Eating foods to feed your hormones is an essential first step in taking back your health and supporting the health of your hormones.
What foods you eat on a daily basis is foundational to your overall health. It impacts every aspect of our bodies. Over the last century, our change in diet to lots of processed foods that are high in sugar, chemicals and pesticides, has significantly made humans sicker. This includes our hormones.
Our hormonal system in our body is vast and complicated. Our hormones are involved in every aspect of a healthy functioning body, which means that eating to feed our hormones should be at the top of the list
FEED YOUR HORMONES CARBOHYDRATES
Carbohydrates have a complex history of negatively impacting our health. Diets such as ketogenic, Atikins, Whole30 and paleo, focus on having a lower carb diet. It is not the carbohydrates themselves that can be bad for you, it is the type of carbohydrate. Carbs are a great source of energy, helping to support optimal brain function as well as hormone production.
The best form of carbohydrates are complex, meaning they aren’t absorbed by the body quickly in the form of sugars. Simple carbohydrates include white sugars and flours, pastas, and baked goods. These are absorbed by the body quickly, which spike your blood sugar. Instead, focus on carbohydrates that contain fiber, along with lots of vitamins and minerals to support your body. This includes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and beans.
Vegetables
The best source of carbohydrates are vegetables. Leafy green are at the top of the list, such as arugula, kale, spinach, romaine lettuce, and swiss chard. They provide nutrients to your body that directly affect your hormone production. They help reduce inflammation in your body and provide great sources of calcium, magnesium, and potassium, that help regulate hormone production. The fiber it contains also helps with your daily elimination. Having a daily bowel movement is essential to eliminate excess hormones that could be building up in your body.
It is also important to have weekly sources of cruciferous vegetables. This includes broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and cabbage. These are foundational to help break down estrogens in the body and help eliminate them via liver detoxification.
Fruits
Fruits are another amazing source of carbohydrates. They are nutrient dense and full of antioxidants that support hormone health. The important thing is to balance blood sugar, so focus on fruits with a lower glycemic index. This means they do not spike insulin levels quickly after eating. These fruits inlcude berries (such as raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries), nectarines, peaches, watermelon, cantaloupe, grapefruit, and oranges. Fruits to eat in moderation with a higher glycemic index include grapes, pears, kiwi, cherries, apples, and all dried fruits.
It is also important to make sure that you consume fruit in its whole form, not in the form of juice. The natural sugar content in fruit without the added fiber will significantly spike your blood sugar, which will disrupt your hormones long term.
Whole Grains & Beans
I absolutely love beans. They are easy to cook with, affordable, and are a great balance of carbohydrates, fat, and protein. They are also full of of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Sometimes, people will have difficult digesting beans. That could mean that you might have a digestion imbalance going on (you might want to see a Naturopathic Doctor!), but it could also be that you don’t soak your beans before cooking with them. This is an essential step to reduce the lectin, which can cause irritation and inflammation in the GI tract. So soak your beans before cooking, and try to eat 1/2-1 cup of beans a few days a week.
We can’t talk about carbohydrates, without talking about grains. When eating to feed your hormones, choose grains that are whole and complex, which are high in nutrients, fatty acids, and minerals. This ensures that you digest them slowly so your blood sugar doesn’t spike. Depending on the individual, I also try to emphasize eating gluten free whole grains. The processing of gluten containing grains can cause irritation and inflammation in the body, leading to food sensitivities, leaky gut, and a wide range of full body symptoms. This includes rashes, fatigue, acne, fatty liver, and everything in-between. My favorite gluten-free whole grains include brown and white rice, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, and millet.
PROTEIN
Protein is an essential part of the human diet. It is an essential building block for hormones, as well as immune and blood cells, neurotransmitters (your happy cells), nerve signals, as well as helping to create muscles, organs, hair and nails. Animal sources of protein include red meat, fish, eggs, milk, cheese, yogurt, and poultry. These are extremely important to source high quality, meaning they are grass-fed, pasture-raise, or wild-caught.
Plant based proteins include beans, whole grains, nuts & seeds, and soy. I often get asked whether soy is good or bad for the human body. In reality, it is much more complex than that. Bodies react differently to soy than other bodies, meaning it isn’t a one size fit all approach. I honesty don’t believe eating over-processed forms of soy is good for most bodies, especially when eaten everyday. This includes soy milk, soy protein products, and soy cheeses. Specifically when talking about hormones, soy contains phytoestrogens, which can increase estrogens in the body. If you choose to eat soy, choose the whole food form of it, such as edamame.
Lastly, it is important to make sure that you eat enough protein. Aim for 20 grams of protein per meal, meaning you should get at least 60 grams of protein on a daily basis. This helps regulate our hormones, but also reduces fatigue, and helps support a healthy mood.
FAT
Please, no more low fat diets. Dietary fat is essential to making hormones, as well as most physical processes in our bodies. The most important part is making sure that you are eating the right fats. This includes avocados and oil, olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, seeds, olives, grass fed animal fats (lard, tallow, duck fat), grass-fed dairy, and full fat diary (cheeses, kefir, yogurt). It is important to include wild cold water fish such as salmon, tuna, sardines, mackerel, or herring 2-3 times per week.
It is important to avoid inflammatory fats and oils, as this negatively impacts your hormones and causes body inflammation. This includes trans fats, processed foods, fast foods, canola oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, peanut oil, safflower oil, soybean oil, and sunflower oil.
Lastly, we can’t walk away without discussing diary. The biggest problem with diary is that is often produced on farms that feed cows diets high in corn and grains, as well as injecting them with growth hormones and antibiotics. If this is the only dairy that you can afford, I would suggest skipping diary. This causes significant inflammation when eaten, as well as disrupting our hormones because of the synthetic hormones that the diary now contains.
If you choose to consume diary, make sure that it is organic, full fat, and free of rBGH (growth hormones), pesticides and antibiotics. Many people who have a difficult time digesting diary, often do much better with sheep or goats milk, as well as raw dairy milk. Raw milk skips the pasteurization process, which means that it contains all of the natural enzymes in it that help humans process dairy. This is also the case with fermented dairy such as kefir and yogurt. So choose your dairy wisely, and try alternatives.
SUMMARY
Hormones are a complex system within the body, but is significantly impacted by the foods that we choose to eat. Being mindful and aware of what foods are beneficial to our hormones, will help you make the right choice to help you on the process of eating to feed your hormones.
LEARN MORE:
THE GUT MICROBIOME OF KIDS & INFANTS
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