Hormone Balancing Diet Tips, Decade by Decade

Hormones are awesome.

That’s not something you hear -or think- every day, especially if you’re part of the 50% of the population whose mood is constantly being pegged on their hormonal cycle. Now bear with me, this isn’t about to get political:

Hormones play a vital role in every major bodily function.

Everything from procreation (wink-wink) to feeling happy or depressed, to how fast you burn calories, down to how sound and yummy your sleep is.

Everyone - as in 100% of the population- has hormonal cycles going through their bodies every single day. Those cycles change and evolve with age, and that’s not so awesome.

As we get older our hormone levels fluctuate; some hormones are produced in higher volume while others slowly decrease. Most go down, and that’s what may lead to gray hairs, wrinkles, energy spikes, night sweats, libido swings and more.

A hormone-balancing diet may help you cope better with hormonal shifts as you age.

What we eat and don’t have a direct impact on the endocrine system, just like every other part of our bodies. The endocrine system is a network of glands that produce the hormones that we need to regulate metabolism, growth, sleep, mood, sexual function, and more.

If you want to stay young, have high energy, glowing skin, and look as young as you feel, leverage the power of superfoods with hormone balancing diet tips to match the aging curve effectively.

Balance Your Diet to Match Your Hormones in your 20's, 30', 40's, 50's and Beyond 

A hormone-balancing diet doesn’t have to be complicated or restrictive; it may just be about making small changes in your eating habits to possibly either boost positive outcomes or minimize side effects through nutrition.

So let’s get to it!

Diet and Hormones in Your 20's

Collagen, the most abundant protein in your body and the reason 20-year-olds have that supple glowy skin we see in magazines, peaks in your 20s. That’s great because collagen is the protein behind healthy nails, shiny hair, strong bones, and healthy ligaments. However, its production starts to decline in your late 20s so that’s when you should begin to supplement it and increasing your Vitamin C intake to boost its bioavailability.

The hormones that participate in the metabolism work faster during puberty and start to slow down or change in your late 20s as well, that’s why weight gain might happen faster, while weight loss may take longer. Adding more exercise to your routine may help maintain the metabolic rate at an optimum level.

What to keep an eye on (metabolism hormones)

• Insulin
• Glucagon
• Epinephrine
• Glucocorticoids
• Thyroid hormones

Here is what you may want to try in your 20s, 30s, 40s, and beyond:

Your 20s Hormone Balancing Diet

• Add Vitamin C: daily lemon water keeps your body’s PH level alkaline and your vitamin C intake high, ideal for collagen absorption and generation.
• Collagen Supplement: to maintain the skin’s moisture, elasticity, and glow longer.
• Apple Cider Vinegar: to slightly uptick metabolic rate before a workout or thirty minutes before a meal.
• Cultivate a healthy relationship with food at this time and start to mind sugar and fat intake.
• Eat calcium or supplement it, your bone density reaches its peak at 20 and will start to decline from there slowly.

Diet and Hormones in Your 30s

Your body starts to change more noticeably in your thirties, for starters you can’t take your liquor the same way as you did in your roaring twenties as your liver enzyme production starts to decline. On the plus side, women reach their sexual prime and are still within a fertile window if they want to get pregnant.

You may also begin to lose bone mass, stop producing the human growth hormone HgH (which helps build muscle mass) and testosterone levels start to lower in both men and women, leading to weight gain and to a slower metabolism. The perfect time to start a hormone balancing diet.

It is believed that people over 35 should get their thyroid tested. Women, in particular, may experience thyroid hormone issues that may lead to greater fat stores and find it harder to drop pounds. There seems to be a relationship between the thyroid and weight gain, and it may be good to keep an eye on your THS, T3 and T4 levels at this time via blood-work and with a hormone balancing diet.

When it comes to skin: wrinkles start to appear, moisture escapes the epidermis, and you may find a tendency towards dryness.

Your 30s Hormone Balancing Diet

• Have around 20 to 35 grams of protein with each meal during the day to keep up with muscle mass. If that sounds like a lot, try a complete protein smoothie.
• Keep up with the Calcium! If you didn’t start to take it as a supplement or increase the calcium-rich foods in your late 20s, now’s the time to start.
• Keep away from saturated fats, and try cooking with virgin olive oil when possible; oleuropein may help create osteoblasts which reduce bone loss risk.
• Add more cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, kale, spinach, dark leafy greens) and flavonoid-rich foods (berries, apples, grapes) to your weekly diet.
• Help detox your liver with foods that help filter blood and flush out toxins. Your liver will start to need extra help.
• Supplement! Get more Vitamin D, Vitamin C, magnesium, and folic acid, to help prepare your body for the next stage and to keep your youth longer.
• Exercise and try adding superfoods that fight aging like the ones in our Red Juice. This tart-sweet drink also helps stop sugar cravings at all ages.

Diet and Hormones in Your 40s

Women may start to experience perimenopause, producing less estrogen and progesterone, and unbalancing melatonin release, in addition to irregular menstrual cycles, night sweats, hot flashes, hunger spikes, and even high cholesterol. Men, on the other hand, may experience andropause an age-related decrease in the testosterone hormone. Both may benefit from hormone balancing diet adjustments.

The difference between perimenopause, menopause, and andropause is that the hormone levels drop suddenly and fast in women while going down gradually in men.

This is the time to check for age-related and inflammatory health issues. You may find that your stress levels rise, and cortisol spikes leading to sleep deprivation, more weight gain, and skin problems - even breakouts!

Your 40s Hormone Balancing Diet

• Consider probiotics and getting a periodical gut cleanse, since your body will have a harder time eliminating waste and toxins.
• Add that collagen supplement, you’ll be producing next to none, and try other timeless skin care routine tricks that work both the inside and the outside layers of your skin.
• Add calcium, folate, Vitamin C, A, K, D, and Biotin to your diet, both in foods and supplements.
• Rest will be critical for healthy skin and optimized bodily functions, so try Reishi Mushrooms.
• Know the thyroid-stimulating foods to keep it from going sluggish.
• Ask your doctor for hormone protocol if necessary to deal with menopause symptoms.

Diet and Hormones in Your 50s and 60s

The golden years begin and you may think you don’t need a hormone-balancing diet, but women may be in full menopause at this stage, while men may feel the complete effects of andropause. Skin starts to show spots, more pronounced wrinkles, become thinner and lose fat, turning drier and less elastic.

The decrease or absence of estrogen in women may lead to incontinence, cystitis, UTIs, and more. Thyroid activity slows down triggering more weight gain than ever, fatigue, hair loss, and body aches - since the thyroid is the body’s metabolism master gland.

These are the decades where our bodies go through the most drastic physical and cognitive changes, and the best way to prepare for it is making healthier lifestyle choices early on before you hit this stage.

Your 50s and 60s Hormone Balancing Diet

• Focus on organic, hormone-free, little to no processed foods,
• Eat the rainbow of vegetables so you may get as many natural sources of vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients as possible.
• Keep starting your day with a green juice to assist healthy liver function and keep arteries clean.
• Stick to lean sources of protein and healthy fats like olive oil, nuts, and avocados also known as “brain food,” which also help your hormone balancing diet
• Consider a Vitamin D supplement, which may help lower blood pressure and cortisol levels for better sleep.
• Keep your gut, aka your second brain, clean to maintain cognitive abilities sharp longer. Read more about how gut health may affect your brain.
• Maintain an active lifestyle that revolves around breathing exercises and cardiovascular health.

BONUS

PMS affects up to 80% of women and includes physical symptoms of bloating, cramps, breast tenderness, weight gain, and mental symptoms in mood swings, anxiety, and depression. And although most women have accepted these symptoms as “normal” the reality is, factors such as environmental toxins and higher stress levels than ever, have turned PMS into an epidemic.

There hasn’t been an easy way to approach all of the wide range of PMS symptoms, until now.

Organifi Harmony is a delicious cacao and chocolate-flavored superfood blend designed by some of the world’s top herbalists (who happen to be women), for women.

It’s not just for your time of the month! Harmony contains a daily dose of balancing herbs that supports your well-being all month long.

Harmony includes traditional healing ingredients such as Chaste Tree Berry and Shatavari, two highly potent herbs that have been used for centuries to decrease symptoms of PMS and support a healthy cycle.

Bottom Line

A hormone-balancing diet is unique to every individual; a person suffering from Hashimoto’s will have very different needs from someone experiencing hyperthyroidism, or perimenopause.

Cruciferous green vegetables, calcium, collagen, vitamin c, biotin, lean protein, and healthy fats all work together to help you combat the signs of aging at different stages in your life.

Consider these healthy hormone-balancing diet tips as a starting point, keep an eye on your hormone levels, and ask your physician for at least a yearly blood-work check-up to stay on top of any developing issues.

Graceful aging is possible when you leverage superfoods, exercise, and mindful living.