Beautiful Inside and Out by Gena Lee Nolin & Mary Shomon

Author:Gena Lee Nolin & Mary Shomon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books

6

Hormone Balance: The Three-Legged Stool

Health is the greatest possession.

—LAO TZU

Gena, age three, in Mom’s clothes and ultracool 1970s wig and hat

We’ve delved into the thyroid, but it’s important to look at how the thyroid fits into the overall hormone balance, and the challenges of achieving and maintaining that balance. Mary and I both like the example created by Drs. Richard and Karilee Shames, who are authors of a number of terrific books on thyroid and hormonal health (listed in the Resources section). They refer to our hormone balance as a three-legged stool.

One leg of the stool is our reproductive hormones, specifically the female hormones, for us women. That’s mainly the estrogens and progesterone, and they go up and down, depending where you are in your menstrual cycle. Levels of these hormones get particularly high during pregnancy, and they crash back down to the normal—or even low—levels after pregnancy. From your first period until you hit menopause, these hormones typically cycle every month. The first half of your cycle, from when you get your period, until when you ovulate, things are usually fairly calm. But then, as progesterone and estrogen rise during the second half of the cycle, that’s when PMS symptoms can show up, and you can feel more tired and draggy. We women also have some testosterone, though it is of course associated more with men. Testosterone helps us to build and maintain muscle, and it also contributes to a healthy sex drive.

The next leg of the stool is our adrenal hormones. The adrenals are tiny glands, shaped like peanuts, and they sit over the kidneys. They produce the hormones that help our body cope with stress, whether it’s physical stress like a poor diet or ongoing infection, chronic stress like not getting enough sleep or a traffic-filled daily commute, or major life stressors like a breakup, losing a job, or a death in the family. If you’re bombarded by stress on a regular basis, the adrenals can sometimes become less effective, and you end up with what’s called adrenal fatigue or adrenal insufficiency. You can also feel tired, and you may find it hard to exercise. You may also notice that you easily catch every infection going around, and that it takes longer to recuperate.

The third leg of the stool is, you guessed it, the thyroid. We’ve talked quite a bit about the thyroid, but the key thing to remember is that your thyroid gland is responsible for producing the hormones that deliver oxygen and energy to each and every cell, organ, tissue, and gland in the body. That’s a huge job. And when it’s not working properly, it’s a disaster, because that oxygen and energy doesn’t get to where it needs to be—your brain, your heart, your bloodstream, your digestive system—even your hair and nails.

The balanced stool metaphor is important because any imbalance in one leg of the stool means that you can’t be balanced, and the stool tips over. So, when reproductive hormones drop significantly, as

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