Google “improving my hormone balance” and you’re sure to find lengthy lists of all kinds of holistic rituals and supplements. We find that many of these hormone balancing alternative treatments can be overwhelming, time consuming and quite simply unrealistic to the majority of the population. Fortunately, there are lots of things you can do to help balance your hormones that are quite simple and do not include fancy technology or high priced supplements. A good night’s sleep of 7-8 hours and a few minutes of focused breath work a day, for example, can do wonders for hormone health. We connected with our functional dietitian Lynne to find out what can be done from a food perspective to help with hormone imbalance and she had some super easy suggestions!
Dietitian Lynne’s Top Foods for Hormone Balance:
- Seeds: Specifically flax and chia. These tiny seeds are packed with nutrients that help to improve the protective pathway of estrogen metabolism (known as the 2-OH-E1).
- Methylation Foods: Eggs, pumpkin seeds, whole food soy, chickpeas, nutritional yeast, asparagus & Brussels sprouts. This group of foods that improve methylation, which is important for mood & stress resilience, lowering inflammation in the body and cognitive function – all key components of hormone health!
- Aromatase Inhibitors: White button mushrooms, grapes, broccoli sprouts, crucifers & de-alcoholized red wine. This group of foods helps to prevent excess estrogen in the body.
- Liver Detoxers: Apples, oranges, broccoli, spinach, carrots, crucifers, garlic & onion. This group of foods decrease something called B-glucuronidase so that estrogen is excreted and not recirculated in the body.
- Melatonin Sources: Arabica coffee, black pepper, grapes, cherries, pistachios, olives & walnuts. Low melatonin can cause hormone dysregulation and affect quality of sleep so these foods are great to eat daily.
- Cortisol Reducers: Green tea, curcumin (turmeric) & Ashwagandha. Any of these three are fanstastic on their own or added to other foods like your morning coffee or tea to help combat elevated cortisol.
Spot any favorite foods on this list? Start with those you know and love to eat more often (aim for 1 of the foods listed in each group above every day) and then add on as you get more comfy in the kitchen. Need some inspiration? Here are two of our favorite quick and easy recipes for hormone balance:
Flax/Pumpkin Seed Energy Balls:
Mix together 1 cup rolled oats, 1 Tablespoon freshly ground flax seeds, 1 tablespoon freshly ground pumpkin seeds, 1 Tablespoon freshly ground sesame seeds, 2 Tablespoons Almond Butter, 1 Tablespoon Honey, 1 Tablespoon chocolate chips. Roll into bite-sized balls and refrigerate.
De-alcoholized Sangria:
Pour 8 oz of your favorite De-alcoholized Red Wine (Luminara is a great brand) and 2 oz Tart Cherry Juice in a carafe or pitcher. Squeeze half a lemon, add slices of a whole orange, and 1 teaspoon raw honey or to taste. Muddle.Pour Sangria into glass with ice. Top with bitters.
**If desired, make your own bitters by cutting ends of the leftover orange, and some thin slices of fresh ginger, and searing in an iron skillet sprinkled with golden monkfruit sweetener.
