A personal experience of nutrition for hormonal health

Eleanor Gordon, UK

Nutritional Therapist

My name is Eleanor Gordon, and I am a practicing Nutritional Therapist, based in Bristol, UK, specialising in Women’s Health. I am passionate about educating women in their bodies and the power of nutrition as a vital component in women’s overall wellbeing. My mission is to help empower women to become their own best advocates for their health.

My interest in nutrition was sparked from an early age, after loosing two close female relatives, within the space of nine months, to breast and ovarian cancer. These devastating and significant losses lit a spark inside of me; a spark of being interested in supporting women’s health with preventive nutritional medicine and a more integrated approach. There comes a time in your life when you stop taking certain things for granted and you start questioning more; that was my wake-up call.

It turned out it was a good job that the fire had been lit, as in my twenties I started to experience awful hormonal symptoms with my monthly cycle. I developed the debilitating mood swings that only severe PMS can bring on, and that I had witnessed my own mother struggling with whilst growing up, now known to be ‘Premenstrual dysphoric disorder’ (PMDD). This is why I understand so keenly when women tell me they feel like a totally different person within the last week of their luteal stage. Then there were the physical symptoms that manifested when my period came: the heavy blood loss, vomiting, fatigue caused by anaemia, bloating as if I was pregnant, pain and cramps that could bring me face down onto floor in agony.

I lost count of the days I had missed off work. I became frustrated when medical tests came back without a diagnosis and I was simply prescribed pain killers and the contraceptive pill, which only worsened my symptoms. I needed answers, so I started rigorously researching, experimenting with various diets, seeing nutritionists and other holistic experts. I began to understand that if a woman is not detoxifying her hormones effectively, this can result in inflammation and cause significant negative symptoms, such as the ones I had been experiencing. Improving my health was also about a shift towards a more holistic philosophy – learning to look at myself as a whole person, considering not only diet, but my movement, emotions and environment too.

After implementing lots of nutritional, personal and lifestyle changes, I achieved radical remission of the severe hormonal imbalance symptoms in my cycle, and I began to feel a sense of vitality I had not known for a long time was possible. I soon learned that my experience was not unique and that many other women also suffered from debilitating monthly periods and did not feel that their symptoms were being listened to. In her book ‘Doing Harm:  The Truth About How Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismantled, Misdiagnosed and Sick’, author Maya Dusenbery summaries “Women’s symptoms are not being taken seriously because medicine doesn’t know as much about their bodies and health problems. And medicine doesn’t know as much about their bodies and health problems because it doesn’t take their symptoms seriously’. The need for women’s health issues to be given the deserved attention, inspired me to study Nutrition, as I wanted to share the important information and wisdom, I’d learned with other women who were struggling with hormonal imbalance.

In Chinese medicine a woman is said to be ten times more difficult to treat than a man. This is simply because from a biological perspective we are considerably more complex. Unlike men, we do not only have a 24-hour circadian rhythm hormonal clock - we also have a monthly hormonal clock called our ‘Infradian Rhythm.’

 Throughout our monthly cycle, our shifts in hormones hugely impact our sleep, digestion, immunity, energy, appetite and mood. At different stages of our cycle we have different nutrient needs. Take for example our ovulation phase; when are oestrogen hormone is highest – this can trigger a greater mast cell release of histamine. Higher histamine levels within the body can make us more vulnerable to allergies and inflammation - therefore we require more foods that aid detoxification during that time, such as cruciferous vegetables and anti-inflammatory herbs spices such as rosemary, turmeric and ginger. Whereas, in our menstruation phase we need more nourishing, nutrient rich foods to help support healthy red blood cells like red meat, black beans and dark leafy greens.

Women don’t just require a healthy cycle for optimum fertility. Our cycles are vital for our overall long-term health. Healthy oestrogen levels promote bone, cardiovascular and brain health. Furthermore, we cannot produce progesterone without ovulation taking place. Progesterone boosts the neurotransmitter ‘GABA’ which helps provide us with a sense of calm and relaxation – women are particularly in need of this during the perimenopause transition.

Our monthly cycle is so critical to our wellbeing that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists have now proclaimed that menstruation is the’ fifth vital sign’, just as important as pulse, temperature, breathing rate and blood pressure. Rather than viewing our monthly cycle as a source of shame and something to suppress, I encourage women to view their monthly cycle as a monthly barometer of their overall health – something to invest in with good nutrition, live in synchronicity with, and deeply respect.

If you would like to learn more about Nutritional Therapy for Women’s Health, please follow me on my Instagram page @eleanorgordon_nutrition.