Your body cannot function without a balanced endocrine system of hormones. Fortunately, your diet and gut health plays a significant role in maintaining such balance so you can maintain control over your wellbeing, in this article you will learn how to eat a hormone-healthy diet.
What are hormones?
Hormones are the body’s various tissues and organs’ way of staying in constant communication with each other. These tiny chemical messengers travel through the bloodstream to instigate changes that impact some of the most important processes in the body:
-synthesis and breakdown
-energy regulation
-metabolic processes
-growth and development
-organ function
-blood pressure
-reproductive wellness
-mood and mental health
The endocrine glands are the manufacturers of hormones and they are located all across the body, including in the brain, the pancreas, thyroid, and much more.
Hormone health is all about cycle and balance. A little deviation from the healthy range can lead to massive ripple effects throughout the body. Most lab tests can detect and evaluate hormone levels in your blood, urine, and saliva. (1)
Factors that influence hormone balance
Hormones are part of a larger process of regulation in the body called homeostasis - which is referring to the happy range that the body prefers to stay in to optimize its chances for survival. Oftentimes, external factors can disrupt homeostasis and lead to changes in our abilities to produce hormones in a balanced way.
For example, excessive chronic distress or malnutrition can cause an imbalance of hormones in insulin, adrenaline, estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone hormones.
It is also possible that internal health factors such as genetics or autoimmune conditions can impact hormone output.
Gut health for hormones
To optimize your gut health for hormones involves a couple of simple steps. It is important to replenish beneficial bacteria using fermented foods that are high in probiotics. These live bacteria can increase the number and diversity of bacteria to help produce enzymes and accessory nutrients that improve hormone balance.
In addition to adding to the bacteria count with probiotics, you should also consider using prebiotics to feed the existing beneficial bacteria in your gut. Prebiotics are nutrients and fibers that fuel your bacteria to function and proliferate, so they can continue to modulate your hormone balance.
R’s KOSO is a Japanese fermented beverage that is rich in both of these nutrients. It ferments over 100 gluten-free plant foods including dark leafy greens, mushrooms, and fruits for over 1 year to yield a beverage boasting probiotics and prebiotics, as well as minerals and vitamins.
Enjoy 1 tbsp of R’s KOSO in 500mL water with meals to improve digestion and positively impact hormone balance.
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Author
Keren Chen | CBT Nutritionist
IG - https://www.instagram.com/kombucha.ma...
Web - https://www.kerenchen.ca/
Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/4FF59S3
Original Photo by @_saki_yamamoto_