10 New Rules For Balancing Your Hormones.

1. Monitor your hunger, energy and cravings.

Your hunger, energy and cravings are your hormones telling you how the food you're eating is having an effect on your metabolism. Eat foods which leave you feeling sustained and satisfied. Think high fibre and high protein meals, rather than sweet, carb heavy meals.

2. Eat for 12 hours day.

Spending 12 hours of the day eating, and 12 hours of the day not eating (mostly while you sleep) helps your hormones to establish a rhythm. Times of high energy, and times of rest and recovery.

3. Find your carbohydrate tipping point.

Become a food detective and find out how many carbohydrates you can eat before insulin release becomes a problem for you and you end up on a blood sugar rollercoaster, craving sweet food constantly.

4. Learn to eat fat, but don't overdo it.

Eating fat will help to control your hunger hormones, helping you to feel more full after a meal. Fat doesn’t have any impact on your blood sugar but it’s easy to consume too much in yummy nutritious nuggets like nuts, so eat sparingly.

5) Eat the combination of fat and sugar together sparingly.

The combo of fat and sugar together is one of most pleasurable eating experiences on earth. Think cheesecake or pizza! But it can cause havoc with your fat storing and hunger hormones, so best keep these high fat/sugar combos for special treats.

6. Don't let 'whole foods' rule your diet.

This might sound odd coming from a personal trainer, but we live in the real world and it’s 2017, so some processed foods are ok and you don’t have to eat ‘clean, whole foods’ ALL the time. For example, a meal replacement shake with a perfect balance of protein, fat and carbohydrate will keep your hormones in check much better than a single piece of fruit!

7. Understand what's happening for YOUR BODY.

Listening to your body is the most effective way to eat and exercise in a way that works for you. Don’t rely on someone else’s meal plan or fads. When your hunger, energy and cravings are in check and you’re feeling great, you’ve found YOUR formula.

8) Know your trigger and buffer foods.

This goes hand in hand with being a detective. Work out which foods give you digestive upset, give you headaches, cravings or leave you an energy slump. Remove them from your diet to balance your hormones and see if you feel and look better.

9) Sleep more and stress less.

Lack of sleep and high stress is a chronic problem for many right now. Low levels of sleep interfere with your hunger hormones and high levels of stress release stress hormones that can wreak havoc with the entire endocrine and digestive system.

10) Learn your macros.

Macros?! This means understanding the differences between protein, carbohydrate and fat, and how your hormones respond to eating them. This is the modern approach to nourishing the body, rather than focusing on calorie counting.

If you want to learn more about balancing your hormones, book in to our Hormone Seminar for Women on Monday 19th June 7pm-8:30pm, at the Empowered Fitness studio in Southville.