We talk about hormones and how they affect our health and weight as women all the time here at Strength and Grace. There are three major hormonal players, that literally drive the ship when it comes to all other hormones – they are insulin, cortisol, and the one we don’t regularly talk about, the motherload master hormone, oxytocin. As we age, imbalances can be traced back to one of these three hormones. If one or more of these hormones is off, then our entire system can be out of sync.
The 3 Major Hormones
Insulin
As we’ve discussed, insulin is the key master hormone when it comes to sugar metabolism, and our overall metabolism regulator. If we are insulin resistant, then we can become estrogen dominant easily. Estrogen dominance creates its own set of negative problems. Insulin imbalance also throws off our sex hormones.
Cortisol
Keeping cortisol in balance is critical because it directly affects estrogen, testosterone and DHEA. There is a delicate balance between our cortisol and our thyroid. Too much cortisol and you’re left in a state of constant stress, that can decrease your thyroid output. Learn more about cortisol in this podcast.
Master Hormone
The master hormone for keeping insulin and cortisol in harmony is oxytocin! Oxytocin, a hormone we don’t often hear of when we hit perimenopause and menopause, keeps cortisol in check, improves insulin balance and helps keep the peace between the estrogen and progesterone.
There is no in between for oxytocin, its either up and we feel amazing, or its low and we feel stressed out, depressed, anxious, and not in the mood. The benefits of having oxytocin at the correct levels = feeling loved (newborn and momma love / breastfeeding), significant other pleasure (orgasm, sexual intercourse) and all the confidence in the world. There are numerous studies that also show that having sufficient oxytocin levels can prevent us from experiencing osteoporosis. The best thing for women looking to lose weight – when our oxytocin is at the right levels it helps us feel fuller longer and be less inclined to snack or sugary and starchy options.
How to Balance it all…
So our advice…reduce your sugar, grains and excess caffeine. Be sure to get some bonding time with friends, family and loved ones regularly. Additional science is needed, but so far, everything is pointing to keeping your hormones balanced. Once your hormones are balanced, do everything you can to keep them balanced.