The silly season is upon us and while moderation is a key value, it is also important to ensure that you’re nourishing your body throughout this time to keep it as happy and healthy as possible. This time of year is usually filled with social interactions, warmer weather (in the southern hemisphere), later nights, and disruption to routines. I am all for having a great time and enjoying yourself, but we need to keep in mind how our choices now might impact our future health. You don’t want to start the new year off with whacky hormones! You can enjoy yourself and indulge while maintaining nourishment simultaneously.

Here are my top tips for keeping your hormones happy throughout this silly season!

Magnesium

Magnesium is required for over 300 enzymatic reactions within the body, which is a lot!! It is important for stress, liver, detoxification, inflammation, and sleep. It also fuels mitochondria, which are the powerhouses of your cells that provide your body with energy. Also, ensuring you’re getting enough antioxidant support and vitamin C to keep your immune system and your adrenals happy is also important. When your body is under more stress, the adrenals pump out more vitamin C which is why when you’re stressed out, you’re more inclined to get sick.

Exercise 

Keep up the movement but avoid overdoing the HIIT workouts throughout this time of year. If you’re already stressed out and pumping out cortisol, the last thing you want to be doing is creating more. Opt for slower-paced workouts like strength training, Pilates, and yoga, which are gentler and more nourishing for the nervous system.

B vitamins

When your body is under stress it burns up a lot more B vitamins. B vitamins have many functions including energy production. If you’re feeling a bit more stressed out, start taking a B complex. It’s super important not to overdo it with B vitamins though, especially if you’re taking other supplements. Just be mindful and check the ingredients if you’re taking other supplements or speak to a naturopath. You can also get B vitamins through foods such as dark leafy greens, asparagus, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and edamame.

Support your digestion

Ginger is a great herb to help with any inflammation and is beneficial for gut health. It helps to stimulate the digestive fire in your gut. Another good herb for this is gentian. I usually tell my clients to have 20 drops of ginger/gentian before meals to help them break down their food better. Turmeric is also a great herb to utilise throughout this time. It’s a natural anti-inflammatory and plays a role in liver detoxification. It can increase the antioxidant capacity of the body, which reduces toxins circulating within the body. You can get this in capsule and liquid form, and you can also get it at practitioner strength from a naturopath. If you’re not a fan of ginger, you can do apple cider vinegar and lemon upon waking and before meals, this also helps stimulate digestive fire, keeping your gut healthy, and ensuring that you’re looking after your digestive system.  You could also get fresh ginger and fresh turmeric and blend them with some water and strain.

Get enough sleep

Ensure you’re getting enough, deep, and restorative sleep. While it can be easy to get out of routine at this time of year, try your best to go to sleep and wake up at the same time each day. Make sure your sleep hygiene is on point, implementing things such as getting off screens at least 30 minutes to an hour before bedtime, sleeping in pitch black, and dimming the lights, with as little sound as possible. What we do first thing in the morning is equally important for our sleep as what we do just before bed. Get outside first thing in the morning and get the sunshine in your eyes (don’t look directly at the sun obviously) but getting the natural light in your eyes first thing in the morning wakes up your circadian rhythm, which is your sleep-wake cycle. Also, keep in mind that alcohol has an impact on your sleep, so limiting alcohol intake where possible will aid in deep restorative sleep.

Look after your liver

Ensuring that not only your liver but other detox organs such as kidneys, the lymphatic system, skin, and the digestive system are all working well to efficiently excrete any toxins that have the potential to build up in your system. Things like going to the sauna, dry skin brushing, Gua Sha, and walking are all great ways to ensure the detox systems are working properly and give them a boost if they’re not. Consuming foods like dark leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, spinach, rocket, and kale) all help detoxify the liver. Also, make sure you’re drinking enough clean water (eg filtered). Be mindful of your alcohol and sugar intake, while it’s important to enjoy yourself, you don’t want to overdo it and cause havoc on your hormones. Consider taking something like St. Mary’s Thistle which is an amazing herb for protecting and restoring the health of the liver caused by fatty foods and alcohol.