Hormone Imbalance Specialist
What are hormones?
Hormones are chemicals produced by the body which send messages from one part to another to help regulate our growth and development, metabolism, body temperature, stress levels and mood.
They have a huge impact on our overall health and wellbeing and play a crucial role in our energy, vitality and how we feel on a daily basis, so it’s important to keep them balanced and in harmony rather like a well played orchestra.
Our hormones are affected not only by our genetic inheritance but also by our epigenetics (our environment) and our lifestyle (how we live).
There are a number of lifestyle factors that can upset the balance including poor diet, high levels of stress and too much as well as too little exercise. This can lead to hormone imbalances which are linked to a number of health issues including:
• Pre-Menstrual Syndrome (PMS) with a host of physiological & behavioural symptoms.
- Menopausal symptoms including hot flushes, insomnia and low mood
- Gut/digestive problems
- Weight Gain especially around the middle
- Disturbed sleep
Restore your balance
If any of these conditions sound familiar you could be suffering from a hormonal imbalance. I have worked with a number of clients empowering them with knowledge and information to identify their individual hormone issues and how they can restore balance.
I can work with you to create a realistic dietary and lifestyle plan, tailored to you that will restore balance and enable you to get on with living your life the way you want to.
Hormone imbalance in females
Are you experiencing mood swings and behavioural changes such as irritability, tension headaches, unexplained low mood, bloating, sugar cravings, breast tenderness, heavy painful periods, skin breakouts, low energy or weight gain?
Hormones affect us daily and at all stages of our lives, ie during fertile and pre menopausal years, as well as our menopause and post menopausal years contributing to unwanted and seemingly unexplained symptoms.
You may have tried a number of things to improve your symptoms including supplements you have been recommended by a friend or relative that worked miracles for them, medications prescribed by your GP which have not had the panacea result and come with unwanted side effects.
You may just be at a loss as to what to do, knowing perhaps a little or too much information from researching on the internet and that is where a Functional Medicine Practitioner like myself can help show you how to balance your hormones.
Functional Medicine practitioners are trained to identify the functional imbalances that explain your current symptoms of hormone imbalances based on the latest research and then to develop a personalised nutrition and lifestyle programmes with hormone balancing foods and lifestyle tips recommendation to restore hormone balance.
Hormone imbalance in males
Hormone imbalances in males may not be as widely discussed, but if you are male and suffering from symptoms such as low libido, loss of interest in daily life, weight gain including “man boobs”, mood swings or depression, the chances are you have a hormone imbalance.
This could be caused by poor nutrition, stress, or other lifestyle factors (including over-exercising to get that six pack) and with help from an experienced health practitioner these symptoms could be improved.
A Functional Medicine Practitioner like myself is trained to evaluate what lies behind your symptoms and I have helped numerous male clients to understand their symptoms and shown them how to improve their quality of life and health by crossing that first barrier – discussing with and then showing them how through making simple dietary and lifestyle changes they can restore balance and regain their lives.
How I can help you balance hormones
I will spend time looking at the clients goal and analysing and interpreting all the information, including their genetic family history and the environment the client lives and works in.
From this analysis very often there is a hormonal imbalance / element to the clients current health status which if corrected would improve their symptoms.
Hormones have a significant impact on our daily lives, in ways that are not obvious and which I can help explain in order for clients to feel motivated and empowered to make changes.
FAQ
The food we eat on a daily basis has a significant impact and our hormone production – for example a diet too high in stimulants such as sugar, caffeine and alcohol will increase insulin hormone production and insulin is our blood sugar regulating hormone which if out of balance causes symptoms such as sugar cravings, weight around the middle and mood swings.
So l typically help clients to work with some basic principles of a well balanced nutrition plan which include:
• Eating whole single ingredient natural foods.
• Consuming quality protein (animal or plant sources).
• Ensuring healthy fats are consumed at every meal (so important for hormone production).
• Eating as many fibrous foods as possible to support detoxification of unwanted/excess hormones.
• Reducing stimulants (caffeine, sugar, alcohol are the main culprits!).
How we live our lives will impact our hormone production, excess production and whether we are detoxifying unwanted hormones or allowing them to recirculate resulting in hormone imbalances of excess and insufficiency which will have an impact on our health.
For example over- exercising can lead to hormonal imbalance or changes, including testosterone and cortisol (our stress hormone), it can drive overeating and the body can also begin to burn muscle instead of fat and cause your body to hold onto or gain fat, particularly abdominal fat.
So I typically help clients by making lifestyle recommendations to balance their hormones which includes:
Drinking only filtered or bottled water (due to unwanted toxins including hormones such as oestrogen residues present in unfiltered water).
Encouraging them to reduce their exposure to xenoestrogens from plastics, chemical pesticide/fertilizers and chemical loaded lotions and potions (now so ubiquitous for females and increasingly for men!) which cause havoc with hormone balance as the body does not recognise, and causes hormone imbalances.
Supplements may be required for individual clients to support hormone balance and provide relief from challenging symptoms which are making it difficult for them to function at work or home.
Sometimes clients are looking for a more natural alternative to drug therapies which they may have tried and found unsuccessful or with unwanted side effects such as possible weight gain with HRT (and also with anti-depressants which are now reportedly being prescribed for menopausal symptoms due to a shortage of supply of HRT).
The supplements that I most typically recommend for hormone balance (subject to an individual assessment and wherever possible functional testing to assess levels) include:
Omega 3 fish oil to help improve hormone balance and improve mood.
Magnesium is a critical mineral responsible for over 300 enzyme reactions and can be very helpful to reduce painful PMS, at menopause to help reduce unwanted symptoms and in males to help boost levels of testosterone when these are low.
Inositol / Chromium for blood sugar balancing by improving insulin sensitivity, for females with PCOS to improve menstrual regulation and may help improve low mood and anxiety through neurotransmitter production including serotonin, our good mood hormone.
Adatogenic Herbs including Siberian ginseng, ashwagandha and rhodiola as this group of herbs may help the body regulate hormones by stabilising blood sugar and insulin, improving mood and supporting adrenal gland and thyroid function and the body’s reaction to stressful situations and agnus castus for PMS and perimenopause symptoms.