One of the most foundational ways to support your hormones is to eat enough food. I often get asked how someone can know if they are eating enough.

There are a number of signs our bodies give us when we aren’t eating enough:
-Low/inconsistent energy
-Poor appetite/hunger/cravings
-Anxiety
-Constipation
-Feeling cold frequently
-Difficulty falling and staying asleep
-Hair loss
-Irregular cycles/missing period
-Irritability/mood changes
-Unable to deal with stress as well as in the past

Eating enough means eating enough food to meet all of your basic needs (breathing, heart beating, digestion, cell growth/repair, etc.) plus enough to support activity and movement. This is your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).

Hormone production requires energy. Under eating reduces the amount of energy we are giving our bodies, which slows down our metabolism.

This slows down hormone production amongst many other processes in the body.

If you relate to the many symptoms listed under signs your body is giving you that you’re not eating enough, then there are ways you can make progress toward eating more.

The first step is all about establishing your baseline. Swipe to see my tips for getting started. An important thing to remember is our bodies aren’t calculators. I think calculating an estimated TDEE is helpful, but at the end of the day you have to pay attention to your hunger cues and symptoms to figure out what is best for you. And know that this amount can change in the future.

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