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Blood sugar balance:

Eating for blood sugar balance is one of the most impactful habits to support hormonal balance. 

Particularly symptoms that include:

• Anxiety
• PMS
• Irregular menstrual cycles
• Infertility
• Cravings 
• Fatigue
• Poor sleep
• Difficulty losing weight

Blood sugar refers to how glucose enters the cells and bloodstream, depending on what and how we eat. Every part of our body is made up of cells. Cells are chemical messengers of our body that utilize nutrients, especially glucose (sugar), as energy. They both create and receive hormones. Without proper nourishment to feed and activate cell communication, the systems in our bodies begin to fall. 

The two pancreatic hormones, insulin, and glucagon are vital to blood sugar regulation.

Insulin is released to stop blood sugar from rising too high, and glucagon is released to prevent blood sugar from dropping too low. The goal is to have both hormones released at a balanced rate so that low blood sugar or high blood sugar symptoms do not develop. Eating for blood sugar is vitally essential for a hormonally balanced body.

It is optimal to eat a protein, carbohydrate, and fat in each meal and snack, every 3-4 hours to provide our cells a steady fuel stream throughout the day. Eating these three macronutrients together allows glucagon and insulin not to spike too high or too low. 

For example, if a protein is consumed on its own, blood sugar drops too low because there is not enough active glucose to be released into the bloodstream. Ultimately, causing the body stress by taking amino acids from bodily tissue and converting it into glucose on their own. This causes a "fight or flight" response in the body and creates internal stress and inflammation over time. They are ultimately affecting hormonal balance. The opposite happens when carbohydrates are eaten on their own. There is too much glucose entering the bloodstream at one time, so blood sugar levels spike too high.  

When we don't eat for blood sugar balance, our body compensates itself and over utilizes stress hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline, to balance blood sugar on its own. Add in the external stressors of life, and you've got a body in constant survival mode. Internal and external stress results in many hormonal issues. 

Bedtime snack:

Sleep is a time for the repair of the body. However, a common misunderstanding is that sleep requires fuel! Having a small bedtime snack that incorporates protein, carbs, and fat is a good way of keeping blood sugar balanced throughout the night. And most importantly, it gives fuel to the liver to regenerate. The liver is a high-energy organ that needs glucose to function. To keep the liver from going into gluconeogenesis (a stress response that breaks down amino acids from our tissues and turns them into glucose), it's beneficial to keep the liver fueled with glucose in a balanced way by eating for blood sugar balance. The result will be better, deeper sleep, lower anxiety, and less inflammation from internal stress from the organs. Set up your metabolism for success, and try eating a small blood sugar-balancing snack 30 minutes before sleep. 

Morning Snack:

Not hungry in the morning? No appetite in the morning indicates that stress hormones are fueling your cells! After eight hours of sleep, our body should be hungry for fuel. If it is not, the result of our stress hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline, has taken over to balance blood sugar levels within the body. Where cortisol and adrenaline are essential hormones in the body, the overabundance of their release from the adrenals is costly to the body's internal stress. Most notably, their excess secretion causes inflammation. As counterintuitive as it may seem, try eating a small blood sugar-balancing morning snack within 30-45 minutes of waking up in the morning. Eating a morning snack encourages our cells to get their fuel from our food rather than the stress we produce to compensate for not having enough fuel. The goal is to have natural hunger cues in the morning that should be present after 8 hours of not eating!

Digestive support:

Do you have the following symptoms?

• Burping after meals
• Bloating
• Flatulence
• Constipation
• Diarrhea
• Heartburn/pain
• Excessive grumbling

Low stomach acid could be the cause of these symptoms. Stomach acid, also known as hydrochloric acid, is a vital component of the digestive process. This acid, which should be as acidic as battery acid, is the first barrier to food breakdown in the stomach. Without this vital step, the symptoms listed above occur.

Tips to increase stomach acid production:

• Chew slowly and thoroughly
• Minimize drinking fluid while eating
• Add vinegar to your meals
• Drink or eat bitter foods 
• If necessary, temporarily incorporate an HCL supplement 15 minutes before eating protein.

At home stomach acid test:

Mix ¼ tsp baking soda and 6 oz filtered water. Sip, and set a timer for five minutes. If you have adequate stomach acid, you will belch within five minutes. If you have low levels of stomach acid, you will belch after five minutes, if at all.

Stimulate the vagus nerve:

The vagus nerve is the primary communicator between the enteric nervous system (GI tract) and central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). The vagus nerve oversees essential bodily functions, including the control of digestion, mood, heart rate, swallowing/speech, reflex activities (coughing/sneezing), and immune response. When we activate this channel, we allow for more intimate and efficient communication between the gut and brain—ultimately creating better digestion and reducing internal stress and inflammation. 

Ways to stimulate the vagus nerve:

• Breathwork 
• Humming/singing/chanting
• Movement
• Meditation
• Sleep!

Prioritize mineral balance

Minerals conduct energy for our cells. Cells are the body's language, and we want them to be energized, fed, and charged to communicate and create hormones at a balanced rate. When our body is under constant stress, it depletes mineral storage, affecting our energy and production of enzymes & hormones. 

A few minerals to consider:

Copper, zinc, and selenium: consider incorporating organ meats like liver, and shellfish and fish like oysters and sardines

Magnesium: consider incorporating magnesium glycinate, Epsom salt baths, coconut water, bone broth, and vegetable broth.

Potassium: consider incorporating bananas, potatoes, coconut water, and beet greens.

Sodium: Yes, sodium! Sodium is essential for regulating blood pressure, aiding adrenal function, potassium balance, increasing metabolic rate, balancing the body's pH, and assisting in stomach acid production. When cooking, add high-quality salts like Himalayan pink salt & sea salt. Bonus tip, add a pinch of salt when drinking water. Including a pinch of salt with water supports proper hydration for the cells.

Minimize Consumption of Polyunsaturated Fats (PUFAS)

The wellness industry has done a phenomenal job marketing polyunsaturated fats as our food system's "healthy" fats. Unfortunately, the fats that we often admire (almond butter, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, sunflower oil, soybean oil, etc.) cause inflammation due to their lack of resilience to exposure to heat and oxygen (our bodies!). PUFAs slow the metabolism, cause the body to go into a conservation state, and suppress the body's ability to utilize glucose properly. A good example is to think of the animals that eat nuts and seeds before hibernation! When we eat PUFAs long-term, there is continuous oxidation of our cells, causing internal inflammation and internal stress long-term. More bioavailable fat sources like coconut oil, coconut cream, organic grass-fed ghee, and grass-fed raw milk are more compatible with our cells and help high metabolic function. It may sound counterintuitive based on nut and seed marketing, but eating PUFAs in moderation, rather than the majority, is an excellent way to decrease internal stress on the body and support overall metabolic function. 

Prioritize 10 pm bedtime:

Sleep is one of the most critical factors to having balanced hormones, sustained weight or weight loss, and a high functioning metabolism. Past 10 pm, our bodies have a natural spike in cortisol, creating a "second wind" of energy that stems from a release of stress hormones. Consistently getting to bed at 10 pm and having 7-9 hours of sleep is a great way to reduce internal stress, inflammation, and ultimately hormonal balance.

Get adequate sunlight: 

Strive for at least 10-15 minutes of direct sunlight a day as best you can. Getting adequate daily sunlight aids in vitamin D production, sleep, serotonin levels, bone health, cellular function, and immune health.

Move the lymphatic system:

The lymphatic system is a network that carries out immune responses by creating and circulating cells to combat disease. It's comparable to a piping system in your home; it takes all of the gunk and filters it out when it operates well. Unlike other filtration systems within the body, the lymphatic system doesn't have a pump, so its filtration is entirely dependent on our movement! When we move our bodies, alien particles like toxins, chemicals, and debris from the body can be carried to those lymph node centers to be destroyed by large cells called macrophages and white blood cells called B lymphocytes.

Lymph node centers:

• Neck
• Back of the ears 
• Under the chin
• Chest and abdomen  
• Armpits
• The spleen

Tips for moving the lymphatic system:

• Elevate your legs 
• Participate in yoga, pilates, or even jump rope!
• Use an athletic roller daily
• Invest in a monthly full body massage

Reduce external toxins:

Toxins found in many hair products, lotions, makeup, and hygiene products are endocrine disruptors. The endocrine system, consisting of the hypothalamus, pineal gland, pituitary gland, parathyroid, thyroid, adrenals, pancreas, and ovaries, is essential for proper hormonal production and regulation. This system's proper functioning is vital to body development, metabolic health, sleep, hormonal balance, and reproduction. This feedback system gets interrupted if excess chemicals & toxins are involved.

Most common toxic chemicals:

• Pesticides
• Lead
• (PFAS) Perfluorinated Chemicals 
• Arsenic
• Glycol Ethers
• Dioxin
• Perchlorate
• Mercury
• BPA
• Atrazine 

Tips to limit endocrine disruptors from daily life:

• As best you can, buy organic when purchasing fruits and vegetables—especially those with "thin skin" like berries, apples, peaches, pears, etc.

• Check the label. Go for home cleaning, hair, and skin products with as many natural and organic ingredients as possible. Do your best to avoid the most common toxic chemicals listed above.

                                       DISCLAIMER:

THIS INFORMATION IS NOT INTENDED TO DIAGNOSE, PRESCRIBE, TREAT OR PREVENT ILLNESS OR DISEASE. THIS GUIDE DOES NOT TAKE THE PLACE OF WORKING WITH A LICENSED HEALTHCARE PROVIDER. ALWAYS DISCUSS ANY SUGGESTIONS WITH YOUR PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN BEFORE MAKING ANY ALTERATIONS TO DIET AND LIFESTYLE.