Lifestyle & Nutrition

You’ve been waiting for this moment…

You understand the hormone hierarchy.
You know your gut and nervous system matter.
You’ve reviewed comprehensive testing protocols.

Now you’re asking the question every patient eventually asks: “What can I actually do about all of this?”

In our previous articles, Dr. Christian Jenski and I explored the theoretical foundations of hormone optimization. Today we’re getting practical—the interventions you can start implementing immediately, regardless of where you are in your hormone journey.

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The Foundation: What Matters Most

When I asked Dr. Jenski about the “lowest hanging fruit” for hormone optimization, his answer was immediate: “Obviously working on stress I think has gotta be one of the top three. And for me that kind of goes hand in hand with sleep. Detoxification is really important… and then gut. I think the biggest things for anybody with hormone issues—get their gut right, work on detox, and then start the process of managing stress and optimizing sleep.”

The interventions that produce the most profound results are often the most basic:
1. Stress Management & Sleep Optimization
2. Movement & Metabolic Flexibility
3. Nutrition for Hormonal Health
4. Detoxification & Targeted Supplementation

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Stress Management: Breaking the Cortisol Cycle

Chronic stress is the single greatest obstacle to hormone balance. As we discussed in our Cortisol: The King of All Hormones article, elevated cortisol triggers “pregnenolone steal”—your body prioritizes cortisol production over sex hormone synthesis.

The Stress-Reduction Toolbox

Meditation and Breathwork
Even 10 minutes daily measurably shifts autonomic nervous system balance from sympathetic (fight-or-flight) to parasympathetic (rest-and-digest). Start with simple box breathing: inhale for 4 counts, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold for 4.

Vagal Nerve Stimulation
Activate your parasympathetic system through humming, gargling, cold water face immersion, or gentle neck stretches.

Somatic Therapies
For those with trauma history: EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Somatic Experiencing, or Internal Family Systems therapy.

As I emphasized in our conversation: “When someone’s in sympathetic overdrive, they have trauma… those are the people who do really poorly when I start messing with the hormones if I have not addressed that stuff first.”

Adaptogenic Herbs
When used under practitioner guidance: ashwagandha (300–500mg twice daily), rhodiola (200–400mg morning), holy basil (tulsi tea or 300mg twice daily), cordyceps (500–1000mg morning).

Sleep: The Non-Negotiable Foundation

Dr. Jenski emphasized the connection: “Working on stress… goes hand in hand with sleep.”

Sleep essentials:

• Consistent timing (yes, even weekends)
• Cool room (65–68°F), complete darkness
• No screens 60–90 minutes before bed
• Morning sunlight exposure (10–20 minutes within an hour of waking)
• Magnesium glycinate (400–600mg at bedtime)

Our Progesterone: The Elder Sister article also explains how progesterone supports sleep quality and anxiety reduction.

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Movement: The Metabolic Medicine

Dr. Jenski explained: “Getting somebody to move… when people move, they don’t realize how distressing it is. They’re driving that brain-derived neurotrophic factor, so they’re repairing and healing their brain, and they tend to sleep better.”

The Balanced Exercise Protocol

Strength Training (2–3× weekly)
Builds muscle mass, which improves insulin sensitivity and supports testosterone production. Focus on compound movements (squats, deadlifts, presses) with progressive overload.

Zone 2 Cardio (3–4× weekly)
Moderate-intensity exercise (30–60 minutes) that builds metabolic flexibility. You should be able to hold a conversation but feel like you’re working.

High-Intensity Interval Training (1–2× weekly)
Brief bursts of intense effort improve insulin sensitivity. Caution: over-training elevates cortisol and can worsen hormone imbalances.

Restorative Movement (daily)
Yoga, tai chi, walking in nature, gentle stretching. These support autonomic balance and stress reduction.

Our Insulin: Our Sticky Problem article details how movement improves metabolic health. For women with PCOS, see Elevated Testosterone, which cautions against overexercise.

When Pain Is an Obstacle

Dr. Jenski addressed this: “I have a patient today who’s got chronic back pain… if you walk and it hurts, let’s not walk. Let’s do aquatic aerobics, let’s do chair yoga. There’s always a way.”

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Nutrition: Food as Hormone Medicine

Dr. Jenski emphasized a critical obstacle: “A lot of my patients are females… they’re the one preparing meals. If they prepare a meal that is beneficial for them, the rest of the team doesn’t think it’s delicious and is mad. So now this woman is preparing two or three or four separate meals, and then she just winds up giving up.”

This is why simple, sustainable dietary changes matter more than perfect protocols.

The Hormone-Supporting Plate

Protein (0.8–1.2g per kg body weight)
Critical for hormone synthesis, blood sugar stability, and muscle maintenance. Sources: grass-fed/grass-finished beef, wild-caught fish, pasture-raised poultry and eggs, legumes.

Healthy Fats (30–40% of calories)
Required for hormone production and cell membrane integrity. Sources: extra virgin olive oil, avocados, nuts and seeds, grass-fed butter or ghee.

Fiber (35–40g daily)
Essential for estrogen detoxification through the gut. Binds to estrogen in the intestines, preventing reabsorption. Sources: cruciferous vegetables, ground flaxseed (1–2 tablespoons daily), legumes, leafy greens.

Phytoestrogens (moderate amounts)
Plant compounds that help balance estrogen receptors: ground flaxseed, sesame seeds, legumes, moderate organic soy.

Foods That Support Specific Hormones

For Estrogen Balance:
Dr. Jenski highlighted this: “I feel like it should be common knowledge that cruciferous vegetables are detoxifying foods. But it’s not. Eat more broccoli. ‘But I love broccoli!’ Great, eat more of it because it’s gonna help you.”

He continued: “I love using rosemary. Great. Rosemary blocks the enzymes that convert estrogen into the bad pathway. Use more rosemary.”

Cruciferous vegetables contain indole-3-carbinol, which supports healthy estrogen metabolism. Our Estrogen: The Younger Sister article provides detailed guidance.

For Progesterone Support:
Nutrients required include vitamin B6 (chickpeas, salmon, chicken), vitamin A (liver, sweet potatoes, carrots), vitamin C (citrus, peppers, berries), and zinc (oysters, pumpkin seeds, beef). See Progesterone: The Elder Sister.

For Testosterone and Thyroid:
Our Testosterone in Women’s Health and Thyroid: The Conductor articles cover nutritional support.

Blood Sugar Management

Dr. Jenski shared sobering statistics: “Half of the country is overweight and diabetic, and up to 88% at this point in time are metabolically inflexible.”

Key strategies:
– Prioritize protein and fat before carbohydrates
– Choose low-glycemic carbohydrates (non-starchy vegetables, berries, legumes)
– Consider intermittent fasting (women should align with menstrual cycle)
– Avoid refined carbs in the morning when insulin sensitivity is lower

The Insulin article provides comprehensive guidance, and PCOS in Young Women offers meal timing strategies for women with metabolic syndrome.

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Detoxification & Targeted Supplementation

Dr. Jenski stressed: “Detoxification is really important. Is that drinking filtered water? Is that purifying air? Is that changing out products or is it cleaning up their diet? Or is it all the above?”

Environmental Toxin Reduction

Priority swaps:
– Replace plastic containers with glass or stainless steel
– Filter your water (removes chlorine, fluoride, pesticide residues)
– Choose clean personal care products (avoid parabens, phthalates, synthetic fragrances)
– Use the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database for safer alternatives

Dr. Jenski acknowledged obstacles: “The biggest one is typically the cost of completely detoxifying their home… you just work with them to make small changes to the best of their ability.”

Start with high-impact changes: personal care products, food storage, water filter, cleaning products.

Dietary Detoxification

Support your liver with:

• Cruciferous vegetables (sulforaphane activates detox enzymes)
• Citrus (supports Phase 1 detoxification)
• Garlic and onions (sulfur compounds)
• Green tea and turmeric

Ensure regular bowel movements (1–2 daily) through adequate fiber, hydration, magnesium, and probiotics.

The Estrogen article provides detailed guidance on foods that support estrogen clearance.

Critical Nutrients for Hormone Function

Essential nutrients:

Vitamin D (2000–5000 IU daily)
Required for insulin receptor function and thyroid hormone utilization. Optimal levels: 60–80 ng/mL. As Dr. Jenski noted: “Thyroid receptors don’t work without vitamin D and A.”

Magnesium (400–600mg daily)
Dr. Jenski emphasized: “Insulin receptors don’t work without magnesium. When you’re stressed, you renally waste magnesium. When your cortisol’s high, you just pee mag out.”

Best forms: glycinate (supports sleep), citrate (gentle laxative), threonate (crosses blood-brain barrier).

B Vitamins (methylated forms if MTHFR present)
I noted: “If 40–60% of Americans have at least one B vitamin deficiency… people are gonna have B vitamin deficiencies.”

Critical for hormones:
– B1 (thiamine): 100–300mg daily for dysautonomia
– B6 (P5P form): 25–50mg daily for progesterone synthesis
– B12 (methylcobalamin): Target levels >500 pg/mL
– Folate (methylfolate): 400–800mcg daily

Iodine, Selenium, Zinc, Omega-3s
Dr. Jenski tests: “Iodine, zinc, selenium, copper, vitamin D, vitamin A, tyrosine—the nutrients that go along with thyroid support.”

For condition-specific botanical protocols, see the linked articles for Cortisol, Thyroid, and Elevated Testosterone.

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Common Barriers and Real Solutions

Family Dynamics:
Dr. Jenski identified this as a major obstacle for women preparing multiple meals to accommodate everyone’s preferences, then abandoning their own needs.

Solution: Start with additions rather than subtractions. Add vegetables to existing meals. Find one family-friendly healthy meal everyone enjoys and build from there.

Financial Constraints:
“There’s always a financial hangup.”

Solution: Prioritize high-impact changes first—daily exposures like water, personal care, and food storage before whole-house upgrades.

Physical Limitations:
“If you walk and it hurts, let’s not walk. Let’s do aquatic aerobics, let’s do chair yoga. There’s always a way.”

Solution: Find what your body can do today and build from there.

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Your Path Forward

Start where you are. Pick one intervention from each category that resonates with you:

• One stress-reduction practice
• One movement addition
• One dietary upgrade
• One environmental swap
• One foundational supplement (vitamin D or magnesium)

Master those. Then add more.

As Dr. Jenski beautifully summarized: “Small changes make huge differences. If you just kind of tease out the things that I think are the big hitters… if you’re willing, there’s a way. You don’t give up, you just work on it and kind of build on that.”

Your body wants to heal. Your hormones want to balance. You just need to remove the obstacles and provide the support.

Throughout our conversation, Dr. Jenski and I emphasized that while these principles are universal, application must be personalized. This is why working with a knowledgeable functional medicine practitioner matters—they can help you prioritize interventions based on your situation, adjust protocols based on your response, and navigate the complexity without overwhelm.

The question isn’t whether transformation is possible—it’s whether you’re ready to begin.

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Explore the complete hormone optimization series:

• Hormone Hierarchy: Why Adrenals, Thyroid & Insulin Come First
• Your Gut & Nervous System: The Hidden Hormone Influencers
• Testing & Tracking: How to Measure What Matters
• Cortisol: The King of All Hormones
• Insulin: Our Sticky Problem
• Thyroid: The Conductor
• Estrogen: The Younger Sister
• Progesterone: The Elder Sister
• Testosterone in Women’s Health
• Elevated Testosterone
• PCOS in Young Women
• Hormones After 40
• CIRS vs Hypothyroid

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This is the fourth and final article in a series based on conversations between Dr. Aaron Hartman and Dr. Christian Jenski about hormone optimization. The information provided is for educational purposes and should not replace personalized medical advice from your healthcare provider.