Five Ways To Support Your Hormones Over The Holidays

Today I’m sharing five ways you can support your hormones over the holidays.

“Tis the season to be busy, but that doesn’t mean that you have to feel overwhelmed and bloated this holiday season.

Yes, I know there are more obligations between work, family and friends to pack into your schedule, which means you might be consuming more heavier foods and sugary drinks than your typical month. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to feel run down during the month of December.

Today I’m sharing five ways you can support your hormonal health this holiday season. Just by following these tips you can avoid those moody, irritable feelings throughout the season. I’ve had many clients share with me that they’ve been able to keep their energy levels up and their weight down by following my advice.

How To Support Your Hormones Over The Holidays

Eat For Your Hormones

The most important step to supporting your hormones is to keep your blood sugar levels balanced. This will help prevent you from feeling “hangry” and eating too much sugar. Once your blood sugar levels drop your body instantly wants a sugary treat, and since there are more temptations around the office this time of the year it’s super important to eat healthy.

To keep your hormones happy continue combining healthy proteins, fats and fiber (aka tons of fruits and vegetables) during every meal and snack. Ideally you want to eat about 20-25 grams of protein at each meal and have about 5 tablespoons of healthy fats throughout the day.

Take a few moments today to look at what’s on your plate. Do you have enough healthy fats, fiber and protein to help keep you satisfied throughout the day? Make some healthy additions and I promise you will start to feel more balanced in your body and have even more energy!

Avoid The Bloat

During the holiday season we tend to eat heavier foods, plus your body naturally craves comfort foods in the winter which tend to lead to some uncomfortable bloating and maybe even unzipping your pants after a big meal! To help support your hormones we must remember how important our digestion is for our hormonal health.

When you wake up in the morning try to have some warm water and lemon, I even drink this throughout the day. You can also add apple cider vinegar to your water or use it as a salad dressing.

The simplest way to help your digestion is by taking a probiotic. I take one every day and when I know that I’m attending a holiday event or having a heavier meal I just take an extra probiotic that day. I use the Life Equals brand and you can try it out by using code KBR50 for 50% off your first order and always free shipping. Try to also incorporate fermented foods like saukerkraut, kimchee, coconut water kefer into your day.

It is important to continue moving your body. I love to take a walk after eating a heavy meal, it helps with digestion. A few hours after I eat I like to do some yoga twists and this can also help if you are feeling bloated and uncomfortable.

Don’t Forget About Your Liver!

I know you will probably be drinking a little bit more this holiday season, and the morning after you might not feel so great. Make sure you have some coconut water in the fridge, it helps with dehydration and is full of electrolytes so it’s the perfect hangover cure.

If you go a bit overboard with the drinking one night just resume with eating for your hormones the morning after. I love to make scrambled eggs, add in some veggies and top with avocado and saukerfraut. I know you will probably be craving fried foods, so even though in the moment it might help you feel better, by mid-morning you might feel worse. Trust me, the healthier the morning after food is, the quicker you will feel better.

It’s important to support our liver all year, but especially during the holidays. Try to add some parsley or cilantro to your salads, soups and other meals to help with the liver and continue to drink a ton of water.

Meal Prep

I’m sure by now you’ve heard all about the time saving benefits of meal planning and prep, but the reason I love thinking ahead is to help keep my hormones happy. When I have healthy food at home and in my office, it helps me stay focused and energized throughout the day. I recall being hangry all of the time back when I worked in NYC, and more often than not I would get that energy slump in the afternoon and crave a snack. Since I wasn’t prepared I found myself at the vending machine and it didn’t always have healthy choices.

If you have a hard time planning an entire week of meals and snacks, I suggest batching it into a few days, or double or triple the recipe you make for dinner so you have leftovers for lunch or dinner the next day.

Planning ahead also helps with the after work munchies! Having healthy food in the house will prevent you from snacking on chips as you prepare dinner with some hummus and carrots instead.

If you have a holiday event in the evening It is always best to eat before going out. Please don’t ever go to a party hungry! By eating ahead of time you can still enjoy some of the treats, but not feel sick after eating too many of them. If you’d like some additional suggestions you can read my meal planning guide.

Keep Breathing
Did you know that taking deep breaths before eating is one of the best ways to help digest your food? Since your central nervous system is a bit calmer after breathing you will eat slower and this will help with how your body digests food.

Deep breathing is also super important to help keep your stress levels low. Stress can really disrupt our hormones, so the more you continue to take deep breaths throughout the day it helps keep the body calm.

I suggest putting reminders on your calendar to take deep breathes, or try to get into the habit of taking deep breaths before you start driving, a meeting or an important phone call. Even after all this time when I get busy I can tell that my breathing becomes shorter and I feel a bit anxious, but as soon as I add in the deep breathing I feel a little more relaxed.

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I hope these tips help you out this holiday season, I have more in my healthy holiday guide if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet you can get your copy today.

To help you start 2018 off in the healthiest way possible I will be having our annual happy healthy hormones new year’s challenge. If you are ready to start the year feeling energized, calm and excited about the possibilities of 2018 I hope you join our waitlist.