Estrogen Awareness

Can too much estrogen increase your body fat???

In short, YES!!!

Estrogen is a naturally occuring hormone in the human body. Unfortunately, when we have too much of it present it can affect us negatively in many ways. Estrogen toxicity has been linked with prostate and breast cancer, increased body fat storage, decreased sex drive, infertility, decreased energy, irritability and decreased detoxification among many other things.

So how can you limit your estrogen exposure? There are many different ways, but here are some that give you the biggest bang for your buck.

1. Increase your fiber intake! Fiber is one the most under rated nutrients. The RDA for fiber is ~25g for an average individual. A recent study showed that less than 3% of individuals were meeting the RDA for fiber on a daily basis. Where does fiber come from? Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, bok choy, cauliflower etc.), flax seeds, chia seeds, fenugreek seeds and many grains will also contain some fiber (grains aren’t recommended due to high omega 6 ratio which increases inflammation). If you can’t get enough fiber from food sources look at getting a natural fiber supplement that contains little to no psylium fiber.

2.Take a probiotic! Probiotics also help to improve the gastrointestinal culture. This helps more estrogen to be eliminated from the body and prevents it from being re-absorbed and used by the body again.

3. Ensure your magnesium, b vitamins and vitamin D are all at adequate levels. These vitamins all play a role in detoxification.

4. Avoid exposure to xenoestrogens. Xenoestrogens are chemical compounds that mimic estrogen in the body. They are found in MANY different places. Plastics in general will have huge amounts in them, so avoid plastic lunch containers/bags (use glass instead), avoid plastic bags, receipts, and water bottles. Beverage cans can also contain BPA as a lining, so be aware! Xenoestrogens are also found in a lot of our cleaning products and personal care products. A great way to check the exposure levels is to go to and search the product database. It will rate each product based on contaminants.

5. Decrease body fat! The more fat you have, the more estrogen you produce, the more estrogen you re-absorb, the more fat you store! It’s a vicious cycle, but by breaking it and losing fat you will produce less estrogen and ramp up your fat loss efforts.