If they are telling you to eat fresh churned butter and grass-fed beef and stay away from soy, you might want to look a little deeper. What you’ll likely find is that their evidence is ‘anecdotal;’ what they’ve seen with clients. But here’s the thing: the people that succeed stay with them and those that don’t will usually do something else. You know that’s true: if you go see someone & the treatment doesn’t work, you usually go somewhere else. Very few people will stay with someone; be it a doctor or health coach, a business consultant or anyone else if they don’t get the results they’re looking for. People get tired of hitting their heads against the wall!

If they’ve written books, likely you’ll find the major references for their books are their own articles with their own opinions and theories but little real science in the way of published journal articles. (This also says nothing about the quality of any studies quoted; an additional level of scrutiny that must be applied in order to really evaluate the truth.

And NONE of this says anything about the long-term effect of eating the saturated fat known to stiffen our arteries and cause heart disease and strokes (and much more).

I’ve done the research looking at both sides, and if you’ll allow me to, I’ll summarize the truth about soy, dairy & your hormones for you. (Actually, I’ll summarize it anyway and it’ll be here later even if you don’t read it now!)

The Issue with Dairy: A Hormone Pill in the Form of Food

Dairy contains estrogen, progesterone, growth hormone and more. Dairy is bovine growth fluid much the same as mother’s milk is human growth fluid. Here’s the difference: mother’s milk basically triples a baby weight in a year. Cow’s milk turns a 50-lb. calf into a 1000 lb. cow in a year; that’s a 20-fold increase! Now granted, genetics and volume play a role in that, but if you look around the world at cultures that don’t consume dairy (eg. Japanese, Chinese, Okinawan, and others) you find the thinnest people in the world. (Studies also show that when these people move to the West, they look like us in less than 10 years. So, no, it isn’t genetic.)

In addition, studies (references available on request) show that human estrogen levels spike in the hours after people consume dairy. So if you’re feeding a pre-pubescent child dairy, they are getting a spike in estrogen each time and it’s contributing to the laying down of additional fat (a known function of estrogen; to make body stores for pregnancy and nursing), the development of female secondary sex characteristics and more. (I’ll discuss other issues that also impact hormones in future blogs).

It also does the same to adult women (and men. . . man-boobs!) though the difference may not be as noticeable in the reproductive years. But once we get into peri-menopause, our progesterone levels have significantly diminished and the ratio between estrogen & progesterone is thought to be the major cause of hot flashes, though the entire mechanism is not entirely worked out.

Cheese: A High Potency Hormone in the Form of Food

“But I don’t drink milk,” I can hear you saying. Remember that cheese is concentrated milk and 1 oz. of cheese will act similarly as about 1 cup of fluid milk. Add the yogurt, cream in your late, and other dairy; including hidden dairy in processed foods you are likely consuming and you have a significant issue.

When I cut dairy out, as hard as it was, it was the single thing that made the most difference both for weight loss (Read my story) and diminishing the hot flashes. Now, I honestly don’t even miss it. Add a plant-strong diet, some exercise and more things I’ll discuss in upcoming blogs and the difference will be profound.

Soy: Put the Misconception to Rest

The Paleo & Keto pushers of the world want you to know soy is evil! If it’s so evil, I wonder why the 2 ½ billion people in Southeast Asia, most of whom live longer healthier lives than us, never got the memo!

Note that everything I say here pertains to organic soy only! Unfortunately, in this country, if it’s not organic or at least labeled non-GMO, it’s likely genetically modified. (If you have questions about the dangers of GMOs, leave a comment below & if I get enough response, I’ll write about it. It’s not something I want to spend the time & space on unless I’m clear people want more info.)

Genistein Is NOT Estrogen

Soy contains genistein, a phytochemical that’s capable of binding to estrogen receptors on your cells. (Men also have estrogen receptors.) Receptor sites can be likened to a lock & key mechanism. So, once the ‘key’ is in the door, then whatever is in the key can act on the cell. Herein lies the misconception because it turns out that although soy binds to the estrogen sites, it doesn’t act like estrogen in the cell. It doesn’t cause the laying down of fat, it doesn’t contribute to secondary sex characteristics or do other things estrogen does. In fact, it does just the opposite. Studies done on women with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer show that they have fewer re-occurrences & metastasis if they are consuming soy. (references available)

In addition, when you look at things like hormone-related cancers (breast, prostate, ovarian, uterine, GI tract, thyroid) countries of the world that consume soy have a much lower rate than countries like the U.S. that consume little. (It’s also thought that the high consumption of dairy is contributory).

The Advantage of Soy

So, effectively, you have a compound that occupies the estrogen site on the cell so that your own estrogen (which continues to be made albeit in smaller quantities) can’t bind to the cell as readily. Now, if you’re eating enough fiber, as the liver metabolizes the excess, the body can excrete it. However, if you’re not (which most Americans don’t), as the estrogen metabolites move down the digestive tract, they will get resorbed and made into more estrogen!

An additional thing I’ll mention about soy is the same thing I talk about with grains and nuts; less processed is always better. So edamame and tempeh are better than soy sauce and tofu. Much the same a nuts are better than nut-butters. The reason for this is that when you pulverize a plant cell, it’s akin to pre-digesting it; it leaves all the nutrients available and you’re going to absorb every last gram of fat. Because we don’t crush the cell walls of plants very readily with our teeth, we don’t absorb all the fat. Thus, effectively, whole foods are less ‘fattening’ than processed foods.

So, in conclusion, one of the best things you can do to help balance your hormones; whether you’re suffering from peri-menopause issues, PMS, PCOS or any other related issue is to start consuming soy and eliminating dairy.

Leave a comment below.

The post The Truth About Soy, Dairy & Your Hormones appeared first on Dr Leslie K. Empowered Wellness.

“If only the hot flashes didn’t come at the most ridiculous times! Right in the middle of an important presentation . . . Again! This Peri-menopause stuff just makes me feel so out of control!

”The mood swings; I’m so short-tempered with my kids! My poor son, I blew up him again yesterday over something really stupid! … And I just can’t think straight anymore. Sometimes it’s really scary! … ” She went on.

I could feel her pain & frustration.

This had been going for what seemed like forever to her. Really, it had been about 6 months. That’s a significant amount of time in anyone’s world; especially when you don’t know how to make it go away; you feel so out of control. Now she was thinking the only choice she had was medication; either ‘traditional drugs’ or ‘bio-identical hormones.’

Sally (not her real name) had consulted with me to learn how safe or not safe the choices were (and if there were other choices she didn’t know about). Over the years she had made other healthcare decisions that she is now questioning. She knew, like most of us, that she wasn’t being pro-active “enough” (her words) in other areas of her health too (diet, exercise, stress reduction, maybe more).

Peri-menopause; the hot flashes, short temper, and brain fog; it was all just “one more thing,” as she put it. But it was having a profound and devastating effect on her life. She thought peri-menopause and the symptoms from it weren’t related to anything accept her ‘age and her cycles’ but she was about to learn differently.

First, after I listened to how out of control she felt things were, I gave her some much-needed information about ‘traditional’ hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Studies show it DOES increase cancer rates and is associated with an increased rate of death from a few different conditions.

And I explained that studies DON’T show bio-identical hormones are significantly better in many ways. (set up your consultation here.)

I also told her my own personal story and why I love working with women in this stage of life so much.

“I’ve been there.” I let her know. I had gone on bio-identical hormones, assuming they were safer because I, too, had felt so out of control. Then I gained nearly 20 lbs. in 2 months! We tried adjusting the dose and I was still gaining weight. Finally, I just said enough is enough. At that rate, I’d weigh 200 lbs. in just a few months! (more about me another time.)

That’s when I started really researching facts vs. hype.

Hype: Bio-identical hormones are ‘safer.’

Fact: The research I’ve done; actually reading studies; NOT looking at doctor’s or interest group’s websites, shows differently. For some side effects there is a statistically significant decrease (a small one) but for many side effects of hormone use, either the jury is still out or there’s no difference.

Hype: Organic dairy is ‘better’ than soy for women.

Fact: Even organic dairy comes from a (usually pregnant) and nursing cow and is loaded with hormones. Fact: the genistein in soy has LESS hormonal activity than estrogen but it binds to your cells like estrogen; thereby allowing your body to excrete excess estrogen (IF you eat enough fiber to move it out of your system before it gets resorbed!) Fact: Societies that eat little or no dairy and more fiber than we do (traditional Japanese, Chinese, Okinawan, and others) don’t suffer like we do.

Hype: If you don’t go on hormones in some form, your symptoms will be out of control and how much you’ll suffer for how long will be anyone’s guess.

Fact: There are specific foods, like Cole-plants (broccoli, kale, etc) and others that help your liver metabolize & excrete estrogens. Fact: there are some foods that societies who don’t suffer like we do consume and there are foods we eat and they don’t. Fact: when these women move to the Western World, if they adopt a Western Diet, they have more symptoms.  

Hype: Weight gain is a part of the process and the only way around that is a paleo or keto diet.

Fact: Your metabolism does naturally slow some as you age. Fact: There are hundreds of hidden calories in the Standard American Diet (SAD) and even for those of us who think we are eating healthier than SAD, we are still quite SAD. (Really check the labels, you’ll be shocked.)

To bring this back around to Sally.

She thought she was doing pretty well with her diet. She was trying to keep mostly to a keto diet. When she first started it, she had lost 20 lbs. in just a couple of months. Then the weight loss slowed to almost a standstill.  When I inquired closer, she’d sometimes have things like a commercial yogurt or a piece of fruit if she was in a hurry or hadn’t prepared.

When I explained that doing that keto really requires you be much stricter and it has an increased mortality rate of 12-25% in studies, she was shocked.

Then we went on to talk about how her diet, her lifestyle, her history (just normal stuff), underlying inflammation, and more were effecting her hormone balance, memory and brain fog issues, her temper and other perimenopause symptoms as well as her weight. She never understood, until now, that it all tied in together.

“Medicine and Western philosophy has done women a great disservice,” I told her.

“We’ve separated ourselves so much from our bodies that we’ve lost sense of how integrated we really are. Our mind affects our body; our body affects our mind. They both affect what we eat; that affects our gut, our microbiome, and more which, in turn, affects all our systems and our entire being.

Just like we’re beginning to see the big picture of how EVERYTHING we do on this planet affects the earth and its health (our environment), we must realize that everything WE do personally affects our health (our internal environment) and that it’s all inter-related.

Now that she understood all that, she was more willing to re-take control. From there, we went on to craft her plan and her program.

If you have a health concern you’d like to discuss,  set up a consultation here.

The post Your Hormones & Peri-Menopause: It Doesn’t Have to be Out of Control appeared first on Dr Leslie K. Empowered Wellness.