I see a lot of fear surrounding estrogen. I hear from you and those around me that you fear estrogen and excess estrogen are bad. Therefore, I felt I needed to address this openly because blind faith is unacceptable. Can we stop blaming estrogen, which we cherish every drop of? Everyone keeps repeating the same thing.

Should I be afraid of estrogen?

Estrogen is the most valuable hormone for us women. It gives us energy, protects our bones, heart rate, blood pressure, insulin, brain, and every part of our body you can think of. It’s our most precious hormone. However, there are three forms of estrogen. Estradiol is the type we use most, produced by our ovaries during reproductive activity. Our ovaries produce this hormone. This form of estrogen is vital for us, keeping us alive. Another form is produced by the adrenal glands after menopause, and the third form is only produced during pregnancy. The type of estrogen that everyone fears is estradiol.

So why the fear?

Every hormone we produce in our bodies has a specific process. The hormone is produced, broken down, divided into cells, and the remainder is eliminated from the system. This is how all hormones function correctly. When the remaining hormone isn’t eliminated from the system, it’s stored. This is also true for estrogen. Our ovaries produce estrogen, and our liver and intestines break it down, sending it to the cells. After the cells receive what they need, the remainder must be eliminated from the system. The remainder becomes toxic estrogen. When it’s not eliminated, it goes and settles in certain areas of the body, such as breast tissue, the uterus, and fat tissue. This is the estrogen that is harmful to us.

The most important thing to focus on here is liver and gut health. For estrogen to be broken down, distributed to cells, and for this cycle to continue constantly, these two organs need to be healthy. If liver and gut health is poor—that is, if we don’t eat well and are exposed to too many toxins—we accumulate what we need to eliminate from our system. This is where it becomes harmful. Therefore, you don’t need to fear estrogen or avoid foods that increase it. What you need to fix is ​​liver and gut health. That means good nutrition and a life as free from toxins as possible.

If someone tells you estrogen is harmful without considering the toxins you’re exposed to, your diet, and your exercise, that’s even more harmful. It’s very rote learning. If you have a healthy liver and gut, there’s no reason to fear flaxseed, green tea, or parsley. You should be more afraid of the makeup you use, your cooking utensils, bottled water, laundry and dish detergents, the perfume you spray, and the sanitary pads you use. Please don’t lose focus.

Be wary of packaged foods, pastries, soda, alcohol, and especially sugar and sweets, all of which disrupt the gut microbiota.

Note: Excess estrogen is dangerous only if it’s a disease/disorder. What I’m saying here is that you shouldn’t worry when everything is fine.

With love,

Sema