Have you ever felt tired and sluggish or started putting on weight with no clear cause? If you have symptoms such as adult acne, extreme thirst, and abdominal weight gain it can be a sign that your hormones are out of balance and your body is experiencing chronic inflammation.
Even if your hormones are currently in a state of balance, prevention is best. Sticking to an anti-inflammatory hormone balancing diet can keep your hormones in check while also encouraging general health and putting the pep back in your step.
If you want to learn more about eating an anti-inflammatory & hormone balanced diet, we’ve got you covered. Let’s dive in.
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What Is An Anti-Inflammatory Diet?
Inflammation is your body’s response to things that harm it. This could be infections, injuries, or even toxins from foods. Inflammation is caused by your immune system and particular hormones.
It’s normal to experience acute inflammation at certain times. For example, this might occur when your body is trying to recover from an illness or injury.
Imagine you cut your finger. To heal the cut, your body would send inflammatory cells to the injury. The cells then start the healing process. This is perfectly normal, and nothing to worry about – just your body doing its job.
Chronic inflammation on the other hand, happens when your body sends inflammatory cells even when there’s no clear danger present. A poor diet is among the risk factors for chronic inflammation, along with obesity, smoking, stress, and the prevalence of particular hormones.
Certain foods can trigger or worsen inflammation, while some have an anti-inflammatory effect. The latter is what you want to eat more of. In general, whole foods are less likely to cause inflammation and sugary or processed foods are a common culprit of inflammation in your body.
Can An Anti-Inflammatory Diet Be Used for Balancing Hormones?
The benefit of eating an anti-inflammatory hormone balancing diet is that it does more than just calm inflammation. Many of the foods involved in an anti-inflammatory diet double up as hormone balancing foods.
They help you get back to a state of feeling balanced and reducing symptoms like weight gain, acne, poor sleep, and fatigue. You may also notice better mental health.
If you need help balancing your hormones through diet, go ahead and grab our FREE 3-day hormone balancing diet plan by filling in the form below.
What Hormone Controls Inflammation?
Cortisol is the hormone that controls inflammation. It’s a steroid hormone that carries important messages throughout your body.
In and of itself, cortisol isn’t the bad guy. In fact when it’s working correctly, it’s your best friend. Back in our days of living in caves, cortisol would have saved us from many hungry lions! But when you have a poor diet, do little exercise, and/or experience frequent stress cortisol levels can become consistently high, which causes a myriad of health problems.
Cortisol (the stress hormone) over activates your immune system, which disrupts the balance between your body’s inflammatory and anti-inflammatory processes. In fact, some of the most common health conditions, including IBS, depression, and heart disease are linked to stress-induced inflammatory processes. So, you can see how vital it is to keep inflammation to a minimum.
Elevated cortisol can lead to low thyroid hormone production. This in turn leads to further cortisol production, creating a vicious cycle. To stop this unhealthy cycle in its tracks, you need to prevent inflammation in the first place. You can do this by putting anti-inflammatory foods at the center of your diet.
Anti-Inflammatory Foods That Balance Hormones For Weight Loss
Now that you know the importance your diet plays in reducing inflammation, let’s review a list of the best foods to eat. Be sure to include these foods in your diet often for hormone balancing and gut health.
Fruit
Almost every healthy eating plan in the world will tell you to eat more fruit – and for good reason. These sweet, juicy treats are full of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, which play a role in protecting your body from heart disease, diabetes, and even forms of cancer.
Berries such as strawberries and blueberries are particularly potent in antioxidants, which helps to reduce inflammation. For best results eat at least 1.5 to 2 cups of fruit every day. Prioritize the inclusion of berries in your diet.
Vegetables
Hear me out – no meal should ever be without vegetables! Vegetables are nature’s lifesavers.
They’re abundant in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds. They also contain many of the vitamins and minerals that our bodies need to stay healthy.
Cruciferous and leafy green vegetables are particularly beneficial for your body, including veggies like kale, broccoli, and cabbage. Cruciferous vegetables are great for flushing toxins out of your body. The beauty of these foods is that they can be easily included in your diet.
Next time you make a salad, throw in some kale or swap out your chicken chunks for cauliflower bites.
Quality Proteins
Getting enough protein is crucial for sustaining muscle density and helping you with strength exercises such as yoga. Meats such as pork, chicken, and beef contain many important nutrients, which can help keep your body balance.
Try and buy these meats in their natural form as much as possible. Avoid anything overly processed.
Other proteins that are great for your diet include legumes, eggs, and fish. Legumes provide a protein-packed vegetarian alternative to meat.
Eggs make the perfect addition to a savory breakfast, and they’re packed with nutrients and protein. Fish that are high in Omega-3 (such as anchovies and sardines) are great for an anti-inflammatory diet too.
Oily fish can help stabilize your hunger hormones and support the production of estrogen and testosterone. They’re also great for your brain.
All Nuts Except Peanuts
Nuts such as walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, and almonds contain high amounts of fiber, calcium, magnesium, zinc, and Omega-3 fats. These qualities are ideal for keeping inflammation at bay.
Nuts are a type of healthy fat, so they’re great for supporting heart health too. Plus, they taste downright delicious. Try yours sprinkled on top of stir-fry or as part of your lunchtime salad.
Seeds
Seeds are tiny powerhouses. Not only do they add a delicious, earthy crunch to your meals or breakfast cereal, but they’re also packed with important nutrients and anti-inflammatory properties.
Chia seeds and flaxseeds are both high in Omega-3 fatty acids. Additionally, sunflower seeds in particular have been shown to reduce inflammation.
Healthy Fats
Fat can be seen as a scary word in the world of nutrition, but not all fats are created equally. While fats like saturated fat can be problematic for your weight and general health, some fats are actually good for your heart. It’s important to include these in your diet in moderation.
Fats are essential to help reduce inflammation. They play a vital role in keeping you fuller for longer. Some of the best healthy fats to incorporate into your diet are avocados and avocado oil, nut butters like almond butter, and olive oil.
Eating an anti-inflammatory hormone balancing diet might be the key to getting healthy for you!
It seems obvious, but the best way to treat a lack of balance is with – you guessed it – balance! And the best way to tackle inflammation is to eat anti-inflammatory foods in abundance.
Other stress reduction methods help, such as mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and self-care. The more you can calm chronically high cortisol levels, the more likely you are to keep inflammation at bay for good.
Finally, as a reminder if you are not sure where to start, try our completely FREE 3-day hormone balancing diet plan to reset your hormones and find that much needed balance.
