Detoxing Estrogen Naturally
Detoxing estrogen naturally is a hot topic and I’ve gotten pretty much 1000 questions on it, so let’s dive in!
Normally, your estrogen rises from the end of your period until ovulation. And then after ovulation, your progesterone rises.
However, as a society, we are extremely estrogen dominant because of the toxins in our environment. All the food you’re eating and the products that you're using, like your hair products, your makeup, your skincare, the febreze you're spraying all over your house, your cleaning supplies - all of these things are full of toxic chemicals!
I don’t say this to shame you in any way if you are using these things! I definitely used to do all of this too. I had the little toilet bowl cleaners that you stick inside your toilet to make it smell nice all the time; I had all the air fresheners and perfumes; I bought expensive makeup and curly girl hair care products from Sephora.
I mention it because it’s important to be aware of just how many toxins we’re surrounded by so we can start to make healthy changes in our environment!
But first, what does it actually mean to be estrogen dominant and why should you care?
Symptoms of Estrogen Dominance
The majority of hormone issues are due to estrogen dominance! This includes things like PMS symptoms, cramps, mood swings, heavy periods, and so on.
If you’ve ever been told that you’re low on progesterone, that also means your estrogen is too high because they’re meant to be even. If you're estrogen dominant, you're automatically low on progesterone. It really just comes back to needing to raise your progesterone so it can balance out your estrogen.
Your goal in that case is to detox your estrogen naturally by supporting your liver and raising your progesterone!
When I first started dealing with my hormonal issues, I was constantly told I was estrogen dominant. Every doctor I went to, every test I took, every lab result I got always said “estrogen dominant”. And finally I was like, “Okay! I get it! Just tell me what to do about it!”
I was so annoyed and felt like I was already doing everything. I was constantly detoxing my liver and wondering why it wasn’t enough. And that's because all I was doing was treating the estrogen. And you need to focus on your hormones as a whole in order to see a difference.
So yes, while this is titled “detoxing estrogen naturally”, it really comes down to balancing your hormones as a whole and understanding how they affect your entire body, like your thyroid, your adrenals, your blood sugar, your cortisol, etc.
If you're just treating one hormone and the others are still having issues, it's like you have four broken wheels and you just fixed one — it’s still not going to work! So, you have to focus on ALL your hormones to really see a difference.
So, where do you start?
The number one thing I want you to walk away with is this: balance your blood sugar.
Every time your blood sugar becomes imbalanced, it spikes and then drops. When that happens, it then spikes your cortisol, which means that your progesterone now can’t get up because your cortisone and progesterone are made from the same compounds.
So, if your cortisol is being spiked because your blood sugar just plummeted, it means your progesterone levels can’t get up where they need to be. And the more imbalanced your blood sugar gets, the more your ovaries produce testosterone. If you have PCOS and you have elevated androgens, I want you to really pay attention to that part!
This is why I talk all the time about how important it is to keep your blood sugar balanced. It’s really not talked about enough! The most you’ll usually hear about it is if you’re diabetic. But balancing your blood sugar is NOT just for diabetics - everyone should be doing this!
Think about how often you’ve eaten something like Pop Tarts for breakfast. Or sugary cereal, pancakes, or doughnuts. Every time you're doing that, you're setting yourself up for a roller coaster with your blood sugar.
I used to get so annoyed because my mom didn't want my siblings and I to eat cereal. If we were going to have cereal, she’d make us have nuts with it. If we wanted waffles, we had to have eggs with it. And I was always just like, why?!
But now I get that it would help stabilize our blood sugar. I mean, it’s not ideal to eat like this all the time, but if you want something like pancakes or whatever, this is really going to help keep your blood sugar as stable as possible.
This is where a lot of people just drop off and walk away because there is no magic pill that you can take that’s going to make all your hormone issues go away.
And believe me, I looked! I used to be on Pinterest looking for the magic pill. I wanted all the cleanses and quick fixes that would help me lose weight and feel better. But you really just have to be willing to put in the effort and start making small, consistent changes.
How to Balance Your Blood Sugar
Basically, keeping your blood sugar balanced means staying low glycaemic.
Now, don’t go out and buy monk fruit or xylitol or any of those artificial sweeteners and be like, “It's sugar free; I'm not going to spike my blood sugar!” Even those “smart sweets” that claim to have like one gram of sugar can spike your blood sugar.
This can vary a bit from person to person depending on how your body reacts to sugar. For example, if you’re insulin resistant, you need to stay under 25 grams of sugar a day, including sugar from fruit.
Balanced Meals
The next thing I tell everyone when it comes to balancing your blood sugar is to eat a high protein and high fat breakfast within 90 minutes of waking up. And no, I’m not anti-carb, but in the morning you want to start the day with high protein and high fat.
If you’re dealing with any sort of insulin resistance or hormonal issues, I recommend focusing on three bigger meals per day and not snacking between meals. This is because every time you eat (even if you do have balanced meals) your blood sugar will still go up a little bit. The more you can stick to three big meals and no snacks, the easier it’ll be to keep your blood sugar balanced.
So, what do balanced meals look like? It means having protein, fat, and high fiber carbs, like veggies, fruit, sweet potatoes, and quinoa at every meal.
For snacks, focus on protein and fat. Some of my favorites are chia pudding, seed cycling clusters, and avocado. I also love to make mushroom coffee with MCT oil, raw cacao, and collagen and froth that baby up with some coconut milk!
Next, I recommend waiting 12 hours between your last meal in the evening and your first meal in the morning to give your digestion time to heal overnight. But make sure that you're full — I don’t want you to go hungry!
Balancing your blood sugar is literally the number one thing that you need to do if you’re insulin resistant and if you're dealing with hormonal issues, like elevated androgens.
Every time your blood sugar spikes, inflammation rises in your body, your cortisol spikes, your progesterone can't get up, and then your ovaries produce testosterone. Balancing your blood sugar is key to keeping those hormone levels where they need to be.
Foods to Avoid
Now, I'm not going to be like, “Okay, you can't have this food, this food, and this food for the rest of your life!” because it really depends on your individual body. But I will say that gluten and dairy are highly inflammatory and most people I know have a sensitivity that they need to heal from. That doesn't mean that you have to stay away from gluten and dairy all the time, but it may be beneficial to stay away from it for a while to heal.
This is because when you eat foods that are inflammatory to your body, it triggers an enzyme called aromatase, which converts testosterone into estrogen. So there we are with more estrogen again, which is what we’re trying to avoid.
Liver Detox
The number two thing that you should do if you’re estrogen dominant is focus on your liver health.
This is especially important if you have the MTHFR gene mutation, which many women do (including me!). When you have this gene mutation, your liver detox is 10 times slower than the average person.
But you can actually turn on and off a gene mutation expression by controlling your environment. For example, you can have the cancer gene, but have it be turned off because of your environment.
Disease is 90% dependent on your environment.
That means your lifestyle, the things you’re eating, the things you have in your house — all of these things can prevent (or cause!) disease.
So, when it comes to liver health, these are some things you can do to detox your liver.
Coffee enemas are amazing for detoxing your liver. Disgusting, I know. But seriously, start with organic coffee (it’s absolutely necessary!) and it’s going to be really good for your liver.
Bitter herbs, lemon juice, cruciferous vegetables, and soluble fiber are great for flushing your liver out.
Eating liver is actually really good for your liver. I recommend getting a high quality grass fed beef liver and you can make something like liver chili or a liver pâté.
You can also do a castor oil pack on your liver (not when menstruating, pregnant, or nursing).
One thing I have to point out though is don’t ever fall for those seven day juice cleanses to detox your liver! Your liver actually needs fat in order to detox so all that fruit juice isn't doing anything for your liver.
Learn more about how to support your liver for balanced hormones.
Superfoods to Support Your Hormones
So, you're balancing your blood sugar and you're supporting your liver. Here are some additional superfoods and supplements that are great for balancing your hormones!
Maca powder (adaptogenic and great for your sex hormones)
Raw cacao (good source of magnesium, which will help your progesterone rise)
Reishi mushrooms
Dandelion (dandy blend)
All of these will help detox your estrogen, but I will say that they are just additional supplements to try and not necessary.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed and not sure where to start, the number one thing to do is balance your blood sugar and support your liver so your body can detox estrogen naturally.
Learn more about supporting your hormones throughout your cycle by downloading the free Painless Period Prep Guide!