So a HUGE part of this journey is going to be my diet. My doctor and nutritionist have advised me to eat between 1800-2000 calories per day, and incorporate good fats in to my diet. These fats will hopefully help boost my estrogen levels, as fats are the building blocks of hormones.
Despite the myriad of blog posts about Hypothalamic Amenorrhea, and how to overcome it, I found it particularly challenging to find a lot of posts that were specific to boosting your estrogen, LH, and FSH hormones through food. In fact, a lot of Google articles talked about ways to decrease estrogen levels. This is not surprising, as very high estrogen levels increase your chances of breast cancer.
Anyway, enough context, let me get to the point – here’re the top 5 products I consume as a part of my regular diet, usually as breakfast or a morning snack. Estrogen-boosting ingredients are bolded in pink (in no particular order). Be on the look out for the Supplement Series, Snacking Series, Lunch Series, and Dinner Series of estrogen boosting foods!
Good Morning Happy Hormones
1. Chocolate Nut Butter – I am obsessed with Nutzo’s crunchy chocolate nut butter (in fact it is all I can think about eating right now). It is packed full with a nutritious and delicious blend of organic peanuts, organic cashews, organic almonds, organic Peruvian dark chocolate, organic flax seeds, organic hazelnuts, organic brazil nuts, organic sunflower seeds, and sea salt. With all this healthy fat, it packs in all the wonderful fatty acids and protein your hormones need. TIP: I recommend measuring how much you eat – 2 tbsp packs in 180 calories. It is certainly very rich, but that hasn’t stopped me from eating half a jar before LOL! Eat it out the jar, or scoop it on to toast, a banana, or your morning oatmeal.
Image Source: http://www.nuttzo.com/products/crunchy-dark-chocolate/
2. Nature’s Path Organic Flax Plus Flakes – bran cereals and flax seeds help boost your estrogen levels as they are both rich sources of phytoestrogens.
Image Source: http://www.vitacost.com/Images/Products/1000/Natures-Path/Natures-Path-Organic-Flax-Plus-Cereal-Multibran-058449770503.jpg
3. Coffee – here’s a caveat: a recent study showed that coffee, or caffeine affects women’s hormones in different ways:
“Moderate daily caffeine intake—about two cups of coffee or 200 mg a day—lowered estrogen levels among white women, potentially offering protection from diseases linked to higher estrogen, such as reproductive cancers. On the other hand, Black and Asian women who drank the same amount of caffeine experienced elevated estrogen levels.”
So, I am an Asian woman, so I am happy to use this as an excuse to fuel my love for coffee! Here’s an instant brand that I like a lot. I wish I had the time to use my French press, but the high-stress nature of my job makes it pretty tough.
Image Source: http://www.vitacost.com/Images/Products/1000/Mount-Hagen/Mount-Hagen-Organic-Coffee-Caf-757922116141.jpg
4. Soy Milk (BE CAREFUL AND DON’T OVER-DO IT – SOY CAN LOWER THYROID FUNCTION, T3, AND WHITE BLOOD CELL COUNT) – that’s right, soy provides you with a lot of phytoestrogens! Per my nutritionist’s advice though, don’t go overboard with the soy products. Your goal with healing your hormones is to take you mind and body out of shock. If you don’t consume soy on a regular basis, adding a ton of soy based products is only going to stress your body out. Start out slow – maybe a soy latte, or soy milk in your cereal once a day. I buy 365 organic unsweetened soy milk (from Whole Foods, but couldn’t find a nice hi-def photo) because soy tends to be genetically modified a lot.
Image Source: http://www.organicvalley.coop/uploads/tx_ovproducts/soy_hg_unsweet_ip.png
5. Kit’s Organic Dark Chocolate Walnut Bar – Oh my heaven these are seriously AMAZING! They literally taste like a brownie (I usually microwave them for 10 – 15 sec and eat them with black coffee), but are made with organic dates, organic walnuts, organic unsweetened dark chocolate, organic almonds, sea salt, organic vanilla beans. Dried fruit, like dates, not only boost estrogen but are also a delicious source of iron and magnesium, as is dark chocolate! This is a phenomenal on-the-go breakfast, which I usually eat on my way to the airport, or on the plane.
Image Source: http://www.clifbarstore.com/product/kits-organic-dark-chocolate-walnut-12-barsbox
Happy healing!
Lots of love,
Girl Guilt-Free
Girl Guilt-Free 