich sources of vitamin C, which regulates your progesterone levels, particularly during the luteal (PMS) phase of your cycle . If you have especially rough PMS, it could be a progesterone imbalance. Try doubling down on berries in the days leading up to your period; the vitamin C in them may help relieve your symptoms.Â
Berries are also packed with polyphenols, powerful antioxidants that protect your cells from stress. Polyphenols decrease inflammation and can help you manage cortisol, your body’s stress hormone .
3. Lignan-rich seeds
You may have heard of seed cycling as a natural way to regulate your estrogen levels.Â
Seeds like flax, pumpkin, and sesame contain lignans, compounds that normalize your estrogen levels by both getting rid of excess estrogen and stimulating estrogen production when you don’t have enough .Â
If you have low energy, mood swings, or sudden weight gain, you may have an estrogen imbalance. Try adding seeds to your diet every day. They’ll help stabilize your estrogen levels and correct hormonal imbalance.Â
4. Leafy green vegetables
Leafy green veggies like kale, chard, broccoli, and spinach are all rich in dietary fiber, and great hormone balancing foods which normalizes sex hormones like estrogen and progesterone by improving your hormone metabolism .Â
Try to get at least five servings of green vegetables a day, if not more. This green smoothie is one of my favorite ways to get more veggies in my diet.Â
Balance your hormones naturally
Diet plays a big role in hormone balance, and these four foods are some of my top picks for keeping your hormones healthy. Other great ways to achieve hormone balance are exercising, getting direct sunlight (not enough that you burn), and managing stress with meditation and self-care days.Â
And if you want a little extra help balancing your hormones, I suggest giving Hormone Helper a try. I formulated it with valuable hormone-balancing nutrients that support healthy hormone balance and keep you feeling your best.Â
References
- Henmi, H., Endo, T., Kitajima, Y., Manase, K., Hata, H., & Kudo, R. (2003). Effects of ascorbic acid supplementation on serum progesterone levels in patients with a luteal phase defect. Fertility and sterility, 80(2), 459-461. https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(03)00657-5/fulltext
- Tsang, C., Smail, N. F., Almoosawi, S., Davidson, I., & Al-Dujaili, E. A. (2012). Intake of polyphenol-rich pomegranate pure juice influences urinary glucocorticoids, blood pressure and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance in human volunteers. Journal of nutritional science, 1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4153032/
- Aehle, E., Müller, U., Eklund, P. C., Willför, S. M., Sippl, W., & Dräger, B. (2011). Lignans as food constituents with estrogen and antiestrogen activity. Phytochemistry, 72(18), 2396-2405.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21889775
- Monroe, K. R., Murphy, S. P., Henderson, B. E., Kolonel, L. N., Stanczyk, F. Z., Adlercreutz, H., & Pike, M. C. (2007). Dietary fiber intake and endogenous serum hormone levels in naturally postmenopausal Mexican American women: the Multiethnic Cohort Study. HNUC, 58(2), 127-135. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17640158