Balance your hormones with healthy diet choices

The balance of all hormones, not just estrogen and progesterone, is an absolutely huge part of our health, for both women and men. We must always start that process by focusing on an intentionally balanced diet. All of the nutrients in fruits, vegetables, some nuts (those with high amounts of Omega-3 fats), seeds, especially pumpkin and flax seeds, vegetable proteins, especially soybeans and their healthful isoflavones and other phytonutrients are so important for good nutrition and to keep all of our hormones in balance. So in your search about balancing your estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, and the other steroidal hormones, never lose sight of the importance of your food and life style choices in your hormonal health.

Every woman experiences different menopause symptoms. Most women have some hot flashes, some feel irritable, a smaller number of women battle headaches, nausea or night sweats. Whatever your menopause symptoms are, the following food strategies just might help make your years around menopause a little more comfortable.

1. Eat more fruits and vegetables - Fruits and vegetables offer many health benefits -- fiber, vitamins, and minerals, and are naturally low fat but there are many reasons to eat these foods. Plants have chemicals that help protect our bodies' health and well-being. Phyto-estrogens are particular plant chemicals that are very similar in structure to estrogen, and may act as weak estrogen in our bodies. The mineral boron is another beneficial element of fruits and vegetables. Boron seems to increase the body's ability to hold onto estrogen. It also helps keep our bones strong by decreasing the amount of calcium we excrete each day.

2. Eat more beans - Beans are a nutritionally efficient food because they offer so many health benefits in one little package. They may slow the absorption of glucose in the bloodstream, thus curbing your appetite longer. They're full of fiber. They contain phyto-estrogens. They're good sources of many vitamins and minerals, including calcium, folic acid and vitamin B-6 and they are a low-fat source of protein.

3. Eat more tofu and soy - Soy may give relief from hot flashes, although that benefit is still being debated by researchers. However, we do know that soy may help protect our heart and arteries by lowering bad cholesterol. Eat or drink two servings of soy a day. Soy foods will take 4 to 6 weeks to show an effect.

4. Eat more of the right fats – It is important to avoid eating a diet that is high in fat, especially saturated fat. High-fat foods are usually high in calories and low in nutrients, exactly the opposite of what a woman in or past menopause needs. But it's even more important to get the right fats in your diet -- fats that may protect against heart disease and cancer. Research indicates the right fats are omega-3 fatty acids found in fish, olive oil and canola oil. Here are ways to build good fats into your meals, without sacrificing flavor:

• Switch to olive oil and canola oil.

• Eat more fish.

• Eat less animal fat by choosing leaner meats and lower-fat dairy products.

• Limit foods that contain hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils.

• Avoid stick margarine. Look for tub margarine that lists liquid canola oil or olive oil as the first ingredient.

5. Drink the right beverages - Most people believe we should drink eight glasses of water a day, but few of us do. Water helps keeps our kidneys flushed. Caffeine is a diuretic, which means it forces our kidneys to get rid of more water than they should. This can encourage dehydration. Caffeine, alcohol, and carbonated beverages such as soft drinks don’t help your bones at all. Some lower the amount of calcium your body takes in from food, and others increase the amount of calcium your body loses through the kidneys. Try drinking a glass of juice each day instead of soda or coffee.
Most citrus fruits, in general, contain more than a hundred phyto-chemicals. What happens to these when an orange or grapefruit is "juiced?" Many of them remain, especially if you buy juice with pulp.

Orange juice. Calcium-fortified orange or orange-tangerine juice gives you a nice dose of calcium along with vitamin C and folic acid.

Carrot juice. It takes getting used to, but carrot juice can be refreshing, not to mention very nutritious. Carrots give us at least three important phyto-chemicals: phenolic acids, terpenes and carotenoids (including beta carotene).

Purple grape juice. There are some powerful antioxidants to be found in these purple gems. In fact, the same beneficial antioxidants that are in red wine are also found in nonalcoholic grape juice.

Blueberry juice (unsweetened) is a super food that contains anthocyanins like cranberries to help maintain a healthy urinary tract. It helps improve memory and maintains healthy brain function and has been shown to improve vision.

6. Eat calcium in your diet every day - Calcium is essential to a woman's health as she ages. Most women should get at least 1,000 to 1,500 mg of calcium from food. Besides milk, cheese and yogurt there are other foods that are rich in calcium.

Almonds 1/4 cup - 92 mg. of calcium

Baked Beans 1/2 cup - 64 mg. of calcium

Blackstrap Molasses 1 tbsp - 145 mg. of calcium

Dried Figs 2 med - 30 mg of calcium

Mustard Greens 1/2 cup - 50 mg. of calcium

Orange medium sized 52 - mg. of calcium

Red kidney beans - cooked 1/2 cup 25 - mg. of calcium

Rhubarb - cooked 1/2 cup 174 - mg. of calcium

Salmon - canned 3.5 ounces 185 - mg. of calcium

Tofu (made with calcium) 1/3 cup 100 - mg. of calcium

7. Avoid high-fat, high-sugar foods - At this time in your life, preventing weight gain is important. Now, more than ever, women need to minimize extra calories, especially from high-fat, high-sugar foods that don't offer a bounty of nutrients. Too much sugar in your diet can cause your blood sugar to spike, which stimulates the pancreas to release more of the hormone insulin. Excess insulin accelerates the conversion of calories into fats in the blood and it stimulates the enzyme that increases the uptake of fat from the bloodstream into fat in the body's cells.

8. Importance of flaxseed in your diet - Flaxseed is just now being studied in humans, mostly for its cholesterol-lowering benefits and tumor-reducing properties with some types of cancers. We'll know much more about its true health benefits in the coming years. Flaxseed has been around and used as food and medicine for hundreds of years. We know that flaxseed is an extraordinary source of the phyto-estrogen lignans, containing 75 to 800 times as much as other plant sources. Lignans are thought to lower cancer risk by blocking some effects of the estrogen your body naturally produces. It's also packed with the plant form of omega-3 fatty acids, called alpha-linolenic acid. The omega-3s in flaxseed may help prevent blood clots that might lead to heart attack.

9. Avoid trans fatty acids – Try not to eat hydrogenated fats in any form. This means all margarine, all shortenings, and many other foods in our life that contain them, must be avoided. Hydrogenated fats or trans fatty acids (also called trans fats) are in most of the foods we commonly eat, so read the label. Some manufacturers are now producing foods without this “fake fat” and they state “No Trans Fat” on the label but beware and read the ingredients. If there is any type of “hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil” listed, avoid it! Many European countries have either banned hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils altogether or have instituted future dates for elimination of their use in foods. These government actions concerning the trans fatty acids is directly related to studies that link trans fatty acid (hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oil) consumption from processed foods to the development of diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. Hydrogenation of oils, with removal of essential fatty acids, is used in the food industry for the sole purpose of prolonging the shelf life of processed foods (to maximize profits). Here are some of the foods containing the trans fatty acids:

Foods almost always made with
partially hydrogenated oils:

Cake mixes, biscuit, pancake and cornbread mixes, frostings

Cakes, cookies, muffins, pies, donuts

Crackers

Peanut butter (except fresh-ground)

Frozen entrees and meals

Frozen bakery products, toaster pastries, waffles, pancakes

Most prepared frozen meats and fish (such as fish sticks)

French fries

Whipped toppings

Margarines, shortening

Instant mashed potatoes

Taco shells

Cocoa mix

Microwave popcorn

Many of these foods are made with
partially hydrogenated oils:
Check the list of ingredients)

Breakfast cereals

Corn chips, potato chips

Frozen pizza, frozen burritos, most frozen snack foods

Low-fat ice creams

Noodle soup cups

Bread Pasta mixes

Sauce mixes

10. Exercise - Exercise isn't a food, but it is tied into your diet. There are so many benefits of exercise during menopause that it deserves to be included in these 10 important steps. Exercising during menopause will help decrease blood cholesterol levels, decrease bone loss, improve your ability to deal with stress, improve circulation, improve heart function and improve your body's ability to use oxygen and nutrients. And, of course,
exercise is an ideal way to manage weight. Many women gain considerable weight in their 40s. This could result from the age-related drop in our metabolic rate. Or it could be caused by a reduction in physical activity as we age. Either way, exercise is your best defense.

If you can remember the importance of your food and life style choices in your hormonal health you should be able to keep your hormones balanced and live a healthy, active life.