Hormonal Imbalance is increasingly becoming common among women of child-bearing age and this has become a source of concern for everyone.
The founder of So Healthy, Lauren Osewezina, had battled this monster and overcame.
With few strategies and necessary adjustments of food intake, the result she sought came in no time.
Now she has two babies to show for it.
Sadly, hormonal imbalance has stopped several women from conceiving.
It results in depression for some and mood swing for others.
No Specific Cause Of Hormonal Imbalance
The sad thing is that there is no known cause of hormonal imbalance, but few things that are lifestyle-related have been identified as major triggers.
One other thing that has been identified is stress. The choices we make could cause this.
For instance, taking a job that requires that you sleep as late as 12:00 P.M. and wake up as early as 4:00 A.M. could constitute stress.
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However, from the stand-point of foods that we eat, a few of them have been identified by studies as hormonal imbalance triggers.
Experts suggest that they must be considered by both males and females and if possible minimised or even eliminated.
We need balanced hormones in our body because of the role they play in our body functions.
Foods Can Trigger Imbalance
From our mood to the metabolism, hormones can affect different processes in our organism.
However, sometimes during our life, we might experience a bigger or lower number of hormones.
Our body has been built to notice these imbalance immediately and give us signals.
Some of the most known hormones are insulin, melatonin, estrogen, cortisol, adrenaline, serotonin and dopamine among others.
This list of foods, as identified by researchers can trigger this imbalance in hormones.
1. Sugar
Sweetened drinks are on the rise and that is evident in the amount of sales that people who sell sweetened drinks make in traffic in a place like Lagos.
Sugar, especially processed sugar or added sugar, can trigger hormonal imbalance.
Added sugar, according to a report by Centers for Disease and Control Prevention, comes from cakes, cookies, candies, ice creams, and sugar-sweetened beverages that you take.
There is a healthy sugar in fruits and that should be consumed.
If you love soft drink, buy pineapple and orange and juice it them. They are more friendly to your hormones.
2. Carbohydrates
Sadly, overshooting our daily load of carbohydrate is something that is easy, especially in Nigeria where almost every food we eat has carbohydrate in it.
Carbohydrate after digestion further converts to sugar and this is one reason we should give attention to its intake.
A doctor, Michael Noonan, says the No. 1 hormone imbalance today, which is the driver for most other hormone imbalances, is chronically high insulin levels.
“This primary problem is directly related to our diets,” he added.
According to him, any carbohydrate-dense food will cause insulin levels to rise, just as sugar could do.
This then requires that you control intake of carbohydrate and substitute with more vegetables and organic grains.
Instead of eating Eba for instance, you can take sorghum, red rice or millet swallow.
3. Alcohol
Another substance that could make your hormones go over board is alcohol.
It is great to want to relax after a hectic day and some persons find their way to the bar.
Before the end of their stay, several bottles of alcohol would go down.
In these bottles of alcohol is this processed sugar that affects hormones.
Moderation is the advice when it comes to alcohol,
A study by the NCBI highlighted that chronic consumption of a large amount of alcohol disrupts the communication between nervous, endocrine and immune system.
This “causes hormonal disturbances that lead to profound and serious consequences at physiological and behavioral levels”.
The endocrine system plays a huge role as it’s function is to maintain our body homeostasis, in this case, to balance our hormones.
Take the road of moderation.
4. Soy
This one is hard to believe sometimes, especially because it is a natural grain.
Soy milk is widely consumed in some parts of Nigeria.
This beans contains phytoestrogens, and this is why some people believe that it may impair fertility in men.
“These recent studies in men consuming soy foods or supplements containing 40–70 mg/d of soy isoflavones showed few effects on plasma hormones or semen quality,” the NCBI wrote in a research report.
However, the impact of soy, is different in women.
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Premenopausal women have much more estrogen than postmenopausal women and this means a lot.
In premenopausal, soy can act as an anti-estrogen, but it can also act more like an estrogen in postmenopausal women.
5. Coffee
Here also is another food that will shock some persons who love coffee.
Women who are between ages 18 and 44 or child-bearing age are people who must avoid hormonal imbalance.
However, an article published by the New York Times stressed that a study of women ages 18 to 44 found that drinking coffee and other caffeinated beverages can alter levels of estrogen.
It also highlighted that the result of intake of coffee differs by race.
While coffee lowers the level of estrogen for white women, it increases levels for Asians.
Another study published on Precision Nutrition warned that consumption of coffee in large quantities can significantly damage our neuroendocrineimmune system over the long term.
Some persons will say people of old ate these things, yet they lived longer.
They forget to compare the level of stress people of old faced and the one we face now.
The pollution level has also increased. On the other hand, the food that we eat are increasingly becoming less organic by the day.
It is important to adjust what you need to adjust now to ensure that your body is in good shape while your pursue wealth.
This is pivotal if you would love to enjoy the wealth at old age.
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