The 7th ingredient to healthy weight loss is hormonal balance. Our hormones play an essential role in controlling all our bodily functions. As such they play a key role in maintaining a healthy weight. Here are a few key points to understand.
First of all, your hormones all work together. An imbalance of one can cause problems with another. Some diets recommend supplementation with hormones that are known to increase weight loss. Growth hormone is one example. However, too much growth hormone can result in problems with insulin balance. Unless you have a clinically proven hormone deficiency, such as not enough thyroid hormone, don’t take hormone supplements.
Secondly, most hormonal imbalances can be restored through simple healthy lifestyle changes. Getting a good night’s sleep, eating a healthy diet, staying active, and reducing your stress will go a long ways to healthy hormone balance.
Thirdly, women are more prone to weight gain just before menopause. The healthy lifestyle events mentioned above are key to helping you avoid this. Hormone replacement can be helpful but is controversial. My advice would be to use bio- identical hormones as needed, replacing progesterone first and estrogen second.
Learning how to balance your hormones is one of the key components of the First Get Healthy program. For more information, visit www.firstgethealthy.com.