Female Hormones

I just attended a seminar today, and the one class I went to, by Dr. Curt Hamilton, helped my understanding of hormones ten fold.  It was cool.  Here are some of my notes:

 Many women are estrogen dominant.  This causes bloating, weight gain, breast swelling, irregular menstraul cycle, headaches, mood swings, cold hands, and decreased sex drive.  But the most important to understand that if estrogen is not excreted, then it accumlates in the body.  Where does it get stored?  Well, it just happens to be stored in fat, being toxic, and more specific it tends to be in breast tissue.  Doesn't sound good. ( This is my thought, but seems to be strongly linked to Breast Cancer)

Estrogen can accumulate either by excess estrogen, or by lack of gastrointestinal function (This goes back to my notes on stress and the effect on the gut)  If our food is sitting too long in our intestines, then the food is broken down more than it should, releasing unwanted chemicals and more specific, it releases free estrogen which then gets absorded instead of excreted.  To help our gastrointestinal function, we need to make sure we have enough fiber in our diet and we can utilize flax seed oil to increase function.

Here are some solutions:

1. Avoid Exognous Sources - Beyond excess estrogen being produced, there are exogenous sources.  These are pesticides, animal protein, styrofoam, plastics, saran wrap (for plastics and saran wrap, chemicals get releases into our food when they are heated, such as in a microwave).
2. Chaste Tree Extract - Maybe the greatest secret. This extract from the Chaste Tree Berry is significant in reducing and possibly eliminating PMS symptoms, promoting regular menses, reduces acne, and promotes fertility (Don't use if on oral contraceptives as it will decrease it's effect, and don't use while pregnant). This helps balance out sex hormones  . . . with amazing results! http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_chaste_tree.htm
3. St. John's Wort - This helps relieve the Depression symptoms of PMS, such as forgetfullness, crying, confusion and insomnia. http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_st_johns_wort.htm
4. Tribulus - This natural herb is known to balance sex hormones in both male and female.  In both, it will increase sex drive and improve adrenal function.  Simply known as the natural viagra, but important in helping balance hormones in the body.  The link I found says where the plant is found, but failed to mention two main countries.  The species of Tribulus is more effective by far if it comes from Romania or Bulgaria.  The plant is found in other places, but for some reason they don't have nearly the same effect.  http://www.tribulusterrestrisfacts.org/