Estrogen dominance is a hormonal imbalance where there's an excess of estrogen relative to progesterone. This condition can manifest through various symptoms, including weight gain, mood swings, and irregular periods. Nutrition and lifestyle play a vital role in restoring hormonal balance. This article delves into dietary and lifestyle adjustments to naturally reverse or prevent estrogen dominance.
Understanding Estrogen Dominance
Estrogen dominance occurs when there is too much estrogen in the body compared to progesterone. This imbalance can stem from high estrogen levels, low progesterone, or both. Estrogen is a crucial hormone that regulates the reproductive system and influences mood, bone density, and other bodily functions.
What Does It Mean to Have High Estrogen?
Estrogen is an essential hormone that regulates the reproductive system and plays a crucial role in other body systems. Estrogen levels naturally fluctuate throughout life, often in sync with other hormones that control important body processes. Increases in estrogen spur sexual development during puberty, and along with progesterone, it prepares the body for pregnancy. However, when estrogen levels are too high or cause a hormone imbalance, it can disrupt reproductive processes, cause unpleasant symptoms, and increase the risk of certain conditions.
What is Estrogen Dominance?
Estrogen and progesterone work together to prevent the uterine lining from thickening excessively. In some individuals, the body doesn’t produce enough progesterone, leading to unopposed estrogen, also known as estrogen dominance. Without progesterone’s balancing influence, estrogen can become overactive and cause cell overgrowths, such as tumors in the uterine lining.
How Does High Estrogen Affect the Body?
Elevated estrogen levels can affect both women and men, although the causes and effects may differ. In women, high estrogen levels unrelated to medication are most likely caused by PCOS prior to menopause. After menopause, high levels are more common in those with overweight/obesity. In men, while some estrogen is necessary for sexual and reproductive health, an excess can lead to various health issues.
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It’s rare for your levels to be high because of the estrogen you’re producing. It’s more likely that your estrogen levels are high because of medications you’re taking. For instance, you may have a low sex drive because of high estrogen levels, but this is most likely caused by your birth control pills - not your body’s natural estrogen.
Symptoms of Estrogen Dominance
Common signs of estrogen dominance include:
- Extra belly fat
- Low energy
- Painful and/or heavy periods
- Mood swings
The Role of Diet in Reversing Estrogen Dominance
Diet plays a pivotal role in managing estrogen levels. The ovaries, adrenal glands, and fat tissue produce estrogen, while the liver metabolizes it, and the digestive system eliminates it. Supporting the liver and gut health is essential for maintaining hormonal balance.
Liver Support
The liver plays a central role in the detoxification of estrogen and other substances, making it essential to maintain its optimal function. Eating a variety of whole foods can provide the micronutrients our body needs.
Gut Health
Once the liver breaks down estrogen, bacteria in the gut breaks down and modulates it further. Frequent constipation and lack of digestive enzymes can keep estrogen trapped in the gut where it can be reabsorbed back into the body instead of eliminated. Supporting gut health with plenty of fiber-rich foods, replenishing your gut flora with probiotics and proper hydration are important.
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Dietary Strategies to Combat Estrogen Dominance
1. Prioritize Whole Foods and Read Labels
Focus on consuming whole, unprocessed foods. Always read ingredient labels and avoid food additives and preservatives as much as possible. Scaling back on fast food and packaged, processed foods is an easy way to reduce the intake of food additives and preservatives.
2. Choose Slow-Burn Carbs
Swap fast-burn carbs like white bread, white pasta, and flour tortillas for slow-burn carbs like sweet potatoes, butternut squash, beans/lentils, and quinoa. Slow-burn carbs provide a steady source of energy and support healthy cortisol levels, which is key for keeping estrogen and progesterone at healthy levels.
The sugar in a piece of cake is quickly absorbed into your blood, giving you a fast energy boost but also causing your blood sugar level to rise quickly and then come crashing down. This is what we call "high glycemic index". If you eat something like a sweet potato, which has natural sugar but also contains fiber, your body takes longer to absorb the sugar into your blood. This means your energy boost is more gradual and your blood sugar doesn't spike as high or as quickly.
3. Increase Protein Intake
Combining strength training with a protein-rich diet helps you build muscle and burn fat. By improving your body composition, you reduce the amount of fat tissue that can produce and store estrogen, which improves estrogen dominance. Plant-based complete proteins include soy, quinoa, hemp, chia and tempeh.
4. Load Up on Liver-Supporting Foods
Liver-supporting foods are an important part of an estrogen dominance (reversing) diet, so incorporate them where you can.
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5. Embrace Fiber-Rich Foods
Fiber is an unsung hero for gut health and hormonal health. It feeds the good bacteria in the gut and slows down digestion, allowing our bodies to absorb the nutrients we need. Women should aim for 21-28 grams of fiber per day. Fiber also binds to excess estrogen in the digestive tract, aiding its excretion.
6. Consume Cruciferous Vegetables
Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts contain compounds called indole-3-carbinol and diindolylmethane (DIM). These compounds support both phase 1 and phase 2 detoxification in the liver, helping the liver break down excess estrogen into forms that are easier to remove from the body.
7. Incorporate Probiotic-Rich Foods
Foods rich in probiotics, such as yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, tempeh, miso, kimchi, and kombucha, provide the gut with flora that help with estrogen detoxification.
8. Stay Hydrated
Drinking plenty of water is important for several reasons. Fiber requires water to be digested properly, and water helps to flush toxins and remove excess estrogen.
9. Choose Organic When Possible
Eating organic whenever possible reduces exposure to toxins called “xenoestrogens” that mimic estrogen in the body, leading to unnaturally high levels of the hormone. Refer to the Environmental Working Group's "Dirty Dozen" list to prioritize buying organic for produce with the highest pesticide counts.
10. Limit Alcohol Intake
Alcohol taxes the liver and the gut, the two systems which we are trying to support with the estrogen dominance diet. Even one drink per day can create an unwanted increase in estrogen levels.
Foods That May Lower Estrogen Levels
Several foods may help lower, decrease, and flush excess estrogen levels in the body. These include:
- Cruciferous Vegetables: Broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts contain compounds that may help metabolize estrogen in the body and reduce excess levels.
- Flaxseeds: High in lignans, flaxseeds may help balance estrogen levels.
- Soy: Soybeans and soy-based products contain isoflavones that may help reduce excess estrogen levels.
- Green Tea: Contains catechins, which may help metabolize estrogen and lower excess levels.
- Berries: Strawberries and raspberries contain compounds that may help reduce excess estrogen levels.
- Fiber-Rich Foods: Whole grains, beans, and vegetables may help decrease estrogen levels by removing excess estrogen from the body.
- Garlic: May help flush excess estrogen from the body due to its sulfur-containing compounds.
- Turmeric: Contains curcumin, which can impact hormone regulation.
- Bitter Greens: Arugula, dandelion, and radicchio contain compounds that may decrease high estrogen levels.
Phytoestrogens: Friend or Foe?
Phytoestrogens are natural plant-based compounds that mimic estrogen in the body. Because they have a structure similar to estrogen, phytoestrogens can compete with the body’s natural estrogen for receptor sites in tissues. Some examples include flax seeds, legumes like chickpeas, black beans and mung beans, sesame seeds, garlic, dried apricots, prunes and dates, fresh parsley, dill and sage, green tea, fennel seed and aniseed, and organic tempeh and miso.
The Soy Debate
Soy is rich in phytoestrogens but is a hotly debated food. The most recent research shows that consuming soy does not elevate estrogen levels and has in fact been associated with lower levels of cancer.
Benefits of Phytoestrogens
Studies have associated phytoestrogen intake after menopause with decreased cholesterol levels, reduced menopausal symptoms, and a lower risk of osteoporosis and certain types of cancer, including breast cancer.
Lifestyle Adjustments to Support Hormonal Balance
1. Manage Stress
Stress can disrupt hormone balance. Chronic stress can create more cortisol in the body, ultimately leading to lower progesterone levels. Mindfulness practices like meditation, yoga, and deep breathing can help lower cortisol levels and support hormonal balance.
2. Exercise Regularly
Working out regularly can help maintain a healthy weight, reduce stress, and balance hormones.
3. Get Enough Sleep
Maintain a healthy balance of hormones by getting enough sleep. Sleep deprivation can disrupt hormone levels and exacerbate estrogen dominance.
4. Limit Exposure to Environmental Toxins
Reduce exposure to xenoestrogens by avoiding plastics-use glass or stainless steel, especially for food storage. Chemicals that mimic estrogen in the body, known as xenoestrogens, can be found in certain plastics, pesticides, household cleaning products, and even some soaps and shampoos. These compounds can disrupt the endocrine system and contribute to estrogen dominance.
5. Maintain a Healthy Weight
Losing excess body fat is an excellent way to reduce circulating estrogen. Plus, weight loss can help protect against many chronic diseases, including hormone-sensitive breast cancer.
Supplements for Estrogen Dominance
- DIM (Diindolylmethane): A compound found in cruciferous vegetables, DIM promotes hormonal balance and supports healthy estrogen metabolism.
- Vitex (Chaste Tree Berry): An herb that supports progesterone production, helping to balance the estrogen-progesterone ratio.
- Calcium-d-glucarate and indole-3-carbinol: may reduce estrogen levels in the body.
Sample Meal Plan for Estrogen Dominance
Breakfast:
- Oatmeal with flaxseeds and berries
- Tofu scramble with cruciferous vegetables
Lunch:
- Quinoa salad with chickpeas and mixed greens
- Lentil soup with a side of whole-grain bread
Dinner:
- Baked salmon with roasted Brussels sprouts and sweet potato
- Tempeh stir-fry with broccoli and brown rice
Snacks:
- A handful of almonds or walnuts
- Greek yogurt with berries
- Green tea