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When you’re trying to balance your hormones, there are a lot of strategies you can use.
But one of the best ways to get your mind, body, and skin back on track is to eat hormone balancing foods.
Hormones play a crucial role in influencing your weight and appetite.
And if you’ve heard of the mind-gut connection, you know that what you eat impacts how you think and feel. You also know that what you eat affects the glow and health of your skin.
That’s why it’s so important to focus on your diet.
If you incorporate hormone balancing foods into your lifestyle, you can enhance your physical health, which will enhance your mental health. And you can also rejuvenate your skin so that it looks youthful, beautiful, and flawless.
So if you want to start eating the right foods to achieve hormonal balance but need a list of where to start, keep reading this article.
1. MCT Oil
It’s so important to include high-quality fats into your diet, especially if you want to alleviate the symptoms of hormonal imbalance.
Eating healthy fats will decrease your appetite and insulin resistance.
And one of the best healthy fats to achieve these results is medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), which are available in MCT oil.
Multiple studies suggest that MCTs have the power to reduce insulin resistance in people with diabetes and overweight and obese individuals.
Additionally, MCTs can provide a great energy boost because they break down and absorb into the body fairly quickly.
What’s also unique about MCTs is that they help you stay mentally sharp. Your brain needs healthy fats to run properly, and MCTs are some of the best around.
2. Cinnamon
Every hormone balancing food could benefit from a hormone balancing spice. And cinnamon checks all of the boxes.
This tasty spice helps aid weight loss and burn stubborn belly fat.
A 2017 study found that taking just 3 grams of cinnamon per day for 16 weeks significantly reduced fasting blood glucose, body mass index, and waist circumference.
Cinnamon also reduces mood swings.
A different study found that this soothing spice helps reduce sugar levels after eating, decreasing the overproduction of insulin and mood swings.
But the benefits of cinnamon don’t stop there. Research also suggests that this spice helps regulate periods and ovulation.
In a 2014 study, researchers analyzed women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). And they found that when taking cinnamon, the women had regular ovulation and more frequent menstrual cycles compared to women who took a placebo.
And if that’s not enough proof of cinnamon’s benefits, this spice may also:
- Reduce hormonal skin flare-ups
- Lower stress hormones to stabilize blood sugar
- Soothe period cramps and heavier flows
So, don’t hesitate to add a little cinnamon to your meals, especially if they already include hormonal balancing foods. By pairing it with healthy dishes, you’ll get the most out of this sweet spice.
3. Spinach
Eating spinach and other leafy greens is not only essential for good health but also hormonal balance.
Spinach is packed with antioxidants that can reduce inflammation in your body that excess estrogen causes.
This hormone balancing food is also a great source of magnesium, which can have a soothing effect that reduces anxiety and mood swings linked to PMS.
Additionally, spinach is an iron-rich vegetable, which means it can promote healthy thyroid function and assist in the production of thyroid hormones.
Its iron content, as well as the multiple B vitamins it contains, can also provide an excellent energy boost if you’re feeling tired or sluggish.
And because spinach is an antioxidant-rich food, it can neutralize free radical damage that happens because of oxidative stress.
This benefit is great for your skin, but it also plays a critical role in maintaining hormonal levels. Studies suggest that free-radical damage can hurt your thyroid function and pituitary gland, which is part of your endocrine system and responsible for secreting hormones in your bloodstream.
4. Activated Hemp
You can use hemp for a lot of things like clothes and paper.
However, you can also use hemp for hormonal balance.
Activated Hemp—an edible form of CBD—is a powerful hormone balancing food because it influences three important hormones:
- Your sleep hormones
- Your metabolic hormones
- Your sex hormones
To break this down, let’s start with the first one.
With regard to your sleep, Activated Hemp jumpstarts the secretion of melatonin, a sleep hormone. When this happens, your sleep quality becomes significantly better so that you don’t have to worry about tossing and turning all night.
But when it comes to your metabolic hormones, Activated Hemp also has a powerful effect. In fact, it can help decrease cortisol levels in your blood to promote less stress and deep relaxation.
Even better, this hormone balancing food has anti-inflammatory properties, so it may influence your reproductive health as well.
Integrative OB-GYN Felice Gersh, MD. explained in a Well + Good article that hemp-derived remedies might reduce menstrual cramps, premenstrual syndrome, osteoarthritis, and fibromyalgia.
And the best part about it is that you can add Activated Hemp to almost anything, including smoothies, dinner, breakfast, lunch, and baked goods.
5. Tomatoes
One of the best things about tomatoes is that they’re rich in antioxidants.
Similar to spinach, tomatoes can neutralize free radical damage that results from oxidative stress.
Of course, this benefit helps keep your skin healthy and youthful. But this benefit also extends to your hormonal health.
Free-radical damage has a terrible effect on your pituitary gland and thyroid function. Your pituitary gland is a critical part of your endocrine system, and its primary role is to secrete hormones into your bloodstream.
If this function gets out of whack, you can cue hormonal imbalance and all of its symptoms.
That’s why it’s so important to incorporate antioxidant-rich foods into your diet. And tomatoes are a great source of that nutrient.
6. Ginger
Ginger is a powerful spice with a lot of benefits on hormonal health.
Add this ingredient to any meal, and it will balance hormones with its potent anti-inflammatory effects. Even better, it will help your thyroid gland.
For example, ginger’s anti-inflammatory properties help stabilize the thyroid gland, reducing the risk of developing overactive thyroid conditions and an underactive thyroid.
This benefit especially applies to autoimmune diseases. Ginger specifically reduces Th17 cells and proinflammatory cytokines, which are key components of autoimmune conditions.
However, another great thing to note about ginger is its influence on insulin levels.
This therapeutic spice may be great if you’re experiencing insulin resistance and are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
One study examined patients with type 2 diabetes. And after the participants took 2 grams of ginger powder per day, they lowered their fasting blood sugar level by 12 percent. Ginger also decreased the patients’ hemoglobin A1c by 10 percent.
7. Bananas
Everybody needs prebiotics in their life, and bananas are a great source of them.
But to better understand this, it’s important to know probiotics vs. prebiotics.
Honestly, the difference is quite simple.
Probiotics are the good bacteria that live in your gut.
Prebiotics are the nutritious foods that your good bacteria need to flourish.
Both components matter a lot because your gut is the largest endocrine organ in your body, and it secretes and synthesizes over 20 hormones that affect your appetite, metabolism, and satiety.
If you want those hormones in your gut to stay balanced, you need prebiotics in your diet.
With just one banana in your smoothie, acai bowl, or parfait, you can get the nutrients you need to help ward off the symptoms of hormonal imbalance.
8. Garlic Clove
One symptom of hormonal balance is inflammation.
When you’re experiencing this side effect, it can really disrupt your body’s processes. But garlic is an excellent solution to this problem.
Even better, garlic has a significant influence on estrogen, which is something that everyone needs at healthy levels.
For women, estrogen helps control reproductive changes, but it also has other responsibilities that affect men and women’s bodies, including:
- Providing bone strength
- Supporting heart and blood vessels
- Protecting your brain
- Regulating your mood
When it comes to garlic, it’s believed that this hormone balancing food can affect estrogen levels, potentially even decreasing age-related bone loss.
Bottom Line: Eat the right foods
What you put into your body plays a huge role in your hormonal health.
If you want to combat the adverse effects that hormonal imbalance has on your mind, body, and skin, make sure you eat the right things.
Hormonal balancing foods can work wonders in making you look and feel happier and healthier.
