Hormones and health!

You may not be familiar their names, what function they perform to keep you healthy, or what gland produces them, but hormones play a vital role in how you feel both physically and mentally. Hormone imbalances are relatively common, and often go unnoticed. Their symptoms are general, varying, and nondescript, but can easily alter the course of your day.

Endocrinology is the study of a highly misunderstood and complex system within the body that produces and regulates the different hormones. Hormones themselves are biochemicals that stimulate cells into action. If too much of one hormone becomes present or not enough of another circulates, it can cause your body to over or underperform a function that maintains your health. Your body is a synergistic masterpiece. Keeping an optimum flow of health is key and your hormones play an integral role in helping you to achieve this.

Hormone Production Handbook

Each human being holds nine of ten glands that create the endocrine system. These glands include the following:

• Thymus
• Hypothalamus
• Testes (men)
• Thyroid
• Pituitary gland
• Ovaries (women)
• Adrenal glands
• Pancreas
• Parathyroid

Each of these glands produces and regulates the wide variety of hormones coursing through your body. If just the needed amount of just one of these hormones falls out of balance, then it can create a world of issues ranging from depression, difficulty concentrating, low self-esteem, and excessive sleepiness to dry skin, yeast infections, weight gain, acne, and thinning hair.

Imbalance Breakdown

An imbalance in your hormone production can greatly influence your way of life, your attitude, and your lifestyle. Consider visiting your naturopath or an endocrinologist to seek therapy on behalf of these hormones, and give their body back its control. Imbalances often occur from two types of disruptions: synthetic and plant-based.

Synthetic Disruptors 

Often, endocrine disruptors create the hormone imbalance. An endocrine disruptor, typically thought to be a synthetic chemical or substance, imitates authentic hormones and their behavior. These substances can also block hormones as a means of disruption. Thus, an alteration or disruption in the naturally functioning body occurs as a result.

Some ways that disruptors can affect your overall health include the rerouting or dispersement of hormone levels. This can take place through stopping  the production of, or overproducing hormones. Known disruptors that often fade to the backs of our minds include dioxin, DDT, and diethylstilbestrol. Disrupting chemicals that often come in through even the healthiest foods include chemically-based pesticides and herbicides dispersed on crops.

We come into contact with synthetic disruptors via everything that also keeps us alive like chemically-contaminated food, water, and polluted air. Many industrial projects that require the usage of detergents or plasticizers tend to be a source for synthetic disruptors.

Plant-based Disruptors 

Synthetic chemicals are not the only disruptors to look to when trying to re-wire your biochemical communications. Plants play a big role in producing their own botanical chemicals that can attribute to many of the same complications as the synthetic disruptors.

Plant compounds that act as disruptors are often called phytohormones, which can mimic human hormones, but often are weaker than these biochemicals and their synthetic counterparts. A common plant-based disruptor, called phytoestrogen, mimics  the human-produced hormone estrogen.

The jury is still out on whether the disruption caused by plant chemicals can be harmful or not. Many soy-based baby formulas in the U.S. are disputed and provided on a prescription-only basis in in Europe because of the great exposure to phytoestrogen. Too much exposure to chemicals with the ability to mimic hormones can affect growth and development.

On the other hand, phytoestrogens show some health benefits for adults with developed bodies. For instance, these plant chemicals may well offer protection against a numerous variety of cancers, including leukemia, breast, and colon cancer.

Building Blocks for Beginners

Whatever treatment you seek for balancing hormones, we recommend that you supplement it with some form of organic herbs. Many alternative methods of balancing hormones exist right within your grocery store or supplemental retailer. We selected a few options to pave the way to personalizing your own hormone imbalance.

Organic hormone natural treatment starts with a base of daily health practices – eating fresh organic fruits and vegetables and eliminating chemically processed foods such as; sodas or highly processed pre-packaged foods. Fresh organic foods help your body build a basis for metabolizing needed substances properly, later using them for cell regeneration or repair.

Exercising lightly on a daily basis helps your body find a synchronistic routine within itself. Exercising too heavily or not at all can throw hormone production off balance in an instant. The exposure to fresh air and sunlight also holds solid as a reason to exercise for hormonal health. The sun both produces vitamin D and helps your body process it. Vitamin D, a pheromone, supports your body’s hormone function and creation.

Remember to get a good night’s rest regularly to help all the cells in your body regenerate and repair. Sleep is crucial in nearly every kind of therapy or lifestyle – if you want sound results, that is.

Handling Hormones with Herbs

Now that you have started your path to a lifestyle centered on hormone health, we can consider some herbs that might help a hormonal situation. Remember to speak to your naturopath or an endocrinologist – not only to make certain you know exactly which hormones or glands contribute to your condition – but to create a hormonal treatment plan that fits your individual needs.

One of our favorite remedies is organic coconut oil, which aids hormone health by crafting a necessary base for balanced hormone production. It also assists in weight loss, and can help clear skin irritation caused by hormonal imbalance. We use it in the majority of our productsas a base.

Most other cooking oils, like canola oil, peanut oil, and vegetable oil, contain a larger amount of Omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids. This fatty acid contributes to mutations that cause clogged arteries and some skin cancers, as they are more difficult for the body to metabolize.

Organic, unrefined coconut oil contains the least amount of Omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids and the largest quantity of Omega-3 fatty acids, which are helpful to the maintenance of the thyroid.

Clary sage oil, as a form of aromatherapy, can ease the intensity of hot flashes,  and feelings of stress, and soreness often associated with menopause. It can also relieve the irritation and tension that comes as a symptom of the menstrual cycle. The scent of jasmine may also bring hormonal relief when used as aroma therapy. Some aromatherapists suggest that jasmine may help relieve the pain caused by childbirth. Meantime, ingesting alfalfa sprouts can also aid hormonal regulation.

Specific foods like broccoli and cauliflower are rich in indole-3-carbinol, which metabolizes into the body and assists in modulating estrogen and the production of such. Flaxseeds and sunflower seeds provide another method of balancing your hormones naturally when eaten.

Organic lemon balm (or melissa leaf) has an aroma that may aid in the regulation of the thyroid’s production of hormones. It also can help with a number of other hormonal issues, and you can either ingest it or incorporate it as part of your aroma therapy routine. In fact, we offer our Melissa Leaf Hydrosol on our web catalogue – which contains 100% melissa leaf hydrosol.

Hormonal Home-Wreckers

In addition to a healthy daily routine of exercise and an organic, GMO-free diet combined with organic, non-GMO, herbal supplements or natural therapies, there are a few things you could benefit in staying away from when trying to naturally balance your hormones.

Most vegetable oils contain omega-polyunsaturated fats that contain high quantities of omega-6 fatty acids. This man-made fatty acid links to cell mutations that can disrupt your hormone production glands, leading to more serious health problems down the road.

You may like your coffee, but try to consume as little caffeine as possible. Caffeine puts a great deal of stress on hormone production and maintenance systems, which can easily cause an overproduction of one or an underproduction of the other.

How Can Face Naturals Help Your Hormones With Herbs?

We create and craft all of our products from scratch with fresh, organic herbs and healing botanicals that offer a wide variety of benefits for your skin. Sometimes sensitive or acneic skin is a symptom of a unbalanced hormones. So, we educated ourselves about organic botanicals that can help manage hormonally symptomatic skin.

From our Hibiscus Facial Cleanser to our Rose Geranium Hydrosol to our Peppermint Hydrosol, we offer multiple products that can help you manage skin affected by an off-balance hormone production. Just drop us a line with details on your skin problems. We will help you manage the aesthetic effects of hormone imbalance with organic, natural, herbal solutions.

Food For Thought – The more you worry, the more you throw off the delicate balance of hormones required for health. ~ Andrew Bernstein

References

• Endocrine Glands and Types of Hormones
• Hormonal Imbalance
• Female Hormone Balance
• Lemon Balm and Nutritional Benefits
• 5 Natural Ways to Balance Your Hormones 
• How to Balance Hormones Naturally
• 9 Tips to Help Balance Hormones 
• Endocrine Disruption Tutorial
• Dirty Dozen List of Endocrine Disruptors
• Endocrine Disruptors