Today I’m sharing what the top five adaptogens are for women’s health
When we think about our health, we can’t forget about our hormones.
Why?
Our hormones dictate everything that happens in your body from your sugar cravings, to energy levels, to the quality of sleep you are getting.
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While supporting your hormonal health, we must start with your diet and add in foods to support your body. We must make sure that you are eating foods that nourish and not deplete your body. So many of us feel like we are eating healthy, but most diet books out there are written by men for men and don’t take into account that women need to eat significantly more healthy fats to help with our hormones and keep our body balanced.
With my one-on-one clients and during my five week group program the first step is always looking at what’s on your plate with a focus of eating for your hormones. After that initial review, we look at supporting your digestion and liver as well as adding in supplements and adaptogens to support your overall health.
Today we are exploring adaptogens and the role they can play in supporting your hormonal health.
So what are adaptogens?
Adaptogens are natural substances considered to help the body adapt to stress and to exert a normalizing effect upon bodily processes. A well-known example is ginseng. They are helpful with our hormonal health because they help to regulate and balance our hormones, mostly with stress. As you may know, when our stress hormone cortisol is to high it causes all of the hormones to become unbalanced.
Adaptogens can also help support your immune system, mental focus and create a more balanced mood. We can add some adaptogens into your diet, based on the root cause of how you are feeling.
Here are five adaptogens that support your hormonal health
Ashwaganda
This is one of the most well known adaptogens as it helps reduce feelings of stress and anxiety. Ashwaganda helps to balance your adrenals and thyroid and in turn helps you feel calmer, more focused and emotionally balanced. It comes in a pill or powder and you can add it to your morning smoothies or with warm almond milk with cinnamon and cacao, it’s my intern’s favorite way to add this into her diet.
Maca
I started using maca powder to help with my energy levels, but also my libido! 😉 This adaptogen supports the endocrine system, the pituitary, adrenal and thyroid glands. Besides suggesting this to my clients to help with energy and libido, I also suggest this to my clients going through peri-menopause and menopause as it helps to balance their bodies during this transitional time. I add maca to my smoothies, I think it’s one of the easiest ways to add this into your diet. I suggest only doing this every other day or third day as it’s potent. You also want to use gelatinized maca powder as it’s the concentrated form made by extracting the starch – which makes it easier to digest and absorb.
Shatavari
I love Shatavari for women! Shatavari is a “female hormone balancer,” and can help relieve PMS, increase fertility, increase libido, and alleviate menopausal symptoms. Adding this into your diet plus eating for your hormones, supporting your lifestyle with quality sleep, deep breathing and movement can really make a huge difference in the way you feel. It comes in a pill or powder form and we like this one.
Chasteberry also known as vitex
If you are have an irregular cycle and experience tons of PMS chasteberry/vitex could help. This adaptogen can help regulate ovulation and helps to maintain progesterone levels post ovulation. It can also help reduce hot flashes for women in menopause and has been known to help with fertility. You don’t want to take this long term, so only use this for a few months.
Ginseng
I really like ginseng because it can help balance your blood sugar levels, which is one of the most important steps to take to help with balancing your hormones. Ginseng also helps support digestive distress caused by anxiety and can help boost the immune system as well. Ginseng can also help reduce your stress levels and improve your mood. You can take it via pill form or use the root and make a tea with it.
Just as with supplements, I suggest you talk with your doctor before adding anything into your daily routine. I usually recommend you speak to a holistic practitioner like a naturopath who has experience with adaptogens. When you start with adaptogens try one at a time so you can really see how the particular one is helping to support your health and hormones.
If you are looking for additional support you can join my five week group program or work with me one-on-one. Not sure which program is best for you? Schedule a time to chat with me.
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