Suggestions for Low Estrogen

1. Add organic edamame, tempeh and miso to your diet: Soy in moderation is a good way to help alleviate estrogen deficiency symptoms. Avoid overly processed soy and go for edamame or fermented soys like tempeh and miso instead. Fermented foods have the added benefit of having probiotic qualities, which helps your body properly metabolize the phytoestrogens found in soy. Awesome!

2. Consider bioidentical hormone therapy: I know there’s been a lot of confusion out there about estrogen lately. Simply put, though, the balance of the evidence suggests that bioidentical estrogen replacement (with estradiol – one of the estrogens that occurs in our bodies naturally) decreases heart disease and doesn’t increase the risk of breast cancer, especially when given to women starting aged 50-59 years old. Estrogen should always be balanced by natural progesterone (not progestins) to give women the hormone balance that would be similar to what they had prior to menopause.

3. Supplement: DHEA is a hormone secreted primarily by the adrenal gland. It’s a precursor to other hormones and can potentially help with symptoms of menopause like low estrogen. Another great option is my Female Hormone Balance Formula, which contains herbs like black cohosh that can help alleviate symptoms of estrogen deficiency.

Suggestions for a Progesterone/Estrogen Imbalance

1. B vitamins: They help us break down estrogen in an effective, efficient and safe way. B vitamins help bring us back into balance because they help our body get rid of some of that excess estrogen. B vitamins are readily available in meats, dairy, and nutritional yeast (try on popcorn or as a flavor enhancer in place of salt).

2. Eat your brassicas: Cabbage, broccoli, and other brassicas (think kale, cauliflower, arugula, bok choy, brussels sprouts) contain a compound called I3c (Indole-3-carbinol) that helps balance out your hormones.

3. Supplement: My Female Hormone Balance Formula supports classic herbal hormonal balancing, helps eliminate excess estrogen, and gives you a good dose of those B vitamins I mentioned above. The supplement also contains:
– Calcium D-glucarate, which helps with the elimination of excess estrogen from the system.
– Chaste tree extract, which helps balance estrogen and progesterone and has been shown in many studies to improve hormone imbalance symptoms.
– Black cohosh, which has been shown in studies to reduce hot flushes.
– Anti-inflammatory ingredients like resveratrol, green tea extract and turmeric. The newest information on hormones shows that inflammation plays a role in the balance of estrogen and progesterone. These ingredients have been shown to help reduce inflammation and improve hormone balance.

Suggestions for Low Testosterone

1. Exercise: Start small. Go for a walk, dance, or ride your bike. Try doing yoga or strength training. Work up a sweat. Or try my newest high intensity challenge: do a high intensity activity like jumping rope or jumping jacks for 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off. Repeat this process for 5 minutes. Lately, I’ve been doing it with jump squats and jump lunges – it’s tough, but it can provide a nice little testosterone kick. Try it and notice how your body responds to the boost in testosterone.

2. Relax: Make time for yourself every day to just relax. Even if it’s just for 10 minutes. Long-term, chronic stress robs us of testosterone. Give your body and mind a break so that you can feel your best.

3. Ditch the sugar and eat healthy fats: Sugar interferes with testosterone production, so if you want to stay balanced, ditch the sweet stuff. Fats are an important part of a healthy diet, and eating healthy fats – like the fats from avocados or walnuts – will help increase your testosterone production.

4. Supplement: Sometimes women need a little extra help boosting their testosterone. The natural supplement Tribulus Terrestris is a great way to get that boost. My Libido Formula for Women combines Tribulus Terrestris with other ingredients like DHEA to provide safe enhancement for natural testosterone production.

Suggestions for Low Oxytocin

1. Touch: Oxytocin is released in your body in response to loving touch. When you and someone you love touch, hug, give each other a massage, or even lie skin to skin, your body releases oxytocin naturally. Cuddling with a pet can do the same!

2. Have more sex: Sex and especially orgasm releases a surge of oxytocin. Even if you’re not feeling it, give it a try and watch how your body responds. You may surprise yourself! Nipple stimulation is also a simple, sexy way to release more oxytocin.

3. Engage your senses: Visit a garden with fragrant flowers in bloom, eat a divine meal, go to the symphony. When you open yourself up to your senses, you flood your body with oxytocin.

Suggestions for High Cortisol

1. Manage Mental Stress: Add daily practices to control stress. If possible, remove stressful people or things from your life. Try relaxation techniques: start with deep belly breaths several times a day, then progress into guided meditation, yoga, tai chi, prayer, massage, spiritual reading, whatever works for you. Stress management is key to balancing and controlling your hormones.

2. Manage Physical Stress: Eat small, frequent meals and keep sugar intake low to keep your blood sugar balanced and get plenty of rest. (Your body sees low blood sugar as a stress and releases cortisol to increase your blood sugar). We make some of our hormones and repair our bodies while we sleep, so getting 7-8 hours a night is essential to getting your cortisol back on track.

3. Supplement: No matter where your cortisol is at, balancing blood sugar can help maintain healthy cortisol levels and get your cortisol back on track. Super Energy Formula is a multivitamin and multimineral formula that is specially formulated to help keep blood sugar levels balanced and provide nutrients that feed the energy cycle that helps convert sugar and carbohydrates to energy.