Hormones affect your physical, mental and emotional well being. Any imbalance makes a difference. How can we improve our hormone balance with super foods?
Improving our body's health and hormonal balance is easy with a few tweaks. Here's a quick list of tips and foods that can improve hormonal health and bring out the best in you!
High Protein Foods with each meal . The hormones that control your appetite are influenced by protein.Eating more protein has a two fold effect. First, our hunger is less. Protein can decrease the release of our "hunger" hormone, Ghrelin hence making us feel less hungry. Secondly,protein is also a macronutrient that creates energy and makes us feel more full. Not to mention the benefit of protein to our muscles and strength. What are some good sources?
Eggs
Cottage Cheese
Milk
Almonds
Shrimp
Any Fish
Lean Meat
Poultry
Broccoli
Quinoa
Less Sugar and More Healthy Fats. Too much sugar wreaks havoc on our blood glucose levels. Up and down they go like a yo-yo. In return, it leaves us feeling pretty lousy. Just eliminating sugary drinks can make a huge difference in those spikes and dips and decreases our risk for Pre-Diabetes. Adding more healthy fats may reduce our risk for Pre-Diabetes and leave us feeling more satisfied. What are some good healthy fats?
Flax Seeds
Avocado
Quinoa
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Nuts
Nut Butters
Salmon
Tuna
Dark Chocolate
Get a good nights sleep! Not just hours, but a good quality sleep does the body good. Sleep is not a super-food, but it affects our hormone balance in a big way. Not getting enough quality sleep can increase the stress hormone (cortisol) and cause weight gain. Cortisol regulates our metabolism and responds to stress. If we don't get enough good sleep, cortisol can rise and in turn affects our metabolism. How do you get that sleep?
Caffeine reduction (this varies with everyone, but generally stays in your system several hours).
Avoid late meals, especially carbs and spicy foods before bedtime.
Limit TV time before bed. Cut the electronics and TV off 30 minutes before bedtime.
Get regular exercise but try to wrap it up several hours before bedtime.
Bedroom should be cool, quiet, and relaxing.
Try to keep a consistent sleep schedule and bedtime routine.
Try to get as much "natural" light as possible during the day for a more natural sleep cycle.
Limit naps if you're having trouble sleeping at night. If you need one, make it a quick 20 minute nap.
If you can't get to sleep after 20 minutes, get up and try something non-stimulating. Have some decaf warm tea, meditate, read something boring or listen to soft music. This strategy works over time!