Estrogen Dominance: Symptoms, Causes, Supportive Foods & Supplements
Hormone balance plays a crucial role in women’s everyday lives, sleep, appetite, stress, libido, periods, digestion - you name it. Unfortunately, many women struggle with a common hormonal imbalance called estrogen dominance.
In our modern world, estrogen dominance has become the real pandemic.
In this blog, we explore what estrogen dominance is, the likely causes, and the best foods and supplements to help resolve your estrogen dominance symptoms naturally.
What is Estrogen Dominance?
Estrogen dominance is a condition when estrogen levels are too high, especially in relation to progesterone.
Estrogen's main role is growth and development. It’s an essential part of the menstrual cycle, building the uterine lining, bone development, and brain activity.
Progesterone plays not only an important role in pregnancy but also keeps estrogen levels in check, helps you feel relaxed, lowers stress hormones, improves sleep, reduces PMS symptoms, and so much more.
Estrogen is the dominant hormone in the first half of the cycle. Once we ovulate, estrogen should drop and progesterone should rise. However, when someone struggles with estrogen dominance in the second half of the cycle, estrogen levels stay high in relation to progesterone.
Normal Cycle
Estrogen Dominance Cycle
You can see from these graphics what estrogen and progesterone should look like in a healthy cycle. But, with estrogen dominance, estrogen levels stay high in the luteal phase, especially in relation to low progesterone levels.
This is why most estrogen dominance symptoms show up in the second half of our cycle.
Both of these hormones are essential, but when estrogen starts to accumulate in our tissues, and the body has trouble detoxifying it properly, we start developing unwanted symptoms.
What are Estrogen Dominance Symptoms?
Below are some of the common symptoms of estrogen dominance. If you struggle with any of these symptoms, you likely have a hormonal imbalance with excess estrogen and low progesterone.
Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
Irregular / Missing Cycles
Heavy, Painful Periods
Bloating
Breast Tenderness
Hormonal Acne
Irritability
Low Libido
Hot Flashes
Cellulite
Hair Loss or Hirsutism
Cold Hands and Feet
Infertility
Fibroids / Cyst
If left untreated, estrogen dominance may eventually lead to breast, uterine, or ovarian cancer.
Estrogen Dominance in the Modern World
Unfortunately, in our fast paced, modern day world, we often get sucked into diets, products, and mentalities that exacerbate our estrogen dominance symptoms.
Things like…
Drinking coffee before breakfast.
Eating a low carb or low calorie diet.
Eating less than 1800 calories per day.
Not eating enough protein.
Intermittent fasting or skipping meals.
Using toxic household & beauty products.
Over exercising and too much cardio.
Choosing vegetable oils over animal fats.
Not resting enough, having a hustle mentality.
All of these factors increase stress hormones, which slow down thyroid function, and prevent estrogen from being properly detoxified from the body. That's when estrogen starts to accumulate in the tissues and stifles progesterone production.
What Factors Contribute to Estrogen Dominance?
Three major factors contribute to estrogen dominance. One is the lack of nutrients, especially protein & minerals. Another is xenoestrogens, synthetic or natural hormones that mimic estrogen in the body. Finally, the predominance of high stress hormones. All three of these factors lead to poor estrogen detoxification which allows estrogen to accumulate in the tissues and prevent progesterone production.
Lack of Nutrients
Most women are unknowingly undernourished, under eating, and deficient in protein and minerals. Without enough protein, carbs, and minerals, our liver does not have the energy and building blocks to eliminate the excess estrogen in our body, so it begins to accumulate in the tissues. Check out the food and supplement suggestions at the end of this post to help improve your nourishment.
Xenoestrogens
We have never before been bombarded with so many toxins than now in our modern world. Xenoestrogens are external substances like plastic and pesticides that mimic estrogen in the body. The overabundance of these xenoestrogens add wind to the estrogen dominance storm. Check out the next section for more details on xenoestrogens.
High Stress Hormones
When our stress hormones like cortisol are elevated from undereating, unbalanced blood sugar, over exercising, and other life stressors, our thyroid levels tank. Estrogen can actually be considered another stress hormone and blocks thyroid hormone from being utilized. Check out THIS blog post for more information on increasing thyroid hormones and lowering stress hormones.
So, we’ve identified the common symptoms of estrogen dominance and why our detoxification pathways are hindered, what can we do about it? Limiting your xenoestrogens and increasing your nourishment are the two best ways to start.
Xenoestrogen Examples
One of the major reasons estrogen dominance is so common, especially in our modern world, is the rise of xenoestrogens. Xenoestrogens are external substances that mimic estrogen in the body. Often the issue isn't that the body is making too much estrogen, but rather you're consuming or exposing your body to external substances that act like estrogen and increase its levels.
Examples of estrogenic compounds are parabens, fragrance, BPA, formaldehyde, dioxanes, sulfates, glycols, triclosan, phthalates, and glyphosate, just to name a few.
The average woman uses 12 cosmetic products containing 168 chemicals all before breakfast! (2020, EWG) That doesn't even include the numerous other everyday xenoestrogens.
These everyday household products are often polluted with xenoestrogens:
Birth Control
Tampons & Pads
Body & Skincare
Make Up
Pharmaceuticals
Vegetable Oils
Non-organic Food
Tap Water
Plastic bottles & Food Containers
Non-stick Pans
Cleaning Products
Candles & Air Fresheners
I know reading this can be overwhelming. Simplifying your life and using FEWER products is the best and cheapest solution to limit these xenoestrogens from entering your body. Making slow steady changes and replacing these household products as they run out is the simplest approach. Use the Think Dirty App or EWG’s Healthy Living App, great tools to help you find better alternatives.
Best Foods for Estrogen Detoxification
Not only should we limit xenoestrogens but we also must support estrogen detoxification through nourishing foods. These foods provide your body with the energy, nutrients, and minerals needed to thrive and support your detoxification organs. Supporting our liver and gut is especially important to improve estrogen detoxification.
Animal protein
The protein and nutrients found in animal foods are highly bioavailable, meaning more likely to actually be absorbed into the body. Without enough animal protein, we don't have the basic building blocks for our liver to detoxify estrogen. But, most women are unknowingly protein deficient. We must obtain at least 100 grams of bioavailable animal protein per day to properly and consistently eliminate excess estrogen. My favorite animal proteins are bone broth, seafood, eggs, muscle meat, and dairy.
Simple carbs
Repeat after me - carbs are not bad! Our modern nutrition world makes us think low carb diets are the answer to our health problems. But, the truth is our body needs simple, easy-to-digest carbohydrates for energy, and we need energy to detoxify. Our liver, the main detoxification organ, especially needs energy from fructose in order to perform it's 3,000+ functions, including estrogen detoxification. Without enough carbs, our liver slows down and deprioritizes estrogen detoxification, leading to estrogen dominance symptoms. My favorite simple carbs are fruit, fruit juices, root veggies, honey, and maple syrup .
Mineral rich superfoods like liver, other organ meats, and oysters.
The typical modern American diet supremely lacks mineral rich foods. Minerals are essential for proper estrogen and progesterone balance. Without enough minerals, stress hormones start to rise, thyroid hormone decreases, and our detoxification pathways start to clog up, a perfect storm for estrogen dominance symptoms. True superfoods like liver and oysters rev our energy system up so our body can perform as it was designed.
Raw Carrot Salad
Popularized by Dr. Ray Peat, this salad is designed to bind to excess estrogen and endotoxins and help remove it from the gut effectively. The coconut oil and apple cider vinegar have a synergistic effect with the fiber found making the antimicrobial effects more potent. To make, peel a whole carrot, then shred with a grater, add ½ teaspoon of coconut oil and a splash of apple cider vinegar. Eat daily and between or before meals for the best results.
Adrenal cocktails
Popularized by Morley Robbins, the adrenal cocktail blends vitamin C, potassium, and sodium to directly replenish the adrenal glands. These vitamins and minerals are quickly depleted under stress. When our adrenals are depleted, the body slows down, and estrogen starts to get backed up. To make, just mix 1/2 cup of orange juice, 1/2 cup of coconut water, and 1/4 tsp salt. Drinking this 1 or 2 times per day can do wonders for your energy and estrogen levels.
Best Supplements for Estrogen Dominance
We should always take a food first approach to health and hormone balance. That said, in our modern world filled with toxins and our bodies depleted in micro nutrients, it can be difficult to reach the next level of health without supplements. The foods above are foundational to reducing your estrogen dominance symptoms, but these supplements may also help during the healing process.
Magnesium
Magnesium is involved in over 3,000 reactions in your body. It's also the very first mineral depleted under stress. Magnesium helps lower your stress hormones, increase thyroid hormone, which helps balance your estrogen levels. My favorite forms of magnesium supplements are magnesium spray, magnesium flakes, and magnesium glycinate. I always recommend starting with the spray or flakes. To calculate your personal magnesium dosage, multiply 5 milligrams per pound of body weight to get the milligram dosage.
Vitamin E
Vegetable oils are in almost every modern day packaged food, and one of the biggest culprits mimicking estrogen in the body. Most of us grew up eating tons of vegetable oils those toxic fats stay in our body for many years. Vitamin E helps reverse the damage caused by these seed oils and has anti-estrogenic effects. If we didn't consume so many seed oils growing up, we wouldn't need to supplement vitamin E, but if you did, vitamin E can be a game changer for your symptoms. My favorite vitamin E supplements are Ultimate E, Unique E, and PUFA Protect.
Castor Oil Packs
Castor oil packs can be incredibly helpful for estrogen dominance symptoms, especially painful periods and endometriosis. The oil enters our body through the skin to help maximize detoxification pathways, bind estrogen, and help eliminate it out of the body. To learn more about castor oil packs and how to apply them, read THIS article.
Beef Liver Capsules
Food first is the best approach, but I know not everyone enjoys eating beef liver. Beef liver capsules can be a great alternative. Beef liver contains almost every single mineral and vitamin besides vitamin C. Minerals are the spark plugs of reactions and are essential in each phase of estrogen detoxification. Beef liver is especially high in vitamin A, which directly opposes estrogen. Perfect Supplements is my favorite brand, and Ancestral Supplements is another good option.
Free Ways to Support Hormone Balance
Healing can often feel overwhelming and expensive, but we often forget the simplest and free actions can often make the biggest impact.
Here are 8 free ways to support hormone balance, lower stress hormones and estrogen to improve thyroid and progesterone production.
sunning
stretching
laughing
singing
dancing
deep breathing
sleeping
grounding
I want to end by saying healing and estrogen detoxification takes time. When we start providing our body with the nutrients it needs to detoxify properly, we can often develop more symptoms. As your body starts to feel safe and release estrogen from the tissues, you might have worse symptoms like painful periods, acne, fatigue, or others. It can feel like you're going backwards, but consistency is key. If you stay consistent with nourishing your body, lowering your stress, and limiting your exposure to xenoestrogens, you WILL see results.
For more information on lowering stress hormones and restoring your nourishment. Download this FREE guide HERE.
