Hormone Balancing with Food Before Pregnancy
When the notion of trying to get pregnant shifted from being an idea to a “plan”, almost instantaneously I started thinking about cleaning up my diet. I wanted my body to be healthy.
But what I didn’t realize at the time was that I was actually doing double duty by cleaning up my diet. Not only was I getting my physical body cleaner and more efficient. I later learned that I was actually helping my hormones—getting them balanced and ready to conceive.
And balanced hormones = a happy environment for a baby to be conceived.
Turns out, there’s a significant connection between our food and our hormones.
If you’re planning to get pregnant and have battled with hormone imbalances at some point in your life, you’re not alone. Most women have experienced the symptoms of hormonal imbalance.
Hormonal imbalance can show up in a variety of ways:
Acne or other skin problems
Headaches
Mood swings
Depression
Decreased libido
Infertility
Weight gain
…just to name a few.
The good news is you can balance your hormones with your diet, and build a stronger and more compassionate relationship with your body at the same time.
Taking steps to create balance in all aspects of yourself is an important stepping stone you need before pregnancy. The things you will learn will inform you for years to come!
When you work on food choices with the goal of bringing balance, you will develop an intimate understanding of the way your diet makes you feel and how your body responds to different foods.
Let’s start with some basics.
Here are three quick tips to keep in mind when you want to focus on hormonal balancing with food before pregnancy. This information is not intended as medical advice. Be sure to check with your doctor or nutritionist before implementing changes in your diet.
Tip 1: Hormones are always fluctuating, so a consistent, healthy, low-glycemic diet can help you maintain balance.
After you find the foods you love that are healthy and low-glycemic, consistency is the most important part. It doesn’t help our hormones at all to eat clean and anti-inflammatory foods for weeks, only to sabotage it with a period of eating foods that destroy your balance.
Tip 2: Balanced hormones help you lose excess weight + keep it off as well as manage stress more easily.
Your body loves you when you love it. You are in a constant state of healing and growing. When you eat for balancing your hormones, other factors such as weight, mood and skin normalize. Your body, mind and spirit feel lighter, but grounded. Your vibe elevates. As a result, stress and frustrations don’t get to you as much. Your chances of conceiving are heightened when your body is vibrating at a higher level.
Tip 3: When your hormones are well-balanced, you’ll experience more energy, better sleep, stable moods, and overall a healthier, happier lifestyle.
A mantra you will hear us say often is “Keep Mama Happy”. There is so much deep truth to this one. Even with food. You may think that certain foods (or beverages—especially the ones that help you “forget your woes”) will make you happy. But when you wake up the next morning with a headache or indigestion, it’s pretty evident that’s just not the case in the long run. When you eat for hormone balance, you’re practically guaranteed to experience an overflow of goodness in other areas of your life—including welcoming new life within.
So, where do you start? Here’s a list of foods to avoid and foods to enjoy.
Foods That Wreck Your Hormonal Balance
Dairy Soy Alcohol Caffeine Sugar White Potatoes Pesticides + GMOs Artificial Sweeteners Processed foods
All of these foods are inflammatory foods, have hormones of their own (like dairy) and cause your body to work overtime to process.
Foods That Improve + Restore Your Hormonal Balance
Good Fats – Avocado and Coconut (and their oils) Magnesium (Maca, Raw Cacao) Kale + Leafy Greens Coconut Yogurt Sweet Potatoes Vegan/Vegetarian “Bone” Broth (for minerals) Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cauliflower
What to do next Reflect on your diet over the last week.
What percentage of each meal consisted of foods from the foods to avoid vs. foods that improve categories.
Do you ever notice yourself getting moody or feeling “off” when you eat things that are in the first list
Make a plan to begin re-balancing your diet to exclude the hormonal wreckers and adding in more of the good stuff.
If you’d like help coming up with a plan for cleaning up your diet to balance your hormones before pregnancy, let us know your biggest challenges in the comments below!
Resources & Links
Looking for support to stay active during your pregnancy or start your postpartum recovery? Here are some options to get you started on a great path forward:
1) Take the Pelvic Floor & Core Strength Quiz. After taking the quiz, you'll get a score and based on your results, guidance on what steps to take to move you forward in your recovery.
2) Check out our podcast listening guides: Download the Pregnancy Listening Guide or Postpartum Listening Guide.
3) If you're pregnant, want to be way more active than you have been, AND want connection with other mothers, but don't know where to start…join the Expecting to Flourish™ Membership - a mom-driven and expert-guided virtual space empowering moms with a new approach to prenatal fitness and birth prep that actually prepares you for the physical and emotional hurdles of motherhood.
If you’re postpartum and ready to get moving, need to heal your body but you don’t know where to start…join us for Postpartum Repair & Restore LIVE, a science-backed and fun-stacked, Diastasis and Pelvic Floor Strength program. Start healing your diastasis and eliminating leaking in 8 weeks or less with our guidance.
4) Do you prefer working one-on-one, or have a high risk pregnancy, a severe diastasis or leaking that won’t quit? You might be a candidate to work with us privately. To find out, take this quick self assessment! If you qualify, you'll be invited to schedule a complementary Postpartum Strategy Session with us where we'll take a good look at what's not working in your repair process, and come up with a great plan just for you.
