Health tips for your hormones that don’t include food…

My top five tips for happy hormones outside of nutrition are; 

1. Drink out of a glass bottle (I personally love the Kmart ones)

2. Ditch the 1747397503x skin care and makeup routine

3. Lymphatic support through massage and dry brushing (I know, you probably thought dry brushing was a gimmick, but she’s incredibly beneficial and can even reduce cellulite) 

4. Acupuncture 

5. Movement and Mindset

1. Why a glass bottle over plastic?

Plastics are made from various chemical formulas, including endocrine disrupting chemicals like bisphenol-A (BPA). These chemicals can mimic sex hormones and contribute to endocrine issues such as estrogen dominance. Some of these chemicals, including BPA and phthalates, can affect the brain, hormone system, reproductive system, and may contribute to cancer development. The worst part is that most chemicals have not been thoroughly tested for their health effects.

Since glass is not made from hormone-disrupting chemicals, like BPA or phthalates, these types of chemicals will not leach from the container into your food and drinks. So using more glass food and beverage containers helps protect the purity of your diet.

If you can go that one step further - also clear out your plastic containers, and opt for glass ones. Plastic is more likely to leach chemicals when heated, but glass does not.

Plastics also leach chemicals even through normal wear and tear, like washing and use. Common behaviors with plastic containers—like dishwashing and microwaving—facilitates more leaching of chemicals. 

Convinced yet? Start with your drink bottle and slowly move into your plastics and tupperware. An amazing IG account to follow to incorporate a more low tox lifestyle is @nourished_and_vibrant

2. Ditch the 164782390x skin care routine and makeup

Nowadays, you’re looked at sideways if your beauty routine is simply washing your face with a hot flannel. 

But what about the toner? Eye cream? The serum? The 7 types of moisturizer ?

Same goes for makeup. God forbid we go out with just some tinted moisturizer.. We need contour, primer, lip liner, concealer etc.

Truth be told, many endocrine disruptors can still be found in our everyday products, and might want to be avoided— or cut down on— especially if you’re experiencing hormonal discomfort symptoms.

Think, tooth paste, shampoo, skincare, make-up, hair dye, nail polish, skin care. 

But, let's be honest, it can be hard to avoid them completely, especially if they contribute to us feeling good about the way we look. 

I personally choose to dye my hair regularly, and fake tan (eco tan is a great brand for low tox). I like the way it looks and it makes me feel good. However, I choose to go bare-faced every day and do not expose my skin to makeup or excessive amounts of skin care. I also choose organic toothpaste and body wash options. So my advice to you is, pick and choose your battles. Ask yourself, what are some areas you could change or leave out? It doesn't have to be everything - but something is better than nothing. 

3. Lymphatic support via massage and dry brushing

The lymphatic system is absolutely ESSENTIAL for detoxing. Forget skinny teas and detox shakes - you need a healthy operating lymphatic system. Your lymphatic system is a separate circulatory system that interfaces with the blood vessels to carry away fluid and waste proteins from the interstitial space or extracellular matrix (ECM). 

It also plays a huge role in immune function, and absorption and transportation of free fatty acids from the digestive system. 

Think of your lymphatic system like your daily taking out the trash chore. What happens when you don’t take out the trash? It builds up.. Starts to smell and maybe flys start crowding around. Basically - ew. 

This is like when the flow of lymph is impeded, it creates a build-up of toxic wastes. Removal of excess proteins and wastes is an absolutely essential function, without which severe health issues can arise within a short period of time.

All hormones, nutrients, and waste products going to and from the cells must pass through the interstitial or extracellular matrix. If the lymphatic channels cannot remove toxins properly, no hormone, no gene, no enzyme, and no molecule is going to work optimally, and there will be deposition of waste products into the tissues. 

The link between the lymphatic system and hormones presents many issues when our lymphatic system is impaired. One being hormone imbalance. In todays society, our common issue is estrogen dominance. 

 Between the inability of healthy gut flora to facilitate the removal of excess estrogens, levels of xenoestrogens found in foods and plastics, and other endocrine disruptors, and the overuse of oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy, most women have too much estrogen stimulation relative to progesterone. 

Estrogen and progesterone work so closely together that it is imperative that they stay in balance. In fact, the majority of struggles with hormonal imbalances affecting both the female brain and body may be associated with estrogen dominance. This includes everything from fibroids and fibrocystic breasts to heavy and painful menses, hormonal headaches, premenstrual syndrome, and irregular cycles.

The health of a woman’s lymphatic system will have a direct impact on her ability to move progesterone around the body. Because progesterone is so critical to female hormone balance, it may be more important than ever for our lymph to be moving freely, serving as a delivery system for progesterone, to balance out estrogen. 

Still with me? Great! So now you know about the lymphatic system.. How can you support it?

1. Drink water!! Our lymphatic is made up of fluid and needs a healthy circulatory boost of water to help move it along

2. Massage! Have you ever had a lymphatic massage ? Some places call it lymphatic drainage and it is LIFE CHANGING. You know those moments where you feel a bit puffy? A bit swollen? Like you are hanging onto fluid.. Well a lymphatic massage helps drain all that out and leaves you feel lighter, leaner and in a better mood. I also like to massage my own lymph nodes, under my armpits, behind the knee, around the gut and pelvic area. It can feel really good. Have a feel and get to know your body. 

3. Dry Brushing! I am sure you would have heard about this - maybe from an influencer, or a tik tok trend - perhaps if you were born in the 80’s or 90’s , maybe a magazine. Rest assured, this is not a hoax trend - it's very much legit and can help promote the circulation of your lymphatic system. Given that it resides just under the skin, dry brushing gives enough of a ripple effect to flush your lymphatic system. It even can reduce cellulite. Iis recommended to consistently keep up with 10 minutes per day to feel and see results.
   
   

4. Acupuncture  

When most people think of reproductive hormones, testosterone, progesterone and estrogen come to mind. However, these are just a small part of the system of reproductive hormones. Overall your body produces around thirty different hormones, yup, wild isn't it - THIRTY!! each vital to your health in its own way. Then, through the pituitary, thyroid, and adrenal glands, the body releases these hormones to form what’s known as the endocrine system.

The combination of glands and hormones that make up the endocrine system can directly impact the functioning of other systems in the body and your overall health. An imbalance or blockage in the endocrine system affects natural systems within the body, such as sleep cycles, metabolism, body temperature, and reproduction. When these imbalances occur, you may encounter symptoms like low energy and libido, fluctuations in weight, depression or irregular moods, or irregular menstruation. 

But guess what, acupuncture is a non invasive, and natural method to improve hormonal issues and restore balance to the body, as opposed to other approaches (cough cough…. Oral contraceptive pill) that may cause additional side effects. I encourage you to do a google search to see if you have a local acupuncturist nearby. 

5. Movement and Mindset

We know your gut health plays a huge role in immunity and the detoxification of excess hormones such as estrogen. But a key contributor to gut health is mindset. We only need to remember where we feel anxious; in the gut, where we feel nervous; in the gut and where we feel stressed; in the gut - symptoms that are influenced by our thoughts and our mind. 

Maintaining a healthy mindset is imperative. It is the first point of call that signals the rest of our bodily functions. For example, negative thinking affects your stress levels, which in turn increases cortisol, and cortisol affects the action of progesterone and thyroid. But mindset is easier said than done. It needs to be treated like any other muscle - it needs to be exercised in order to get stronger. 

Try swapping out your scrolling time on your phone for watching a ted talk, or listening to a podcast. Swap your netflix binge for reading a book. Everyone's method of mindset exercise will look different, so don’t think you have to sit crossed legged and meditate. It’s all about finding moments in the day to be mindful and to take control of your thoughts and state of mind. 

A big driver in this is daily movement. We know that movement and exercise releases endorphins that make us happy, such as dopamine (the reward hormone). But what regular exercise can do for us, is actually make dopamine more readily accessible. Meaning that we are able to access the hormone that makes us feel happy and grateful much easier. 

These lifestyle changes can have dramatic positive effects on our hormonal health. I hope you learned something today and feel moved to embrace health in more ways than just dietary intakes. 

With love, 

S x

P.S. Fibre intake is an equally important factor in the detoxification process of estrogen levels - see article here