As with many things in life, we often don’t consider our hormonal health until it becomes obviously imbalanced. We know our hormones are closely linked with the menstrual cycle, but how many of us understand to what extent? They play a much greater role in all facets of our health, from mood to energy to libido and hunger, than the majority of us comprehend.
“As women, I don’t think we have enough understanding of the immediate and long-term impact our hormonal health has on us,” says Pauline Cox, nutritionist, integrative medicine fellow, and author of Hungry Woman: Eating For Good Health, Happiness And Hormones. “Understanding our physiology is so important to help alleviate some of the self-destructive emotions we can feel towards ourselves, whether that’s frustration or shame—rather than fighting our physiology, it’s about trying to understand and work with it.”
Not only do we have sex hormones, like estrogen and progesterone, to contend with, but metabolic hormones, like insulin, which also play a key role in our wellbeing. “It’s really important for women to work with their hormones in their twenties, thirties, and forties to capitalize on the window before menopause, which can then determine how we transition through menopause and the impact that has on our longevity,” says Cox. “There’s so much we can do prior to hitting menopausal age (when our estrogen levels start to decline) to lower our risk of issues like Alzheimer’s and heart disease.”
How to re-establish hormonal harmony? First, consider how you can create balance in your everyday lifestyle. While our bodies now have to deal with long working days, high levels of stress, and blue light (as just three examples), the problem is that we haven’t changed genetically since caveman times. “Sleep is a foundation of hormonal health,” says Cox. “Try and get into a good sleep/wake pattern as early as you can in life. Go for a morning walk to get light into your eyes and set the circadian rhythm—that then helps with serotonin levels, which then converts to melatonin, which promotes a good night’s sleep.”
It goes without saying that our diets are also integral in supporting good hormonal health—what we put into our body fuels (or slows down) the processes that occur inside it. So much so that Cox believes we can manage the symptoms of perimenopause and PMS with a good diet and lifestyle. “Our bodies have an innate intelligence—they’re designed with mind-blowing physiology that helps us to travel through our lives, according to the stage of life where we’re at. Eating a high sugar, highly processed diet, depleted of key nutrients creates inflammation, and that enhances the symptoms of PMS, for example.” She also adds that HRT can be great for different women but isn’t a quick fix, suggesting that getting a hold on one’s diet is more important for long-term health.
How to Eat for Better Hormone Health
Focus on balancing blood sugars
Not only do our blood sugar levels govern the metabolic hormone insulin, but they also have a massive impact on our sex hormones. “If our bodies have had lots of exposure to high blood sugar and our insulin is not working as it should be (i.e., its resistance worsens), the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause become prolonged,” explains Cox. “It also has a heavy influence on our inflammatory levels, the rate at which our tissues start to degrade (particularly reproductive ones), and impacts all areas of health. If blood sugars aren’t well controlled and our insulin sensitivity is not working at its best, then this will create a double whammy for us as we enter the perimenopause.”
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