How To Balance Hormones Naturally………You know when your body just… rebels? Like, one week your jeans fit and the next you’re convinced the dryer shrank them (it didn’t), your skin is breaking out like it’s auditioning for a teen drama, and you’re crying at a dog food commercial? That was me, last winter. Hormones, man. They’re like invisible roommates who mess up your apartment but never pay rent.
I swear, living in Queens makes it worse sometimes. The noise, the bagels, the 3am ambulance sirens. My whole system felt off, and for a minute there, I thought I’d have to just live like that. But no. I got stubborn. I started poking around for ways to balance my hormones naturally — not the expensive “guru” way with $200 supplements, but actual, doable stuff. And honestly? Some of it worked.
This isn’t a polished wellness influencer guide. This is my messy, Queens-girl version of figuring out how to feel human again.
My “Aha” Moment With Hormones
Back in 8th grade (I seem to always bring this up), I wore two totally different shoes to school. Not on purpose. It was a Monday. My science teacher asked if I was “making a statement.” I wasn’t. But I learned something: sometimes your chaos is a signal, not a flaw. Fast forward to me at 32, standing in front of my mirror in Astoria, wondering why I was exhausted all the time. That’s when it clicked — my hormones were waving mismatched shoes at me.
So I did what I always do when life feels like a sitcom: I started experimenting.
Balancing Hormones Naturally (But Like, Real Life Style)
Because who has time for 5am yoga retreats and $15 green juices? Not me.
1. Eating Like A Person, Not A Pinterest Board
When I googled “how to balance hormones naturally,” the first 20 results were like: cut carbs, add carbs, eat kale, never eat kale. Exhausting. What worked for me? Simple meals. Real food. Like, eggs with spinach for breakfast. A giant salad with chicken or tofu for lunch. Trying (and mostly failing) to avoid sugar crashes by swapping my daily bodega muffin for Greek yogurt.
It’s not glamorous. Sometimes I still grab pizza on Roosevelt Avenue. But my energy leveled out. My skin calmed down. Little wins.
2. Sleep — The Thing We All Ignore
I used to treat sleep like an optional hobby. Scroll TikTok until 1am, wake up at 6am, then wonder why my mood was in the gutter. Hormones love sleep. When I finally gave myself an actual bedtime (like a cranky toddler), I felt the difference.
I’m still bad at it. Some nights the F train is louder than my white noise machine. But I aim for 7 hours. It’s free. It’s boring. It works.
3. Moving My Body Without Making It Punishment
I used to force myself into high-intensity workouts thinking that’s what would “fix” me. Nope. My hormones were like, “girl, sit down.” Now I do gentler stuff — walks, yoga, a little pilates. Some days it’s just dancing in my kitchen to Beyoncé while making dinner. Movement that feels like kindness instead of punishment.
4. The Queens Stress Test (aka Cortisol Is A Jerk)
Cortisol, our stress hormone, is like that one friend who never leaves the party. Living in Queens, there’s always noise, always hustle. My trick? Micro-moments of calm. Five minutes of breathing before checking my email. Sitting on a bench in Flushing Meadows and watching pigeons fight over a bagel. (Weirdly therapeutic.)
Stress is sneaky. Even if you’re “fine,” your body isn’t. Lowering stress helped my cycles regulate and my mood even out.
5. Checking My Blood Sugar Without Being Weird About It
Not in a scary, medical way. Just paying attention to how I feel after meals. Do I crash? Am I jittery? Balancing hormones naturally often comes down to stabilizing blood sugar. For me, that meant adding more protein and healthy fats (nuts, avocado, eggs) and not skipping meals because I “forgot.”
Sometimes I still eat an entire bag of kettle chips watching Love Is Blind. And that’s fine. But noticing patterns helps.
6. Actually Talking To A Doctor (Shocking, I Know)
Here’s a thing I resisted: getting bloodwork done. I assumed “natural” meant DIY. But having a baseline helped me figure out what to focus on — iron, vitamin D, thyroid, etc. Hormones are complex. Sometimes you need backup.
Stuff I Tried And Hated
- Celery juice every morning: tasted like sadness.
- Cutting out all caffeine: no. Just no.
- Those expensive hormone balancing teas: felt like I was drinking potpourri.
Trial and error. That’s the real story.
Random Little Habits That Helped More Than I Expected
- Switching my phone to “Do Not Disturb” after 9pm.
- Drinking more water (yes, the boring advice).
- Getting sunlight in the morning, even just standing on my fire escape for two minutes.
- Saying no to stuff. (Hard but powerful.)
A Chat With My Friend Julia
Me: “I think my hormones are broken.”
Her: “They’re not broken. They’re just mad.”
Me: “Cool cool cool.”
Her: “Come walk with me. No headphones.”
We walked around Jackson Heights for an hour, ended up at a bakery, and split a pastelito. It wasn’t perfect, but I felt lighter. Hormone balancing isn’t a one-and-done. It’s a vibe shift.
The Ugly, Honest Truth about How To Balance Hormones Naturally
Balancing hormones naturally isn’t this neat, Instagrammable journey. Sometimes you’ll cry in the bathroom. Sometimes you’ll feel like you’re crushing it. Both are normal. Your body’s been through a lot — stress, late nights, maybe pregnancy, maybe heartbreak. It’s allowed to need some TLC.
And you don’t have to do it all at once. Pick one thing. Go from there.
