Today we will deep dive into how to have healthy hormones over 40. There are several times in a women’s life we experience BIG hormonal imbalances. For some, the hormonal imbalances never seem to reset themselves back to what I call ‘factory settings.
These hormonal imbalances if left untreated can lead to many undesirable side effects such as;
- hormonal weight gain
- hormonal acne
- hormonal sleep issue
- hormonal night sweats
- hormonal hair loss
- hormonal belly (better known as the pouch)
Just to name a few. Today we will be covering what I refer to as the Hormonal Repair Manual.
We will cover 4 important topics:
- what causes hormone imbalance and weight gain
- the best hormonal imbalance diet
- hormonal changes at 40 symptoms (estrogen dominance & progesterone deficiency)
- natural remedy for hormonal imbalance
What Causes Hormone Imbalance and Weight Gain
The number one question I get asked by women who have heard my journey and how I healed my autoimmune system (thyroid) naturally after having babies and lost over 50 pounds in doing so is always about weight loss.
I get it.
For over 2 years I saw many doctors and specialists in an attempt to fix all of the symptoms and side effects of autoimmune disease.
The number one priority on my list at the time was weight loss. I have been there too friend.
It was not until we had run countless tests that the medical specialist concluded, “Sorry K’Lee this is something you are just going to have to live with” that I released I had been going about this all wrong.
I was looking for medication to fix the problem, but medication is but a bandaid to keep it from getting worse.
This is like cutting the tops of the weeds in the yard off so they don’t grow too tall. I had to get them out at the roots.
The Best hormonal Imbalance Diet – Food is Medicine
Upon starting my research I quickly released the truth behind Dr. Mark Hyman’s quote,
“Food is either medicine or poison. It is nourishing your body or slowly killing it.”
After a year or so of trial and error, I found something that my body responded to. Within 3 months I dropped over 30 pounds and was able to cut the thyroid medication I was on in half.
The doctors were dumbfounded and she was actually noting exactly what I was doing to tell all of her other thyroid patients, all of whom complained of the inability to lose weight, extremely dry skin, night sweats, hormonal acne, and on and on the list goes.
What was this hormonal diet magic I speak of?
I started the Ketogenic diet also called Keto. Now before you say “been there tried that” hear me out.
I have spoken to and coached many women who say they have “tried keto” before and it did not work.
There is no one size fits all diet solution. There are however certain foods that cause inflammation and lead to hormonal imbalances that are in fact universal.
Often I would dig deeper and find they thought they were “doing keto” when in fact they were not.
Either they were not following keto properly, or they would quit after the first couple of weeks of experiencing what is called the keto flu.
Our hormones can be thrown out of wack quickly and take time to get back to the factory settings as I call them.
Depending on your body this could be as quickly as 90 days, or it could take several years as it did with my body.
The Custom Keto Diet
There is a right way and a wrong way to go about starting the keto diet. Let me offer you the big red, or in the literal case here orange easy button.
The old saying people don’t plan to fail they fail to plan is the biggest roadblock to most people’s success when they are looking to make real changes.
The Custom Keto Diet is one that does the planning for you. They customize keto meal plans that fit your lifestyle and taste buds. (click here to try it free!)
Along with a healthy eating lifestyle, there are some core supplements that anyone with hormonal imbalances needs.
I did a full breakdown of the Top 10 Vitamins for Happy Hormones.
However, if you are needing a boost and looking for just one supplement to start with check out Hormonal Harmony, a hormonal supplement that is specifically designed to restore harmony to your hormones (click here to try hormonal harmony)
Man do I wish these supplements, custom meal planners, and such were around 6 years ago when I started keto it would have saved me so much time!
Many of the foods that are not keto-approved are also the ones that are causing things such as hormonal imbalances or hormonal imbalance weight gain.
AKA this is the root of the problem.
My hormonal weight gain came from pregnancy and having my second son.
For others, the hormonal imbalance comes around age 40 when women start experiencing premenopausal symptoms, which we will talk more on in a bit.
Studies show that 40% of women in their 40’s report suffering from hormonal acne. This is the first of many “warning lights” that our bodies send us signaling something is off.
Yet for some, it is when they are girls hitting puberty and their hormones never seem to reset properly, and it’s an uphill struggle from there.
No matter your age I know that if you give keto a solid shot you will not only look better and drop some of that unwanted weight, but you will feel better too!
Do you want 30-Days The BEST Weight Loss Exercises at Home Workouts you can do in 10 minutes (free)? Click the link to read that post next!
Hormonal Changes at 40 Symptoms – Estrogen dominance & Progesterone Deficiency
Let us spend a moment more talking about hormonal changes at 40 symptoms. The reason for this is by age 40 most women have had 2 of the 3 major hormonal changes in their lives.
Puberty and pregnancy, and are now approaching the last big hormonal change our bodies go through menopause.
It is conservatively said that 6.7 million people in the US today have an autoimmune disease. Of this 78% are women.
If one was lucky enough to miss hormonal imbalance or autoimmune issues during puberty and pregnancies there is yet one more biggie yet to endure.
Menopause.
“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.
Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.“
~ Marie Curie ~
There is nothing to fear about menopause, but there are important things we must understand.
Myth: Menopause is based on age.
Fact: Menopause is when our bodies feel we are no longer of “childbearing age”.
This has nothing to do with our biological age. There are women in their late 60s who are just hitting menopause and others in their late 30s or early 40s due to stress or trauma who are already entering the menopausal changes.
Every year my husband and I like to do a microbiome test. This test takes our blood and poo (I know gross right) and can determine many things about our bodies.
One of the most fascinating things is what is referred to as our chronological age. The age our bodies think we are.
Biological age is easy to determine it is tracked yearly with our birthdays.
Chronological age can only be measured from within our bodies.
Let us take my test for example my biological age is 38, but the test told me my body thinks I am 32.
Awesome right?!?!?
Take a look at these photos. All taken from within a year of having my second son and when my hormones were way out of wack. In the last photo (far right) I had just started keto. Can you see in my face that my body was already healing?
Not only is it thinner but it looks younger than the other two when in fact it was later than the other two by about 6-7 months.
My biological age there was 27. The photo below was taken at age 38 just a few months away from 39.
My hormones are fully healed, 50+ pounds lighter, and my body thinks I am 28.
I will be honest. I think I look better, younger, more youthful, and radiant at 38 than I did at 27!
Natural Remedy for Hormonal Imbalance
There is only one true way to find hormonal balance naturally and that is using food as medicine, choosing the right supplements to support healthy hormones, and removing toxins from your personal hygiene, home, and beauty products.
In my post “How to Find Hidden Toxins in Everyday Products” (click to read next) you will find a free printable list and free app that can help you identify ingredients in your beauty products, skincare, makeup, personal hygiene, and even your home cleaning and laundry detergents that ARE KNOWN endocrine disrupters!!
I wish there was a magic pill that could reset our hormones effortlessly, if you find one let me know.
The one tried and true way to get your hormones back in balance is by creating a lifestyle that will heal them. I get asked ALL the time for coaching.
Ask and you shall receive.
I offer a Happy Healthy Hormones Wellness Coaching 1-on-1 coaching program to help guide you into creating this new lifestyle so that staying healthy is effortless! My husband, who is 7 years older than I am (45), and doesn’t look a day over 30 is also able to jump in for our Fit Over 40 Couples Wellness Coaching.
No to answer the question some of you may have just been thinking. You do not need to be “over 40” to join our coaching program. But as I said above once we hit 40, men or women, our bodies go through some MASSIVE hormonal changes.
So if you are not yet 40, that is great! That just means you will be ahead of the game and have the secret to longevity and hormonal balance in a way you are tricking your body (chronologically) to be younger, MUCH younger than your biological age!
Conclusion
Once I learned the secret formula to restore hormonal balance to my body after having my babies everything changed! Creating a wellness lifestyle around these principles I was able to lose 50+ pounds of after-baby weight (hormonal weight gain) and KEEP it off for YEARS!
I want this for you too friend! If you are ready to ditch the diet drama, get control of your hunger and cravings, heal and restore balance to your hormones, and finally lose that unwanted weight now is your time.
Use my story to show you it can be done! If I can do it so can you.
Use Custome Keto Diet meal planner to help you get started. Give your hormones a boost while they are healing with the Hormonal Harmony Supplement.
Reach out to me for 1-on-1 coaching if you need it (click here to email me).
Creating a wellness lifestyle is not about one HUGE change it is about little daily changes that over time transform your life. Life began to become effortless and it all started with the decision to start somewhere.
I believe in you! You are worth it! You are enough!
XOXO,
K’Lee
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