The female hormonal system works in a beautiful rhythm. When balanced, our hormones communicate effortlessly, allowing our minds and bodies to feel sharp, empowered, and vibrant. But, when one of our hormones becomes imbalanced, it can lead to a handful of unwanted symptoms.

A hormone that women run into issues with is estrogen. Estrogen is a hormone produced by the ovaries, adrenal glands, and fat tissue. This key hormone works in balance with progesterone to support fertility, nervous system functions, bone health, and more.

The balance between estrogen and progesterone can be disrupted by poor diet, stress, lack of sleep, impaired liver function, an unhealthy gut microbiome or exposure to environmental toxins, causing estrogen dominance. Estrogen dominance can lead to symptoms of heavy and painful periods, breast tenderness, cyclical moodiness, brain fog, and low libido.

The good news? Lifestyle shifts can help bring these two hormones back in balance, kissing your estrogen dominance symptoms goodbye.

Eat Nourishing Foods Daily

Brassica Vegetables: Swap processed and high-sugar foods with broccoli, bok choy, and cauliflower. These nutrient-rich carbohydrates boost your liver's ability to eliminate excess estrogen, regulate your blood sugar, and aid in detoxification.

Probiotics: Some medications mess with your microbiome and rid your gut of healthy anti-inflammatory bacteria. Maintain your gut health with probiotic-rich foods like fermented kimchi and sauerkraut.

Healthy Fats: Opt for omega-3-rich foods to bring healthy fats into your diet and regulate your hormones. Nuts, seeds, avocados, and wild-caught fish are fantastic sources of healthy fats.

Fibre-Rich: Oatmeal, lentils, and flax seeds are foods rich in fibre, which balances your blood sugar and reduces estrogen.

Move Your Body

One way to give your body the love it deserves? Movement. Moving your body is beneficial for healing estrogen imbalance for several reasons. It helps control your blood sugar levels, supports liver detoxification, regulates bowel movements, and brings oxygen and vital nutrients to your organs. All of these are important for removing excess estrogen in the body. I encourage you to sync your movement to your cycle and get at least 30 minutes of exercise daily.

Manage Stress Levels

Our adrenal glands become overworked in a constant fight-or-flight state, causing them to lean on progesterone for support. In return, cortisol rises and weakens progesterone production, which causes estrogen to be unopposed. Aka - it's crucial to manage your stress! A powerful way of doing this is practicing mindfulness techniques: walks in nature, breathwork, meditation, baths, yoga, stretching, reading, and journaling. Start by adding one of these rituals to your daily routine, and slowly build on it.

Get Enough Sleep

Unhealthy habits around sleeping will impact your hormones as they work hard to repair and balance throughout the night. When you're struggling with sleep, your stress hormones will affect the balance of estrogen and progesterone in the body. To stop this from happening, create a regular sleeping schedule by going to bed and waking up at the same time every day - ideally getting 7 to 8 hours of sleep. Avoid any screens for 30 min prior, and if you have trouble falling asleep, listen to a meditation or a sleep story on my personal favourite, the slumber app.

Boost Lymphatic System

Moving your lymph is important for removing excess estrogen in the body. For optimal detoxification, work on stimulating the lymphatic system regularly. Deep breathing, dry brushing, sauna sessions, jumping on a rebounder, self-massage, and drinking lots of water are a few of the simplest ways to boost lymphatic system function.

Ditch The Plastics

Plastics contain toxins, including endocrine-disrupting chemicals. When your body absorbs these chemicals, it disrupts the body's hormone systems and can cause estrogen dominance, cancer, reproductive disorders, and more. It's important to ditch the plastic when healing estrogen dominance. Start swapping your containers or bottles for reusable glass, steel, or ceramic. Your endocrine system will thank you!

Avoid Toxic Cleaning Products

When I began my estrogen dominance healing journey many years ago, I started by taking inventory of my cleaning products. When we are exposed to the chemicals in our laundry detergent, hand soap, dishwasher pods, and cleaning spray daily, we impact our liver's detoxification process. When your liver is overwhelmed and can't filter these toxins, they will re-enter the bloodstream and wreak havoc on your hormones. Using non-toxic cleaning products will reduce the burden on your liver, thus healing your estrogen imbalance.

Shop my favourite non-toxic cleaning products here.

Herbal Support

Let's talk about detoxification again - notice a trend here? Ensuring that your body can eliminate adequately is crucial for estrogen health—some herbs to support this process are dandelion root, burdock root, and milk thistle. Speak with your practitioner to find out what herbs work best for you.

Individualized Plan

Consider working with a holistic nutritionist to address underlying factors that can cause estrogen dominance and other hormonal imbalances. We can test your hormones and create an individualized protocol specific to you, and this protocol could include supplements, herbal medicine, lifestyle changes, and more. Click here to work with me.

You deserve to be in control of your health and hormones! Start by looking at your daily routine. What could improve? Small changes in your lifestyle create positive, exponential results for your health. Pick one recommendation at a time from the list above until you've mastered your estrogen-loving routine. Believe that even a 1% change in your diet and daily routines can create long-lasting, sustainable habits for your overall well-being. You got this.