PMS, menopause, pregnancy, stress, breast health, sexual health and emotional well-being are all major health concerns for women. Some are frustrating, like PMS, while others like pregnancy can be wonderful.  What each has in common is a large hormonal component. Hormones can fluctuate drastically depending on diet, nutritional status, toxicity level, and other factors such as job and family stress.

Hormone Balance
It's important to each of these health concerns (and many others) that hormones be maintained at a healthy level. This optimizes production, but also ensures the breakdown or detoxification of excess or un-necessary hormones.  The body is a delicate balance; too much of any hormone is just as harmful as too little.

Hormonal Effects in the Body
The human body is a complex network of cells that communicate via hormone messengers.  These messengers are responsible for telling cells what to do and when to do it.  In the female body the sex hormones: estrogen, progesterone, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and testosterone, all play important roles in the maintenance of health and fertility.  High or low levels of these hormones can cause different complaints, depending on the age of the affected woman.  In addition, normal hormone levels protect other body systems from breaking down, for example the cardiovascular and skeletal systems.

Hormonal Detox
The liver and bowels are important organs for women's health because they are responsible both for processing hormones and for excreting those hormones after processing.

Performing liver and bowel detoxification will help to reduce most women's health concerns by ensuring proper function in these organs and thereby regulating hormone levels.  Sexual function is regulated by a team made up of the thyroid, adrenal glands and ovaries.  Imbalance in one member of the team will force the others to overcompensate to maintain balance and then those organs become strained. This explains why other medical concerns such as hypothyroidism, stress, depression and malnourishment can lead to infertility. For more information on estrogen detoxification, please click here.

Improving Hormone Balance
A diet high in animal products inhibits the excretion of excess estrogens from the body.  Animal protein also slows intestinal transit time allowing the resorption of hormones.  Toxins must be processed by the liver and takes away from the liver's ability to process substances like hormones.  Stress leads to a build up of acidity in the body.  When the body's pH is acidic detoxification processes do not run as quickly as they could.  Stress also depletes vitamins, such as the B complex, which are needed by the liver.

Optimizing Hormonal Balance

  decreasing your consumption of animal products

  limiting exposure to environmental toxins

  reducing stress and implementing a stress-management program

  using appropriate supplements for detoxification and stress management

Hormonal Imbalance
Some conditions associated with female hormonal imbalances are:

INFERTILIY
please click here for more information.

MENOPAUSE SYMPTOMS
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PMS (PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME)
please click here for more information.

ESTROGEN BALANCE IN THE BODY
please click here for more information.

Supplementation for Hormonal Health
Supplemental programs for detoxification and stress management include B vitamins, lipotropic factors, liver supportive herbs, like milk thistle, and adrenal supportive herbs, like Siberian ginseng and licorice. For more information on detoxification, please click here.