Favorite superfoods for hormonal balance

By Dr. Sharon Stills, NMD

Nutrients from the foods we eat help our bodies produce our hormones. Some foods are better than others at helping us make our hormones; other foods can actually disrupt our hormones and push us into a state of imbalance. And some foods are true superfoods for hormonal balance.

Cherries are one of many superfoods for hormonal balance

Here are my suggestions for easy food choices that will help you manage your hormonal symptoms.

Foods to avoid

Are you lethargic and gaining weight? Do you have insomnia? Is your thinking fuzzy, or are you experiencing hot flashes and irritability? If you are having lots of these hormonal symptoms in perimenopause and menopause, I want you to do a diet dump for the #1 hormone-disrupting foods — processed foods with lots of added sugar!

I am talking about cookies and all those other sugary treats that we all love to dive into for an afternoon snack. Refined sugar can send your hormones on a roller coaster, feeding into all these symptoms and making them much worse.

3 superfoods for hormonal balance

Here are the three hormone-balancing superfoods that I want you to eat more of — apples, cherries and pomegranates.

These fruits are naturally “just sweet enough” and have so many incredible benefits for helping with hormonal balance.

Apples

Apples contain a key compound — Calcium D Glucarate — that helps detoxify estrogen from the liver and improve overall estrogen metabolism, needed for hormonal balance.

What’s more, once the estrogen has been detoxified from the liver, the fiber in apples helps to flush this estrogen out through the colon. Snack on an apple a day to help keep hormonal issues at bay. Add an ounce of a hard cheese or handful of nuts to fill out your snack.

Cherries

Cherries are such a treat and if you suffer from insomnia as one of your hormonal issues, snacking on cherries can help because cherries are a natural source of melatonin — the “sleep hormone” released by your pineal gland. As you age, you produce less and less melatonin.

Studies have found that cherries have the ability to increase melatonin levels, total sleep time and quality of sleep.

Cherries also contain other hormone-balancing nutrients including magnesium and Vitamin C.

Magnesium helps calm the body’s stress response by preventing the release of stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline.

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Vitamin C is an essential vitamin for creating and regulating hormones such as estrogen and progesterone.

Cherries are a sweet treat on their own, or pit cherries and use to top a cup of plain yogurt.

Pomegranates

And one more fruit that has such benefits for your hormones — pomegranate.

Excess estrogen can cause mood changes, weight gain, headache pain, breast tenderness and even more severe symptoms.

Pomegranates help by acting as a natural blocker in the body against harmful or excess estrogens. Pomegranates are rich in anthocyanidins — sugarless plant pigments — and flavonoids, which are both important for detoxifying and protecting cells. Pomegranates are high in Vitamin C, and also rich in vitamins A and E and folic acid which are all important for healthy hormone production.

Although some women worry about foods with estrogenic properties, pomegranate is a natural adaptogen, increasing levels of estrogen when the body is low but blocking stronger estrogens when levels are too high.

These three fruits can be snacks, or be incorporated in so many different dishes during meals. Have fun! Who knew balancing your hormones could taste so good?!