Skipping Breakfast

Skipping breakfast throws your blood sugars out of whack which leads to a not-so-great cortisol + insulin spike. When your cortisol (stress hormone spikes) this tells the body to prioritise your survival over your reproduction.

Your body is very clever and it isn’t going to want to bring a baby into the world when it thinks you’re struggling to survive as it is.

When this happens, it causes an imbalance in our other hormones like estrogen and progesterone that are needed for a happy healthy cycle because your body’s goal every month (whether you like it or not) is to fall pregnant.

This is a real issue because this survival response often affects ovulation in either diminishing its effectiveness or stopping it all together, and this is the point in your cycle (regardless of whether you want a baby or not), that you make the hormones needed to avoid period problems!

So please eat a high protein breakfast first thing in the morning! I’m taking eggs & bacon, steak and potatoes, a protein smoothie, whatever your taste, make sure the protein is high (at least 25g).

Go Keto or Avoid Carbs

As for the lack of carbs, these guys are amazing for calming the nervous system, and there isn’t a client I have worked with that didn’t need more support for their stress

Too little carbs also sends the body into survival mode and when we are just surviving, we aren’t thriving and therefore as a protection mechanism our body shuts down/reduces our reproductive functions.

Including… you guessed it, our sex hormones, much like skipping breakfast.

Avoiding carbs also lowers our bodies production of serotonin (our beautiful happiness hormone), and when this is low you can experience lower moods or even depressive states. Serotonin also has an amazing relationship with estrogen, so if your estrogen is dropping because the body isn’t thriving, your serotonin can drop too.

So have a balanced plate with about a fist of carbs at your main meals, just focus on making them nutritious ones like wholegrains, potatoes, pumpkin, sweet potato, and quinoa.

Eat or Drink Out of Plastic

Finally, the liver loader that is plastic is a super easy switch out, think glass containers and stainless steel drink bottles instead! I personally love my @frankgreenoffical ceramic drink bottle if you’re looking for a recommendation.

Plastic contains xenoestrogens (estrogen mimicking substances) that load up your liver and can confuse the body into thinking it has too much estrogen (hello PMS).

As a result the liver then has to try and clear out these ‘fake hormones’ as well as any excess real hormones that the body is producing, on top of the other toxins like alcohol, medication, environmental pollution, hormones in your food etc.

The poor liver is overworked so if we can do something this simple to lighten the load like switching away from plastic the liver is going to thank you for it! Because unfortunately, it isn’t just BPA free that you need to look out for including BPS, BPAF and PET to name a few. This is where glass alternatives are far better for you and your body!