Firstly, it is important to understand about what is hormones? and hormonal imbalance can occur due to various factors. By developing Healthy lifestyle and eating a well-balanced diet can help you to balance and reset your hormones level.
Additionally, hormones are chemical messengers that affect physical, mental and emotional well-being. They play a crucial role in regulating your appetite, mood and weight. Naturally, our body produces a certain amount of hormones to keep the body healthy. Nowadays, sedentary lifestyle and western dietary patterns affect the hormonal environment in the body.
Additionally, certain hormones decrease with age and some people face a sudden drop than others. However, a nutritious diet and other Healthy lifestyle habits may help to improve hormonal health and allow you to feel and perform your best. Let’s see 9 ways to balance hormones
(1) Protein rich meal; – Consuming an adequate amount of protein is extremely important. Protein provides essential amino acids that the body can’t make its own but the body needs it to function properly. Research has shown that eating protein decreases the Hunger hormone ghrelin and stimulates satiety hormone leptin that helps you feel full.
Food list; – Lentils, all types of beans, nuts, nut butter (Almond butter, cashew butter), seeds, salmon fish, eggs, chicken breast, cabbage, spinach, broccoli, carrots, radish, turnip, bell pepper and cauliflower.
(2) Regular exercise; – Physical activity strongly connected to hormonal health. Exercises improve blood flow to your muscles, increase hormone receptor sensitivity, enhance nutrient absorption, reduce insulin resistance and boost levels of muscle maintaining hormones that decrease with age such as IGF-1, testosterone and HGH.
Exercise list; – Strength training, yoga, running, swimming, cycling, aerobics or any form of physical activity.
(3) Maintain ideal weight; – Obesity is directly related to development of insulin resistance, hypogonadism- a reduction of hormone secretion from testis and ovaries, lower levels of reproductive hormone testosterone and impair fertility. Hence, maintaining ideal weight is necessary for hormonal health.
(4) Reset your gut health; – Gut contains more than 100 trillion friendly bacteria, which regulates hormones by maintaining insulin resistance, feeling of fullness and regulating appetite.
Gut friendly foods; – Steamed broccoli, one cup of lentils, soaked chia seeds, soaked flax seeds, organic green leafy vegetables such as spinach, legumes, low glycemic fruits such as berries and fermented foods.
(5) Decrease processed and packaged foods; – Sugary and salted processed and packaged food such as soft drinks, carbonated beverages, fruit juice, energy drinks and sport drinks promote insulin resistance and weight gain. They are high in calories with disrupting the good microbiome and fail to stimulate the production of fullness hormone leptin. Thus, lowering your processed food may balance hormonal health.
(6) Stress management; – Stress harms your hormones. Chronic stress causes cortisol levels to remain elevated, stimulate appetite, increase intake of high sugary and salty foods, stimulate glycogenesis- produce excessive glucose from all types of foods.
Lowering your cortisol levels by meditation, yoga, listening to music and pursuing a hobby may help normalize your hormone levels.
(7) Eat good/healthy fats; – Eat natural and unprocessed fats may reduce insulin resistance and regulate appetite.
MCT, SCFA and polyunsaturated fatty acids present in whole foods which reduce inflammation, regulate appetite, decrease cravings.
Food list; – Coconut oil, ghee, avocado, salmon fish, nuts, seeds (chia, flax, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame), eggs and dark chocolates.
(8) Get adequate sleep; – Poor sleep cause hormonal imbalance. Sleep deprivation decreases fullness hormone, increases hunger and stress hormone and increases insulin resistance.
Create cool and dark environments, avoid gadgets, reading a book, light and early dinner, improve sleep quality.
(9) Fiber rich foods; – Increased dietary fiber improves the ability of the liver to clear excess estrogen. Fiber is necessary to maintain estrogen level, regulate appetite, feeling full for a longer period of time and control hunger.
Food list; – Broccoli, cauliflower, lentils, all types of beans, soaked flax seeds, green leafy vegetables.https://sparklinglifestyle.in/food-as-medicine/
In conclusion, by developing above food habits and lifestyle we can definitely improve hormonal health or reset your hormones.
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