Foods for Your Hormones: What to Eat for Balance, Energy & Better Periods

When it comes to balancing your hormones naturally, food is one of your most powerful tools. Each hormone your body produces needs specific nutrients to function well — from your sleep hormone melatonin to your cycle-regulating hormones like oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.

In this blog, I’ll walk you through which foods support each hormone and why they matter. I’ll also include some pro tips to help you go beyond food and understand how your daily routine, stress levels, and sleep play into hormone balance.

Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only. Please consult your healthcare provider before making changes to your diet or lifestyle.

🌸 OESTROGEN

Support metabolism and detoxification through the bowels, liver, and thyroid.

Oestrogen needs to be processed and eliminated efficiently. The process works best when you open up elimination pathways in reverse: Bowels → Liver → Thyroid. If your bowels are sluggish, everything upstream gets blocked.

To support the bowels, eat foods like cooked root vegetables, raw carrots, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, medjool dates, coconut water, warm lemon with sea salt.

For your liver, include rocket (arugula), beetroot, lemons, ripe fruit, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, avocado, and protein sources like eggs, poultry, red meat, and organ meats (especially beef liver).

And for the thyroid, focus on iodine and selenium-rich foods: Brazil nuts, dulse flakes, shellfish, oysters, eggs, Greek yogurt, jersey milk, dried apricots, coconut water, and sea salt.

🌼 PROGESTERONE

Support ovulation and the corpus luteum with nutrient-dense, energy-rich foods.

Your body creates progesterone after ovulation, when the leftover follicle becomes a temporary gland called the corpus luteum. This gland needs plenty of building blocks to make and release progesterone.

Support your ovaries with cooked root vegetables, ripe fruit, red meat, full-fat dairy, eggs, seafood, avocado, butter, and bone broth.

To nourish the corpus luteum, include white fish, tuna, salmon, bell peppers, bananas, medjool dates, poultry, white potatoes, beef liver, and eggs.

🔥 TESTOSTERONE

Boost ovulation, energy, and libido with zinc-rich and fat-rich foods.

Testosterone naturally spikes around ovulation to help release the egg and spark libido. Though often thought of as a male hormone, it’s essential for women too.

Eat more shellfish, oysters, eggs, dark chocolate, leafy greens, oily fish like sardines and mackerel, avocado, extra virgin olive oil, and cooked root vegetables.

Pro Tip: Testosterone thrives when blood sugar is stable, stress is low, and you’re eating enough. Make sure your meals include healthy fats and avoid skipping meals—especially mid-cycle.

💫 FSH & LH

Balance your brain’s hormonal signals to trigger ovulation.

FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone) and LH (Luteinising Hormone) are brain-derived hormones that regulate the development and release of an egg each cycle. They rely on stable energy and proper nutrient signals.

Support them with shellfish, pumpkin seeds, leafy greens, butter, ripe fruit, jersey milk, and beef liver.

🛌 Pro Tip: Nutrition matters, but stress, sleep, blood sugar stability, and circadian rhythm are the biggest influences on these brain signals. Get morning sunlight, keep sleep consistent, and manage stress with food, rest, and movement.

⚡ THYROID

Fuel your metabolism and hormone production with carbs and minerals.

Your thyroid is deeply involved in both oestrogen metabolism and progesterone production. For optimal thyroid function, you need carbohydrates for hormone conversion, along with iodine and selenium for hormone creation.

Support your thyroid with ripe fruit, cooked root vegetables, white potatoes, honey, oats, cooked rice, and jersey milk. Pair with Brazil nuts, eggs, dulse flakes, shellfish, Greek yogurt, sea salt, and coconut water.

🌟 Pro Tip: Your thyroid needs fuel—not restriction. Avoid under-eating and low-carb diets. Support it with consistent meals, plenty of carbs, and stress management.

🧘 CORTISOL & ADRENALINE

Support your stress response and energy with stable blood sugar and nourishment.

Cortisol and adrenaline are not your enemies—they help wake you up in the morning, regulate blood sugar, and manage your immune response. But when they’re chronically elevated, they can suppress ovulation and deplete other hormones.

Eat calming carbs like ripe fruit, cooked root veg, honey, oats, and rice. Pair them with high-quality protein like red meat, poultry, seafood, bone broth, and full-fat dairy. Add nourishing fats from butter, fatty fish, avocado, olive oil, and dark chocolate.

Include extras like medjool dates, dried apricots, coconut water, sea salt, aloe vera juice, and bee pollen.

🧘 Pro Tip: Your adrenals love routine and balance. Eat regularly (especially breakfast), reduce stimulants, get morning light, and create an evening wind-down routine to keep cortisol in check.

🌙 MELATONIN

Improve your sleep quality by supporting melatonin production naturally.

Melatonin is your sleep hormone, produced by the brain in response to darkness. It’s made from tryptophan, which requires vitamin B6, vitamin D, and omega-3s to convert properly.

Include tryptophan-rich foods like turkey, eggs, oats, pumpkin seeds, cottage cheese, bananas, and medjool dates. Support with B6 from salmon, avocado, spinach, sweet potato, pistachios, and garlic. Get vitamin D from oily fish, egg yolks, UV-exposed mushrooms, and cod liver oil. For omega-3s, choose salmon, sardines, chia seeds, flaxseeds, and walnuts.

💤 Pro Tip: A small evening snack with tryptophan + carbs—like banana with nut butter or sweet potato with salmon—can naturally enhance melatonin and support better sleep.

📚 Want to Bring These Foods to Life?

If you’re ready to turn these hormone-loving foods into simple, delicious, and nourishing meals, check out my cookbook – packed with easy-to-follow recipes designed to support your hormones at every stage of your cycle.

💻 Grab your copy here: afnutrition.co.uk/store/cookbook