Is estrogen dominance affecting my weight and metabolism? 

Do you struggle with losing weight, low sex drive, changes in your menstrual cycle, or feeling tired all the time? If so, you’re not alone. And what you may be struggling with is something called estrogen dominance. 

 

But first, what is estrogen?

Estrogen is an essential hormone that impacts women’s fertility, brain function, fat distribution, mood, energy, and more. Yep, it’s more than just a sex hormone. It’s produced in the ovaries, and a small amount is produced come from your kidneys and fat tissue. Head over to our sex hormone blog for more detail.

 

Estrogen dominance, as you may have guessed, occurs when there is an excess level of estrogen in the body. 

 

What ranges should I be in?

For men, the testosterone: estrodial ratio should be 15-30

For women, the progesterone: estrodial ratio should be between 250-350

 

What are symptoms of estrogen dominance?

 

• Weight gain, mainly in lower body region 
• PMS symptoms worsening
• Change in menstrual flow
• Fibrocystic breasts
• Low sex drive 
• Feelings of depression or anxiety
• Fatigue
• Excessive cellulite 

 

Why does estrogen dominance happen?

One of the main reasons that estrogen dominance is on the rise is due to the high levels of xeno estrogens in our environment. We are constantly bombarded with toxins in our food, on our skin, in our showers. Women are exposed to more than 500 chemicals a day. The chemicals can alter our estrogen balance by competing with estrogen receptors. On top of this, we are much more overweight and have compromised liver function – this prevents the detox or xenoestrogens and amplifies the consequences. 

 

Let’s dive a bit deeper into some of the causes: 

 

Being overweight

Being overweight will cause me to have extra estrogen? Yes! Like we mentioned above, estrogen has the ability to be produced AND stored in your body’s fat cells. So the more body fat you have, the more estrogen your body is being exposed to.2 

 

Forms of birth control

Different birth controls work by adding more estrogen on top of the estrogen your body is already producing. These contain estrogen, but they are lacking progesterone which acts to balance out the estrogen. 

 

Stress

The hormone Cortisol, commonly referred to as the “stress hormone,” will increase a lot when you are stressed. When you have elevated levels of cortisol in your body, then your body will make up for this by sparing progesterone production.3 But… this isn’t good because then your estrogen gets out of balance which leads to estrogen dominance. 

 

Environment

Xenoestrogens are everywhere nowadays. Pesticides and plastic that mimic estrogen are pollutants that have been making their way into the environment and water supplies. Personal care products also contain chemical compounds that are disruptive to estrogen levels in the body. 

 

How to treat estrogen dominance? 

We can’t control everything in our external world. While we should do our best to choose cleaner products, we can’t expect to be 100% chemical free. So what we need to focus on is our internal pathways that help battle and detox these xenoestrogens in order to maintain a healthy hormone balance. 

 

Here are some ways you can get started: 

1. Decrease xenoestrogens. Opt for non toxic cleaning supplies, organic foods, clean beauty products.
2. Support your liver. Your liver recycles estrogen and ensures that levels in the blood remain stable. 
3. Support your gut health. Certain gut bacteria promote estrogen conversion. 
4. Move your body. Fat cells can dump excess estrogen into the bloodstream and you can excrete it via digestion. 
5. Increase fiber. Fiber binds to hormones and excretes them through poop 
6. Some specific foods to focus on: raw carrot salad, well cooked mushrooms, bamboo shoots all bind estrogen and increase excretion