I’ve been working with a few clients lately that have hormonal issues. As we age our hormone levels can change, either declining or increasing, creating havoc in our bodies. These changes can create a wide range of conditions from crazy, erratic behavior to depression to illness including PMS, fibroids, endometriosis and breast pain making life downright uncomfortable!
In fact, it’s best to have your hormones tested when you’re in the 30-35 year range (and not pregnant) since this is when a woman’s hormones are most in balance. This gives women a baseline for future tests to know what hormones are deficient or excess. It’s not necessary but definitely helpful.
In addition to age, several other lifestyle factors contribute to hormonal imbalance. Poor diet, a sedentary lifestyle and stress can exacerbate imbalance. Most women’s diets are high in fat, high in carbohydrates and low in fiber. The bad fats such as industrial oils and trans fat are the types of fat that estrogen receptors are attracted to and can affect estrogen levels. Women also consume more carbohydrates which affects their insulin levels and they skip fiber. Fiber helps your body get rid of excess estrogen. These unhealthy diet choices along with a dose of stress can throw your body into chaos!
Years ago I learned about bio-identical hormone therapy and I did my research. I was referred to a chiropractor that specializes in nutrition, healthy diet, hormonal balance and bio-identical hormone replacement therapy. I tested with an extremely high level of estrogen (scary! since we all know it can possibly lead to breast cancer) and low progesterone which is common in women as they age. He had me do an estrogen cleanse and started me on a low dose of progesterone quickly balancing my hormones. I wanted to remove any possibility of this happening again so I started paying very close attention to my diet. I was safe with my Isagenix whey protein 
shakes since the whey comes from cows that are grass-fed, they have no antibiotics or hormones injected and the cows are milked only when they are ready (Happy Cows!). 
I cut out meat, poultry, dairy (which usually contain extra hormones) and ate pescatarian for a few years. I could never give up salmon and eggs so I purchased only wild salmon and organic eggs and used almond or coconut milk. I eventually switched over to grass-fed beef, organic poultry with no hormones and I occasionally consume dairy but it’s always organic and no carrageenan. This along with adding in some DHEA, iodine from good quality sources and CoQ10 and alpha lipoic acid, which are in my company’s daily nutritional supplements, I’m able to keep my hormones in balance, alleviate anxiety and we tweak a little here and there after each yearly test.
I’m no doctor but from my experience just a few minor changes can help with depression, anxiety, weight gain and illness. I have a wonderful doctor that helps me keep my hormones balanced through a simple yearly saliva test and can counsel me through a Skype call. If you’re interested, I’d be happy to give you his information. He is a wealth of knowledge and focuses on correcting imbalances through bioidentical hormones rather than synthetic hormones.
You can contact me at kathy@4morehealth.com or find me on Facebook. www.facebook.com/kathy.lamarr
KickAss Healthy Moms 