Balancing Female Hormones Naturally: Detoxification Part 2

Today I am sharing with you the second part on detoxification.

In part 1 we looked at why “traditional” detox diets are actually the complete opposite of what one should be doing to support detoxification and how some of these practises can hinder, and not help, female hormone balance.

So today is really about looking at what you can do and eat and how to do this with female hormone balance in mind.

detoxification

Above is a picture of the liver, the different phases of detoxification (phase 1 and 2) and the nutrients that can help or hinder it.

 

Carbohydrate

The liver is the place in the body where excess sugar is turned into fat. It is also the place where we process fructose, the natural fruit sugar.

If the liver is busy processing excess  and fructose then it won’t be busy doing it’s detox job.

It is important to distinguish here that excess sugar does not solely refer to the white stuff you might add to tea and coffee, but any carbohydrates as a whole.

This would include excessive consumption of grains, cereals, breads, pasta, potatoes as well as fruits.

Lowering carbohydrate intake and focusing on carbohydrates from root vegetables like carrots, butternut squash, parsnips, beetroot AND avoiding grains, cereals and processed is the way to go.

If you suspect that you may have some “liver stuff” going on, I would even recommend a short term abstinence from fruit (4 weeks). However, you will see that some fruits have beneficial nutrients that will support detoxification in the longer term.

Fruit juices are a definite must to avoid which I am sure you can see contradicts “traditional” detox practises.

One of my favourite lines from one of my lectures was when someone asked “But what if you juice is yourself?” and the lecturer answered “Well then you just have homemade fructose!

Proteins

Under phase 2 detoxification you will see certain amino acids listed.

Amino acids are protein building blocks and their significance as part of phase 2 needs explaining.

Detoxification is about transforming molecules for excretion. Molecules are initially transformed via phase 1 to even more toxic molecules (the intermediary stage). Toxic intermediary stage molecules are converted by using amino acids in phase 2 to water soluble molecules that can be excreted.

What happens if you don’t have enough of these amino acids?

The process gets “stuck” in the middle and you can have a build up of even more damaging molecules. 

Therefore, we must get enough protein by dietary or supplemental means for healthy detoxification to take place.

  • I would recommend somewhere between 1.5g-2.0g of protein per kilogram body weight as a general statement.
  • Getting protein from organic sources is ideal although not essential provided you buy lean protein sources
  • Certain proteins like fish, seafood and lamb can be easy on digestion.
  • Slow cooking meats (perfect at this time of year) will be easier on digestion but you will also generate less harmful compounds than by grilling or frying
  • Whey protein has been shown to raise an important anti-oxidant compound called glutathione which is essential for successful detoxification and could therefore we used to supplement protein intake
  • Bone broths (stock made from slow cooked meat bones – another great one for the time of year) are high in glycine and great for the gut and detox pathways.

 

Fats

Fat’s do not have a direct role in detoxification per se, however, we already know that fats are essential for creating healthy hormones.

Additionally, dietary fat sources provide fat soluble vitamins like A, D & E all of which act as anti-oxidant buffers to prevent damage create by intermediary stage molecule.

We rely on healthy liver function to be able to digest and process fats properly. This creates a catch 22 where if liver function is poor, we cannot get the nutrients we need and if we can’t get the nutrients we need then liver function is affected.

If you want to support the body as best as possible I recommend focusing on:

  • Anti-inflammatory fats such as omega 3 (oily fish) and monounsaturated fats such as olives, avocado and olive oil
  • Walnut oil is high in vitamin E
  • Oily fish will be high in vitamin D and omega 3
  • Animal liver, is high in the most bio available form of vitamin A
  • Apart from coconut oil, avoid saturated fats by opting for lean cuts of meat and poultry
  • Definitely avoid processed seed oils sold in plastic or clear glass bottles.
  • If you struggle to digest fats, perhaps consider speaking with someone about a digestive enzyme

 

Calories

Detoxification is an energetic process so adequate calorie consumption is essential. The goal is not to restrict but to eat an abundance of good quality food to maximise on vitamin and mineral consumption.

I say this every week but one of the biggest issues I see with women is chronic under-eating or over-eating but the wrong foods.

We need to meet in the middle and eat more of the good stuff and less bad stuff!

 

Eat the Rainbow

In addition meeting calorie and macro needs you will notice that certain plant based foods and B-vitamins are listed above.

The chemicals in every plant that give it it’s colour or maybe protect it against being consumed by insects or the sun, can have a positive impact on human health.

These plant chemicals are called phyto-chemicals or phyto-nutrients.

The best way to ensure you get enough is to eat a wide variety of colourful plant based foods.

I sometimes set my clients the challenge of eating 100 different plant based foods in a week!

Try it, it isn’t easy.

But consider how you can add more variety into your diet.

Walk around the supermarket and buy vegetables you wouldn’t normally buy.

Add 20 ingredients into a salad.

And don’t forget about herbs and spices too.

Out of all of these there are some specific food which have been proven to support detoxification:

  • Cruciferous vegetables
  • Pomegranate
  • Green Tea
  • Coffee
  • Turmeric
  • Ginger
  • Onions
  • Garlic
  • Coriander
  • Dill
  • Rosemary
  • Mint
  • Citrus
  • Beetroot

To name a few…

 

Bring it all together

So really what I have described here is a health diet:

  • A diet with adequate calories – not too much or too little
  • Healthy and balanced protein intake
  • Moderate carbohydrates
  • An abundance of healthy fats
  • A wide variety of fresh colourful plant based foods
  • And if you want something to drink water, herbal teas and the occasional coffee or glass of organic wine will be just fine

And I tell you now, if you can build these habits, not only will you feel better but you will probably lose weight and have better energy too.

I actually believe that detoxification is a life long journey.

It’s not a 30 day challenge or 7 day juice fast. 

We live in a very toxic environment and if you were to worry about every little toxin your are exposed to, you would go bonkers!

But what you can do is make a daily and continuous effort to do the best to minimise exposure and put the good things in.

 

20140912-0593

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

 

 

 

 

Balancing Female Hormones Naturally: Detoxification Part 1

In the previous post I covered oestrogen excess and oestrogen dominance (similar but different), and I explained that a huge part of healthy oestrogen metabolism is about being able to detoxify well.

It seems appropriate that today I write about detox (although a little ironic with the festive season approaching – might have to send this one out in January again!).

Detoxification is something that so many people get so wrong.

Come January you will have people in the health industry trying to sell you the idea of a “detox” or a “cleanse”.

No matter who is selling it to you, these tend to be the common ingredients:

  • Low calorie
  • Low protein & fat
  • Likely to lack of solids or large amounts of liquids – juices/smoothies/soups
  • May involve shakes, pills or supplements
  • May involve missing meals or fasting

As I type this out I have suddenly realised…

Phew! There is a LOT we need to get straight here.

*Goes to top of the screen and adds “Part 1” *

So where to begin?

Let’s talk about why this approach may actually hinder detoxification, not support it and in Part 2 we can talk about what to do differently.

 

Low Calorie Diets

Do you remember the part when I told you how stress disrupts female hormones by potentially lowering progesterone?

Well under-eating is a stress – the biggest stress that we faced as man-kind before we learnt how to farm.

If you are looking for hormone balance, adequate calorie intake is ESSENTIAL.

I cannot tell you how many women I have worked with who are creating problems by their dieting behaviour in a pursuit for some self imposed body composition standard (and failing miserably!)

I would also add the detoxification is incredibly energetically expensive. You need to have energy to be able to detoxify. That isn’t going to happen if you are starving.

 

Low Protein & Fat

You might also remember the part where I explained that sex (and stress) hormones are made from fat.

We need to have enough fat in our diet to supply the building blocks for health hormonal balance (not to mention many aspects of health).

So dropping calories by cutting fat is a recipe for disaster.

Additionally, proteins are used to make enzymes.

We need enzymes to be able to detoxify.

Detoxification is taking something that is not useful to the body or needs to be recycled, changing it’s chemical structure and composition so that it can be excreted and then excreting it.  ENZYMES do the changing chemical structure bit. Without them, you can’t do detoxification.

We get protein from our food, or we break down muscle tissue or gut lining or joint tissue or other fun stuff that you probably don’t want to be getting rid of, to supply it.

A low protein approach to detoxification just doesn’t work.

The final thing is, if you take out protein & you take out fat, that just leaves you with a pile of carbs.

Now most people I work with have hormonal imbalances partly because they need to lose some weight too. So having the majority of your diet from unopposed carbs (even if it is fruit and veg), is going to raise insulin and potentially affect hormonal balance too.

In Part 2, I’ll also explain that while the liver is too busy processing all these fruit sugars and carbohydrates. It’s not really thinking about detox.

 

Liquid Meals & Fasting

Now, liquid meals can actually be really great at times.

If you have digestive problems, having food which is already “chewed” so to speak, can be really helpful.

It ensures you have something that is easy on the digestive system and may help with nutrient availability.

However, living off liquid meals, especially if low in fat, protein (as already discussed) & fibre may have a negative impact on insulin levels meaning that you are more likely to crave sugar, gain wait around your mid-section and further disrupt hormones.

Solids keep you fuller for longer.

Protein, fat and fibre do too.

Many people claim they feel “better” on a detox diet but is it because they are detoxing or is it because their digestion is working better?

When digestive is off, it is a huge drain on our immune system, selfishly pulling energy away from our brain.

So would we benefit from perhaps doing a “digestive reset” (something I advise all my clients to do), instead of a detox diet?

The next piece of the puzzle is fasting or missing meals.

Again, this is something that does have it’s place from time to time. I DO recommend:

  • a reduced meal frequency: 2-3 meals per day instead of 3 main meals and snacks
  • time restricted feeding: not eating very early and very late but allowing at least 12 hours between dinner and breakfast

But…

This approach should NOT be combined with low calorie, low protein, low fat or liquid only diets.

 

Shakes, Supplements and Pills

Someone selling you some sort of product without talking to you about your current diet, your sleep, your stress, your exercise, your digestion and your ability to self care is just selling your something!

Supplements are what they say on the tin…

SUPPLEMENT-ARY to a foundation of good diet, getting enough sleep, attempts to manage stress, move your body, digest well and breathe!

Detoxification requires certain nutrients to support the “biochemical transformation” and there are certain supplements that can help, but food always comes first and I’ll talk about what food in part 2.

 

But I feel It Working!?

I know a lot of people will read this and think – I hear what you are saying, but, I’ve done a detox before and I felt it working?

Now I’ve already covered the “do you feel better because you are eating better and being kind to your digestion piece?

But sometimes people can also experience lethargy, headaches & weight loss and think they are detoxing.

If you are experiencing negative symptoms like headaches and fatigue, it could be that you are actually becoming more toxic.

As you shed some body fat with your calorie restricted approach you will likely also be liberating fat soluble toxins into circulation that create an extra burden on the body (a burden that you have limited resources with which to cope, due to said reasons above).

If you are experiencing weight loss, well, that’s great BUT you may likely be losing a lot of water, some muscle and yes, some fat too BUT is it sustainable and what happens afters?

If you have done a detox before, did you rebound after? If you didn’t, let me know.

I did 2 when I was 16 which involved just eating fruit and vegetables and put the weight back on again within a week.

I also explain in Part 2 that detox is a life long journey. It’s not something that you achieve in 7 days of juicing or a 28 day sugar fast. 

Doing those things may make your feel better about yourself for some reason or other, but it’s not because you are “detoxing”.  

So, Phew! That’s it.

Now I have painted a horrendous picture of what “traditional” detox diets are actually all about, I will paint a much more positive picture of what you can to look after, love and nourish your body (an it’s detox pathways) in Part 2.

 

Stay tuned!

 

20140912-0593

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

 

 

 

 

Balancing Female Hormones Naturally: Oestrogen Excess

This weekend I was in London attending a 2 day Yoga Workshop where we mostly just sat and breathed.

I also spent some time catching up with close and special friends and seeing my fellow yogi’s from the various retreats I have been on (if you are reading this – love you guys!)

It was just what the doctor ordered and actually really relevant considering the topic for this post, oestrogen dominance.

I introduced the topic of oestrogen dominance briefly in my previous post of this series, looking at a general overview of the cycle.

It is often misunderstood.

Often people think that oestrogen dominance is having high levels of oestrogen.

This isn’t necessarily true.

Oestrogen dominance is when oestrogen is high relative to progesterone.

This means that you can have normal levels of oestrogen, but if progesterone is low, you can present with oestrogen dominance (OD).

OD is a common characteristic in many female hormone related conditions from PMS, to PCOS, to endometriosis, fibroids and even menopause!

Signs and symptoms of oestrogen excess are generally associated with:

  • depression
  • anxiety
  • mood swings
  • bowel disturbances
  • headaches
  • breast tenderness
  • painful ovulation
  • sinusitis
  • heavy bleeding
  • painful periods
  • hormone related acne
  • water retention and bloating
  • reduced sex drive
  • weight gain (centrally and around hips)
  • thyroid dysfunction
  • fatigue
  • foggy brain
  • sleep disturbances (especially as approaching menopause)
  • interestingly many auto-immune conditions may be associated with oestrogen

 

I’d like to explore what causes OD today and what you can do about it.

The biggest cause of low progesterone is stress. I have touched on this previously with the concept of the progesterone steal. When we have a high need for the production of stress hormones we steal the tools needed to make progesterone and hence progesterone is low and oestrogen can become relatively high (even if it remains within a “normal” range).

(Just to add here that sex hormones are made from fats so a low fat diet can also lead to low levels of sex hormones generally)

This is why I said that my yoga workshop weekend was really relevant to today.

Part of managing stress is about tapping into and activating the parasympathetic part of the nervous system. Yoga, singing & chanting, meditating and breathing slowly and deeply – all of which I spent A LOT of time doing this weekend, activate this part of our system.

This weekend I also spent time with some of my favourite people. Positive social relationships also act as stress relief.

Other things you can do include:

  • Exposure to cold – taking a cold shower (or a cold dip in the sea in my case) may help with parasympathetic balance as can…
  • Laughter
  • Exercise
  • Probiotics
  • Massage
  • Fasting
  • Zinc
  • Eating Carbohydrates (!)
  • Acupuncture
  • Tai Chi
  • Having Sex
  • Eating seafood (because of the EPA and DHA)
  • Eating Fibre

I’ve also spoken a lot about lifestyle balance and specific dietary requirements for stress management in previous blogs; here, here & here

So we can have stress driving oestrogen excess.

We can also have oestrogen excess due to poor oestrogen metabolism and poor oestrogen excretion.

Oestrogen being high because we are making too much oestrogen from hormones like testosterone.

And…

Oestrogen being high because we cannot metabolise it in the liver and clear it from the body in the digestive system (hello gut and liver health!)

Aromatisation

It’s a big word and what it refers to is the process where testosterone is converted to oestrogen.

This is part of normal metabolism, but, performed in excess, it can cause problems.

So what causes it?

  • Being overweight
  • High alcohol consumption
  • Zinc Deficiency
  • Insulin Resistance (eating too many carbs)
  • Low vitamin D3 (not enough sunshine)
  • And of course…. stress

So you can see that better dietary habits; more zinc rich proteins like seafood, reducing alcohol and processed carbohydrates and getting outside and some sun on your skin (sadly not this time of year) help with hormonal balance but so does losing weight.

So losing weight helps with hormone balance and hormone balance helps with weight loss. Therefore the two are not separate, but the same journey!

Things that improve the picture are:

  • Flaxseeds – grind them up and put them in a porridge or a smoothie
  • Green Tea – 2-4 cups per day
  • Isoflavones – found in pulses
  • Flavonoids – onions, broccoli, celery, parsley, apple, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, blueberries, raspberries, red wine in moderation, apple
  • Stinging Nettle
  • Vitamin C

So the rules are simple, eat more of the good stuff and less of the bad. 

Detoxification

I’d like to keep this short and sweet.

Detoxification is a really misunderstood process by the general public – I will dedicate a post soley to explaining why.

For now I just want you to know that hormones must be detoxified and broken down and the liver is the place where this happens.

Healthy liver function is really important for healthy hormone balance and this means:

  1. Generally reducing exposure to environmental toxins
  2. Eating foods that supply the nutrients for the different pathways in the liver to work well.

For oestrogen metabolism, these foods are important ones to have in your diet:

  • Cruciferous vegetables containing Indol-3 Carbinol (I3C) and DIM
  • Berries
  • Flaxseed
  • Caffeine – woohoo!
  • Rosemary
  • Exercise

Things that may get in the way include:

  • ​​​​​​​Thyroid problems
  • Smoking
  • High fructose diet (fruit juices, dried fruits, processed foods or excessive fruit consumption)
  • Excess sugar consumption
  • Omega 6 fatty acids (especially processed seed oils)
  • Various medications
  • Pesticides
  • PCBs found in plastic packaging
  • Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons – found in blackened or barbequed meat

Finally, I MUST add…

Once we have processed oestrogen in the liver, it needs to get out somehow.

This happens via the bowels. So basically, you need to make sure you toilet habits are “regular”, which means good digestive health, otherwise you potentially risk reabsorbing oestrogen back into the body again.

​​​​​​​So all you need to do this week is reflect on these lists.

How can you increase the good and reduce the bad?

What small (or big) changes could you make to take one step further forward to better health.

I think it would be a good idea to bust some of the myths about detoxification in the next “episode”.

 

20140912-0593

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

 

 

 

 

Female Hormones Part 1: Welcome to your cycle

This month I am focusing the blog series on female hormones and how to use a natural approach to balancing them with food, supplements and lifestyle.

This is a topic that is close to my heart (as are many topics it is becoming apparent).

When I first moved to London in 2008, the stress of the change in lifestyle in addition to poor dietary choices due to exposure of a different culture caused me to reach “rock bottom” where my health and hormonal balance was concerned.

I was suffering from burn out, IBS, my skin wasn’t the same as what it was and my periods were extremely heavy and very painful.

After digging around on the internet I suspected I had endometriosis.

The suspicions were confirmed went I visited a gynaecologist in South Africa that December. He suggested a laparoscopy.

The good news was the laparoscopy came back clear. I didn’t have endometriosis.

The bad news – well I still had no explanation for why I felt like sh*t.

Except I did.

For the past year my life had been bonkers.

Despite the fact I had a degree in Human Movement and Biochemistry, was working as a personal trainer AND completing the final year of my nutrition degree, quite frankly I was doing a lot wrong and very little right.

I wasn’t eating properly – living on a small budget and over-excited by all the convenience food we never had in a small town in SA.

I wasn’t sleeping enough – I was working every morning and evening, getting to bed late, up early and studying between. Not to mention crazy house mates throwing parties and coming home all hours of the night.

I was exercising too much. Everyone talks about the “Heathrow Injection”. You come to London from SA and you automatically gain weight. In an attempt to not be affected by said condition I was trying to maintain the same exercise levels I had in SA. Which meant lots and lots of cardio, usually on not enough food or sleep.

Stress levels were through the roof for every reason possible. Not having a stable place to live, financial insecurities, adjusting to living in a busy city on a different continent in a new hemisphere, the stress of studying on top of that and no real support network.

So after that “You don’t have endometriosis” December I started my path to learning how to look after myself again.

It took me I good 3 years to start to return to something that seemed “normal”, which was 2011. And in the 5 years since I have been on a continuous journey of self care.

This is why I am so passionate about this.

Because I have been there on this journey that so many women tell me about.

I know I didn’t have endometriosis but I have coached clients through it, not to mention those affected by PCOS, fibroids and menopause.

What is becoming increasingly apparent is that most women aren’t looking after their basic needs.

I used to teach nutrition & weight loss like this…

unnamed-1

 

But now I want to start teaching like this…

 

unnamed-2

 

And that’s why everything I wrote about in the stress series (which you can catch up on previous posts) needed to come first.

​​​​​​​But now, it’s time to talk about the sex hormones and introduce you to your cycle.

screenshot_79

To keep things simple, I am mainly going to talk about progesterone and oestrogen for now.

They are the 2 main female hormones and this is a healthy pattern across a month.

If you are taking any hormone replacement therapy like the contraceptive pill or injection, your cycle won’t look like this because you will be over-ruled by the artificial hormones. Sadly, this means this series is not for you.

In the first half of the cycle oestrogen should be higher than progesterone and surge around the 14 day mark to allow for ovulation.

This can be the first thing that can go wrong, if you are unable to create an oestrogen surge, you won’t be able to ovulate (and I’ll be talking about what could affect that in following emails).

In the second half of the cycle progesterone is higher than oestrogen. This can often be where the second problem arises. If progesterone is low relative to oestrogen we get what we call oestrogen dominance which is then associated with many hormone related problems like PCOS, endometriosis, fibroids and even menopausal symptoms.

I’ll be going into more detail about what causes oestrogen dominance and how you can balance it. But in a nut shell, managing stress is the root of it all. 

The first half of the cycle is about accelerating.

It is about getting the body to prepare to become pregnant. If you can’t “accelerate” falling pregnant may be a problem. You may notice a shortened cycle.

The second half of the cycle is about breaking.

It’s about activating the immune system (if you don’t fall pregnant) to prepare for the shed of the uterine lining (essentially an immune response – which explains why from ovulation onwards women with endo may have more symptoms). You may experience a longer cycle if you aren’t “breaking” properly. 

When the immune system is imbalanced – which comes back to the concept of inflammation and digestive health – this can affect the acceleration and breaking cycles.

So hormonal balance ultimately comes back to stress management and gut health. 

That is a very short summary of everything we’ll cover this month.

The question is, now, what do you do about it?

The answer to that will follow next few weeks as we pick apart piece of these mechanisms. I do deliver information in small chunks and give a lot of repetition so that you can absorb it in small amounts.

It also means you have the space to reflect on your own life and what actions, however small you can implement THIS week to make a small difference across the month.

Good luck!

 

 

20140912-0593

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.