Tea Time with Jo | 5 Tips For Hormonal Health at Any Age

-Eat Your Breakfast

After a night of fasting, your body is ready to be refueled and replenished. Having a protein forward breakfast within an hour of waking, helps to lower your cortisol levels in the morning. A balanced breakfast is important (more on that in the next section). If you want to intermittently fast, don’t do it everyday and definitely avoid doing it while you are in your menstrual phase. If you like to drink coffee, it is super important to have coffee with your breakfast or afterwards. Coffee on an empty stomach actually causes cortisol and stress hormone levels to rise and that make for a rude awakening. You can read more on how to enjoy coffee without wreaking your adrenals in this post. 

-Eat Balanced Meals

Have a protein, fat and carb at all your meals. If possible, eat your green veggies first, then your protein and fat and save your carbs for last. Eating in this order helps to slow down the way your body metabolizes glucose which prevents blood sugar spikes and helps you feel fuller for longer. The problem with blood sugar spikes is less about the spike itself (though that has it’s own share of dangers) and more about the crash that follows it. Ever feel that 2-3pm slump after lunch? That’s usually a sign of your blood sugar crashing.

 Its also worth noting that you should make sure you eat enough for your needs. You should be consuming more calories on days that you work out or engage in more physical activity. You should also consume more calories as you are transitioning from the luteal phase into the menstrual phase. If you are healing from a physical trauma like an accident or surgery, you may also need more calories. Keep in mind that not all calories are created equal. It is imperative that your calories be nutrient dense for hormonal health. 

-Do Appropriate Physical Activity

A stay at home parent to young children is arguably more physically active chasing their kids than someone who only gets physical movement when they go to the gym 2-3x per week. It wouldn’t be fair to tell this parent that they don’t get enough movement in unless they work out everyday. The way society sees physical movement makes it seem like it isn’t working out unless you are lifting heavy weights; but no one thinks carrying a 20lb baby on one arm, a diaper bag on your back and 5 bags of groceries on the other arm counts. 

While we are on the topic of physical activity, avoid fasted workouts, especially if you are female. Putting your body through the perceived stress of a workout causes it to kick on stress hormones in order to deal with the “stress”. This can be very taxing on our adrenals, which is not good for hormonal health. Always try to eat something before working out. 

-Avoid Toxic Chemicals

This is a huge topic that warrants its own post (possibly several posts). The bottom line is that toxic chemicals often contain endocrine disrupters. Just as the name implies, endocrine disrupters disrupt  your natural hormones and their functions. Some of the most impactful ways you can avoid these chemicals are:

-Don’t microwave plastic Tupperware (switch to glass instead), 

-Avoid using plastic water bottles (use stainless steel or glass), 

-Avoid plastic lined paper cups at coffee shops (bring your own to-go cup if needed)

-Avoid artificial fragrances in all products (often listed as “parfum” in the ingredients)

-Avoid burning paraffin candles and/or artificially scented candles or incense (beeswax candles are much cleaner. Always opt for essential oils as fragrance when possible. Get 10% off my fave candles with the code AcuJo10).  

-Go to Sleep Before 11:00pm (10pm would be better)

According to the Chinese Medicine clock, our energy in the Gall Bladder meridian is highest between 11pm-1am. During this time, “maintenance” is being performed on the GB meridian but it can only be performed well if the person is sleeping. The GB’s partner meridian is the Liver, and its time is between 1am-3am (immediately following the GB). The liver plays a huge role in hormone balance in TCM and it can’t do its maintenance properly until its partner, the GB, does a proper maintenance first. This is one of the reasons why it is important to be asleep BEFORE 11:00pm rather than going to bed at 11:00pm.

Bonus: Engage in a Cyclical Practice

-Honoring our internal infradian rhythm helps us to connect to the ebbs and flows of our cycles. You see this in nature all the time yet society mainly focuses on just the circadian rhythm. One of my favorite ways to connect with the infradian rhythm is by enjoying Curiositea Wellness’s Lunar Remedies. The ladies behind this company made a set of 4 teas, each designed to resonate with the different phases of the menstrual cycle. If you don’t have a menstrual cycle, you can still step into the vibes by following the moon phases. No worries, they include a beautiful card with instructions in each order. 

There are many roads that lead to the same destination. These suggestions are not the only way to support hormonal health, but they are very good options. They are practical and don’t involve you investing a ton of time or energy to get you started. If you found this post helpful, feel free to share with someone who may find it helpful as well. Thanks for reading and I’ll catch you in the next post :)