Written by Gabby Borgerink

What is Estrogen?

Estrogen is a hormone of growth. It is most dominant hormone in the first half of our cycles, starting to build from the first day of the menstrual cycle and peaking just before ovulation. Estrogen works with progesterone in our cycle to build the uterine lining. Estrogen specifically promotes the building up of the uterine lining for implantation, while progesterone directs the effort.

Benefits of Estrogen

So what makes estrogen amazing? It

• is important for bone development and protects against bone loss.
• plays an important role in our mood and brain health.
• plays a role in blood clotting.
• maintains the strength and thickness of vaginal wall.

But an important thing to keep in mind is estrogen often gets a bad rap because we have either too much of it accumulating in our tissues, and/or not enough progesterone to balance out the effects. 

Imbalanced Estrogen

While having estrogen is good, having too much or too little estrogen is bad. Some signs of imbalanced estrogen include

• PMS
• Headaches
• Painful periods
• Heavy, clotty periods
• Fibrocystic breasts
• Inability to lose weight

You can find out for sure through hormonal tests, or find further indicators through fertility charting!

Keeping Estrogen in Check

There are a lot of ways to encourage healthy estrogen levels in your body. Implementing even one can be extremely beneficial, but the more you implement, the better off your body will be.

Support detoxification pathways and blood sugar balance

• Balance of protein, fat and carbs at each meal and snack. This ensures the liver is supported and our gut so toxins and excess estrogen can be eliminated from the body.
• Ensure you are getting plenty of bioavailable protein throughout the day from sources such as grass-fed pasture raised meats, collagen, gelatin, eggs, seafood, gelatinous bone broth, and quality dairy.

• Here is a blog to learn more about progesterone and how to support it. Essentially, managing progesterone is key to keeping estrogen levels in check. 

• Canola, soybean, vegetable oils are all inflammatory and heavily processed, instead opt for coconut oil, avocado oil, grass fed butter or ghee, tallow and animal fats.
• Take inventory of your stressors. Where can you limit them? Or seek extra support? It is important to nourish the body extra during times of stress because our demands for minerals, carbs and everything else increase as our body burns through them faster. 

• Hormonal contraception, tap water, fragrances, chemical cleaners, pesticides, etc. These chemicals can all mimic estrogen in the body and contribute to our estrogen load, so it is best to limit where we can and reduce the amount we come into contact with. 

• Supplementing with magnesium bisglycinate can be helpful, soaking in epsom salt baths, adding quality sea salt to meals, eating quality chocolate (yes! Enjoy your chocolate) and choose mineral rich foods such as bone broth and coconut water.

Whichever you choose, whether it's just one or all of the suggestions, just take it one step at a time! 

Gabby Borgerink is a Certified Nutritional Practitioner who works with women to educate about hormones and how they can support their body through nutrition and lifestyle. After her experience coming off hormonal contraception and trying both conventional and alternative health care, Gabby believes in the power of listening to your body and getting to the root cause of your health problems through a holistic approach. Her goal is for women to take back the power of their menstrual cycle and support them in balancing their hormones from a bio-individual approach. Visit her website or find her on Instagram to connect and learn more.