Healing Oestrogen Dominance

What is oestrogen dominance? This happens when there is excess oestrogen in the body in relation to progesterone. For women, oestrogen is a vital hormone for puberty, menstruation, and childbearing. In men oestrogen is crucial for libido and the production of sperm. For a variety of different reasons, your body can make too much oestrogen which leads to health issues.

Common Signs of Oestrogen Dominance in Women:

• Bloating, puffiness, or water retention
• Breast tenderness
• Fibroids
• Painful periods or endometriosis
• Mood swings, PMS, irritability
• Depression or cry easily
• Anxiety or mini-breakdowns
• Hard time falling asleep/staying asleep
• Migraine/headaches
• Brain fog
  
  

Common Signs of Oestrogen Dominance in Men:

• Gynecomastia (breast growth)
• Infertility
• Erectile dysfunction
  
  

If you find yourself experiencing these symptoms, you may be oestrogen dominant. What causes oestrogen dominance? There are many reasons and contributing factors that can result in hormonal imbalances. Here are the most common ones:

• Hormonal birth control
• High sugar, low fibre diet
• Toxic personal care products
• Uncontrolled stress
• An unhealthy gut
• The use of plastic
• Pesticides

So what can you do? The good news is that there are many natural and effective things you can start doing today to balance your hormones!

7 Simple and Effective Ways to Balance Your Oestrogen:

1. Swap Carbs for Healthy Fats. Eating a variety of foods high in short, medium and long-chain fatty acids is key to balancing your hormones. Your body needs various types of fats to create hormones, including saturated fat and cholesterol. My four favourite sources of anti-inflammatory, healthy fats include: coconut oil, avocados, grass-fed butter and wild-caught salmon. 
2. Increase your cruciferous vegetable intake such as broccoli, cauliflower and kale. Cruciferous vegetables have phytochemicals that help to block oestrogen production. 
3. Avoid toxic personal care products and cleaning products. Many modern beauty and cleaning products contain xenoestrogen, a product that mimics oestrogen and interferes with the natural hormonal balance. There are many options both in beauty products as well as cleaning agents that don't contain dangerous chemicals.
4. Reduce alcohol intake. Alcohol can raise your oestrogen levels and disrupt your blood sugar function. 
5. Limit meat and dairy from conventionally raised animals. Meat and dairy from conventionally raised animals contain much more oestrogen than their grass-fed, free-range, and organic counterparts. Since you will be increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables you consume, you will naturally have less space for these foods in your diet and will slowly be able to start reducing them.
6. Lose weight. By applying the above you will automatically start to lose weight. To speed things up try Intermittent Fasting. Fasting for just 12 hours a day can be beneficial, it will be ideal to eventually work your way up to 16 hours per day. 
7. Use Essential Oils.
   Clary Sage: Clary sage helps to balance oestrogen levels because it contains natural phytoestrogens. It can be used to regulate your menstrual cycle, relieve PMS symptoms, treat infertility and PCOS. It also serves as a natural remedy for emotional imbalances, like depression and anxiety. Diffuse 3-5 drops of clary sage or add to a bath to help balance hormone levels and relieve stress. 
   Lavender: Lavender oil promotes emotional balance, as it can help to treat anxiety, depression, moodiness and stress. It can also be used to promote restful sleep, which will help to balance your hormone levels as well. Diffuse 5 drops of lavender oil at home, add 5 drops to a warm water bath or apply 3 drops topically to your temples, back or neck or wrists.
   
   

All of these tips are pretty easy to implement and if applied, they can go a long way in balancing your hormones, making you feel much healthier and more energetic in the long run. 
If you are not sure whether you are oestrogen dominant or not, feel free to contact me so that we can work together to get your health back on track.