Estrogen The Ovary and Adrenal Hormone

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I’d like to discuss a very important hormone called “estrogen”. Estrogen gives the fat layer around a female body (just below the skin), it feminizes bodies, and it causes the development of the female sex organs—the breasts, uterus, fallopian tubes, and vagina. This hormone is produced mainly by the ovaries, but also by the adrenal glands and fat cells.

Estrogen has bone-making qualities as well as an effect of connecting the ends of bones together. This is why women are shorter than men, because of the closing of bone plates. Estrogen makes the skin soft and smooth. Estrogen has a slight effect of sodium retention.

When estrogen is increased excessively, a woman can accumulate surplus fat not only under the skin as cellulite, but also on the buttocks, the outer thighs, and just below the bellybutton. This fat (potential energy) can then be used during pregnancy to help in the survival of the infant.

You don’t want your estrogen level to be too low or too high.

There are several ways to get excess estrogen. One is from birth-control pills, or HRT, or even from the hormones given to fatten cattle, chickens, turkeys, or farm-raised fish. Another way is through environmental estrogens and chemicals that mimic estrogen, such as pesticides, insecticides, heavy metals, plastics, etc. These are called “endocrine disruptors” and they can trigger ovarian cysts, fibroids, or even cysts in the breasts.

Yet another way is to get pregnant. Because excess estrogen inhibits thyroid function, during pregnancy many women who have a borderline thyroid end up with a major thyroid dysfunction.

This is probably why many women have a hard time losing weight after childbearing. And because estrogen destroys the liver and 80 percent of the conversion of the thyroid hormones (from T4 to T3) occurs in the liver, a person could have many thyroid symptoms with the primary cause coming from the liver, not the thyroid.

Women have over a thousand times more receptors for estrogen than men, which mean they can accumulate more toxins. Men have estrogen receptors in their prostate, liver and heart.

Exercising to exhaustion or not letting your body recover after exercise can affect estrogen levels.

Drinking red wine has shown a connection to increasing estrogen levels.

Eating cruciferous vegetables can reduce environmental estrogens and chemicals that mimic estrogens. These vegetables include kale, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, and radish.

When a person has liver damage, estrogen cannot be broken down and eliminated properly from the body. This leads to high estrogen level in the body. In a male body, enlarged breasts, thinned skin and a higher voice may occur.

In summary:

1. Eat organic food (without pesticides).
2. Increase cruciferous vegetables.
3. Limit the amount of environmental estrogens you are exposed to.
4. Don’t over-train, and include proper rest after workouts.
5. Make sure your eggs and meats are without hormones.