I wish I knew what I know now, 11 years ago. Have you ever thought that? I am thankful for this health journey I’ve been on, but I just wish I could have started it sooner, it would have saved me many years of pain and frustration. I was struggling with anxiety, daily anxiety attacks, depression, mood swings, irregular periods, major digestive problems, manic/depressive disorder, PCOS, brain fog, and chronic fatigue & I just wanted to feel better.
Now that I know what I know, I have learned through research and science that the things I was doing were actually making me feel worse!
So, let me save you some time and frustration and give you the knowledge and understanding I wish someone would have given me a long time ago.
My Top 3 Things I Wish I Knew About Hormones:
1. STOP OVER-TRAINING: This includes chronic cardio or just excess High-Intensity Exercise. More isn’t always better. Over-exercising, without proper recovery, sleep, supplementation, and hydration lead to low progesterone and low testosterone. Excessive exercise runs your hormones and your body into the ground. It increases your body’s stress response and can lead to chronic low-grade inflammation.
Which, in turn, will make it harder to lose weight, keep weight off, and have regular cycles and optimal hormone levels. This includes excessive cardio or too much high-intensity training. What is too much? 3 days per week of either is plenty for most people who want to be healthy. To my lovely ladies out there, working out more, won’t make you healthier, or skinnier. I know that’s a tough pill to swallow, but that is a fact.
2. STOP RESTRICTING CALORIES: Chronic calorie restriction trashes your sex hormones (estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone) and increases cortisol. Chronic calorie restriction and dieting also drive down your Thyroid hormones and reduces their uptake. When these hormones are down-regulated due to a lack of energy consumption through quality macro and micro-nutrients we have less energy output, and we experience brain fog, digestive issues, headaches, fatigue, and a stalled metabolism. We need food to fuel our body’s systems. Your body can’t operate on shakes and rice cakes.
3. EAT MORE PROTEIN AND DON’T FEAR FAT: Amino acids are the building blocks of life & we get amino acids from protein. Your body builds DNA and RNA from protein! It is ESSENTIAL for life and health. We need iron from REAL meat! You can’t eat enough beans or veggies to get the right amount of protein. If you want to live a healthy, long life you need protein to build lean muscle and bone! Muscle doesn’t appear out of thin air. You need amino acids to build muscle. Your body doesn’t need cereal or toast, it needs eggs.
Your body doesn’t need pasta, bread, sugar, or processed foods, it needs beef and fish! Beef, Fish, Turkey, Chicken, and Pork all contain so many of the vital minerals and vitamins our body needs. This is by far the most neglected food in women’s diets, especially!
FATS: Good Fats & Bad Fats
And then there is FAT. Our bodies also need fatty acids that come from fat. Don’t be afraid of healthy dietary fats! Our cells are encapsulated in fat, we need fat to carry vitamins and minerals and absorb them properly!
There are good fats and bad fats. Bad fats will make you sick and fat! And obviously, if you are trying to lose weight you will want to make sure you are eating the fat in moderation. Focus on good quality olive oil, avocados, fatty fish, beef, nuts, and seeds. Always stay away from ultra-processed, rancid seed oils like soybean oil, canola oil, vegetable oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, and grapeseed oil.
Every human is different and has different genetics, needs, and goals. This is why working with a professional to customize a plan for you will save you a lot of time and frustration!
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