Healthy Habits to improve your hormones

Healthy habits to improve your hormones

Generally, from puberty to post menopause women are constantly challenged by an imbalance with there hormones. Who’d be a woman????

At the beginning of last year (2021) I wasn't in a good place, I had severe anxiety and depression and could not see a way out. I was 57 years of age and I thought that I was through, or at least coming to the end of my menopause symptoms. Looking back, I now know that my hormones were out of balance again, but this time causing me severe symptoms, which I had not experienced before. Yes, I had gone through the fluctuating mood swings, hot flushes, brain fog, dry eye syndrome, to name just a few of them. But this was different and very scary!

For many women, when we reach menopause, the children may have left home, we may not have job satisfaction, with the added decline of our oestrogen, estrogen, and progesterone, and testosterone levels we can quite quickly start to feel very differently to how we may have felt in our 30's and 40's.

 I was fortunate enough to find a wellbeing coach who listened to my story and symptoms and over a period of several sessions between us we were able to bring me back to finding my sense of purpose and a way forward. 

So, this is where my journey into health coaching began. Over the past few months I have been able to change my eating habits, even though I always thought that I had a healthy diet, we mainly cooked meals, so not too many ready meals, but after research and educating I now look at food differently.

Since January I have made a conscious effort to try and reduce my intake of refined carbohydrates, which hasn't been easy, but I am starting to see results! My weight, and particularly the excess wobble around my middle is starting to decrease. But most importantly, although I didn't have a sweet tooth, my need for sugar has drastically reduced. I am also finding that I don't need to snack between meals and I no longer feel the hunger pangs! Did you know, that sugar is in fact more addictive than cocaine? Which is probably why the Western world really has a problem with obesity and ill health. 

Refined carbohydrates ie. Sugar, white flour, bread, rice, barley, chocolate, crisps and fizzy drinks are all processed products that have very little or no nutritional value to our health but also have an impact on the good foods we ingest. Refined carbohydrates if consumed regularly and in excess can lead to insulin resistance and type II diabetes. 

Swaps... maybe consider swapping chocolate for a healthy chocolate such as dark chocolate (at least 80% chocolate) it is also considered a prebiotic (redovnikovic et al.,2009}. There are other healthy options such as carob. Other swaps to consider are brown rices and pastas, which haven't been so highly processed and easier to consume.

 What should we consider when thinking of our hormones?

 Exercise is so important. As we age our ability to retain muscle mass declines along with bone density. For us to maintain some consistency we should be considering weight bearing and possibly aerobic exercise. High intensity exercise may not be your first choice or go too, but even just starting out with a 30 minute walk each day, will be beneficial. Swimming, Pilates, yoga are also great and are proven to show results.

 Relaxation is also key to helping us. If our minds and bodies are stressed then our hormones are impaired, we are constantly sending hormones around the body but when we are under stress it kicks our sympathetic nervous system into play.

The sympathetic nervous system, sometimes referred to as our fight and flight system is part of our evolutionary makeup. Years ago, it was relevant in that if we were being chased by a tiger, or bear for instance our fight and flight system would kick into play by creating adrenalin and enabling us to run away from our predators.

But today thankfully it is unlikely that we will be chased by such predators and therefore don’t really need to be constantly running on adrenalin. But chronic stress can constantly create adrenalin responses like this and therefore cause havoc with our bodily functions. Our digestive system will also have a big negative impact in so much as we will not be able to process foods in a healthy way.

Perhaps think of some great ways to relax, such as medication, again yoga, a massage or reflexology.

 Poor Sleep can also be affected during times of change and for women this added to menopause symptoms, can be a nightmare! Consider a sleep routine, set the scene for relaxation in the bedroom, no TV’s or mobile phones, try to have the room as dark as possible and set a time for bed such as 9 or 10pm if possible.

 So, ladies, lets help our hormones and take a healthy approach to eating, exercise, relaxation, and a good night’s sleep.

 Health and wellbeing coaching is a great way to help your hormones, by spending time with a coach you can talk about your symptoms and together we can come up with action plans and nutritious ideas for a happier healthier you.