Top 3 Worst Hormone Disruptors - Check Your Cabinets... Both Kitchen & Bathroom
Hormones are volatile messengers in our body that can be as easily disrupted as fast as they can be balanced. Common symptoms of hormone imbalance generally include weight gain/inability to lose weight, low libido, mood swings, low energy, insomnia, acne, and night sweats, all or some of which we may experience even when we're convinced that our diet is really healthy. Unfortunately removing obstacles to cure is not always as simple as "eat a few more vegetables and drink more water."
Products that contribute to symptoms of hormone disruption are not only found in kitchen cabinets, but bathroom cabinets as well. For example, most breast cancers (correlated with high estrogen) are found in the upper outer quadrant of the breast, yet many drugstore deodorants contain ingredients that promote estrogen growth and our armpit is right next to that upper outer quadrant. A good chunk of our lymph nodes (our immune system) are also in that same area, so these chemicals get absorbed quickly (it's thin skin) into our blood and lymph. Biopsies tend to show these chemicals prevalent within our bodies. Furthermore, some of the chemicals found in products are found in food, and if our diet is not solely plant based, we need to consider what those animals are being fed.
Top 3 Worst Hormone Disruptors:
Meat- Yes, meat is fine (good source of highly absorbable type of iron, called heme, as well as protein), and you don't need to know it's name or the farm it grew up on (in reference to the show Portlandia), but conventional meat can be laced with chemicals, soy, antibiotics, and hormones depending on how they're treated and what they're fed. Your best choice is to go for pastured, organic, or grass-fed.
Dairy- Dairy is a growth hormone. It is given to babies (humans and animals) to have them increase exponentially in size in a short period of time as they are meant to grow that much. After about 2-3 years old, humans don't need dairy, and many become intolerant as we age. Regular consumption can also increase estrogen levels (estrogen helps things grow in the body), as places around the world with highest dairy consumption also have the highest rates of breast and female reproductive cancers. And what was touted for an ideal source of calcium and vitamin D, can be also be found in vegetables and fish, for example, respectively.
Artificial colors- It's not just in food, but also in cosmetics, beverages, pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and certain cleaning products. It will be listed as 'artificial colors', or literally the color itself. Artificial colors are made from petroleum, a well-known chemical that disrupts ideal endocrine function. Reading labels on your products is just as important as reading labels on your food.
Find out other strategies you can take to achieve your natural balance here! :)
Health extends into lifestyle habits, which not only includes nutrition, but how we live. Two people with hormone imbalances may have them for completely different reasons, and a different priority on which obstacles to cure. Understanding the many different organ systems, external living cues, and implementing foundations of health to include proper sleep, stress management, and nutrition, are also integrated into a plan- but a plan that is created specifically for the individual to maximize compliance and overall satisfaction.