House Call: How do I balance my hormones naturally?

Hi, this is Dr. Mark Hyman. Welcome to my weekly house call, your chance to ask me your questions. And this week's question is, my hormones are so out of balance. What can I do about them? Do I have to take hormones? And how do I stop feeling so bad? Well, hormone imbalance is epidemic in this country because there's so many forces out there that cause our hormones to go crazy. crazy and kind of make us crazy. In fact, there's a cacophony of things that happen for particularly women around their 30s and 40s and 50s that actually imbalance their hormones and that can be fixed without necessarily taking medication. There are really a bunch of hormones that get out of whack. First is your sex hormones, that's estrogen, progesterone, testosterone. Second is insulin, which is around your blood sugar and belly fat. The third is thyroid, and the fourth is your adrenals, which respond to stress. So these all are dynamically interacting and all get out of balance. Today we're going to talk about your sex hormones. So why are they so important? Because they make women feel terrible. Women get PMS, they get fibroids, they get menstrual problems, they get heavy bleeding, they get perimenopause, they get menopause. I mean, it's really a lot of stuff. And the truth is that women don't have to suffer. that there are solutions to help women feel good and get balanced and it's not because they're crazy that they feel so bad. And it's not just that they need to take hormone replacement, it's that they need to figure out the why. And that's what functional medicine does. As I always say, it figures out the why, not only the what. Not what disease you have, but why do you have this imbalance? Why do you have this problem? And then you treat the underlying causes and the symptoms get better. So we see really an epidemic of these problems. 75% of women have some degree of PMS when they're menstruating. So many women suffer from menopause symptoms, whether it's fatigue or mental issues, cognitive issues, emotional issues, sleep deprivation, hot flashes, palpitations, joint pain, vaginal dryness, low sex drive, all these problems are fixable. They're not things you have to suffer through because you're a woman. Women get fibroids and heavy bleeding and painful menstrual cramps. Again, these are things that are not just a curse of being a woman. They're related to imbalances that you can actually fix. causes those imbalances. Let's review that and then let's talk about what you can do to fix them. So the first thing is figuring out why. The biggest source of imbalances is our diet. What you eat affects your hormones. In fact, hormones are triggered by food, particularly bad food. If you eat a lot of sugar, you will increase insulin and you will produce more fat and you'll produce more belly fat and you'll produce more estrogen. and you'll produce more testosterone if you're a woman, which can lead to acne and hair loss on your head and hair growth on your face. It's not good. And all that sugar and insulin promote imbalances in the sex hormones. So it's important to understand that flour and sugar or anything that turns to sugar in your body can lead to these hormone imbalances and cutting those out can make a huge difference. Also, dairy is a big factor. Dairy has over 60 different hormones in all of these can create imbalances in your sex hormones and lead to problems. Also, it's xenobiotics, which are pesticides and chemicals in our food that act like estrogens. So when you eat, for example, non-organic vegetables or animal products that have hormones in them, you're actually triggering your own hormones. You're triggering estrogen and you're triggering toxic effects of these hormones that actually can make you feel sick. So it's important to eat clean, to cut down on the sugar and flour and processed foods, to get rid of pesticides and chemicals by eating organic when you can, having sustainably raised animal products, and also filtering your water. Very simple strategies but they make a big difference. Also increasing certain foods that help balance your hormones. Flax seeds are a great one. Two tablespoons of flax seeds really help balance your hormones by fixing your gut and improving estrogen metabolism. So does soy? Now soy is controversial, but I recommend only whole soy, non-GMO soy, traditional foods like tempeh and tofu. These are often thought to actually cause estrogen problems, but they actually are like a thermostat. They regulate like a thermos, so they don't actually cause too much or too little, they balance your hormones. Also cruciferous vegetables, which are powerful detoxifiers of abnormal estrogen and hormone metabolism. So these are great foods to use to support your body's hormone balance. In addition to what you eat, whole foods, low sugar, high good fat diet, and by the way, your estrogen hormones come from good fats and having the right balance of hormones depends on you eating good quality healthy fats. But it's important to understand there's also supplements you can take. Fish oil, vitamin D, and the B vitamins in particular help balance estrogen metabolism. So getting a good multi fish oil and vitamin E can go a long way as well as calcium and magnesium for many women who are suffering from hormonal irregularities and menstrual imbalances. And then there's herbs, some great herbs we use in my practice. I share a lot of these in my program. In fact, I have a whole 10-day detox program for PMS, which talks about how to balance your hormones and it's got all sorts of great ideas for what you can do and what you can take. And then lastly, there's exercise. Exercise is so critical because if you don't exercise, you actually can't regulate your hormones properly. When you exercise, you have less PMS, less menopausal symptoms, you'll have less menstrual irregularities and all sorts of other benefits from exercise. stress reduction also is key because stress actually also imbalances your hormones. And lastly, alcohol. Alcohol is a big problem. In fact, if you drink two glasses of wine a day, you're going to jack up your estrogen, cause hormone imbalances, and dramatically increase your risk of cancer if you're a woman. So I really encourage people who are having hormone imbalances to get rid of sugar and flour, get rid of alcohol, get rid of processed foods, get rid of dairy, and eat a whole foods, mostly plant-based, real diet and get rid of all the non-organic foods and eat sustainably raised food. Makes a huge difference. There's a lot of things you can do to fix your hormones. It's not something you have to suffer with. It's not the curse of being a woman. And if you do need to use hormone therapy, there are ways to do it safely using bioidentical hormones that are using low dose, topical, same as your own hormones for as short a duration as you need to get relief. And it could be a few years around menopause. It could be around your menstrual cycle if you're having challenges, but there are some simple hormonal therapies that you can use working with your doctor and hopefully a functional medicine doctor to get the health you deserve and need. So if you have a story to share about your hormone imbalance, we'd love to hear it. Share it at drhyman.com and if you enjoyed this video, share it with your friends and family and if you really liked it, sign up for our weekly newsletter at drhyman.com so you can get the house call sent directly to your inbox. And maybe if you send in your question next week, I'll make a house call to you.