Mostly As: Your progesterone and estrogen are in balance with each other, which is great news! To keep it this way, avoid artificial estrogens as much as you can and eat your broccoli!

Mostly Bs: It sounds like you are suffering from a slight progesterone to estrogen balance. Get rid of any artificial estrogens in your environment, and make sure you’re getting enough B vitamins in your diet.

Mostly Cs: Your symptoms are most likely caused by your estrogen being too high and your progesterone being too low. Too bring these two back into balance, get rid of any artificial estrogens in your environment, cut out soy from your diet, eat plenty of broccoli and other brassicas, and practice stress management techniques. You’ll feel much better when you get these two hormones back on track.

Symptoms of a high estrogen/low progesterone imbalance may include:

• Decreased sex drive
• Heavy periods
• Poor sleep
• Headaches
• Water retention
• Depression and/or anxiety
• Mood swings
• Bloating

 
In our modern world, we’re exposed to tons of artificial estrogens (called xenoestrogens). We get it in the air we breathe, the food we eat, in the cosmetics and cleaners we use, and even the water we drink (look for products that are free of BPA and parabens). Unfortunately, we don’t get any progesterone in our environment, so we get out of balance and our estrogen levels trump our progesterone levels, and this imbalance tanks a woman’s sex drive and makes us feel awful!

If you’re suffering from an imbalance of estrogen and progesterone, here are some suggestions that should help:

B vitamins: They help us break down estrogen in an effective, efficient and safe way. B vitamins help bring us back into balance because they help our body get rid of some of that excess estrogen. B vitamins are readily available in meats, dairy, and nutritional yeast (try on popcorn or as a flavor enhancer in place of salt).

Eat your brassicas: Cabbage, broccoli, and other brassicas (think kale, cauliflower, arugula, bok choy, brussels sprouts) contain a compound called I3c (Indole-3-carbinol) that helps balance out your hormones.

Supplement: Talk to your healthcare practitioner about supplements that can help eliminate excess estrogen and get you back in balance:
– Calcium D-glucarate helps with the elimination of excess estrogen from the system.
– Chaste tree extract helps balance estrogen and progesterone and has been shown in many studies to improve hormone imbalance symptoms.
– Black cohosh has been shown in studies to reduce hot flashes.
– Anti-inflammatory supplements like resveratrol, green tea extract, and turmeric. The newest information on hormones shows that inflammation plays a role in the balance of estrogen and progesterone. These supplements have been shown to help reduce inflammation and improve hormone balance.

Click here to take Part Three of the Hormone Quiz