As humans, the reason why we eat is to give our bodies the energy and nutrients they need to fuel our cells and overall amazingness. Hormones love nutrients, and require a small army of them to do their jobs well.

There are some superstar foods that do a great job at supporting our hormones, and we’ve rustled up this game-changing bread recipe with a bevy of nutritional ingredients to give you maximum hormone lovin’. Scroll to the bottom to view the recipe. Or read through these deets so that as you bite into a slice of this nutty, delicious bread you can feel great about yourself knowing how and why you are treating your hormones with all of these lovely nutrients.

Phytoestrogens

Phytoestrogens are natural molecules that mimic oestrogen in the body, helping to promote healthy oestrogen levels (specifically, a form of oestrogen called estradiol, that you’ll see in your Eve report). This means that phytoestrogens can support levelling out higher oestrogen levels, or may help build up lower oestrogen levels. They also encourage healthy oestrogen metabolism (detailed in your Eve report) and liver detoxification.

The following phytoestrogenic foods are used in this recipe: flaxseeds, almonds, walnuts and pumpkin seeds.

Selenium

Selenium is a nutrient required for us to be able to make and use a powerful antioxidant called glutathione. Glutathione performs an important role in liver detoxification, and our livers are major players when it comes to hormone balance. Selenium is also a key nutrient for the production of everyone’s favourite chill-out hormone: progesterone.

Brazil nuts feature in this recipe as they are an incredibly rich source of selenium. Brazils are actually so abundant in selenium that you only need about 3 nuts to meet your daily selenium requirement.

Zinc

Zinc is basically an OG nutrient and one that you want to make sure you’re not deficient in (although as a wicked twist of fate most of us are). It’s required for over 200 enzyme (chemical) reactions in the body. In terms of hormones, it nourishes the ovaries and supports healthy ovulation for a good supply of progesterone and oestrogen.

You’ll find the following zinc-filled foods in this bread recipe: almonds, walnuts and pumpkin seeds.

Vitamin E

Vit E is another nutrient that promotes healthy ovulation. It is a fat soluble vitamin, and is therefore only found in foods with a nice fat content. If you’re still on that ‘low fat’ buzz, do yourself a favour and get some healthy fats in your life. Healthy fats really are the new black.

Almonds are our vitamin E-filled ingredient in this bread.

Magnesium

At Eve, most of us are basically obsessed with our All Systems Glow. Our sleep has never been better. But that’s not all magnesium is good for. It also has a nice friendship with cortisol, one of our stress hormones, and helps to regulate it.
When they’re stressed, our cells dump magnesium. Therefore, the more jacked up your nervous system is, the more magnesium you’re likely to be burning through. Magnesium also aids in the production of progesterone, oestrogen and testosterone, so it’s kind of a big deal when it comes to hormones.

Lauric acid

Lauric acid can support skin healing, as well as being hugely beneficial for hormone production. It’s also found in coconut oil. Which, conveniently, is in this recipe.

Omega-3 fatty acids

Omega-3 fatty acids are another example of important hormone balancing nutrients. Omega-3s are anti-inflammatory and provide you with EPA and DHA, which are some of the building blocks for hormones. The omega-3 rich foods found in this bread are walnuts and flaxseeds.

Fibre

Getting enough fibre in your diet promotes a healthy poop regime, which aids detoxification (and honestly, a good poo is just the best, am I right?). This is important for all of us, but if you’re dealing with higher oestrogen levels fibre is one of your new BFFs. This recipe has fibre coming from all directions.
 
This recipe was inspired by Sarah from My New Roots’ ‘Life-Changing Loaf’.
 

Recipe: Healthy Hormone Bread

Dry Ingredients

• ½ cup pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds

• ½ cup flax seeds

• ½ cup chopped almonds

• ¼ cup chopped brazil nuts

• ¼ cup chopped walnuts

• 1 cup soaked buckwheat groats

• 2 tbsp chia seeds

• 4 tbsp psyllium husks

• Sprinkle of sea salt flakes

 

Wet Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups room temperature water

• 1 tbsp raw honey

• 3 tbsp cold pressed coconut oil (melted)

Soak the buckwheat by placing it into a bowl and covering it with filtered water. Leave at room temperature for 2 to 4 hours, then drain and rinse well.
 

To make the bread:

1. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl.

2. Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl with a fork or whisk.

3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, mix until well combined and doughy (if it’s a little dry add 1-2 tbsp water).

4. Transfer dough to a lined loaf tin and leave to sit for a minimum of 2 hours.

5. Once you’re ready to bake, warm up the oven to 175ºC fan bake and cook for 40 minutes, checking from time to time to ensure you don’t overcook.

6. Once the top if brown, remove loaf from the tin, flip upside down and bake directly on rack for another 30 mins.

7. Cool on a wire rack completely before slicing.

 
Serve with a generous schmear of organic butter, coconut oil, or avo; or drizzle with olive oil. Or if you’re feeling a sweet tooth vibe, the from this recipe is a great topping, either by itself or on top of peanut butter.
 

Variations

If you’re looking for an extra metabolism kick, to help stabilise blood sugars or reduce inflammation try adding some warming spices like cinnamon (2 tsp), ginger (1tsp) & cardamom (1/2tsp).
 
Just an idea… You could chop up ¼ cup of dark chocolate (we like 90%) and mix this through at step 3. Dark chocolate is rich in magnesium which hormones love, so that’s an added bonus. Imagine that with peanut butter on top… oh my god.