When it comes to managing weight and overall health, the delicate balance between glucagon, insulin, and appetite is key. These hormones play pivotal roles in regulating blood sugar, energy storage, and hunger signals. While medications like GLP-1s can assist in this process, there are powerful, natural strategies to optimize your body’s hormonal balance and achieve your health goals.

Achieving balance among these hormones (specific hormones mentioned later) is critical for long-term health and weight management. But how do you do it? Especially if you feel hungry all the time? Well, are you willing to get uncomfortable? Are you willing to work and work and work and changing habits, impulses, and tendencies? It's hard. Really hard for most. Sometimes it requires removing yourself from situations. Sometimes it requires removing certain things from your home. Things that potentially don't align with your goals. Sometimes, habits can't be broken, but the environment encouraging those habits can be altered. Here's an example:

A woman used to go horseback riding. She loved it. It was a part of her life. She also enjoyed smoking a cigarette while riding. She moved away from her home and couldn't ride horseback any longer. She also quit smoking.

The next time she visited home, she went horseback riding. It was the first time in 10 years she had been horseback riding. Immediately, she wanted to smoke.

Once we develop a specific pattern or habit in our brain, especially with addictive substances, its there for good. You can forget about it but it's still there. Now, imagine for a minute if you can, habits you've developed since you had kids 10 years ago. Habits you've developed since starting your "career job." Habits like eating dessert every night as a way to "escape." The same goes for alcohol.

Or once cell phones entered the picture, you now have a habit of scrolling for an hour or so before you go to bed to relax and checkout for the day.

These things are what are potentially leading to you having trouble controlling your appetite. Not any one thing. Not any one specific instance. But years and years of developing habits that cut into your sleep. Eating for comfort or at a specific time of the day simply because "it's what you do."

Or maybe you have a job where you are required to sit at a computer for the entire day and the habit of moving throughout the day has been changed to one of sitting. Hello back pain!

I could go on and on. To be clear, I'm not judging. I enjoy scrolling on my phone. I enjoy eating desert at night. I enjoy my bourbon on the weekends.

I'm trying to help paint a picture for folks who want to make a change and think it may be easy. If you want true change. Change that lasts, you'll need to dig down. Dig down deep to the foundation. The boring, daily habits that also make you uncomfortable. They get you out of your routine. Out of your current level of technologically advanced comfort. Can you change everything at once? No. You shouldn't. You shouldn't feel pressured to do so either.

Will you screw up along the way and do things that don't align with your goals? Yup. You sure will. Will you feel guilty about it and then slide even further? Yup. I have another blog on that here. This is where having a qualified Nutrition Coach to guide you can come in. They can help you learn to deal with setbacks, move on, and keep chipping away at life in the healthiest way possible. Sometimes, support is the one thing we need in those moments of discomfort. Those moments where we want to eat an entire sleeve of cookies instead of just 3 cookies. Those moments on a Tuesday where we want an Old Fashioned instead of waiting until Saturday.

So, if you are still reading, I'm going to ask my wife, Melody, Healthy Steps Nutrition Certified Coach and Nurse, to come in and teach you some ways to help balance your hormones naturally. Melody, take it away!

Hi everyone! Coach Melody here. As a 39-year-old nutrition coach, and I’m navigating peri-menopause while helping others take control of their health. Hormonal balance has become more than a concept for me—it’s my daily reality. I understand firsthand how crucial it is to manage glucagon, insulin, and appetite. Let me share some strategies I’ve found effective for myself and my clients I work with through our nutrition coaching program.

Understand The Main Hormones at Play

Insulin: Often called the "storage hormone," insulin helps regulate blood sugar by signaling your body to store glucose in cells. Excessive insulin can lead to fat storage and insulin resistance.

Glucagon: This hormone works in opposition to insulin. It signals your body to release stored glucose for energy when blood sugar is low, promoting fat breakdown.

Appetite-Regulating Hormones: Ghrelin (hunger hormone) and leptin (satiety hormone) control your cravings and how full you feel.

Nutrition: Your Hormonal Reset Button

The right nutrition can help stabilize hormones and ease symptoms. Here’s how I approach it:

With your diet, focus on balanced foods so always whole foods first.

We want to have a diet rich in fiber, protein and healthy fats. I have been reading some research on fiber and it's benefits. Super interesting too! Fiber slows down digestion and helps to keep you fuller for longer, while protein helps to regulate appetite as well. Aiming for 25 to 30 grams of fiber daily is the new recommendation . ( I have been monitoring my fiber and realized I was definitely not eating enough from whole food sources.)

Eating healthy fats from foods like avocados, nuts, and olive oil will also contribute to satiety. A good first step would be to revisit the plate method ( do you remember that? 😉)

With your meals try eating balanced, smaller meals throughout the day which will help stabilize blood sugar levels and prevent extreme hunger. Think eat roughly every 4 hours. One big tip is to avoid prolonged periods of fasting or skipping meals which will help you not to overeat or over indulge later. You read that correct, don't use intermittent fasting. 🙂

It's also beneficial to choose foods with a low glycemic index like whole grains, legumes, and non-starchy vegetables. These will help maintain stable blood sugar levels and reduce cravings because they are digested at a much slower rate.

Aim for 60 to 80 oz of water daily. Water helps to fill our belly and in turn we eat less.

Move for Hormonal Health

Exercise has become my go-to strategy for balancing hormones. Here’s what works:

Strength Training: Building muscle is essential to counteract natural muscle loss. It's honestly the number 1 priority. It also improves insulin sensitivity and boosts metabolism.

Low-Impact Cardio : Walking or cycling at a steady pace helps balance glucagon and insulin levels while reducing stress hormones like cortisol.

Try Interval Training: Short bursts of high-intensity effort followed by rest can improve insulin sensitivity and help with fat metabolism. Just listen to your body and adjust intensity as needed. Make sure not to go super hard all the time. This can have an affect that you may not want at times.

Exercise in general also supports appetite regulation by balancing hormones like ghrelin (our hunger hormone) and leptin (our satiety hormone).

Prioritize Sleep

If we aren't getting quality sleep, at least 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep nightly, this can disrupt hormones involved in hunger regulation, such as ghrelin and leptin which I mentioned above. When we don't rest well, we are hungry, unsatisfied and our blood sugar isn't regulated as well.

Stick to a consistent bedtime.

Avoid screens 30 minutes before bed.

Use relaxing activities like reading (non-screen) or gentle stretches to wind down.

Managing Stress

Stress can wreak havoc on hormones by elevating cortisol levels chronically. This is less common than most folks think. Cortisol is important and helps regulate appetite and most folks aren't walking around with high cortisol all the time. So please don't think I'm saying we should blame cortisol for anything. I’ve found these strategies helpful in managing stress:

Stress can cause people to overeat or undereat. If you are the type of person who eats when stressed, do you feel like you lean towards those high-sugar or high-fat comfort foods? If so, then you could practice some mindfulness, meditation, yoga, stretching or deep breathing exercises which can help reduce stress and improve appetite control. Of course, working out at BFP is a stress reliever as well.

Practice Mindful Eating

Mindful eating has been transformative for me and my clients. Here’s how you can practice it:

Chew slowly and savor your meals. Seriously. Slow down. Have a conversation while eating.

Tune in to hunger cues and stop eating before you feel satisfied. It takes time to feel full. Wait 5 minutes before you go for that second plate.

Avoid distractions like TV or scrolling on your phone during meals. This is for the same reasons as above. You tend to ignore full cues when scrolling.

Mindful eating isn’t just about slowing down; it’s about creating a positive relationship with food. When I sit down to eat, I take a moment to appreciate the flavors and textures, which helps me feel more connected to my meals. This practice has also taught me to recognize emotional hunger versus physical hunger, a distinction that’s been especially valuable during peri-menopause. By becoming more in tune with your body’s signals, you’re better equipped to make nourishing choices that support hormonal health.

The Bottom Line

Managing glucagon, insulin, and appetite is entirely possible without medication. We wrote more about what you should do while on the medication here. By focusing on balanced nutrition, intentional movement, quality sleep, and stress management, and managing your environment, you can take control of your health.

If you’re ready to create your personalized hormone balance plan, we’re here to help. Schedule your No Sweat Intro today at bfpnc.com and let’s navigate this journey together!