Foods for Hormone Health
Over the last year and a half I have been on a hormone balancing journey. My doctor told me that I could take hormonal birth control aka the pill to rebalance my hormones. I knew right away that I needed to seek out an alternative doctor to help me. I was on the pill for ~10 years and was likely experiencing post birth control syndrome. My hormones were having a hard time figuring things out after having been over ridden by the pill for the last 10 years. Instead of using the pill, I opted for a more holistic hormone healing journey focusing on foods, lifestyle, supplements, and exercise.
As a dietitian, I believe in food as medicine and first hand know how foods can be healing for the body. Food is nourishment and you need a nourishing foundation for good hormone health.
With that said, there are a few things you can do to help optimize your nutrition for healthy hormones.
Eat well balanced meals every 3-5 hours for optimal blood sugar balance. Balanced meals including a source of protein and carbohydrates. Fat will more than likely be included already, especially if you’re consuming animal proteins, therefore I don’t include a fat source.
Eat enough. Depriving your body of nutrients puts stress on the body which drives cortisol up. Elevated cortisol has a negative feedback loop to your reproductive hormones signaling that it is not safe to reproduce and therefore will have an effect on your hormone levels.
Fiber. Fiber plays a role in the elimination or excess hormones. Fiber from beans, lentils, and flax seeds helps to bind to excess hormones and excrete them from the body. Aim for at least 25 grams of fiber per day. Fiber also helps keep you regular and having daily bowel movements is essential for eliminating these excess hormones.
Focus on nutrient dense foods that provide your body with key vitamins and minerals necessary for hormone production, metabolism, and balance. Nutrient deficiencies can negatively impact your hormones. Minerals are like ingredients needed for hormone production, so if you don’t have enough ingredients, you can’t make the recipe.
Now that we have an understanding of the nutrition foundation for happy, balanced hormones, let’s talk about some specific foods that can help balance hormones.
Beef liver - full of so many important vitamins and minerals including iron, zinc, copper, vitamin A. If you do not with to enjoy beef liver directly, taking a supplement form is a great alternative.
Beans, lentils, flax seeds - source of fiber and more specifically lignans, which is a polyphenol and functions as a phytoestrogen in the body which can help decrease estrogen levels
Dark leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables - helps to promote healthy estrogen metabolism pathways and balance estrogen levels due to a phytonutrient called diindolylmethane (DIM).
Healthy fats - i.e. avocados, olive oil, avocado oil, nuts and seeds are needed in the diet to help produce sex hormones
Fatty fish (i.e. wild-caught salmon, sardines, herring, mackerel, etc.) - omega-3 fatty acids are a valuable fat source that improve insulin sensitivity and lower inflammation and inflammatory markers that may be associated with chronic stress. Fatty fish is also a good source of vitamin D which functions as a hormone and may help regulate female sex hormones, particularly testosterone.
This is not an exhaustive list, but these are some of the foods I incorporated into my daily and weekly routine to help restore hormone balance.
