About This Recipe
My favourite clients to work with are women struggling with hormonal issues.
This is because I have been down the same long road.
It took me years to learn how to best support my body to naturally produce hormones and be in a state of balance.
When I meet women with similar stories in my nutrition office, I have a great deal of empathy for their journey.
I understand first-hand how hormonal issues can destroy our energy levels, digestive health, skin, sleep, mental health and sense of vitality.
Part of the process of balancing my hormones was supporting my body’s natural detoxification processes.
Along with clearing toxins, our detoxification system is responsible for removing hormones from the body once they have exerted their effect in their target tissues.
If our detoxification processes have slowed, we can experience a build up of excess hormones which can lead to many hormonal conditions.
Two ways that I love to support my natural detoxification every day are to include a large handful of leafy green vegetables at every meal, and to include 1-2 Tbsp ground flax seeds.
Flax seeds are natural oestrogen-modulators, meaning that they respond to tissue-level needs for oestrogen.
If levels are low, they stimulate oestrogen receptors, and if levels are high, they block receptors from being stimulated by oestrogen.
In this way, flax is a great way of balancing what your body needs, day-to-day and tissue-to-tissue.
Good quality fats are also crucial in hormone balance. Our hormones are made from fats, therefore a diet devoid of fats can lead to an inability for the body to create sufficient hormone levels.
Fats are also important for satiety, skin and brain health and keeping our blood sugar levels stable.
This Hormone Balancing Green Smoothie applies the above diet principals to create a satisfying, blood-sugar stabilising drink that helps to regulate hormones and promote detoxification.
It’s a great way to start the day, particularly if you are rushing out the door with no time to stop and eat a nourishing breakfast.
No time to prep this smoothie in the morning? Try making it the night before and leaving in the fridge so you can grab-and-go. Enjoy!
Maca is a root vegetable native to Peru which has been used traditionally to regulate hormones.
A recent double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled study found that in early-postmenopausal women, maca significantly reduced or alleviated many menopausal symptoms (like hot flushes) and increased natural oestradiol production (the hormone which drops in menopause and causes many of the unpleasant symptoms) compared with placebo.
How To Make This Recipe
Hormone Balancing Green Smoothie
Ingredients
- ½ lemon, peel and chopped
- 1 medium stick celery
- ½ cucumber
- ¼ avocado
- 1 cup leafy greens (kale, baby spinach, collards)
- 1 frozen banana, cut in to pieces
- 1 tsp spirulina or mixed greens powder
- 1 Tbsp ground flax
- 1 Tbsp tahini (or nut butter e.g. almond)
- 1 cup water or almond milk
- 1 scoop plant-based protein powder (optional)
Takes ,serves 1.
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a high strength food processor or blender and blend until smooth and creamy
- Pour into a tall glass and enjoy!
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