HORMONES FOR MEN AND WOMEN
Is There a Natural Approach?
Our bodies, minds, muscles, physique, and drive change as we age, and we often blame our hormones for it. Does this mean we’re doomed?
protein and not exercising enough? My doctor told me to take hormones to fix my symptoms.” I disagree. Treat the problem, not the symptom. Let’s assess your metabolism, blood sugar, and vitamin levels. Let’s look at your medical history, medications, and diagnoses impacting your metabolism. Let’s evaluate the amount of inflammation in your body. Sure, your hormones have decreased, but your symptoms likely come from something else. 1. Blood sugar stability is more challenging as we age due to the change in muscle-to-fat ratio, vitamin levels, and the body’s ability to break down sugar. We must focus on getting the proper amount of lean protein into our bodies with a balance of good carbohydrates and healthy fats. In some cases, a plant sterol called berberine can be helpful. With stable blood sugar, our vitamin levels, sleep, energy, recovery time, and muscle- building opportunities significantly improve. 2. Optimizing vitamin levels is essential to improving many of the symptoms we experience. For instance, magnesium is vital for sleep, bowel movements, muscle aches and cramps, headaches, melatonin production, and reducing stress and anxiety. Vitamin D is crucial to improve blood sugar stability, preventing depression and anxiety, and bone health. This is just a small sample of the vitamin levels that should be assessed regarding hormonal symptoms , as we often lack vital nutrients and vitamins as we age (trigger gut health conversation). 3. Identify the proper amount of strength training versus cardiovascular exercise. 4. Assess gut health, which is extremely important to optimize health, nutrient absorption, and inflammation reduction! Seventy percent of our immune system starts in the GUT! 5. Hydration — Are you drinking enough? Probably not! The symptoms you are experiencing as your hormones change are often due to very treatable conditions, malnutrition, and vitamin deficiencies. It is simple to make these changes, though it is not easy. It requires work and change! Contact Berman Health and Wellness today for a free consultation and to start improving your hormone imbalance symptoms. This offer is good for the month of June with this article! –Jenni Berman
NO!
Functional medicine is an alternative type of medicine in which a full-body biology-based approach is taken to identify the root causes of particular issues rather than treating the symptoms. Are we doomed? Most hormones start to decline through the natural aging process, but what actually happens first? Do our hormones decrease, and then we experience symptoms, or vice versa? Brain fog, memory decline, weight gain, loss of muscle mass, poor sleep, hot flashes, night sweats, poor sex drive, hair loss, irritability, anxiety, depression, constipation, hunger and cravings, fatigue, and the list goes on and on. This is just the start of the symptoms I often hear blamed on “hormones” and subsequently, “Nothing else can be done.” Let’s get to the bottom of this. As we age, we naturally start to lose muscle mass, a process called sarcopenia . Many will blame this on the fact that hormones are declining; however, our body’s ability to stimulate the proteins that build muscle mass decreases as we age. This results in less overall muscle mass. As muscle mass declines, the body’s rate at which we burn calories at rest also declines. Simultaneously, the risk of insulin resistance increases through the aging process. Insulin resistance is a metabolic dysfunction in which the body does not metabolize food efficiently, resulting in higher blood sugar and insulin levels. Insulin resistance can occur due to vitamin deficiencies, poor nutrient balance through diet, lack of activity, decreased muscle mass, medications, hormonal changes, or medical comorbidities such as high cholesterol and autoimmune disease. Sarcopenia can occur due to insulin resistance, reduced physical activity and strength training, a lack of protein in the meal plan, and medications. Yes, a loss in muscle mass can increase the risk of insulin resistance, and insulin resistance can increase the risk of losing muscle mass. I know what you’re thinking. “We must be doomed because sarcopenia and insulin resistance are part of the aging process, so there isn’t anything to do except take hormones and hope I feel better.” Wrong . Your next thought is, “If I am exhausted, not sleeping well, and craving sugar, how will I ever overcome these issues of not consuming enough
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