What does food have to do with hormones?
um…besides everything?!
Hormones are chemical messengers that reflect what is happening inside our bodies and our environment. Contrary to popular belief - time is not the only thing we need to balance hormones after baby. Our diets are the #1 thing we can do to influence hormonal balance and get back on track.
Let’s go over some of the top relationships between your food, your hormones, and some quick tips on making the first steps to balance.
Unruly Estrogen
When estrogen gets unruly, we get symptoms like bad PMS, heavy periods and a super hard time losing weight.
Certain components of cruciferous veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage) can help detoxify excessive amounts of estrogen in your body.
Have poop problems? Estrogen buildup is likely! Making you sure you poop everyday is 100% necessary to keep estrogen in check. Increasing water intake, eating fiber from plant foods at each meal, and taking a magnesium supplement if necessary can get your poop on track.
Low Progesterone
Low progesterone can = anxiety, insomnia, spotting before period, short luteal phases. This is one of the most common issues I see in my new mom patients, particularly those in their later 30s and early 40s.
Progesterone is super sensitive to any kind of restriction or negative calorie balance. Overexercise, cutting calories or carbs, skipping meals, not enough animal protein can all tank this hormone. Just say no to keto and intermittent fasting! We want balanced, regular meals for happy progesterone.
Functional Hormone Foods
Certain functional foods like flax, soy, maca, pumpkin seed and yams can have significant effects on estrogen AND progesterone. Eating these regularly can help boost up low levels, particularly if you are fairly new postpartum (in the first year) and/or are close to perimenopause.
Building Blocks of Hormones
Hormones are made from fat and protein. If we’re not getting enough, we can’t make enough! Same goes for cholesterol - this is involved in the steroid hormone pathway and if our body isn’t making enough or you’re not getting enough from diet, hormone production can suffer.
Vitamin D is also needed to make hormones! This is one of the more common deficiencies I see across the board. It’s difficult to know how much you are getting from natural sources, since the sunshine is our primary source and different skin tones and different geographical areas will have a huge impact. The best method to get the right amount of Vitamin D is to have your levels routinely checked and supplement accordingly.
Vitamins, Minerals and hormonal function
Micronutrients (your vitamins and minerals) found in food are necessary for a ton of different hormones to function properly. A (very) short list:
B5 - critical for sex hormone production and detoxification as well as proper stress hormone balance. B5 is easily depleted in times of high stress. Eat more avocados, eggs, mushrooms, and lentils.
Magnesium - balances estrogen, helps thyroid, manages insulin sensitivity, and stress hormone regulation. Also a very common subclinical deficiency and one of my favorite supplements! Eat more leafy greens, fish, nuts, and seeds to boost your intake.
B6 - helps improve progesterone levels, and one of my go-tos for my fertility patients that have short luteal phases or spotting between periods. Eat more beans, spinach, poultry, grass fed beef, and eggs.
Iodine - your thyroid can’t function without it! This is so interwoven with thyroid health that the US started fortifying salt with Iodine in the 1920s to combat an increasing problem with hypothyroidism due to low mineral makeup of the soil where food was grown. Eat more sea vegetables (like seaweed or nori), fish like cod and shrimp, dairy products, and occasionally some iodized salt.
Nutrient Depletions from Hormonal Medications
This is a huge source of nutrient deficiencies, and one that isn’t talked about often at all!
If you are like so many of the women I work with and spent years or decades on hormonal birth control, it’s likely that you need a nutrient boost.
Oral contraceptive hormones deplete MANY of our body's stores - the Vitamins folate, B2, B6, B12, vitamin C and E and the minerals magnesium, selenium and zinc. The pill (or Mirena, or Nuvaring) also changes the gut microbiome which can mean lower absorption of the nutrients we eat. It’s particularly important to get on a good quality multivitamin before and after the use of hormonal contraceptives in addition to eating a nutrient rich diet.
I could seriously keep going! Can you see how much this matters now? The long and the short of it - "it's just hormones" does NOT mean you are being dismissed, or that there's nothing that you can do. There's so much in our control and YOU are the best advocate for YOUR body and YOUR health.
This is why a focus on nutrients is my top priority for hormonal health, and I often do a comprehensive micronutrient analysis with my patients and members of my postpartum hormone balance program. Food, diet, and your nutrient intake truly is the foundation of all health - including hormonal health and balance!