As we approach the Christmas period, we are encouraged to eat, drink & be merry - and I’m all for a bit of sparkle & shine! Yet as night follows day post-Christmas, our social media feed become bombarded with programmes to “detox”, filled with promises to balance or sync hormones, thereby promoting a healthier body & to shed pounds. Broad brush statements and promises to “balance hormones” are unrealistic & unfair marketing speak. Please don't fall for it my friends - work with a practitioner that wants to understand the mechanisms at play that are dysregulating your hormones.

The oral contraceptive pill (OCP) has become the panacea for virtually all forms of women's health issues - prescribed to our daughters for acne, painful or heavy periods, PMS and even to restore menstrual cycles. To prescribe birth control for “hormone balance” is a huge dichotomy - birth control does not balance hormones; it switches them off!

PMS, painful periods, heavy flooding, endometriosis - Too much histamine & over activation of the cells that contain histamine, mast cells, could be playing a significant role… When all is in balance, histamine is produced by gut flora or when released from various cell types located in nerves, immune cells, barrier tissues (such as gut & bladder) & the ovaries & uterus carries out normal housekeeping activities & is then deactivated by an enzyme, diamine oxidase (DAO).

Brain fog & midlife weight gain is so readily attributed to the menopause, why is this? And what can we do about it?

Let’s talk about ALLO. Don’t worry I’m not about to embark on a rendition of a British sitcom. ALLO [Allopregnanolone] is a derivative of the hormone progesterone.

What does stress mean to the body? And what impact does it have? Stress to the body is the response & adaptation to a stimulus. The stimulus can be physical, emotional, metabolic or inflammatory which demands a response, adjustment, or adaptation by the body. We need a certain level of stress to respond & adapt to our environment appropriately, to control blood sugar levels, regulate metabolism, reduce inflammation or control blood pressure.

Have you ever considered that the symptoms of perimenopause mimic that of hypothyroidism or metabolic syndrome (insulin resistance):- weight gain, high cholesterol, heavy and irregular periods, fatigue, insomnia, drying skin and hair, hair loss - enter THYRO-BOLIC-PAUSE

Weight loss, or more the inability to lose weight is about so much more than calories in vs calories out. Chasing the holy grail of optimum weight & weight loss is a multi million £ business but NO one diet model (gut friendly, keto, fasting, blood sugar diet, metabolic balance, detox) is going to be your answer, especially if you have been struggling with losing weight or plateaued.

Iron deficiency is one of the most common nutrient deficiencies in the world, and many symptoms overlap with Hashimoto’s disease and hypothyroidism, making it difficult to ascertain what is the chicken or the egg, so to speak.

Ferritin is the storage form of iron, found in many body cells, but especially those in the liver, spleen, and bone marrow, thereby plays a significant role in the absorption, storage, and release of iron. As the storage form, ferritin remains in the body tissues until it is needed to make red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body.