How to Identify and Treat America’s Largest Health Epidemic
Estrogen dominance is a condition that is caused when there’s normal-to- excessive estrogen levels present in the body and little-to- no progesterone to balance it out. Although estrogen is often thought of as a female hormone, it’s actually present in both sexes, and estrogen dominance is a nationwide epidemic that is ravaging us all. Read-on to learn how estrogen dominance is effecting your health and vitality, what causes it, and how to reverse it naturally.
Estrogen Dominance Symptoms
Estrogen dominance often remains undiagnosed because it’s vast array of symptoms make it difficult to identify. In both males and females, it can cause seemingly incurable acne, mood swings, depression, irritability, forgetfulness, an inability to concentrate, anger, insomnia, and a loss of libido. It can also cause weight gain by reducing energy, triggering intense food cravings, compromising thyroid function and metabolism, and stimulating the production of fat cells (especially in the belly and breast area). In women, estrogen dominance can cause endometriosis, PMS, disrupted periods, fibrocystic breasts, and a vastly increased risk for breast cancer. In men, it can cause muscle mass loss, balding, male breast growth, erectile dysfunction, impotence, prostate enlargement, and an increased risk for both BPH (benign prostate hyperplasia) and prostate cancer.
Common Causes
One estrogen dominance cause is our incessant exposure to environmental estrogens (xenoestrogens). They are in our water, air, food containers, plastics, paints, children’s toys, cleaning products, pesticides, herbicides, and prescription medications … to name a few. Even more problematic however, is the estrogens we consume in our daily diets. Although estrogens are found in certain plant foods, the biggest estrogen dominance culprit is animal’s products.
Animals produce extremely high amounts of estrogen on a daily basis, and when we consume dairy and meat, we absorb those toxic estrogens into our bodies. To get an idea of just how potent a source of estrogen animal products really are, consider this: the average menstruating woman produces 16 mcg of estrogen daily. Compare that to a sheep that produces about 99 mcg; a pig that produces 100-500 mcg; and a pregnant cow that produces anywhere from 10,000-100,000 mcg. To compact the problem, many conventionally raised (factory farm) animals are injected with artificial hormones in order to increase their size and value. The massive amounts of estrogen that are both produced and injected into animals, gets excreted through the urine and feces, and spreads throughout the environment, contaminating our water supply and croplands.
Dietary Tweaks for Reversing Estrogen Dominance
If you experience any of the above mentioned symptoms of estrogen dominance you should have an anti-aging expert test your hormone levels. Make sure they take a urine test and not just a blood test, because urine tests help to identify estrogen metabolites which gives you a better idea of your actual estrogen levels. If estrogen dominance is identified, the most important step is to reduce or completely eliminate all animal products from your diet. Focus on consuming a whole-foods, plant-based diet instead, with plenty of fiber from vegetables (especially cruciferous veggies and mushrooms), fruits (especially pomegranate and grapes), beans and legumes. Sugar indirectly impacts estrogen levels and should only be consumed as an occasional treat. You should also minimize your intake of processed grains, gluten, alcohol and oils.
Soy products have a bad reputation because they contain estrogen-mimicking hormones. However, two definitive studies conducted on the effects of soy consumption found that women who consume the most soy actually have the lowest risk of developing breast cancer, and a lower breast cancer mortality rate. Further confirming this clinical evidence is the fact that Asian women consume a high soy diet and they have a much lower risk of breast cancer than American and European women. Ideally, you should consume unprocessed soy (edamame beans), or fermented soy such as tempeh and avoid processed soy products such as tofu, because processing and frying it, alters its chemical structure in a negative way.
Finally, consider adding flaxseeds into your diet. A study published in the 2009 edition of the ‘Urology’ journal, found that the ligaments contained in flaxseeds, help to reduce prostate enlargement and prostate cancer risk in men (particularly when they also consumed a low-fat, whole-foods based diet).
*For delicious recipe ideas and practical advice on how to incorporate healthy eating into your busy life, without feelings of deprivation, check-out the ‘Simply Health Cookbook’.
Helpful Supplements for Estrogen Dominance
In addition to modifying your diet, you should work with your healthcare practitioner to create a supplement regime that will help to reduce and clear harmful estrogens out of your body. DIM (Diindolylmethane) and I3C (Indole-3- Carbinol) are two powerful nutrients that will help to detoxify toxic estrogens and transform them into a safer, more useable from. ‘Estro Block’ contains clinically effective amounts of both DIM and I3C and can be a powerful estrogen reducing tool. ‘Liv-D-Tox’ is also beneficial because it contains a proprietary blend of herbs that help to stop the conversion of testosterone into estrogen (this is particularly beneficial for body builders who don’t want man breasts). ‘DHT Block’ is another beneficial supplement you may want to consider. It contains polyphenols and DIM in its absorbable form; helping to detoxify the harmful estrogens and prevent DHT from getting too high. Finally, methylcobalamin (natural B12) and 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (natural folic acid) found in the supplement ‘Stay Young’ – both help to move estrogen into the appropriate pathway, so that it can be effectively eliminated from your body.
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Additional Tips
In addition to consuming a whole-foods, plant-based diet and taking natural, high quality supplements, you should also exercise regularly (aerobic exercise is particularly beneficial). Sunlight exposure, infrared saunas, stress reduction, sleep optimization and minimizing your exposure to environmental toxins (as much as possible), will also help to bring your estrogen levels back into balance. Combining all of the above will not only help to reverse estrogen dominance and its vast array of nasty symptoms; it will also help you regain a sense of youthful vitality, increase your energy, give you beautiful, acne-free skin, and provide you with a trim and attractive body.
