The foods you consume play a large role in your overall health — not only can certain foods expand your waistline, but they can also cause your hormone levels to become imbalanced. However, by making healthier choices when it comes to food, you can avoid weight gain completely while also maintaining your body’s hormone levels.
In some cases, if your hormones are already low, you may find that you have cravings for foods that are high in sugar and fat content as a result of your hormone imbalance. The best foods to eat when your hormones are imbalanced are clean proteins, foods high in healthy fatty acids, and vegetables.
Here are additional dieting tips you can follow that will help you keep your hormones in check.
Stay away from harmful ingredients
Certain types of foods and ingredients will worsen your hormone imbalance and could even cause you to gain weight. Stay away from ingredients such as processed meats high in sodium and nitrates, farmed salmon, foods that contain artificial coloring, preservatives, sulphites, and foods that contain trans-fats.
Avoid overeating
If you count calories, make sure that you’re accurately keeping track of calories based on the serving sizes you’re actually eating. Some serving sizes on nutrition labels may be unrealistic compared to the serving sizes you normally eat. If you must, try to limit servings of foods and snacks that tend to be more fattening than others.
Limit your fat intake
If you insist on eating sweets and desserts, try to cut out all saturated fat content, or eat no more than 3 grams of saturated fat per serving. Also, make sure the foods you’re eating are free of hydrogenated oils, trans-fats, corn oil, palm kernel oil, soybean oil, vegetable oil, shortening, and margarine.
Limit your sodium intake
Aim for foods that contain less than 140 mg of salt per serving, and try not to exceed more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day, which equates roughly to a teaspoon of table salt. Don’t forget that many processed and packaged foods might already contain sodium, and will contribute heavily to your overall daily sodium intake.
Avoid artificial sweeteners at all costs
Artificial sweeteners such as high-fructose corn syrup contain compounds and additives that can strongly disrupt your hormones, increase your appetite, and increase your body’s insulin levels, which can also raise your risk for obesity and type 2 diabetes. Instead, use a natural sweetener such as stevia or resort to fruit when you feel the need to eat sweets.
Rock Creek Wellness offers bioidentical hormone replacement therapy to help you rebalance and sustain your hormone levels. Our pellet hormone program is designed for patients seeking a quick and affordable entry to bioidentical hormone therapy in Kansas City. Contact us today at 913-727-7700 to request a free consultation.
