We’re going to get serious for a little bit and talk about hormones. Hormones are incredible. They can do so much good in your body, and they can also cause so many issues. Hormones are chemical messengers that send signals to your brain, heart, bones, muscles, and reproductive organs. They’re absolutely essential to the workings of every cell in your body. And when they’re balanced, life is great. The issue is when things don’t go according to plan.

Causes of Hormone Imbalance

Hormone imbalance isn’t as rare as you might think. In fact, it can be caused by everything from puberty and menopause to toxins and your lifestyle. The most common imbalance is an excess of estrogen compared to progesterone. When your body produces too much estrogen you can experience a variety of signs and symptoms:

• Weight gain
• Fluid retention (bloating)
• PMS-like mood changes (anger, irritability, anxiety)
• Headaches
• Breast tenderness
• Heavy periods
• Breast lumps/cysts
• Infertility
• Cramping pains

There are four main causes of hormone imbalance:

1. PMS/Menopause: Every month, your body experiences hormone fluctuations as you prepare for your period, experience your period, and then recover. These hormone changes can be mitigated by a healthy lifestyle including a healthy diet, exercise, and, in some cases, medicine. Menopause is an even bigger cause of hormone imbalance. Starting in your pre-menopause years, your hormones can go up and down and wreak havoc on your body.
2. Stress: Stress is one of the biggest causes of hormone imbalance. Stress can refer to emotional stress like relationships to physical stress like pain or lack of sleep. Stress can even be related to your diet and your body’s negative reactions like inflammation. Stress leads to an increase in production of cortisol, which decreases your production of progesterone.
3. Digestion: While we mentioned digestion under stress, the truth is your digestive system is directly related to your hormones. The liver is where estrogen and progesterone get metabolized. So if you eat foods that cause poor gut function, you can suffer from hormone imbalance.
4. Thyroid Function: How well your thyroid functions is also related to your hormone balance or lack there of. Your thyroid is particularly connected to your sex hormone balance and should be tested by a physician.

Restoring Hormone Balance

So, now that you know what causes hormone imbalance, it’s time to talk about getting your body back to its optimal balance. There are a few things you can do:

1. Eat Healthy Fats: The fats found in coconut oil and avocados are essential building blocks for hormone production. They keep inflammation low, boost your metabolism, and aid in weight loss.
2. Drink Fertility Tea: Our Fertility Tea has been specially created with a mix of herbs designed to help balance your hormones.
3. Improve Your Gut Health: By eating foods like bone broth, kefir, fermented vegetables, and foods high in fiber, you can improve leaky gut syndrome and balance your hormone production.
4. Avoid Toxins: You shouldn’t just avoid toxins in what you eat. You should also avoid toxins in your kitchen, beauty, and body care products. Check out EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Database for the best products to use and avoid.
5. Exercise: Exercise is vitally important to your hormone production. It’s great for balancing your hormones since it reduces stress and inflammation and helps you get more sleep.

Other things you can do to restore your hormones include reducing your stress, sleeping more, consuming less caffeine and alcohol, and getting more vitamin D.

Image via @themelbournehouse