Hidden Hormone Disruptors That Might be Sabotaging Your Health
What Are Xenoestrogens?
Xenoestrogens are chemicals that act like estrogen in the body, but in a harmful way. Your body already makes estrogen, and it knows exactly how much you need. But xenoestrogens mimic estrogen and can overload your system, causing estrogen dominance, or when your body has too much estrogen compared to other hormones.
There are two mechanisms in which this happens:
#1 is that is binds to estrogen receptors and mimics it
#2 xenoestrogens bind to estrogen receptors and block the real estrogen from binding. The body gets confused by thinking there is no estrogen so it sends signals to keep producing and pumping estrogen out. It can't tell that the receptor is blocked, leading to an estrogen overload.
Symptoms of estrogen dominance include: PMS, moodiness, breast tenderness, painful, heavy, or irregular periods, bloating, acne, dry skin, fatigue, and decreased libido.
Why Are They a Problem?
When xenoestrogens build up in the body, they can disrupt your hormones making period symptoms unbearable and menopause much worse. They can also increase fat storage, cause skin problems, internal inflammation, affect fertility, and burden the liver; hence, making the problem even worse. Burdening your liver can be a big deal because it is in charge of 500 functions that impact digestion, detoxification, metabolism, hormone regulation, and immune health. The liver is in charge of breaking down and removing excess estrogens and synthetic estrogens. When the liver is overloaded, you cannot eliminate toxins properly. More exposure to toxins leads to fatigue, slow digestion, hormonal imbalances, and potential inflammation.
Where Do Xenoestrogens Come From?
Xenoestrogens are everywhere in our modern world but here is a list of common source
Plastics & Food Storage
Plastic water bottles and food containers (especially when heated!)
Canned foods (lining contains BPA)
Non-stick cookware (Teflon)
Personal Care Products
Skincare and makeup with parabens
Shampoos and conditioners with phthalates
Perfumes and scented body sprays
Lotions (lotions are absorbed into the skin and blood stream very fast)
Household Products
Laundry detergents and fabric softeners with synthetic fragrances
Air fresheners and scented candles
Cleaning products with harsh chemicals and synthetic fragrances
Food & Water
Non-organic produce (pesticides contain hormone disruptors)
Meat and dairy from animals treated with synthetic hormones
Tap water (location dependant)
Water bottles (they are packaged and sit in plastic for long periods of time)
How to Reduce Your Exposure?
This list sounds scary and like there’s nothing you can do right BUT we are not aiming for perfection and we will take this little by little. Anything you can do to lower your xenoestrogen exposure is a great place to start!
Food Storage
Use glass containers
Wait for your food to fully cool off before placing it in plastic
Instead of heating up plastic in the microwave, transfer it to a plate or other container made of a non-plastic material.
Personal Care Products
There are loads of options out there that are paraben and phthalate free.
Choose things that are fragrance free or fragranced with essential oils.
Opt for oils instead of lotions.
Household Products
Consider switched to fragrance free or to things with essential oils instead
Theres a whole market of “clean cleaning products”
Some people also love utilizing baking soda, vinegar, or products like castile soap (my personal favorite)
Food & Water
Start with the dirty dozen list and try to get those organic since they are the most sprayed and have a lot of chemicals on them.
Try to opt for hormone free meats and grass fed, or pasture raised beef without antibiotics
Drink filtered water and opt to not buy water in plastic when possible
