ESTROGEN

Estrogen is the hormone that most defines you as a woman. It’s a steroid hormone, the primary female sex hormone and consists of three main types; estrone, estradiol and estriol. It has 300+ jobs, and affects your brain, heart, skin, liver, ovaries, uterus, bones and breasts. It drives what you’re interested in, makes you curvy and when you have the right balance between estrogen and progesterone, you feel balanced, happy, juicy and your bones are strong, your mental health is good, your metabolism is functioning properly, your skin is clear and smooth and your periods are regular and mild.

Today, it’s common for women to have too much estrogen in relation to progesterone, which represent a dramatic shift in our hormones levels over the past century. And the reason is both that women have higher stress levels (which lowers progesterone via cortisol steal), and that we’re more exposed to hormone disruptors and synthetic estrogens (found in personal care products, plastic, food) now than ever before. The result is estrogen overload, or sometimes estrogen-dominance. The trick is to keep the estrogen and progesterone in balance, neither too high or too low. Estrogen balance is directly related to progesterone and ideally, you want to have a rhythm between these two hormones, estrogen in which is the flirtatious, curvy member of the team and progesterone which plays a less dramatic, supportive role. Balance is crucial because estrogen and progesterone have opposing yet interdependent effects, similar to the Chinese concept of yin and yang. Estrogen stimulates the lining of the uterus to grow; progesterone stops the growth, stabilizes it, and then releases it, both in coordinated rhythms throughout our menstrual cycle. Estrogen stimulates breast cells to grow; progesterone prevents cysts from developing. So aim for balance ladies.

Picture from pinterest