If you want to balance your hormones, you need to eat enough fibre and enough pre-biotic foods.
You should be aiming to eat about 30-40g of fibre per day.
Here's an idea of fibre in foods:
- Apple: 4g
- Pear: 5.5g
- 1 cup carrots: 3.6g
- 1 cup cooked lentils: 15g
- 1 cup cooked kidney beans: 11g
- 1 cup cooked chickpeas: 12.5g
- 1 cup rolled oats: 16g
- medium sweet potato: 3.8g
- 50g of almonds: 6g
WHY?
You want to have good levels of sex hormones- the main players are oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone. Your body makes these hormones, they do their thing, and then you want to remove them from the body so your levels don't build up and cause you issues. It's mainly oestrogen and testosterone that I'm concerned about here, because progesterone is only made when you ovulate and it's super precious! Many women are actually 'progesterone deficient'.
What we'll talk about in this post is the important of fibre + gut bacteria (plus pooping every day!) for oestrogen detoxification. This is also know as Phase 3 Detoxification. Phase 1 and 2 occur mostly in the liver and they all have to be working- any road blocks will lead to oestrogen buildup in your body.
BALANCING OESTROGEN WITH FIBRE
If oestrogen levels are too high or too low then you're going to get symptoms. Low oestrogen is linked to menopausal symptoms (hot flushes, night sweats, vaginal dryness), whereas high oestrogen is associated with breast tenderness, PMS, PCOS, anovulatory cycles (no ovulation), fluid retention, vaginal thrush, heavy periods, period pain, hormonal acne, endometriosis and fibroids.
Oestrogen is metabolised (transformed) in the liver into a water soluble form that can be excreted from the body (mixed in with your bile). But it needs to be packaged up for transport.
Fibre is basically the package that your oestrogen is transported in. It's like a pre-paid express post envelope that sends your used oestrogen out of your body (in your poop, if your'e wondering).
If you don't eat enough fibre, you won't get rid of your used oestrogen.
Instead it will re-enter circulation, build up and make you cranky. Not what you want.
NOTE: Fibre helps to excrete all of the toxins processed by your liver (medications, pesticides, other hormones, normal waste products produced by the body, xenoestrogens and other environmental toxins). This means that everyone will benefit from fibre in their diet, as it reduces your body's toxic load and therefore reduces inflammation.
CONSTIPATION
Just as an FYI, you need to move things along every day (2-3 times is ideal) for healthy hormones. All these lovely oestrogen packages you've made with your fibre still need to go somewhere (out of your body!). I see a lot of constipated women out there and it really plays havoc with their hormones.
BALANCING OESTROGEN WITH PROBIOTICS
The last step of oestrogen metabolism requires a healthy balance of gut bacteria.
Did you know that their is a group of bacteria that help to metabolise your oestrogen? They are called the Estrobolome (like microbiome, but specific for oestrogen- how cool!).
The estrobolome bacteria in the gut produce varying levels of an enzyme called beta-glucuronidase. This enzyme targets the oestrogen packages, rips them open and pushes your oestrogen back into circulation. We want a little of this enzyme, but too much is no good and results in higher levels of old, used oestrogen in your body.
All of your hard work has been de-railed at the last second! :(
Making sure you have beneficial, anti-inflammatory bacteria in your gut is important to avoid this.
Want to increase your friendly gut bacteria? Read more here.
Things that reduce beta-glucuronidase:
- Bifidobacteria species (commonly found in many probiotic supplements)
- Plant foods, especially apples, sprouts, oranges, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and grapefruit
- Calcium d-glucarate
- the herb Gotu Kola
- Fibre, as it is the food for your friendly, anti-inflammatory gut bacteria
Also, it's important to address gut inflammation and issues like SIBO, leaky gut, and food intolerance, as this will also impact beta-glucuronidase activity.
Now you know the important of gut health for oestrogen balance! Off to go eat some high fibre foods...
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