Let's talk about hormones today. I have been on a wild hormone journey for many years now, and have just recently found a way to cope with them in a way that I feel comfortable with. I am not a doctor and am in no way prescribing anything for you. I will be sharing my experience, and sharing links to websites that have helped me a great deal.
My Story
7 years ago I started taking birth control pills. I was 22, and in good health - until I started the pill that is. After several months of taking them I quit because they were making me depressed, and very disagreeable to live with. (for myself and others) Two pregnancies and six years later, I was still struggling with hormone imbalance from the pills and life in general. Mood swings, extreme tiredness (I could sleep for 10+ hours every night and take naps), brain fog, depression, and weight gain. I felt awful, and it was increasingly harder to run my house and manage my children feeling this way.
Wellness Mama
If you are interested in health and you haven't heard about Wellness Mama, then you are about to thank me for the information I'm about to give you. I receive an overview e-mail every Sunday from WellnessMama.com . I have given health different amounts of my time over the years and at this point I wasn't doing a lot of research and usually deleted her e-mails without looking at them. But on this day I scanned the article headlines and saw one about balancing hormones. I was pretty sure that I had a problem with them and thought " It won't hurt to breeze through the article." Her articles are usually very long because they contain a lot of research, so I tend to scan them for interesting tidbits unless I'm really digging into an issue. This particular link ended up being an hour long podcast which was even more of a deterrent to me, because I rarely have a full hour to listen to a podcast - A deep one at that. But God had other things in mind, and I found the time and I listened to the whole thing. (Listen to that podcast here.)
Magdalena Wszelaki
The person Wellness Momma was interviewing that day was Magdalena Wszelaki. (she has a beautiful accent!) After playing around with the few bits of information I gleaned from the podcast and experimenting on myself I looked up Magdalena's website. HormonesBalance.com There I found a wealth of information in free resources and video classes and what appears to be great programs you can enroll in (for a price) if you need assistance. I've recently watched this class (Cooking for Balance) and have found many more tips as to what foods and seeds I should eat at what times of day or certain times of the month.
The Basic Idea
I've played around with this for several months now and have figured out a base of what works for me. I'm going to give the basic ideas of what I've done, but each person's body is different and I also know that there is a lot I haven't figured out yet. But if this can jump start you into your own research of the topic then I would be ecstatic to have helped someone else feel a whole lot better!
Day 1 of your cycle (when your period begins ) take 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed and 1 tablespoon of pumpkin seeds each day. You are boosting estrogen.
Around day 14 or whenever you ovulate you will switch to taking 1 Tablespoon sunflower seeds and 1 Tablespoon of sesame seeds. You are boosting progesterone.
Conclusion
I think the simplest way to eat the seeds is in a salad, Magdalena also suggested a smoothie. What I love about Magdalena's site is that she suggests healing with food first, and although she offers programs that require money, she specifically says, " If you think you can do it without my help, give it a try." she is super low key, but very knowledgeable. Don't be afraid to play around with different things until something works for you. Do your research, be consistent. Good luck on your journey.
Sarah
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