10 Facts you need to know about Female Hormones
10 Facts you need to know about Female Hormones
You keep fit; you eat healthy and believe you are pretty healthy. However, something is quite not right. You’re wondering what it could be?
Most women overlook this piece to the puzzle. Your female hormones! They affect everything from mood, to your weight, to your energy level, and more. Even if you are a health fanatic and taking the best care of your body, there might be a few important factors you are overlooking.
Here are 10 key factors every woman should know about her hormones:
1. The pill doesn’t fix your PMS-related problems.
The pill is an artificial hormone designed to block your body’s natural rhythms and it is not actually healing your PMS, acne, heavy flow, or mood swings. The only thing that will fix these symptoms is addressing their root causes through diet and lifestyle. Eating the right food that gives your body the right nutrients to deal with your PMS and adjusting your exercise routine to your natural body rhythms is the key.
2. Your hormones are not the enemy, but your best friend once you understand their function.
Healthy hormonal balance keeps your skin glowing, weight stable, mood up, and energy high, but they also help you connect to your creativity and ambition. For instance, straight after your period, you have an energy surge and with time you learn to make this the time to get things done. Knowing how your monthly pattern of hormones affects your brain chemistry and your energy gives you an advantage. Working with them rather than against them will help you plan your life better.
3. PMS is not normal.
If you’re dealing with common PMS symptoms like mood swings, acne, bloating, cramps and more, there is something not quite right. Our bodies are made to cycle naturally without feeling so ‘crappy’. If you’re having PMS symptoms, it means that your oestrogen and progesterone levels aren’t balanced and you need to address with simple diet changes. Eat three meals a day; include in your meals a variety of fruit, cut down on high glycemic index carbohydrates, protect your body with antioxidants, eat protein at each meal and last eat healthy fats.
4. Hormones need fat to survive.
Some fat in your diet is important! Your reproductive hormones can’t get around in your body without fat. Without the proper dietary fat coming in, your body won’t able to keep your hormones stable, which can make you vulnerable to many hormonal symptoms. Don’t cross out fat completely from your diet.
5. Did you can extend and improve your fertility with food.
Years of dieting or extreme food choices can starve your body of the proper micronutrients it needs for a healthy cycle. More and more women are struggling to conceive at younger ages, and this has everything to do with how food affects your hormone levels. Even if you’re not sure about having babies in the future, do your body a favour and take better care of your cycle now.
6. Detoxing correctly requires specific daily nutrient intake.
Extreme detoxes and juice cleansing can actually do more damage than good by setting off an internal stress response and signalling your body to store more fat. Your liver has two key phases of detoxification, and in order for hormones and other toxins to be released properly, it must have key vitamins, amino acids, and antioxidants present — all best acquired through food. If you thinking of following those fad detox diets out there prior to starting to consider a visit to your GP for some good advice.
7. Most hormonal imbalances are caused by micronutrient deficiencies.
When we want to improve oestrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol and thyroid performance, it all boils down to improving micronutrient (vitamins, minerals, amino acids) stores. What this means for you, of course, is that you have to eat yourself to hormonal balance! Carbohydrates, proteins and fats from the three main macronutrients that are essential in every balanced diet.
8. Exercise with hormonal patterns, not against them.
Testosterone patterns, metabolism, cortisol and mood all fluctuate in predictable accord with your 28-day cycle. The same workout every day and every week is not going to be practical. The reason is that your monthly hormonal patterns require a different kind of exercise. Want to know more about how to sync your exercise with your cycle? Read ‘How to sync your exercise routine with your cycle’
9. Digestive and bowel symptoms are connected to hormonal issues.
Don’t keep pushing aside the fact that you only poop once a week, feel bloated after you eat, or that you need antacids more often than not. When your digestion is off, your body is neither absorbing nutrients optimally nor eliminating toxins and hormones efficiently, which can create an internal environment ripe for hormonal imbalance
10. Orgasm, not climax, provides massive hormonally balancing benefits
What is the difference between the two? The climax is the moment when the nerve endings reach their maximum stimulation, while orgasm is the plateau of measurable sensations leading up to climax. All the hormonal benefits of oxytocin and nitric oxide, which help regulate your cycle, improve your sex drive, increase your fertility, and flush excess cortisol, take place due to the orgasmic build, not simply the climax. This is excellent news for women because we are designed to have as long of an orgasmic plateau as one wants. Enjoy girls!