These suggestions are simply part of a healthy lifestyle. The more health you add, the less disease you have, and the more balanced and powerful you become.
Julie Lachman, ND, is a licensed Naturopathic doctor and a Bucks County native. Her office is located in Doylestown, where her practice includes homeopathy, nutrition, and botanical medicine, or online at drlachman.com.
Kick the cow: Ok, not literally, but at least one gynecologist found a significant association in her patients between the severity of their symptoms and the amount of dairy they consumed. Patients with the more severe concerns of cysts, tumors, infections, and other issues ate the most dairy. This could be for a number of reasons, including the hormones that are injected into the dairy cows to boost milk production. We also find that milk is associated with elevating testosterone in polycystic ovarian syndrome, causing things like irregular cycles and unwanted hair.
Kick the habit—caffeine that is. Caffeine lowers levels of progesterone, the pro-gestational hormone. This means that there’s relatively more estrogen floating around, and that’s a recipe for PMS. Women who drink coffee are more prone to fibrocystic breasts, a benign condition characterized by ropy bands of tissue along the underwire line. Often I could tell during a physical exam how much coffee a woman drank. Caffeine also lowers B vitamins, essential for energy (ironically) and mood support. It also has a significant negative impact on fertility. What’s a woman to do? Try switching to decaf, or to alternative roasted beverages like Dandiblend or teechino. Dandiblend’s use of dandelion helps detoxification and caffeine withdraw at the same time.
Lower the sugar: You know sugar’s bad for you—causing everything from weight gain to arthritis. But women who eat sugar tend to have more hormonal symptoms, and it can be a trigger for hot flashes in menopausal women (as can caffeine). Try natural sweeteners like xylitol and stevia.
As women we hold a lot of power. We can change the dynamic in the household with just a word or a look. We’re businesswomen, moms, and daughters. Making sure we’re in charge of our hormones, and not the other way around, can ensure that we are able to use this innate power for success.
A woman is in balance when the two main hormones are present in the right amounts at the right time. The first two weeks of our month, estrogen is the main hormone. After a woman ovulates, then progesterone is the main hormone, supporting a new embryo if that is the case. If there’s an imbalance between these, symptoms like PMS, migraines, or emotional symptoms kick in, usually in the second half of the month. So balancing these is key to retaining control. Here are some simple things you can do to get started:
Dr. Lachman uses a naturopathic method for healing. A Naturopathic doctor in Bucks County, Dr. Lachman is devoted to restoring your health naturally. Her medical training occurred at the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Phoenix, AZ.
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Upon obtaining a Combined Honours Degree in Biology and French at Dalhousie University, she was admitted into the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine (SCNM) in Phoenix, AZ. It was through this rigorous 4 year program that Dr. Douglas garnered the knowledge, experience and confidence to address an array of medical conditions
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