The 10 Most Common Mistakes Women with PCOS Make

by Stefani Ruper | Mar 2, 2017 | Hormones, PCOS | 0 comments

I’ve been working with women who have PCOS now for more than 5 years. In this time, I’ve encountered hundreds if not thousands of specific cases. Iv’e read just about every blog, website, and article there is out there for PCOS. I’ve spent hours searching through online forums and facebook communities, learning about women’s experiences.

After all this time, I’ve learned a thing or two (or several hundred) about what’s right for PCOS, as well as what isn’t.

To help prevent you from making the same mistakes I see over and over again with women who have PCOS, I’ve put together a list of the 10 most common ones. Hopefully then you’ll be able to dodge the bullet, so to speak, and overcome PCOS quickly and painlessly.

Going on the Birth Control Pill

The birth control pill might be a good way to mask symptoms of PCOS, but it never fixes the underlying problem. In fact, many women who go on the pill find that their PCOS has worsens while on it, but don’t find out until they get off the pill, try to get pregnant, then can’t. Birth Control Pills are one of the most favored “solutions” for PCOS of doctors, but they are completely ineffective in terms of healing, fertility, or long-term freedom from PCOS.

Using Metformin

Due to its ability to increase insulin sensitivity, Metformin is one of the most commonly prescribed medications in the Western world. Metformin can help alleviate complications from diabetes, as well as help women who have PCOS, especially type 1 PCOS (more on which in video #2). Metformin is a problem, however, since much like birth control pills, in that it never solves the underlying problem causing hormone imbalance and PCOS. It only ever covers it up.

Taking estrogen blockers

Thousands of women take Estro block or other estrogen blockers in hopes of helping their PCOS. However, estrogen is generally not the main problem for women with PCOS. If you’re taking estrogen blockers, you may be targeting the wrong hormones. Instead, consider looking into ways to decrease testosterone and/or DHEA-S levels, especially if you are “type 1 PCOS”. If you are “type 2 PCOS,” more estrogen might actually be what you need.

Taking herbal supplements

Admittedly, some women find great relief from herbal supplements. But just like with Metformin and birth control pills, they don’t provide permanent solutions. They only help to alleviate symptoms and cover up underlying issues. Also, they are not well studied by the scientific literature, so their effects are not well known. Most supposed “effects” of herbal supplements simply come from people’s stories. So it may be worthwhile to experiment with herbal supplements while addressing underlying issues, but this should be done carefully, and with due acknowledgement of the fact that it may not fix underlying issues.

Doing a lot of cardio

Is more always better? For exercise, the answer is no, especially if you’re spending all your time on a bike or a treadmill. The best way to exercise for PCOS is to shoot for efficiency: short, intense, effective exercises instead of long, grueling, stamina-demanding exercises are best. This is because short and intense work outs (such as lifting heavy weights) help improve insulin levels and hormone balance, while long-distances exercises can help, but not quite as much. Most women do well shooting for 3-4 weight lifting work outs a week.

Failing to investigate underlying causes

Trying to overcome PCOS without paying attention to its underlying causes is like shooting in the dark. Getting your hormone levels tested by a doctor, by a functional medicine practitioner, or with a home saliva test is a great way to get data on what’s going on in your body. If you don’t have access to that, learning about the potential causes and types of PCOS and their symptoms (which I’ll discuss some in video #2) may very well be enough. The more you know about what’s causing your PCOS, the more specifically you can treat it.

Low carb diets

Most women who have PCOS try a low carbohydrate diet. Is this effective? Sometimes. But not all women are helped by it. In fact, more than 20% of women who have PCOS may be hurt by it. If you try a low carb diet, pay close attention to your symptoms and see if they get better or worse. That way, you can stop yourself from doing damage if you are one of the 20% of women who really need those carbs.

Low fat, high protein diets

Common nutritional wisdom says that low fat, high protein diets are best. Nutritionists or magazines might tell you to eat salad with low fat dressing and lean chicken breast. But this is not necessarily best, and definitely not for women with hormone imbalance. Hormones (and other important parts of the body, such as brain matter) are made out of fat. Without it, as you heal from PCOS, your body won’t be able to produce the hormones it needs. Fat is a friend, for all women with PCOS.

Dining out

Unfortunately, dining out in the West is full of potential dangers for women with PCOS. One of the worst dangers is the fact that the vast majority of restaurants use vegetable oil for their cooking. Vegetable oil (including corn oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, rapeseed oil, canola oil, and more) is rich in omega 6 fatty acids, which cause inflammation. Inflammation is one of the most common underlying issues that women with PCOS suffer from. To help minimize your inflammation levels, consider dining out as little as possible, or specifically requesting olive oil or butter to be used for your meals. Additionally, adding a fermented cod liver oil supplement (fermentation prevents the fats from oxidizing and keeps them healthful) is one quick way to start reducing inflammation levels.

Ignoring potential red flags

Irregular or absent periods, acne, facial hair growth, and difficulty losing weight are all potential symptoms of PCOS. But it’s important when you’re looking for the underlying causes of PCOS to pay attention to other symptoms you experience. Do you have good digestive health? Are you chronically cold? Do you suffer from chronic headaches? Any symptom you experience in your body could help point to underlying causes.

If you’re looking for help on your journey with PCOS – and want to do things like pay attention to red flags, and avoid all the mistakes these women have, I can help you. There are countless posts on my blog about various things concerning PCOS. You can catch a list of the most popular ones at the page labeled PCOS.

You can also, if you’re ready to get serious about healing (did I tell you I overcame PCOS in 6 weeks once I finally figured out what my underlying problem was?), check out my totally risk free program for overcoming PCOS: PCOS Unlocked: The Manual.

The Link Between L-Carnitine and PCOS

by Stefani Ruper | Feb 3, 2017 | Fertility, Hormones, PCOS, This Week in Paleo | 10 comments

If you have PCOS, you’ve probably tried a number of things to help your health, and you probably have a number of concerns.

Women with PCOS are more likely to be overweight or obese, more likely to suffer metabolic disorders and insulin-related conditions, and, alongside the extra facial hair, irregular periods, and infertility, it’s a lot to take.

I care deeply about this condition and have worked in my own way to help those who have it for many years (see my PCOS program: PCOS Unlocked)

But the more prevalent PCOS becomes, the more research is done, and new things are coming out all the time!

I’m so excited to bring you this information on L-carnitine, a very special amino acid that can help women with PCOS lose weight naturally and feel more energetic.

L-carnitine is a nootropic amino acid found typically in meat products and milk.

Nootropics are types of supplements (like adaptogens) that work with the brain to increase it’s efficiency.

L-carnitine helps alleviate the effects of aging and disease on mitochondria, while increasing the mitochondria’s potential to burn fat.

For most people (i.e. those without PCOS) it is not a nutrient of concern and they synthesize an ample amount internally and from lysine and methionine in foods. However, it has been found that women with PCOS are often deficient in L-carnitine, regardless of their diets.

L-carnitine improves insulin sensitivity and helps lower blood glucose, which is valuable for women with PCOS who are usually insulin resistant.

This ability, plus the fact that PCOS women are often deficient in L-carnitine seem to make l-carnitine effective in promoting natural weight loss.

It is also known to increase energy, lower ammonia, enhance energy during cancer treatment, improve exercise tolerance and energy in those with conditions like angina and congestive heart failure, and enhance sperm morphology, in case you were curious!

Although studies regarding weight loss with l-carnitine in general seem to find mixed benefit, studies which look at those deficient in l-carnitine or those with insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome find it does help.

In fact, a recent study of PCOS only women found that compared to placebo, statistically significant weight loss occurred over 12 weeks with supplementation.

This is excellent news since it is no secret that PCOS women, with their hormone imbalances and insulin resistance typically struggle to maintain a healthy weight.

Adverse effects are rare but can include gastrointestinal disturbance, body odor, and seizures. I’ve heard from some women that it causes a “fishy” odor in the urine, which can be unpleasant. It may possibly interact with anticoagulants and certain thyroid medications so, like with any supplement or diet, you should get the okay from your doctor.

Typical doses in the studies that showed weight loss benefits ranged from 500-2,000 mg a day, with 2,000 mg. a day being what was used with PCOS women.

Though the evidence for this supplement in PCOS are somewhat new, there’s enough promise that I find it interesting for PCOS ladies looking for weight loss help.
It’s not a magic pill, and a focus on healthy dietary habits is absolutely still vital for women the PCOS.

But, one of the cool things about L-carnitine is that it is best deposited into muscles in hyperinsulinemic states, or during times when insulin is high (which is almost all the time for most PCOS women).

That means those with insulin resistant conditions would see the most benefit from supplementation.

If you’re interested in trying L-carnintine, give it at least 12 weeks of supplementation. This is one (find l-carnitine on amazon here) I particularly like because the pills are in 1000 mg amounts so you can just take 2 a day, with meals.

Find L-carnitine on Amazon here.

—

Do you take l-carnitine and has it helped you? What supplements are part of your PCOS routine?

(Here’s the citation for that study, in case you want to check it out-

Samimi, M., Jamilian, M., Afshar Ebrahimi, F., Rahimi, M., Tajbakhsh, B., & Asemi, Z. (2016). Oral carnitine supplementation reduces body weight and insulin resistance in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial. Clinical endocrinology.)

Estrogen dominance: the probiotic solution

by Stefani Ruper | Jan 26, 2017 | Hormones | 11 comments

Estrogen dominance and probiotics are two words that don’t typically go together. Estrogen is a hormone. Probiotics are for guts. It seems that simple.

But it is not.

It is possible to cure your estrogen dominance with probiotics?

As it turns out, you very well may be able to.

Estrogen dominance (which I discuss at length in the post: The Estrogen Dominance Post: Where it’s coming from and what to do about it) is one of the most common health problems to face women today.

It is brought about by many different factors. Birth control pill usage, exposure to estrogens in the environment, having a high body fat percentage, stress, high intake of estrogenic foods (see this post on phytoestrogens: phytoestrgens in the body: how soy interferes with natural hormone balance and also Why I now believe phytoestrogens may be good for you), and an inflammatory diet can all be factors.

Estrogen dominance can be signalled by symptoms such as depression, mood swings, PMDD, PMS, menstrual cramps, low libido, weight gain, ovarian cysts, cystic fibroids, and variants of female cancers.

It can be an incredible challenge to overcome.

Yet emerging science is beginning to demonstrate that probiotics could play a role. In fact, probiotics could be a key component to an estrogen dominance solution.

Here’s how:

Estrogen dominance: Probiotics for reducing Beta-glucuronidase

I know it’s a mouthful, but it’s important.

Beta-glucuronidase is an enzyme that is produced by “bad bacteria.” This enzyme breaks the bond between an important molecule the liver creates – glucuronic acid – and a toxin to which glucuronic acid is attached. The liver excretes glucuronic acid specifically in order to attach to toxins and then excrete them out of the body.

When beta-glucuronidase breaks the bond between glucuronic acid and toxins in the gut, these toxins are then freed to be reabsorbed back into the bloodstream through the intestinal walls.

This is extremely problematic.

All sorts of bad molecules count as “toxins.” This ranges from heavy metals to toxic by-products of your body’s metabolism, to excess estrogen.

The liver is the body’s primary way of clearing “old” hormones out of the body. If you don’t have an efficient disposal system – that is, if your liver doesn’t function properly or if estrogen gets reabsorbed back into your body – then your hormone levels will simply keep piling up over time.

Fortunately, healthy supplementation of fermented foods (such as these: Organic Raw Kombucha, Fermented Natto beans, Kimchi, Coconut Yogurt, Raw Organic Sauerkraut, Kefir, Pickled Baby Beets) on a daily basis,

OR a high quality probiotic supplement such as my personal favorite Prescript Assist, will help boost good gut flora in your intestines, and replace the bad.

This will reduce the rate at which glucuronic acid is separated from toxins, and therefore help you excrete all the toxins your liver processes. Including estrogen.

Estrogen dominance: probiotics for increasing gut motility

Another powerful effect probiotics can have on estrogen dominance is by speeding up the rate of your bowels.

An unfortunately high percentage of women are constipated. An even higher percentage aren’t necessarily constipated per se, but do not have regular bowels movements – at least once a day.

This is okay, it’s not necessarily a bad thing for your health. But it does mean that you may be reabsorbing more toxins into your bloodstream than you would like.

The slower your digestion is, the more time toxins have to hang out in your intestines and get reabsorbed.

The speedier your digestion is (or, at least, having a health rate of digestion), the more efficiently your body will be able to empty out excess estrogen and other molecules your body doesn’t want hanging around.

The reason probiotics can help with this is that gut flora actually comprise a whopping 30% of the bulk of your stool. The more bulk you have – and of the healthy sort – the better your stool will move along. Gut flora also help process the foodstuff in your gut, which makes that more digestible and easily excretable as well.

Estrogen dominance: probiotics for reducing inflammation

Probiotics are now well known to help reduce inflammation in the body in a number of ways.

This has a number of positive downstream effects. One of them is on hormone production.

When the body is inflamed, it doesn’t necessarily produce hormones in the correct amounts. In fact, the body will often over-produce estrogen in times of stress, as it is a part of the pro-inflammatory response. This is important to note: reducing inflammation can help reduce excess estrogen levels, and reducing excess estrogen levels can help reduce inflammation. Estrogen is complex.

But it is clear that excess inflammation is harmful, and that estrogen can play a role in it.

So marshalling all your resources – including a healthy gut biome – in fighting inflammation can go a long way towards hormone health.

Estrogen dominance: the probiotic solution

Estrogen dominance can be helped by a number of things. I discuss many of them in this post: The Estrogen Dominance Post: Where It’s Coming from and What to Do About It.

Yet perhaps one of the best (and easiest) things you can do is make sure your gut is in good order.

My favorite broad spectrum probiotic – Prescript Assist – could possibly go a long a way.

I however personally prefer to do it the “natural” way – that is, with food. I keep my fridge stocked with Kimchi and Coconut Yogurt always.

Other good alternatives include Organic Raw Kombucha, Fermented Natto beans, Raw Organic Sauerkraut, Kefir, and Pickled Baby Beets.

And please, as ever, let me know if you have any questions, comments, or experiences to share! We all grow best when we learn from one another 🙂

The Estrogen Dominance Post: Where Its Coming From, and What to Do About It

by Stefani Ruper | Jan 16, 2017 | Blog, Body, Hormones, Libido, PMS & cramps, Weight Loss | 122 comments

“Estrogen dominance” is not a term typically used by the research or professional medical community. If the condition were described to them, however, they would be able to identify it. It is a real and common thing for women to have excessive estrogen levels. It just so happens that the natural health community is deliberate about addressing it.

The basic problem of estrogen dominance is that estrogen levels are too high relative to other hormones, specifically progesterone. Usually it occurs when estrogen levels go too high, though it can also happen when progesterone levels fall too low. It can occur at any time during life — during reproductive years, perimenopause, or even menopause.

It can also be coming from a wide variety of sources within a woman’s diet and lifestyle. This makes estrogen dominance a bit of a complex nut to crack. But a holistic approach to health (you can read my recommendations for women’s health in my best-seller, here) should at least get everyone on the right track, and provide a proper learning environment in which you can figure out precisely where your dysregulation is coming from.

Estrogen dominance: symptoms

Estrogen dominance can cause a wide variety of symptoms, as well as increase the risk for a wide variety of diseases and conditions. Symtpoms associated with estrogen dominance include:

Weight gain

PMS

Mood swings

High emotional sensitivity

Heavy periods

Breast tenderness

Headaches

Decreased libido

Sluggish metabolism

Menstrual cramps

Conditions that appear to be more common in women with estrogen dominance and that may in fact explicitly develop as a result of estrogen dominance include:

Cystic Fibroids

Ovarian Cysts

Endometriosis

Adenomyosis

PMS

PMDD

Depression

Hypothyroidism (estrogen is antagonistic to thyroid hormone)

Breast Cancer

Ovarian Cancer

Cervival Cancer

These aren’t problems we can just shrug off of our shoulders. In many ways, we can reasonably view estrogen dominance as contributing to the deaths of thousands of women every year.

Estrogen Dominance: Causes

The causes of estrogen dominance are wide and varied, but largely have to do with metabolic dysregulation and organ malfunction. Some dietary factors may also offset the balance.

1) Being overweight:

Fat cells perform a function called “aromatization” which converts testosterone to estrogen. The more body fat, the more the body tips the balance towards estrogen and away from testosterone.

Now, this does not mean testosterone levels are necessarily low in overweight women. To the contrary: testosterone levels tend to be high in overweight women. This is not always the case but is quite common: it’s because testosterone production is stimulated by insulin, and many overweight women have some degree of insulin resistance.

Woman predisposed to insulin insensitivity often experience increases in both testosterone and estrogen levels. Progesterone receives no bump from weight gain, however: progesterone thus remains incapable of offsetting the estrogen increases associated with higher body fat percentages in overweight women. (To learn how to lose weight in a way that is healthy, sustainable, and hormone supporting, check out this resource)

2) Overburdening the liver

The liver is responsible for clearing the body of “old” hormones, especially estrogen. If the liver is overburdened with a hyper-caloric diet, with high volumes of sugar, with high volumes of alcohol, or with high volumes of processing chemicals, then, it becomes sluggish in it’s ability to process everything. When the liver slows down, estrogen ends up becoming back-logged in a way, and wreaks havoc on the reproductive system as it waits for the liver to heal and to catch up in its bloodstream clearing capacity.

This effect is interestingly even more pronounced in men than it is in women, and it accounts largely for the development of breast-like fat deposits in heavy drinkers. Being overweight and being stressed may also contribute to this process in men.

3) Stress:

Stress wreaks havoc on all body systems. Perhaps most pressingly for women, however, it decreases the production of progesterone in the body. When a woman is stressed, her adrenal glands “steal” the precursor to progesterone and instead use it to produce cortisol, the stress hormone. This process is called “pregnenolone steal.”

High volumes of stress can yank the rug out from under progesterone, which can precipitously tip hormonal balance in favor of estrogen.

4) Consumptions of phyto and xenoestrogens

Much as I have difficulty with soy in my own life, I typically preach caution when talking about soy. I honestly believe that it is a good therapeutic tool for some women, and each of us needs to use it appropriately. Sometimes it can be helpful. More often than not I think it is probably harmful.

In every single case, however, soy, flax, legumes, and other sources of estrogen interfere with natural estrogen production.

Phytoestrogens can increase the aromatization process in fat cells that I described above. They increase the rate of testosterone and other hormones being converted into estrogen.

They can also simply just dump an increased estrogen load into the body, which automatically tips the balance. In a properly functioning metabolism, the liver should probably be able to clear out this increased estrogen load. But sometimes the load is too heavy or the liver not quite strong enough, and that becomes an impossibility.

Phytoestrogens are from plants. Xenoestrogens are from chemicals in the environment, such as BPA. Plastics and aluminums typically have BPA and you may ingest it if you aren’t careful. Here’s my favorite BPA free coconut milk, and an awesome bottle that I use for my water.

It is also entirely possible to become estrogen dominance as a result of birth control pill use – a process which I describe in great length in this PDF.

5) A low fiber diet

Estrogen is processed by the liver, but it is also processed partly by gut flora, and also excreted through the digestive track.

It has been shown many times that low fiber diets are associated with estrogen dominance. There are many cofounding variables that may play a role here, but the general idea is that estrogen can be reaborsed through the intestinal walls. With poor gut flora and with slow intestinal motility, estrogen can sit too long in the gut and gets reabsorbed back into the bloodstream.

If you are constipated, this may be an issue for you.

So the answer is not necessarily fiber – fiber may not be what helps get rid of constipation for you – but it is one potential option.

Fiber is generally correlated with improved digestive pace and motion, though not exclusively. A proper amount of fiber helps push things along in the digestive track. Too much fiber can obviously be damaging. It causes something health advocates like to call “roughage.” It is abrasive, and it can lead to gut deteriorating conditions such as diverticulitis. In any case, however, regularly consuming fruits and vegetables can be quite helpful for gut motility… as well as the rest of the body.

If you are really struggling with constipation still you could always try paleo fiber. Though I believe magnesium (my favorite here) may be a healthier way to supplement for constipation. The best possible thing to do however may be to eat fermented foods like these or consider a probiotic supplement like this.

Estrogen dominance: treatment

The best possible thing for estrogen dominance is a natural, paleo-type diet. Cooling inflammation, supporting organ – and particularly liver – function, minimizing phytoestrogen intake, and maximizing nutrient status are all excellent, estrogen-managing aspects of paleo.

A paleo-template type diet includes healthy, grass-fed or wild-caught animal products (with both the protein and the fat), seafood, fruits, vegetables, olive oil, coconut products, starchy vegetables, and to some extent seeds and nuts.

However, in an estrogen dominant system, seeds and nuts can act as phytoestrogens and tip the hormonal balance in favor of estrogen, so they should be carefully stepped around.

Foods that support thyroid health such as seafood and seaweed should also be quite helpful for boosting metabolic health and hormone clearance (if you do not consume seaweed regularly consider a small dose kelp supplement).

Foods to emphasize for estrogen clearing are those that boost B vitamin levels, omega 3 levels (fermented cod liver oil is an excellent way to meet the body’s need for omega 3 while also getting the rare but crucial vitamins A, D, and K), choline (for the liver!), zinc (here), magnesium (here), calcium, and vitamin D.

For that reason, eggs (choline), fish (omega 3 fats, iodine, selenium, and vitamin D), liver and other organ meats (vitamin A, vitamin K, B vitamins, and iron, zinc, manganese, etc), and high quality animal protein may be your best companions in this journey.

Foods to be avoided are all processed sugars, grains, omega 6 seed oils, phytoestrogens which include soy, flax, legumes, seeds, and some herbs, which I list in great detail here, and alcohol.

Some herbs have also been rumored to be helpful. Personally, I don’t love to recommend herbs, especially ones that affect hormone balance, such as chasteberry. (Though chasteberry, and I did link to a good grand, has been rumored to be quite effective). They simply have not been studied to any significant depth. Everything we know about herbs and hormones comes from what people say – not science.

If you are still interested, the absolute best herbs I can recommend for estrogen dominance are ones that support liver health and may help support estrogen excretion. For that the absolute best are milk thistle and/or dandelion root, in my opinion. You can see a good milk thistle here and a good dandelion root here.

Additionally, L-taurine promotes bile circulation, which enhances estrogen’s excretion out of the body.

Exercise is incredibly important, as it can speed up the liver’s detox processes, sharpen insulin sensitivity, boost weight loss, help mitigate mood swing problems associated with estrogen dominance, and reduce levels of stress hormones in the body. You can read all about my exercise recommendations in this book.

Getting off of the pill or getting on a very low-dose pill is critical. You can read about the side effects, risks, and management tricks of birth control in this PDF.

Stress reduction is huge. I cannot emphasize enough how important this is. Without progesterone, it is nearly impossible to rectify estrogen dominance. They must be in balance. Even if every other aspect of estrogen mitigation is in place, if progesterone is low then estrogen dominance may persist.

Estrogen dominance: In sum

Estrogen dominance plagues a wide variety of women, and at all stages of life.

Supporting organ health, reducing stress, and generally focusing on healthful foods should get us most of the way there towards greater hormone balance.

There are, of course, many other things you can to do help mitigate problems associated with estrogen dominance– for example, experimenting with neurotransmitter supplementation or boosting neurotransmitter health with diet and supplements in order to mitigate mood swing problems– but those are wide and varied and left for their own places in this blog at an upcoming time.

Foods and supplements I have linked to above and which I have personally seen work really well with some clients:

Desiccated liver (in case you don’t like eating it!)

My favorite fermented foods for gut healing, healing constipation

cod liver oil for reducing inflammation and getting the important but rare A, D, and K vitamins

Milk thistle for liver support

Dandelion root for liver support

Paleo fiber

A great probiotic supplement like this

My favorite magnesium here

A list of my favorite fermented foods here

A good small dose kelp supplement

L-taurine

BPA free coconut milk

BPA free water bottle

And that’s a wrap!

You can check out my quick guide PDF on birth control and how to manage it’s symptoms – here – or check out my extensive work on another alarmingly common hormone condition, PCOS – here.

For the real skinny on the impact of hormones on your life, see my book, Sexy by Nature, at its site or read reviews and buy it directly from Amazon!

In the meantime: what is your experience? Does paleo help with these symptoms? Are you estrogen dominant? What parts of your diet and lifestyle are best for keeping you hormonally balanced and healthy? What’s worked, and what hasn’t?

This Week in Paleo: The Liver and Your Hormones

by Stefani Ruper | Sep 9, 2016 | Body, Fertility, Hormones, This Week in Paleo | 3 comments

When we think about our hormonal health, it’s easy to think of it as a factor in and of itself.

But just like every other process in the body, hormonal health is intricately connected with the other processes of the body, and many of the other organs.

The liver in particular plays an important role in the maintenance of hormonal health and to properly balance our hormone’s we can’t neglect this important organ.

How the Liver Balances Hormones

The liver is where things go to be filtered. Anything circulating that is in excess (like too much estrogen or testosterone, for example), anything that is toxic, and waste products are processed through the liver and excreted from the body.

In a healthy liver, this means that the onslaughts of daily life in the form of toxins and old hormones get processed out and everything functions in balance.

But sometimes, other conditions like PCOS mean that for myriad reasons too many hormones are cycling around the body.

If the liver can’t process them because it’s already overwhelmed with toxin load or poor diet, these excess hormones can reak havoc and cause things like estrogen dominance or exacerbate PCOS symptoms.

Other negative things can occur if the liver get overloaded, including the production of free radicals that the liver can’t then contain and excrete.

(See my article on estrogen dominance here. For help with PCOS, check out my PCOS Unlocked program here.)

That’s why it’s so important to not only think about balancing our hormones, but about supporting our liver.

Supporting the Liver

A properly supported liver can make the difference between chronic hormonal imbalance and the ability to heal.

The liver goes through 2 stages of detoxification , called Phase I and Phase II which are each equally important. Several processes happen during these two phases that break down waste products into less harmful or weaker versions of themselves and eventually excrete them through urine or fecal matter.

If any of these processes gets thwarted along the way, it can cause any of the problems mentioned above.

(If digestion is too slow (constipation) or the gut flora balance is off, it’s possible for some hormones to be re-absorbed. That’s why it’s also important to work to improve our digestion, making sure to drink enough water and eat enough fiber as well as improve gut health. Fortunately, many of the steps to take to support the liver are also great for digestion!)

The most important thing to do to support the liver is to avoid foods and toxins that burden the liver.

Don’t tax the liver with toxic substances like alcohol. As much as it’s fun to have a drink now and then, alcohol is a poison which primarily burdens the liver. Alcohol in particular steals glutathione which increases estrogen levels in the blood.

Other things to avoid include:

Chemicals like BPA (Find my BPA-free products post here)
Processed foods, especially those fried in rancid seed oils
Grains
Caffeine
Smoking

To support the liver, several foods should be a major part of the diet. These foods include the following:

Leafy greens like spinach and kale
Cruciferous and sufur containing vegetables like brocolli and onions
Grass-fed organic meats, especially red meat, and eggs
Pure, filtered water

If you struggle already with a slugglish liver or have a condition like estrogen dominance or PCOS, the following supplements help support the liver through Phase I and Phase II detoxification and can be really helpful:

Methylated forms of B12 (find it here), B6 (find it here), and Folic Acid (find it here): important for the passing of methyl groups which helps with the excretion of hormones like estrogen and is sometimes difficult in women with PCOS.
DIM (I like this one): contains the strongest components of cruciferous vegetables known to help break down excess hormones.
Calcium D Glucarate (I like this brand) supports the glucuronidation of the liver and prevents excess estrogen from being re-absorbed in the bowels.
Glutathione (find it here): important for the detoxification of alcohol. Smoking, chronic stress, and infections or inflammatory disorders also deplete this important nutrient.

Doing a liver “detox” that you might find on Pinterest of drinking some kind of miserable lemon-water concoction for 3 days with no solid food is not necessary.

If you’re curious how to do a liver detox properly as well as read the more scientific descriptions of Phase I and Phase II liver detox, read my article here.

How do you like to support the liver?

Are you estrogen dominant?

by Stefani Ruper | Sep 8, 2016 | Hormones | 8 comments

Millions of women suffer from estrogen dominance. But most of the time, they don’t even know it.

In this post: The Estrogen Dominance Post: Where its Coming from and What to do About it – I discuss various potential origins of and solutions to estrogen dominance.

Today I want to round out that discussion by talking about indicators that you may suffer from estrogen dominance.

What is Estrogen Dominance?

Estrogen dominance is the condition of having estrogen as the dominant female sex hormone in the body. This means that there is too much estrogen relative to progesterone.

This can occur as a result of high estrogen – or can occur as a result of low progesterone.

Other hormones that are metabolic or are male sex hormones such as testosterone don’t normally have much of an effect on estrogen dominance. You can have high testosterone (or DHEA-S or cortisol or thyroid hormone) and high estrogen at the same time.

Causes of Estrogen Dominance

In this post I talk at great length about the causes of estrogen dominance. As a quick summary here are the most common causes:

Estrogen-containing birth control pills

Stress

Eating processed foods

Consuming high amounts of soy, flax, and other phytoestrogens (or see here for how my thoughts have evolved on the topic)

Sedentariness (see this post on walking)

BPA and other estrogens in the environment (check out my favorite BPA-free products here)

High body fat percentage (check out my program for healthy, sustainable weight loss here)

Signs you may be estrogen dominant

Are you one of the millions of women who suffer from estrogen dominance and simply don’t know it?

It’s possible. I don’t intend to be anything close to scary with this post – I am not here to scare you into thinking you have a problem. But if you do have recurring symptoms and cannot figure out why, maybe this list will help.

Here are the most common signs of estrogen dominance:

– PMS (more on which here)

Do you suffer from irritability, depression, or mood swings before your period? This often indicates that estrogen and progesterone are not in the best possible balance. Now, even with good balance some women will experience PMS, but being off balance certainly does not help.

– Depression

The brain is full of hormone receptors. Estrogen dominance can be a big problem for keeping neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine in balance.

Low estrogen is often associated with irritability or anxiety, whereas high estrogen is often associated with feelings of depression. I personally experience a significant darkening of my mood whenever I consume a lot of phytoestrogenic foods.

– Breast tenderness

Estrogen plays an important role in the modulation of blood vessels (more on which in this post explaining hot flashes). It can increase blood flow to the breasts and cause them to feel heavy and tender.

– Thyroid issues

High estrogen levels can interfere with thyroid hormone activity. (See this post for 19 indicators you may be hypothyroid.) This can lead to thyroid issues such as cold hands and feet, brittle hair and nails, constipation, difficulty losing weight or maintaining a healthy weight, and fatigue.

– Menstrual cramps

If you suffer from menstrual cramping, estrogen dominance may be playing a role (more on cramps here). Estrogen plays a role in stimulating uterine tissue growth throughout the course of a menstrual period, so the higher your estrogen levels are the more tissue your body will have to shed when the time comes.

A more severe version of menstrual cramping occurs when women have endometriosis, which you can learn more about here.

– Heavy menstrual bleeding

As a result of the enhanced tissue development discussed above, the body has more tissue to shed, and therefore more blood, every month. If you have a very heavy flow, elevated estrogen levels may play a role.

– Cysts in the breasts or ovaries or uterine fibroids

If you suffer from fibroids or cysts then estrogen dominance is probably an area you want to look into addressing. Estrogen stimulates cyst, fibroid, and tumor growth. There is a lot of debate in the medical community as to what should be done about this – specifically with respect to soy consumption – but as it stands it’s probably best to really keep an eye on estrogen levels and do what you can if you suffer from any of these issues.

– Low sex drive

Sex drive is complicated. I won’t say that high estrogen necessarily is anyone’s problem. For many women, low estrogen is a problem for sex drive. (See this post on the 10 most common causes of low libido for women)

The key to a robust libido is balance. So if your estrogen levels are too high, then that is a kind of imbalance that could be problematic for your sex drive.

– “Excess” weight or weight gain, especially in the hips and thighs

The hips and thighs are “female” fat areas for a reason: estrogen encourages fat to be deposited specifically in these areas.

If you notice your lower body gaining weight relative to the rest of your body, this may be a sign that your estrogen levels are increasing. If, however, this area has always been where you stored your body fat, then it may simply be a genetic issue for you. There is no real way to tell unless there is a marked change in your body’s fat deposition habits.

To learn more about hormones and how the affect weight gain and even weight loss (yes, hormones can help with fat loss), I wrote a program detailing how women can maximize their hormone health and weight status in a healthy and sustainable way. You can read more about it if you like at this link.

Estrogen dominance: what to do about it?

All that being said – if you suspect you have estrogen dominance – what should you do?

First and foremost – consider getting your hormone levels tested.

Estradiol, estrone, and estriol. Estradiol is the most prominent estrogen in the reproductive years as it is the one synthesized by the reproductive system. It is 80 times more potent than the other estrogens. It will often be elevated if you are estrogen dominant.

Estrone is produced by fat cells. If you struggle with significant body fat percentage this could be overly elevated for you.

Estriol is primarily elevated during pregnancy.

You will also want to test progesterone. If your progesterone levels are low, then this needs to be remedied as much as if not more so than estrogen. Read more about progesterone (and why reducing stress is the best way to enhance it) here.

Thyroid hormones may be a concern for you. T3, T4, TSH, and TPO are all crucial for understanding what’s really going on with your thyroid hormones. For the best resource on all kinds of thyroid issues, check out Izabella Wentz’s Root Cause.

Vitamin D is important for healthy estrogen levels so you may want to get that tested too. If low, consider supplementing with a great emulsified D like this one.

If you get your hormones tested and find out that your estrogen levels are low, or progesterone is low, or especially that your testosterone or DHEA-S levels are high, then you may want to look into Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome as a potential underlying problem. Read more about PCOS here: What Is PCOS? And check out my program for overcoming it here.

Secondly, reconsider hormonal birth control.

Getting off of the pill or getting on a very low-dose pill is critical. You can read about the side effects, risks, and management tricks of birth control in this PDF.

Third, optimize your diet.

Foods that support thyroid health such as seafood and seaweed should be quite helpful for managing your symptoms. (If you do not consume seaweed regularly consider a small dose kelp supplement).

Foods to emphasize for estrogen clearing are those that boost B vitamin levels, omega 3 levels (fermented cod liver oil is an excellent way to meet the body’s need for omega 3 while also getting the rare but crucial vitamins A, D, and K), choline (in supplement form here), zinc (here), magnesium (here), calcium, and vitamin D.

Leafy greens are incredibly important for supporting the liver clearing estrogen out of the body. Aim for at least one serving a day, at minimum!

Foods to be avoided are all processed sugars, grains, omega 6 seed oils, phytoestrogens which include soy, flax, legumes, seeds, and some herbs, which I list in great detail here, and alcohol.

Fourth, consider supplementing.

I listed FCLO, choline, zinc, magnesium, calcium, and vitamin D above all as good nutrients to eat plentifully or consider supplementing for estrogen dominance.

Some herbs have also been rumored to be helpful. Personally, I don’t love to recommend herbs, especially ones that affect hormone balance, such as chasteberry. However, chasteberry has been rumored to be quite effective for estrogen dominance. Herbs that support liver health (and therefore estrogen detox) are milk thistle (here) and a good dandelion root (here).