Hi Eric Bakker here, thanks for coming back.
We're going to talk about estrogen, estrogen in the body.
Estrogen has been very malaligned for many years and many people see it as a bad hormone,
but when you've got a healthy, functioning, normally balanced body, estrogen is a perfectly
fine hormone.
But the problem with many people today is we've got so many larger people there and
obesity is becoming quite the norm in many countries, so high saturated animal fat intake
in particular is really bad when it comes to estrogen.
Because this kind of fat intake will really influence certain types of intestinal bacteria
to produce an enzyme called beta glucuronidase.
beta glucuronidase is something then that can make estrogen a lot more available to
transfer through the bloodstream and get into the body and create damage.
Estrogen is a proliferative hormone, it makes things grow.
It's been linked with many different types of cancers when it's in excess.
You don't want a whole lot of beta glucuronidase activity going on in the body.
This is why vegans, vegetarians, or people who are very cautious with their diets tend
to have a different body shape and also a more streamlined, more balanced estrogen,
progesterone profile than women who tend to eat whatever they want and who have a very
high saturated fat intake.
That's the problem.
When you've got a lot of saturated fat in your diet and you get a lot of those beta
glucuronidase happening, you've got far too much estrogen going on there and that's not
really what you want.
By changing your fat intake and types of fats that you eat, having really lean protein and
having more fish protein, which is an anti inflammatory fat.
Because if you look at, for example, beef in particular, it tends to be prone to inflammation
in the body, through a particular pathway.
Arachidonic acid, we don't really want to have too much inflammation going on.
I've got my trusty book here.
We're going to talk about a few points today on how you can really balance estrogen and
get a lot better effect there, and reduce its ability to build up in the body.
We've spoken of obesity, xeno-estrogens.
You may have heard of that word xeno, or foreign estrogens.
These are coming through the diet, also through the plastics.
There's been a global awareness on plastic, be careful of things like Saran Wrap or cling
wrap, that go on top of food.
It's good not to use those, especially on high fat foods, where these artificial estrogens
can get sucked into that fat.
Try and stop using those things and if you've got food that you want to store, put it in
containers with a lid, but don't put any Saran Wrap or plastic wrap on them.
Dietary fiber has been known to reduce estrogen and it's been shown both through blood, stool
and urine studies that you can really make a change there with estrogen, just by increasing
fiber in the diet.
Have a look at some of the videos I've completed on fiber.
I've completed many videos on that on this channel, the different types of food you can
eat.
And also, you may have seen a previous video where I've showed you this list of these foods.
I'll hold it there for a second so you can take a screen shot.
Those foods there are some of the best ones when it comes to really increasing the probiotic
content on your gut, because they're pre biotic foods.
The probiotics particularly lactobacillus acidophilus, has been linked with a lowering
of beta glucuronidase, and also a lowering generally of estrogen in the body.
It's good to eat a little bit of yogurt in your diet and to take a supplement containing
lactobacillus acidophilus.
There are many papers I've looked at that have shown a link between a positive reduction
in estrogen, by way of the lactobacillus.
A little bit of yogurt in the morning or in the evening is quite a good thing for you
to do.
Phyto-estrogens, plant based estrogens, you've got certain plants you can have, like soy
for example.
Which again has been kicked in the guts and malaligned for years, I've heard all these
stories about men who grow breasts and develop retardation, even [inaudible] the homosexuals
when they drink soy milk and all this sort of junk.
I'm sure it won't be long before gluten has been malaligned and they'll put it in the
frankenfoods category, that you'll grow horns when you eat bread and stuff like that.
There's some crazy people out there.
Don't fall for the hype.I still believe that a non GMO soy product is fantastic food for
females, especially those going through peri menopause and menopause because it supplies
a plant based estrogen.
Phyto estrogens have also shown to lower the activity of beta glucuronidase and they also
work on stopping excess estrogen in the body jamming up receptor sites.
Because phyto-estrogens will will dock to these receptor sites and act like a kind of
estrogen.
They'll stop the excess burden from occurring.
That's a good one.
The other one is the cabbage family.
Brassicas, broccoli, cauliflower, these sorts of things, they contain a substance called
indoles which have a fantastic effect also on lowering this excess estrogen.
Indoles competitively inhibit estrogen and seem to inhibit the growth of breast cancer
cells.
Particularly, brussel sprouts are one of my favorites.
You can get supplements which contain indole three carbinol, I3C for example.
Many studies link I3C regular consumption with the reduction of excess estrogen in the
body.
You may also want to get testing done to see where your estrogen is at.
A really good test you can ask your doctor to get done, let me write it down for you.
Just because I'm Dutch doesn't mean to say that I like the DUTCH test, dried urine test
for comprehensive hormones.
I'll say that again, dried urine test comprehensive hormones.
That's a fantastic test that will give you a good idea of the hormone levels in your
body.
There are three types of estrogen, [inaudible] three times.
Also, progesterone, testosterone, melatonin, cortisol, cortisone, all the stress hormones.
In fact, the whole hormonal pathway will be revealed through that test.
It's a very good test, it's worth doing.
Ask your functional medicine doctor or naturopath to get that test done for you.
Arrange that one so you can do that one.
It'll give you a pretty good idea of your estrogen numbers in the body and what you
can do about it.
Because you don't want estrogen to get out of hand and cause a lot of problems, because
it has been linked with many different types of illnesses in excess.
The key message is get your weight down, eat the right foods, get plenty of fiber in your
diet.
Eat lean protein, keep away from deep fried foods, too much alcohol and you're going to
be in way better shape.
Thanks for tuning in.