Healthy Fats for Healthy Hormones
We have a powerful tool available to us, every day, that lets us direct our body toward where we’d like to concentrate our own health - and that is in what we eat!
If you’re looking to care for your hormonal health, fertility, or pregnancy read on for some simple choices you can make every day to help support them with (you guessed it) - fats!
Under the Chinese Medicine lens of the body, fats (alongside adequate fluids - see ‘Hydration’ blog) help influence and direct resources to support the organs and functions involved with healthy hormones (especially those involved in reproduction!)
Which fats are best for hormones (and fertility)?
Did you know your hormones such as oestrogen, progesterone, testosterone + cortisol and EVERY SINGLE CELL in your body are made from fats?
How crazy is that?!
And how important it is to be eating enough of the right stuff.
Which fats should you choose for your hormones?
Think of natural food sources for fats that have a ‘reproductive’ theme - like seeds, eggs, full fat dairy products (if appropriate for you)
Consider swapping in oils when cooking that are solid at room temperature - ghee, coconut oil, butter, tallow, and other saturated fats. These are more stable and deeply nourishing to the body. Skip vegetable oils, canola oil and seed oils which aren’t stable to cook with
When using animal products like meat, eggs or dairy, ensure your sources had healthy hormonal lives themselves! Organic assures this, or at least check labelling for nasty hormone-free status.
Bone broths (or a healthy drizzle of olive oil over a veggie-based soup) have got you covered for fats & hydration in one delicious go!
Help your body digest those fats by giving some extra love to your Gallbladder! It produces bile that assists in breaking them down. You can do this with sour foods - think lemons, limes, olives, vinegars (some ACV in warm water before or after meals goes a long way too). papaya, and pineapple additionally support this breakdown too.
Give some thought over all to the amount of healthy fats you’re regularly reaching for via meats, oils, dairy, nuts, seeds and fruits like avocado.
What else should we consider?
Differing constitutions and underlying health statuses can determine how well our bodies handle fats, or if certain types of healthy fats are more or less suitable for us.
If you have inflammatory symptoms; think you might be storing excess fat; have any blood work showing imbalances around fats; feel tired or heavy after consuming fats or your digestion feels a bit funny - seek out your Chinese Medicine Practitioner for a more tailored health plan suitable for your individual needs.
