Hormones
Hormonal imbalance is rarely the underlying “root cause” of health issues. Instead, hormones are reacting to other factors.
Hormonal imbalance has been likened to the check engine light on your car’s dashboard. When it’s poppin’ off, you know something is amiss.
This is why focusing *only* on hormones often misses the mark! It’s like turning off the light, without figuring out why it was on in the first place. It’s not hormone replacement therapy or special herbs that are going to fix the underlying issue (although they can certainly help in some cases!).
Instead, we must understand that hormones are often responding to some other factor or stressor in the body.
One of the first things to consider when there is thyroid dysfunction, period problems, or imbalances in estrogen, progesterone, or testosterone is STRESS—both physical and mental. Simply put, the body will always prioritize survival over fertility. So if you’re in a chronic state of fight or flight, your hormones will take a hit.
Other factors contributing to hormone imbalance include:
Blood sugar dysregulation & insulin resistance
Dietary stress: under-nourished, food sensitivities, and food fear
Inflammation
Gut dysbiosis
Liver detoxification issues (including overexposure to toxicants like xenoestrogens)
Addressing these key factors can help to balance your overall hormones. Understandably, this list might seem long & overwhelming. So where should you start? With the basics, of course!
The Simplest Strategies to Balance Your Hormones
We call this The Funk’tional Nutrition 3S approach: These are 3 basic things that are REQUIRED for good hormones. You MUST have these 3 things on lock if you want to balance out your hormones.
Eradicating all stress is a pretty futile goal. Stress is part of modern life.
This is why reducing the stressors that within our control is extremely important. But getting overwhelmed about the things outside of our control is extremely unhelpful.
Easier said than done, for sure.
This is why we have LOADS of resources for you here at The Funk’tional Nutritionist.
How do you rebound from stress?
If you feel you used to be able to “bounce back” but no longer do, consider Your Hormone Revival. It’s a 3 month program with tremendous support and resources for creating homeostasis and hormonal balance. Hundreds of women have gone through this process with pretty incredible results. There’s a reason it’s named revival!
Perfectionists, take note!
We’ve yet to see a perfectionist who has perfect cortisol.
Are we living in a burnout epidemic or a perfectionism epidemic? The truth is, perfectionism and over-functioning can be a coping strategy and a trauma response. Where have you felt rejected, unloved or even abandoned in your life?
Somewhere it happened, and it hurt. And we decided that a way to protect ourselves from that hurt was to make ourselves indispensable. If we can be all the things for all the people, then they can't leave. They can't reject us. We will have value, and we will stay lovable.
Unfortunately, trying to maintain these impossible standards doesn't leave much energy for ourselves. The perpetual quest for (unattainable) perfection leaves us in a state of chronic stress.
If you spend your life striving for an ideal that doesn't exist, you might eventually burn out.
Signs of Burnout & Imbalanced Cortisol
Stressed, overwhelmed, unable to relax
Exhausted and burnt out
Anxious and irritable
Tired and wired: catch a second wind at night
Trouble falling asleep or staying asleep
Feeling tired in the morning, even after a full night’s sleep
Slow starter in the morning
Reliant upon coffee, caffeine, or sweets
No energy or motivation to exercise
Chronic headaches or light headedness
Low blood pressure
Weight retention around middle
Melancholy or emotionally exhausted
Poor immunity: catch every cold that comes your way
Things linger longer than they should
Blood sugar dysregulation that can’t be managed through diet
No sex drive
…do any of these sound like you?
Then it might be time to learn about cortisol—and what you can do about it!
If you’re showing signs of cortisol dysregulation, consider functional lab testing.
We are big on “Test, Don’t Guess” here at The Funk’tional Nutritionist…
…especially if you’ve been struggling with symptoms for a long time, and aren’t really sure what’s going on.
If you’re tired of throwing things against a wall to see what sticks...it’s time to run some comprehensive labs. But what type of test you get matters.
Questions we often hear about cortisol testing:
How do we know if cortisol levels are off?
Who can we ask for tests?
I *think* my general practitioner looked at cortisol and said I was fine...but I still feel like this.
Ways to Test Cortisol
The DUTCH urinary test is what we use here, and what is offered through Your Hormone Revival™.
You’ll need a functional medicine practitioner or naturopath to order these tests for you. And you want to make sure that they are SKILLED and experienced with analyzing this test, so they can relay that info to YOU!
(You’d be surprised how many people come to us with a DUTCH test they’ve received, but no idea what to do with the data!)
DUTCH test is a pretty complex lab to interpret. If you’re going to invest the coin, you want to make sure you’re getting the most out of it! And remember: testing is only the beginning. You also need to know what to DO with all the information the test provides!!
This is why Your Hormone Revival™ not only includes the testing, but also test analyzation, an individualized protocol based on results AND a 12 week process to rehab your hormones.
Get Your Hormonal Status Tested
If you want to stop playing guessing games and get to the bottom of your hormone imbalance, get on the waitlist for Your Hormone Revival™.
Period Problems?
Help your problematic periods in a natural way.
Did you know that you can use your female cycle to guide your life?
(Pro-Tip if you do not cycle: you can instead use the lunar cycle which coincides nicely!)
Understanding the different phases of your cycle helps you understand YOURSELF better.
You know when you first discover your enneagram or human design or Myers Briggs and you're like OHHHHHHH🤯😳. Same deal with understanding where you're at in your cycle.
It helps us judge ourselves LESS and connect to ourselves MORE.
Once we understand the energy behind each cycle phase, we are able to see with clarity: this curse that we've been given is NOT a nuisance. It's NOT something to feel shame about. It's actually a power to harness.
It can be a tool for self-compassion, for honing our intuition, for effective communication...and even a productivity hack if we want it to be.
Thyroid
Similar to sex hormones, if the thyroid is faltering, we want to assess what this means about the entire body. The thyroid is highly sensitive to any slight alteration in the body—that’s kind of its job. So when there is malfunction with the thyroid, we want to ask: WHY is my body slamming the breaks on me?
Learn more about thyroid physiology and testing in these jam-packed episodes.
Estrogen Dominance is one of the most common hormonal imbalances we see.
Signs of Estrogen Dominance
Irregular periods
Heavy bleeding
Painful PMS
Irritability
Breast tenderness
Fibroids
Cystic ovaries
Why is this estrogen issue so common? Part of it has to do with all the FAKE estrogens in our environment!
Endocrine disruptors are environmental chemicals that can disrupt endocrine receptor signaling. In other words, they scramble up your hormones.
Many popular personal products (even the luxury ones) contain xenoestrogens. These are chemicals that mimic estrogen in the body & interfere with your own estrogens.
This creates hormonal imbalance.
To make matters worse, if you have poor liver detoxification, or poor gut function, you’re unable to get rid of these estrogen properly.
This leads to even MORE hormonal imbalance and symptoms.
Environmental toxins can be a problem AT VERY LOW DOSES. Because your body is used to responding to your own hormones at low doses, it will respond to endocrine disruptors at low doses, too!
These chemicals can rev up and slow down certain hormones, and can even damage glandular tissues, like the thyroid and ovaries.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
It is extremely important to audit your personal care products and begging to make the switch over to safer ingredients.
It’s hard to unwind estrogen dominance and hormonal imbalance without addressing this piece.
The company Erin’s been using and trusting for over 5 years is Beautycounter. They create hormone-safe personal care products and cosmetics—all ingredients are rigorously tested for safety.
Balance Your Hormones
3 month comprehensive balancing program for female adrenal, thyroid, and hormone health. Test your estrogen to progesterone balance, and estrogen metabolism. Understand your hormones and unlock the root of imbalance using functional labs, individualized protocols, educational modules, food and lifestyle medicine plus community support.
THE FUNK’TIONAL NUTRITION PODCAST
Episodes About Hormone Health
