Did you know there are 5 main reasons our hormones get disrupted and out of balance? Let’s explore them:
- Low fat and low cholesterol diets: Hormones are synthesized in the body from cholesterol that comes from eating foods with healthy fats such as eggs, beef, butter, lard, tallow and liver. This is why eating a vegan diet will wreck your hormones if followed long-term. Taking cholesterol medication is also a sure way to mess up your hormones.
- Chronic stress: This primarily affects the adrenal glands which produce your stress hormone called cortisol. When stress is chronic it will disrupt the normal production of this hormone which will then negatively impact other hormones.
- Birth control pills or other synthetic hormones: This will disrupt and discourage your body’s own natural production of hormones and lead to long-term imbalances.
- Exogeneous hormone exposure: Many products can cause exposure to hormones or hormone disruptors, including skin care products, certain medications, food contamination, plastics and goitrogens. Skin care products are notoriously contaminated with hormones that are used to promote anti-wrinkle and anti-aging. When your partner is putting topical hormones or patches on their skin touching them can expose you to the hormones as well. Excess soy in the diet can mean too many phytoestrogens which can result in hormone imbalance. Plastics contain endocrine disrupting chemicals and can mess with your hormones. Broccoli, cauliflower, kale and cabbage contain compounds that when eaten in excess can wreak havoc on your thyroid hormones.
- Inadequate liver function: The liver is the organ responsible for processing all the hormones in circulation throughout the body. If the liver is not functioning adequately to detoxify the body then hormone levels can become imbalanced.
If you have hormone issues, there is a high likelihood that one or more of these issues are the root of the problem. In our next newsletter we will talk about how we test hormones.