Use Food to Rebalance Your Hormones

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RadioMD Presents: Wellness for Life Radio | Original Air Date: April 3, 2015
Host: Susanne Bennett, DC
Guest: Magdalena Wszelaki

You're listing to RadioMD. She's a chiropractic holistic physician, best-selling author, international speaker, entrepreneur and talk show host. She's Dr. Susanne Bennett. It's time now for Wellness for Life Radio. Here's Dr. Susanne.

DR. SUSANNE: As a woman, we all have these ups and down, particularly when it comes to the roller coaster ride with our hormones. It can go really, really haywire.

My next guest is here to share how we can finally take control of our hormones simply by choosing the right foods to eat.

Welcome to the show, the founder of the Hormones, A Balanced Program. Magdalena Wszelaki.

Hi, Mag.

MAGDALENA: Hi. Thank you so much for having me.

DR SUSANNE: Oh, absolutely. So, you know what? First, share with us how can we tell if our hormones are not in balance and what can we do to start making the lifestyle changes, the nutritional changes, so that we can restore the hormones?

MAGDALENA: Yes. Sure. So, you know, I think a lot of us intuitively feel something is off and a lot of times, as women, we do look for external reasons. So, we say, "You know, it's because the kids are now demanding more time. Or, it's because the weather has changed or because my husband has a lot of issues going on." So, we kind of blame a lot of external factors where it's actually really good to sometimes look inside and say, "What is going on, really?" And, you know, some of the most obvious things when it comes to hormonal balance, of course, you would have things like PMS. You're going to have a headache before your period, right? You know, infertility. I think these things. Women going through menopause. We know that those are hormonally connected. But, there's a whole long list of other symptoms that, as women, we don't connect and I want to mention those. Things like, for example, just feeling really wired and tired. You know, especially later at night. Craving salty foods and feeling ourselves saying, "Oh, my god. Why am I craving salty foods?" There's nothing wrong with it. It could be adrenal exhaustion. Having this what we call love handles or muffin top. You know, the little fat that kind of pours out when you put on tight things. That could be hormonally connected. Memory loss. Walking into a room going, "What did I walk in here for?" That could be another one. You know, interestingly, for example, cellulite. We spend so much money on cellulite without realizing that that could be a connection to hormones as well. Incontinence. You know, you go the gym and you work yourself really hard and you kind of pee yourself and it's like, "Oh, it's so embarrassing. What's going on?" It could be a hormonal imbalance that's causing that. Hair loss is another one. Weight gain that just wouldn't go away. Fatigue could be connected to various different hormonal problems.

What else comes to mind, Susanne, from your side? What am I missing now? The big ones?

DR SUSANNE: Well, there are so many things that you could…I mean, number one, as you said, fatigue. That is downright the number one symptom that I get in my practice. The number one.

MAGDALENA: Yes.

DR SUSANNE: You know, people don't realize that anxiety and insomnia are signs of a hormonal imbalance. When you're really, really moody and all of a sudden, you're thinking, "Gosh, I have nothing to be moody about, but gosh, I'm not feeling good and I'm snapping at my partner or my children and that just doesn't feel great." Those are the things that you really want to look out for, right? Those symptoms that you think, "Oh, I'm having a bad day," but it may be that you're having an imbalance in your hormones.

MAGDALENA: Absolutely. I'm sure you get a lot of that weight gain. The weight that just wouldn't go away, right?

DR SUSANNE: Absolutely.

MAGDALENA: That could be anything to do with your thyroid. It could be estrogen dominance. It could be high or low cortisol levels that are causing that. It could be insulin resistance. So, it's so important to really work with somebody who understands hormones and get those checked.

DR SUSANNE: Absolutely. Now, you actually work with food. You know?

MAGDALENA: Yes.

DR SUSANNE: And, I love that. I'm going to tell everyone right now that I've got these incredible crackers that you made and you sent to me. I'm just…I love these crackers that are for progesterone as well as estrogenic. These are phytoestrogen foods, so what foods, please tell us which ones can support the production of the different female hormones?

MAGDALENA: Sure. So, you know, I sent you the crackers. It was part of my whole concept that what's called "seed rotation". Seed rotation has been used by naturopathic doctors for a while. It kind of goes a little bit under noticed so, I really decided to bring it up and bring it to light with some great recipes. The idea of seed rotation is for women who are still menstruating. It's to use the first part of your cycle. So, from day 1 to day 14 or thereabouts, whatever is the half point of your cycle. It's to work on bringing up your estrogen levels in a healthy way. The best way to do that is to eat flax seed and pumpkin seeds, 1 tablespoons of each or you can do 2 tablespoons of either one of them. The point is to get 2 tablespoons of one or the other. Then, so that's going to be a natural way of bringing up your estrogen levels because both flax seeds and pumpkin seeds are known to be phytoestrogens, natural, helping us to bring the estrogens up. I just want to make a quick note here and that is that a lot of women are afraid of being estrogen dominant and that's a good concern. However, doing flax seed and pumpkin seed are actually going to help regulate the estrogen. It's going to move the needle toward the good estrogen, the metabolites of the good estrogen in a positive way. So, actually, it's a good thing.

Then, we're talking about Phase Two, which is the second part of your cycle which is your [inaudible 5:55] we're talking about the 14th day through day 28. We want to do sesame seeds and sunflower seeds. The reason is that sesame seeds are high in zinc and sunflower seeds are high in vitamin E. Both the zinc and vitamin E combination helps boost up our progesterone levels. You can also supplement it with evening primrose. That's another good one to help progesterone production. When you do that, you're really setting yourself up very nicely for having balanced estrogen and progesterone. It's right in your cycle. It's super helpful for women who having irregular menstrual cycles, who are having painful PMSs. I've seen a lot of women having much better PMSs or going away, actually, of PMS symptoms when they do the seed rotation. So, with sesames and sunflower seeds, you're doing exactly the same thing. One tablespoon of each. You want to either grind them or make sure you put them in a smoothie. You can put them in a salad or make crackers with it. That's one of my bonus giveaways is the recipe that I send of the crackers to you as part of the program—the Cooking for Balance program. That's where you can get the recipes from.

DR SUSANNE: Well, I love this whole seed rotation aspect because what you're doing is you're working with the natural rhythms of a woman. Did you know, everyone, if you're in menopause, you still have these rhythms. You just don't bleed. So, it's important to be able to use this, not just when you're PMSing or premenstrual. You can use this to support you during your menopausal states.

Now, I want everyone to know that there's a great little workshop that, just tell us a little bit about it. You can go to that workshop by going to DrSusanne.com/cookingfor balance.

So, tell us a little bit about what you teach. I love those free recipes you gave out because I'm part of that workshop.

MAGDALENA: The cooking for balance is going to be a free workshop that's going to be held on flax breakfasts and quick meals that really help support our hormonal health. I'm going to be focusing on helping us restore our digestion, sugar levels and liver function which are the underpinning body systems for hormonal balance. We've got free recipes we're giving away for fantastic breakfasts that really sustain you. Quick meals that most women struggle with and then snacks are a part of this. I'm going to also be teaching about 30 different foods that help us rebalance our hormones. There's going to be a super information packed workshop.

DR SUSANNE: How fun. This is awesome. Everyone, just know that you can actually balance your hormones, have a healthier state of well-being just by using seeds. I highly recommend organic, raw sprouted seeds. Of course, sprouted is best. For more information about the workshop, please go to DrSusanne.com/cookingforbalance.

So, visit DrSusanne.com/cookingforbalance.

Thanks again, Mag. You're such a great wealth of information. Really appreciate having you here.

Everyone, you can also go to the Wellness for Life radio page on RadioMD.

Until next time, this is Dr. Susanne sharing natural strategies for ultimate health and wellness right here on RadioMD. Stay well everyone.