Hormones contribute greatly to women's health, and medical science has recently begun to study them. We have learned how important it is for a woman's cycle to be in order, but we receive little information about how to ensure that female hormones function without problems.
Csedén Dali-Halmágyi, a dietitian and founder of the Csediet website, is interested in women's health, fertility and hormonal balance in different stages of a woman's life (adolescence, menopause, post-menopause). In her work, she focuses on polycystic ovary syndrome, thyroid problems and endometriosis.
In the first half of the interview with her, we talk about hormonal symptoms and solutions, and then we turn to the topic of how fragrances and toxins affect our everyday lives and health. Csedén's useful thoughts and tips will help everyone who is challenged by healthy hormone balance and creating a toxin-free environment. There is a strong connection between the two!
How did you start working in this field?
Because of my own involvement. It's been about 5 years since I was diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome – ed.). That was the turning point when I started to get interested in this field. As I delved deeper into it, I began to discover how much guidance is needed in this area. Because even though I learned about it in university education, there was still a lot of information that I couldn't always untangle at first.
In the picture Dali-Halmágyi Csedén
So is this a never-ending story?
Absolutely, because science is always developing in this field and more and more studies are being published. Women's health was not even researched for many centuries. Most medicines and remedies were tested on men, so the mysteries of the female body remained unknown. But fortunately, research has started to pick up . So we can now formulate specifics, but I am not closing the topic yet. I always want to acquire new, relevant knowledge.
You mentioned that the pharmaceutical industry has so far researched specifically with biologically male bodies. However, if I generalize too much, when we think of hormones, the first thing that comes to mind is women.
Yes, this attitude has really spread, which can be traced back a long time ago, all the way to the approach that women are unpredictable creatures, controlled by hormones that work in an incomprehensible way. (laughs) Although this is not true. There is a very beautiful system in how we operate . The secret is that you don't have to compare it to men, because the female body is also a whole in itself, and compared to the male body, it is not incomplete, it is just different.
If we were to compare the male body to the female body, then to use a very extreme example, their deficiency would be childbirth. Although this is not the case at all, they are simply not created for this. It is worth approaching women's hormonal health as a completely different world than men's, and it needs to be addressed in its own way.
Am I aware that while a woman's cycle lasts 28 days, a man's cycle lasts 24 hours?
Roughly yes. Men operate in daily cycles and women operate in monthly cycles. Their clocks reset every morning, while for us women it takes about 28-35 days. This is a huge difference, especially when you look at it from a performance perspective. We can't expect women to perform the same every day of the month. Women don't start the day with a new boost, but their energy levels build and then decrease over the course of the day, which is why they fluctuate.
What are the common hormonal problems in women?
The term hormonal problems encompasses a wide range of conditions . We can talk about polycystic ovary syndrome, thyroid problems, early menopause, and even difficulty getting pregnant.
How can we alleviate these hormonal symptoms? What should we pay attention to in order to be healthy?
I'll try to put it in a nutshell, because we could talk about this for at least 5-6 hours. (laughs) I know that much because I have a recorded knowledge base and it's this long, which is available by clicking here .
It would be impossible to go into great detail on this topic, but there are some key points to keep in mind when it comes to women's health . It's important to make sure you get enough sleep , spend time in natural light, and don't set strict calorie limits . The latter can be a challenge in today's diet culture, which idealizes thin bodies and demonizes fatty foods.
Let's make sure that our body functions healthily and not be a showpiece, so to speak, that is beautiful on the outside but does not function well. That is, there is no menstruation, ovulation, etc. Over time, these are accompanied by hair loss and other unpleasant symptoms. That is why it is essential in terms of nutrition to get enough nutrients so that we stay within the appropriate calorie interval for us, and not to choose high-calorie, nutrient-poor foods, but vice versa: to have a diet that is rich in nutrients and lower in calories, with the right amount of calories.
Does movement also fall into this category?
Yes, exercise is also very important from a hormonal point of view, and balance is the key here too. Let's make our everyday lives as active as possible. We can walk in natural light and then we kill two birds with one stone! In addition, we should use our muscles , do our own bodyweight exercises, weight training, if possible, two or three times a week. But be careful not to overdo it . If we make the mistake of overdoing it and not giving our body time to regenerate, or even going on a diet that is too strict, it will really slow down the functioning of our cycle. This can lead to hormonal problems.
Overall, these three basic pillars - diet, exercise, rest - should be coordinated by paying attention to the environment we are in , the chemical compounds that enter our bodies from the outside, and the things we use on a daily basis, whether it's cosmetics, cleaning products, or even kitchen utensils. But the spiritual side , spiritual recharge, healthy self-image, self-knowledge, and so on, cannot be left out of the formula.
This is a complex topic that can seem daunting at first, as it deeply permeates our everyday lives. But the goal is not to become paralyzed by fear. This cannot and should not be done perfectly, especially not right away. But it can be done step by step.
You mentioned unnatural objects and devices in our environment. How do you think these affect hormonal problems?
They were once considered a great technological achievement, and everyone was happy with the discovery of plastic, various dyes, varnishes, pesticides, and herbicides. Then they started to examine their long-term effects, and today, numerous studies prove that they are not worth using too often.
It can definitely be linked to hormonal problems. The two main evils are phthalates and BPA , which cause a lot of harm and can be found in many places, for example on laminated furniture, paints, scented products, but also on bus tickets, parking tickets, cash registers, the inside of cans, and I could list more.
These two chemicals have been shown to be extremely harmful during the first 12 weeks of life in the womb. This is when the fetus is still very sensitive. In the first 12 weeks of life in the womb, the ovaries of female fetuses develop. This is when they are most vulnerable. Women are born with a full set of eggs, so if the eggs are damaged while still in the womb, it will affect them for the rest of their lives. If the expectant mother comes into contact with and inhales many of these chemicals, the follicles in the fallopian tubes can be severely damaged. This may later be one of the causes of PCOS, and has also been linked to endometriosis.
As women, even if we are not born with damaged follicles, we often come into contact with toxic substances in our daily lives, and these enter our bodies and can "mimic" estrogen, disrupting the hormonal balance. These are called xenoestrogens , which can prevent ovulation.
Men may experience a decrease in sperm count . Or, returning to life in the womb, exposure to toxic substances can cause, among other things, undescended testicles or urethral problems in male fetuses.
We can take away a lot of useful information from Csedén's lectures on female hormones and healthy lifestyle topics.
What solutions have you found to replace toxins?
As a first step, I left out scented products because I felt that was the easiest . Think about how many things we have scented. If we count them, for the sake of a banal example, there is underarm deodorant, hand cream, perfume, shower gel, shampoo, fabric softener, washing powder, dishwashing liquid, floor mop or room freshener spray. These are among the ten most common things that can be found in almost every household. These ten different scents are ten sources of flatus. It may seem like a small thing, but the many little things add up after a while.
Where I can, I try to avoid substances that are harmful to health, for example by reading the product label carefully.
For example, when it comes to cleaning products, I chose vinegar-based over chlorine. I really like CYCLE products , they are easy to use, contain natural fragrances or I can choose unscented ones. It is easy to use, and my daughter was enthusiastic about refilling them.
Speaking of fragrances. This is a challenge for us too. Many people expect all cleaning products to have the scent of a field of flowers.
The story of how our attitude towards scents developed is very interesting. Its psychological background is very complex. Sometime in the 20th century, psychologists and marketers noticed that housewives were much more likely to buy cleaning products that left a pleasant scent in the home. After all, scent was associated with a sense of reward. When we clean, we seek the scent of cleanliness, not necessarily the touch of it; but the scent of cleanliness wafting around the home. It calms us.
That's why the assumptions that live in our heads are interesting. I've already received a comment that if we clean with a vinegar-based cleaner, the bathroom will smell like a barn, and since it's very pungent, it's unbearable. We're used to the fact that the disinfectant has a delicate, floral scent, but at the same time it contains at least three chemicals that are seriously harmful and should not come into contact with the skin or mucous membranes due to the consequences. When we enter independent adulthood, we don't get any information about this.
That's why it's understandable if someone is initially scared that their clothes won't smell good without fragrances. That they wonder if they'll smell like vinegar if they rinse their clothes with it? Nowadays, the norm is that a well-groomed, clean adult smells like perfume , which means we have expectations that may not be healthy for us and it takes time for them to fade. To reinforce in us that it doesn't depend on how clean or presentable I am, or how many different scents I have on, but on the fact that I know that I've cleaned myself and that everything is fine.
What approach has worked for you that you would like to share with readers?
It's important to take it step by step. The goal is not to suddenly shock yourself, endure the iron-hard approach for a few weeks, and then throw it all away. We are more effective if we gradually reduce it. I first gave up the fabric softener because it seemed completely unnecessary. Then I changed my cosmetics to fragrance-free ones, since these substances irritate sensitive skin anyway, so I really only won.
It can be scary when we realize how harmful certain chemicals are to us. Especially if we have a bit of a maximalist in us. It is also worth considering whether we really need to completely disinfect our home?
Because we don't live in an operating room , we don't need to kill 99% of the bacteria on the ground. We don't need to constantly disinfect kitchen surfaces, and we don't need to maniacally clean the toilet. On the one hand, because this is not the dirtiest part of our home, but the light switches, doorknobs, keyboards, phone screens, etc. On the other hand, because our body is not a sterile environment , but a lot of bacteria live on us, inside us, in symbiosis. The good bacteria are more sensitive to these influences than the bad ones, so the good ones suffer and the bad ones become increasingly resistant. The result of this will be that the microbiome that lives on our skin, lives in our intestinal tract changes and distorts in an unhealthy direction for us. We don't necessarily have to strive to constantly clean everything with various chemicals, we can also boldly give nature a place.
