The connection between our diet and hormones is significant, yet widely ignored, even though our hormones directly impact our health. The most basic link between diet and hormones is this: consuming too much refined flour and sugar disrupts hormonal balance. It is imperative to keep blood sugar stable in order to balance hormones. How do we do this? By eating every few hours, managing carbohydrates, consuming helpful fats and avoiding harmful ones, sticking with high-quality foods and avoiding too much processed foods.

Eat small meals every 2-3 hours that consist of a lean protein – chicken, turkey, fish, nuts – and a complex carbohydrate – a vegetable or high-fiber fruit. Consume carbohydrates that rate low on the glycemic index such as vegetables, nuts and seeds, milk and plain yogurt, barley and quinoa, beans and legumes, sourdough bread and fruits from Northern and Mediterranean climates.

When you eat small portions of low-GI foods every three hours or so, it is more effective in keeping blood sugar stable. When your body isn’t in starvation mode, you can make more rational and healthy food choices and keep portions small, rather than overeating on bad choices. Small, frequent meals or snacks of low-GI foods provide a steady stream of energy, reduce stress and result in fuel going to muscles rather than fat, leading to a leaner body.

When you start to eat more nutritious foods, you’ll see food doing what it should do to restore and maintain harmony among hormones:

• Keep blood-sugar levels stable
• Decrease inflammation
• Provide sustained energy
• Help reduce body fat
• Help maintain a healthy weight
• Contribute to overall health and well-being
• Reduce risk for chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and osteoporosis
• Keep taste buds happy

Dr. Stanton discusses her book, Hormone Harmony, on the lifestyle show Connecticut Style.

In today’s society, we place so many demands on our bodies that the natural functioning of our hormones is being disrupted, causing a wide range of symptoms such as lack of energy, loss of zest for life, weight gain, mood swings, hot flashes, loss of sex drive, sleep disturbances, fuzzy thinking, forgetfulness and many more. We are living longer lives and with that come more responsibilities. Women are multitasking as caregivers while carrying on challenging careers. To say our lives are stressful would be an enormous understatement. Our lifestyles can place additional stress on our bodies, with inadequate nutrients in our food, too many unhealthy calories, lack of physical activity and toxins in the environment. It is no wonder our hormones are out of balance.

Many people don’t realize the impact our hormones can have on our overall health. Our hormones are designed to work together to do different jobs. Hormones deliver messages from one part of the body to another, from the cells to the brain, from the brain to the glands and from the glands to the cells. So when one hormone malfunctions, it sets off a chain reaction that interferes with the functions of the others, bringing about hormonal havoc. Harmony is restored by getting all the right parts back in balance.

Believe it or not, just by making changes in the way we live, we can remove the triggers of imbalance – eating the wrong foods, being overweight, chronic stress, exposure to too many toxics, getting too little or too much exercise and lacking the optimum amounts of essential nutrients – and we can regain hormonal balance to achieve optimal health.

Here’s your A to Z guide to achieve and maintain your hormone health.