This morning I am still reflecting on the workshop I attended Saturday, “Hormones 101, Fat, Fatigued, and Female,” given by Dr. Whitney Gabhart, ND. (www.whitneygabhartnd.com).
Dr. Gabhart drew a triangle on the board. Each corner of the triangle had one of the following letters: S, A, and T…for Sex Hormones, Adrenals, and Thyroid. She pointed to the center of the triangle and said, “There in the middle is the Bermuda Triangle, otherwise known as Hormone Hell.” This, unfortunately, is where many women find themselves.
BUT, the good news is, women don’t need to stay there! Dr. Gabhart taught the group to do “First Things First.” First things first include the following three action steps:
- Sleep
- Eat right
- Eliminate
Dr. Gabhart emphacized that the best thing we can do for hormones is to get good sleep. Sleep is one of the first places we tend to cut corners – and one of the most detrimental to our health and well-being. With a confident, matter-of-fact tone she stated, “I love to sleep because I KNOW what goes on while I am sleeping.” The body needs this time of rest and renewal. So many healing processes occur when we sleep. Please refer to the two articles I wrote last week on ways to help combat insomnia and promote restful sleep.
Eating right – this is a biggie. Working with Dr. Gabhart, she recently encouraged me to keep a daily food journal. Ohh, I did not want to have to do this, I didn’t have the time, you know. But, doing so sure has opened my eyes to what I place in my mouth.
It is absolutely shocking the amount of non-food that is all around us, tempting us every single day. When you have to write down all that non-food and empty calories, it leaves a pretty good impression. I find I am more particular about what I put in my mouth. I encourage you to bite the bullet and just try it for a couple of weeks. It gets easier once you get in the habit.
I also record in four columns the number of calories, fat, protein, and carbs in each item. The key is consuming healthy protein, fats, and carbs. You learn really quickly which foods are healthy and which are not. The little book The Calorie King, Calorie, Fat, & Carbohydrate Counter is a great resource that you can easily slip into your purse.
One thing going for us now that it is summer is the healthy organic fruits and vegetables that are available to us. What a great time to get started on eating healthier and developing some healthy habits that will help not only support your hormone balance, but your overall health and well being. It is also pretty exciting when the pounds start to come off.
The third point, elimination can be a bit challenging. It is said that 80% of our immune function is in our gut. The colon is a critical organ for health and hormone balancing. It is well worth the time and effort to get it working efficiently for us.
Cholesterol, estrogen, and toxins are continually reabsorbed if allowed to sit in the colon. The key is to absorb all we can from our food and eliminate the rest. That process starts with chewing our food well, something we often forget to do.
It is important to include 25 – 30 gms of fiber in our diet daily. Google fiber and see how challenging it is to consume that much fiber in food. You may find the need to add a fiber supplement. Most resources recommend that we have 2 BMs a day. Let that idea help you gauge if you are consuming sufficient fiber on a daily basis.
Yes, there are lots of things we can do to feel better. It just takes a little awareness followed by discipline. “First things first” will help us to stay out of that yucky Bermuda Triangle!
