Women’s health

From bearing children, to menstruating, to menopause to having to deal with all the hormonal fluctuations happening in the body, doing it like rock stars, juggling work and family life as well as being the helping hand and the listening ear children need them to be. This is for all the wonderful mamas out there who do it all!
How can women deal with all that is happening in their lives efficiently? With the help of a well-balanced, highly functioning hormonal system. This is how you can empower yourself and other women to live their best life.

There is a lot that comes into play when it comes to supporting our hormones: diet, lifestyle, exercise, stress, sleep and more. One that is often overlooked however is liver health. Having a liver that is empowered by our diet and lifestyle to run to the best of its ability is crucial in balancing our endocrine system. Let’s get into why.

First and foremost, having good quality protein and healthy fat consumption can help a great deal with balancing out your hormones.

Clean protein: Includes wild caught fish, grass-fed organic beef, free-range chicken, beans, sprouts, quinoa, nuts and seeds. Protein is one of the building blocks for our cells and creates the structure needed for hormones to develop. In addition, protein aids tissue repair and plays a huge role in the release of hormones that control appetite. However, make sure that the protein that you are taking in is from “clean” sources. If you consume conventional meat, for example, beware that the animal was probably given hormones or antibiotics which will be a hormone disruptor for you.

Healthy fats: Includes nuts, avocados, coconut wild caught fish, eggs. Consuming healthy fats insures proper hormone production as well as adequate hormone functioning. You do want to make sure you have a good ratio between omega 3s and omega 6s. Having a 1:1 ratio of these promotes anti-inflammatory pathway activations in your body which will in turn help with hormone balance. Let’s also not forget omega 9 which influences the lowering of cholesterol levels, reduces insulin resistance, and boosts the immune system.

Liver health

What does your liver have to do with hormones? Well, everything. Your liver has MANY functions. Its primary function is to detoxify the blood from toxins that accumulates due to the food we eat, the alcohol we drink, the medications we take, the pollution that is in in the air and so on. Your liver is also where all hormones are metabolized. How?
Cholesterol is created by the liver. Cholesterol also happens to be the building blocks for ALL of your hormones.

Another key role of the liver is to get rid of extra estrogen floating around in the blood stream. Which can be quite elevated with the excess hormones found in conventional meat and dairy. When your liver is weakened it does not have the ability to efficiently to that. Leading to all sorts of hormonal issues which can show up as lowered libido, PMS, mood swings, anxiety and inability to deal with stress efficiently. So how can we support our liver for optimal hormonal balance?

Let’s make its job easier! The obvious one is to avoid alcohol consumption but there is so much more to supporting our liver than meets the eye.

Reduce sugar consumption: Sugars gets converted to glycogen in the liver to be used for energy. When your liver is overloaded with glucose, it will turn that glucose to fat. Some of that fat stays in the liver which if no managed can contribute to non-alcoholic fatty-liver disease.

It also slows down the liver all together which should be busy detoxifying your blood as well as playing its key role in hormonal production and balance. When it is not able to do its job efficiently due to an overload of glucose to deal with this means you have an excess of toxins in the body, contributing to poor concentration, difficulty concentrating, making you feel tired, and sluggish, which cannot be supported by a well-balanced hormonal system because your liver can not produce the hormones needed in order for the rest of your body to do so.

Now we see how good quality meat and dairy is imperative for proper hormone function. Conventional beef and dairy come from cows that were most likely fed GMO-grains, given hormones and anti-biotics which shows in the milk and the meat. This confuses your own hormonal system. On top of that your liver is working over-time trying to get rid of the extra estrogen that has been introduced in your system.

So what now?

A great way to detoxify and kick start optimal liver function is to do a 3-day cold pressed juice liver detox with juices containing beet juice, carrot juice, black radish extract as well as dark leafy greens such as kale, spinach, collard greens and swiss chard.

Foods that will support your liver otherwise are any high anti-oxidant, high fiber, low fat foods. Low fat because your liver has to work overtime to produce bile in order to break down high fat content. Be ware not to go for the low-fat options as they usually add a whole lot of sugars in those. Simply opt for foods that naturally contain low fat whenever possible.
Anti-oxidants help repair damage done to the cells from toxins floating around in the body. Which helps your liver a great deal in detoxifying the blood.
Foods that are high in fiber and high in anti-oxidants include: Berries, leafy greens (kale, spinach, collard greens and swiss chard), carrots, beets, cherries, sweet potatoes, celery etc.

Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, watercress, bok choy, rutabaga, maca) are great for the liver for a few different reasons: They contain Indole compounds which help metabolize excess estrogen in the body, which is primarily your liver’s job. Consuming these foods will help your liver a great deal in getting rid of the extra hormones floating around in your body.
Indole compounds are also known to eliminate carcinogens from the body. Cruciferous vegetables can increase production of digestive enzymes called glucosinolates, an enzyme that helps detoxify the liver and increase the liver’s abilities to do what it does best: Support your endocrine system!

Stress

Lowering stress is highly recommended through stress management practices such as meditation, yoga, exercise, going for a walk, taking a bath or whatever it may look like for you. This will help reduce the amount of cortisol produced by the body which will in turn help balance out all other hormones.

Supplements: Ashwagandha is an amazing ayurvedic medicinal herb that really supports the lowering of your stress hormone cortisol and is also recommended if you consider yourself to be living a high stress life, or are going through stressful times.

If you need extra support, please know that all of our locations have knowledgeable and passionate staff that will be more than happy to point you in the right direction. See you soon!