The Best Foods for Balancing Your Hormones and Health

Hormonal imbalance is a sneaky thing. If our hormones get out of whack, it can make our lives pretty miserable. Yet, because hormones are invisible, we might not realize what’s going on or how to fix it. In today’s adulting post, I’ll talk about what hormones are and how to balance them for optimal health and wellness.

What is Hormonal Imbalance?

First it might be helpful to define what hormones are. Hormones are basically chemical messengers that travel to different organs and tissues and tell our body to do, well… almost everything. Hormone production happens in different glands in the human body, like our adrenal glands and endocrine glands.

We have a variety of different hormones, including the star players insulin, testosterone, estrogen, and cortisol that many of us have heard of. And then we have our lesser known characters, like leptin and ghrelin (our hunger hormones), thyroid hormones, and a few dozen others I’m not going to spend time listing so you don’t fall asleep.

Basically hormonal imbalances happen when we have too much or too little of at least one of these hormones.

The Causes and Effects of Hormone Imbalance

All sorts of things cause our hormone levels to change. For example, hormonal fluctuations can be caused by stress, diet, physical activity, illness, even whether our sports team loses. Yep, that’s not an exaggeration. A study found that sports lovers whose team lost experienced a drop in testosterone.

Cortisol Hormones

The causes of hormone imbalance vary depending on the hormone in question. For example, cortisol is our fight-or-flight hormone. It’s important in small doses for focusing our attention and giving us a burst of energy to fight or run away. However, some medications, chronic stress, excessive exercise, and problems in the endocrine system (i.e. our system of glands and hormones) can give us too much cortisol.

If our cortisol levels are too high, we can experience weight gain, thinning skin, easy bruising and injury, high blood pressure, headache, mood swings, low energy levels, and more unfortunate things.

Having too low cortisol is rare. Those with too low cortisol may have what’s called Addison’s Disease. It too can lead to low energy levels. However, it also corresponds to weight loss, hair loss, muscle and joint pain, and low blood pressure.

Insulin Hormones

Insulin helps our body process and regulate sugar in our blood. When we have insulin imbalance, it can be the result of insulin levels in our body or how our body responds to it. For example, insulin resistance (or impaired insulin sensitivity) is when your body doesn’t respond much or at all to insulin, even if there’s insulin in your body. This is the case with Type 2 diabetes.

We can also have little to no insulin, as is the case with Type I diabetes.

Insulin resistance is frequently caused by a high sugar diet and low physical activity. It’s also associated with a variety of other conditions including obesity, heart disease, and polycystic ovary syndrome.

If you notice you’re thirsty and/or hungry all the time, have slow wound healing, skin infections, blurred vision, and/or headaches, you may have symptoms of insulin resistance.

Testosterone Hormones

We can also have too much or too little of our sex hormones, including estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone. Too much testosterone can arise from medical conditions, medications, steroid use, and frequent intense exercise.

Those with too much testosterone tend to experience heightened aggression and sex drive, infertility, mood swings, headaches, weight gain, nerve pain, heart problems, and a number of other health issues.

In contrast, too little testosterone can happen as a result of a variety of medical conditions and medications, including poorly managed diabetes and sleep apnea. It can also arise as a result of obesity. If you have too little testosterone, you might notice reduced sex drive, fertility problems, weight gain, and declining muscle mass.

Estrogen Hormones

Estrogen in normal amounts is super important for our overall health. However, excess estrogen causes a number of health problems, including to our reproductive health. For example, high estrogen can lead to a higher risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, irregular periods, and insulin resistance.

Estrogen is produced in body fat. So too much body fat can lead to too much estrogen. Likewise, too much stress and alcohol, exposure to chemicals like BPA in plastics, medications, medical conditions like PCOS, and liver problems can lead to high estrogen.

We can also have too little estrogen. This can happen when we have little body fat, excessively exercise, or have genetic or medical conditions. Declining estrogen is also a normal part of the aging process. Having too little estrogen can impair reproductive health and lead to mood swings, osteoporosis or brittle bones, headaches, fatigue, weight gain, an irregular menstrual cycle, and other health problems.

Thyroid Hormones

Most thyroid problems are caused by medical conditions rather than lifestyle elements. This is the case for both having too much thyroid hormone (hyperthyroidism) and too little (hypothyroidism).

Thyroid hormone imbalances can cause a big range of health issues. For example, your thyroid hormones play a significant role in your metabolism and how your body burns food for energy. If your thyroid levels are too low, you can experience fatigue, sensitivity to cold, weight gain, heavy periods, depression, constipation, dry skin… the list goes on.

In contrast, if you have too much thyroid hormones, you may have weight loss, bulging eyes, sleep troubles, heat sensitivity, muscle weakness, and light or no periods.

Hunger Hormones

We have two main hunger hormones: ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin is the hormone that signals you’re hungry and need to eat. Beyond that, it has a number of important functions for our gut health. It stores fat in your body, helps insulin function, and helps your body release growth hormone. 

If you have obesity, your ghrelin levels tend to be low. However, if you severely restrict your calories (such as if you are under a very restrictive diet or have an eating disorder), your ghrelin levels are often very high. Indeed, this is a key reason that restrictive diets are so hard to maintain and why many nutritionists recommend a more balanced approach.

If we are starving ourselves, we’ll not only be super hungry, our body will try to maintain fat because it thinks we are, very literally, starving. Likewise, ghrelin levels increase when we have poor sleep or stay up late. You may have noticed this effect if you’ve ever had the late night munchies.

Leptin is ghrelin’s counterpart. It tells us when we’re full and helps us regulate our weight. While leptin is still a little mysterious, scientists believe it also affects our immune system, metabolic system, and endocrine system (i.e. the system that controls our hormones).

The thing with leptin is that it tries to maintain the status quo. When we lose body fat, leptin decreases and makes us feel hungrier. The reverse happens when we gain body fat. Obesity can even make us insensitive to leptin over time so we don’t have a sense of when we’re full.

How To Create Better Hormonal Balance

As I mentioned in the introduction, our body has tons of hormones and I just named a few. However, the ones above are key hormones that are impacted by a healthy lifestyle and so we have some control over. Indeed, by making a few lifestyle changes, you can help create better hormonal balance.

Of course, it’s also important to note that if you think you have any hormonal imbalances, you should speak to a healthcare professional first. The recommendations below are for those looking for information on preventive options.

Among the lifestyle changes we can make to promote hormone balance are: maintaining a healthy diet, regularly moving our bodies, supporting our mental health, and getting enough sleep. I’ll focus here on how we can support our hormones through a healthy diet plan.

Healthy Fats

So, good news, one of the most important nutrients for our hormones is fat! Healthy fats, at least. Having enough fat is important for our estrogen, ghrelin, and leptin levels. Plus, healthy fats keep us full and so can be helpful for regulating our weight, which is important for insulin and testosterone.

What is considered healthy fat? Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats (like omega 3 fatty acids) are considered healthy fats because they don’t clog our arteries like saturated and trans-fats do. In fact, they can actually help reduce artery-clogging in your body. 

Additionally, foods with healthy fats often have a number of other key nutrients. For example, full-fat dairy contains lots of calcium and Vitamin D which is super helpful for your bones and combatting the osteoporosis that can result from some kinds of hormone imbalances. Nuts and seeds have lots of Vitamin E, which is great for skin, vision, and reproductive health. You may have noticed from the above that hormone imbalance can do a number on all those things. Brazil nuts are high in selenium which helps improve thyroid hormone balance. And avocados are full of beta-sitosterol which helps regulate cortisol.

More broadly, we can find good fats in olive oil, nuts, seeds (chia seeds, sunflower seeds, etc.), fatty fish (like salmon and sardines), eggs, full fat dairy products like yogurt, dark chocolate (score!), avocados (another score!), and cheese (the good news keeps coming!)

Leafy Greens and Cruciferous Vegetables

Leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables are some of the best foods for promoting hormone balance. For one thing, the fiber in these foods helps keep us full and cultivate a healthy gut microbiome. This is key for insulin and our hunger hormones. Additionally, because these foods help fill us up, they can promote a healthy weight. That’s key for our estrogen and testosterone levels as well. And they can help mitigate the weight gain associated with thyroid imbalance.

Many leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables are also high in Vitamin C, iron, and other nutrients that help our body function. Consequently, consuming these vegetables can both prevent hormone imbalance and the mitigate the side effects of hormone imbalance on our immune system and other body processes.

 Broccoli, brussels sprouts, bok choy, collard greens, spinach, and kale are all great greens to add to your diet.

Whole Grains

Similar to leafy greens, whole grains have lots of fiber to promote fullness and regulate blood sugar levels. By doing so, they help decrease the risk of insulin resistance. They also help maintain a healthy weight, which is key for estrogen, testosterone, and our hunger hormones. And whole grains are often full of essential nutrients like B vitamins which help our nervous system, brain function, energy levels, eyesight, and so many other vital body functions that hormone imbalance can impair.

As someone with Celiac’s, I love getting my whole grains from brown rice, oats, corn, millet, and quinoa. Whole wheat flour, barley, rye, and spelt are also great options.

Lean Protein

Quality protein sources play an important role in creating many hormones. Specifically, our endocrine system (basically our hormone system) uses amino acids (the building blocks of protein) to build some kinds of hormones like cortisol. Protein also helps regulate our hunger hormones. 

Lean protein sources include fish, eggs, beans, tofu, dairy, nuts, and some lean cuts of meat.

Foods to Avoid

I hesitate to say you shouldn’t eat any of a particular food. For most of us, a balanced diet of mostly nutrient-rich whole foods will be the best way of meeting our nutrition needs and balancing our hormones. I am an ardent believer in not cutting out foods entirely unless you have an allergy or intolerance. In general, having a small amount of sweets, alcohol, or refined grains will not lead to hormone imbalance or weight gain and can help us maintain a healthy diet long-term. The important part is the level of your food intake for these items.

That being said, there are some foods that tend to make hormone balance worse. These are the foods you’ll want to focus on limiting long-term. Specifically, sugar and artificial sweeteners are not great for long-term health. Sugar can increase imbalances in insulin and hunger hormones. Artificial sweeteners are also not great for your gut health. As a result, they can lead to insulin resistance, estrogen imbalance, disruptions in hunger hormones, and more.

Likewise, refined carbs like white rice and white bread and red meat can increase inflammation and lead to weight gain, which can increase the stress in the body (leading to more cortisol) and create imbalances in estrogen, testosterone, hunger hormones, and insulin.

Finally, by disrupting our sleep, energy drinks can lead to greater stress and higher cortisol. They may even disrupt estrogen as well! Instead, try drinking green tea and/or coffee, which can lower inflammation in the body.

Easy Ways to Incorporate Hormone Balancing Foods

If you’re looking for easy ways to incorporate hormone-balancing foods into your diet, I love the following options:

• Make a parfait from plain whole milk yogurt, honey, berries, and high-fiber/low-sugar granola (I use Rise and Run’s Tahini Molasses Granola recipe). This has healthy fats and protein, and fiber.
• Mix a salad using a salad mix or kit with leafy greens, an olive-oil based dressing, and beans or lean meat. You can even sprinkle sunflower seeds, nuts, shaved brussels sprouts, or unsweetened dried fruit for an added boost. I frequently mix beans with salad kits from Trader Joe’s for an easy lunch (for more, check out my healthy lunch recipes post).
• Do a tray bake. These are easy lunch or dinner options where you simply toss lean protein and vegetables in oil and seasonings and roast. I love making a tray bake with roasted sweet potatoes, broccoli, and chickpeas for an easy lunch. You can use chicken or a heartier meat and add brown rice for a dinner. See this recipe from Tone It Up that I use.
• If you frequently make pasta (like I do), use whole grain pasta and mix in some spinach during the last few minutes of cooking your sauce. The spinach doesn’t add flavor and shrinks down so you barely notice it. However, it adds fiber and tons of nutrients.
• Mash avocado and white beans and spread over whole grain toast (this is also on my healthy lunch recipes post). Add a side salad for extra health benefits.
• Blend up your favorite smoothie. Add a scoop of whole fat yogurt, peanut butter, or ground flaxseeds for healthy fats and protein. Also pop in a handful of spinach for no added flavor but lots of nutrients. Spinach does, unfortunately, ruin the color of most smoothies though.

Other Recommendations for Hormone Balance

As mentioned above, maintaining a healthy weight is huge for hormone balance. Consequently, regular physical activity and a balanced diet are important. For more on how regular exercise impacts hormone balance, you can check out my post on this topic. Discussing weight loss options with your doctor if you are experiencing overweight or obesity may also be worthwhile.

Additionally, regularly getting 7-9 hours of sleep is key for hormone balance. Too little sleep can increase cortisol, disrupt reproductive hormones, increase ghrelin, decrease leptin, and can even mess with your thyroid hormones. If you want recommendations on getting better sleep, see my post on the topic.

Your mental health can play into your cortisol and estrogen levels. Plus, hormonal imbalance can lead to increased stress levels and mood swings. Thus, cultivating good mental health can help you both balance hormones and manage symptoms. Of course, that’s easier said than done. However, you might consider therapy, consulting with a doctor about medication, journaling, meditating, socializing with close friends and family, and finding a physical activity you love. All of these activities have associations with improved mental health.

Finally, as mentioned above, if you think you may have hormone imbalance, you should speak with a medical professional. In some cases, you may need to take medication or you may benefit from hormone replacement therapy.

Final Thoughts on Hormone Balance

Hormones are key for a large number of various processes in our body, from energy to sex drive to mood. The good news is that we can help balance our hormones with a number of lifestyle changes. For example, following a balanced and healthy diet, getting enough sleep, and exercising regularly can do wonders for our hormones.

I hope you found some useful recommendations. If you enjoyed this article, please consider liking, subscribing, or sharing. It’s always really appreciated! 

And remember, I am not a nutritionist or medical professional. This information is solely for informational and entertainment purposes.