March 20, 2025 • 18 mins
Understanding Estrogen Imbalance: Balancing Hormones for Better Health
In this episode of Joyful Menopause, Lynda Enright explores the critical role of estrogen in women's health, particularly during perimenopause and menopause. She explains how imbalances in estrogen levels can affect weight, sleep, mood, and overall energy. Lynda provides practical, science-based tips for restoring hormonal balance through diet, lifestyle changes, and stress management. She emphasizes the significance of gut and liver health, the impact of stress on hormone production, and the role of avoiding hormone disruptors like plastics and refined sugars. The episode concludes with actionable steps to help women make small but effective changes to improve their well-being and long-term health.
00:00 Introduction: Understanding Your Body
01:16 The Role of Estrogen in Your Body
02:31 Signs of Estrogen Imbalance
04:47 Hidden Disruptors of Estrogen Balance
06:26 Practical Tips for Balancing Estrogen
12:32 Lifestyle Changes for Hormone Health
16:51 Conclusion: Small Changes, Big Results
When you're ready, here are 3 ways I can help you to feel your best during perimenopause and menopause:
1. Want more science-backed health tips? Click here to sign up for my free weekly newsletter for practical advice on navigating menopause with confidence:
2. Click here to get the free guide: 5 Natural Ways To Reduce Menopause Symptoms.
2. For more information about Lynda and how she supports women on their health journey, click here to learn more.
3. Interested in seeing if nutrition coaching with Lynda is right for you? Click here to book a free discovery call with Lynda.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Have you ever felt like yourbody is just off?
Like no matter what you do, theweight won't budge, your sleep
is a disaster, and your moodsare all over the place.
It's frustrating, isn't it?
Well, what if I told you thatestrogen could be the reason
why?
Estrogen and menopause is notjust about your period, which is
what a lot of women are thinkingabout, but estrogen controls a
(00:22):
lot more than that.
And estrogen imbalance affectsyour energy, your metabolism,
your brain, and even your longterm health.
If you're struggling with weightgain, sleep issues or mood
swings, this video today is foryou.
Like I do with my privateclients, I want to help you
understand your body betterbecause I really believe that
knowledge is power.
(00:43):
And it's not just about learningit, but it's doing it too.
So I'm not only going to teachyou about what it all means and
help you to understand yourbody, but I'm going to give you
some specific tips on choicesyou can make right away so you
can start to feel better.
So let's get started.
Menopause doesn't have to feellike you are living in someone
else's body.
Your host, Lynda Enright, hasspent the last 25 years helping
(01:04):
women to thrive in midlife.
Here you'll find science basedpractical advice that you can
start using today to get realresults for your health.
Welcome to Joyful Menopause.
All right, so let's talk aboutestrogen for a second.
Because a lot of people thinkthat it's just a female hormone
that controls your period,controls fertility, but the
(01:25):
truth is estrogen is a majorplayer in almost every system in
your body.
So here's some things estrogendoes.
It keeps your metabolismrunning.
Too much or too little and yourbody starts to store fat,
particularly abdominal fat,instead of burning it.
Estrogen helps to regulate yourmood.
If you ever feel like youremotions are sort of like on a
(01:46):
rollercoaster all over theplace, estrogen has a direct
impact on serotonin, which isyour feel good brain chemical.
Helps you to feel calm andhappy.
Estrogen helps to support yoursleep.
Huge.
Sleep impacts everything.
So when your estrogen is low,you might find yourself waking
up at 2 a.
m., staring at the ceiling, yourmind doing that monkey mind
(02:09):
jumping around all the time.
That can be estrogen.
Even estrogen can also affectyour memory, can affect your
focus.
So if you ever walk into a roomand you forget why you're there,
that's often an estrogen issue.
If you ever go to do somethingand you come back and you're
like, What was I going to dothere in the first place?
(02:29):
That could be an estrogen issue.
So how do you know if yourestrogen is out of balance?
So today I want to go throughthe most common signs of
estrogen imbalance.
So if your estrogen is off, yourbody's going to let you know.
And that's what I think isamazing about the years of
menopause, perimenopause andmenopause is because it's a time
(02:51):
where we need to listen to ourbody a little bit better.
We can get away with a lot whenwe're younger and our hormones
are I mean, they're, they'rebouncing around at different
phases in life, but there may bebeen stable for some years.
But now is a time when yourbody's going to let you know,
and it's going to tell you thatyou got to take care of yourself
in some ways that maybe youhaven't been doing for a while.
(03:11):
So some signs that you can watchfor.
Weight gain, especially bellyfat.
This is something that I hearwomen coming to me all the time
for, and what I have heard fordecades and decades, long before
I was in the years ofperimenopause and menopause,
that everything I'm doing is thesame, and all of a sudden I have
10 pounds around the middle thatI didn't used to have before.
(03:32):
So if you feel like you're doingeverything right, but the scale
won't move.
Estrogen could be the reason.
When it's either too high orit's too low, your metabolism
can be impacted and your bodycan start to hold on to fat
instead of burning it.
Sleep problems, I mentioned,huge impacts everything.
If you're waking up in themiddle of the night, Or maybe
(03:53):
you're struggling to fall asleeptoo, and then you feel
exhausted.
Maybe even after you spent, youknow, a full eight hours in bed,
estrogen could be messing withyour melatonin and your stress
hormones, so that can cause somedisruption in your sleep.
Mood swings, anxiety, feelingsort of just off.
Estrogen also can help regulateneurotransmitters.
(04:16):
So they're your brain chemicalsthat helps you to transmit
information.
Things like serotonin anddopamine.
So if it's out of whack, youmight feel more anxious.
You might feel more irritable oreven depressed.
brain fog, fatigue.
If you ever feel like your brainjust like isn't working as fast
as it used to, you can't solveproblems like you maybe could
(04:36):
before, low estrogen can slowdown brain function making you
feel sort of mentally sluggish.
So what's actually causing yourestrogen to go haywire?
Some of these hidden disruptorsmight surprise you.
So that's what we're going totalk about next.
I am really passionate aboutempowering women, particularly
those navigating perimenopauseand menopause.
(04:59):
I can relate by offeringpractical science based and
sustainable health advice so youcan make lasting changes in your
life so you can then feelamazing today and Prevent
disease in the future.
For so many years.
We talk about heart disease Wetalk about cancer.
We talk about the things thatare sort of long term and that's
(05:20):
great And as we get older thosethose things might feel a little
bit closer, but what I think isso important too is how you feel
today because when you feelgood, when you feel confident,
when you feel like you know howyour food is impacting you, how
your lifestyle choices areimpacting you.
You can do so much about it, andthen you can just feel so much
better on a day to day basis.
So what's actually causing yourestrogen to go haywire all over
(05:43):
the place?
Some of these hidden disruptorsmight surprise you.
I am really passionate aboutempowering women, particularly
those navigating perimenopauseand menopause, by offering
really practical, science based,and sustainable health advice,
so you can make lasting changesin your life.
So you can not only feel amazingtoday, but you can prevent
(06:05):
disease in the future too.
So if you want to keep learningmore about nutrition, lifestyle,
and menopause, click on the linkin the comments to sign up for
my weekly email newsletter.
Each week I give you again,science based guidance, and then
I give you quick tips so you canstart implementing things right
away.
So now let's get to the hiddendisruptors.
(06:26):
So the first thing that I talkabout all the time that is so
important for everything is yourgut.
Your gut health plays a hugerole in estrogen balance.
It's important for your immunesystem.
It's important for justdigestive health, but it also
impacts estrogen balance.
There's even this group ofbacteria in your gut that helps
to break down and eliminate, getrid of any extra estrogen.
(06:50):
So if your gut is out ofbalance, estrogen can get
reabsorbed back into your systeminstead of being eliminated like
it's supposed to.
And then that can lead toestrogen dominance.
It can lead to too muchcirculating around, which can
cause some symptoms.
So there's a few differentthings we can do about that.
One is eat a lot of fiber.
Things like leafy greenvegetables, cruciferous
(07:11):
vegetables, flax seeds areawesome.
That helps to move thingsthrough your system and can help
to get rid of that excessestrogen.
Taking a good quality probioticcan help to support gut bacteria
as well.
And then also cutting back onsugar and processed foods.
So sugar loves to feed bacteria.
(07:32):
Bacteria really thrive on asugar processed sort of standard
American diet.
So when we can cut back onsugar, we can stop feeding those
bad bacteria.
When we can fuel with fiber andgood probiotics, we can create a
better balance in our gut.
Second thing we can do, or wewant to pay attention to, is
(07:53):
stress and cortisol.
Again, I talk about menopausebeing such an important time.
It can be a time when women areunder a lot more stress, and I
think, again, it's sort of awake up call to say, you know, I
can't really burn the candle atboth ends like maybe I used to.
Maybe that level of stress isn'tworking so well for me.
It probably wasn't working sowell before, but now it's
(08:14):
showing up in a lot moresymptoms.
So when your body is understress, your body prioritizes
survival.
It doesn't care so much abouthormone balance.
It's just trying to keep youalive.
So it starts producing morecortisol and then that steals
other resources that your bodyneeds to make estrogen.
(08:34):
So this, it can lead to eitherestrogen dominance or estrogen
deficiency.
So again, when you're understress, that cortisol is sort of
Stealing from the balance ofestrogen.
It's disrupting these otherhormones Something I talk about
in a lot of times and otherpresentations I've done is all
these different hormones thatare going on today.
We're talking about estrogen,but we can't ignore Insulin and
(08:58):
thyroid and there's just so manywe live in sort of a soup of
hormones all the time And so wehad to pay attention to all of
them estrogen being what we'refocusing on today So three fixes
here from this stress standpointTry to breathe, just do some
deep breathing.
Meditating is great.
There's so much researchsupporting it.
Just tremendous benefits ofmeditating.
(09:21):
But I also think that that canfeel overwhelming sometimes.
It's something I'm alwaysworking on trying to build into
my life.
I know how important it is and Idon't always give myself enough
time for it.
I'm working on it, but what Ican do and what I know you can
do every day is breathe.
And not, you're breathing allday long, every day of course.
But intentional breathing,paying attention to your
(09:43):
breathing.
Maybe just when you're washingyour hands, you feel the warm
water and you just listen toyour breath, pay a little bit
closer attention.
What I love is when you sit downto eat.
Every time you sit down at thetable to eat, just take a few
deep breaths.
That can help to bring thatcortisol down, bring that stress
hormone down, good for yourdigestion too, and can help with
(10:07):
this estrogen balance.
Setting boundaries is a goodthing to do too, to protect the
time, to protect that down time.
So you maybe have a little morespace for meditation, maybe a
little more space to dosomething fun, to get some
exercise too.
And another thing that'simportant is prioritizing sleep.
Sleep is a time to rest anddigest and relax and help your
(10:31):
bo her brain to, to regroup anddo all the things that it's
supposed to be doing.
Clean everything out.
So it helps to calm and bringdown that stress and we
prioritize sleep, that can havea big impact on our stress as
well.
Getting 7 8 hours is still sortof the goal, you've probably
heard that before.
You know, we start to go undersix, we start to go under four,
(10:52):
which is obviously reallydepleted sleep.
We see really some prettysignificant changes in overall
health and risk for disease.
So, still trying to get thatseven to eight hours.
I get it when you're goingthrough perimenopause and
menopause, it can be harder forsure, but setting yourself up
for success, creating anenvironment that makes it easier
for that to happen.
(11:13):
Detox.
Liver health.
hugely important as well I haveworked with an acupuncturist
over the years and she talks somuch about just everything that
ails you being at the health ofyour liver.
So because your liver is thisdetox center, it's where your
body processes and removesthings that don't belong and too
much estrogen is one of those.
(11:34):
But, if your liver isoverwhelmed, by maybe alcohol,
processed foods, toxins in ourenvironment, which we can do
something about.
Estrogen can get backed up.
It can build up in your system.
So, there's a few things we cando here too.
We can support our liver withdiet.
Cruciferous vegetables inparticular are really
(11:54):
powerhouses for this.
Things like broccoli,cauliflower, brussels sprouts.
Drinking plenty of water.
Your body is made up of about 70percent water.
So, staying hydrated.
Getting at least 8 glasses ofwater a day is, is a good goal.
It depends on your body weight.
Another rule of thumb is abouthalf your body weight in ounces
(12:14):
of water.
That's a good, a good way tosort of look at it too.
I kind of think of at leastgetting those 8 glasses a day.
And then cutting back onalcohol.
Alcohol slows downdetoxification in your liver.
So if we have too much alcohol,it's, it's harder for our body
to detoxify that estrogen.
Another thing we can do, dietand lifestyle choices.
(12:37):
Think about what foods we canchoose.
Not having a sedentary lifestyleand balancing blood sugar is
really important to calm thechaos of hormones that can be
happening during the years ofperimenopause and menopause.
So what do we do about this?
Number one, balance your bloodsugar by getting enough protein
with every meal, managingcarbohydrates in a healthy,
(12:58):
nourishing way, and Move yourbody every day.
Even a 30 minute walk makes abig difference.
Even a 5 minute walk or a 10minute walk after you eat can
help to regulate those bloodsugars, can help to bring down
that sugar that that's raisedafter your meal.
I recently heard from a doctor astudy she was talking about that
said doing 30 squats after aftera meal had a big improvement on
(13:23):
blood sugar regulation.
So I like that because it's justreally a concrete thing we can
do every day.
30 squats.
Maybe that's, you know, pushups,lunges, squats.
It can be a variety of things,but just doing something to move
your muscles after your mealhelps to balance blood sugars
better.
Then reducing processed, ultraprocessed foods.
Maybe you've seen that in themedia today.
(13:44):
We're talking a lot more aboutultra processed foods.
They can have a huge impact on.
Detoxifying, in getting rid ofsome of that junk, all the
chemicals and additives andthings that are so common in our
food supply.
So the last one I want to talkabout is something called
aromatase.
(14:04):
Aromatase is something thatconverts testosterone to
estrogen in your body.
And some women's bodies converttoo much testosterone into
estrogen, leading to estrogendominance, again, too much
estrogen.
So, there's a few differentthings we can do about that.
We can include anti inflammatoryfoods, things like green tea,
turmeric, and again, cruciferousvegetables, I keep talking about
(14:27):
those.
We can increase fiber, to helpagain detoxify that estrogen,
talked about that.
and we can limit alcohol, whichincreases the activity of this
aromatase.
But it's not just alcohol thatcould be sabotaging your hormone
balance.
There's another hidden culpritthat many of us are exposed to
every day that you might besurprised to learn where it's
(14:49):
coming from and how it'saffecting your estrogen levels.
So let's talk about some thingsthat we can do here to avoid.
So alcohol I mentioned, it slowsdown that estrogen
detoxification in the liver.
So what can you do?
Swap your evening wine forherbal tea or sparkling water
with lemon.
Make a mocktail for instance.
(15:11):
What can you do to just Minimizethe alcohol, start to work on
cutting that down, it's going tohelp your body, it's going to
help your liver, it's going tohelp to detoxify that estrogen.
Another big one is plastics andendocrine disruptors.
So endocrine disruptors, theymimic estrogen.
(15:32):
So they act sort of likeestrogen and that can throw your
hormones off balance.
So using things like glass orstainless steel instead of
plastic, switching to naturalskincare products and cleaning
products, it shows up in a lotof different places.
In my Joyful Menopause program,I have a whole section on toxins
(15:53):
and how do we start getting someof these toxins out of our
environment.
It's a challenge and we can'tlive in a bubble.
But there are really concretethings you can do.
Again, simply switching to glassinstead of plastic in a lot of
places, it starts to add up andadds up to be beneficial.
Another one is sugar.
Talked a little bit about sugarand we think about blood sugar
(16:15):
regulation, but sugar spikesinsulin.
We have sugar in our diet, itsends a message to our pancreas
saying send insulin out becausewe're going to need it to use up
that sugar.
Our insulin spikes.
And that can throw off yourhormone balance.
So, what can you do about it?
You can get rid of some of therefined carbs, switch to whole
(16:37):
foods, getting rid of again, wetalked about ultra processed
foods, switching to whole foods,fruits and vegetables, and lean
sources of protein.
Focusing on protein and fiber atevery meal is going to make a
huge impact.
So, here's what we've coveredtoday.
Estrogen affects your weight,your sleep, your mood, and your
metabolism.
(16:58):
Your gut, your stress levels,your liver, diet, and lifestyle,
all impact estrogen balance.
So a lot of different things.
Again, the health of your gut,your stress levels, your liver,
so like a lot of stuff going onwith your organs, your gut, and
your liver, as well as just thediet and lifestyle changes you
can make, all impact estrogenbalance.
(17:19):
There are small changes you cando.
Like, choosing some of the bestfoods, reducing stress,
breathing whenever you can, andavoiding some of those hormone
disruptors can make a hugedifference.
And every little change that youcan make adds up over time,
making a huge difference.
So what's your next step?
Start by just trying to changeone thing.
(17:40):
If there's one thing you can dotoday that makes a shift, maybe
one thing from plastic to glass,maybe one cruciferous vegetable
you add into your dinnertonight, adding those little
things, small steps, absolutelyadd up to big results.
So before you go, if this videowas helpful, hit the like
button, subscribe for morehormone, health tips, Share this
(18:03):
with a friend who also needs tohear this.
I know women are talking aboutthese things all the time, so
share it with a friend Again,One small change that you can
make will add up, and spreadingthat around, think about one
small change for your friendsand the other women in your
life, is going to make a hugedifference.
So, thank you for being heretoday.
I'll see you next time.
(18:24):
Take care, and be well.
Have you ever felt like yourbody is just off?
Like no matter what you do, theweight won't budge, your sleep
is a disaster, and your moodsare all over the place.
It's frustrating, isn't it?
Well, what if I told you thatestrogen could be the reason
why?
Estrogen and menopause is notjust about your period, which is
what a lot of women are thinkingabout, but estrogen controls a
(00:22):
lot more than that.
And estrogen imbalance affectsyour energy, your metabolism,
your brain, and even your longterm health.
If you're struggling with weightgain, sleep issues or mood
swings, this video today is foryou.
Like I do with my privateclients, I want to help you
understand your body betterbecause I really believe that
knowledge is power.
(00:43):
And it's not just about learningit, but it's doing it too.
So I'm not only going to teachyou about what it all means and
help you to understand yourbody, but I'm going to give you
some specific tips on choicesyou can make right away so you
can start to feel better.
So let's get started.
Menopause doesn't have to feellike you are living in someone
else's body.
Your host, Lynda Enright, hasspent the last 25 years helping
(01:04):
women to thrive in midlife.
Here you'll find science basedpractical advice that you can
start using today to get realresults for your health.
Welcome to Joyful Menopause.
All right, so let's talk aboutestrogen for a second.
Because a lot of people thinkthat it's just a female hormone
that controls your period,controls fertility, but the
(01:25):
truth is estrogen is a majorplayer in almost every system in
your body.
So here's some things estrogendoes.
It keeps your metabolismrunning.
Too much or too little and yourbody starts to store fat,
particularly abdominal fat,instead of burning it.
Estrogen helps to regulate yourmood.
If you ever feel like youremotions are sort of like on a
(01:46):
rollercoaster all over theplace, estrogen has a direct
impact on serotonin, which isyour feel good brain chemical.
Helps you to feel calm andhappy.
Estrogen helps to support yoursleep.
Huge.
Sleep impacts everything.
So when your estrogen is low,you might find yourself waking
up at 2 a.
m., staring at the ceiling, yourmind doing that monkey mind
(02:09):
jumping around all the time.
That can be estrogen.
Even estrogen can also affectyour memory, can affect your
focus.
So if you ever walk into a roomand you forget why you're there,
that's often an estrogen issue.
If you ever go to do somethingand you come back and you're
like, What was I going to dothere in the first place?
(02:29):
That could be an estrogen issue.
So how do you know if yourestrogen is out of balance?
So today I want to go throughthe most common signs of
estrogen imbalance.
So if your estrogen is off, yourbody's going to let you know.
And that's what I think isamazing about the years of
menopause, perimenopause andmenopause is because it's a time
(02:51):
where we need to listen to ourbody a little bit better.
We can get away with a lot whenwe're younger and our hormones
are I mean, they're, they'rebouncing around at different
phases in life, but there may bebeen stable for some years.
But now is a time when yourbody's going to let you know,
and it's going to tell you thatyou got to take care of yourself
in some ways that maybe youhaven't been doing for a while.
(03:11):
So some signs that you can watchfor.
Weight gain, especially bellyfat.
This is something that I hearwomen coming to me all the time
for, and what I have heard fordecades and decades, long before
I was in the years ofperimenopause and menopause,
that everything I'm doing is thesame, and all of a sudden I have
10 pounds around the middle thatI didn't used to have before.
(03:32):
So if you feel like you're doingeverything right, but the scale
won't move.
Estrogen could be the reason.
When it's either too high orit's too low, your metabolism
can be impacted and your bodycan start to hold on to fat
instead of burning it.
Sleep problems, I mentioned,huge impacts everything.
If you're waking up in themiddle of the night, Or maybe
(03:53):
you're struggling to fall asleeptoo, and then you feel
exhausted.
Maybe even after you spent, youknow, a full eight hours in bed,
estrogen could be messing withyour melatonin and your stress
hormones, so that can cause somedisruption in your sleep.
Mood swings, anxiety, feelingsort of just off.
Estrogen also can help regulateneurotransmitters.
(04:16):
So they're your brain chemicalsthat helps you to transmit
information.
Things like serotonin anddopamine.
So if it's out of whack, youmight feel more anxious.
You might feel more irritable oreven depressed.
brain fog, fatigue.
If you ever feel like your brainjust like isn't working as fast
as it used to, you can't solveproblems like you maybe could
(04:36):
before, low estrogen can slowdown brain function making you
feel sort of mentally sluggish.
So what's actually causing yourestrogen to go haywire?
Some of these hidden disruptorsmight surprise you.
So that's what we're going totalk about next.
I am really passionate aboutempowering women, particularly
those navigating perimenopauseand menopause.
(04:59):
I can relate by offeringpractical science based and
sustainable health advice so youcan make lasting changes in your
life so you can then feelamazing today and Prevent
disease in the future.
For so many years.
We talk about heart disease Wetalk about cancer.
We talk about the things thatare sort of long term and that's
(05:20):
great And as we get older thosethose things might feel a little
bit closer, but what I think isso important too is how you feel
today because when you feelgood, when you feel confident,
when you feel like you know howyour food is impacting you, how
your lifestyle choices areimpacting you.
You can do so much about it, andthen you can just feel so much
better on a day to day basis.
So what's actually causing yourestrogen to go haywire all over
(05:43):
the place?
Some of these hidden disruptorsmight surprise you.
I am really passionate aboutempowering women, particularly
those navigating perimenopauseand menopause, by offering
really practical, science based,and sustainable health advice,
so you can make lasting changesin your life.
So you can not only feel amazingtoday, but you can prevent
(06:05):
disease in the future too.
So if you want to keep learningmore about nutrition, lifestyle,
and menopause, click on the linkin the comments to sign up for
my weekly email newsletter.
Each week I give you again,science based guidance, and then
I give you quick tips so you canstart implementing things right
away.
So now let's get to the hiddendisruptors.
(06:26):
So the first thing that I talkabout all the time that is so
important for everything is yourgut.
Your gut health plays a hugerole in estrogen balance.
It's important for your immunesystem.
It's important for justdigestive health, but it also
impacts estrogen balance.
There's even this group ofbacteria in your gut that helps
to break down and eliminate, getrid of any extra estrogen.
(06:50):
So if your gut is out ofbalance, estrogen can get
reabsorbed back into your systeminstead of being eliminated like
it's supposed to.
And then that can lead toestrogen dominance.
It can lead to too muchcirculating around, which can
cause some symptoms.
So there's a few differentthings we can do about that.
One is eat a lot of fiber.
Things like leafy greenvegetables, cruciferous
(07:11):
vegetables, flax seeds areawesome.
That helps to move thingsthrough your system and can help
to get rid of that excessestrogen.
Taking a good quality probioticcan help to support gut bacteria
as well.
And then also cutting back onsugar and processed foods.
So sugar loves to feed bacteria.
(07:32):
Bacteria really thrive on asugar processed sort of standard
American diet.
So when we can cut back onsugar, we can stop feeding those
bad bacteria.
When we can fuel with fiber andgood probiotics, we can create a
better balance in our gut.
Second thing we can do, or wewant to pay attention to, is
(07:53):
stress and cortisol.
Again, I talk about menopausebeing such an important time.
It can be a time when women areunder a lot more stress, and I
think, again, it's sort of awake up call to say, you know, I
can't really burn the candle atboth ends like maybe I used to.
Maybe that level of stress isn'tworking so well for me.
It probably wasn't working sowell before, but now it's
(08:14):
showing up in a lot moresymptoms.
So when your body is understress, your body prioritizes
survival.
It doesn't care so much abouthormone balance.
It's just trying to keep youalive.
So it starts producing morecortisol and then that steals
other resources that your bodyneeds to make estrogen.
(08:34):
So this, it can lead to eitherestrogen dominance or estrogen
deficiency.
So again, when you're understress, that cortisol is sort of
Stealing from the balance ofestrogen.
It's disrupting these otherhormones Something I talk about
in a lot of times and otherpresentations I've done is all
these different hormones thatare going on today.
We're talking about estrogen,but we can't ignore Insulin and
(08:58):
thyroid and there's just so manywe live in sort of a soup of
hormones all the time And so wehad to pay attention to all of
them estrogen being what we'refocusing on today So three fixes
here from this stress standpointTry to breathe, just do some
deep breathing.
Meditating is great.
There's so much researchsupporting it.
Just tremendous benefits ofmeditating.
(09:21):
But I also think that that canfeel overwhelming sometimes.
It's something I'm alwaysworking on trying to build into
my life.
I know how important it is and Idon't always give myself enough
time for it.
I'm working on it, but what Ican do and what I know you can
do every day is breathe.
And not, you're breathing allday long, every day of course.
But intentional breathing,paying attention to your
(09:43):
breathing.
Maybe just when you're washingyour hands, you feel the warm
water and you just listen toyour breath, pay a little bit
closer attention.
What I love is when you sit downto eat.
Every time you sit down at thetable to eat, just take a few
deep breaths.
That can help to bring thatcortisol down, bring that stress
hormone down, good for yourdigestion too, and can help with
(10:07):
this estrogen balance.
Setting boundaries is a goodthing to do too, to protect the
time, to protect that down time.
So you maybe have a little morespace for meditation, maybe a
little more space to dosomething fun, to get some
exercise too.
And another thing that'simportant is prioritizing sleep.
Sleep is a time to rest anddigest and relax and help your
(10:31):
bo her brain to, to regroup anddo all the things that it's
supposed to be doing.
Clean everything out.
So it helps to calm and bringdown that stress and we
prioritize sleep, that can havea big impact on our stress as
well.
Getting 7 8 hours is still sortof the goal, you've probably
heard that before.
You know, we start to go undersix, we start to go under four,
(10:52):
which is obviously reallydepleted sleep.
We see really some prettysignificant changes in overall
health and risk for disease.
So, still trying to get thatseven to eight hours.
I get it when you're goingthrough perimenopause and
menopause, it can be harder forsure, but setting yourself up
for success, creating anenvironment that makes it easier
for that to happen.
(11:13):
Detox.
Liver health.
hugely important as well I haveworked with an acupuncturist
over the years and she talks somuch about just everything that
ails you being at the health ofyour liver.
So because your liver is thisdetox center, it's where your
body processes and removesthings that don't belong and too
much estrogen is one of those.
(11:34):
But, if your liver isoverwhelmed, by maybe alcohol,
processed foods, toxins in ourenvironment, which we can do
something about.
Estrogen can get backed up.
It can build up in your system.
So, there's a few things we cando here too.
We can support our liver withdiet.
Cruciferous vegetables inparticular are really
(11:54):
powerhouses for this.
Things like broccoli,cauliflower, brussels sprouts.
Drinking plenty of water.
Your body is made up of about 70percent water.
So, staying hydrated.
Getting at least 8 glasses ofwater a day is, is a good goal.
It depends on your body weight.
Another rule of thumb is abouthalf your body weight in ounces
(12:14):
of water.
That's a good, a good way tosort of look at it too.
I kind of think of at leastgetting those 8 glasses a day.
And then cutting back onalcohol.
Alcohol slows downdetoxification in your liver.
So if we have too much alcohol,it's, it's harder for our body
to detoxify that estrogen.
Another thing we can do, dietand lifestyle choices.
(12:37):
Think about what foods we canchoose.
Not having a sedentary lifestyleand balancing blood sugar is
really important to calm thechaos of hormones that can be
happening during the years ofperimenopause and menopause.
So what do we do about this?
Number one, balance your bloodsugar by getting enough protein
with every meal, managingcarbohydrates in a healthy,
(12:58):
nourishing way, and Move yourbody every day.
Even a 30 minute walk makes abig difference.
Even a 5 minute walk or a 10minute walk after you eat can
help to regulate those bloodsugars, can help to bring down
that sugar that that's raisedafter your meal.
I recently heard from a doctor astudy she was talking about that
said doing 30 squats after aftera meal had a big improvement on
(13:23):
blood sugar regulation.
So I like that because it's justreally a concrete thing we can
do every day.
30 squats.
Maybe that's, you know, pushups,lunges, squats.
It can be a variety of things,but just doing something to move
your muscles after your mealhelps to balance blood sugars
better.
Then reducing processed, ultraprocessed foods.
Maybe you've seen that in themedia today.
(13:44):
We're talking a lot more aboutultra processed foods.
They can have a huge impact on.
Detoxifying, in getting rid ofsome of that junk, all the
chemicals and additives andthings that are so common in our
food supply.
So the last one I want to talkabout is something called
aromatase.
(14:04):
Aromatase is something thatconverts testosterone to
estrogen in your body.
And some women's bodies converttoo much testosterone into
estrogen, leading to estrogendominance, again, too much
estrogen.
So, there's a few differentthings we can do about that.
We can include anti inflammatoryfoods, things like green tea,
turmeric, and again, cruciferousvegetables, I keep talking about
(14:27):
those.
We can increase fiber, to helpagain detoxify that estrogen,
talked about that.
and we can limit alcohol, whichincreases the activity of this
aromatase.
But it's not just alcohol thatcould be sabotaging your hormone
balance.
There's another hidden culpritthat many of us are exposed to
every day that you might besurprised to learn where it's
(14:49):
coming from and how it'saffecting your estrogen levels.
So let's talk about some thingsthat we can do here to avoid.
So alcohol I mentioned, it slowsdown that estrogen
detoxification in the liver.
So what can you do?
Swap your evening wine forherbal tea or sparkling water
with lemon.
Make a mocktail for instance.
(15:11):
What can you do to just Minimizethe alcohol, start to work on
cutting that down, it's going tohelp your body, it's going to
help your liver, it's going tohelp to detoxify that estrogen.
Another big one is plastics andendocrine disruptors.
So endocrine disruptors, theymimic estrogen.
(15:32):
So they act sort of likeestrogen and that can throw your
hormones off balance.
So using things like glass orstainless steel instead of
plastic, switching to naturalskincare products and cleaning
products, it shows up in a lotof different places.
In my Joyful Menopause program,I have a whole section on toxins
(15:53):
and how do we start getting someof these toxins out of our
environment.
It's a challenge and we can'tlive in a bubble.
But there are really concretethings you can do.
Again, simply switching to glassinstead of plastic in a lot of
places, it starts to add up andadds up to be beneficial.
Another one is sugar.
Talked a little bit about sugarand we think about blood sugar
(16:15):
regulation, but sugar spikesinsulin.
We have sugar in our diet, itsends a message to our pancreas
saying send insulin out becausewe're going to need it to use up
that sugar.
Our insulin spikes.
And that can throw off yourhormone balance.
So, what can you do about it?
You can get rid of some of therefined carbs, switch to whole
(16:37):
foods, getting rid of again, wetalked about ultra processed
foods, switching to whole foods,fruits and vegetables, and lean
sources of protein.
Focusing on protein and fiber atevery meal is going to make a
huge impact.
So, here's what we've coveredtoday.
Estrogen affects your weight,your sleep, your mood, and your
metabolism.
(16:58):
Your gut, your stress levels,your liver, diet, and lifestyle,
all impact estrogen balance.
So a lot of different things.
Again, the health of your gut,your stress levels, your liver,
so like a lot of stuff going onwith your organs, your gut, and
your liver, as well as just thediet and lifestyle changes you
can make, all impact estrogenbalance.
(17:19):
There are small changes you cando.
Like, choosing some of the bestfoods, reducing stress,
breathing whenever you can, andavoiding some of those hormone
disruptors can make a hugedifference.
And every little change that youcan make adds up over time,
making a huge difference.
So what's your next step?
Start by just trying to changeone thing.
(17:40):
If there's one thing you can dotoday that makes a shift, maybe
one thing from plastic to glass,maybe one cruciferous vegetable
you add into your dinnertonight, adding those little
things, small steps, absolutelyadd up to big results.
So before you go, if this videowas helpful, hit the like
button, subscribe for morehormone, health tips, Share this
(18:03):
with a friend who also needs tohear this.
I know women are talking aboutthese things all the time, so
share it with a friend Again,One small change that you can
make will add up, and spreadingthat around, think about one
small change for your friendsand the other women in your
life, is going to make a hugedifference.
So, thank you for being heretoday.
I'll see you next time.
(18:24):
Take care, and be well.
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