Hormonal Imbalance in Women can be Real!
Hormonal imbalance in women can consist of constipation, bloating, fatigue, anxiety, PMS, acne, mood swings, and food cravings.
Are you tired of feeling like your body is out to get you? Here’s the good news. It’s not! And these symptoms are your body’s way of trying to tell you what it needs so you can find balance and finally feel good.
If you’re like most of the people I’ve worked with, it’s a puzzle that you’re done trying to piece together on your own. You’ve wasted money on supplements that didn’t work, you’ve eaten well, and even fit in time to get to the gym.
But despite doing everything right, you feel even MORE like garbage. These are the most frustrating moments!
Maybe you’ve skipped social events afraid of how the food there would affect you, and you’re tired of going up two jean sizes when the bloating takes over your life…. (I’ve been there… it’s the worst!)
Many of my women clients are tired of having to take medications as band-aids for their hormonal imbalance and mood problems…. And still suffer with anxiety for weeks at a time.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could:
- Stop the google searching and know what the root causes are for your frustrating symptoms?
- Get rid of the bloating, gas, constipation, anxiety and hormonal symptoms for good?
- Be able to eat healthy foods you love without fear of what will happen in your body?
- Ditch the endless worrying about your health so you can focus on the things in life that inspire you and bring you joy?
Here’s where I can help you…
I’m Brooke Seiz, and I’ve been helping people like you for the last decade to find the root causes for their frustrating symptoms and get back to optimal living.
Keep reading to learn what to do (and not to do) to reclaim your mood and get your gut and hormonal health back on track. You’ll also learn what it’s like to work together if you’re tired of going it alone….
Here Are Three Strategies That Don’t Work (Yet People Always Try Them Anyway)
1. Exercising Longer and Harder.
You’re feeling fine for a couple weeks, and then there it is… the anxiety sets in and you feel your mood shift, and you know you’re going to be dealing with waves of sadness and feeling really off…. just knowing you’re being controlled by your hormones can cause even more stress.
Exercising is supposed to be great for everything right?! Just go to the gym and work it off…
While exercising and getting movement is a great idea on a regular basis, endurance exercise, or pushing yourself harder may not be the answer. It truly depends on specifically what is happening with your hormones. But, if your adrenal hormones are out of wack, high intensity exercise can worsen this and may not be the answer for your hormonal symptoms. It’s best to get a full hormone panel, like The Dutch Test to identify what’s going on with your stress and reproductive hormones.
In the meantime, try yoga and moderate intensity exercise and ultimately listen to your body to determine what’s right for you.
2. Women taking the birth control pill to manage hormonal imbalance symptoms
The only thing most women are told to do when they complain of annoying hormonal is start taking the birth control pill.
Disclaimer here that whatever your choices, I support them. Your body is yours, but what I don’t support is a lack of education that can lead many women down a path where they didn’t truly have informed consent about what they were doing. So, let’s fix that…
The birth control pill was created to prevent pregnancy, NOT to fix your acne and PMS, yet this is what it’s often prescribed for.
Here’s some facts about the pill, and you can read more HERE:
- The pill increases your risk for developing depression by 80%
- You don’t get a period on the pill. You get what’s called a “withdrawal bleed” and so your hormones aren’t actually cycling.
- The pill disrupts the gut microbiome and can potentiate candida overgrowth and dysbiosis.
- The pill has side effects like a loss of sex drive and water weight gain
- Ultimately the pill might put a band-aid on yucky hormonal imbalance in women but doesn’t address the root causes for why they were there in the first place, and those root causes can continue to worsen mood, sleep, and energy over time.
3. Eaten such a limited diet that it sent your stress thru the roof
I’ve been there. It feels like everything you eat hurts your stomach or causes embarrassing gas, bloating, and bathroom visits. So, you keep trying to fix it with food. Maybe you even ordered a food sensitivity test and ended up with a laundry list of things you can’t eat…
And this limited diet makes you feel like you can’t go anywhere! You’re miserable and stressed.
I’m here to tell you that stress makes gut symptoms worse. Any food plan needs to take into account how it feels in your day-to-day life. When it’s too stressful, it’s doing more harm than good.
Gut infections, overgrowths, imbalanced hormones, and stress can cause leaky gut. Leaky gut can cause food sensitivities. Sometimes avoiding some of those foods is really important to healing, but all of them can be near impossible…
If the initial problems aren’t addressed, reactions to foods can just worsen over time anyway. Discovering your root causes, addressing them, and having a plan that reduces stress will typically open up your tolerance to a variety of healthy foods over time.
Here’s what you can do to start improving your digestion and balancing your hormones…
1. Replace sugar and gluten containing foods with protein and healthy fat
Gluten can be inflammatory and hard to digest, so if hormonal imbalance is present, I typically recommend avoiding this at least while working on root causes. Tests can be run to see if this is truly a trigger in the long run. And in the short run, removing it can help damaged gut lining to heal.
If you’re on the blood sugar rollercoaster, it’s affecting your hormones, and one of the first steps to balancing hormones is balancing blood sugar.
Try this for 3-days:
Eat something with 20-25 grams of protein at every meal, and around 10 grams with a snack if you eat snacks. If this helps, you can up it to 30 grams of protein at breakfast to stabilize your blood sugar first thing in the morning. Many of my clients find that this gives them more level energy throughout the day.
Also include healthy fat with your meals and snacks. Some options to include are avocados or guacamole, nuts and seeds, olive oil, grass fed butter, or coconut oil. Start to incorporate these into every meal and snack to replace sugary foods.
If you’re skeptical, one of my clients Lauren was the same way and had a hormonal imbalance. She was feeling tired & irritable all the time with brain fog, but after 3-days of testing this, she noticed a boost in energy and mental clarity.
2. Prioritize Restful Sleep and Get 7-9 Hours Per Night
Sleep can be tricky on the days you feel anxious and constipated. But it’s vital for healthy hormones and when we’re resting, motility happens in our digestive tract which can improve regularity and overall gut health.
Try to put away electronics at least an hour before bed and do something calming like a shower or bath, reading something soothing, or doing some deep breathing. This can help your mind and body unwind and settle more easily into a deeper sleep.
One strategy is to try taking 400 mg of magnesium glycinate a couple hours before bed to help you unwind.
Some of the brands I recommend are Pure Encapsulations or Seeking Health. You can usually find Garden of Life or KAL over the counter in health food stores, which are also options. Magnesium is a calming mineral, supports muscle relaxation, and has a positive effect on neurotransmitters and brain health.
Good sleep will pay off!
3. Fix the Root Causes of your Hormonal Imbalance
There are many root causes that can lead you to feel this way. Some people have one of these, and some people have several. I’ve even worked with a few who had nearly all of them.
In functional medicine we find them by assessing all the systems in the body and looking for hormonal imbalances. Once we find them and address them, it’s amazing the health and healing that occurs!
Even if you can’t remember the last time you felt good, I guarantee there’s an underlying reason for this.
Here are the 10 most common root causes for frustrating hormonal imbalance symptoms:
- Trauma and Stress in the nervous system
- Gut infections and dysbiosis
- Hormonal imbalance including thyroid issues
- Blood Sugar Imbalance
- Neurotransmitter imbalances
- Adrenal Dysregulation (HPA Axis Dysfunction)
- A food plan that isn’t right for you
- Nutrient deficiencies
- Toxic Overload
- Food Allergies/Sensitivities
Finding out the root cause(s) can mean the difference between reclaiming your energy or feeling stuck in the grind forever.
There are proven tests and ways for you to figure out if you actually have these root causes. It’s not a random guessing game. There’s a way to check for these issues and address them.
If you look back at your health history, which common root causes do you think you have?
Here’s How I can Help You Reclaim your Vitality
Relief will come when you heal the root causes. This process can be tedious, hard work when you’re going it alone. Many people also come to me tired of guessing, having wasted money on various diets and supplements. They wish they’d just gotten help earlier. I’ve been there too!
When you’re overwhelmed and exhausted, this can leave you feeling helpless, and get in the way of everything else you’re doing in life. If you’re ready for help, I’m here to tell you that I’ve got your back.
The first step is to book a FREE 20 minute Discovery Call with me. I’ll help you with the #1 problem you’re struggling with and give you insight as to what possible root causes you may be dealing with.
In this Free call, I will listen carefully to your story. I’ll let you know the most common Functional Medicine root causes that are likely contributing to your health concerns. If I feel I can help you, here’s what the next steps look like:
- We’ll book your Case Review appointment, where I’ll do a deep dive with you to get your full health history. I’ll provide an analysis of your case and recommend specific labs to confirm your root causes.
- While waiting for lab results, we’ll schedule health coaching appointments to help you make the dietary and lifestyle changes you want to see and/or counseling appointments to help you address nervous system dysregulation and trauma.
- At your Lab Review Appointment, I’ll customize a plan to help you fix your root causes for good which is typed out in the client portal for you to access with easy-to-follow instructions, recipes, and everything else you’ll need.
- Follow-ups will be scheduled as needed to work through all your root causes and transform your health from the inside o
This is a big step for you, and I’m here to make this as seamless and smooth as possible. I have been overwhelmed with my health and feeling too crappy to sort it all out. I understand what you’re going through, and I promise I’ll stick by your side to help you get through it.
Warmly,
– Brooke
PS…
I’m a graduate of the Nutrition Therapy Institute in Denver, CO, Board Certified in Holistic Nutrition through the National Association of Nutrition Professionals and certified in Functional Medicine through IFM. More importantly, I’ve been through my own challenging health journey, and I know how helpless you can feel, but what a relief it is when you start getting better. I’ve got your back like others have had mine along the way 🙂
