I am excited to share this post because symptoms of hormonal imbalance can be such a nuisance. I never realized a few simple changes is all that may be needed to heal on my own. Dr. Kellyann Petrucci shares how she overcame her imbalance with simple changes to her diet. Here’s her story.
When did you realize you had to heal and why? What were your symptoms?
When I reached forty, I “hit the wall.” Here I was, a weight loss and anti-aging expert with thousands of successful transformations to my credit, and I was putting on weight and getting wrinkles. I remember seeing my reflection in a glass door and thinking, “That can’t be me!”
I call this my “fat, bald, and bitchy” phase. I couldn’t lose those extra pounds, my skin looked old, and I felt tired and cranky.
How long were you struggling with this problem before you knew what it was?
I realized pretty quickly that something had changed because I’d been slim, healthy, and energetic before I hit that wall. I also knew it involved my hormones because I recognized the symptoms. I was lucky because many of my patients suffer for years before they discover that they have a hormone imbalance.
Tell us about your healing story and your road to recovery.
I knew bone broth was doing wonders for my patients, so I added bone broth mini-fasts to my already-healthy regimen of real, natural foods. And voila: The weight came off. Also, my skin was smoother, and my hair began to thicken. I felt young again, and I went from bitchy to happy and energetic.
How can you tell if you have a hormonal imbalance? If you experience symptoms, what can you do?
The first thing to realize is that a hormone imbalance isn’t just a “menopause thing.” Your hormones can start getting out of whack as early as your late twenties or early thirties, so don’t let a doctor tell you that you’re too young to have a problem.
Here are some symptoms that can point to a hormone problem:
- Unexplained weight gain
- Mood swings
- Ongoing feelings of despair or anxiety
- Insomnia
- Thinning hair or bald spots
- A drop in sex drive
- Foggy thinking or forgetfulness
- Breast tenderness
- Fluid retention
- Lack of energy
If you develop any of these symptoms, find a doctor who will check all of your hormones. If they’re out of balance, I recommend switching to a diet of low-carbohydrate foods, along with at least one or two cups of bone broth a day. These foods will help you lose weight, lower your levels of insulin, and heal inflammation, all of which can contribute to balance your hormones.
Also, forget about low-fat diets. Your hormones are made from fats, so you need fat in your diet! Just be sure to eat healthy fats including coconut, avocados, fatty fish, olive oil, pastured butter, and nuts.
Finally, talk with a doctor about bioidentical hormones. These are much safer than most synthetic hormones, and they can make a world of difference.
You recommend bone broth to help promote healing. Can you give suggestions on how to incorporate it into our diets? Do you recommend it as a regular part of everyone’s diet?
I do recommend bone broth for everyone. Bone broth is the earliest healing food (even our caveperson ancestors made it!), and it’s still revered in every culture around the world—except for ours, where it’s been forgotten. We need to start making this healing food part of our diet again because it’s loaded with anti-inflammatory nutrients like glycine, glucosamine, and chondroitin, and with skin-smoothing nutrients like hyaluronic acid and the amino acids that build collagen.
What’s more, it’s easy to make bone broth a part of your diet. In addition to drinking it straight from the mug, you can add it to soups, stews, pot roasts, chili, and vegetable dishes. I even put it in cocktails!
What are some of your favorite bone broth recipes?
Kellyann shared three of her favorite recipes with us. They sound delicious! Let us know in the comments below which one is your favorite.
Asian Chicken Bone Broth
Prep Time: 5 minutes • Cook Time: 5–10 minutes
Yield: Makes 4 cups (1 quart)
4 cups (1 quart) chicken broth
3″ length of lemongrass, cut into 1″ pieces
1 small clove garlic, smashed
One handful of shitake mushrooms, sliced
2 scallions, white and green parts, cut into 1⁄2″ pieces
Celtic or pink Himalayan salt
Ground bone black pepper
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped cilantro leaves
Heat the broth in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the lemongrass, garlic, mushrooms, and scallions. Reduce the heat to medium-low or low, so the broth barely simmers for 5 to 10 minutes.
Remove and discard the lemongrass and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Top with the cilantro.
Eastern European Beef Bone Broth
Prep Time: 5 minutes • Cook Time: 5–10 minutes
Yield: Makes 4 cups (1 quart)
4 cups (1 quart) beef bone broth
1 small clove garlic, smashed
Large handful of shredded cabbage
1 rib celery, diced
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 peppercorn
Celtic or pink Himalayan salt
Heat the broth in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic, cabbage, celery, bay leaf, dill, and peppercorn. Reduce the heat to medium-low or low, so the broth barely simmers for 5 to 10 minutes, just until the vegetables are tender.
Remove and discard the bay leaf, garlic, and peppercorn. Season with salt and serve.
Italian Beef Bone Broth
Prep Time: 5 minutes • Cook Time: 5–10 minutes
Yield: Makes 4 cups (1 quart)
4 cups (1 quart) beef bone broth
1 small clove garlic, smashed
1⁄4 cup tomato sauce, sugar-free
1⁄4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
Celtic or pink Himalayan salt
Ground black pepper
6 fresh basil leaves, cut into fine chiffonade ribbons
Heat the broth in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic, tomato sauce, and Italian seasoning. Reduce the heat to medium-low or low, so the broth barely simmers for 5 to 10 minutes.
Remove and discard the garlic. Season with salt and pepper and serve topped with the basil.
Kellyann Petrucci, M.S., N.D., is the author of the New York Times bestselling book Dr. Kellyann’s Bone Broth Diet (Rodale, 2015). She is also host of the PBS special, 21 Days to a Slimmer, Younger You.
A weight-loss and natural anti-aging transformation expert, Dr. Petrucci has a private practice in the Birmingham, Michigan area and is a concierge doctor for celebrities in New York City and Los Angeles. She is a board-certified naturopathic physician and a certified nutrition consultant.
Dr. Petrucci is a regular guest on television shows including The Doctors, Dr. Oz, and national news programs, and has authored six books for John Wiley Sons. In addition, she is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post and MindBodyGreen. She is the driving force behind the popular website drkellyann.com.
Dr. Petrucci did postgraduate work in Europe, studying naturopathic medicine in England and Switzerland. She is one of the few practitioners in the United States certified in biological medicine by the esteemed Dr. Thomas Rau of the Paracelsus Klinik Lustmuhle in Switzerland.
Connect with Kellyann: Facebook | Instagram
Thank you to Pexels.com for their stock photography.