Best Foods to Fight Estrogen

I'm reading through Ori Hefmeklers, "Anti-Estrogenic Diet," right now.  To much estrogen is a problem for many people.  When you want to lose fat and gain muscle this is often a stumbling block for both men and women.

Not only do you have to deal with actual estrogen, but also chemical factors that can mimic estrogen, called xenoestrogens.  I've talked about them previously.  Essentially xenoestrogens are chemicals in our environment that mimic estrogen.

There are naturally occurring estrogen's in food/plants called phytoestrogens.  They have the ability to hurt and harm.  Some phytoestrogens that occur in sources such as soy isoflavones actually promote estrogen activity. Soy IS NOT GOOD for you!

Some herbs that promote estrogen or are anti-progesterone include licorice and red clover.  Hops in beer is also pro estrogen. (bummer, I love my stouts)  Beer belly may in fact be called estrogen belly.

One of the primary reasons you want to limit and avoid estrogen is that it interferes with a highly beneficial hormone called progesterone.  Progesterone is an "anti-estrogenic" hormone.  This is a precursor hormone for all kinds of good stuff.

So I am going to list foods and ingredients to add into your meals to help get a better estrogen ratio.

Right off the bat, eat tons of the cruciferous veggies.  These are broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and cabbage.  Wild fish (not farm raised)  omega 3's are beneficial for limiting estrogen.  Other protein sources are grass fed beef and sardines.

These herbs/spices promote anti-estrogen or are pro-progesterone include, green tea, querciten, thyme, oregano and turmeric.

Quercetin is found in onions and garlic.

Omega 3's in fish oil.  These help balance out the estrogen promoting omega 6's fatty acids that we eat in grains.  This is another of the reasons to try to give up or limit grains.

Raw nuts and seeds help promote anti-estrogenic hormones.  They do this by plant sterols that promote progesterone in women and testosterone in men.  Other foods that fit this sterol category are avocados, olives and cold pressed oils.

Raw milk from grass fed cows contain conjugated linoleic acid (CLA).  This is anti-estrogenic and anti-cancerous.  If not whole raw milk, look for aged cheese and grass fed butter.

Citrus fruits also have a detoxifying effect for the liver which promotes a slight anti estrogenic activity.  The other helpful fruit is red apples because of it contains quercetin.

For alcohol, the best option is red wine because of the resveratol.  This is anti-estrogenic.

This is a pretty solid list to start turning that grocery list into an anti-estrogenic, progesterone promoting menu.  Build the muscle, lose the belly.