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The reality of good nutrition HORMONES AND DIGESTION
L
ike so many women, I used to suffer with severe PMS. I had it for years and it was affecting every aspect of my life, so I decided I would do something about it. I wanted to try and treat mine naturally and it is this that started me on my journey of nutrition. By making changes to my diet and using supplements, I cured myself. Whether you have PMS, are going through the menopause or have one of the many female conditions that we can develop, such as fibroids, polycystic ovary syndrome or endometriosis to name just a few. There are four key things that you can do that are essential to getting your hormones into balance. They are: 1. Keeping your insulin levels low by keeping your blood sugars in check. Watch the sugar! 2. Looking after your liver and it will look after you 3. Keeping cortisol, the stress hormone levels under control. Find something that helps you destress; walking, yoga, reading, meditation or dancing 4. Dealing with any digestive issues that you may have
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This may all sound complicated and a bit scientific. Scientific it is, complicated it is not, however, at times it may take willpower and it won’t happen overnight, but if you start making considered changes to what you eat, you will feel better. I am also not a complete bore and do understand that we all like a glass of wine or two, the odd takeaway or even the odd chocolate bar. Don’t deprive yourself of anything, but try sticking to the 80/20 rule; be good 80% of the time and you can’t go too wrong. It really is as simple as watching what you eat and making changes to eating foods that are natural and nutritious. Make sure you don’t over indulge on
refined sugar (or avoid it all together), not putting your liver under undue stress with too much alcohol or eating very rich fatty or fried foods, but eating foods that will support it, such as green leafy veg (broccoli, cabbage, pak choi, kale, chard etc.) Finally think about what happens to you when you eat, if there are changes, you may have some digestive issues. Answer the following questions: 1. Do you feel bloated after certain foods? 2. Do you suffer with regular bouts of constipation and/or diarrhoea? 3. Do you suffer with heartburn, acid reflux or burping after eating? 4. Do you suffer from wind? 5. Do you ever feel sick after taking supplements? 6. Does coffee give you stomach pain? If you have answered yes to at least 2 of the above, you more than likely have some form of digestive issue. This could be caused by the foods that you eat or even how you eat your food; digestion starts in the mouth. Be mindful when you eat and think about what you are eating rather than eating on the run. Sit down to eat and eat food that requires a knife & fork rather than food that can be eaten with your hands and don’t forget to chew your food. You should be chewing your food a minimum of ten times (20-30 for meat) until the food almost becomes liquid. This will help the stomach to start breaking down the food more easily and it will not sit for long periods because it is too big to digest. Identify foods that you react to and try to avoid them for a couple of weeks to see if this makes any difference, then slowly introduce them back. Do not self-diagnose and do not eliminate large food groups, this may lead to nutrient deficiencies. Please see the full article on our website, under our news section. Lisa Knowles Nutritional Therapist lisa@nutriality.com