These six hormone disrupters cause unwanted changes in your body

 A good exercising schedule, sound sleep and healthy food make sure your hormones are balanced and you are living a healthy life. But, with so much happening around,  it is likely that our hormonal balance can go haywire. The causes for it can be numerous, your food intake being an important factor among them. That is what Dr Mark Hyman, NYTimes bestselling author, family physician and an international leader in the field of Functional Medicine, shares in his latest Instagram post. Take a look below as he shares how "imbalances in your hormones are triggered by bad food." ⁣⁣

Sugar: Eating more sugar leads to the production of more insulin, estrogen, and testosterone. "Any type of flour and sugar can lead to these imbalances," says Dr Hyman.⁣⁣

Dairy and gluten: Often trigger inflammation and hormonal imbalances, he explains.⁣⁣

Environmental toxins: This is a no-brainer because for the longest time, external toxins, mainly from the environment have disrupted our hormones. Pesticides used to grow food along with rising pollutants affects our body badly. "Xenobiotics or environmental chemicals like pesticides in our food can act like powerful hormone disruptors and trigger our own hormones to go out of balance," he says. ⁣⁣

Junk food: Junk food can help us feel better momentarily but the after results are devastating. "Eat a whole, real, unprocessed, organic, mostly plant-based diet with organic or sustainably raised animal products. When you focus on this type of diet, you minimise intake of xenoestrogens, hormones, and antibiotics" he adds.

Taking simple steps like eating organic food and drinking filtered water can hugely impact hormone balance and make other bodily processes such as digestion better.⁣⁣

Caffeine and alcohol: Remember the time at work when you continuously consumed a good 3-4 cups of coffee for a week and ended up with a face full of breakouts? It is no surprise that caffeine in unregulated amounts is not good for our body.

"We know that sugar, caffeine, alcohol, stress, and lack of exercise all contribute to worse PMS and all hormonal imbalances – including menopause.⁣⁣ After removing the bad stuff, you will want to replace it with good stuff," adds Hyman.

Stress: Getting good quality sleep every night and exercising regularly is the first way to go about balancing your hormones in the long run. Not only that, make sure you get your dose of vitamins and minerals such as "omega-3, vitamin D3, B vitamins, magnesium, and probiotics," he suggested.