hormones HAPPY
POST-BABY RECOVERY WITH WENDY POWELL
DO YOU NEED
HORMONE TESTS? MENTAL HEALTH AND YOUR HORMONES
FIX YOUR PERIOD WITH
NICOLE JARDIM
MEET NYT BEST-SELLING AUTHOR AMY MYERS
Contents 08 NICOLE JARDIM: FIX YOUR PERIOD
13 INSTAGRAM FOODIES WE LOVE
16 I LOVE YOUR LIVER
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29
I AMY MYERS: BALANCING YOUR HORMONES
I LAUREN LOVELL: MASTER A NEW GOAL OR HABIT 32 I DO YOU NEED HORMONE TESTS? WENDY POWELL: EXERCISE AND THE POST-BABY BODY
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40 I MENTAL HEALTH AND HORMONES
43
ALEXX STUART: HOW EVERYDAY TOXINS AFFECT YOUR HORMONAL HEALTH
HAPPY
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Contributors Nicole is a certified Women’s Health Coach and the creator of Fix Your Period, a series of programs that empower women to reclaim their hormone health, using a method that combines simplicity and sass. Her incredible work has impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of women around the world in effectively addressing a wide variety of period problems, including PMS, irregular periods, PCOS, painful periods, amenorrhea, and many more. Nicole Jardim
Rather than treating problems or symptoms, Nicole treats women by addressing the root cause of what’s really going on in their bodies and minds. She passionately believes that the fundamentals to healing any hormonal imbalance lie in an approach that addresses the unique physiology of every woman. This is essential to reclaiming and maintaining vitality at any age. nicolejardim.com
Wendy Powell is a globally recognised voice offering education and inspiration on women’s health issues and body confidence. Certified postnatal specialist, international speaker, award winning entrepreneur, author and teacher, she is founder and Director of world best-selling online programme MUTU® System and accredited education provider MUTU Pro. MUTU is trusted by more than 54,000 women and is recommended by medical health professionals around the world. Wendy Powell
After more than 17 years working in this specialist field, Wendy’s work is grounded in the belief that ‘Every woman deserves the dignity of a body that works and that makes her feel good’. mutusystem.com
Alexx Stuart is an educator and change agent who founded Low Tox Life in 2010 after seeing the lack of transparency in our food system, personal care and cleaning products. She’s built a movement that’s non-judgmental, positive and says low tox peeps are a force to be reckoned with! A columnist for Wellbeing magazine, she is also a sought-after speaker and consultant to businesses committing to change for good. Alex also spoke at TEDX 2016 with “Shaping the world with our shopping basket.” She published Low Tox Life, which debuted in the TOP 5 in Booktopia rankings, has a No. 1 “New and Noteworthy” podcast for iTunes in Australia, and is also a best selling USA amazon.com author for “Real Treats.” lowtoxlife.com
Alexx Stuart
Amy Myers, MD is a two-time New York Times best-selling author and an internationally acclaimed functional medicine physician who specializes in empowering those with autoimmune, thyroid, and digestive issues to take back their health and reverse their condition. In addition, she is the founder and CEO of a multi-million-dollar e-commerce wellness company. In 2017, with the mission to empower people around the globe to take back their health, she founded AmyMyersMD.com, an e-commerce wellness platform that’s become a popular and respected resource for people seeking to get to the root of their health issues, find solutions, and take back control of their health. Her newsletter reaches more than half a million people each week. Her programs and supplements serve the health needs of hundreds of thousands of people in 60 countries around the globe.
Amy Myers MD
amymyersmd.com
Originally from South Africa, Lauren’s interest in health began when she struggled with hormonal issues as a teenager and battled fatigue as a young adult, eventually being diagnosed with anaemia and PCOS. After healing herself through food and supplements, she went on to qualify as a Nutritional Therapist, specialising in hormones and gut health. Lauren Lovell
She is now client services manager at Happy Hormones For Life, helping women all over the world.
EDITOR IN CHIEF Nicki Williams Welcome to Happy Hormones magazine! We are excited to share this issue with you. We created this magazine to educate, inspire and empower women to regain control of their hormones so that they can feel better than ever as naturally as possible. We are very excited to have the amazing Nicole Jardim in this issue. I have been a long time fan of her work, educating women about their menstrual cycles and helping them get rid of PMS and other hormone imbalances.
physically, and reclaim their mental and emotional health and wellbeing, at the same time.
Also in this issue, a two-time New York Times best-selling author and an internationally acclaimed functional medicine physician, is Amy Myers MD, shares her tips to balance your hormones.
Love Your Liver Do You Need Hormone Tests? Mental Health And Hormones Instagram Foodies We Love
Alexx Stuart is our toxin expert! Check out her article about how everyday toxins are affecting our hormone health. And Wendy Powell talks about how her MUTU system is helping thousands of women to get stronger
Other great info included in this issue is...
As you can see, our magazine is filled with information and tools to support women going through hormone imbalances, at any age. Thanks for taking the time to read it!
Nicki
Nicole Jardim:
FIX YOUR PERIOD
Your period is irregular, insufferable, or generally loathsome. Your doctor suggests you go on a birth control pill, or some other form of birth control. Your symptoms go away and you begin to see the semblance of a “normal� period. Sweet! Until you start experiencing a plethora of other symptoms. Sound familiar?
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It also sounds familiar to Nicole Jardim, otherwise known as “The Period Girl.” As a teen, she dealt with irregular periods, and at the time thought it was awesome. No period pain? No worry about bleeding? Sounds great. Except it wasn’t great; something was wrong. So she went to the doctor and was put on a birth control pill. She became like many pill-popping teens, easing menstrual symptoms, and having regular periods. Until she began experiencing hair loss, melasma, UTIs, yeast infections, and an influx in gut health issues. She even had an allergic reaction to an antibiotic intended to treat a UTI, which landed her in the ER. Like most of us, she knew something was wrong but shrugged it off. She eventually shared her list of symptoms with an acupuncturist. He told her, “I think it’s your birth control pill.” That’s when the first switch flipped. She stopped taking the pill and led a pretty symptom free life. That is until an intensely stressful work environment put her body in turmoil. She began experiencing a resurgence of symptoms, and the second switch was flipped. She enrolled at a nutritional institute to study hormones and become a health coach. Women have an unhealthy relationship with hormones, according to Jardim. “Women in their 20s, 30, even 40s think of hormones as puberty, menopause, hot flashes, and period problems and they don’t relate it to what’s really going on with their overall health and menstrual cycles,” she says.
MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT PERIODS Jardim explained to us there are two major myths surrounding periods and your menstrual cycle: MYTH #1: YOU CAN GET PREGNANT EVERY DAY OF YOUR CYCLE. “This is something I’ve continuously had to debunk,” Jardim told us. Many women are under the impression you can get pregnant at any point during your cycle. But fertilization doesn’t happen randomly, and there’s actually a quite short window of time (about 1-2 days within a cycle, according to Jardim) in which you can actually become pregnant. “It’s important for us to recognize this, because [when we do] it creates a kind of paradigm shift,” she continues. “The pressure of preventing pregnancy is often pushed onto the woman. After all, it’s our egg, right? Well yeah, but we are only able to fertilize it for a few days of the month. Men, however, are fertile every day of the month. Yet the burden of birth control is thrust upon us as women.” The goal of Jardim’s programs and teachings revolve around women learning the ebbs and flows of their own cycles. She teaches women what their bodies should be doing during each stage of the menstrual cycle, because once they understand their own bodies, they can begin to take control. happyhormonesmagazine.com 09
MYTH #2: PERIODS ARE PAINFUL AND IT’S NATURAL TO SUFFER THROUGH THEM.
approach ovulation and begin to dry out after? If it doesn’t, you may be dealing with estrogen dominance.
Periods suck, sure. But you’re not meant to suffer. “The normalization of women’s pain across the planet is astounding,” Jardim professes. Doctors are quick to push band-aid medications and solutions to mask problems women often face during their periods instead of getting to the root of the problem. “I call your period symptoms ‘Period Red Flags’. Something along the way broke or malfunctioned, and your period is the first thing telling you something is wrong.”
the observation and figured out what your period and cycle looks like, then you can take action to begin fixing the problem.
Bottom line: It’s not ok to be agonising every day, bleed through your clothes, or loose your mind. We’re desensitised to PMS and period symptoms so much, that we don’t take ourselves seriously when we exhibit these symptoms. But it’s not normal, and you don’t have to put up with it.
NICOLE’S KEY TIPS TO HORMONE BALANCE There are no quick fixes to balance your hormones, however, Nicole did share a few of her top tips to get things on the right track. BE AWARE: Figure out what your symptoms are and what may be causing them. She recommends tracking your cycle, but also to go further. When do symptoms occur? What does your period blood look like? When does your period come, and how long does it last? Pay attention to your cervical fluid—Does it get wetter as you 10 happyhormonesmagazine.com
WHAT’S GOING ON WITH YOUR DIET?: Everyone’s favorite advice: eat better. We want fast results, but getting your hormones balanced takes serious effort. Integrate more veggies into yourdaily diet. It’s a very basic thing to do but very beneficial. Jardim also let
us in on a secret: Our perception of gut health is wrong. Digestion is a critical factor in our hormone health. She suggests chewing your food 25-30 times, to ensure your gut isn’t put under stress and has energy to absorb all of the good nutrition it’s getting. Also, supplements aren’t an enemy. Hormone imbalances are usually caused by a nutrient deficiency of some sort. A few she suggests considering are Magnesium, a multi-vitamin, and zinc, iodine, or selenium, as well as a possible B-Complex or multi-mineral
supplement. However, she urges to fix your food intake first, and then see if you’re deficient. GET YOUR STRESS UNDER CONTROL: And lastly, balancing your hormones requires getting your stress levels under control. Our brain tells our gut to do all sorts of things throughout the day. But when we’re under immense stress, it tells our gut it’s not needed, thus throwing our hormones all out of sync. Do what you can to relax. Take Nicole’s FREE period quiz to get a custom report based on your unique physiology, and discover what’s up with your period — in less than 10 minutes.
TRY IT HERE
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INSTAGRAM FOODIES WE LOVE
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Deliciously Ella In the last 7 years, Ella Woodward has taken her business from a small blog about plant based living to a thriving business covering recipe books, food products and a huge social media following. She’s a huge inspiration for many.
The Body Coach Starting off by posting 15-second recipe videos on social media, Wicks grew his brand to become one the most followed fitness accounts on Instagram. @thebodycoach
@deliciouslyella Hemsley & Hemsley Sisters Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley started out as home cooks with an interest in age-old nutritious foods such as bone broth and the natural fats that have been nourishing people for thousands of years before they fell out of fashion. Their philosophy caught on and they now have 2 best selling books, a cafe in Selfridges and their own TV show to show for their hard work.
The Drs Kitchen Rupy Aujla is a medical doctor and a firm believer in the power of food and lifestyle change as medicine. He creates delicious recipes that bring attention to the clinical research behind the ingredients. As well as having a big following on social media, he recently published a best selling recipe book. @doctors_kitchen
@hemsleyhemsley Mindful Chef Funded by crowdfunding (including the likes of Sir Andy Murray and Victoria Pendleton CBE), Mindful Chef is a health focused recipe box service. They use the best ingredients for their boxes; grass fed meat, free range chicken, sustainably sourced fish, and locally sourced seasonal veg. And they are gluten and dairy free!
@mindfulchefuk Click here for a ÂŁ20 off voucher code (new customers only)
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Dale Pinnock (Medicinal Chef)
Ceri Jones Ceri is a Brit but she trained in California as a natural chef and food blogger, specializing in nutritiously dense, seasonal recipes. Her website naturalkitchenadventures now hosts over 200 delicious recipes and she recently won best Free From blogger at the Health Blog awards.
You may have seen TV chef and nutritionist Dale Pinnock cooking for Phil and Holly on This Morning! Using his background in evidence-based nutrition, his food is truly ‘medicinal’. @themedicinalchef
@CeriJonesChef
Iquitsugar
Amelia Freer
Australian born Sarah Wilson is a New York Times bestselling and #1 Amazon bestselling author and founder of IQuitSugar.com. Her new zero-waste cookbook, Simplicious Flow, was released in Australia in September 2018. On the side, she campaigns against consumerism waste. @iquitsugar
A favourite among celebrities, Amelia Freer is a qualified Nutritionist as well as being a true foodie and a best selling author. She likes to think of her book Eat.Nourish.Glow as a ‘consultation’ in a book. Her Cook. Nourish.Glow is the accompanying recipe book. @ameliafreer
Naomi Devlin River Cottage chef, Naomi Devlin, has made a career out of cooking healthy food that nourishes your gut health. Diagnosed with Coeliac disease, Naomi’s love of food took on a new challenge, that she embraced and specialised in. She is now an established author and teacher of gluten free cooking. If you thought gluten free bread was tasteless, you need to go on one of her courses!
@naomiannedevlin
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Love Your Liver 16 happyhormonesmagazine.com
When you hear the word detoxification, it conjures up images of exotic juice fasts or powders that leave you sitting on the loo all day! But what you may not know is that your body has its own detoxification system – your liver. Your liver is nothing short of amazing – did you know that it is the largest organ in the body, weighing almost 2 kilos? And, if you lost three-quarters of it, it would simply regenerate into a whole new liver. This amazing organ has so many jobs to do - over 500 at the last count. So the question is, are you looking after it? That doesn’t just mean watching how many glasses of wine you drink. Of course that is important, but as well as detoxing alcohol, your liver also regulates your hormones and deals with all of the chemicals that you are exposed to. That includes the perfume you spray on, the chlorine in your tap water, the pills you take, and the pesticides on your fruit and vegetables. So what happens when your liver struggles to cope? Toxins and waste can get backed up in your system and they can get recirculated back into your bloodstream.
HOW DOES THAT AFFECT YOUR HORMONES? OESTROGEN One important role of the liver is to get rid of the excess hormone oestrogen. This is a very important process as too much oestrogen can cause a range of issues including heavy periods, PMS, bloating, headaches, breast tenderness and weight gain. You might also have a build-up of more dangerous metabolites of oestrogen; the ones that can cause increased risk of breast cancer and other chronic diseases. THYROID Your liver is the organ where a lot of your thyroid hormones get converted into active mode, so if the liver is struggling then a deficiency of active thyroid hormones can slow down your metabolism, hang on to fat stores and crash your energy levels. And equally a sluggish thyroid inhibits liver function! And round you go again‌ BLOOD SUGAR Your liver plays a vital role in regulating your blood sugar balance. If you are under a great deal of stress or if your diet is too carb-heavy, your liver can struggle to regulate your blood sugar, which can cause sugar cravings, fatigue, mood swings, brain fog and fat storage - especially belly fat.
10 TIPS TO LOVE YOUR LIVER DRINK MORE WATER AND LESS ALCOHOL. This is a bit of a no brainer. As you get older, your liver finds it more challenging to process alcohol so it becomes increasingly important to limit the booze and increase your water intake. Hydration is so important to healthy liver function. DITCH THE SUGAR, REFINED CARBS AND PROCESSED FOODS. Eating too much sugar or industrial fats essentially stresses out your liver by raising your insulin, cortisol and oestrogen levels which is not good news! happyhormonesmagazine.com 17
REDUCE STRESS. Practicing daily relaxation including mindfulness, deep breathing, music and long baths will help to balance your cortisol levels. It is also a good idea to take time to properly digest your food - try mindful eating. GET YOUR BOWELS MOVING. If you are constipated then your toxic waste is going to build up in your gut and then your oestrogen can get recycled. So it is important to eat plenty of fibre, drink plenty of water, exercise daily and take a magnesium supplement (citrate is best for relaxing the bowel).
EAT MORE BROCCOLI. And, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, rocket, and watercress. These are all cruciferous vegetables that are loaded with indole-3-carbinol, which helps to detoxify that excess oestrogen. It is ideal to aim for two portions a day. If you can’t manage that, DIM is the supplement which does a similar thing. EAT PLENTY OF PROTEIN. Protein helps your liver processes. A protein shake is an easy way to get protein into your diet. Make sure it’s a good quality undenatured whey or plant based if you are dairy intolerant.
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SWITCH YOUR PERSONAL AND HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS TO NATURAL ORGANIC ONES. What you put on your skin goes straight into your bloodstream. Put your product into the App ‘Think Dirty’ to see how ‘toxic’ it is. Think about what you put onto your skin in the same way that you think about what you are putting into your body. GO ORGANIC. Switching to organic fruit, vegetables, dairy, eggs and meat will reduce your exposure to harmful pesticides and other mass chemicals. GET A SWEAT ON. Sweating is a great way to naturally get rid of toxins. The skin is one of your most important detoxification organs. Exercise, saunas, steam rooms – try anything that gets your sweat dripping.
THE CONNECTION BETWEEN DIET AND HORMONE HEALTH By Amy Myers happyhormonesmagazine.com 19
What are the key hormones that affect women? Although they’re all important, there are several key hormones that affect women’s health. THYROID HORMONES The thyroid gland keeps your metabolism under control through the action of thyroid hormones, which it makes by extracting iodine from your blood. Thyroid cells are the only ones in your body that specialize in absorbing and using iodine, which they use to create the thyroid hormones T3 and T4. These hormones don’t just control your overall metabolism, weight, energy levels, and temperature. They actually directly manage the metabolism of every single cell in your body, so if your levels are off, every cell can be affected. Thyroid disorders that result in too little or too much thyroid hormone can cause a wide range of symptoms, and left untreated can result in illnesses such as Hashimoto’s disease or Graves’ disease. There are about 20 million people diagnosed with thyroid disease. Women are five to eight times more likely than men to have thyroid problems. I myself had Graves’ my second year of medical school and it is why I chose to go into functional medicine and create The Myers Way® in order for individuals to find their root cause and reverse their conditions. ESTROGEN For women, this sex hormone is created in your ovaries, although your adrenal glands and fat cells make some 20 happyhormonesmagazine.com
too. Estrogen is responsible for reproduction, menstruation, and menopause. Estrogen is important in bone and blood health as well as sex drive. Levels of estrogen naturally rise and fall during a woman’s lifetime, however, low estrogen levels can lead to acne, skin lesions, thinning skin, or hair loss. Estrogen is metabolized by the liver through three different pathways. Depending on the pathway, estrogen will be converted into good or bad metabolites. The 2-hydroxy metabolic pathway has the lowest risk for cancer and other problems. The 16-hydroxy and 4-hydroxy pathways are associated with higher risks of breast cancer. Using the 2-hydroxy pathway, your body produces good estrogen metabolites, which support healthy mood, libido, breast tissue, and reproductive health. When your body is converting too many of your hormones using the 16-hydroxy and 4-hydroxy pathways, that’s when you experience estrogen dominant symptoms such as irritability, vaginal dryness, and PMS, and are at a higher risk of developing cancer. PROGESTERONE Although both genders produce progesterone, it is often called “the pregnancy hormone.” In women, progesterone is produced in your ovaries and plays a key role in menstruation and in preparing your body for pregnancy. During pregnancy, production of this important hormone shifts to the placenta, which produces it at a higher volume than your ovaries, keeping you from producing more
eggs and preparing your body to produce breast milk. Women who have low levels of progesterone may have abnormal uterine bleeding, irregular periods, problems conceiving, and difficulty carrying a baby to term. They may also experience headaches, migraines, mood changes, anxiety or depression, low libido, and hot flashes. DHEA This steroid hormone, produced in your adrenal glands, is a very complex substance. It is the precursor to all sex hormones -- it primarily turns into testosterone and then ultimately into estrogen. Without the proper amount of it, your body can’t synthesize estrogen. Adrenal fatigue, often characterized by body aches, fatigue, sleep issues and digestive problems, is a hallmark of low levels of DHEA. Because of DHEA’s involvement in regulating your immune system, low levels of this hormone can create a pathway to autoimmunity. SEROTONIN This mood-boosting hormone is associated with learning and memory, regulating sleep, digestion, and some muscular function. 95% of your serotonin is created in your gut, so having a healthy gut is critical to this hormone’s production. Recent research has shown that serotonin levels that promote a positive impact on mood can increase longevity by as much as 10 years. Low levels of serotonin can lead to depression, migraines, weight gain, insomnia, and carb cravings. Too much serotonin can cause agitation, confusion, or lethargy.
INSULIN This hormone is released by your pancreas, which is located behind your stomach. This critical hormone enables your body to use glucose, or sugar from carbohydrates in the food you eat for energy. It helps keep blood sugar levels from getting too high or too low. If you have more sugar in your body than you need, insulin helps store it in your liver and release it later when you need it for energy. CORTISOL The main function of this stress hormone produced by the adrenal gland is just that—to respond to stress. However, cortisol also plays a role in controlling inflammation and regulating blood flow. In danger mode, the adrenal gland boosts cortisol production which increases heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, and overall inflammation. Nearly all of your cells have cortisol receptors, so in times of high alert, cortisol can shut down processes such as digestion, and sex hormone production. Many of us are dealing with chronic stress. When you have constant stressors in your life, your immune system never really gets to turn off. Your inflammatory immune response is activated for too long and eventually goes rogue, attacking your own bodily tissues, resulting in hormone imbalance and autoimmune diseases. GROWTH HORMONE Often called HGH, growth hormone is a protein that is produced in the pituitary gland. It stimulates growth, happyhormonesmagazine.com 21
cell reproduction and regeneration, and boosts metabolism. Production rises in childhood, peaks in adolescence, and declines in adulthood. However, even after you stop growing, you still need growth hormone for healthy muscles, bone, and fat tissues. What causes hormone imbalances and how can you find out if you have an imbalance? Virtually all women experience hormone imbalances at some point in their lives. These imbalances are often a result of natural changes that occur with age, such as puberty and menopause. When you were growing up, hormones triggered bone and muscle growth. They also set in motion the reproductive changes that led to menstruation and fertility in young women, and sexual maturity in young men. This surge of hormones is behind the acne, mood swings, and other “teen” issues that affect most adolescents. On the other end of the spectrum, hormone production slows as you leave your reproductive years behind. A decline in hormone production is what leads to perimenopause and menopause symptoms in women, and low libido and erectile dysfunction in men entering middle age. Some hormonal imbalances, however, can have other underlying causes beyond the natural aging processes, including: Chronic stress Elevated blood sugar Lack of Sleep 22 happyhormonesmagazine.com
Thyroid dysfunction (Hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism) Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) or birth control pills Type 1 or type 2 diabetes Being overweight Endocrine disruptors such as pesticides, herbicides, and plastics Steroids and other medications Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) How do hormone imbalances showcase themselves in women — what are the “symptoms” of a hormone imbalance? The most common symptoms include: Bloating, constipation, and diarrhea Weight gain or weight loss Insulin resistance Chronic fatigue Estrogen dominance Mood swings, anxiety, or depression Low libido Brain fog Headaches Adrenal fatigue Hot flashes/night sweats Insomnia Osteoporosis Thinning, brittle hair Blood sugar swings Hot and/or cold intolerance Acne Loss of muscle mass
How can someone work to balance their hormone levels? Your overall health is the key to hormone balance. And the path to optimal health is through your gut. Your gut is the foundation of your whole body’s health because 80% of your immune system is located there, as well as the vast majority of your serotonin. Without a healthy gut, you can’t have a healthy immune system. Without a healthy immune system, you’re open to infections, inflammation, and autoimmune disease. All of these wreak havoc on hormonal health. The gut is naturally permeable to very small molecules in order to absorb nutrients in your food. However, a poor diet of toxic and inflammatory foods, environmental toxins, medications, infections, and stress can cause these tight junctions to break apart. Once these tight junctions get broken apart, you have a leaky gut. When your gut is leaky, things like toxins, microbes, undigested food particles, and more can escape from your intestines and travel throughout your body via your bloodstream. Your immune system marks these “foreign invaders” as pathogens and attacks them. The constant onslaught of inflammation from your immune system causes a widespread immune response throughout your body. To manage this, I recommend the four Pillars of The Myers Way® which I detail in my book, The Autoimmune Solution, to take control and return to optimal health.
PILLAR 1: Heal Your Gut 1. REMOVE: Remove the bad. The goal is to get rid of things that negatively affect the environment of the gut such as inflammatory foods, infections, and gastric irritants such as alcohol, caffeine or drugs. Inflammatory foods, including gluten, dairy, corn, soy, eggs, and sugar can lead to food sensitivities. Infections can be from parasites, yeast, or bacteria. Two common ones are small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and Candida overgrowth. happyhormonesmagazine.com 23
2. RESTORE: Restore what’s missing. Add back in the essential ingredients for proper digestion and absorption that may have been depleted by diet, drugs (such as antacid medications) diseases, or aging. This includes digestive enzymes, hydrochloric acid, and bile acids that are required for proper digestion. 3. REINOCULATE: Restoring beneficial bacteria to reestablish a healthy balance of good bacteria is critical. This may be accomplished by taking a probiotic supplement that contains beneficial bacteria. 4. REPAIR: Providing the nutrients necessary to help the gut repair itself is essential. Collagen can seal the leaks while L-glutamine helps to rejuvenate the gut wall lining.
PILLAR 2: Get Rid of Gluten, Grains, and Legumes Gluten is a group of proteins found in grains like wheat, semolina, spelt, rye, kamut, and barley. Gluten, which has been linked to more than 55 diseases, prompts your immune system to attack your own tissues. It’s not easily digested, and it contributes to gut imbalances like SIBO and Candida overgrowth. But even more damaging is gluten’s ability to trigger the body to produce zonulin, a protein that can signal the tight junctions between the cells in your intestines to open and stay open, causing leaky gut. Lectins are also problematic. These are naturally occurring proteins in foods such as beans, peanuts, lentils, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, fruits, wheat and rice that protect them as they grow. Like gluten, they don’t have any nutritional value for people. Lectins are clingy and can attach to your gut wall, where they can ultimately enlarge openings enough to pass into your bloodstream. PILLAR 3: Tame the Toxins A toxin is a poison — any substance that’s dangerous to the human body. That includes things you know are a problem such as heavy metals like lead and mercury, industrial chemicals and pollutants, and pesticides. Then there is a category many have never even heard of — mycotoxins, the volatile organic compounds released by certain types of mold.
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You might be thinking you aren’t exposed to many toxins because you live a very “clean” lifestyle. However, toxins are found in the air you breathe, the water you drink, the food you eat, and in the cosmetics, cleaning products, and cookware you use every day. It may seem like just a little exposure here — to pesticides when you eat conventionally grown produce — or a little exposure there — to mercury in your dental fillings. But each and every exposure adds to your body’s toxic burden.
can lead to hormone imbalance and put you at risk for insulin resistance, breast or prostate cancer, infertility, male impotence, and a whole host of health issues. The best way to keep toxins from upsetting your hormonal balance is to prevent them from entering your body in the first place. Clean the air inside your home with a HEPA filter to ensure it is as toxin-free as possible. Buy clean, organic foods whenever you can. This is especially important for meat because animals are at the top of the food chain, and if they’re consuming pesticides in their feed, yo u are too, but in a magnified dose. To support your body’s natural detox process, drink plenty of water and do something that makes you sweat. Regular activity not only produces sweat that moves toxins out of your body, it can also help your sleep, digestion, memory, and even sexual function, thanks to its ability to help boost serotonin. PILLAR 4: Heal your infections and relieve your stress
For example, you may not realize that most personal care products out there contain phthalates, parabens, and other hormone-disrupting chemicals. These toxins get absorbed into your skin, where they can enter your bloodstream and wreak havoc on your hormones. Additionally, nearly every type of plastic releases chemicals that mimic estrogen in your body. Continuous, low-level exposure to these chemicals
Certain viral infections which never leave your system, such as herpes simplex (HSV) and Epstein-Barr (EBV), can trigger your immune system and cause widespread inflammation, especially when you are chronically tired and under constant stress. The systemic inflammation caused during a flare-up of an infection further impacts your overall health and hormone balance.
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While it’s impossible to avoid stress completely, it’s crucial to find ways to manage it to restore balance to your hormones. Meditation and forming a supportive community are proven ways to relieve stress.
Another hormone-wrecking food to watch out for is soy. Soy contains phytoestrogens known as isoflavones that mimic estrogen in your body. It’s a good idea to ditch soy, particularly if your estrogen levels are already high due to menopause. What about gluten? If you’re sensitive to gluten or have Celiac disease, how does ingesting gluten affect your hormones? As I mentioned earlier, gluten is a big issue. The gluten we eat today is not the same as the gluten our ancestors ate. Over 100 years ago, scientists began to develop new, hybridized forms of wheat with higher proportions of gluten protein to produce bigger, fluffier breads and pastries. They also figured out a way to deaminate gluten, which allows it to be dissolved into liquids and other products that didn’t previously contain gluten.
Are there any foods that are particularly damaging to healthy hormone levels? Sugar and refined carbohydrates can cause blood sugar spikes and mess with your insulin. Insulin is a hormone made by your pancreas that helps turn glucose into energy and keeps your blood sugar stable. Too much sugar causes your body to release more and more insulin to help control blood glucose levels. This can lead to insulin resistance and eventually type 2 diabetes. Keep refined carbs to a minimum and save sweet treats for special occasions. Choose natural sweeteners that won’t send your blood sugar on a roller coaster. 08 happyhormonesmagazine.com
As a result, we are not only eating a very different kind of gluten than our ancestors ate, we are eating and being exposed to much more of it. And it’s no coincidence that the change in our gluten consumption aligns with a dramatic increase in chronic disease. The new proteins that are present in our modern hybridized wheat and were not found in our ancestors’ wheat are highly inflammatory, especially in the large quantities that we eat today. Our bodies simply have not had time to evolve properly to digest these gluten-dense forms of wheat and the result is a state of chronic ongoing inflammation. This chronic inflammation can affect everything
from your skin, to your sleep, your mood, and your hormone levels. That’s because your immune system becomes overly stressed as the inflammation just keeps on coming with each bite of bagel, pretzel, or even whole wheat pasta. It can begin to malfunction! The result is that your immune system begins to misfire. It begins attacking your body’s own tissues as it tries desperately to combat the sources of inflammation. However, gluten doesn’t just cause inflammation from its own proteins, it adds fuel to the fire by opening the door for other inflammatory agents to wreck your health as well by damaging your intestines, causing leaky gut, and allowing particles that should have been excreted to invade your bloodstream. On top of causing leaky gut, which itself contributes to autoimmunity, gluten is particularly dangerous because of a phenomenon known as molecular mimicry. This is when a foreign invader (such as the gluten proteins now flooding your bloodstream due to leaky gut) shares sequence or structural similarities with your body’s own tissues. Your immune system memorizes the structure of invaders. Then it develops a customized defense and recognizes it in the future. However, your immune system is not always perfect. If the invader looks enough like your own cells, your immune system ends up attacking your own tissues along with the invader by mistake, in an autoimmune reaction.
Gluten happens to be structurally similar to a number of your body’s tissues, particularly the thyroid gland. This is why gluten is one of the leading causes of autoimmunity, especially in those with a thyroid condition. And if there is a recipe from your cookbook that you’d like to share, feel free to do so! My cookbook, The Autoimmune Solution Cookbook, is packed with delicious, healthy recipes. One of the best ones for supporting hormone balance is my Mardi Gras Salad because it’s packed with cabbage, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower, which are powerful detoxifiers. My grandmother lived right on the parade route in New Orleans, which meant our family hosted a party almost every night during the season. A Mardi Gras salad is anything that contains Mardi Gras colors: purple, green, and gold. The vegetables in this adaptation of my grandmother’s crowd pleasing salad caramelize beautifully with high-temperature roasting. Tangy pomegranate seeds add a bit of sweetness.
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Mardi Gras Salad
Salad:
4 cups halved Brussels sprouts
½ head red cabbage, chopped into 1-inch pieces
½ butternut squash, chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 head cauliflower, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons avocado oil
Fine sea salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 cup pomegranate seeds
Dressing:
½ tablespoon prepared horse radish
1 clove garlic, minced
½ shallot, minced
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Steps: Heat oven to 400˚F. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper. To make the salad: Place Brussels sprouts and cabbage on one prepared pan and the squash and cauliflower on the other prepared pan. Drizzle the avocado oil over the vegetables, and using clean hands, toss to coat. Then arrange the vegetables in a single layer. Season with salt and pepper. Roast the Brussels sprouts and cabbage for 20 minutes and the butternut squash and cauliflower for 40 minutes. To make the dressing: While the vegetables are roasting, whisk together dressing ingredients. Combine roasted vegetables in a large bowl. Toss with dressing and sprinkle with pomegranate seeds. Serve warm.
For your free Foods to Toss/Foods to Enjoy for Autoimmunity eBook CLICK HERE 28 happyhormonesmagazine.com
MASTER A NEW GOAL OR HABIT
Lauren Lovell:
For most of us, Autumn is about getting back to work after the Summer break, getting kids back to school and getting back into routine. It can feel like the start of a new year and therefore a time to instil new habits or set new goals. So often though, despite our best intentions, we struggle to maintain newly formed habits and our goal aspirations go unmet. So, how can we make these habits or goals stick? Here are my top 5 tips for creating and sticking with a new habit or goal so it translates into a lasting lifestyle change.
1. Make one micro-change at a time Rome really wasn’t built in a day, neither are new habits. It takes small, consistent actions to solidify a habit, so start with the tiniest of changes and focus on one at a time until you’ve mastered it before moving on. Committing to one small action is much more achievable and sustainable, so that over time, you’ll have made an impactful difference.
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For example, if your ultimate goal is to drink 8 glasses of water daily, start by increasing your current water intake by just 1 glass. Once you’re doing this consistently, add in another glass and so forth. Eventually you’ll be drinking those 8 glasses without much effort at all. 2. Determine your why One of the reasons we don’t achieve our goals is because we seldom define why reaching those goals are so important to us in the first place. For example, if your goal is to drink more water – ask yourself why you want to develop this new habit. Perhaps you want to be healthier. Fine, but why? You want to live a long life. Ok. Why? You want to be around to see your grandchildren grow up. Ah, so now we’ve established why that habit is important to you and you can bring this to mind when you start to falter. 3. Determine your why not Conversely to our why, we rarely plan for why we’re not practicing habits or reaching our goals. Developing strategies to overcome situations that may hinder our progress can help us succeed. For example, consider situations that may prevent you from reaching your daily water intake goal - commuting, not enjoying the taste of water, concerned about needing the loo all
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day? Strategies to overcome this may include; carrying a stainless-steel bottle of water with you at all times, flavouring your water with mint, lime or berries, taking regular sips all day instead of downing large glasses at a time. 4. Get accountable Telling someone about the changes you’re trying to make and why or writing this down and keeping it in a visible place can help to keep you on track and motivated. For example, ask a friend to check in with you once a week on your progress or keep a journal and mark off each time you’ve actioned a new habit or reached a goal. 5. Tag it to an ‘auto-pilot’ action There are certain activities we do automatically and without much decision-making, like brushing our teeth. To instil a new habit, try to tag it onto one of these activities so it becomes second nature. For example, drink that extra glass of water before you brush your teeth each day
Lentil Cottage Pie This warming, delicious, cottage pie is bursting with immune-boosting foods like carrots, sweet potatoes, onions and garlic – the perfect meal to take you into the colder months. This meat-free version is an excellent way to get in a dose of fibre and phytoestrogen-rich lentils, which are a great source of plant-based protein too! Ingredients 1 tbsp olive oil 1 white onion, diced 1 red pepper, diced 1 stick of celery, diced 1 carrot, diced 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 4 tbsp of tomato puree 250g puy or beluga lentils (you can get these in ready cooked sachets) 1 tbsp dried mixed Italian herbs 1 tsp smoked paprika 1 tsp sea or pink salt 1 tsp ground pepper 300ml of vegetable stock 100g of frozen peas 3 handfuls of baby leaf spinach FOR THE MASH 700g sweet potatoes, cubed 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp sea or pink salt
In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil. SautĂŠ the onion, pepper, celery, carrot and garlic until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato puree, lentils, herbs, paprika and seasoning and stir well. Add the stock and peas and mix well. Bring to a boil then cover and simmer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, uncover and simmer for a further 15 minutes to thicken the mixture, stirring occasionally. Whilst the mixture is simmering, make the mash. Bring a large pot of water to a boil then add the sweet potato. Boil for about 15 minutes, until tender then drain. Mash the potatoes with the olive oil and salt until smooth. When the mixture has simmered for 15 minutes uncovered, stir through the baby spinach leaves until wilted before serving. To serve, spoon the lentil mixture in a bowl and top with the mash or if serving later, place the mixture into an ovenproof dish and top with the mash. To reheat, place the dish in the oven on 180 degrees until piping hot. happyhormonesmagazine.com 31
DO YOU NEED HORMONE TESTS?
If you suffer from symptoms such as fatigue, mood swings, anxiety, PMS, weight gain, brain fog, hot flushes, low libido insomnia or depression then you could be suffering from hormone imbalances. While it’s important for any health practitioner to take your history and symptoms into account to determine correct protocol, certain functional hormone tests can give you a real head start. 32 happyhormonesmagazine.com
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF TESTING? It removes the guesswork. Even though we can get a good idea of what’s going on from your symptoms, it’s good to have the backup of a physical test so you know for certain that something isn’t where it should be. You can put a protocol in place that laser targets that specific imbalance. You get quicker and more effective results, after all, that’s what everyone is after! It helps you stick to the programme – it’s all well and good being told that there is a problem, but seeing it on paper makes it REAL. It gives you a baseline to measure your progress WHICH HORMONE TESTS? CORTISOL. Chronic stress is at an epidemic level in our modern day lives and this can take a toll on our adrenal output. A cortisol imbalance over the long term can have serious implications on your health including cardiovascular, hormones, digestion, neurological and immune function. Your doctor may test your cortisol levels but it is not a standard test. If your doctor suspects very low or very high levels, he may order a blood test that measures your cortisol levels in the morning. Your GP may be looking for abnormally low levels, which could indicate a serious condition called Addison’s Disease. They are not looking to measure how well your
adrenals are coping over the course of your day. ‘Adrenal fatigue’ or cortisol imbalance is not a recognised condition in conventional medicine, but it can be a risk factor for many chronic conditions. Private testing options include a urine test which analyses samples over 4 points of the day. This test not only shows your active cortisol levels, but also your metabolised cortisol, effectively looking at a much larger percentage of the cortisol in your system. From this, you can see if you have a cortisol imbalance and then put the appropriate protocols in place. THYROID. Your thyroid hormone is vital for every cell in the body to make the energy required for it to do its job – whether that’s making your heart beat, your muscles work or your brain function properly! You may have been tested and told you were ‘normal’. There are three problems with standard thyroid hormone tests. A very wide reference range: The reference ranges for thyroid hormones are very wide. That means that you could be ‘normal’ even though you are at the lowest end of the scale. Unless you dip under the threshold you won’t get any treatment. This is known as ‘sub-clinical’ hypothyroidism and there is much debate about how or even whether it should be treated. It’s not the whole picture: The standard initial test for thyroid will sometimes only measure TSH levels. Often T4 is measured though not always in its free form (fT4). It’s really important to know your free T4 and happyhormonesmagazine.com 33
free T3 levels but these won’t necessarily be measured if your TSH is ‘normal’. This testing process only looks at a small part of the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Thyroid axis and doesn’t take into account what may be happening further down the chain (e.g. if your T4 is not converting to T3, you have low active hormone). No interest in the root cause: If you have low thyroid function, it is vital to know if it is autoimmune related. Around 80% of thyroid disease cases are autoimmune Hashimotos or Graves disease. Autoimmune thyroid conditions have a different etiology than other thyroid issues, and so require a different protocol of treatment. Many people are just put on Thyroxine, not knowing they have an immune disorder and how to treat it. As an alternative, a full thyroid hormone blood test panel includes TSH, fT4, fT3 plus TG and TPO antibodies. That way, if there is a problem you can see where in the chain it’s likely to be occurring and put in place the right dietary and supplement protocol to address it. SEX HORMONES. Blood tests for sex hormones are often hard to come by and not particularly reliable as they only show a snapshot of your free hormone levels. If you are in peri-menopause (this can occur anytime between the ages of 35-52) and experiencing symptoms then your doctor may test your FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone) and LH (Luteinizing Hormone) levels. If they are raised then it can indicate lower levels of oestrogen and progesterone, indicating that you may be in 34 happyhormonesmagazine.com
peri-menopause (but chances are that you know that if you are experiencing symptoms). HRT is often recommended when actual sex hormones have not been tested. As an alternative, one of the best sex hormone tests available is a test involving 4 simple urine samples taken in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle (or anytime for post-menopausal women). This test will show not only show your sex hormone levels but also their hormone metabolites. This gives you a much
imbalances, alcohol, medications, toxins and general aging. It is important to identify any nutrient deficiencies when you have ongoing unexplained symptoms. Some vitamins and minerals can be tested through your GP, however often not as thoroughly as may be needed. An alternative is to go for a more comprehensive blood test, which looks for a wider range of nutrients that can have a big effect on common symptoms such as fatigue, mood swings, brain fog and will test for B12 (active, not blood levels), Vitamin D, Ferritin (iron stores), Folate and Magnesium. THE PROBLEM WITH ‘NORMAL’ Many people report that they have had hormone tests done by their doctors and have been told they are ‘normal’. What often occurs with these results is that they have fallen into the ‘normal’ range, but at the very low end.
more accurate picture of how hormones are actually performing, and crucially how they are being detoxified and eliminated. This is very useful to know whether HRT will actually be of benefit (or risk!) and also key to understanding the unique behaviour of hormones in the body and potential risks of further conditions. NUTRIENT LEVELS. As we age our nutrient levels can go down just at the very time that our need for them goes up. There are many reasons for this including a poor diet, stress, digestive
There’s a huge difference between someone with optimal TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) and someone with a level that is just within range. Or Ferritin levels at the bottom of the range, when you need optimal levels to support hair growth, energy levels and immune function. You want to be at OPTIMAL levels not ‘normal’ levels! It can make a huge difference to your wellbeing. To learn more about hormone testing CLICK HERE happyhormonesmagazine.com 35
Wendy Powell:
EXERCISE AND THE POST-BABY BODY
Having a baby is undoubtedly one of the most incredible experiences you will ever go through. However, what is often UNSAID is the impact pregnancy and birth can have on your body – both short term and into the following years. Women’s health expert Wendy Powell began her journey as a personal trainer working with women in her local area and soon became an in-demand, certified pregnancy and postnatal specialist PT in London and the south east. After speaking, learning and training alongside countless women, plus having two children of her own, she quickly realised there was something missing. 36 happyhormonesmagazine.com
“I was teaching what I was going to be trained and certified to teach, but it was ineffective or inadequate for the issues women are dealing with leaking, painful sex, prolapse and lack of confidence,” she said. “I had 2 babies of my own and learned firsthand that the tools in my toolbox were not enough. I knew that womens’ needs were not being served by the fitness industry, or even by medics. My needs hadn’t been served - and I was the so-called expert.” In 2009, Wendy developed the first incarnation of the MUTU program, a safe and effective evidence-based program that has been backed by medical professionals around the world. The program is now in its fifth version and used by more than 54,000 women globally. What is MUTU? MUTU stands for ‘mummy tummy’, that all-too-familiar physical aftermath of pregnancy and one of the main reasons clients seek out Wendy’s program. The obvious protrusion of the stomach area is a common cause of poor body image and lack of confidence in many women when learning to embrace their post-baby body, but also a key symptom of a weakened core. This is strongly related to pelvic floor weakness and problems such as leaking at inopportune times. “The pooched tummy often referred to as a ‘mummy tummy’ is a result of a combination of factors that may include nutrition, biomechanics and diastasis recti, caused by uncontained
intra-abdominal pressure,” Wendy explained. “This means the natural pressure inside the abdominal and pelvic cavity is not being balanced as it should by the core muscles and pelvic floor. The rectus (six-pack) muscles separate, leaving a gap which compromises core strength and stability and causing the stomach to protrude as if still pregnant.” How does the MUTU program work? Wendy’s program is unique in that it utilises disciplines of nutrition and exercise, plus draws on years of collaboration with specialist physiotherapists, sex therapists, body positivity experts and empowerment coaches. Not only does MUTU aim to get women stronger physically, but reclaim their mental and emotional health and wellbeing at the same time. “Most gyms, personal trainers and class instructors are simply not informed or certified in postnatal issues. Abdominal separation (diastasis recti), prolapse, pelvic floor weakness, sexual pain, alignment shifts and movement patterns are all considerations in truly effective postnatal exercise prescription,” Wendy said. “MUTU not only understands these issues, but educates and empowers in a way that gives women back control and ownership of how their body works and feels.”
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Inside the program
The program includes modifications for issues such as prolapse, pregnancy and other conditions to ensure a safe and effective way for clients to improve their pelvic floor and core strength. As the program progresses, clear guidance is provided on how to move to the next level when the time is right. Getting back into exercise post-baby For many of Wendy’s clients, signing up to the program is a brave step in itself. Learning to love a body that looks, feels and sometimes functions differently is a hard task, but one that is entirely possible with the right help. Wendy’s first advice for women looking to return to exercise is simply to give yourself a break! 38 happyhormonesmagazine.com
“You are more than ‘enough’, your body is not only amazing but actually entirely badass… and know that you deserve the dignity and pleasure of a body that works and that makes you feel amazing. Start there.” “We need to re-connect, emotionally as well as physically, with our bodies, especially when we have fallen out of love with them. You may have ‘cut off’ from certain body parts when faced with stress incontinence, flab or stretch marks. But your body’s ability to recover and look fabulous is there, it just needs a little help in the form of specific exercise, great nutrition, the right information and a lot of love and acceptance.”
The MUTU community In addition to the program, MUTU has created an amazing community of women to further foster body confidence, accountability and additional expert help and motivation. “MUTU is a body positive and inclusive community that stands for women’s empowerment and confidence. We inspire and lift women to see their bodies for the powerful, miraculous and beautiful vessels they are,” Wendy said. Wendy and her team support a number of women’s empowerment-based charities and are passionate about
female equality and the right to education. “We are a stand against all forms of abuse and discrimination, as well as patriarchal and misogynist expectations or biases. We are body positive and pro-choice for all women in respect of decisions about their body, and their sexual and reproductive wellbeing,” Wendy said. “It’s important to me as the leader andowner of this business that we make a stand and empower women and girls. What began as an exercise programme is now a Movement!” CLICK HERE FOR MUTU happyhormonesmagazine.com 39
Mental Health
AND HORMONES It has been a long time coming but mental health issues are finally getting the attention that they rightly deserve. And it seems that women are more affected than men. According to large-scale population studies women are 1.5-3 times more likely to be affected by major depressive disorders than men. The studies also indicate that women are almost twice as likely to be diagnosed with anxiety disorders. Many women also suffer from memory loss, mood swings, low motivation, brain fog and high stress levels.
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Mental health issues can obviously be triggered by circumstances – whether it is relationship troubles, trauma, bereavement, financial troubles, sickness or something else. Circumstances can play a defining role in mental health. But they are not the only cause. There are proven links between mental health issues and other imbalances in the body – such as hormones and the gut. LET’S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT THE HORMONE CONNECTION There is a strong relationship between hormones and the brain. Signals from the brain determine which hormones are produced, and hormones in the body also influence brain activity and mental health. Let’s look at some of the different hormones and how they affect the brain and the body. Cortisol - In today’s world stress is unrelenting, constantly causing your body to switch on your fight or flight response, resulting in high or low levels of cortisol, which can interfere with your brain neurotransmitters, notably serotonin (your ‘happy’ hormone), dopamine (the ‘feel good’ hormone) and GABA (your ‘calming’ hormone). Thyroid - When low levels of the thyroid hormone occur this can cause brain function to slow down and can result in depression, anxiety, brain fog and memory loss. Oestrogen - For women oestrogen levels can fluctuate wildly during their monthly cycle and especially during peri-menopause. Too much oestrogen
can cause irritability and anxiety whilst too little can make you depressed, foggy and over-emotional. Progesterone has a calming effect on the brain as it stimulates the brain’s GABA receptors - the feel-good, calming neurotransmitters. This hormone declines sharply after the age of 35. Testosterone is not just a male hormone, women need it too. It can rapidly deplete as we get older, and can result in low mood, motivation and increased anxiety. Insulin - A diet high in refined carbs and sugar can create too much insulin in the body, which can lead to inflammation in the brain, altering your mood. Vitamin D is actually a hormone with a large number of receptors in the brain. As many of us live in areas with little sunshine for large parts of the year, deficiency is common. Low Vitamin D is linked with mood disorders and depression. THE GUT CONNECTION According to scientists, your gut is actually your second brain and has a big role to play in the functioning of your body and your brain. Your gut is talking to your brain constantly. So if you have any gut imbalances (symptoms might include IBS, constipation, diarrhoea, gas, bloating, pain, indigestion, food sensitivities), then it might be affecting the way your brain is working and your mental health. happyhormonesmagazine.com 41
DEFICIENCIES As well as eating a diet high in sugar and refined carbs, which can increase our insulin levels, there are also several nutrient deficiencies that have been linked to low mood and other mental health issues. These include: B vitamins (especially B6, B12 and folate) is needed for neurotransmitter function Tryptophan is an amino acid that is a precursor to serotonin Omega fats including EPA, DHA and GLA – your brain is made up of 60% fat! Zinc helps to create new brain cells Magnesium is thought to help improve brain plasticity Vitamin D helps to reduce inflammation and regulate nerve cell function TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR MENTAL HEALTH Get tested – hormones, gut, Vitamin D, B12 and folate to see what your levels are and if you could benefit from supplements Balance your blood sugar by eating protein and healthy fats at each meal with plenty of vegetables and fibre. It is also important to limit sugar, alcohol, caffeine and refined carbs Get some sunshine for your Vitamin D, or take a supplement (seek professional advice first) 42 happyhormonesmagazine.com
Reduce your stress levels – try deep breathing, relaxation, meditation, yoga or whatever works for you but just make sure that you do it regularly Put some Epsom Salts in your bath – the magnesium helps with relaxation as well as brain health Get out in nature – walking and spending time outside has been shown to help lift mood and reduce stress Supplements can help – a good B complex (with active methylated forms), EPA DHA fish oil, Magnesium and Vitamin D, along with a good multi mineral formula MOOD BOOSTING FOODS Try including some of these in your diet to feed your brain whilst at the same time boosting your mood:
Eggs - choline, protein, B vitamins, magnesium, zinc Oats, brown rice, quinoa – B vitamins and fibre Turkey – tryptophan, B vitamins, zinc, protein Dark chocolate – magnesium and antioxidants Seeds especially chia & walnut (omega 3’s), almonds (magnesium), brazil nuts (selenium) Seafood – iodine, zinc, B vitamins Oily fish – EPA/DHA omega 3 fats Dark green leafy veg (especially broccoli and watercress) – iron, magnesium, zinc, folate, sulphur
Alexx Stuart:
How everyday toxins affect your hormonal health
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We often take for granted the environment we live in, the air we breathe and the many and varied products we put in or on our bodies each day. We have our favourite foods, our most loved personal care items and our tried-and-tested household cleaners, air fresheners and fragrances. Unfortunately, many of these things contain chemicals that are simply not good for us, and your body may be trying to tell you! Fatigue, weight gain, mood swings, irregular periods, brain fog, frequent headaches – to name a few symptoms – may indicate hormone disruption in part from the onslaught of toxic chemicals we unknowingly inflict on ourselves hour after hour. The good news is, that helping yourself heal, and as a wonderful bonus also helping the planet we call home, is not as overwhelming as you might expect. Cleaning out your toxic closet begins with a little information, an open mind and a willingness to make one change at a time. Low Tox Life has become the go-to website for all things ‘clean’, offering a wealth of insights and educational podcasts, courses, blog posts and practical tips on cutting back the toxic gunk in your life bit by bit and without pressure, judgment or overly complicated directives. Alexx began Low Tox Life in 2010 when she had just had her first child. Having previously worked in the high-end cosmetics business, Alexx never really thought about all the colours, numbers and unpronounceable 44 happyhormonesmagazine.com
“Cleaning out your toxic closet begins with a little information, an open mind and a willingness to make one change at a time.” - Alexx Stuart
compounds going into and onto her body every day. She had been unwell with chronic tonsillitis, Alexx became unresponsive to antibiotics, and a friend suggested she try a naturopath. She undertook a three-day broth fast, started taking herbal supplements and (to her horror!) cut out gluten from her diet – but it worked! “For the first time in my life as a 28/29 year old, I had to read labels on packets. Not only did I realise I had to look for wheat, rye, oats or barley, but so many bizarre food additives like natural flavour, hydrolysed protein and more. That then got me thinking, what the heck is all this other stuff in there?” Alexx said. “I felt such a big sense of injustice that all these things ended up in our food supply - factory farmed meat, additives that in the research showed adverse health effects, petroleum-based colours, genetically modified grains… It all just felt so disconnected from nature,” she said. This sense of awareness about what was on her plate ignited a passion in Alexx to find alternative ways of living on a more holistic level, without all the nasties. “That whole psychological shift was such a powerful vehicle for change in my life that I then went about researching the home and body areas in the same way, and slowly and SO happily making changes.”
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Low Tox Life became the platform from which she could share her increasing information and passion with like-minded people and build a supportive community committed to making a difference to their lives. What are the common toxins to be aware of? Alexx has put together her list of the top toxins to be aware of in our homes and body care. HOME Ditch the synthetic home fragrances - air fresheners, scented candles, scented reeds and fabric softener. They very often contain endocrine disruptive phthalates, which are the compounds that make the fragrances really powerful and long lasting. Switch out your pillow for a natural wool, cotton or pure latex pillow. Our hot faces are squished against those things all night and breathing in micro plastic dust from synthetic fibres isn’t ideal, not to mention the potential mould and dust mite contamination. Tackle any mould issues you might have around the home. It is thought that around 24 per cent of us cannot clear mycotoxins that mould spores produce, so mould isn’t just annoying and stinky, it can be dangerous. Get that humidity level in your house down by means of better airflow and a dehumidifier.
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BEAUTY & BODY Switch out your body products first. Everyone goes for the face products to start with, but the body has lot more skin than your face. Start with the body cream or lotion, and then move onto the bath gel and scrub. Choosing fragrance-free or naturally fragranced (such as with essential oils) is a great start. It is also wise to avoid parabens and sodium lauryl/laureth sulphate on the label. Instead, use a plain old school bar of soap for a quick, easy and cost-effective solution. Examine your feminine hygiene products and switch to organic cotton or menstrual cups made from silicon where possible. Opt for an aluminium - free and synthetic fragrance-free deodorant. We are meant to sweat, and preventing sweat blocks an important detox pathway. Switch out your mascara for a natural alternative, such as the Ere Perez black waterproof mascara. Other common brands are made with Teflon and coal tar, so say no to this weirdness around your eyes!
How do toxins around the home and in our food affect our hormones?
The relationship between our hormone system and everyday toxins we absorb is complex, but in a nutshell it is the disruption to normal hormonal production that causes the varied symptoms we may feel. “Our biology was designed for the natural world and while there are many things about the modern world that are exciting and excellent, we have to acknowledge that throwing a tonne of manmade nasties at our system day in, day out, eventually our bodies say enough is enough what is all this stuff?” Alexx said. For example, phthalates in synthetic fragrances can mimic or block natural hormone production and signalling in the body. Our hormones become ‘confused’ and out of alignment with what is needed to maintain balance, and our bodies begin to suffer. Mould can also affect every system in the body. Alexx herself ended up quite unwell after living in two water damaged houses over a number of years. She experienced symptoms that included her heart, nervous system, muscles and even her tear ducts. Her son had frequent nosebleeds, which Alexx also attributed to the high levels of mould they lived in.
out as you finish each. “Do not be hard on yourself about what you didn’t know, and then also be kind to yourself and patient as you learn the new low tox vocab, safe shops and brands. Then get busy swapping out as you run out; if you’d be buying that replacement item anyway, why not switch to a better version of it?” she said. Her Go Low Tox program offers a wealth of information on which products are the best to try and where to shop, as well as cheat sheets accompanying each topic to help you on your journey to living low tox. Making small changes one at a time does not have to be a massive undertaking; we all live in a time-poor world and family budgets always need protecting. However, what going low tox does require is commitment, patience and understanding the importance not just for ourselves, but for our children.
How do I reduce toxins in my home and diet? Alexx’s suggestion is to give yourself a little leeway and start by getting to know alternative products to your usual choices, then simply swap them
LEARN MORE ABOUT LOW TOX LIFE HERE happyhormonesmagazine.com 47
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