I will say it straight up front here….estrogen is not bad. Given the widespread fear of estrogen that most women have, it bears repeating…estrogen is NOT bad. It is a wonderful female hormone that gives us breasts and hips and helps to keep skin dewy and youthful looking. It also helps to maintain heart and bone health.
The problem is when estrogen is out of balance and since we live in an “estrogen-toxic” world, care is needed to avoid excess exposure.
Here are 6 easy to implement tips on how to minimize your exposure to excess estrogen:
1. Store your leftovers in glass receptacles. BPA is a weak synthetic estrogen found in many rigid plastic products. If you must use plastic, be sure to let hot foods cool before pouring into plastic containers.
2. Change up your beauty routine. Check your labels…do your products have parabens, pthalates and hydroquinone? These ingredients are known endocrine disruptors. I use and love Beautycounter because they ban over 1500 chemicals from their products. You can check your products at the Environmental Working Group’s “Skin Deep” database. http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/
3. Go organic as often as you can. Glyphosate, otherwise known as Round-Up weed killer, made by Monsanto, can activate the estrogen receptor in women. This can cause a cascade of confusion for your entire endocrine system.
4. Eat more cruciferous vegetables. Cruciferous vegetables are things like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, brussels sprouts, and arugula to name a few. These help your body to make the good type of estrogen, 2-Hydroxyestrone, which is protective against cancer.
5. Eat flax seeds. The lignans in flax seed can block estrogen signalling and lower excessively high blood levels of estrogen. This is great news for women with too much estrogen, also sometimes referred to as estrogen dominance. Flax seeds are best ground. They can be put in smoothies and baked goods.
6. Consider using a non-hormonal method of birth control. If you use hormonal birth control, chances are you are getting exposure to synthetic estrogen. In one animal study, ethinyl estradiol, which is a form of synthetic estrogen commonly used in the pill, caused toxic effects on the liver. Since the liver is crucial to balancing hormones, anything that causes it harm should be minimized and considering that the birth control pill is taken by most women for over a decade or more, it’s a good idea to find an alternative.
References
Effects of Flaxseed Lignan Secoisolariciresinol Diglucosideon Preneoplastic Biomarkers of Cancer…
Nutr Cancer. 2015;67(5):857-64. doi: 10.1080/01635581.2015.1042549. Epub 2015 May 26. Research Support, N.I.H.…www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Studies on the effects of ethinyl estradiol and norethisterone acetate on the adrenal cortex and…
Endokrinologie. 1979 Feb;73(1):66-76.www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Estrogenic chemicals often leach from BPA-free plastic products that are replacements for BPA…
Environ Health. 2014 May 28;13(1):41. doi: 10.1186/1476-069X-13-41. Research Support, N.I.H., Extramuralwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Glyphosate induces human breast cancer cells growth via estrogen receptors. – PubMed – NCBI
Food Chem Toxicol. 2013 Sep;59:129-36. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2013.05.057. Epub 2013 Jun 10. Comparative Studywww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Originally published at nourishandflourishhealth.com on November 28, 2016.