Why A Progesterone Boosting Recipe?

Progesterone is often much less pronounced in women than their estrogen. It declines more rapidly with age than your other sex hormones do, and levels can even drop to zero. The wrong diet, lifestyle or exercise routine can also decrease your progesterone levels significantly. We don’t want that!

In our latest video course, Female Cycle Superpowers, we've included many progesterone-boosting tips and recipes. The course is designed to help you take the first steps to pain-free periods, fabulous fertility and boosted energy.

Progesterone is vital for a healthy reproductive system in both men and women. It helps to regulate a normal menstrual cycle, and in case of fertilization, progesterone is the hormone that makes your womb ready for the baby, helps you through pregnancy and prepare for birth.

But next to it’s reproductive and regulating function, progesterone does A LOT more! It actually works as a natural anti-depressant, helping to avoid mood swings. It also protects your brain cells and can even reverse aging of the skin (wow!). And if that wasn’t enough, progesterone also helps prevent hair loss, multiple types of cancer (often those related to the reproductive system), hot flashes, heart attacks, vaginal dryness, insomnia and progesterone-deficiency induced PMS.

We’d say those are enough reasons to eat a progesterone boosting meal every now and then!

So what do you need?

B-vitamins are especially crucial for the production of progesterone. Vitamin C, zinc and magnesium support progesterone as well.

Unfortunately, you can’t find “natural” progesterone in any foods, only the precursors, and substances needed to build it. One of those is cholesterol, so it’s important to get enough healthy fats into your system.

And of course, today's progesterone boosting recipe contains these nutrients and substances!

The Stars In This Progesterone Boosting Recipe

Whereas green cabbage tastes more salad-like, red cabbage has a much more hearty flavor, on that goes great with this dish. The red color also signifies the much bigger amount of protective phytonutrients compared to its green brother.

In red cabbage, you find a phytonutrient called Di-Indolyl Methane (DIM). It helps to optimize estrogen processing and this will give your progesterone its time to shine.

The prawns in this recipe are true progesterone promoters. Shellfish is a great source of healthy fats to provide you with the good kind of cholesterol that your body needs as a building block for progesterone. Shrimps are also a great source of magnesium, an important mineral for a healthy progesterone production.

Oregano is especially effective since it binds to the receptors that increase progesterone release. Together with great vitamin-, mineral- and fiber-resources of the veggies and seeds in this dish, your progesterone levels are good to go!

And let's not forget avocados! Not just because they are delicious and you can practically use them in any kind of meal, but also because of their hormone-balancing capacity due to their fibers, vitamins, and minerals. The plant sterols in avocados have a particularly positive affect on estrogen and progesterone. They block estrogen absorption and promote progesterone production in women. They even help elevate menstrual cramps!

So let's have a look at that progesterone boosting recipe, shall we?

Progesterone-Boosting Recipe: Shiitake, Avocado & Prawn-Filled Red Cabbage Leaves

Serves 2 | Preptime: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients

1 (big) red cabbage
400 g fresh / defrosted peeled prawns
250 g shiitake mushrooms
2 avocados
2 tsp coconut oil
handful of pumpkin seeds
2 garlic gloves
2-3 tsp dried / freshly chopped oregano
150 g basmati or wild rice

Directions

Step 1

Cook the rice following the instructions on the package. This should take around 15-20 minutes.

Step 2

In the meantime, chop! chop! chop! Start with chopping the shiitake and the avocados.

Step 3

Preheat the coconut oil in a wok or sauté pan and add the garlic gloves. After 1-2 minutes, add the shiitakes and prawns. Wok until the prawns are ready and pink. Place on some kitchen towels and put aside.

Step 4

Throw the shiitake, avocados, and prawns together in a bowl with the oregano and pumpkin seeds, and roughly toss a few times with your hands. (There’s no need for kneading here, or else it’ll get mushy. Just a few tosses is enough to keep a nice consistency.)

Step 5

Cut out the heart of the cabbage and soak in hot water to wash the leaves and keep them pretty. Pick 1 or 2 (depending on the size) big cabbage leaves per person off of the crop.

Step 6

Your rice should be done by now, so it’s time to assemble! Put your pretty red leaves on plates as if they were bowls and distribute the rice into them. With the back of a spoon, create a shallow pit into the rice for the fishy filling. Put the prawn mixture in there and dinner is ready! Enjoy!

Are You Trying These Hearty Shiitake, Avocado & Prawn-Filled Red Cabbage Leaves?

Let me know when you try out this recipe — I'd love to see how it turns out! Submit your photo in the comments section below, and/or tag us on Instagram using @healthcoachfx and #healthcoachfx.

x Laura

Photo Credit © healthcoachFX