The human body secretes more than 75 types of hormones, each playing its own role. Women with high hormone levels in their bodies look much younger than their peers with lower hormone levels. The peak of youth is between the ages of 21 and 22, which is also the period when the endocrine system functions at its best. Starting from the age of 25, the body's hormone secretion decreases by 15% every 10 years. The body's various organs and tissues begin to gradually age and atrophy, the skin becomes noticeably dull, and mental well-being declines. By the age of 60, hormone secretion is only about one-fifth of what it was in youth.
Symptoms of Hormone Deficiency in Women
Symptom 1: Insomnia and Headaches
Manifestations: Insomnia, dreams, fatigue, and headaches. No matter what method is used to induce sleep at night, you still stare at the ceiling. During the day, it's hard to concentrate, and you feel drowsy and sleepy, which seriously affects daily life.
Symptom 2: Irregular Menstruation
Manifestations: "Old friend" never arrives on time, either early or late. Being early is manageable, at most it's a bit of a surprise, but being late is unsettling. You nervously count the days on your fingers or worry if the condom failed. After what feels like an eternity, it finally arrives, only to linger when it's time to leave.
Symptom 3: Skin Aging
Manifestations: The skin becomes loose, fair skin gradually becomes rough, pores expand and become coarse, and even spots appear to cause trouble. The reflection in the mirror shows a classic "yellow-faced old woman."
Symptom 4: Irritability and Chest Tightness
Manifestations: Palpitations, shortness of breath, getting agitated or even manic easily. You might argue with colleagues or family over a small thing, always looking unhappy, and sometimes it's hard to control your emotions. At night, you might be woken up by a tight feeling in your chest, and in severe cases, your blood pressure can flip as quickly as your bad temper.
Why Hormones are "Colorful"
From the perspective of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the human body has five major organs: kidney, liver, spleen, heart, and lung. The organs most closely related to hormone secretion are the liver, spleen, and kidney. The kidney regulates the balance of hormone secretion and is the first to react to adverse symptoms in the body. The liver plays a key supporting role when hormone secretion is imbalanced. And the normal functioning of the liver and kidney is entirely dependent on the spleen. Therefore, to improve the adverse symptoms caused by hormonal imbalance, one must start by strengthening the spleen.
Reason 1: Colored Foods Affect Hormone Secretion
TCM believes that the human body is a unified organism, and the five organs are related to the five elements, five flavors, and five colors in a relationship of mutual generation and restraint. Different colored foods have a relationship of yin-yang harmony with the body's organs. Properly matching your diet can help increase hormone secretion. Black, naturally salty foods correspond to the kidneys. Yellow, naturally sweet foods correspond to the spleen. Green, sour foods correspond to the liver.
● Yellow Foods Strengthen the Spleen: Yellow foods can strengthen the spleen, enhance gastrointestinal function, restore energy, and replenish qi, thereby alleviating symptoms of weakened female hormone secretion. Yellow foods are very effective for the digestive system and also help with memory decline.
Representative Foods: Tofu, pumpkin, satsuma mandarin, lemon, corn, banana, and quail eggs.
Soybeans: Help restore gastrointestinal motility, are a natural phytoestrogen, and can help regulate female hormones. They also help alleviate menopausal and menstrual symptoms and can prevent hormone-related cancers.
Pumpkin: Boosts energy, replenishes qi, and improves metabolism.
Satsuma Mandarin: Has the effects of expelling wind, aromatics, and nourishment, and can alleviate mental tension.
Lemon: Eliminates fatigue, promotes blood circulation, increases immunity, and delays skin aging.
Persimmon: Strengthens the spleen and whets the appetite, moistens the lungs and promotes fluid production, and improves cardiovascular function.
Banana: Strengthens the digestive system, removes toxins from the blood, and has antidepressant and immunity-boosting effects.
● Black Foods Nourish the Kidney: Black foods help improve the metabolism and reproductive systems, which are closely related to the kidneys, bladder, and bones. They can regulate the body's physiological functions, stimulate the endocrine system, promote saliva secretion, aid gastrointestinal digestion, enhance blood production, and have a certain effect in delaying aging.
Representative Foods: Black sesame seeds, black fungus, black soybeans, shiitake mushrooms, black rice, shrimp, shellfish, etc.
Black Rice: Has the effects of nourishing yin and strengthening the kidneys, replenishing blood and qi, enhancing intelligence and brain function, and boosting metabolism.
Black Dates: Enhance the body's immunity.
Black Soybeans: Have the effects of strengthening the kidneys, tonifying bones and muscles, warming the stomach, improving eyesight and vitality, promoting urination, and detoxifying.
Black Sesame Seeds: Have the effects of nourishing the kidneys, strengthening the brain and moistening the lungs, nourishing blood and blackening hair, and preventing aging.
Black Fungus: Cleans the stomach and intestines, and enhances the body's immunity.
● Green Foods Nourish the Liver: Green foods contain chlorophyll and various vitamins that are healthy for the liver. They can clean the intestines to prevent constipation and reduce the incidence of colorectal cancer. Additionally, they can maintain the body's acid-base balance and strengthen the constitution under stress.
Representative Foods: Spinach, green perilla, cabbage, celery, lettuce, chives, broccoli, etc.
Spinach: Has the effects of nourishing blood, stopping bleeding, moistening yin and drying, anti-aging, and promoting cell growth.
Broccoli: Can enhance the liver's detoxification ability, improve the body's immunity, and reduce the risk of breast cancer.
Chives: Can warm and nourish the liver and kidneys, promote gastrointestinal peristalsis, and have the effect of dispersing blood and detoxifying.
Reason 2: Regulating Hormones, Yellow is the Driving Force
Strengthening the kidneys, liver, and spleen is the secret to restoring a woman's vitality, with strengthening the spleen being particularly important. If the spleen is healthy, it can effectively digest and absorb foods beneficial to the kidneys, liver, and spleen, maintain the balance of hormone secretion, and prevent adverse conditions in the body. Therefore, yellow food is the original driving force for supplementing hormones.
The important role of yellow foods is not only reflected when you are unwell. In your daily three meals, eating yellow foods regularly can enhance gastrointestinal function, change a "cold" constitution, help boost metabolic function, and maintain the body's ability to secrete female hormones.
Recommended Recipes:
★ Pumpkin Milk Porridge Main Ingredients: Pumpkin, milk, walnut kernels.
★ Lemon Seafood Main Ingredients: Lemon, cod, egg.
★ Corn Porridge Main Ingredients: Corn grits, kidney beans, rock sugar.