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How to Balance Your Hormones and Lose Weight Easily
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3. Foods to Avoid
If you have any food allergies, even if they are minor or you consider them fairly harmless, you need to cut those foods out of your diet entirely. These cause inflammation and irritation in the body. Also, avoid foods that are high in sugar or carbohydrates such as white bread, sodas, baked goods, pasta, white rice, and processed foods. You also need to avoid the man-made fats found in most vegetable oils, such as corn oil, safflower oil, and canola oil. These cause inflammation and oxidation of your cells. Use extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil.
4. Reduce Stress
Stress is a major no-no when you are trying to balance your hormones. When you allow yourself to stay chronically stressed, your body makes too much a stress hormone called cortisol, which tells your body that you are in some type of dangerous, extreme situation and you need to hold on to fat, especially belly fat. Find ways to reduce stress in your life and practice yoga or meditation to control the stress you cannot avoid. Eating beans, barley, citrus fruits, nuts, and spinach will also help to reduce cortisol levels. Although there are few studies to back up any claims, but many people claim that Holy Basil, an herb often used in India, can help to maintain healthy cortisol levels in the body. You can buy this herb in a supplement form at almost any health food store.
5. Junk in the Trunk
Although some people may like big butts, there are limits. If you find that you are storing most of your fat on your behind, it could be due to high estrogen levels. Eating plenty of cruciferous veggies, such as cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli can help block estrogen in the body. Eating chia seeds, sesame seeds, and flax seeds are a great way to remove estrogen in the bloodstream. Red grapes and pomegranates or pomegranate juice are another good choice for lowering estrogen levels.
6. Avoid Hormone Disrupting Chemicals
Most people don’t realize it, but many of the chemicals found in plastics, pesticides, and household cleaners, even some mattresses, cause a disruption in our body’s production of hormones. These imitate our natural hormones, so our bodies don’t make more because they think we are already getting them when we aren’t. Avoid non-stick cookware, conventional meat, traditional household cleaners, scented soaps or lotions, and anti-bacterial soaps or sanitizers that contain triclosan.
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