[Video] How to Reverse the Top Two Lethal Hormone Imbalances

Hormone imbalances are a modern day epidemic; and chances are, you will experience an imbalance at some point in your life. Estrogen and cortisol are two of the most commonly imbalanced hormones in both males and females; both of which cause a range of nasty symptoms and an increased risk for many chronic diseases. Fortunately, you can reverse most estrogen and cortisol imbalances with a combination of simple lifestyle tweaks and dietary supplements, which will be discussed below.

Estrogen Dominance

Environmental estrogens mimic your body’s own estrogen, and can cause an increasingly prevalent, and severely harmful health condition known as estrogen dominance. Estrogen dominance causes a myriad of symptoms in both males and females, including: hair loss, weight gain, infertility, loss of libido, anxiety, fatigue, PMS, fibroids and autoimmune disorders. Estrogen dominance also vastly increases the risk for breast and prostate cancer and according to preliminary research, it may play a contributory role in all other types of cancer as well. Estrogen isn’t all bad however; in youth, estrogen has a lot of value, particularly in women as it helps to create and maintain feminine characterises. Estrogen also helps to optimize memory, heart and bone health in both males and females; but it is required in progressively smaller amounts as we age.

Unfortunately, we’re constantly swimming in a sea of environmental estrogens; they’re in the foods we eat (phytoestrogens) and the chemicals we’re continuously exposed to (xenoestrogens) and our current estrogen exposure is a whopping 10,000 times higher than ever before in history. This prevents estrogen levels from naturally declining with age, which is why estrogen dominance is such a widespread epidemic.

Lifestyle Tweaks for Reversing Estrogen Dominance

Ideally you would prevent and/or reverse estrogen dominance by simply reducing your exposure to environmental estrogens. However, that is impossible because they are so ubiquitous; they’re in our pesticides, cosmetics, fire retardants, paints, mattresses, food packaging, bottled waters and medications (to name a few). One thing you can do, is avoid all foods and beverages that are packaged in plastic, which would mean eating a primarily wholefoods based diet. You should also vastly reduce or eliminate all meat and dairy; as they are extremely potent sources of toxic estrogens. In addition, increase your intake of cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and Brussel sprouts — they contain a substance called Indole-3- Carbonal (I3C), which helps your body metabolize estrogen. Exercise and far infrared saunas are also beneficial because they help you to detoxify and sweat-out excess estrogens.

Supplements for Estrogen Dominance

Certain supplements can also help prevent and reverse estrogen dominance. Look for supplements that contain I3C and DIM – they help to both lower estrogen levels, and also to change estrogen from its toxic forms into a less toxic form. EstroBlock is a potent source of both I3C and DIM and can be a vital tool in your fight against estrogen dominance.

Cortisol and Stress

More and more people are exercising, eating and sleeping well; but the one thing many people are still neglecting to do is control their stress levels. Chronic stress leads to symptoms such as exhaustion, chronic fatigue, insomnia, an inability to concentrate, weight gain, anxiety and depression. It also causes severe blood sugar fluctuations, suppresses digestion, reduces immunity, and increases your risk for America’s most lethal diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.

Cortisol is a hormone that is pumped out in order to prepare your body to fight (or flee) in stressful situations. It was very beneficial for our caveman ancestors who occasionally faced life threatening events. However, cortisol was never meant to be pumped out on a constant basis, and that is exactly what is happening to many of us due to modern day stressors. We experience stress when the alarm clock jolts us awake, when we sit in traffic, when we’re late for work, when we’re under the pressure of a deadline, when we’re sleep deprived and starved for time; and when we push ourselves too far at the gym. Unfortunately, the constant output of cortisol caused by chronic stress is extremely toxic to our bodies and eventually our adrenal glands tire out and stop producing enough cortisol. Adrenalin is then pumped out in place of cortisol, and that is even more harmful than cortisol; it pushes your body into a constant fight or flight mode and eventually leads to adrenal fatigue.

Adrenal Fatigue

Adrenal fatigue is the term applied to the collection of symptoms mentioned above that are caused by chronic stress and about half of us will experience the symptoms of adrenal fatigue at some point in our lives. Unfortunately, most conventional medicine practitioners refuse to acknowledge adrenal fatigue as an actual medical condition. They’ll look at cortisol levels and so long as they’re not in a severe enough range to be diagnosed as Addison’s disease or Cushing’s disease, they’ll classify their patient as healthy. But adrenal fatigue symptoms are experienced by many with cortisol levels in the subclinical range, which means a large percentage of people with adrenal fatigue will be dismissed as healthy.

Reversing Adrenal Fatigue Naturally

If you suffer with adrenal fatigue, sleep is absolutely vital for you. You should ensure you get at least 8 hours a night, and also make sure you go to bed and wake-up at the same time every day. Also, try to eat something small every 3 hours, and always combine complex carbs with either a healthy fat or a protein source. This will balance your blood sugar levels, which will in turn help increase energy and prevent your body from going into a stress-inducing starvation mode. Consume a wholefoods based diet, and eliminate sugar, caffeine and alcohol. Bone broths, seaweed, and fermented foods are extremely nourishing to the adrenals and should also be incorporated into your daily meal plan.

In addition to the above tweaks, try to incorporate stress-reducing techniques into your daily regime. Gentle exercise such as yoga and Tai Chi; deep breathing exercises, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), meditation, sex, cuddling and simply allowing yourself to get lost in an activity that brings you joy – can all help to reduce stress levels. Finally, many people with adrenal fatigue have very low levels of cortisol throughout the day and high levels at bedtime, which causes daytime exhaustion and sleep-interfering energy surges at night. If you fall into this category, you may benefit from either daily sunlight exposure or light box therapy – both of which will help to reset your circadian rhythm, so you can fall asleep at night.

Adrenal Fatigue Supplements

If you have adrenal fatigue, the above lifestyle tweaks will go a long way towards restoring your adrenal function, however you may require additional help in the form of supplementation. Supplements can support your adrenal glands so that they can rest and rejuvenate themselves; and over a 6 to 12-month period, you should notice a drastic reduction or complete reversal of adrenal fatigue symptoms. Slow release cortisol, adrenal glandulars, ashwagandha, Dimethylglycine HCL (DMG), and/or licorice root can all help restore adrenal health. Adrenal DMG (http://www.delgadonaturals.com/adrenal-dmg/) is one supplement worth trying; it contains adrenal cortex glandular and a proprietary blend of adrenal nourishing herbs that help boost adrenal function.

The Best Way to Monitor Hormone Levels

A delicate balance of hormones is required for optimal health; and it is important that your hormone levels are regularly monitored, especially while using hormone therapy. Typically doctors will use a blood test to monitor hormones, however a urine test is superior because you can get a lot more information out of it. One great test is a 4-point urine collection test, where you urinate 4 times over a 24-hour period, and have all 4 samples assessed. This is helpful since hormone levels are constantly fluctuating (especially estradiol and cortisol), so it gives you a more accurate picture of what is actually going on with your hormones.

References:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2137123/
http://kungfu.psy.cmu.edu/~scohen/JAMA_2007_Psy_Stress_Disease.pdf
https://adrenalfatigue.org/chronic-fatigue- syndrome/
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress- management/in-depth/stress/art- 20046037?pg=2