Hormones love stability, safety, coziness, and deep nourishment within the body. When you are in go mode, this can take a toll on your hormone cycle especially if you haven’t built a foundation for it to rely on.
Here are a few tips for loving your hormones in winter time
Warming foods and drinks- ditch the raw till spring
Keeping the body warm in winter is essential for metabolism and hormone support. Ditch the cold drinks, large salads, smoothies, etc for warm/hot foods until spring rolls around. If you love to have your smoothies, then add some warming spices like ginger or cinnamon to change the energetics, a simple Chinese Medicine tip.
Keeping your uterus, feet, and thyroid warm
Your grandma probably nagged you to wear your hat and scarf before going out in the cold and she wasn’t wrong. In Chinese Medicine, it is so important to keep your feet, uterus/abdomen, thyroid/neck, and top of head warm in winter. The reasons are to keep wind cold from invading these areas which causes illnesses and deficiencies and to keep your energy from escaping these points. So wear your warm boots, scarf, hat, mittens this winter!
Red light therapy for your thyroid
Red light therapy is touted for numerous benefits like acne reduction, energy levels, circadian rhythm, etc. New studies are also showing how beneficial it can be for your thyroid. It is common for symptoms of hypo thyroid to flare because of the lack of sunlight, stress from holidays, cold, etc. In this study, people used red light therapy at 830 nm 2 times a week for 5 weeks. The results? 47% of them lowered or stopped thyroid medication and they also noticed a decrease in thyroid size. Red light therapy is a very safe and easy way to support your master gland. PMID: 20662037
Soups, stews, gelatin rich foods
This is tied to the first point, but I needed to emphasize it here. There is nothing better than eating warm squash soup or beef stew on these cold, dark days. It is tradition to eat your chicken soup in winter and for good reason. These soups and stews are packed with immune and hormone supporting benefits like glycine, quercetin, vitamin A, etc.
Vitamin D
As you enter the second half of winter, your vitamin D stores may be dwindling from the summer. You may want to consider taking vitamin D with K2 so it can be synthesized. Vitamin D is actually a hormone not a vitamin, but it is essential for immune health, bones, thyroid, and hormones. D helps to regulate estrogen levels in the body and when it gets too low excess estrogen may become a problem.
Herbal Teas
My favorite herbs for gentle hormone support are nettle and raspberry leaf. Both are full of essential nutrients, anti-inflammatory, and antispasmodic (reduce cramps). Raspberry is known as the woman's herb and helps bring blood flow to the uterus. Try them as warm teas or do a long 6hr+ herbal infusion.
Try to get outside
As cold as it may be, try your best to get outside for light exposure. Light from the sun even in the winter helps signal hundreds of actions in the body, balance cortisol, regulate circadian rhythm, etc.
Embrace the hibernation!
Winter is a time for reflection, coziness, hibernation, and deep nourishment. Allow yourself to go to bed earlier, rest more, and destress. You don’t need to feel pressure by the go mode attitude of our society. Take this time to care for yourself and your body.