Hormones can affect our mood, our weight and even our libido; But like most things in life, it’s not always easy to keep them balanced. Dieting, stress and anxiety are just a few of the contributing factors to hormones gone bad, but you can do your part to improve your overall health and lose stubborn pounds.
Meatless: to reset estrogen
Carnivores tend to have higher levels of estrogen than vegetarians and this could be due to the hormones in meat. Hormones, such as estrogens, are often given to feedlot cattle in order to promote growth.
Sugar free: to reset insulin
The insulin hormone helps the body convert food into energy. Consuming too much sugar all the time can increase your body’s demand for insulin and create insulin resistance. When you have insulin resistance glucose builds up in the blood, which can lead to diabetes, prediabetes, and other serious health issues. Many experts also believe that excess fat around the waist is a primary cause of insulin resistance.
Fruitless: to reset leptin
Fructose is the sugar found in fruit and having too much of it in your diet is linked to problems with insulin and the hormone leptin that controls hunger.
Caffeine free: to reset cortisol
Cortisol is known as the “stress hormone”. Although 90% of Americans drink coffee, your favorite cup of java can become toxic at certain levels.
Caffeine raises your cortisol, and I think a lot of women don’t realize that they’re dependent on it and that it’s jacking up their nervous system. So, one thing that happens when you drink a cup of coffee or two or three, is it raises your cortisol level. Then giving you sugar cravings throughout the day, so that you have this blood sugar that goes up and down.
5) Grain free: to reset thyroid
Some of the worst grain-offenders are breakfast cereals, white rice, pasta and potatoes. Research has shown that grains can cause blood sugar spikes that lead your body to deposit more fat. Swapping out your grains for coconut wraps, sweet potatoes, yams and flaxseed crackers.
Grains affect the thyroid, but gluten is especially the problem here because gluten looks a lot like the thyroid and so it can make your body attack the thyroid.
Dairy free: to reset growth hormone
Gottfried explains in her book that conventional dairy raises growth hormone and insulin. And like insulin, growth hormone can determine how much fat you deposit on your stomach.
Milk alternatives include almond milk, coconut milk and coconut kefir.
7) Toxin free: to reset testosterone
Unfortunately, we are exposed to toxins every day. Our food becomes toxic when its genetically modified and sprayed with pesticides or fertilizers and even our cosmetics and cleaning products can be toxic.
The important thing is to realize we all get exposed to endocrine disrupters, [which are] these artificial chemicals that are in plastics. We get exposed to them in a lot of different ways– receipts that you get at your local store often are coded with bisphenol A (BPA), which acts on your testosterone levels. So in women it tends to make you raise your testosterone, and in men it tends to lower your testosterone.
For an appointment or consultation with Dr. Gary Bellman, please contact the office or call 818-912-1899