In the early 1900s estrogen was discovered/isolated. Big Pharma found abundant estrogen in the urine of pregnant horses. Premarin (pregnant mare’s urine) was then approved
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"Alternative" medicine has been around for about 5,000 years. Back then, it was simply called "medicine".
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Too many patients and health care providers think estrogen drives cancer for women and testosterone drives cancer in men.
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You know from my past articles that many botanicals can improve hot flashes and night sweats.
But did you realize that you can get these botanicals via tea, not just via supplements?
Many natural components of foods and herbs modulate enzymes. These enzymes then can change both levels and actions of hormones.
Sulfotransferases:
These enzymes add a sulphur group to estrogen, inactivating it in order to remove it from the body.
Zingiber officinale, aka "ginger", is useful in cases of nausea, rheumatic diseases, painful menstrual cycles, heavy menstrual bleeding, and acute migraines.
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As a teacher of mine once said, this is how to study Herbal Medicine:
Focus on developing a relationship with the plant
See plants as energetic beings
After specifically studying hormones for over a decade now, I have come to the conclusion that they are molecules of communication and connection.
This is true for all hormones, including:
Purple foods support the 6th and 7th chakras/energy centers AND are:
Supportive to the hypothalamus, pituitary, the pineal gland, the third eye (gives you insight), brain, eyes, nose, top of head, muscles, bones, and skin
Fuel for these master energy centers/important for hormonal regulation
Supportive to spiritual connection and insight
Nutrition dense
Blue foods support the 5th chakra/energy center AND are:
Supportive to the throat, thyroid gland, neck, vertebrae, and mouth
Supportive to communication
Supportive to creative expression
Nutrition dense
High in antioxidants
Supportive to thyroid hormones, which govern energy and metabolism
A fever is the body’s way of tuning the immune system so it can more effectively manage viral and bacterial infections.
There are downsides of acetaminophen (brand name Tylenol) and NSAIDS like Ibuprofen, which are often used to decrease fevers and manage pain during an illness.
Raaaarrrrrr. Anyone else wanna just throw something right now, or is it just me?Built up stress can make us feel this way. We get stuck in the middle of our stress cycles and this is the not-so-pretty outcome.
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The emunctories are the body's channels of elimination. They allow the body to excrete unwanted substances and keep us free of toxic stagnation and build up.
We can softly support these naturally existing emunctories of our bodies on a daily basis, allowing the body to do what it does best...stay healthy!
Did you know that estrogen has over 400 different functions in the body? 1 of these 400 functions relates to brain health and memory.
Low estrogen is a risk factor for memory loss and dementia.
Higher estrogen (also referred to as estradiol) levels have been shown to improve working memory performance (even in pre-menopausal women).
Understanding hormone terminology can be so confusing!
Because of this, I will give you some bite-sized bits of information for you to easily break through all of that confusion.
This week, let's talk about: natural vs. synthetic vs. bio-identical hormones
A fellow member asked about emotions that are not suppressed. And what if emotions such as anger come up constantly, even with little or no provocation?
This was such a great question; I thought I'd write a bit on this, as I'm sure many of you have similar questions.
Body organs and emotions
In ancient theory, the liver is the seat of anger. Whether anger causes liver disruption or liver disruption causes anger is likely of no consequence. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
While short-term stress is normal, long-term chronic stress has been associated with numerous health conditions such as anxiety, hypertension, chronic fatigue syndrome, HPA axis dysfunction (aka adrenal fatigue), and metabolic syndrome.
Inside Stress:
No one can avoid stress entirely but what truly matters is how each person internalizes stress. For one person, a spider, flying in an airplane, or keeping up with the daily grind is no big deal - for another, all of this can be downright traumatizing.
Fatigue . . . its such a drag, am I right? At times it can feel tortuous to get through a workday when you are dealing with fatigue.
While there are 100+ reasons you might be fatigued, did you know that the first sign of dehydration is . . . fatigue? Yup.
But let’s back up a bit.