Understanding Yoga
Women with estrogen dominance should opt for faster, hotter, more aerobic forms of yoga, such as ashtanga, bikram or hot yoga, and power yoga.
Alcohol is particularly problematic for women with estrogen dominance, as it increases estrogen levels, and is associated with fibroids, endometriosis, heavy bleeding, and the development of breast cancer. Plus, it may inhibit ovulation. Moreover, excess alcohol can tax your liver, making it more difficult to detoxify excess estrogen, thus allowing more free estrogen to be circulated in the blood. This can lead to a whole host of issues for estrogen dominant women.
Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are health-promoting nutrients your body needs to perform a whole range of functions. For women with estrogen dominance, EFAs are particularly helpful for reducing inflammation, false fat, and the pain that often accompanies conditions such as endometriosis and menstrual cramps.
The fiber helps to eliminate excess estrogen from your body. According to a study from Tufts University Medical School, vegetarian women excrete two to three times more estrogen in their bowel movements than do other women who eat a diet lower in fiber and higher in fat. This is great news for women with estrogen dominance who are trying to reduce the estrogen load in their body.
And since estrogen dominant women are prone to insulin resistance, the low glycemic, high protein is a huge boon!
Beta-carotene is a plant-based, water-soluble precursor to vitamin A that is abundant in the ovaries, and is found in very high concentrations in the corpus luteum and the adrenal glands—both of which produce progesterone to help balance excess estrogen levels in women with estrogen dominance
Eat organic as often as possible, especially when it comes to animal-based products such as meat, eggs, dairy, etc.
Limit (if not avoid) caffeine and alcohol consumption. Aim for no more one or two caffeinated or alcoholic beverage per week.
Use natural beauty care products.
Choose natural, chemical-free household products as often as possible.
Understanding Yoga
Wednesday, September 8, 2010 by Kimberly Day
September is National Yoga Month, so to honor this amazing practice, I will feature a variety of yoga exercises and/or poses that help to ease a variety of health concerns.
Let’s start with a basic understanding of the different types of yoga you may see offered at your local gym or yoga studio.
Hatha—the basis for most other forms of yoga. It is usually slower and geared toward those new to the practice.
Iyengar—uses props, such as straps, blocks, blankets, etc.
Ashtanga—involves synchronizing breath with movement. It is usually a pretty quick-paced practice.
Anusara—built on impeccable alignment, which in turn helps develop the flexibility and muscle tone to support flawless body mechanics.
Bikram, or hot, yoga—the teacher turns up the heat up in the room during the practice.
Power yoga—more of a gym workout than a discipline. It's usually a combination of Ashtanga and Bikram yogas.
Depending on your hormone profile (i.e. do you have estrogen dominance, are you in premenopause, or do you suffer from menopause symptoms), you will want to choose your yoga practice carefully.
Women with estrogen dominance should opt for faster, hotter, more aerobic forms of yoga, such as ashtanga, bikram or hot yoga, and power yoga. Women looking for menopause relief are better suited to the slower, cooler forms like hatha, iyengar, and anusara yoga.
For more information on female hormones and other health concerns, visit Dr. Lark’s Web site.
1 Comments » Alcohol Affects Estrogen Levels
Friday, August 27, 2010 by Kimberly Day
Numerous studies show that women are markedly less able to tolerate alcohol than men. Women metabolize alcohol slower than men, thus it takes longer to clear out alcohol’s toxic effects.
Alcohol is particularly problematic for women with estrogen dominance, as it increases estrogen levels, and is associated with fibroids, endometriosis, heavy bleeding, and the development of breast cancer. Plus, it may inhibit ovulation. Moreover, excess alcohol can tax your liver, making it more difficult to detoxify excess estrogen, thus allowing more free estrogen to be circulated in the blood. This can lead to a whole host of issues for estrogen dominant women.
Plus, alcohol worsens menopause symptoms, including hot flashes and mood swings. It is particularly pronounced in women who suffer from night sweats and insomnia. And, alcohol is a diuretic. This means that overconsumption can lead to dehydration of your skin and tissues, as well as loss of essential minerals through urination.
For more information on foods that affect estrogen levels and other hormone issues, visit Dr. Lark’s Web site.
0 Comments » Estrogen Dominance-Friendly Snack
Tuesday, August 24, 2010 by Kimberly Day
I recently came across Beanitos, a new snack “chip” that is made from black beans or pinto beans, whole grain rice and/or flaxseed, sea salt, and vegetable oil. They are corn-free, gluten-free, and soy-free. They are also low glycemic, high in fiber, and are packed with essential fatty acids and protein. In short, they are a Godsend for women with estrogen dominance!
Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are health-promoting nutrients your body needs to perform a whole range of functions. For women with estrogen dominance, EFAs are particularly helpful for reducing inflammation, false fat, and the pain that often accompanies conditions such as endometriosis and menstrual cramps.
The fiber helps to eliminate excess estrogen from your body. According to a study from Tufts University Medical School, vegetarian women excrete two to three times more estrogen in their bowel movements than do other women who eat a diet lower in fiber and higher in fat. This is great news for women with estrogen dominance who are trying to reduce the estrogen load in their body.
And since estrogen dominant women are prone to insulin resistance, the low glycemic, high protein is a huge boon! Plus, they taste great…I paired them with homemade guacamole to get even more great EFAs.
So, if you have estrogen dominance, switch away from your other chips and give these a try.
For more information on estrogen dominance, excess estrogen levels, or other hormone issues, visit Dr. Lark’s Web site.
0 Comments » Beta-Carotene for Estrogen Dominance
Thursday, August 12, 2010 by Kimberly Day
Beta-carotene is a plant-based, water-soluble precursor to vitamin A that is abundant in the ovaries, and is found in very high concentrations in the corpus luteum and the adrenal glands—both of which produce progesterone to help balance excess estrogen levels in women with estrogen dominance, and support progesterone levels, even if greatly reduced after menopause.
Research studies have also found carotenoids such as beta carotene are useful in treating or preventing conditions related to estrogen dominance, including ovarian cancer, heavy menstrual bleeding, and benign breast disease. Additionally, studies have shown that high levels of vitamin A can help reverse fibrocystic breast disease.
To ensure that you are getting enough beta-carotene in your diet, be sure to include plenty of the following foods: carrots, kale, spinach, squash, sweet potatoes, mangoes, cantaloupe, apricots, and cabbage.
For more information on estrogen dominance, visit Dr. Lark’s Web site.
0 Comments » Hormone Replacement Therapy Dangers
Friday, August 6, 2010 by Kimberly Day
Reports on the risks associated with conventional hormone replacement therapy (HRT) have filled medical journals for more than 20 years. There was clear evidence that conventional HRT use increased a woman’s risk for heart disease and breast cancer. And yet, many physicians were still insisting on prescribing conventional hormone replacement therapy. And many women were still taking it. But the summer of 2002 forever removed the curtain of doubt surrounding the dangers of HRT.
On July 17, 2002, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported on the findings from one part of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), an 8.5 year project funded by the National Institutes of Health. The WHI involved 161,809 postmenopausal women between the ages of 50 and 79, and outlined the benefits and risks of a variety of treatments designed to lower the incidences of several diseases, including heart disease, breast and colon cancer, and fractures in postmenopausal women. Of this group, 16,608 women who were healthy and had an intact uterus participated in one part of the WHI, which tested the effectiveness of estrogen/progestin therapy.
According to the findings, women taking estrogen/progestin for five years or more had an increased risk for blood clots, coronary heart disease (CHD), strokes, and breast cancer. The researchers concluded, "The results indicate that this regimen should not be initiated or continued for primary prevention of CHD."
The data indicated that if 10,000 women took the drugs for a year and 10,000 did not, women in the first group would have eight more cases of invasive breast cancer, seven more heart attacks, eight more strokes, and 18 more instances of blood clots.
In fact, researchers felt so strongly about the negative implications of long-term combined hormone replacement therapy, especially the unacceptably high risk for breast cancer, that they ended the study three years early! Participants were contacted and instructed to stop taking the drug—immediately.
The Research is Clear
The research leaves no room for doubt about conventional hormone replacement therapy and its negative effects on women’s health.
It does not reduce a woman's risk of heart disease. While it can improve HDL and LDL cholesterol levels, these improvements are not associated with fewer heart attacks or other heart problems.
It increases a woman’s risk of heart attack, stroke, and blood clots.
It does not reverse pre-existing heart disease.
It raises levels of C-reactive protein, an indicator of inflammation that is a strong predictor of a future heart attack.
It increases the risk of invasive breast cancer.
It increases the likelihood of an abnormal mammogram after just one year of use.
It increases risk of gallbladder disease by 40 percent.
Where Do We Go From Here?
While many physicians and researchers are still hoarding the "fool's gold" known as hormone replacement therapy, complementary medicine is busily mining the mother lode of real gold—and women are taking notice.
Large numbers of American women are either abandoning their hormone replacement therapy or deciding to never start taking it. Many are rejecting physicians unfamiliar with or unsympathetic to natural health supports. They are also realizing the power and wisdom of using natural medicines and herbal remedies for easing menopausal discomforts, and are very interested in natural solutions for heart disease and osteoporosis.
Before changing your hormone replacement therapy regimen, be sure to discuss your plans with your physician. Chances are, you will be able to eliminate your conventional hormone replacement therapy or dramatically reduce the dose you require for symptomatic relief. Either way, you win: Recent research indicates that breast cancer risk returns to normal within a few years of stopping HRT, and it's likely that lower-dose HRT has less of an adverse impact on estrogen-positive breast cancer risk.
For more information about hormone replacement therapy and for a variety of natural hormone replacement therapy options, visit Dr. Lark's Web site.
0 Comments » Hormone Replacement Therapy and Breast Cancer
Thursday, August 5, 2010 by Kimberly Day
Not so long ago, conventional hormone replacement therapy's impact on breast cancer risk was still the subject of heated debate. This debate essentially ended when an article described by a Harvard Medical School professor as "close to being the final word" on conventional hormone replacement therapy and breast cancer was published in the Lancet.
Fifty-one studies involving more than 161,000 women were reviewed. The conclusion: Conventional hormone replacement therapy increased the risk of breast cancer with each year of use. Women using conventional hormone replacement therapy for five or more years were at 35 percent greater risk.
Another study revealed that after 10 years of use, estrogen replacement therapy (hormone replacement therapy using estrogen alone) increased a woman's risk of dying from breast cancer by 43 percent. Other similar studies indicate that combined estrogen-progestin therapy, the kind used by most women, increases breast cancer risk even more than estrogen replacement therapy does!
Concerns about combined estrogen-progestin hormone replacement therapy were identified by a large National Cancer Institute study and were reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study concluded that women who took the combined treatment for five years were 40 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than women taking estrogen alone or no hormones.
Similarly, other studies have confirmed an even higher 60 to 70 percent increase in breast cancer risk with the long-term use of HRT.
While the figures vary from study to study, the evidence is clear, compelling, and consistent—conventional hormone replacement therapy increases a woman's risk of developing breast cancer, and with each additional year of use, that risk gets higher.
Opt instead for natural hormone replacement therapy options, such as maca, black cohosh, and bioidentical hormone replacement.
For more information on HRT and natural hormone replacement therapy options, visit Dr. Lark's Web site.
1 Comments » Estrogen Levels in Food and the Environment
Friday, July 30, 2010 by Kimberly Day
While estrogen levels decline with age, the amount of estrogen in your body is influenced by a range of other factors, including diet and environmental toxins—a topic that has not received sufficient attention to date.
Meat, poultry, and dairy foods contain estrogens that have been injected into the animals to fatten them for market. One of the synthetic estrogens routinely given to livestock was DES (diethylstilbestrol). DES was also given to women to prevent miscarriages and symptoms of menopause, until it was associated with birth defects in their offspring and was finally banned in 1979. However, today poultry and livestock, especially dairy cows, are still given other forms of estrogen compounds. Hormones such as estrogen accumulate in fatty tissue in the animals we eat as well as in us, and high-fat diets have been associated with changes in human estrogen levels.
Caffeine and alcohol consumption can also influence estrogen levels. Excessive alcohol intake can affect the liver’s ability to break down estrogen for excretion, thereby elevating the body’s blood estrogen levels, particularly of the more chemically active forms of estrogen. Even public water supplies may contain estrogens, if that water is recycled at treatment plants and still contains traces of excreted synthetic estrogens, such as those contained in birth control pills and excreted from the bodies of women using these products.
Additionally, pollutants that have estrogen-like activity when they are taken into the body (xenoestrogens) are found in an enormous range of products for the home and workplace. They are present in cosmetics, detergents and dishwashing liquids, and bug spray. Pesticides and industrial chemicals such as organochlorines, dioxins, and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) also contain substances related to estrogen.
There are many suspected health consequences of our wide exposure to xenoestrogens, including an increased risk of PMS and breast cancer. This problem has also affected male reproductive health, and has been implicated in lowering sperm counts in men all over the world.
To avoid these dangers, be sure to take the following precautions:
Eat organic as often as possible, especially when it comes to animal-based products such as meat, eggs, dairy, etc.
Limit (if not avoid) caffeine and alcohol consumption. Aim for no more one or two caffeinated or alcoholic beverage per week.
Use natural beauty care products.
Choose natural, chemical-free household products as often as possible.
For more information on estrogen levels or other issues related to female hormones, visit Dr. Lark’s Web site.
0 Comments » Maca for Estrogen Dominance
Friday, July 16, 2010 by Kimberly Day
I have been taking maca for my estrogen dominance for at least five years now. In addition to my foundational supplement regimen, it is the one supplement I simply cannot do without.
Maca is a malty, butterscotch flavored root from Peru that operates as an adaptogenic herb to help regulate hormones produced by glands in the endocrine system. In other words, it helps your body produce its own unique balance of female hormones. It does this by encouraging your ovaries and adrenals to produce the hormones you need, in the levels you need them.
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