Vitamins That Will Help Balance Those Pesky Hormones

Hormonal imbalances are very common in both men and women.  There are so many different types of hormones in our body that even the tiniest amount of imbalance can throw our whole body off balance.  Hormones run in the bloodstream and deliver messages to organs to tell them what to do and when to do it.  An imbalance happens when you have either too much or too little of a certain hormone. 

Sometimes it can be very hard to pinpoint exactly which hormone is imbalanced without going to a doctor.  Your doctor can run some tests to check your specific levels of certain hormones.  

Causes

There are so many different causes that can cause your hormones to become imbalanced.  Specifically in women you have menopause, pregnancy, puberty, breastfeeding, PCOS, and even taking birth control pills.

Other causes that can affect men and women are diabetes, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, stress or mood swings.  With so many different causes there are also so many different symptoms you can experience from imbalanced hormones. 

Symptoms

Symptoms can include heavy, irregular periods, excessive hair on face or chin, acne, hair loss, weight gain, skin tags, night sweats, pain during sex, sleep issues, poor memory, appetite changes, sugar, carbohydrate cravings, temperature sensitivity, bloating or even headaches.  You may experience a handful of these, or just one or two.  Dependent on what hormones are imbalanced depends on what symptoms you may experience. 

Treatments to Balance Hormones

There are a number of ways you can help your hormonal imbalance with hormone therapy, or start taking birth control pills.  Not everyone wants to jump right into medicines or therapies that will have to be maintained in the long haul. 

Healthy Diet
There are some vitamins that you can focus on though to help balance your hormones more in a holistic way.  The main key to a healthy hormone system is a healthy diet.  Eating a diet full of whole foods will help you get the nutrients and vitamins that your body needs to help regulate your systems in your body.  

Good Gut Health – Probiotics
Making sure you have a healthy gut is key to making sure you have balanced hormones.  Good gut health can be linked to balanced hormones.  Because this is so important you want to make sure you are getting the right amount of probiotics.  You can get good probiotics from sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, yogurt, kefir, or kombucha.  If you don’t like these foods you can always take a probiotic supplement.  Probiotics assist your body in eliminating excess hormones and waste.  If you suffer from a lack of probiotics you may experience more than regular acne. 

Magnesium
Another important vitamin you should make sure you have enough of is magnesium.  You can absolutely get enough magnesium from whole foods.  Foods such as dark leafy greens, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, legumes, lentils, chickpeas, black beans, avocados, and even dark chocolate all contain magnesium.  Magnesium is an essential mineral that promotes healthy estrogen production.  It also can help lessen effects of stress on your body, as well as reduce inflammation, improve sleep, and lower blood pressure.  Though you can take a magnesium supplement it is almost better to get directly from whole foods, and since there are so many to choose from it should be easy to find something you like to add to your diet. 

B Vitamins
There are nine B vitamins.  It is important you get as many of the B vitamins as you can.  You can take a supplement to get all nine in a good amount, but there are also foods that you can eat as well to get a majority of the B vitamins.  Foods include salmon, spinach, kale, collard greens, romaine lettuce, eggs, nutritional yeast, seeds, beef, trout, clams, mussels, oyster, turkey, chicken, milk, yogurt, beans and liver.  Not everyone of these foods will contain all nine B vitamins.  So make sure you know which ones carry which B vitamin so you can make sure you get a good rounded amount of all the B vitamins. 

Vitamin D
Vitamin D is also very important.  Almost 41% of all Americans are deficient in vitamin D.  This definitely is in the case during the winter months, when we just don’t get outside as much.  Adding a supplement of vitamin D when you can’t get outside to soak up some natural vitamin D from the sun is a good option.  There is also fatty fish that contain vitamin D as well as egg yolks.  Vitamin D talks to other hormones, so making sure you have a significant amount is important. 

Omega 3
Omega 3 fatty acids are another good thing to add into your diet when you suffer from hormonal imbalance.  If you suffer from not having enough omega 3 fatty acids you may have excess weight gain that is hard to lose.  You can take a fish oil supplement to help to get these or eat salmon, sardines, mackerel, cod, liver oil, walnuts, chia seeds, flax seeds, hemp seeds, or egg yolks.  

Conclusion

Vitamins are helpful in balancing your hormones more naturally.  Before you start just changing your whole regimen or diet it is good to get your hormone levels checked so you know what you need to balance before you just dive in changing things.  Your doctor will be able to run some tests if you feel like your hormones aren’t balanced.  Then it is just adding in some of these foods to help your body become more balanced.