Unlocking Hormone Health For All: Balancing Hormones Naturally

When it comes to hormone health, we tend to think about just estrogen and progesterone for women, or testosterone for men.

But the reality might surprise you! Did you know your body houses an intricate network of over 50 different types of hormones, each playing a crucial role in various bodily functions?

As we enter the month of February, a time dedicated to celebrating love in all its forms, let's delve into the fascinating realm of the team within our bodies that orchestrates the beautiful feeling of LOVE – our hormones!

Understanding Hormones and Their Role in Your Body

When it comes to hormone health, it's not just about estrogen and progesterone for women, or testosterone for men. In fact, did you know your body houses an intricate network of over 50 different types of hormones, each playing a crucial role in various bodily functions?! I'm here to shed light on the fascinating world of hormones and provide insights into maintaining balance for overall well-being.

The Significance of Hormones: Chemical Messengers and Their Impact

Hormones act as the body's chemical messengers, orchestrating specific instructions to every organ. They influence a myriad of functions including mood, energy levels, weight, temperature, digestion, and more. From regulating energy production to controlling blood sugar and responding to stress, hormones are integral to our health.

Understanding Hormonal Imbalance: The Ripple Effect on Health

We often overlook the importance of hormones until they malfunction, leading to a cascade of health issues. Produced in glands such as the brain, thyroid, adrenals, pancreas, and reproductive organs, hormones must maintain a delicate balance. Imbalances can result in a range of problems, emphasizing the need for hormone harmony.

Examples of Hormones You Have Probably Heard Of:

• Estrogen, Testosterone: Reproductive

• Dopamine: Brain

• Melatonin, Oxytocin: Pituitary

• Adrenaline, Cortisol, Endorphins: Adrenals

• Insulin: Pancreas

• Thyroxine, TSH: Thyroid

Three Practical Steps for Creating Hormone Harmony Naturally:

1. Avoid Xenoestrogens with Mindful Product Selection:

• Swap out cleaning products, makeup, and skincare in your house containing endocrine disrupting chemicals. Read labels on personal care products to avoid bisphenol A (BPA), phthalates, parabens, and synthetic fragrances.

• Reduce plastic use, especially in food and beverage containers.

• Explore resources like the EWG Skin Deep website for product safety.

• Shop Thrive Market’s incredible and comprehensive selection of nontoxic skincare and cleaning products. Get 40% off your first order using my link!

Symptoms of Xenoestrogen Toxicity

A build-up of xenoestrogens contributes to many conditions that disrupt hormones. The most common signs of estrogen imbalance that can result from xenoestrogen toxicity include:

• Bloating and digestive upset

• Acne

• Low libido

• Heavy, light, or irregular periods

• Tender, swollen, and/or fibrocystic breasts

• Headaches

• Weight gain

• Hot flashes

• Mood swings

• Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)

2. Support Your Liver Health:

• One of the liver's roles is to help regulate the balance of sex hormones, thyroid hormones, cortisone and other adrenal hormones. The liver transforms or removes any excess hormones from the body. Like all organs, your liver health can be impacted by a range of factors.

• When I have a client dealing with hormonal acne, the first area we start to support is the liver.

• Limit alcohol and refined sugar intake to support liver health.

• Incorporate practices like castor oil packs and supplements such as Cellcore’s KL Support and Tudca. Use my Direct Code “TdAXcw0G” to order.

3. Create Lifestyle Habits That Support Healthy Levels of Cortisol:

• Assess lifestyle changes to reduce cortisol levels. Focus on lower impact, intentional movement. Use both body weight and lift weight. Avoid high intensity workouts if you find you feel drained or spacey afterwards.

• Consume 20-30g of protein within an hour of waking up to support adrenal and blood sugar regulation.

Explore Functional Testing: Gain Personalized Insights for Your Hormonal Health

For a deeper understanding of hormonal imbalances, liver function, and your specific level of exposure to environmental toxins that impact hormone health — you can have functional precision testing done. These tests can be repeated to monitor progress, providing valuable insights into your hormone health journey.

Embracing Hormone Health for a Balanced Life

Understanding and prioritizing hormone health is a crucial step towards overall well-being. By incorporating natural approaches and leveraging functional medicine testing, you can unlock your highest potential of hormone harmony.

Six Essentials for Your Healthiest Home

As my friend Andie posted to her instagram stories the other day:

“One day you’re young, the next day you’re excited about your new water filter that removes microplastics”.

Oh, modern life! There comes a day when we all have to be willing to accept that we have to take steps to protect our bodies from the toxicity all around us. And don’t worry, I’m here to help. I’ve done years of testing and researching the best health-building products out there and I’ve rounded up some of my favorites for you here in one easy post. Enjoy!

• Air Oasis Air Filters — If you do not filter the air in your home, your body becomes the filter and this can lead to toxic buildup in the body that leads to all kinds of health burdens from inflammation to mental health issues, gut issues, brain fog, and almost any symptom you could think of. My primary focus with air filtration is reduction of mold, bacteria, viruses, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Air Oasis makes two different types of air purifiers I have one of each in my home. I use the iAdapt in my bedroom and the IonicAir™ in my living room area. Use my link www.airoasis.com/megcrocketthealth and my code “MEGCROCKETTHEALTH” for 5% off of a IonicAir™ UV Purifier or iAdaptAir Small.

• Clearly Filtered Water Filter - I buy jugs of distilled water and run it through this filter to remove microplastics. If you have any health issues at all and you are not drinking distilled water — I would start today. Professionally speaking I recommend distilled water above any and all expensive filtering systems. It is consistently what tests for the least amount of contaminants. Then I simply remove the plastics from the water containers by running it through this filter. This is also a fabulous filter for tap water itself — I just wanted to let you know exactly what water I drink. I don’t have a code for you for this filter yet, but keep supporting this little blog here and maybe someday they will give me one!

• Branch Basics — This is just an amazing, clean, multi-use brand for cleaning, hand soap, laundry detergent, and even dishwashing. It’s so clean you can even use it to wash your produce. If you’ve never used it before, I recommend starting with their “Starter Kit”. Use my referral link to get $10 off your order: http://branchbasics.refr.cc/megcrockett.

• To prevent mold growth in high moisture areas such as the bathroom - run a dehumidifier. I don’t have a discount for this, but I’ve been using that one for years! You want to keep the humidity in your home below 50%. This will not kill mold, but it helps prevent growth.

• When shopping for home supplies it helps to simply shop somewhere that is curating the least toxic options out there. I get all of my shelf stable and many of my household goods such as nontoxic sponges, candles, toilet paper, personal care items, and foods from Thrive Market because they truly have the best deals and some of the cleanest brands around. Get 40% off your first order using my link: http://thrv.me/PWeag5 .

• And one last tip. When I think about home, I also think about personal care. A great place to start on clean personal care game is get a nontoxic deodorant. We do so much detoxing through our sweat. EO Deodorant actually works and at $6.49 a pop, the price is unbelievable for something so clean, that works so well. Trust me — I’ve been in the nontoxic product game before Goop was even a website. I have tried it ALL. And this actually works. I promise!

Cheers to a healthy Spring, friends!

XOXO

Meg

Five Healthy Food Swaps to Make in 2023

It’s often said that changing how you eat is the “gateway drug” to a healthier overall lifestyle. I think we tend to underestimate how important what we consume is to the functionality of our system. I don’t promote any one particular style of eating, but what I can say is that switching to a “Paleo-ish” style of eating has been super supportive for me personally over the years as I healed from Mold (mycotoxin) illness and later, from chronic Lyme.

If you want to try something new for 2023 and don’t know where to start, I would suggest eliminating gluten (wheat, barley, rye and triticale) for one month and take notice of how you feel by the end.

I know, I know — this is a CRAZY idea but just hear me out.

I consider gluten elimination to be largely preventative because of gluten’s unfortunate links to conditions such as leaky gut and leaky brain. Every-body is a little bit different, but why not try it out and see how you feel? I love living the gluten-free lifestyle. Gluten is also the crop that is most likely to be sprayed with toxic herbicides such as Glyphosate, which we want to avoid consuming. If you are going to eat gluten, at least make sure it is organic.

When it comes to food, my philosophy is also always to “swap”. We don’t ever just cut something out. If we remove something, we swap something else in its place. This is what I call “crowding out”. When you crowd out something less supportive for your overall health, you don’t miss whatever you eliminated.

Here are my top FIVE favorite healthy swaps:

1. BREAD: I’ve swapped out breads that contain both gluten and grains for these instead:

   •Soozy's Grain Free Breads, Bagels, Donuts, and Muffins

   • Base Culture Breads

2. PASTA: I’m a pasta gal through and through. My friends know that if you seat me at an Italian restaurant with a bowl of gluten-free lamb ragu, I will be the world’s happiest person. Here are my favorite pastas to make at home:

   • Cappello’s Grain Free Pastas

   • Cybele’s Free to Eat Pastas

3. PIZZA: In the year 2020, I cooked a looottttt of homemade pizza. I make it less these days, but I still always keep these grain-free crusts in the freezer in case the mood strikes!

   • Cappello’s Grain Free Pizza Crusts

   • Banza Chickpea Pizza Crusts

4. CRACKERS: I don’t know about you, but a full charcuterie board with grain or gluten free crackers is always my go-to appetizer when I’m hosting and it’s one of my favorite things to encounter when I’m being host-ed. Here are my favorite cracker swaps:

   • Simple Mills - I love all of their products in general! Some retailers also now carry their Organic crackers (not yet available on Thrive Market).

   • Hu Kitchen Grain Free Crackers - These get bonus points in my book because they also do NOT contain any seed oils.

5. MILK: While I’m not a fan of conventional milk, I am a big fan of raw milk and cheeses made from raw dairy. Wow, raw milk is just FULL of amazing nutrient and immune system boosting factors. In the United States the state laws vary as far as where you can buy raw milk near you, so you will have to do some research on your own to find out how you can acquire it in your location.

   Most of the above links go to the brand’s product pages on Thrive Market. You can get 40% off your first order at Thrive Market if you use my referral link here: Meg's Link for 40% off your first order on Thrive. Thrive Market consistently offers the best prices on all of my favorite healthy swaps so I highly suggest joining.

   What are your favorite healthy food swaps? Tell me in the comment section.