Why does food affect women’s hormones?
Needed for many different processes such as growth and development, metabolism, sexual function, reproduction, and mood – hormones are your body’s chemical messengers.1
Each month our nutritional needs change due to a fluctuation in hormones.
Each phase of your cycle will have corresponding changes in hormones, particularly with oestrogen and progesterone. Cortisol also changes throughout your cycle; however significant increases have been detected during ovulation.2
Your diet can sometimes interfere with your hormones, so it might be good to know about some hormone balancing foods. For example, high-GI foods such as white bread and sugary drinks can cause a surge in blood sugar.3 Women with type 1 diabetes can be particularly sensitive to these surges in blood glucose a few days before their period.4
And this leads us nicely onto…