Hormone Imbalances and Weight Loss

Hormone balance is ESSENTIAL in order to lose weight - PMS, menopause, andropause (male menopause), HRT - any imbalance with your sex hormones will dramatically impact your ability to lose and maintain your weight. This edition of your Overcoming Weight Loss Resistance (OWLR) newsletter will help you understand the importance of balancing your hormones to help you lose weight and give you some tools to do so.

Hormonal Balance

A key point to understanding the complexity of hormone balance is that ALL your hormones impact one another. Said differently, if we are going to rebalance your sex hormones (i.e., estrogen, progesterone, testosterone), we also have to look at stress (which affects cortisol and DHEA), thyroid health (i.e., thyroid hormones), sleep (growth hormone, DHEA and testosterone) and insulin resistance (insulin) and bring balance to those areas as well as any one hormone will affect the balance of all the rest. It doesn't take long to realize that this could get pretty complicated really fast! That is why professional guidance is often necessary to help you reach your goals (if you'd like more information about getting the support and guidance you need, learn more about our Optimal Body Balance Program).  However, by following the recommendations in the OWLR newsletters on each of these topics, you should be able to identify your areas of weight lose resistance and begin to rebalance them.

Identifying the cause of your imbalances

Sex hormone imbalances can be caused by numerous factors, including those listed above - stress, thyroid health, sleep imbalances and insulin resistance - but they are also greatly impacted by nutritional imbalances and environmental chemicals, particularly those called 'xenoestrogens'. These are chemicals, found in many plastics and pesticides (and some drugs), that can mimic estrogen in the body and cause a great number of detrimental hormone imbalances over time.

There are several tests that can be taken to determine your specific imbalances; you can start by using our Female Hormone Questionnaire to determine which hormones may be imbalanced.

If you want to get more specific information, you should complete a salivary hormone test (these tests can be completed in the comfort of your own home and sent into the lab; we will contact you with the results and provide specific recommendations): menstruating women can run the Female Hormone profile (charts estrogen and progesterone throughout the menstrual cycle) or the Comprehensive Female Hormone profile (charts estrogen and progesterone throughout the menstrual cycle as well as cortisol rhythms throughout the day, DHEA and melatonin cycles to give additional information about adrenal/stress reactions and sleep cycles). Non-menstruating women can run either the Menopause Profile (estrogens, progesterone, testosterone) or the Comprehensive Menopause profile (estrogens, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol, DHEA and melatonin).

Men can run either the Male Hormone profile (testosterone) or the Comprehensive Male Hormone profile (testosterone, cortisol, DHEA and melatonin).

Addressing the Imbalances

Running one of the above salivary tests will determine your exact imbalances allowing us to tailor a program to rebalance your hormones. In lieu of a test, the following will get you started rebalancing your hormones naturally:

• Follow the Vital Life Dietary guidelines; these are general guidelines for overall health.
• Address your basic nutritional/hormonal needs with either Wellness Essentials for Women or Wellness Essentials for Men.  Women will also generally benefit from helping to rebalance the balance between estrogen and progesterone with EstroFactors. Add specific support based on your questionnaire or testing results.
• Exercise - research has shown time and time again that getting 30 minutes of exercise five or more times per week will help rebalance hormone (and neurotransmitter) levels, as well as improve sleep, alleviate stress, improve insulin sensitivity, increase energy, burn body fat,... Get the picture?!! Do something you love to do, something you look forward to, and do it daily!
• See our Health Departments if you have specific questions about hormone imbalances.

Rebalance your hormones to rebuild your health and reduce your weight!

Yours in Health,

Sheila Robertson
Program Director, Optimal Body Balance
Natural Path Health Center

For more information:

Natural Approaches to HRT - a complete recorded seminar that will teach you about hormone imbalances, how to identify and address them, and provide specific protocols, including dietary, supplemental, exercise, yoga, breathing, hydrotherapy, pressure point and many other therapies you can do yourself to help your body achieve the hormone balance you are looking for.

Optimal Body Balance Program - a comprehensive, individualized weight loss program that identifies and addresses your specific areas of weight loss resistance.

Natural Path Heath Center - 2940 Chapel Valley Road, Madison, WI 53711
608-274-7044 / 866-888-6721 - www.naturalpathhealthcenter.com