Nutrients To Improve Your Hormones

In my recent articles I have focused on vital hormones that hold sway over your health. But it’s important to understand the foods and natural ingredients you can get from a health food or herbal supplier that can shape how your body produces these crucial natural chemicals.

Important Hormones

Consider the hormones that affect the way you feel every day. While there are many involved, only a few are really worth being concerned about. (There’s also insulin, which I’ll be writing about in the near future.)

Your secretion of all these can be promoted with foods and supplements:

• Melatonin
• Growth hormone
• Thyroid hormones T3 & T4
• Aldosterone
• DHEA
• Testosterone
• Estrogens (estrone, estradiol, estriol)
• Progesterone
• Pregnenolone

Foods And Nutrient Supplements For Better Hormone Production

Optimal nutrition is surely a must if you intend to keep your health in balance. There is some variation on what foods are best for hormone production, and not all hormones are affected the same way.

The most important categories of food you should keep in mind are: meats, fats, fruits, vegetables, dairy, grains/breads/yeast, sugar and water.

The steroid hormones share a common pathway of production via the adrenal glands. These hormones include pregnenolone, progesterone, aldosterone, cortisol, DHEA, testosterone and the estrogens E1, E2 and E3.

In their earlier years, men make most of their testosterone in the testicles, and women make most of their estrogen in the ovaries. These hormones are made from cholesterol, their parent hormone.  Dietary cholesterol comes primarily from animal products such as meats, poultry, fish, eggs and animal fats. Therefore, the amount of meat you consume plays a major role in hormone balance. The source of the meat and the way you prepare it are also important.

While fruits and vegetables should still be the vast majority of your food, you should also consume meats that don’t have antibiotics and hormones in them. Grass-fed beef, eggs from chickens that are not caged, and fish from mercury-free waters are best. Also important is fat that is primarily from natural sources and not heated so high that molecular changes take place. (Omit hydrogenated oils and trans-fats that are in packaged foods and fast foods.)

Different Needs

The production of the metabolic thyroid hormones T3 and T4 has different nutritional needs than the steroid hormones. To make thyroid hormones, your body primarily needs iodine (ocean fish, shellfish), fruits and vegetables. Complex carbohydrates are also required.  Too much animal meat can decrease the conversion of T4 into the more active T3 hormone.  Milk can also block thyroid hormone function.

The sleep hormone melatonin (from the pineal gland) is similar in this way to the thyroid hormones. Your body produces melatonin best from a carbohydrate-rich, lower-protein diet. Fruits and vegetables are important, too. Also, melatonin is best secreted when you get plenty of sunlight in the morning and total darkness during sleep. Avoid alcohol and tranquilizers. Keep your stress (and your response to stress) to a minimum for optimal melatonin production.

Mucus Production

Dairy milk and cheese can often cause mucus to be formed in your intestinal tract and other cells. Mucus is simply a word that describes accumulated inflammation. This takes place when inadequate enzymes are available to fully digest the food.

When mucus is present, yeast growth in your body is naturally enhanced. This also collects in the body’s tissues, including your delicate endocrine glands. Yeast and mold then become a barrier to optimal hormone production and use. Therefore, if you use spicy cheeses and eat only a minimal amount while switching to cheeses from vegetable milk sources (rice milk, almond milk), you can have more success in promoting the body’s own endogenous hormone production.

Bread, especially when not made from sprouted grains, can have the same effect on your mucus. This is partially due to the nature of grains: they possess enzyme inhibitors that preserve their integrity until they are soaked and sprouted. Your body naturally responds to indigestible grains by forming mucus for the body’s protection. But that encourages the reproduction of yeast and mold.

Easy On The Sugar

Sugar is another food that I suggest you limit. Processed, refined sugar takes a toll on your body over time. Many reports in scientific literature substantiate its adverse effects on health, inhibiting enzymatic reactions involved in hormone production, and disrupting target tissue sensitivity. Interestingly, spicy and salty foods increase adrenal gland hormone production, while refined sugar slows it down.

Whole Foods

Whole foods are the best source of nutrition for overall health, including hormone health. Switching to a diet whose foods are mostly from raw food sources can take some time and practice. You need adequate digestive enzymes for sure. If you jump into raw foods without adequate mechanical digestion (chewing) or digestive enzymes, bacteria in your gut will multiply, feeding on your undigested raw meals. That leads to intestinal gas and often stimulates an immune response.