How to Balance your Hormones with a healthy Hot Chocolate

Over the last few months, I’ve been struggling with a whole host of hormonal issues, ranging from increased migraines to breakouts, disturbed sleep, fatigue and deep mental health ruts I couldn’t seem to get myself out of.

As you can imagine, it was a bit of a rollercoaster!

I tried to get a handle on things by following the usual steps for re-balancing my body: exercise, sleep, nutrition, reduce lifestyle stress, take vitamins.

These things did help a little, but it wasn’t until I tried this special hot chocolate combo that I really started to feel significantly better. I know I’m not the only one struggling with low energy and irregular cycles, so I thought I’d share what I’ve discovered in case it can help other women too. It has been such a quick, easy, low-risk remedy to try, that I thought some of you might like to give it a go!

Here’s the basic recipe:

1 tsp Drinking Chocolate powder, Cocoa or Cacao
1-2 tsp Blackstrap Molasses
Hot water to fill
Milk of choice (optional)
Sugar or sweetener (optional)

That’s it! Just two basic ingredients plus the optional frills. As you adjust to the taste, you can increase the quantities of cacao and molasses up towards the 1-2 tablespoon mark (or just throw 1 tbsp each into a giant mug like I do!) for a bigger nutritional boost.

So where’s the magic?

The two key ingredients (cocoa and blackstrap molasses) are both natural sources of some really key ingredients for women’s health and wellbeing. Getting all your recommended daily intakes in on a day-to-day basis can take a lot of brain space. And while supplementation through multivitamins can be helpful, most people absorb nutrients most effectively when they come from natural food sources.

Cacao vs. cocoa

Are you seeing double yet? These two foods come from the same plant (and look almost identical!) but have differing nutritional values. Cocoa is more refined and is what is typically used in drinking chocolate powders, as it has less of the natural bitter taste of cacao. Cacao is a very popular superfood due to the fact that it is consumed “raw”, which means it has not been heat treated. The benefit of this is that it retains more of its natural nutrients and colour, so it gives you bigger bang for your buck. If you can handle the slight bitterness or are willing to add a sweetener, definitely go with the raw cacao!

Don’t get too hung up on what type of chocolate powder you have. It was a solid two months before I got myself organised to get high-quality cacao and molasses from a health food store, but I still had a 50% reduction in headache days just by having normal hot chocolate powder mixed with molasses! Even now that I’m stocked up, I’m still using a combination of cacao and drinking chocolate (mostly because it’s yummier that way, which makes me more likely to finish it!)

Not Just Any Molasses

I discovered the benefits of blackstrap molasses in a roundabout sort of way, quite recently. I was trying to set up a themed date night at home so that hubby and I could watch the musical “Hamilton” together. I had bought some old-fashioned ciders and wanted to make some old-fashioned American snacks to go with it. As it turns out, most people were really quite poor back then, so there weren’t a lot of hors d’oeuvres recipes going around! I stumbled across a rustic bread recipe that called for molasses, which would help create a beautiful crust and rich depth of flavour. (The recipe worked really well, you can find it here if you’d like to give it a try!) After figuring out I could buy molasses locally, but only in 400g tubs, I went on a click frenzy looking for ways to use up the 390g I would have left over after my loaf was baked!

Allow me to save you the browsing time: the short version is that molasses is actually a sneaky little jar of versatile, nutrient-rich goodness! It’s a natural by-product of the sugar-making process, which involves boiling cane juice and skimming off the sugar crystals to make table sugar. Blackstrap molasses is the best of the best. This is what is left behind after the third boil, so most of the sugar has been drawn out and the sticky liquid that remains is highly concentrated, which means more natural nutrients, and more bang for your buck again!

Blackstrap molasses has a rich, full-bodied flavour that is somewhere between licorice and golden syrup. You can use it in sweet and savoury dishes, from cookies and milkshakes to bread loaves and stir fries, but by far the easiest way to use it has been in my daily 4pm hot choc. I don’t even add milk to mine, because the molasses provides enough depth of flavour on its own!

The nutritional dream team

Blackstrap molasses and cacao are a great combination, because they both feature a similar nutrient profile. This means that a small amount of each ingredient contributes to a decent dose of the nutrients you need, without being completely overpowering in flavour. The three key nutrients they provide are iron, magnesium and potassium, which are all really important for women in particular as they support healthy hormone functioning. As well as these nutrients, molasses and cacao are also good sources of:

• Manganese (for strong bone formation and metabolism)
• Vitamin B-6 (for energy)
• Selenium (as an antioxidant and thyroid stabiliser)
• Calcium (for bone and heart health)
• Phosphorus (for cell maintenance and repair)
• Zinc (metabolism, digestion, nerve and immune function)
• Copper (aids iron absorption, nerve and immune function)
• Plus a tiny amount of caffeine and theobromine, which act as natural mood boosters without being concentrated enough to set off my anxiety.

Why is iron important for women?

Iron is crucial to the effective transportation of oxygen around the entire body, so when we are low in iron, we feel it! You may not need to have low iron according to clinical standards to feel the symptoms of fatigue, brain fog, weakness, or shortness of breath during normal activities, so even if your iron levels are within the normal range according to a blood test, you can still make an effort to boost your dietary intake of iron. Women are more susceptible to iron deficiency due to the monthly blood loss that occurs in menstruation (a.k.a. your periods), so we need to ensure we are making up this loss through our diet across the whole month. Cocoa contains a small amount of iron, so the darker the drinking chocolate, the higher the dose of iron. Raw cacao powder is even better, but you may find you need to add some sugar to balance the natural bitterness!
Blackstrap molasses contains a good dose of iron as well, so a mug of this hot choccie will nudge you towards your daily iron needs and give your energy levels a boost.

Feeling stressed? You might need more magnesium.

Magnesium is really important for healthy nerve functioning, and is also involved in a whole range of processes in the body including moderating blood glucose levels, storing calcium, forming proteins, and repairing DNA. I first started paying attention to magnesium when my physiotherapist suggested I take Epsom salt baths to help with migraine symptoms, as magnesium is readily absorbed through the skin. While that’s a great suggestion in theory, I rarely have the patience to draw a bath at the end of the day juggling four kids, so being able to just boil the kettle and get a little boost on a daily basis is much more achievable. People who exercise more frequently or have stressful jobs (like raising young kids!) can burn through magnesium quite quickly, as your nervous system goes into overdrive during periods of stress. Both cacao and blackstrap molasses are high in magnesium, so a regular hot chocolate based on these two core ingredients can help you top up your stores and balance the effects of stress on your body.

Potassium: a key electrolyte

Have you ever had a sports drink that boasted about its high levels of electrolytes? Potassium is one of those key electrolytes that athletes and gym junkies need to make sure they replenish after a tough workout, but it’s also important for the rest of us! Potassium helps balance the amount of fluid we retain in our bodies, and keeps our organs healthy. It also helps muscles to contract and release, and regulates healthy nerve function. When we don’t have an adequate dietary intake of potassium, we become vulnerable to weak or twitchy muscles. So if you suffer from cramps and bloating around your period, have a banana and wash it down with a hormone-supporting hot choc!

Give it a try. Your hormones will thank you for it!

Whether you’re struggling with hormonal imbalance or not, trying this hot chocolate combo will help keep your body happily balanced so you have the energy to do the things you love. Next time you feel that afternoon slump roll around, pour yourself a cup of this nutrient-rich hot chocolate and bask in the knowledge that you are giving your body the kind of love it deserves.