THE PHASES YOU WANT ESTROGEN TO GO DOWN ON.
If you’re struggling with estrogen dominance or symptoms of it like acne, PMS, hirsutism, painful and heavy periods, headaches, mood swings, and so forth, THIS post is for you.
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Think of your liver as a water slide park.
There are 3 slides, but not everyone can go down the same slide.
You have genes that make enzymes, and yes, you CAN influence your body to not be dictated by your genetics, but they STILL play a role. These enzymes, also called CYP450 enzymes, will dictate which slide your estrogen will go down.
(NOTE: These enzymes are dependent on iron. CHECK THIS POST FOR MORE INFO).
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🧬The CYP1A1 enzyme will have estrogen go down the fun slide, also called the 2-OH-E1. This is the least cancerous out of the three. In a perfect world, 80% of our estrogen should go down this slide.
🧬CYP1B1 enzyme pushes estrogen down the more dangerous called the 4-OH-E1. This is a more cancerous pathway. We should aim to get 10% of our estrogen going down this one.
🧬The last enzyme, CYP3A4, pushes it down a more proliferative slide also called the 16-OH-E1.This is beneficial for bone health (aka growth of bone density), but can make other things ‘grow’ like fibroids, heavy periods, boobs, and even cancer. The left over, about 15% should be going down this one.
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As you can see, no pathway will ever be empty. Question now is can we influence which pathway our estrogen goes down beyond genetics?
YES.
-Are you eating a raw carrot a day?🥕 (check this post)
-Do you have any nutrient deficiencies? (note: check how many nutrients your liver needs)
-Are you surrounded by xenoestrogens? (plastics, metal in makeup, medication like birth control)💊
-Look at your gut health, aka estrobolome!
-Support your liver and gallbladder through cruciferous veggies (sulforaphane, bitters)🥦
-Look into incorporating a vitamin E supplement.

DETOXING ESTROGEN IS A PROCESS.
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Once we go down each pathway, the hormones have to be neutralized and turned into water soluble by methylation so the body can eliminate it. This occurs with a gene called COMT that then makes the COMT enzyme. Some of us are genetically slower in producing COMT, thus slower in neutralizing our estrogens. This isn’t ideal, for this can exacerbate and cause estrogen dominant like symptoms.
NOTE: Coffee and tea (or caffeine), chocolate and even quercetin supplements can slow this process even further.
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Understand that COMT runs off of many nutrients, like b vitamins, choline, magnesium, copper and more.
So now, going back to the slide analogy from yesterday, you have a large pool at the waterpark, each slide will dictate how much of each estrogen the pool will fill up. Now, we want to know how will we get rid of everything in the pool? Is the pool’s drain open, closed, blocked even? We need to look at that so estrogen doesn’t go up the slide again (aka recirculating in the body)
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So how do we do that? We need to make sure that once it has been neutralized that a transporter has sent it to our bile to be excreted via the intestines. This occurs with a fancy word called ATP-binding-cassette (ABC) which transports estrogen out of the cell and into the bile.
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Things YOU can do to optimize phase 2:
1️⃣If you can afford genetic testing, figure out how is your COMT gene.
2️⃣Looking into your MTHFR may even helpful, for then we can know if you methylate your b vitamins well (which is required for this whole process)
3️⃣Are you supporting your liver and gallbladder? Remember, bile is an important factor in transporting your estrogen from the cell to phase 3. (Search up all my blog posts on liver by typing “liver”)
4️⃣Look at all the nutrients the liver and gallbladder need
5️⃣How is your gut? Low HCL? Parasites? SIBO? Constipation? Look at it as the pool’s drain. If it’s blocked, we can’t get rid of it (Check out my gut posts by typing “gut health” or anything along those lines)
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BTW @dr.carriejones is where I got the inspo for the pool analogy, she’s the 👑 of hormones.

THE LAST PHASE OF ESTROGEN DETOX
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So your estrogen went down its pathway (phase 1), was neutralized (phase 2), and now is going to be excreted (phase 3).
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How does this happen? Well, after your estrogen gets neutralized and gets transported via ABC (atp-binding-cassette) into the bile, it is then sent into the digestive system. In there, we have a group of bacteria called the estrobolome that handles the estrogen by producing a specific amount of beta-glucuronidase that helps estrogen bind to estrogen receptors and use it for its necessary purposes. However we don’t want TOO much of it. Once that’s over, estrogen continues along and is excreted via a bowel movement.
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Sounds simple, but there are a few things you need to consider when entering this phase.
1️⃣Estrogen will come out via bile, thus you NEED to make sure you’re producing enough good quality bile so estrogen can be eliminated properly.
Look into bitters, making sure you have enough stomach acidity (eat enough bioavailable protein), cruciferous veggies and allium veggies like garlic and beets.
2️⃣ You need to make sure you’re going number 2 every day! If you’re not, we need to look into WHY because this will cause estrogen to recirculate into the body. It’s got to come out somewhere!
Consider the basics: water, fiber, stress, exercise, undereating, thyroid issues, etc.
3️⃣ Look at gut health too! If you have dysbiosis, this can hinder your bacteria from properly digesting nutrients and causing inflammation, which can slow the process down. Look into see if you have any parasites, SIBO, candida, etc.
4️⃣High levels of beta-glucuronidase can cause us to reabsorb the estrogen we want OUT.
Eliminate processed foods that are high in sugar, fat, low fiber as well as xenoestrogens like plastic water bottles, take out, etc.
5️⃣Some meds can hinder absorption of nutrients, are estrogenic, and antibiotics can kill off your good bacteria. Look into a good quality spore based probiotic! I offer one from @microbiomelabs to all my clients!
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If you need help with any of these 3 phases, I am taking clients!
Click the link here to book a free consult!