Break The Cycle of Estrogen Dominance with Kate Vazquez

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Hey this is JJ Virgin. Welcome and thanks so much for joining me. This is Ask the Health Expert Here I put the power of health in your hands and give you access to the top people in health and wellness. In each episode I share safe ways to get healthy, lose weight, heal your.

Gut, detox and lots more.

So if you want to get healthy and get off the dieting for life merry go round, I'll give you strategies that will help you look and feel better. Fast. Hot flashes, mood swings, pms, cramps, headaches, weight gain. The list goes on and on. And if you are struggling with any of these, it could be estrogen dominance. And I have the perfect person to walk us through this so that you can figure out if this is you and start your healing journey. So let me tell you a little bit about our guest today. Her name is Kate Vasquez. She's a functional medicine physician assistant and the founder of Radiant Health plus an award winning author of the book Estrogen is a B Etch. I guess I have to say I was like how do I spell out B Star? Tch, you got me. Anyway, she is all about helping high performance women reclaim their health because as you'll learn in this interview, busy women are the women most likely to have this situation going on. I really actually don't know any women who aren't busy, so I guess it's all women. But you know if you're out there pushing it, driving it, getting stuff done, then you will definitely want to be listening in here. Learn about her Radiant method and her break the cycle boot camp. She will tell her personal story that got her into this and then walk you through how you can identify this and then what you can do about it because no reason telling you about something going on if we can't figure out fix right? And she has this done just that. Also she's got a quiz that you can take to help identify Estrogen dominance. And you can do that quiz@jjvirgin.com forward/edquiz. The ED for estrogen dominance, not for the other ED. All right, I'll be right back with our guest.

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Right, not a competition. At University of Phoenix, you'll get the best scholarship or savings you qualify for. Simple as that. Explore scholarship options at University of Phoenix. Welcome. Kate Vasquez. Good to have you here.

Hi, jj. It is a pleasure and honor to be here today.

Well, this is an important topic, and I'm looking forward to just digging in to estrogen dominance and what it is and why it matters and what you can do about it. But I always like to start with, like, what got you into this? So how did you get into this subject?

Yeah, absolutely. Great, Great question. I was practicing. I'm a physician assistant and practicing as a PA in Western medical, you know, world as I was in urgent care and ER cardiology. And of course, I got into it to help people, but I realized after a period of time, I really wasn't helping people, especially with a lot of chronic things. You know, they're coming to see me all the time. A lot of the same people over and over again for the same issues. And they're like, why am I not getting better? You know, And I Didn't have the answers for them, and I couldn't explain why. I'm just like, I'm in urgent care. I'm here to make you just feel better in the moment, you know? And so I came across Dr. Hyman one day, and he was talking about functional medicine and how it's the medicine of why and all the systems are integrated. And I was just so excited to hear this because I've always believed in, you know, eating the right foods and exercising, you know, lifestyle, nutrition to be integrated with health. But we didn't have the opportunity to really apply that in the Western world. Western, right.

Especially in urgent care, I would imagine it's not like, okay, let's talk about your lifestyle.

Exactly.

Closing a wound, right?

We're seeing, like, anywhere. I mean, in Florida, it's seasonal, so, like, in the summer, we're seeing like 20 people a day, which. Which is still a lot of people. But then in high season was like, anywhere from like 80 to 100 people a day. So, yeah, you definitely didn't have the time to do that. But I also didn't like primary care either. Just like the constant follow putting people on medications, that wasn't my jam either. But I realized the importance of it. And with functional medicine, I realized I finally get the opportunity to do that, to really dive in deeper, to look at a person's lifestyle, what they're eating, how they're sleeping. Are they adapting to stress? Because that's a big, big thing that a lot of people are struggling with, is not being.

Especially now. Oh, my gosh.

Like, yes.

Last two years really taught us about stress.

Stress, it really, really has. And that's why it's more important than ever. Like, when we are in these situations that are out of our control, like, how are we going to show up in those moments? Because the stress really negatively impacts our body. So I, at the time, was also having my own health issues, which I never thought were like, a big deal because I still functioned. And, you know, I kind of brushed it to the side of, you know, also have high pain tolerance. So I just kept going, kept pushing through. But I had migraines since I was a child, and I was the only one in my immediate family, and then in puberty, develop acne. So of course got put on birth control, which definitely helped. So that was a sign of hormonal imbalance. And then I started having a lot of anxiety. Middle school, high school, you know, college, especially with all the peer pressure and everything, but. But it was just so much more than that and also just like constantly getting the grades to get into college. And. And then in college I started having digestive issues. So bloating, constipation. And of course, in the Western medical world, we see everything as separate. But with functional medicine, I realized, like, wow, all these things were happening because of a lot of the same things. Like, I had issues in my gut, which was contributing to a lot of the symptoms that I was having in my. My hormones weren't balanced. So I started working on healing my gut. I had high cortisol levels because I'm type A personality perfectionist, you know, and had so much stress, especially going through school, that for the first time I learned how to actually adapt because no one taught me how. You know, it's like I was even put on Prozac during PA school to help manage the stress and the anxiety, which obviously didn't help. The stress was there, but it numbed me and numbed my emotions. Like, I didn't feel emotions, and I did not like that. So I got myself off of Prozac because I didn't want to be on it long term. It wasn't, you know, obviously was putting a band aid, which wasn't really helping. And so I started diving into yoga and learning about deep breathing and meditation, which really helped calm my body down and help support my adrenals. But I was still on birth control. I was on birth control for over 15 years. Yeah. So I was like, okay, I'm getting ready to come off the birth control because I started learning about long term impacts. And also another reason too. Like, my husband and I, we wanted to make sure my body was in a good place to have kids. We're not, still not ready to have kids yet. But seeing a lot of family, friends and coworkers coming off the pill, they were having miscarriages right after they would get pregnant and miscarry. And that scared me. And I'm like, what is going on? What is happening? Why is this happening in their bodies? And I wanted to make sure I prevented that. So I read Dr. Jolene Brighton's book Beyond the Pill and healed my gut, got on the nutrients, supported my adrenals. But when I came off the birth control, my body went crazy. I actually had irregular cycles for the first time in my life. I had breast tenderness, really bad menstrual cramps, and even gained a little bit of weight in my butt, hips and thighs. I'm like, whoa, what is going on my body? Like, this has never happened before. And I thought I was right. I was eating the right foods and I was exercising. I worked on my gut, and so I finally looked at my hormones for this first time, and I just discovered my progesterone levels were really, really low from being suppressed for a long time. And then I needed to support the metabolism of estrogen through my liver because I had a couple genes, too, that I needed to support. So learning this information, I realized I started doing a lot of research and got myself on the right supplements to really support my hormones. And it took a few months, but I finally was able to get rid of all those symptoms. And then I started seeing the common. Same things happen in the common patterns in my clients that I was seeing and realized, like, wow, this is a big problem. Like, this is more common than I realize.

And it's never talked about, you know, Never talked about. You know, now that we do have some books out there on it, but for the most part, you have to search for it.

Yes, you really, you have to search for it. And. And I realize about 80 to 90% of women have this problem. And a lot of the symptoms they're having is brushed off as normal. Like, this is just normal. This is part of, like, being a. And just kind of like, suck it up and deal with it and, oh, if it's really bad, here's some medications. But I want women to realize, like, there's so much more than that. There's actually something going on that's causing these symptoms and we can actually do something about it so you don't have to keep suffering every single month.

Right. And that, you know, you look at this and all of these things are just your body's way to communicate to you this idea that, you know, headaches are normal, or gas and bloating is normal, or constipation is normal. It's like, that always drives me nuts because, you know, hot flashes, mood swings, period cramps.

It's like, hello, you know, yeah, that is not normal.

Not normal. Not. I had a nutrition mentor early on who was like, it is not normal to get sick. Because I would get, like, really sick every January, end of January, early February every year. And I was like, oh, it's just the weather or whatever. No, it's because January, when you're a weight loss person. January is crazy.

Exactly.

And I went, oh, no. I just. I just overstress myself and don't sleep in January. And then I get sick. So, you know, we gotta look at these things. And it's just amazing, too. I mean, the birth control pill drives me Crazy in the first place, but then to not have a process to take someone off of it and to look at what you need to look at afterwards is crazy. Okay, so this is so it's awesome that you went through this because now you can help people with it. So that's fantastic. And so, so let's talk through then what estrogen dominance is. Because you know, I had one doctor tell me once that, you know, well, women are estrogen dominant. That what it's what it means to be a woman. And I go, I think that's not what estrogen dominance means. It means more than what you should have. Obviously men are testosterone dominant and women would be estrogen dominant, but not overly so. Right, right.

So exactly, exactly. Yeah. When you hear estrogen dominant. In fact, Lauren Powers, I was talking to her about this and she's like, yeah, my doctor said I was estrogen dominant. And she's like, I thought that was a good thing because as a high performing female, you know, entrepreneur. And I was like, no. Then she realized, she's like, yeah, I realized that wasn't so good. And just because, yeah, the term says estrogen dominance. Yes, women obviously have more estrogen than men. What it really, really means is that there's an imbalance in the ratio of estrogen and progesterone in our body. Because if we really look at our menstrual cycle and really understand what's happening, our hormones are fluctuating throughout the cycle. And, and I'm going to just use this example, like an average 28 day cycle, which not a lot of women actually have a 28 day cycle. Most are like 26 days or 30 days and that's normal too. So if women are having like a regular period every single month, their hormones are going to be really, really low when they have their period, which starts the menstrual cycle, that's also the follicular phase. Then as after the menstrual cycle ends, the follicular, in the late follicular phase, estrogen starts increasing and then we also have an increase in testosterone and then once we hit ovulation, those hormones decline. And then during the luteal phase, we get a bump in progesterone, but we also get a little bump of estrogen during that time as well. So when there's that imbalance, I'm talking specifically during the luteal phase, when we should have a normal increase of progesterone and a nice little balance of estrogen because we need, need progesterone to balance out Estrogen, since we always have estrogen in the body. But the problem is, is when there's a lot more estrogen or there's not enough progesterone. And I discovered that there was three different patterns of estrogen dominance. And so that's really what that means. It's just this imbalance of estrogen and progesterone where, yes, estrogen ends up becoming the dominating hormone, not just because we're women.

There are three different types. Huh? I did not know this.

Yes.

What are the three different types?

Yes. So the first type is normal progesterone levels. So example, when you're getting blood work with your doctor and they check progesterone during the luteal phase, I always recommend to check during a specific time so we can get progesterone at its peak, it should be anywhere from 15 to 25. So if you're within that range, progesterone is normal, but then estrogen is on the high side, and there's not really, like, an optimal range of estrogen. But when I would see estrogen at like 200, 300 during the luteal phase, I'm like, that's a lot of estrogen. It should be about 100, 150. Like, there shouldn't be a lot of estrogen during that time. So that was the first pattern I would see. The second pattern was low progesterone levels. So if, like, for example, progesterone was 10 or 8 and normal levels of progesterone or normal levels of estrogen. So if estrogen was in the 100, but progesterone was 8 or 10, that was the second sign. And then the third type is low progesterone with high estrogen. And so those were the three different types that I would see. I. The first type was, like, the less common. The most common was the third type, the low progesterone, and a lot of estrogen that I would commonly see. And based on that, I knew how I could best support women. Because. Because not all women need progesterone. Because if you have symptoms of estrogen dominance hormone imbalance, sometimes women are put on progesterone cream without getting their progesterone tested. And I'm like, well, do you really need the progesterone? Maybe not.

I gotta tell you a very funny story about this. Early on, this was about 24 years ago, and when I was living in Palm Desert, we had a pharmacist there and a doctor there, and the doctor who's not around anymore. I Mean, got put out of business, was putting everyone, men and women, who came in on progesterone and thyroid. His goal was to get your thyroid, tsh. As close to zero as possible. And he put on everyone on steady state progesterone. Everyone. And. And so did the pharmacist. They thought progesterone was this miracle thing. And I'm one of those people. When I got pregnant, like, my weight shoots up in a minute and I sit and I cry. Like, I. I've cried maybe five times in my life. They were all, when I was pregnant, I'll watch, like a TV commercial and cry, you know, I mean, and want chocolate chip cookies. Like, it just so. So I kind of went, oh, okay, well, I'll try this again. £12 in a month. I am crying at the drop of a hat. Like, I just, you know, felt absolutely horrible. You know, it was like, oh, this will clear your skin up. I'm like, my skin's breaking out. I'm craving cookies. I'm crying.

Oh, wow. Yeah.

And so I just say that as a cautionary tale because I see progesterone over the counter.

Oh, yeah.

And sold in these creams. And so. And people, oh, go ahead and use it. And it's like, well, the only time we've got, like, high progesterone levels is when you're pregnant. So, you know, so this is one of those things where you want to work with someone if your hormones are out of balance, obviously, you can do some of the diet and lifestyle stuff, but, you know, for the fine tuning, you know, it really helps to have someone who knows what they're doing on. On the team with you, right?

Absolutely. Yeah. And it's so crazy. I see women in their 30s get put on progesterone, and I'm like, wait, why don't we look at. Why is progesterone low in the first place? Do you have the nutrients to produce it? Are you under a lot of stress? Because when our bodies are under stress, we're taking away from the production of our sexual sex hormones. So I'm like, can we, like, support it naturally first? And then if it still doesn't come up after everything, we do, then resort to the cream. And obviously, as women go through menopause, the first hormone to decline is progesterone. So, yes, when women start going through menopause, they might actually need a progesterone. But women that are earlier still cycling, I'm like, oh, no. Let's. Let's see if we can figure this out first, support it naturally, and use it as a last resort.

Well, what are some of the signs that. That, you know, you've talked about the different types of estrogen dominance, but what are some of the things that people would be feeling that could lead them to go, this might be the issue?

Oh, yeah. There's five common symptoms that I typically see with estrogen dominance. And the first one is irregular periods, which is what happened to me when I came off the birth control. So, like I mentioned, like, normal, regular cycles should be every month, so anywhere from like 24 to 32 days. And it can vary a day or two. But if the cycles vary, like more than five, seven days, and they're very irregular or happening like every two months, you know, so say one cycle is like 30 days. The next one's 36 days. The next one's like 26. You know, it's just all over the place. That's definitely not normal. And that's because a lot of times we have that estrogen in our body, but we're not having progesterone peaking during the luteal phase. So that can really throw off when we start our period in ovulation as well. Sometimes it can delay ovulation. So that's what causes that irregular cycle. The second symptom is heavy periods, because estrogen really thickens the endometrial lining, which is that inner lining of our uterus. And when we have a lot of estrogen in our system, it causes a really, really thick endometrial lining. So when we have our period, we have really, really heavy bleeds. So on average, most women should be changing about 6 to 8, like tampons or pads, or if you're using a cup, maybe once or twice during the day, you know, but if women are soaking through their pads, their tampons, changing the cup multiple times through in the day, first few days, that's not normal. Like, really heavy periods are not normal. Like, it's normal to experience a heavier flow the first couple of days and then tapers off. But you shouldn't be soaking through your tampons, your pads. So that is the second sign of estrogen dominance. And also clots, too, if you notice clots, that's also not normal. The third symptom is those PMS symptoms, like you were explaining can happen with low or high progesterone, but also, you know, the mood swings, the insomnia, the headaches, usually from low progesterone levels, and then also the really bad menstrual cramps. Because when we are about to have our period, our body will release these chemicals called prostaglandins, which increase inflammation. But it's important to help the uterus contract so we can get rid of that endometrial lining and have our period. And what happens is these estrogens, like a lot in the system, will cause an increase of more prostaglandins. So that's why a lot of the women will experience these really severe, debilitating menstrual cramps to the point where they're curled up, they can't even get out of bed. They can't get out and do things. They have to cancel work because it's that bad. So that is the third symptom. The fourth one is the breast tenderness, which I also experienced, too, because estrogen will cause the breast tissue to swell. So there's a lot in the system. It's not being balanced out with the progesterone. It will cause the breast tissue to swell. And so it's so, so tender to the touch. Like, you can't even wear a bra. And that's not normal either. So the breast tenderness. And then the fifth symptom is. Is weight gain, especially in the butt, hips, and thighs, because estrogen, when we go through purity, helps give us our curves. But when women are starting to gain more weight and it's particularly going into the butt, hips and thighs, that's probably like the most telltale sign of estrogen dominance. And it's so interesting because when you learn about the different weight distributions, we can kind of figure out and pinpoint. Like, if it's in the abdomen, it's like insulin was resistance or high cortisol. The butt, hips and thighs is estrogen dominant. If it's all over, I feel like it's like a combination of all the three. Those are the top five telltale signs of estrogen dominance. I usually say if you have two or three of those symptoms, there's definitely a likely chance that you have it. But it can also come in different symptoms as well, like fatigue, brain fog, low libido, acne, infertility, even, like, dark spots on the skin called melasma. Those are also some other signs of estrogen domino dominance.

Now, you mentioned insulin, cortisol, thyroid. Well, you mentioned insulin and cortisol when we're talking weight gain. And yeah, I remember the old apple and pear that no one talks about anymore. It was like that in the little commercial that was like, can you pinch an inch? And I'm like, none of this stuff is round anymore. But it was that women were supposed to be pear shaped and men were supposed to be apple shaped. Except now that's completely blown out the window. I think a lot of it because of what's gone on with, with, with cortisol and insulin. So how do insulin and cortisol and thyroid hormones play a role in all of this?

Oh yeah, absolutely. Great, great, great question. So I talked about briefly, especially I'm going to start with the cortisol. When our bodies are in constant stress, we are activating our sympathetic nervous system, which is that fight or flight mode. And if you think about like many, many years ago, our ancestors were not in this chronic sympathetic state. They were primarily in the parasympathetic state, which is our rest and digest. But they only went into that sympathetic state when they were in danger. But in our modern world, everything is perceived as danger, as a threat because of all of our demands and constantly on the go. And yeah, when I think about the time when I came off birth control, I was working at the urgent care under a lot of stress while starting my practice. At the same time, it was also in a very negative environment because it became corporate. And even though I loved the people I was working with, it was impacting them a lot of negativity. And so when you're in that negative toxic environment under a lot of stress, it creates a lot of stress in your body. And so cortisol goes up and cortisol and our sex hormones are all made from cholesterol. So when our body is under stress, it's thinking survival and is producing more cortisol. It's not thinking reproduction, which is what happens when our bodies are relaxed. And so of course it's going to take away from that progesterone, which is what we need to produce in order to get pregnant, which is happening every single month whether we want it or not. And so that is the main factor, how this contributes to estrogen dominance. Because again, as I mentioned, those, you know, two different types, when we have lower progesterone levels and either normal or high estrogen, it's going to create that estrogen dominance effect. And then as far as insulin, a lot of, there's a lot of studies out there showing that when estrogen declines, it increases insulin resistance. But I also think there's a link between estrogen dominance and insulin resistance, which there's not a lot of studies out there. But I hope, like the research is going to dive into this because if you think about it, our fat cells produce estrogen so when women start gaining weight, especially when they have hormonal disorders like pcos. PCOS is actually the best example because it's a hormonal metabolic disorder. So they have symptoms of insulin resistance with the weight gain and, you know, cysts on their ovaries, they're developing the hair on their chin. But they also not only have high androgens and insulin resistance, but they also have high estrogen levels. So when women are gaining weight, that's going to produce more estrogen, they're going to become more insulin resistant, and that's going to affect our glucose and our hormones. So that's the role with insulin and estrogen dominance. And then as far as the thyroid, the. When it comes to the thyroid, if there's a lot of estrogen in the system, what happens is it stimulates a protein called thyroid thyroglobulin binding protein tbg. And the significance of this is this protein actually binds up our free thyroid hormones, T4 and T3. It actually loves T4 over T3. But when that happens, we actually have less thyroid hormone that's available. And a lot of women can have hypothyroid symptoms. So, you know, I've had some clients coming to me with thyroid issues. And of course, my goal is first to figure out what's going on. Let's look at the gut, let's look at stress, but also let's look at our hormones and see what's going on there. Because there's a lot, lot of women with Hashimoto's that are put on thyroid medication, but they've never had their hormones checked. And, and a lot of the time their estrogen is imbalanced. We need to support the metabolism. There's too much in their body and it's producing this protein which is binding up their thyroid hormone. So there is the link there. And of course, obviously, hypothyroidism, low thyroid hormones is going to contribute to the weight gain as well.

Well, I think the important thing there is, like, you don't just pull a hormone out in a vacuum and, and, and fix that because it's not operating by itself. So I want to get into, you know, how you treat it. What are some of the different things you can do to rebalance? But we're going to take a quick break, so hang with me. This episode is brought to you by McAfee.

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Learn more@mcafee.com online protection. So looking at all of this, the first thing that I think of in all of this is, you know, I always look at women and I go, all right, we have so many jobs. Like, when you think about it, I remember, gosh, years ago, I was dating this guy. And, you know, here I'm a single mom. I'm the sole financial support for my kids. They are young, so I'm working in between, like, taking them places, doing all my work, you know, doing all the stuff you do as a mom. So getting up in the morning, packing their lunch, right? Getting them to school, going and working in between, something comes up with them running over to school, all of that. You finally get home, you make dinner, you get their homework done, and then you've got to set the things up for the next day. In walks boyfriend, and he comes in, he goes, wow, I'm tired. Gosh, are you? I am so tired. And flops on the couch, turns on the tv. Wait. Meanwhile, I'm unloading the dishwasher. He goes, I help you, but I don't know where anything goes. So. So. And I just remember thinking, yes, actually, I am tired. I'm like, I'm beyond tired. Like, I don't even. Tired would be a place I'd like to be right now. Like, that would be a relief if I could be tired. Because I'm, like, exhausted, you know? Because you're like, okay, I'm running the household.

Old.

I'm working. I'm running a business. I am managing my kids. I'm like. And you're, like, going, you come home, and your home's another job. And then you're. You know, it's like. It's like. It's endless. And you look at that and go, you know, how many women have that life? And with that, like, you know, unless you are really focused on putting things in place to help you with managing your stress and getting as much help as you possibly can, One of the things I finally did was I looked and I go, you know what?

What?

Like, I did not sign up to be superwoman. I did not. I'm not doing it. I'm not going to do it. It's like, forget it. I'm getting help. I'm calling the ball. And I think it's really important because, you know, we're going to talk now about what you can do to help rebalance estrogen. But I just think about, and I think if you were the former me back then, fighting to survive, basically fighting to be able to have enough to pay, you know, to, to, to support my kids, like, you know, I mean, you can't do this without addressing that. So let's talk. So I'm guessing this is a pretty big problem because I think I'm probably not the only person that was going through that. Just guessing. Not at all.

I think a lot of us, and women too, we tend to be, we are the martyrs. We're always, you know, taking care of everybody but ourselves. And we've been, this has happened for, for many, many years. And, and even now that women have entered the workforce, we've, we're still doing that.

Oh, all we did was add another thing, right?

Exactly.

We didn't transfer anything. I was like, well that like I'm still the one for the kids birthday parties and their doctor's appointments and I just, you know, now I'm just doing another thing on top of that, so.

Exactly. And I'm like, no wonder two full time jobs, no wonder we have so many issues because we just, we never really. Yeah. Like you said, ask for the help and say, you know, lay the boundaries down. Ask for help and learn to like adapt to the stress.

So yeah. So I'm gonna make a bold request to everybody listening, like hang up your cape. Hang up your cape. We don't need to be super women and your self care. I know you hear it all the time, it sounds trite but honestly, you cannot take care of your family if you don't take care of yourself. So let's with that dig into what are some ways you can rebalance estrogen. And I know we're gonna have a quiz too. So if you've been listening to this going, gosh, is this me? I'm hearing these things. I think we will have a quiz that you'll be able to take and it's going to be@jjvirgin.com ed quiz. And that's for estrogen dominance. This is not for your husband. Ed Quiz. Okay. Jjvirgin.com edquiz so let's get into some of the ways you can rebalance estrogen.

Yeah, yeah. I love, love, love this topic because yeah, when I came off the birth control I was like, now what do I do? But even if women are coming off of birth control and you're still having these symptoms, they can still do the same thing. So the first thing I did was to get seed cycling because I truly believe food is medicine and it was so simple, but it really helped to regulate my cycles, improve the symptoms that I was having. So that was part of what I did to really help support my estrogen and progesterone. So with seed cycling, what it is is basically grinding up two seeds every two weeks. So for 14 days I would grind up flax and pumpkin seeds, one tablespoon each, and I grind them up fresh every day. Because if you guys buy the pre ground seeds, they're rancid, they have been in the storage and in the heat, they don't have the nutrients they have. So that's why I recommend go get a coffee grinder, grind up these seeds every day. One tablespoon flax and pumpkin for the first 14 days. And then day 15 through 28, you're going to do sesame and sunflower seeds, one tablespoon of each.

So why does this work?

Yes, because what it does is the flax and pumpkin seeds really help support the production and metabolism of estrogen during your follicular phase. And then sesame and sunflower support the production of progesterone and continue to support metabolism of estrogen during the second phase, the luteal phase of your menstrual cycle. So that is why it is so important to add in these seeds to really get these nutrients that are in them, like magnesium and zinc, selenium to help with estrogen detoxification, and then the fiber to help with elimination of estrogen, and then vitamin E, you know, for progesterone production as well. So that's why these seeds are really, really important. And it's so simple to do, you know, alternate every two weeks for like three to six months. And then the second thing that I.

Recommend so that you don't have to do it long term, it's just getting you back into balance or is it?

Yeah, great question. Yeah. So I usually recommend the first three to six months to get you back into balance, to regulate everything. And then if you want to keep doing it, you can. It doesn't hurt because it's food. But what I do is I periodically will seed cycle every now and then, especially if say I did have like a really stressful month, like I'm in a launch or creating something, I will do the seed cycling just to really support my hormones. So there's something you can go jump off and on or if you want to continue doing it, some women continue to do it just because it's really good. Nutrients. Anyway, so. So yeah, the second thing that I recommend is also going back to food is to also support estrogen detoxification and elimination. And when I say this, estrogen gets broken down in our liver first. There's two different phases, phase one and phase two. And it goes from its active form to active form. Once it's inactive, it then binds to something called bile, which our liver produces and then it goes to our intestines so it can get eliminated. And that's phase three. And so foods really help support the detoxification metabolism of estrogen. So I love cruciferous vegetables, which is broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, cabbage. That's going to really help support phase one and then leafy greens. Oh, well, actually, before I go into leafy greens, the cruciferous vegetables contain compounds called di indolmethane, which is really, really powerful phase one metabolism. Then for phase two, the leafy greens contain B vitamins, which is also needed for estrogen metabolism during that second phase. And then also leafy greens and seeds and lots of vegetables contain a lot of fiber, which is going to help phase three of elimination through our intestines. Also, I recommend fermented food, so adding in like the kimchi and, you know, sauerkraut, coconut, yogurt, anything that kombucha, anything that's fermented because it's going to contain those healthy probiotics, gut bugs, to really help support our gut health because, yeah, we didn't dive into it, but gut health is so, so important for estrogen metabolism. The next thing is eliminate toxins because we have a lot of toxins in our environment. And it's just so crazy. When I was learning about all the products that I was using, the Environmental Working Group actually said women use on average 100 or use on average 12 products per day and are exposed to 168 chemicals. And I was like, whoa, that is a lot. And when I heard this statistic, I started like grabbing everything I was using and counting, like, oh my goodness, I'm using over 100. Or I'm exposed to over 100 ingredients. And so thankfully, there's the Environmental Working Group. They have the Skin Deep database. But my two favorite apps that I love to use is Think Dirty and UKA Y U K A because there's a little scanner in there so you can scan the products that you're currently using to see how clean or dirty that product is. And then when you go to the store, scan those products in the store to find an Alternative. And the importance of these products is that why you want to swap them out is because they contain chemicals called xenoestrogens, which are basically foreign compounds that look like estrogen. So when we're exposed, it's going to attach to the estrogen receptor in our body and it's also going to cause a lot of the symptoms of estrogen dominance. So you want to really, really reduce the toxic burden that you're, you know, from all the chemicals and products that you're putting on your body and in your home. So downloading those two apps were super helpful. And I also recommend swapping one at a time because it can get overwhelming once you realize like, oh my gosh, everything in my home is toxic.

Yeah, well, just replace every time you go to a new thing. I just was interviewing our buddy Jen Stevens yesterday and she wrote Cleanish.

Yes, yes.

And that's what it is. It's about just kind of going through your house, your food, your skin care, your laundry, and just one by one, you know, just replacing things. It's just getting a new, Finding the new thing.

Yeah, absolutely.

So yeah, you don't have to go insane.

Exactly.

It's kind of hard not to.

But you know, we already have enough stress that is. So yeah, don't add on too much stress. Another layer, another stressor. And then the fourth thing we, you know, touched upon it. But creating that self care routine, that one was so profound for me because in the past I would wake up and then I would just start doing and knocking off things on my to do list, then run to work, then I would come home, keep doing my to do list and then go straight to bed. So it was just constantly go from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed. But once I realized like this was really contributing to the high cortisol in my body, the inflammation, the hormonal imbalance, I started creating a self care routine. And, and I mean I do it for like an hour and a half, two hours. But not everybody has that time, that luxury because I don't have kids yet. But for those that have kids, for those that have kids, even five to 10 minutes, you know, tell your spouse, like take care of the kids, this is me time. And at least block off like 10 minutes. And you can do like yoga or meditation, deep breathing, some kind of activity that's going to really help calm down your nervous system because that's going to be key. And I noticed like even if I do just 10 minutes of self care care, I show up so much different than when I don't do it. And so that's going to be so, so important. And if you can do it like in the middle of the day or right before you go to bed, even better. But even if you just start with just 10 minutes every single morning, a self care routine that's going to be very, very profound and helping support your cortisol, your adrenals and your hormones. So.

And do it first thing, otherwise you know what happens.

Right? Exactly, exactly. Even if you have to get.

Nothing happens.

You know, even if you have to get up like 10 minutes earlier today, do that before the kids get up. It will be worth it, I promise you that. And the fifth thing is working on the mindset too. Because a lot of times when we have, I do believe like our thoughts affect ourselves and if we are constantly thinking negative thoughts about like our body and our health, it's also going to create more inflammation and dis ease, you know. So working on my mindset was the biggest thing that I discovered the last, last, you know, like three, five years. And that had such a powerful, profound effect. And so starting with something like checking in with your thoughts, like what are your thoughts that you have around your body and your health? Because if it's like, oh, like I need to lose weight, I need to like, you know, I'm never going to feel better, think about what that's doing to your body instead. Like, I know I'm going to get better, I'm going to figure this out. You know, I feel healthy, I feel confident. You know, making just little changes like that. Affirmations can be very, very powerful. But yeah, I decided and I realized like, because mindset is so huge and important and not a lot of practitioners actually touch upon this, I've actually added mindset work into the program. So when, when someone's working alongside me to be able to help them navigate through that and help them to create like a powerful identity around the health that they want to create. Create. Because that's going to be so, so important as well.

So all of that stuff, here's the cool things about the things that you're talking about. They help with everything.

Yes, exactly. This is true, right?

They're good for your heart, they're good for your brain, they're good if you want to lose weight, you know, they're good for more energy, balancing your blood sugar. Like they're just good. So it's kind of one of those things that I love. The difference between doing diet and lifestyle and supplements versus medications because the side effects of diet and lifestyle and supplements are always really good. Like, you never hear. Well, you think of those drug commercials, and they at the end may cause blurry vision. You may die. It's like, you never hear that from, we're going to use some seeds. It may give you a little bit more energy. You might be able to think straighter.

Exactly.

Your joints may not hurt.

You're gonna have less pms. Actually, I had one, one client doing the seed cycling before I really, like, put her on a whole supplement plan and she started losing the weight. And that was just amazing. Like, just. Just adding in simple foods like this can make a profound difference. Now, I'm not saying it's going to always help everyone lose the weight or get rid of the pms, but it can definitely really help reduce some of those symptoms and improve certain things that. That you're experiencing.

Well, it just shows you, like, the. The line I always say is, your body's not a bank account chemistry lab. And that, like, you know, I've seen it so many times for now, 30 years, like, you could be eating healthy and exercising, but if your hormones aren't dialed in, you could be gaining weight and you're like, what is going on? So you got to look at the whole picture and see which things are not working and then go through and fix the things that you can, starting with putting yourself first.

Right, Absolutely. I completely agree.

All right, so what we're going to do is make sure that you take the quiz. And again, it's the estrogen dominance quiz. So that's edquiz. Jjvirgin.com edquiz and thank you so much for just dropping so many value bombs here. It was just like a. Like a little medical school course.

Oh, yeah, Absolutely. You are most welcome. And there's so, so much. But yeah, I mean, if you want to learn more, I actually wrote a book about it. It's called Estrogen is a Bitch. So definitely take the quiz. But if you get the result, like, you're likely estrogen. Domina. That's another step that you can take to learn more about, you know, this, what's going on in the body. And I dive more into the steps as well. Different things that you can do. Includes meal plans. So that is also, like, just full of information for. For you.

Awesome. We will. We'll put that on the quiz that. The page as well. And I also have mentioned that when I was doing my intro to you, so it's all in there. Make sure you grab that too, because again, all this stuff, I know it was really fast. You'll probably want to listen to it again, but you can grab book and get walked through everything. So thank you again. I appreciate you.

Yeah, you are most welcome. Thank you jj.

All right, those mood swings and cramps and all the rest of that, those are going away, right? Not on my watch, I say. So Lots of great tips in this interview and again, I'm going to recommend taking the quiz jjvirgin.com sled quiz and grabbing the Estrogen is a book so that you have all the tools right at your fingertips. And I will see you next week. Oh, and by the way, if you have not yet subscribed, make sure you do so you don't miss a juicy moment.

Hello listeners, this is Anne Bogle, author, blogger, and creator of the podcast what Should I Read next? Since 2016, I've been helping readers bring more joy and delight into their reading lives. Every week, I take all things books and reading with a guest and guide them in discovering their next read. They share three books they love, one book they don't, and what they've been reading lately, and I recommend three titles they may enjoy reading next. Guests have said our conversations are like therapy, troubleshooting issues that have plagued their reading lives for years and possibly the rest of their lives as well. And of course, recommending books that meet the moment. Whether they are looking for deep introspection to spur or encourage a life change, or a frothy page turner to help them escape the stresses of work, school, everything. You'll learn something about yourself as a reader and you'll definitely walk away confident to choose your next read, with a whole list of new books and authors to try. So join us each Tuesday for what Should I Read? Read Next. Subscribe now wherever you're listening to this podcast and visit our website, what ShouldIreadNextPodcast.com to find out more.