Magdalena Wszelaki is the founder of Hormones & Balance, a nutrition practice dedicated to helping women rebalance their hormones naturally and author of the best-seller protocol cookbook Cooking for Hormone Balance.
Medical review by Reproductive EndocrinologistSheeva Talebian, M.D., is a board-certified reproductive endocrinologist. She graduated from Columbia University and obtained her medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
October 07, 2019Your hormones are responsible for how you think, feel, and look. A woman with balanced hormones is sharp and upbeat with a good memory. She feels energetic without caffeine during the day, falls asleep quickly, and wakes refreshed. She is blessed with a healthy appetite and maintains a desired weight with a good diet. Her hair and skin glow. She feels emotionally balanced and responds to stress with grace and reason. When menstruating, her menses come and go with no or little PMS. She has an active sex life. She can maintain a full-term pregnancy. When entering peri- or menopause, she slides into a new phase of life with ease.
If that doesn't describe you, your hormones are imbalanced. Don't despair. You are not alone. Millions of women experience hormonal imbalance. The good news is, you can rebalance your hormones naturally and resolve your symptoms.
As a functional practitioner and the author of Cooking for Hormone Balance, I've discovered that the foundation of a good hormonal balance is these three bodily systems: your digestion, your liver (detoxification), and sugar balance. I call it the three-legged stool that hormonal balance sits on.
If you've ever tried to sit on a three-legged stool, you know that only when each of the three legs is even and firmly in place can you sit down comfortably and confidently. If one leg is weak or shorter than the others or goes missing, you'll lose your balance and fall, right?
To get started, I want to show you how you can set yourself up for a foundation to start feeling the benefits in just three days. This plan was designed to help your digestion, aid your liver in detoxification, and keep your blood sugar balanced—all resulting in happier, more balanced hormones.
Start the day increasing your stomach acid and priming your digestion for absorbing the maximum amount of nutrients from the food you are about to eat. Believe it or not, acid reflux is a sign of low stomach acid, not excessive stomach acid. Dr. Jonathan V. Wright of the Tahoma Clinic, in his book Why Stomach Acid Is Good for You (written with Lane Lenard), asserts, "When we carefully test people over age forty who're having heartburn, indigestion and gas, over 90 percent of the time we find inadequate acid production by the stomach."
That's why I like to start my patients on a healthy acid hit in the morning. Dilute 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar or freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice in 8 ounces of warm or room temperature water. Women I have worked with over the years report feeling energized, experiencing better digestion and bowel movement, and even fewer allergies.
Stomach acid is essential to the breakdown of vital nutrients. It allows for the digestion and absorption of trace minerals, vital for good health, such as zinc, iron, copper, magnesium, calcium, selenium, and vitamins B3 and B12. We need certain trace minerals and vitamins for our glands to produce hormones. Sufficient stomach acid will help absorb these nutrients. Stomach acid also triggers the pancreas to produce the bile and enzymes needed to digest and absorb proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. An inability to digest fats well can lead to low cholesterol levels, and that in turn can cause an imbalance in sex hormone levels, such as estrogen, progesterone, cortisol, DHEA, and testosterone.
Stomach acid also sterilizes the stomach, which helps kill off pathogens found in food, and prevents the overgrowth of yeast, fungus, and bacteria. If you have low acid levels, it may lead to chronic bacterial or yeast infections, and you are more likely to become a host for parasites, which cause even more digestive problems down the line.
I've traveled to over 40 countries and discovered that healthy people around the globe only eat savory breakfasts. It's only in Western countries that we often eat the quantity of sugar that amounts to a dessert serving.
To keep your hormones happy, you need good sugar balance—never feeling shaky, unfocused, moody when hungry. Not craving carbs and sugar. Not feeling constantly hungry even after just having eaten.
(symptoms include ovarian cysts, facial hair, fertility struggles, belly fat), estrogen dominance (PMS, fibroids, endometriosis, breast lumps), and contributes to exhausting the adrenals (which not only produce stress hormones but are also tasked with regulating blood sugar levels).
The easiest way to fix that is to start the day with a PFF breakfast, meaning making sure the first meal of your day is full of protein, fat, and fiber.
Women in my practice who follow this breakfast format feel grounded and focused. They don't need to snack before lunch. They can easily reduce calories (especially those coming from sugar) without feeling deprived. They don't need sugar or caffeine to "pick them up" at 3 p.m. In fact, many have reported even sleeping better too!
You can do whatever you'd like for breakfast, but check to make sure it contains some form of healthy protein (like nuts, pastured meat or eggs, whole hemp hearts, chia seeds, or more); some form of healthy fat (like coconut butter, grass-fed butter, nuts, or avocado); and fiber (any vegetables are great for this!). I love to make what I call the Farmer's Wife's Breakfast, a hearty mix of lamb, greens, and fermented food.
Put away the coffee (it acidifies your body and contributes to adrenal exhaustion) and try tulsi, also known as holy basil. This ancient ayurvedic tea is a wonderful tonic and adaptogen that will help nourish your adrenals.
Tulsi tea can be purchased in most health stores, or in bulk online. Brew it like any regular herbal tea; by steeping 2 teaspoons in 8 ounces of water, for 10 to 15 minutes. Overnight steeping will increase its medicinal properties.
If you must drink coffee, have it after a meal but never on an empty stomach. Limit to no more than a cup per day.
Cruciferous vegetables include broccoli, broccoli sprouts, kale, collard greens, bok choy, arugula, mustard greens, cauliflower, and cabbage. They contain a potent ingredient called DIM—Di-indolyl-methane. It helps the liver to detoxify us from metabolized ("used up") hormones that can cause harm (like fibroids, breast lumps, thyroid nodules, PMS, fertility struggles, and much more).
If you are going out to lunch, skip the inflammatory gluten and dairy in a sandwich, and opt for a fresh salad made with arugula, mustard greens, or baby kale.
Be sure, though, to listen to your body; if you feel like a salad isn't enough, add some good-quality protein such as grass-fed beef or lamb roast, free-range chicken or wild salmon.
You'll also want to add some beets and carrots. Beets support the liver's methylation pathway2
by helping detox excess estrogen, dopamine, histamine, and heavy metals. Carrots help3
produce more progesterone and bind the antagonistic estrogen metabolites.
If you go to a salad bar, add beets. Or make this Detoxing Beet and Carrot Salad. It is high in natural sugars, so be sure to eat it with a blood-sugar-balancing piece of protein like chicken, fish, or lamb.