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Amanda's Musings

Things we want you to know and other cool stuff!

Nutrition to Fuel your Sex Hormones

9/21/2016

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I didn’t want to leave you hanging! So, following up on my last article about identifying sex hormone imbalances and issues with the conventional approach to dealing with imbalances, let’s continue with what you can do about it.

Some Basics about Hormones.
What are they? Chemical messengers that travel through the body via the bloodstream. They start at endocrine glands and take messages to the cells. We have many endocrine glands and a multitude of hormones, which can interact with one another. In other words – it’s complicated!

Sex hormones are a just a few of the many hormones in the body. They are steroidal hormones, which means they are made from cholesterol.

“What!?”, you say, “I thought cholesterol was bad for me”.

This is a common misconception that results in many people avoiding eating foods containing cholesterol despite the fact that we now know that eating cholesterol and saturated fat does not cause heart disease.

What can go Wrong with our Sex Hormones?
When we don’t ingest cholesterol and fats, the liver has to make cholesterol in order that we have the ingredients to build our sex hormones. If the liver is under stress (and it may well be in our toxic world) it may not be doing that as effectively as we would like.

Nutrition Tip #1
Take the burden off the liver from making cholesterol. Provide the body the foundational ingredient for your sex hormones.
Eat cholesterol containing (animal) foods and don’t be afraid 
of fat.
  •  Eat fattier cuts of meat (grass fed, organic)
  •  Eat full fat dairy (if you tolerate dairy)

  •  Eat Pastured eggs

What else can go wrong?
Stress
Our stress hormone, cortisol, is also a steroidal hormone, made from cholesterol. It regulates bloods sugar and metabolism in response to a threat. Even though our stress may be low grade, our body can still be in fight or flight mode. This survival function is prioritized above sex hormone production and they take a dive!

Nutrition Tip #2
Reduce stress on the system. Avoid these stressors as much as possible: sugar, junk food, alcohol, trans fats, industrial seed oils. If you suspect you may food sensitivities or have issues with your gut then you may be irritating your system. Get in touch to find out how to work through this one. It can take some detective work.

Nutrition Tip #3
Support the body with handling stress by making sure you get enough B vitamins such as pantothenic acid and B12.
Adaptagenic herbs can be supportive to your body too and help modulate your stress response.

Problems with Detoxification
Unfortunately our modern environment comes along with a variety of xenoestrogens and other hormone disrupters. Supporting the detoxification of excess and unhealthy hormones and supporting the liver can help the body stay in balance.

Nutrition Tip #4
Fiber is important for this as it helps the body excrete excess hormones so include plenty of fibrous vegetables in the diet.
The cruciferous vegetables, as well as supplements like DIM and Calcium D Glucarate, support the liver with hormonal detox.

Nutrition Tip #5
Get rid of toxins as much as you can. Nutritionally you can upgrade your food to organic and grass fed options that do not contain toxic chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics and hormones.

If you answered the questionnaire in my last blog, Sex Hormone Imbalance and you think you have hormonal imbalances, what do you do next? You can start by adjusting your nutrition and lifestyle with some of these tips. If you need to go deeper or need more specific help, that’s where we come in. Our micronutrient and hormonal blood testing as well as education and coaching can help you get there!
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Sex Hormone Imbalance

9/1/2016

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​Since May I have had the opportunity to do several talks on Sex Hormones. My favorite thing about speaking on this topic is that typically people are entirely unaware that they can influence their hormonal balance with nutrition. 

Many of us believe that certain symptoms and imbalances in our sex hormones that we experience are both inevitable and normal. It appears that we are destined to be using “Little Blue Pills” and dealing with a lack of sex drive as we age.

We believe and accept that men are supposed to lose their sexual function as they age and inevitably they will need Viagra to sustain their sex life.

We believe and accept that women have to suffer with mood issues and behavior swings from puberty, PMS, perimenopause and post-partum depression. Also that they will lose their emotional, physical and sexual vitality as they age.
Picture
The truth is that all of this suffering is largely unnecessary. It is caused by our habits (both nutritional and lifestyle related), which put stress on our adrenal glands, the very organ that is responsible for the production of our sex hormones later in life when our reproductive organs phase out production. The symptoms your body experiences are its way of telling you that you need to pay attention to your health. Because sex hormones are not needed for your survival, they will take a back seat if your body is lacking nutrients. Those nutrients that are available will have to be used for survival instead.

Take a look at our sex hormone balance questionnaire below to see if you are dealing with sex hormone imbalance. The number of symptoms you are experiencing and the severity is a good indication of the degree of imbalance you are experiencing.

Next time, some tips on supporting your sex hormones with nutrition. In the meantime, if you would like help getting things back to realignment we’d be happy to help you. In addition to helping you understand what nutrients your body needs to make sex hormones, we offer micronutrient and other blood testing (such as sex hormone levels) so that we can get a window into what’s really going on with you and help you in a targeted way.

Sex Hormone Balance Questionnaire:

Women, do you have:
( ) PMS (and perhaps cravings for sugar and salt)?               
( ) Weight fluctuation throughout the month?                       
( ) Unexplained weight gain, especially around the middle?  
( ) Edema, swelling, puffiness, water retention, bloating?      
( ) Headaches or PMS migraines?                                      
( ) Mood swings?                                                            
( ) Tender breasts?                                                           
( ) Depression or anxiety?                                                
( ) An inability to cope?                                                    
( ) Backaches, joint or muscle pain?                                            
( ) An irregular cycle?                                                      
( ) Infertility?                                                                   
( ) Fibrocystic breasts, breast cysts or lumps?                       
( ) Uterine Fibroids?                                                         
( ) Hot flashes?                                                               
( ) Insomnia?                                                                  
( ) Low libido?                                                                 
( ) Dry skin, hair, vaginal tissue?                                        
( ) Heart palpitations?                                                       
( ) Unwelcome hair growth?                                              
( ) Poor memory or concentration?                                     

Men, do you have:
( ) Reduced libido and vitality?                                          
( ) Trouble achieving or maintaining an erection?                          
( ) Infertility or low sperm count?                                       
( ) Loss of muscle?                                                           
( ) Increased abdominal fat?                                             
( ) Fatigue and low energy?                                              
( ) Loss of direction and sense of purpose?                                   
( ) Bone loss or bone fractures?                                         
( ) Increasing cholesterol?                                                 
( ) Increasing insulin or blood sugar?                                  
( ) Physical weakness?                                                              
( ) Depression?                                                               
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