Fat tissue (body fat) is also endocrine tissue

Here’s an interesting fact you probably didn’t know.

Those extra pounds we carry around...they’re doing something you were probably completely unaware of. They’re PRODUCING hormones.

Around 10 years before a woman reaches menopause (the time known as perimenopause), progesterone and estrogen production starts to drop. But since body fat also makes estrogen, woman struggle with a condition called Estrogen Dominance, when estrogen levels are higher than progesterone levels (even if they are both low). This could cause symptoms like worsening PMS, painful periods, periods that last longer or are heavier, problems with sleep and mood, extra fat storage and more.

This extra estrogen production is in addition to the additional estrogen we’re getting in through our food and the estrogen-mimicking compounds we take in from our environment (e.g. toxic household cleaning products and personal hygiene/skincare/hair care products that look to the body like estrogen). This is where our food choices and lifestyle practices really matter. Avoiding insulin resistance, eating high quality fresh produce and organic, cage-free animal products, optimizing liver and digestive functioning to move the surplus estrogen out of the body, managing stress (a huge driver of hormone disruption) and switching out toxic products for non-toxic products can go a long way to helping balance hormones naturally.

Don’t underestimate the value and importance of your choices. You have way more control than you were aware of. When we know better, we can do better!