The issue of women's hormones is one of great importance, and the topic of women's hormone imbalance in particular is one that all women should be aware of. Women's hormone imbalance can actually get to be quite dangerous, and so if you are a woman, and really no matter how old you are, this is something that you should be seriously concerned with and educated on.
These days a lot of women complaint of menstrual problems which can range from irregular painful cycles to heavy cycles with low energy and even skipped cycles. All these problems stem from the fact that they have a hormonal imbalance in their systems.
What is hormonal imbalance?
Hormone imbalance is a type of allergic reaction experienced by women from before puberty to old age. It is a heightened reaction to the normal function of hormones. Women hormone imbalance is a major health issue in industrialized countries and western cultures because of factors like high stress levels, heredity, poor nutrition, lack of exercise, birth control pills, hysterectomy, synthetic hormone replacement therapy (HRT), obesity, pesticides, environmental pollution and toxins encountered in our daily lives.
Stress is a major factor which affects the thyroid gland which results in hypothyroidism. Women with low levels of thyroid secretions show symptoms like lethargy, water retention, lower concentration of memory, scanty and painful periods. A lot of women also have very sensitive insulin production. As a result when they consume the typical metro diet of starchy refined foods or a lot of packet foods, they begin to show insulin fluctuations.
Many of the imbalances can also stem from the fact that currently most metros carry a high level of pollutants. These play havoc with the fine balance of the estrogen, progesterone and testerone activity. This results in unopposed action of one or the other hormone leading to increased sensitivity to testerone which eventually results in increased hair in unusual areas like chest, sides of the face or chin (hirsutism). Enhanced action of either estrogen or progesterone also results in migraine, severe mood swings, water retention etc.
What Can I do?
Of course, one of the most important issues of all when it comes to women's hormone imbalance is treatment. Fortunately there are a few different and very effective treatments that are available for this health problem.
- First and foremost, you should go off all the processed and refined foods as these contain a lot of preservatives.
- You should also cut down on dairy products as many dairy products are known to contain hormones from the animals.
- In cooking, you should use oils like olive oil and vegetables oils in sensible quantities. No Trans fatty acids should be consumed that means no frying and no vanaspati ghee.
- You should have a natural wholesome diet consisting of whole wheat flour (no maida (white flour) or sooji (semolina)), brown rice idlis or unpolished rice, organic foods and a lot of fruits and vegetables.
- Products which balance hormones like primrose oil, flaxseed oil, soya products (tofu or soy milk) and nuts like walnuts, almonds should be included in the diet.
- Many gentle balancing herbs like saw palmette, stinging nettles also balances the hormones.
- People with hormonal imbalances should prefer to be vegetarians.
- You should detoxify your body and strengthen your liver preferably by naturopathy.
Along with this, pranayam, de-stress exercises and regular exercises is a must to balance the body naturally. Even if you can only spend a half hour a day being physically active it will still be to your benefit, and will help your hormone imbalance problem, if not eliminate it entirely.
