Hormones are often blamed for many things - and more often than not the blame is laid where it should be…..

But what can you do to make a difference?

How can you help to balance your hormones naturally?

We chatted to married mum of two and Registered Nutritional Therapist, Kate Bevan Wood, who has a special interest in women’s health.

What are hormones?

Hormones are basically chemical messengers which send messages to almost every organ and cell in the body.

They have many different roles in the body, including helping to regulate metabolism, encouraging healthy growth and development, supporting tissue function, sexual function, reproduction, sleep and mood health.

There is a fine line in keeping our hormones balanced and all too often things like stress, age, and weight can have a huge impact. A healthy diet and active lifestyle can often be overlooked as a way of decreasing troublesome symptoms associated with hormonal concerns. One of the reasons that I trained to become a Registered Nutritional Therapist was because I was having my fair share of hormonal ups and downs and I wanted to learn more about how to support myself from a holistic perspective and pass that information onto other ladies.

What would be your top 10 tips on helping to balance your hormones naturally?

1. Avoid processed foods - white flour snacks like cakes, bread, bagels, white sugar, refined carbs such as white rice, white flour, alcohol, and replace them with refined sugar-free flapjacks, raw bites, hearty meals with legumes, baked products with whole flours.

Where possible cook all meals from scratch.

2. Pack in the fruit and veg - eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables every day. Ideally between seven to 10 portions are advisable to get a broad spectrum of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.

3. Include Omega 3 foods into your daily diet - Oily fish, flax and chia seeds, walnuts and primrose oil and fish oil supplements. These are called essential fatty acids because they aren’t produced by our bodies, so we need to get them from our food. They help our cell activities, keep our cholesterol healthy and help the liver to metabolise excess hormones.

Aim for three oily fish meals per week and nuts and seeds daily.

4. Supplement with superfoods - Where possible include spirulina, maca powder and bee products into your daily diet. Spirulina contains essential fatty acids, great sources of iron and supports the liver, helping it to metabolise excess oestrogen. Maca powder may help to balance hormones during perimenopause, support fertility concerns and relieve premenstrual symptoms. Bee products like pollen, honey, and royal jelly contain bioflavonoids that help our system release hormones in a balanced way.

It is very important to get your superfoods from verified sources, and to make sure they are fully raw and of high quality.

5. Increase your fibre intake - our livers are an amazing organ and increasing soluble fibre in your diet will help support the liver to eliminate any toxins or excess hormones, dumping it in the intestines for excretion.

Always ensure that you increase your water intake if you are increasing your fibre intake.

6. Focus on fats - healthy fats help our bodies to create hormones and keep them in balance. Aim to use high-quality healthy fats where possible - grass-fed butter, avocado, coconut oil, raw cacao butter, avocado oil.

7. Support your gut health - including probiotic foods into your daily diet will help to support the health of your gut, which in turn helps to balance hormones, supports our mood and brain health. Having a healthy gut helps us to absorb much-needed vitamins and minerals from our food.

8. Drink more - healthy fluids… Aim for two litres of water a day to help eliminate toxins, excess oestrogen, moisturise your cells and support your brain health. This can include herbal teas.

9. Avoid toxins and xenoestrogens where possible - Xenoestrogens are a group of chemicals that change the normal functioning of hormones. You can help to avoid them by giving up plastic food containers (source of Bisphenol-A (BPA) – choose glass for storing foods in, opt for more natural cleaning products, and personal care products that are paraben and phthalates free.

10. Last but not least……………Take time for yourself! Spend time doing things you love, being outside in nature, gentle exercising, deep breathing, reading a book or just locking the bathroom door (so that you don’t get any interruptions!) and having a bath. All too often we spend our lives running around after others and forget about ourselves.

Try to give yourself at least 10 to 15 minutes each day for something you love to do. It’ll benefit everyone in the end.

If you need more help you can contact Kate through her profile on the Centre website