Travelling through the bloodstream in our bodies, our hormones act as powerful chemical messengers. They control various aspects of our bodily functions, including our sex hormones. Therefore, ensuring we optimise our diet with the right foods will internally balance our hormones. During a monthly cycle, we can experience a range of disturbing symptoms, including sugar craving, bloating, weight gain, spots, and general sluggishness. Together with Complete Me, we’ve collated a super helpful guide to inform you of the optimal foods to balance your hormones and increase your sense of wellbeing.

Balancing Blood Sugar

As you’re probably aware, sugar is prevalent in so many foods that we enjoy, from the blackberries we add to our morning smoothies to our lunchtime sandwiches. Sugar is volatile, and although it offers a quick rush, we need to manage our intake. It’s common to experience significant crashes when your blood sugar dips after eating in excess, which means you need even more later on. And although it’s not a sex-related hormone, insulin is one of the most important hormones we need to balance. If our insulin levels are too low or too high, they will harm the others. Be sure to stabilise your blood sugar levels by eating at regular intervals throughout the day instead of gorging on lots of sugar in one go. Get into the habit of looking at the GL guide (glycemic load) of the foods you eat – typically, the lower, the better, so try and stick to these types of food. While carbohydrates are undoubtedly key to our diet, eating the correct ones is equally as important.

Healthy Fats

As a result of the demonisation of fats, people have turned to refined carbs, sugar, and processed foods as alternatives. But studies have indicated that fat isn’t as bad as it was once considered to be. Instead, we now know that there are myriad healthy foods that contain high levels of fat – such as avocado – and we now even consider them to be superfoods. Incorporating good fats into your diet and eliminating trans fats simultaneously is a smart move for your health and wellbeing. Good fats are plentiful in avocados, legumes, and oily fish (sardines, mackerel, herring, anchovies, etc.) and are an excellent way to boost your overall health. What’s more, healthy fats are essential for producing your hormones!

Fibre

Many of us could do with reducing our intake of added sugars while increasing our consumption of fibre. Eating sufficient fibre reduces your risk of heart disease, strokes, bowel cancer, and Type 2 Diabetes. Incorporating whole grain and fresh vegetables into your diet is a great way to increase your fibre intake. Approximately 50% of the UK population misses out on half of their recommended 30 grams of fibre every day. Fibre also plays an important digestive role, and it is necessary for forming our stools. This is one of the primary ways in which hormones are exerted from our bodies after being broken down.

Cruciferous Vegetables

When it comes to hormonal balance, including cruciferous vegetables in your diet is also key. Consider the likes of cabbage, sprouts, broccoli, and kale to get you started. The reason these vegetables are so important is that they enable our livers to excrete our hormones, which is crucial as it’s dangerous to have reused hormones recirculating around our bodies. Cruciferous vegetables are loaded with excellent hormone-balancing nutrients, so be sure to incorporate them into your diet wherever possible! A side note – if you have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism (a low thyroid), you will need to cook cruciferous vegetables in order to break down the goitrogens within. If you don’t, it may interfere with your body’s ability to process iodine.

Hopefully, you now have a better insight into how to enhance your wellbeing while balancing your hormones.

Most people can admit that they’d like to live a long and healthy life for as long as possible. In most cases, as long as you don’t have any serious health conditions, living a long and healthy life is completely attainable! It all comes down to prioritizing your well-being. If you’re looking for some of the best ways to prioritize your health, then you’ve come to the right place. Here are some of the best tips for being as healthy as you can be.

Visit the Doctor Regularly

Going to the doctor is a great way to catch any serious health issues early on. Often if you lead to a serious health condition progress too far, then it could wind up being fatal. Planning a funeral for someone too young can be heartbreaking. Instead of letting your health slide, prioritize getting regular checkups and ensuring that you catch problems as soon as possible.

Get Active

Something as simple as 30 minutes a day of basic exercise can make a huge difference in your overall well-being. Rather than seeing exercise as something you have to force yourself to do, try to see it as an opportunity to get your blood pumping and clear your mind. If you start to view exercise as a burden then you’re not prioritizing your health. Try to get up and move at least several times a day, and your body will thank you for it.

Get Sleep

If there’s one thing you can do for your body that can improve everything from your mood to your immune system it’s getting enough sleep. Getting at least 8 hours of sleep at night can significantly improve your health. If you have trouble getting to sleep at night, then you should consider meditating or using some kind of hypnosis. The most important thing is to avoid looking at screens right before you fall asleep. The bright lights and colors can be too stimulating for your brain to be able to fall asleep afterward.

Spend Time With the Ones You Love

Spending time with the people you love can make a huge difference in your quality of life. Try to get plenty of social time in to reap the benefits of a great social life. Studies show that the people who live the longest and healthiest lives are the ones that have the support of their families. This is especially important if you’re a senior citizen.

The older you get, the more help you need getting day-to-day activities done. If you live near your family that means you always have someone to give you a helping hand when in need.

CBD is a fantastic compound that offers a lot of benefits to our health and wellbeing. The ability to add this versatile ingredient to your recipes every day is just one of the benefits of using CBD, making harnessing the nutritional properties easier than ever. If you’re curious about how to start cooking with CBD, we’ve compiled our top tips to make it as easy as possible.

How does cooking with CBD drops work?

CBD is like other fat-soluble cannabis substances, and since many recipes have fat in them, from butter or olive oil to coconut milk and nut butters, it’s the perfect addition. It can be added to sauces, dressings and dips, to cooked meals such as stews and curries, and desserts. Just be mindful when you’re adding CBD drops, such as Vitabiotics CBD, not to expose them to a high heat as this can deteriorate the quality of the compounds.

What are the benefits of cooking with CBD?

CBD drops provide a slow, gradual release of this compound into your body, and if you add it to your food, it will be even more gradual which makes digestion easier and allows your body to process it slowly. It’s also a discreet way to take CBD, rather than vaping or using topical treatments, which can be inconvenient when you’re out and about. With CBD drops, you can experiment with different recipes and dosages until you find the balance that suits you best.

What can I add CBD to?

CBD can be added to a wide range of dishes and drinks, so you can play around with your favourite dishes and see which ones you enjoy adding a dose of CBD to. From breakfasts and snacks to dinner dishes and drinks, CBD can work with a variety of cuisines. Why not try adding CBD to your baked goods, such as cookies, brownies and cakes? Or try adding it to ice cream and frozen desserts, such as cheesecake bites or energy balls. CBD can also be added to hot and cold sauces and dips such as guacamole. If you’re looking for a healthy meal idea, you may like adding it to soups and smoothies, which can be tailored to your tastes. For a more laid-back solution, you can even add CBD to tea and coffee.

Final thoughts

When you’re cooking with CBD, it’s important to choose a high-quality, reputable brand so you can be sure of the quality of the product and that it’s been tested properly. CBD is incredibly versatile and it can be added to so many types of food and drink, both hot and cold, that it’s no wonder so many people have gotten into experimental mode when it comes to trying out new and exciting recipes. It offers a discreet way to take your daily dose of CBD isolate and can be a fun way to try out new ways to add this to your routine.

It is perfectly normal for children to prefer some foods to others but when their options become seriously limited, it can put extra pressure on the family come dinner. You want them to eat nutritious food while your little one just wants to eat sausage and chips. To help take the heat out of getting your child to eat, we’ve come up with six ingenious hacks to get your picky eater to love their mealtimes.

1. Get them involved

Your child’s finicky eating could be because they are unsure or not quite understanding what food is all about. So, our first hack is simple but practical – get them involved!

From letting them help you shop and pick their own food to preparing a meal with you in the kitchen (this is also a great way to spend some quality time with your child) may help you to understand their food concerns a little more. And, if your child has played a key part in the food prep and sees what goes into their meal, they may also be more inclined to eat it once it’s on the table.

2. Hide the good stuff

Getting creative with their vegetables can mean your little one will eat their meal if certain foods are not quite in plain sight. Adding extra veggies to their Bolognese sauce, blending leafy greens into their tomato soup or even roasting vegetables under the cover of some delicious cheese, disguising food is a well-known hack for picky eaters that works. And it also ensures they are getting all those important vitamins, such as iron and vitamin D.

3. Make mealtime fun

To help your child build a healthy relationship with food, it needs to be fun and free of fear or anxiety. You can make their mealtimes more playful in a host of ways – from making funny faces on the plate with their food to letting them roll up their sleeves and get baking. And for a particularly problematic meal or ingredient, giving it a new name and dressing it up in a way that draws your child’s attention is a good way to get them open to trying it out.

4. Supplement their diet

While your child’s taste buds and appetite for food develop and mature, you may want to consider supplementing their diet with a multivitamin specifically formulated for younger ones. Many products come in delicious gummy-style sweets that are easy for children to take. And to support energy and reduce tiredness, iron tablets are also worth considering.

5. Make the most of breakfast time

If you can prioritise one meal, then make it breakfast as this gives you the chance to set your child up nutrition-wise for the day. And breakfast is a much more casual affair, with plenty of options to concoct a picky eater-friendly dish. Pancakes, cereal, eggs, sausages, sweet fruit – there are plenty of breakfast ingredients that can be mixed and matched to keep a picky eater happy. And if you put out a selection of food, your child can do their own DIY buffet breakfast, and eat more than they realise.

6. Take the pressure off

And finally, whatever you do, try to avoid a battle over food when it comes to mealtime. And that means taking off the pressure and avoiding bargaining; give your picky eater sufficient choice to create their own dinner instead. Then make all the portions child-sized, ensure your little one has been involved in the food choice and even the cooking before settling down to enjoy your meal. As the experts advise – try not to worry about a single meal but look at the bigger picture and what good, nutritious food your child successfully eats and enjoys over the week.

The ovarian response is how the ovaries react to the hormonal medication and quality eggs produced during IVF. It is vital to IVF success since too little or too much response can lead to cycle cancellation, decreased oocyte production, a lowered probability of pregnancy, and even trigger health risks. Thankfully, you can improve the way your ovaries respond to stimulation in many ways. Here are some tips on how to improve your ovarian response during IVF.

• Boost Your Ovarian Reserve

To successfully respond to ovarian stimulation, a woman must have enough eggs available to respond to treatment. This store of eggs is typically referred to as the ovarian reserve. As such, if you have a diminished ovarian reserve, you may not have a robust response or stimulation and, in rare cases, produce no response at all. Your fertility specialist can identify whether you have a diminished ovarian reserve by checking to see if you have high blood levels of the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), low antral follicle count, and finished blood levels of anti Müllerian hormone (AMH). If you indeed have a diminished ovarian reserve, you can invest in DHEA supplements, one of the most recognised treatments for diminished ovarian reserve. DHEA is a mild androgen produced naturally in your body, and taking in DHEA supplements can boost your ovarian reserve and, subsequently, your ovarian response.

• Try A Different Medication

It is possible to have the necessary eggs but lack the right pituitary hormones to respond. Under these circumstances, consider using a different medication like Letrozole for your treatment since it is more effective than Clomid for ovarian induction. Also, you can use other medicines that contain both luteinising hormone (LH) and FSH to promote a better response.

• Lifestyle Changes

It is common knowledge that weight, diet, and stress levels can affect fertility in numerous ways. Therefore, making some fundamental lifestyle changes might be the way to go when seeking to improve your ovarian response during IVF. As such, you can lose weight, eat healthier, and manage stress to boost your ovaries chances of responding to stimulation during IVF. Additionally, you can also cease alcohol, tobacco, and recreational substance use to improve response to ovarian stimulation.

• Try Acupuncture

Acupuncture is widely believed to boost ovarian reserve and reproductive outcomes in women undergoing IVF treatment. Therefore, it has gained popularity among the many complementary drugs and modalities suggested as co-treatment to improve ovarian response during IVF treatment. A study conducted at the Pusan National University Hospital evaluated the effect of network-optimized acupuncture before IVF on the oocyte yield in women demonstrating poor ovarian response. The study found that a combination of acupuncture and IVF treatment significantly increased the number of mature oocytes in women above 37 years and those undergoing two or more controlled ovarian hyperstimulation cycles. As such, the findings suggest that doctors can consider acupuncture for the treatment of women with poor ovarian response who are above 37 years or are undergoing multiple IVF cycles.