Berries and Your Hormones
With summer upon us (at least here in the Southern hemisphere) I am craving fresh fruits, especially berries. The sweetness and refreshment they bring on a hot day is pure joy, however there are so many more benefits than just the taste that we can all enjoy.
For those of us with a hormone imbalance (which is probably quite a lot!) berries have an added benefit for you. Berries can also help us balance our hormones as well as a number of other advantages.
Hormones play a vital role in telling our body what to do and how to function. They regulate growth, control bodily functions and even affect our emotions, so it is important that they are balanced. If they are unbalanced we can feel ‘off’ or even get quite sick.
While eating berries may not totally fix us, they can go a long way to improving our health. Let’s look further into why.
Estrogen and Testosterone
By balancing estrogen and testosterone (removing excess estrogen and increasing testosterone levels) berries can help us maintain our body temperature and even enhance your libido.
Progesterone
Chasteberry has been found to help stimulate the production of progesterone (by first stimulating the production of luteinizing hormone (LH)), which can help improve PMS symptoms, regulate ovulation, promote fertility and help with menopausal symptoms.
Anthocyanins
Anthocyanins are a flavonoid found naturally in many plants and vegetables. They also have strong antioxidant properties that protects you from the free radicals that disrupt our hormones. Anthocyanins have also been found to regulate blood sugar by producing insulin. They also help to give berries their colour.
When you look at the other benefits berries can provide, blueberries can help lower blood sugar levels and insulin resistance and goji berries are high in potassium and the antioxidant selenium. Berries really are a superfood!
How can you eat them?
There are literally SO MANY ways you can incorporate berries into your diet that it almost seems silly to go over them all.
- Smoothies are a great way to cool down, refresh and enjoy a berry blast.
- Enjoy them fresh for a snack
- Incorporate them into your cooking – berry tarts, scones and crumble
- Eat them with yoghurt and muesli to kick start your day
Organic vs non-organic
As with most foods, organic is always best, but this isn’t always possible. Eating organic just means that foods are free of man-man pesticides and fertilisers and are free to grow naturally as they are meant to.
If you can’t eat organic, don’t worry. Simply wash all your fruit thoroughly before eating it.
References and further reading:
http://wholehealthchicago.com/2009/05/11/chasteberry/
http://www.healthygreenflamingo.com/10-raw-foods-for-womens-health/
http://www.organicauthority.com/health/balance-hormones-naturally-with-chasteberry.html
http://food.allwomenstalk.com/hormone-balancing-foods-to-cool-you-off/7
http://revivelifeclinic.com/top-5-foods-to-balance-hormones/
http://savingdinner.com/are-your-hormones-raging-out-of-control-learn-how-to-balance-them-with-food/
Julie Lewin – a world renowned Medical Intuitive started her journey in the art of intuition in 1984. She appeared in four episodes of the TV show “The Extraordinary” which was syndicated to 22 countries. She’s a published author, two x Amazon #1 Bestseller and has a Bachelor in Metaphysical Science. Julie won the Our Internet Secrets Business Builder Award 2013, has founded a charity, and runs transformational retreats. JOIN our VIP membership program.
