Do I Have a Hormonal Imbalance?

by Angie

 

Are you aware that you have a hormonal imbalance?
Lots of my clients as well as other women expressed to me, that they don’t know what are the symptoms of hormonal imbalance. So I’ve decided to write about it.

Hormone imbalance affects men and women and is responsible for many symptoms and health concerns. If you have 3 or more of the symptoms listed below, best is to find a qualified practitioner you can work with, who can test your hormones and find out what are yours imbalances are. He/ she will help you to come up with the right protocol for you to help you improve your quality of life.

Here are the symptoms of hormonal imbalances you can experience:
• mood swings
• hot flashes
• fatigue
• depression
• anxiety
• nervousness
• memory lapses
• weight gain
• feeling angry
• hair loss
• acne
• irritable
• feeling teary
• fibroids
• mood swings
• decreased libido
• bleeding changes
• tender breast
• irregular period
• fluid retention
• sleep disturbances
• hot flashes
• fibrocystic breasts
• vaginal dryness
• incontinence
• night sweats
• headaches
• can’t lose weight
• heavy periods/painful periods
• weight gain waist
• weight gain hips
• foggy thinking
• bone loss
• stress
• cold hands
• sugar cravings
• oily skin
• dry skin
• bloating
• thinning skin
• breast cancer
• heart palpitations
• cold body temperature
• yeast infections and digestive issues (excess gas, belly pain, diarrhea, nausea)
• increased facial/body hair
• cystic acne
• panic attacks
• aches and pains

I know! These are a lot of symptoms, and it can be overwhelming. There are things though you can do to keep your hormones balanced.
It is important to understand the cause and symptoms to feel better and prevent hormonal imbalance.

 

To have balanced hormones, you need to address liver health, gut health, blood sugar regulation, the food you eat, exercise, stress, sleep, and adrenal health.

 

If we live in chronic stress, there is too much cortisol floating in our body. When this happens, the body steals from its supplies of available progesterone (calming hormone), to make more cortisol (the body will always choose surviving than being of the state of calm first). This process depletes progesterone, which is essential balancing hormone and very important for not to become estrogen dominant. Chronic robs us of energy, destroy our bones, lowers libido, melts our muscles and overwhelms our immunities.
We need to take care of our adrenals, because if they are “pooped out- we are pooped out also. We need to get enough rest, provide proper nutrition, and be less stress for our adrenals to be happy. Without healthy adrenals, it is hard to maintain a hormonal health.

 

Blood sugar regulation is another important factor in having healthy hormones. Insulin (a hormone) maintain our blood sugar (glucose) levels in the body. Food is being broken down into glucose, and insulin transport that glucose into the cells, where it becomes our fuel for energy. If there is too much sugar (glucose) in the body, cells become desensitized. The body continues to release more insulin, allowing blood sugar levels to become high. Those prolonged level of high insulin increases inflammation, disrupt cellular metabolism. Eventually, the cells quit responding to the signal from insulin — creating insulin resistance. When excess sugar is not used for energy, it gets stored as fat and increases estrogen levels in the body, which leads to estrogen dominance ( a ratio of estrogen to progesterone – when you have too much estrogen in comparison t your progesterone), and estrogen dominance can lead to breast cancer.
Insulin is also a growth factor, and when we overeat sugar, carbohydrates, and sweets, or drinking too much alcohol insulin rises, increasing IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor), which is proven to stimulate cancer cells.

Fat produces more estrogen and stores more toxins. The more fat you have, the more toxins you are storing. That’s why it is important to keep your weight in check and have a well-functioning liver. The liver also is the organ where estrogen gets metabolized. If our liver is not functioning well or is overburden with toxins estrogen is not getting excreted from the body, and it gets recirculated in the liver which can create estrogen dominance. In addition to that fat cells also produce the enzyme aromatase, which converts testosterone to estrogens, that’s why overweight and obese women have more estrogen. Being overweight or obese can reduce SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin). SHBG is a protein that binds estrogen levels and keeps them out of circulation. When these levels go down, estrogen levels go up, become active, and thus stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells.

 

An unhealthy gut can cause all kinds of health problems: from leaky gut, SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth), food allergies and sensitivities, candida, and autoimmune diseases. All of this has a huge impact on hormonal balance. Healing the gut with appropriate protocols is possible. Foods damaging to the digestive system are gluten, processed food, fried food, sugar, and hydrogenated oils. Some perfect foods for healing the gut are fermented food, bone broth, and high-fiber foods. Probiotics and digestive enzymes will help you repair your gut lining, which can help balance your hormones as well.

 

Changing diet is of paramount importance for many people suffering from hormonal imbalances. Correct eating will reduce inflammation, which will help you to lose weight and feel better overall. Eat organic, clean produce. Eating healthy fats, which are needed for the productions of hormones, helps to reduce inflammation, boost your metabolism and promote weight loss. Good sources of healthy fats: sardines, olive oil, coconut oil, avocados, grass-fed butter, and wild-caught salmon. Eat healthy carbs; breakfast high in protein, fat, and veggies.

It is important to pay attention to the way your daily choices and habits are impacting your hormones. Changing your lifestyle can have an enormous impact on your hormonal balance. Reducing stress, managing your sleeping habits, getting outside, exercise and changing your diet will be tremendously helpful! One of the best things you can do is be aware of chemicals in our daily life. Chemical are massive endocrine disruptors, and an even little amount can put us out of balance. Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that change the normal function of hormones. In a healthy body, our endocrine system releases hormones that signal different tissues telling them what to do. Chemicals from the outside and they get into our bodies, have the ability to mimic our natural hormones; blocking or binding our hormone receptors.
Xenoestrogens are endocrine disruptors that can act like estrogen. Estrogen is a natural hormone in our bodies that is necessary for bone growth, blood clotting and reproduction in men and women. The body regulates the amount needed through complex biochemical pathways. When xenoestrogens are introduced to the body, they increase the total amount of estrogen resulting in estrogen dominance. Xenoestrogens can’t be excreted from your body, and they are being stored in our fat cells. This can lead to many conditions including breast, estrogen dominance, prostate and testicular cancer, obesity, infertility, endometriosis, early onset puberty, miscarriages, and diabetes.

Unfortunately, we use today in abundance in all cosmetics, makeups, cleaning supplies, perfumes, toys, plastic laundry detergents and more. Those are parabens, phthalates, BPA, aluminum, etc.

Use of contraceptives is a huge problem too. The hormones interfere in our regular cycle, and it is tough to get back on track after we make a decision to stop taking them.

 

Not getting enough sleep disturbs your natural circadian rhythm, which can contribute to hormonal imbalance. Believe it or not, hormones have a schedule. Cortisol, which is the primary “stress hormone,” is regulated at midnight. So when people go to bed too late they never truly get a break from their sympathetic flight/fight stress response. This contributes to high cortisol levels, decreased immunity, weight gain, and anxiety.

I’ve designed a quiz you can take to find out what hormonal imbalance you have.

Click here to take the quiz!

In Health

Angie

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