| Enhancing female hormones
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• Balancing hormones- natural treatments and remedies
• Diet to help balance hormones
• Supplementation to help balance hormones
• Herbs to help balance hormones |
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Balancing hormones - Natural treatments and remedies?
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At Natures Clinicals we suggest you look at the following protocol when balancing hormones.
- Reduce stress (stress has a powerful impact on the adrenal glands which help manufacture hormones)
- Tonify your adrenal glands ( for optimum production of estrogen and progesterone)
- Improve digestive and liver function, so that the downgraded hormones can be eliminated from the system by the
bile.
- Exercise, as this will help greatly.
- Eat a health promoting diet, which creates optimum balance for your body as a whole
- Support baseline hormone levels with supplements and herbs where necessary
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Diet to help balance hormones
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Increase plant estrogens. (These are able to bind to estrogen receptors and weakly stimulate them. In doing so they limit excessive hormonal stimulation from your own, much stronger estrogen hormones.)
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Plant estrogens include coumestrol containing plants.Sources are
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Soya beans (sprouts) 71.1 ug/gm dry weight
Alfalfa sprouts 5.1 ug/gm dry weight
Soya beans 1.2 ug/gm dry weight
Green beans 1.0 ug/gm dry weight
Brussel sprouts 0.4 ug/gm dry weight
Split Peas 0.3 ug/gm dry weight
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Plant estrogens also include isoflavone containing plants. (Very weak stimulators). Sources are:
Soya beans, alfalfa, clover, parsley, liquorice, chick peas, mung beans, whole grains.
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Also consider Lignans. On ingestion they convert to biologically active oestrogens.Sources are:
Linseed, rye, buckwheat, millet, oil seeds, sesame, sunflower, dried seaweeds, whole legumes, whole grains.
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Some plants contain tiny amounts of estrogens, E.g. Liquorice, French beans, Apple, Rice.
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To avoid chemical oestrogen mimics in the environment, which can contribute to reproductive hormonal problems in both sexes, you should, eat organically fed animal produce and avoid keeping or heating foods in plastic wrap. To protect the nutritional content of your food, you should also avoid using pre-prepared and packaged foods, or foods that have been microwaved.
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Decrease intake of certain fats, especially saturated and hydrogenated fats, while increasing intake of fish oils, flax seed oils, olive oils.
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Increase green leafy vegetables, except brassica family foods cabbagecabage, brussel sprouts, and cauliflower).
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Use organic meat and fowl if possible.
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Increase nuts, seeds and avocados
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A hypoglycemic diet can be useful, especially limit refined carbohydrates and eat low G.I foods.
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Supplementation to help balance hormones
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Consider the following on an individual basis, especially if you cannot get enough of these nutrients through your diet:
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B complex including plenty of B6 within this (e.g. 100mcg)
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Vitamin E is good if you experience breast tenderness, tension, irritability as it modulate prostaglandin and improves estrogen ratios'
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Fish oils 3000mg each day as they help regulate inflammatory mediators. Evening Primrose oil can also be helpful for many sufferers
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Herbs to help balance hormones
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Herbs can be of great assistance with the below treatments in balancing hormone levels. Some examples are:
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Reduce Stress |
-Withania
-Siberian ginseng |
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Tonifying adrenals
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-Liquorice
-Rehmania |
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Improve digestive function |
-Bitters |
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Improve liver function |
-Dandelion
-Milk Thistle |
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Herbs can also support baseline hormone levels. Some of the following depending
on your case history: |
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Dong quai |
Black Cohosh
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Wild Yam |
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Liquorice |
Hops |
Peony |
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Ginseng
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Sage |
Red Clover |
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Beth Root |
False Unicorn Root
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Other herbs may be used depending on your symptoms e.g. skin, circulatory, etc.
Please see a qualified herbalist or naturopath for individualised formulas |
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