It appears that one of the newest fads out there in Diet Land are “hormone reset” diets.

Isn’t life just dandy now?

There is absolutely no end in sight to all the crazy diet plans that are the be all, end all of diet plans. Just send in your non-refundable fee and you too can jump onto the latest bandwagon that’ll drive you to successful weight loss. Today there is a plethora of diets created to appeal to those who are convinced their hormones are screwed up, therefore they feel they must do something special diet wise in order to lose weight.

Well yes, if you are over weight or obese, your hormones are quite possibly out of whack. If you suffer from a weight problem, your problem is your appetite – your hormones are only a part of your problem. However, you do not need to do any special hormone reset diet plans. What you do need to understand is that to lose weight, you really do not have to jump through any hoops to do so. There is no magic bullet or potion that you need to invest in. You just need to get real and eat as a normal person would have forty years ago and farther back.

Despite what advocates of the hormone  reset diets might claim, weight loss is a matter of eating fewer calories than you burn in a day. There is nothing for you to do about your hormones but to allow them to return to normal levels naturally as you lose body fat and get healthier. No matter what your friends might tell you, there are no viable theories which can demonstrate that a person can “reset” their hormones to influence fat loss.

Advocates of hormone reset diet plans will claim the diet aims to control women’s hormone fluctuations that cause weight gain and other health issues. They will make you believe that you are really doing something special for your body, but they are full of hot air when they inform you that in the first two weeks of your plan that you are going to detox your body by eliminating a wide variety of foods.

The foods they want you to eliminate are foods that include gluten, dairy products, various oils, peanuts, sugar, artificial sweeteners, red meat, citrus, alcohol, and caffeine. During this phase, you also are required to take supplements such as fish oil, anti-inflammatories, and probiotics. Unless you have an actual problem with any of these food items, there is really no need to eliminate them from your diet. Trust me, if you have any type of adverse bodily reactions to any of them, you will have in all likelihood had to visit your doctor about them. Really, gluten is only a problem to those with Celiac, or those who are gluten sensitive. The reality is that most people do not have any type of problem with gluten. If you suspect that you might, get your tail end to your doctor and get checked out.

Phase 2 in these Hormone reset diets will have you slowly work foods back into your diet in order for you to know if you have any type of reaction to them.  However, you will still be required to restrict foods including fish which is often thought to have high mercury levels and:

Meat and coffee that are not organic.

Dried fruit such as raisins and dates.

Peanuts.

and lastly, high fructose corn syrup.

This diet is so full of ill advice. The only food that I agree to not add back in is the high fructose corn syrup. But of course with David’s Way, we already teach to cut out all simple, refined sugars as a important component of your new nutritional lifestyle.

Other foods off-limits during this phase include anything processed, artificial sweeteners, nitrates, and refined grains.

Phase three will have you adding physical activity, including cardiovascular exercise and strength training, while continuing the same diet from phase two.

What do you get with “Hormone Reset” Diets?

To put it bluntly, these type of diets will probably give you the sense that it made you lose a few IQ points once you have failed and returned to your old eating habits. I don’t care what paid celebrity is hyping any of these diets, there is minimal merit to any of them and unfortunately no research-based evidence to support that the Hormone Diet will improve sleep, give an individual glowing skin and healthy hair, create rainbows, unicorns and puppy dogs.

Furthermore, these diets usually tout a twelve pound weight loss within a two-week timeframe, which is unrealistic and unsustainable. If you are serious about wanting to lose weight, just get over the belief that you have to do something special. There is no magic formula to losing weight, in fact the way to do so is to cut out eating low nutrition, processed foods and to quit eating foods that contain added sugars such as cookies, cakes, ice cream and candy bars. Or in other words, to lose weight you must do the exact opposite of what got you heavy in the first place.

So how do I get my hormones back into balance?

Most people don’t have a hormone imbalance; they have a lifestyle imbalance! When you do not eat a healthy diet, your hormones are out of balance not because them not doing what they are designed to do – it is because of what you are feeding into your body. Specifically, you will find that your insulin levels get terribly out of balance when you eat sugar and foods which contain added sugars. When you consume a diet rich in nutritious, whole foods and participate in regular physical activity, your hormones will straighten themselves out.

When God was creating every human on this earth, he made each of us individually with a purpose. Nobody is made by accident and nobody is a mistake. We can know this to be the truth when we read from Psalms 139:13-14

For You formed my inner most being;

You knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise You,

for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are Your works,

and I know this very well.

 Our bodies produce the precise amount of each hormone needed for various processes to keep us healthy. Hormones are involved in every aspect of our health. And we need them in very specific amounts for your body to function optimally. The problem is that when we stray from a healthy diet, we throw everything out of balance with the foods that we eat. If you desire an improvement in the way you feel and look then follow these simple tips:

• Consuming adequate amounts of protein at each meal. Eating a sufficient amount of protein triggers the production of peptide hormones, some of which suppress your appetite and help you to feel full. Aim for a minimum of 20–30 grams of protein per meal.
• Engage in regular exercise as your doctor allows. Physical activity strongly influences hormonal health. Aside from improving blood flow to your muscles, exercise increases hormone receptor sensitivity, meaning that it enhances the delivery of nutrients and hormone signals. Exercise reduces insulin levels and increase insulin sensitivity. This is highly important as insulin is the hormone that allows your body’s cells to take up sugar from your bloodstream to use for energy. However, if you have a condition called insulin resistance, your cells may not effectively react to insulin. This condition is a risk factor for diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.
• Maintain a moderate weight, this is crucial for hormone health, as obesity is strongly related to hormonal imbalances that impair insulin sensitivity and fertility. As obesity is strongly related to the development of insulin resistance, conversely, losing excess weight is linked to improvements in insulin resistance and reduced risk of diabetes and heart disease.
• Take care of your gut health. A healthy gut microbiome may positively influence your hormones by regulating your appetite and reducing insulin resistance. Whereas, when we consume processed foods and foods containing added sugars, we create an unhealthy gut microbiome.
• Cut out the consumption of simple sugars! Doing this is instrumental in optimizing hormone function and avoiding obesity, diabetes, and other diseases. Diets high in sugar as in the Standard American Diet (SAD) have been proven to promote insulin resistance, disrupt your gut microbiome, and reduce leptin production. Leptin is the hormone which signals that you are full.
• Make your world small! Stress harms your hormones in several ways. Your body’s response to stress activates a cascade of events that lead to cortisol production. Once the stressor has passed, the response ends. However, chronic stress impairs the feedback mechanisms that return your hormonal systems to normal. Chronic stress will cause cortisol levels to remain high, which stimulates your appetite. Having your appetite stimulated most often results in an increase of your intake of sugary and high fat foods. This most often leads to our excessive calorie intake and our obesity.
• Increase your intake of healthy fats which are found in pure MCT oil, avocados, almonds, peanuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, fatty fish, along with olive and coconut oils. Eating healthy fats can help reduce insulin resistance and levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
• Work at improving your sleep! Poor sleep is linked to imbalances in many hormones, including insulin, cortisol, leptin, ghrelin, and HGH.
• A component of a healthy diet is FIBER! Studies have found that fiber increases insulin sensitivity and stimulates the production of hormones that make you feel full.

Weight loss does not require that you do anything special for a hormone reset. You do not need to attempt to reset your hormones in any other way than to just adopt a healthy diet and to not consume any more calories than your body requires in a day.