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