Before switching gears and writing about progesterone I want to add to my last two articles and say a few more things about how to clear excess estrogen. When it comes to estrogen, broccoli is your best friend. Broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage contain a molecule called indole 3-carbinol which, when digested, is converted into DIM (say di in dole methane). There are two main pathways through which estrogen is metabolized.
One leads to estrogen by-products that are harmful leading to cancer and weight gain DIM, alternatively, encourages estrogen to be metabolized through a pathway that leads to healthy estrogen byproducts resulting in reduced cardiovascular and cancer risk, soft skin and healthy bones. Calcium-d-glucarate is a third natural medicine that helps clear estrogen, among other toxins filtered by the liver. Add these estrogen-detoxifying-super-supplements to the dietary and nutritional suggestions listed last week and suffering with estrogen dominance will be a thing of the past.
Where estrogen tells the body to go forth and procreate, progesterone helps plant the fertilized egg or it declines and clears the uterus for the next cycle of fertility if the egg isn’t fertilized. Progesterone has, for many years, been overshadowed as a medicine by its more famous partner estrogen. This trend seems to be changing as women discover the many health benefits, and relatively few risks, of natural progesterone.
Natural progesterone is derived from wild yams which contain progesterone-like molecules that are easily converted to bio-identical hormone. Synthetic progesterone (called progestins) conversely, are not bio-identical and come with more potential side effects. Many women start to make less progesterone in their mid 30’s leading to weight gain, decreased sex drive, breast tenderness, fibrocystic breasts, endometriosis, mood swings and depression.
Progesterone can also be deficient in menopausal women and has been shown to help menopausal women sleep better which in turn helps with mood, memory and perhaps even hot flashes. More on progesterone next week.
