The following is a guest post written by my good friend and colleague Dr. Anna Cabeca, a hormone and anti-aging specialist. One of her specialties is helping women and men balance their hormones so they can feel better, look younger, and even lose weight.
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms then this blog post is for you…
- Your mood changes unpredictably or you’re depressed.
- You’ve gained weight over the years and dieting doesn’t work as well as it once did.
- You’re tired most of the time and you use caffeine to help you get through the day.
- You experience sleep problems such as difficulty getting to sleep or waking up in the wee hours of the night.
- Your interest in sex is lackluster (or nonexistent).
- Your mind feels hazy or scattered and you have difficulty concentrating.
- You’re experiencing obvious hormonal issues such as PMS or hot flashes.
- You have lost your edge at work or lost interest in your usual activities.
It’s easy to think that these symptoms are just a part of normal aging, but they aren’t.
If your hormones are balanced then there is NO reason why you shouldn’t have abundant energy, a fit body, and feel fantastic for decades to come.
Your body uses many different hormones to stay healthy and happy but in today’s post we are going to discuss three of the most important ones.
Thyroid Hormones
Thyroid hormone is often called “The Master Hormone” because it controls so many processes in our body. Most importantly, it secretes hormones that control how your body converts calories into energy. When the thyroid is underperforming, your metabolism is not burning as many calories as it normally would, and un-used calories are stored as fat much easier.
Warning signs of an under-active thyroid:
- Weight gain
- Low energy
- Bad mood
- Memory loss
- Dry skin
- Brittle Nails
- Achy joints
- Cracked heals
- Hair loss
How to support your thyroid:
- Eat foods high in iodine like kelp, eat a brazil nut each day and foods rich in tyrosine like oysters and eggs, eat salt water fish and shellfish
- Eat less foods that interfere with thyroid function like almonds, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, canola oil, peanuts
- Exercise daily with high intensity intervals for a low duration of time
- Take 200 mcg of selenium daily = 1-2 brazil nuts
Adrenal Hormones
Your adrenal glands produce cortisol – a hormone that gives you extra energy in stressful situations. This is good if you are a caveman being chased by a lion and you need a quick boost of energy to help you run away and climb a tree.
But what if you are a modern human living in a state of constant stress?
Some of us lead such stressful lives that our cortisol levels are always high and we become addicted to the cortisol rush. If you are too stressed out for too long then you may experience the signs of high cortisol followed by cortisol depletion (low cortisol).
Warning signs of high cortisol:
- Weight gain around the middle
- You get a “second wind” around bedtime
- Low sex drive
- Gastrointestinal issues, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
- Anxiety and depression
- Backaches and headaches
Warning signs of low cortisol:
- Trouble getting out of bed in the morning or tired when wake up
- Extreme fatigue, low energy
- Carb cravings
- Hyper sensitive emotions
- Low blood sugar
- Frequent urination
- All over body ache
How to support your adrenal glands:
- Stop eating processed foods
- Eat protein and healthy fat at every meal
- Don’t go too long between meals
- Take extra Vitamin C and B complex, and maca
- Exercise regularly
- Make time for fun and rest
- Go to bed and eat meals at the same time every day
- An alkalinizing diet low in red meats, no dairy, no sugar, no gluten, and few grains
- Do a nutritional detox
Reproductive Hormones
Sex hormones regulate much more than your libido. For women, maintaining a balance between estrogen and progesterone is key if you want to keep extra weight off, have lots of energy, and feel great every day. Most women who come to my clinic with reproductive hormone problems are struggling with a condition called estrogen dominance.
Warning signs of estrogen dominance:
- Increase in PMS symptoms
- Decreased libido
- Irritability
- Infertility
- Headaches
- Weight gain around the abdomen and the thighs
How to restore estrogen/progesterone balance:
- Eat 5 to 9 servings of fruits and veggies each day (4 veggies to 1 fruits ratio)
- Support your adrenal glands and thyroid
- Decrease exposure to hormone disrupting chemicals like parabens and phthalates (found in many personal care products and artificial fragrances)
- Use a bio-identical progesterone cream with USP progesterone.
- Consider taking an herbal supplement called Maca.
- An alkalinizing diet low in red meats, no dairy, no sugar, no gluten, and few grains
- Do a nutritional detox
The Power of Hormones
To illustrate just how important these 3 hormones are I will share my story with you.
In 2006, I was a practicing OB/GYN with a busy medical clinic. I was stressed out all the time and I imagine my cortisol was through the roof.
After an incredibly stressful devastating family tragedy … I suddenly began experiencing a series of hormone-related health problems:
- I went into instant menopause at age 39 (estrogen dominance)
- My body ballooned to over 200 pounds (low thyroid, estrogen dominance)
- Every day I was in constant, chronic pain (cortisol depletion)
- I couldn’t seem to get out of bed but I couldn’t sleep either (cortisol depletion)
- I cried all the time and felt hopeless (estrogen dominance)
- My hair started falling out (low thyroid)
I was a practicing OB/GYN at the time, but I didn’t know very much about hormones, so I asked my medical colleagues for advice. This is what they told me…
- “You need to be on antidepressants”
- “You will never get pregnant again”
- “You can’t reverse early menopause”
- “You need to be on sleeping pills”
Frustrated with the conventional medical “wis-dumb” I decided to take a 1 year sabbatical and I scoured the globe for answers.
My “miracle discovery” happened in Peru, where the indigenous women living high up in the Andes Mountains don’t suffer with haywire hormones.
Thanks to this ancient herbal remedy I was eventually able to reverse my menopause, conceive and deliver a healthy baby girl, grow back my hair, and lose all the extra weight!
What did I discover in Peru? Find out here »
