On today’s podcast is Angelique Panagos, a woman on a mission to educate women about hormones and how to balance them. Angelique is a nutritional therapist specialising in hormonal health, stress management, weight management and digestive wellness. Her first book The Balance Plan: Six Steps to Optimise your Hormonal Health was published in July 2017. After experiencing her own issues with PCOS, hypothyroidism, miscarriage and more, she is determined to help women solve hormonal imbalance.

In the simplest possible terms what is the role of our hormones:

As women we need to know more about how our bodies function, our hormones govern everything from head to toe but they need to be balanced to feel right within ourselves and within our health 

What are some signs that our hormones may be imbalanced: 

Constipation, weight gain especially around the middle, foggy headedness, hair growth on the face, acne, migraines, need for stimulants, loss of libido, mood swings and pms symptoms.

What was your personal experience of hormonal imbalance?

Started period around age 10, had irregular and painful periods but pms symptoms the whole time. Was diagnosed with PCOS, polycystic ovaries and hashimoto’s an autoimmune disorder where the body attacks the thyroid which left her with an underactive thyroid, two miscarriages, amenorrhea for a year and uterine endometriosis 

PCOS, what is it?

A very common endocrine disorder that often goes undiagnosed.

If you suspect you may have it definitely get medical help and investigate

Root cause is unknown but it’s driven by insulin and testosterone and there is a genetic link.

Diagnosed by seeing cysts on the ovaries and/or an elevated level of androgens (male hormones) and/or irregular or missing periods

There is a massive list of symptoms but the main ones are: irregular periods or not periods at all, hair growing on the face, male pattern balding, acne on face and back, infertility and difficulty staying pregnant, sleep apnea and ibs.

What advice would you give to someone with a PCOS diagnosis who is worried about their fertility?

Not one size fits all but going to see a specialist and starting fertility treatment early is always a good idea. Some people don’t need fertility treatment and will be able to fall pregnant naturally.

How does taking the contraceptive pill affect our hormonal balance, what can we do about it?

The pill definitely has its place but hormonal balance is a lot more than just taking a pill and we need to think about the long term implications of taking synthetic hormones. It can deplete nutrients in the body, especially b vitamins which affects our moods, it can affect fatigue and it can lead to more frequent depressive episodes in those who are predisposed and it can block the pituitary – hypothalamus – ovarian connection which can lead to a prolonged loss of period after coming off the pill.

Why are so many of us suffering with hormonal conditions, how is modern lifestyle affecting our hormones

Many of us live in a chronic stress state that we were not evolved to deal with. Our stress response is very energy intensive and uses up our nutrients which could be used elsewhere in the body and reduces the connection between our pituitary – hypothalamus  and ovaries. For many chronic stress can have a big knock on effect around the body: impacting sex hormone levels, insulin levels which can cause a range of symptoms in the body: loss of libido, amenorhea, weight gain around the middle, sleep apnea and many more. 

Tips for Improving sleep:

Eat the right types of carbohydrates

Eat magnesium rich foods

Switch of screens for 2 hours before bed

Ensure you aren’t going to bed hungry with a lower blood sugar level that can wake you up.

What are the first steps we can take to rebalance our hormones

Check in with yourself everyday and take a moment to scan your body and recognise how things feel in your body starting with the positives and into the niggly more negative things.

By being aware of what’s going on we can react accordingly and get help when it’s needed.

Where To Find Angelique

Website

The Balance Plan

The Hormone Balance School

Instagram

Facebook