Can You Simultaneously Detox Your Body And Balance Your Hormones Naturally?

Hormone problems are one of the top health concerns I see in my telehealth functional medicine clinic. Hormonal imbalances are linked to everything from toxin overload to chronic stress. If hormones are on your mind, I put together a step-by-step guide on how to detox the body and overcome hormone imbalances. Here is everything you need to know about your hormones, detoxification, and restoring hormone balance.

What’s The Connection Between Detoxing And Hormone Balance?

Hormones influence every area of health, including mood, energy levels, gut health, and weight. Their primary role is to send instructions to every organ in your body to carry out specific tasks to keep you healthy. A hormonal imbalance occurs when your body produces too much or too little of a specific type of hormone.

Symptoms of a hormone imbalance can manifest in different areas of your body. All of our hormones are related, so one hormonal imbalance often leads to another. The symptoms of hormonal imbalances can also be hormones of other health conditions, and they look a bit different for everyone. But here are a few of the possible signs and symptoms that your hormones may be out of balance:

• Fatigue
• Moodiness
• Low libido
• Weight gain/weight loss resistance
• Sudden weight loss
• Thinning hair/hair loss
• Frequent headaches/migraines
• Blood sugar problems/cravings
• Brain fog
• Irregular periods
• Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
• Acne
• Depression
• Bloating

Detoxing can help to restore hormonal balance by enhancing detoxification and supporting your body’s natural hormone production. It can help to rid the body of toxins that are shown to act as endocrine disruptors (meaning that they can mess with healthy hormone production and your overall endocrine system).

These endocrine disruptors can lead to chronic inflammation that blunts hormone communication and your body’s ability to produce hormones effectively.

7 Ways To Detox And Balance Your Hormones

There are many ways you can detox your body and find hormonal balance. These seven changes provide a baseline for addressing some of the biggest factors that are typically involved in poor hormonal health.

Make Specific Dietary Changes

Your body relies on a specific ratio of macro and micronutrients to fuel hormone production. In my telehealth functional medicine clinic, I often find nutrient deficiencies and other dietary factors to be driving hormonal imbalances.

Food can offer powerful benefits when it comes to hormonal balance and supporting natural detoxification and antioxidant production. Here are some of the best foods to enjoy regularly:

• Vitamin D-rich foods: Vitamin D is a key nutrient in proper hormone production, but it is also one of the most common nutrient deficiencies in the world! To boost your system, try eating vitamin D-rich foods, such as wild-caught salmon and eggs.
• Healthy fats: Healthy fats – found in clean, whole food sources – can help fuel hormone production. Some of my favorite healthy fats include avocados, walnuts, coconut oil, and wild-caught seafood.
• Cruciferous vegetables: Cruciferous vegetables can help balance estrogen levels. (1) Try incorporating veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and Brussels sprouts into your diet.
• Green tea: Green tea contains antioxidants and compounds like ECGC that offer a lot of protective properties. Drinking green tea has been shown to have effects against a lot of toxins that cause hormonal imbalances. (2)

Filling your meals with antioxidant- and nutrient-rich foods makes detoxifying easier. Additionally, especially when combined with dietary changes, supplements like D3-K2 and Omega+ can help to give you a health-supporting boost.

Related: A Functional Medicine Guide to Cutting Sugar Out of Your Diet

Get Quality Sleep

Sleep is essential for our well-being. Hormone imbalances have been shown to directly result from a lack of sleep. (3) What’s even worse, hormone imbalances can further perpetuate poor sleep. To get out of this vicious cycle, we have to prioritize getting the recommended 7+ hours of quality sleep each night.

To get high-quality, uninterrupted sleep, it's important to avoid blue light exposure at night. Turning off screens and having limited light can help prevent cortisol spikes and aid melatonin production, which helps you wind down. Prioritizing quality sleep allows your circadian rhythm a chance to reset, which positively impacts you and your hormonal system.

Read my article here for a complete guide to cultivating a nighttime routine that works for you.

Reduce Stress

Stress is the ultimate junk food for your body. You can be doing all the “right” things, but if you are feeding your body a slice of stress every day, you will still have trouble with your hormones.

When stressed, cortisol – the body’s main stress hormone – spikes as a normal, healthy response to protect you from the stressful situation at hand. When you are stressed out 24/7, though, your body never has a chance to return to its baseline state of calm. These chronically high cortisol levels lead to adrenal fatigue, poor metabolic health, and other hormone problems like insulin resistance.

We all find ourselves in stressful situations. Start incorporating stress-reducing techniques like:

• Meditation: There are some great apps out there, like Headspace and Calm, to help you.
• Breathing exercises: Can be repeated anytime, anywhere.
• Look for ways to reorganize your life: An organized space is an organized mind.
• Set up boundaries for the toxic people in your life: Learn to say no and give yourself alone time and time with the people you enjoy.

Cut Out Toxins

Another way to support your hormone levels is by cutting out toxins as much as possible. Our world has become increasingly toxic, and this onslaught of toxin exposure has been linked to severe hormone problems. Some toxins to look out for and avoid are:

• Xenoestrogens: These synthetic chemicals act as estrogen in your body, increasing your estrogen levels while making it more difficult for your body to break down and eliminate excess estrogen. They can be found in everything from household cleaning products to plastic to beauty products.
• Atrazine: This toxin is an herbicide that is an endocrine disruptor. (4) Exposure can lead to birth defects, reproduction dysfunction, and developmental issues. As a pesticide, atrazine can be found on certain food products or in contaminated water.
• Lead: This toxin is a metal found in old paints, certain industrial products, and contaminated water. (5) It can impact the brain and kidneys, cause high blood pressure and joint pain in adults, cause reproductive issues, and lead to behavioral or developmental issues in children.

Eating organic, whole foods can help you avoid pesticides and herbicides, and using environmentally friendly cleaning products can help you avoid common toxins. Though you can’t avoid toxins altogether, you can mitigate their effects by supporting your body’s detoxification pathways as much as possible.