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Last Updated: Oct 23, 2019
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The Hormone - Balancing Food Plan For Women!

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Dt. Ishwarya BathulaDietitian/Nutritionist • 13 Years Exp.M.Sc (Nutrition & Dietetics), B.Sc - Food Service Management and Dietetics
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When you consider the average lifestyle of most women today, it is not hard to understand why insulin, estrogen and eicosanoids have become imbalanced, setting the stage for increased risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, depression, PMS, arthritis and breast cancer. Here are my suggestions for keeping your blood sugar, eicosanoids and hormones in balance.

Eat at least three meals per day.

Many women skip breakfast or lunch, or even both, "saving" their calories for dinner. The problem with this approach is that the metabolic rate naturally peaks at noon and slows after that. So the food you eat at night is far more likely to be stored as fat. When you eat breakfast, your metabolism gets jump-started for the day. If you skip it, your metabolism will slow down into conservation mode and this can lead to weight gain.

Cut down on refined and high-glycemic index carbohydrates.

Not all carbohydrates are created equal. Whether certain foods with a high-glycemic index, such as baked potatoes or bananas, can be part of a healthy diet for you depends upon your unique metabolism. If you are a true carbohydrate addict, you need to find what foods are healthy for you. I find that eliminating refined carbohydrates, such as sugar, white rice, bread, alcohol, and foods made with white flour, such as muffins, bagels, pasta, pretzels and other snack foods, helps the body burn stored fat and keeps insulin and blood sugar levels normal.

Consume whole grains in moderation.

Even if you have eliminated refined grains, if you are a carbohydrate-sensitive person you may still have problems with whole wheat, whole rye, whole oat, or millet flour. Research shows that the degenerative diseases that currently plague Americans didn’t arrive on the scene until agriculture became widespread. In fact, the ancient Egyptians were fat and had dental disease associated with a grain-based diet.

Eat a wide variety of fresh vegetables and fruit daily.

You want to shoot for five servings per day. And remember, a serving is small, approximately four ounces, or a half-cup. Think color and you'll be on the right path, because the deep pigments in these foods contain powerful antioxidants. Go for broccoli, green leafy vegetables, berries, red, yellow and green peppers, and tomatoes, and vary your choices through the seasons.

Eat protein at each meal.

Eggs, fish, whey, dairy, or non-animal sources of protein, such as whole soybeans, tempeh or spirulina are all good choices. Beans contain protein, but also contain a considerable amount of carbohydrates. If you are a true carbohydrate addict and you are perimenopausal, beans may be too high in carbohydrates for you.

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