Don't be so hormonal: Part 2
Hormone Harmony 101:
Now that you are an educated hormonal beast, its time to take your knowledge into action! As discussed in Part 1 of my hormonal series, there are certain foods types that promote hormone health and function all month long. This is delicate balance that won’t come easy at first, but will start to become second nature as you continue to live in cyclicality.
Before we move into each phase and what to focus on, we have to deal with the elephant in the room…. Your Blood Sugar… DUN, DUN, DUN.
Step 1: Stabilize your blood sugar
This is the first and most essential part of creating harmony in the hormones. The reason for this being that our endocrine system functions by communicating with our hormones. One main function is the transportation of glucose (sugar) throughout the entire body, including the brain. If your sugars are mis-managed, everything else will spiral including and not limited to your hormones. Our bodies view unstable blood sugar as a stressor and in turn your stress hormones (cortisol + adrenaline) are released from the adrenals. Are you starting to see how hormones control EVERYTHING?!?!
Quick tips to help stabilize blood sugar:
Eat a protein rich breaky within 90 minutes of waking. If you are a coffee lover, drink coffee after your meal, NEVER before.
Keep your meals and snacks consistent throughout the day ( within 3-4 hours of one another), giving your body ample time in between meals + snacks to allow for the digestive enzymes to get to work.
Focus on macronutrients!
Each meal should include: a fat, a protein and a carb with plenty of veggies/ greens!
Step 2: Nurture your adrenals
Adrenals are the glands that are located just above the kidneys. The second step is addressing the stress. The adrenal glands are really tired and are not adjusting to the levels of stress that the modern world is putting on us. The adrenals are part of this important process where the hypothalamic axis starts misfiring and sending out stress signals, which can make you gain weight, get acne and be a precursor to autoimmune diseases.
Tips to treat the stress: Internal Stressors
Irregular sleeping patterns
Create a nightly routine for yourself. Drink chamomile tea or a reishi mushroom elixir (use code: ecwshroomer for 10% off) which tells the body to calm down.
Avoiding blue light from phones and TVs an hour before bed, these lights tell the body it is the middle of the day! -For waking: download an app or buy an alarm that slowly lulls you out of your slumber instead of jarring you awake.
Physical Inactivity
Don’t leave your work out at the gym, find times throughout the day to stand up and do a few jumping jacks or sway from side to side or touch your toes. After lunch be sure to make a few laps around your office or take a brisk 5 min. walk if you are able to.
Tips to treat the stress: External Stressors:
Paying Bills
Try and create a pleasurable experience if you can by lighting a candle, putting on some solfegiating frequencies and taking a few deep breaths.
Dealing with a relative / any difficult person
Before spending time with this person, set an intention to not take anything they say personally because it is usually a projection of their own misfortunes. Practice energy blocking where you create an internal boundary that does not allow their high frequency stress to come into your low frequency state of being.
Step 3: Support your organs of Elimination
The third step is supporting your organs of elimination such as the liver, large intestine, skin. When your pathways of elimination are congested, your body cannot get rid of toxins such as the endocrine disruptors we discussed in previous blog posts, as well as the natural buildup of hormonal by-products that occur with normal metabolism. They then show up in the form of leaky gut, acne, eczema, constipation and rosacea.
Tips to support elimination:
Liver
Include plenty of quality protein + Cilantro! (Cilantro contains a compound called Linalool that helps to cleanse and detox the liver)
Large Intestine
Consume plenty of soluble fiber: oat bran, barley, nuts and seeds, beans, lentels and peas.
Skin
Exfoliate a few times per week, add more time to sauna + steam, alternate the temps in the shower to allow for toxic release.
Lymphatic System
Massage the lymph through yoga + exercise, avoid chemical products in crucial lymph areas like armpits and groin.
Our bodies are constantly sending up signals about our health and more often than not we choose to ignore the signs that are right in front of our face (or on it)! It is my hope that these tools can be added to your toolbox so that you will know exactly what is going on and understand how to bring the body back to homeostasis in a simple and strategic way.
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