Do any of these ring true to you?
Heavy period, depression, fatigue, weight gain, difficulty losing weight, weight gain around the stomach area, increased PMS, breast tenderness, emotional, etc..
Here is a little primer on ESTROGEN!
Remember, knowledge is power, so keep reading!
Estrogen
Estrogen is responsible for the first half of your menstrual cycle. When this increases so does your sex drive. When you are in your younger years (see photo above), this would be the time of the month that you are most likely wanting to have another child.
Yep! You know when this is happening and you most definitely know when it it not!
This is also the hormone that gives you child bearing hips, your breast, and regulates serotonin to calm your moods.
Progesterone
Now PROGESTERONE is just as vital as estrogen. The crazy thing is, there is usually 100-500 times more progesterone in your body than estrogen.
For Progesterone, I am thankful. It is the hormone that helps calm your moods. It also helps your thyroid run correctly as well as balances our body temperatures.
These two hormones must be in balance in order for the body to function at it’s best.
Dr. Sara Gottfried in her book The Hormone Reset, talks about these two hormones She says, “Ideally, you have a rhythm between these two hormones, which should function like well-matched dance partners.”
Well, if the dancing partners aren’t in sync, the dance becomes a mess. Needless to say, one of them gets a little thrown off, you are going to feel it.
Estrogen dominance (too much estrogen) is one of the culprits for not being able to lose weight. Good news! If you can decrease your estrogen levels, you can usually lose weight.
What should I do?
One of the best ways to bring your estrogen level down is dramatically increase your amount of vegetable. Dr. Gottfried suggest at least one full pound spread out through the day. She explains that the fiber helps excrete the excess estrogen from the body so it doesn’t keep circulating.
If this makes you gassy, slowly increase the amount of veggies so your body can adjust to the larger amount of fiber.
Cutting out red meats is another thing that has been shown to bring estrogen levels down.
Assess how much processed food you eat. Flours and sugars (which we will go into) will most definitely cause hormonal imbalances.
What else should I do?
Exercise! Yep, it is great for balancing hormones.
If you are very unbalanced, high intensity exercise may be too much for your body. Be sure to listen to your body.
If you are feeling energized by your exercise, then that is a good sign. If it is wearing you down and you are feeling worse, choose something different that is not a hard on the body. You don’t want exercise to be the cause of your imbalance.
Really listen to your body. If you take a minute when feeling out of balance, your body will give a little direction as to what the cause is.
Expect to see improvement. It is amazing how the body follows the minds commands.
So, be excited and look forward to seeing changes take place.
**Be sure to see your doctor is your issues serious.