Lower Your Sugar Intake
Minimizing added sugar intake may be instrumental in optimizing hormone function and avoiding obesity, diabetes, and other diseases.
The simple sugar fructose is present in many types of sugar, comprising up to 43% of honey, 50% of refined table sugar, 55% of high fructose corn syrup, and 90% of agave .
In addition, sugar-sweetened beverages are the primary source of added sugars in the Western diet, and fructose is commonly used commercially in soft drinks, fruit juice, and sport and energy drinks .
Fructose intake has increased exponentially in the United States since around 1980, and studies consistently show that eating added sugar promotes insulin resistance regardless of total calorie intake or weight gain .
Long-term fructose intake has been linked to disruptions of the gut microbiome, which may lead to other hormonal imbalances .
Whats more, fructose may fail to stimulate the production of the fullness hormone leptin, leading to decreased calorie burning and increased weight gain .
Therefore, reducing your intake of sugary drinks and other sources of added sugar may improve hormone health.
Summary
Diets high in sugar have been shown to promote insulin resistance, disrupt your gut microbiome, and reduce leptin production. Thus, lowering your sugar intake may aid hormonal health.
S You Can Take To Protect Your Liver:
- Get vaccinated for hepatitis A and B.
- Get tested for hepatitis C if youre in a high-risk group.
- Eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly.
- Limit alcohol consumption and take medications as prescribed.
- Avoid contact with blood and body fluids.
Some botanical ingredients have been linked with supporting liver function. Here are a few that might help:
Natural Ways To Balance Your Hormones
Hormones are chemical messengers that have profound effects on your mental, physical, and emotional health. For instance, they play a major role in controlling your appetite, weight, and mood.
Typically, your body produces the precise amount of each hormone needed for various processes to keep you healthy.
However, sedentary lifestyles and Western dietary patterns may affect your hormonal environment. In addition, levels of certain hormones decline with age, and some people experience a more dramatic decrease than others.
However, a nutritious diet and other healthy lifestyle habits may help improve your hormonal health and allow you to feel and perform your best.
Here are 10 natural ways to balance your hormones.
Recommended Reading: Hormone Health And Wellness Reviews
Liver Cleanse To Rid Your Menopause Symptoms
Hormones!
Cant live with them cant live without them.Life is great when our bodies are in balance and our hormones are raising our serotonin levels but when things are knocked out of kilter it can leave us feeling out of sorts.
Why are hormones important?
Hormonesare essential to our overall health impacting how we feel, how we look and how women experience their monthly menses.
Sluggishness, fatigue, acne, depression, anxiety, brain fog, mood swings, weight gain, and changes to your cycle may indicate that:
This is why I spent the last three years developing Hormone Queens 18 Day Cleanse.
READ ON TO LEARN MORE ABOUT DETOXING YOUR LIVER
What is a loaded liver?
Your liver is your bodys natural toxin filter. But, sometimes, its ability to filter out all the nasties in your body is overwhelmed by modern-day environmental toxins found in man-made products like BPA in plastic water bottles, herbicides, and pesticides poor nutrition, high stress levels, caffeine, and alcohol.
Without adequate nutrients, your liver is unable to successfully remove toxins from the body.
So, here are my top ten tips to love your liver:
What are the benefits of detoxing?
Free yourself from sugar cravings
How Do You Know If Your Liver Is Sluggish
Many people tell me that their doctor has told them that their liver is fine based on their blood work. The reality is liver abnormalities in your lab work often do not appear at the onset of the problems but after years of suffering from a sluggish liver.
Here are some early signals that your liver might not be in the best shape:
Also Check: How To Balance Your Hormones After Birth Control
Focus On Heavy Metal Detox
Giving specific attention to heavy metal detox is crucial for hormone health as these compounds can be harmful to both your liver and endocrine function. Heavy metals and chemicals can lodge deep into your tissues and fat cells, which means that they require some heavy duty detoxifying nutrients to pull them out and eliminate them from your body completely.
This is why you need to not only take compounds that pull metals and chemicals out of fat and tissues, but also bind to the toxins that have been released from these tissue storage sites. Thats why I created a toxin binder called CitriCleanse.
CitriCleanse is a toxin binder that I formulated to support your bodys ability to gently, but effectively remove heavy metals and chemicals like estrogen-mimicking pesticides with research-backed ingredients shown to clear toxins from your fat and body. This is crucial so that your liver is not dealing with the additional burden of having to filter all these toxins pulled from tissue storage sites and can exit through the kidneys.
Anger Irritation And Moodiness
The liver is responsible for maintaining the smooth flow of the blood and the smooth flow of our emotions. Many Chinese and Ayurvedic medical practitioners equate being irritable, getting angry easily and having trouble letting things go, to poor liver function. When your liver is healthy you can readjust and begin again, youre resilient.
You May Like: What Will Testosterone Do For Me
Why Optimal Liver Detoxification Is Essential To Seasonal Allergy Relief
Whenever someone is dealing with seasonal allergies, its a sign that the immune system is on hyper-alert and theres chronic inflammation going on.
Seasonal allergies are also a good indication that the liver is overburdened.
Your liver performs about 200 vital functions every day, which ultimately impact every system of the body. For example, it detoxifies the blood, excretes used up hormones, eliminates drugs, and produces bile, which is important for fat digestion and estrogen metabolism.
If the liver isnt functioning optimally, these vital functions dont work well, either. Detoxifying the liver is key to seasonal allergy relief. Its also one leg on the 3-legged stool for achieving hormone balance. The other two are restoring the gut and balancing blood sugar. When everything is in balance, they lower inflammation in the body and impact how or if you respond to seasonal allergens.
The Three Legs to Achieving Hormonal Balance
What are the benefits of a better functioning liver?
- Great cholesterol stats
- Fewer allergies to foods, pollen, chemicals, etc.
- Balanced hormones
The liver plays a huge role in our hormone balance. Learn more in this article on the liver.
Liver Health For Hormones
Milk Thistle is a very common herb that helps cleanse and support the liver. It can be taken every day or as needed. Dandelion is another safe and effective herb for the liver. Turmeric is excellent for liver health as well as for inflammation and MORE. Any or all of these herbs will help boost liver health. Check here for liver cleansing support.
Recommended Reading: What Hormone Makes You Grow
Neti Pot And Saline Rinse
A neti pot can be really helpful for clearing nasal passageways and lowering inflammation. A saline rinse can help for the same reason. The salt helps to thin the mucus in the nasal cavity, remove allergens, and potentially lower histamine. A review published in the Cochrane Library found that saline nasal irrigation was helpful for those suffering from allergic rhinitis.
Pollen levels are typically higher in the morning so this is a great practice after your morning walk. Or, combine it with your nightly shower.
Try Stress Reduction Techniques
Stress harms your hormones in several ways.
The hormone cortisol is known as the stress hormone because it helps your body cope with long-term stress.
Your bodys response to stress activates a cascade of events that leads to cortisol production. Once the stressor has passed, the response ends. However, chronic stress impairs the feedback mechanisms that return your hormonal systems to normal .
Therefore, chronic stress causes cortisol levels to remain elevated, which stimulates appetite and increases your intake of sugary and high fat foods. In turn, this may lead to excessive calorie intake and obesity (
50 ).
In a review of 21 studies in 2,250 people, those assigned to a short sleep group showed higher ghrelin levels than those who got the recommended amount of sleep .
Plus, your brain needs uninterrupted sleep to go through all five stages of each sleep cycle. This is especially important for the release of growth hormone, which occurs mainly at night during deep sleep .
To maintain optimal hormonal balance, aim for at least 7 hours of high quality sleep per night.
Summary
Poor sleep has been shown to decrease fullness hormones, increase hunger and stress hormones, and increase insulin resistance.
Also Check: How To Deal With Hormonal Mood Swings
Reasonings Behind My Liver Cleansing Journey
I am in the midst of my eighth liver and gallbladder cleanse today. I ended up passing a significant amount of gallstones Id say 400-500. Most of which have been small, but several have been good sized.
This is the first cleanse where I have not gotten sick and thrown up the oil and/or Epsom Salts Hooray! I am taking this as a positive sign that perhaps my body is getting less toxic.
Last time I did a cleanse I reviewed the importance of bile in the whole digestive process and today Ive been reviewing the livers important role in hormone balance. This is a big deal on the road to healing endometriosis a disease that is fueled and stimulated by excess estrogen in the body.
This has been the primary reason behind me doing these liver and gallbladder cleanses. I feel like upon completion of them that my body will be in a much better position to combat my endo.
Try An Elimination Diet
Consider doing an Elimination Diet for a while we recommend a minimum of 28 days. Doing so can help take the burden off your liver, lower inflammation, and allow the gut to heal. Allergies happen when there is an overflow of toxins and inflammatory responses, including histamine. By doing so, you will reduce the full bucket and prevent an overflow which is when allergies manifest.
The liver is a mighty detoxification organ that can reduce the overflow and overwhelm caused by toxins, making liver support a great way to start.
Removing foods that may have been causing inflammation, via an elimination diet, can work as a sort of reset button. When inflammation has gone down due to a lower toxic load and a break from the foods you may have been eating day after day, its in a great position to heal. Liver detoxification and an elimination diet go hand-in-hand to reduce inflammation and calm the immune response.
Both of my books, Overcoming Estrogen Dominance and Cooking for Hormone Balance, have complete meal plans for doing an elimination diet. Learn more about Elimination Diets in this article.
You May Like: What Is The Lowest Estrogen Birth Control Pill
Get At Least 7 Hours Of Sleep Each Night
Sleep helps balance hormone levels, especially cortisol and melatonin. When many of my patients describe hormone excess symptoms like anxiety and weight gain, I always find out how well theyre sleeping. Most of the timeits not enough.
Sleep regulates the level of cortisol, a steroid hormone produced by the adrenal glands. Its also known as the stress hormone . Cortisol helps regulate other hormones in the body, and excess can negatively impact progesterone production. This is especially important if youre still having a menstrual cycle.
When you sleep well. you should wake up feeling rested. This allows cortisol to reach a peak about 30 minutes after you wake up, which impacts all of your other hormones, including thyroid hormone and estrogen.
Do I Need To Detox Signs Of An Unhealthy Liver
One of your bodyslargest organs, your liver works 24 hours a day, performing more than 500functions that help to keep you healthy and performing at your peak. Your liverkeeps your metabolic system functioning normally, it changes the food you eatinto nutrients and energy, and flushes out toxins to keep you healthy. If yourliver is not healthy, your whole body suffers.
Main Functions of Your Liver:
- Supports a healthydigestion by filtering blood from the digestive tract
- Secretes bile that helpsneutralize fats
- Stores carbohydrates asglycogen that can be used later when you need more energy
- Converts fats andproteins into glucose when you run out of carbohydrates for energy
- Filters toxic substancesfrom the blood
- Aids your immune systemby catching potentially deleterious substances such as bacteria, parasites andfungi.
- Makes vital proteinsimportant for blood clotting
- Breaks down damaged bloodcells to be eliminated
- Stores vitamins andminerals such as A, D, B12, K, iron and folate
- Controls the productionand excretion of cholesterol
- Maintains hormone balance
Your liver is the largest and hardest working organs and if theliver is not working properly many systems will suffer including yourmetabolism, circulation, hormone balance, and digestion.
The Role of the Liver in EasternMedicine
20 Symptoms of an UnhealthyLiver
You May Like: How Often Can You Give Child Melatonin
Causes Of Estrogen Dominance
1. Stress. I said it! Chronic stress can cause chronically high levels of cortisol . Read more about all that here. Cortisol actually blocks progesterone receptors which can lead to low levels of progesterone in relation to estrogen. This results in symptoms of estrogen dominance.
2. Xenoestrogens. These are synthetic chemicals that mimic estrogen. They are found in plastics, and many many other products that we use in everyday life. We live in a pretty toxic world. Did you know there are over 80,000 chemicals currently on the market and the majority of them have not been tested for safety, much less proven safe. Xenoestrogens act like estrogen in the body making it seem like youve got more estrogen than you do. They are total impostors and wreak havoc on your delicate hormonal balance. BPA and phthalates are two of the worst offenders.
3. Alcohol. Do you know that alcohol consumption raises estrogen levels and slows down fat burning? Not cool! Just two servings a day for four weeks has been shown to raise estrogen levels by 22 percent!
Eat More Broccoli And Fiber
Broccoliand even more so broccoli sproutscontain a compound called indole-3-carbinol which helps the body break down excess estrogen. I love adding both broccoli and broccoli sprouts for liver detoxification and gut health. Theyre powerful hormone-balancing foods that also provide prebiotic fiber for beneficial gut bacteria.
You can also take indole-3-carbinol directly if you dont eat broccoli or other cruciferous vegetables on a regular basis. I3C might also improve improve your skin, moods, and energy levels.
I also recommend anti-inflammatory foods like healthy fats high in omega-3s and plenty of leafy greens if youre working on estrogen detoxification.
Read more:9 Easy Anti-Inflammatory Recipes Worth Trying
Read Also: Best Routine For Hormonal Acne
Add Probiotics To Your Diet Such As Yogurt Or Fermented Vegetables
Probiotics are great for hormone detox. They support the digestive bacteria in your gut that make up whats called the estrobolome. These bacteria help process and metabolize excess estrogen and other hormones.
One study found that women with high estrogen levels, but reduced beneficial bacteria had a greater breast cancer risk . Another study showed that hormone-sensitive endometrial tumors were more likely to grow in the presence of elevated estrogen levels .
My favorite probiotic-rich foods are kefir, yogurt, veggies or beets, and kombucha. Some of these flavors can take a while to get used to for some of my patients, so sometimes a high-quality probiotic supplement is the way to go.
Its important to take care of your beneficial gut bacteria at every stage of life, but especially for estrogen detoxification.Check out this article to learn more about how tosupport healthy estrogen metabolism with beneficial bacteria.
Fact: Some Repair Is Possible
Damaging your skin or other organs in your body results in scars. Your liver is a unique organ because it can regenerate damaged tissue by regenerating new cells.
But regeneration does take time. If you continue to injure your liver via drugs, excessive alcohol intake, or poor diet, this can prevent regeneration, which may eventually lead to scarring of the liver. Scarring is irreversible. Once it reaches a more severe level, its known as cirrhosis.
Also Check: When Will Hormonal Acne Go Away
Herbs To Balance Your Hormones
Nowadays, a high percentage of women may experience hormonal imbalances, from PMS to menopause associated symptoms. In recent years, people have started to talk more rigorously about this topic: period pain, symptoms associated with premenstrual syndrome, etc. Now we know that the period should not hurt and that if it does it is very possible that we have an excess of estrogens in our body or an imbalance between progesterone and estrogens, for example. We also know that diet and lifestyle significantly influence our hormonal system, therefore, although each case is particular and should be individually addresses, the strong drop in estrogen that women suffer during menopause and all the related can be supported by introducing more phytoestrogens into our diet .
Some of the symptoms that can show a hormonal imbalance are:
- Irregular menstrual cycles
- Mood swings, irritability, anxiety, depression, stress
- Unexplained weight changes
Here are 5 herbs that help to balance your hormones:
1. Maca
2. Red Raspberry Leaf
3. Vitex Or
4. Milk Thistle
5. Oatstraw
Natural ingredients to balance our hormones naturally
Omega-6 is often linked to unhealthy fats, namely trans and ultra-processed fats. Even so, consumed in its proper measure and combined with omega-3 in a specific proportion, it can bring us great benefits. The correct ratio should be between 1: 1 and 4: 1 of omega-6 and 3 respectively. The problem is that most diets have more omega-6s than omega-3s.