A hormonal imbalance, such as low estrogen, may be one piece of the puzzle impacting your overall health and wellbeing by presenting itself in various symptoms such as low energy, insomnia, weight gain, and low mood. Working with a functional practitioner will help address the root causes of your symptoms to create a functional nutrition care plan personalized just for you.
Let’s Talk About What Estrogen Is and Why Balancing Your Estrogen Matters
If you’ve ever noticed things like fatigue, stubborn weight gain, heavy periods, or mood swings and wondered “Could this be my hormones?”, you’re not alone. Your body’s hormones (especially estrogen) play a huge role in how you feel day to day. Before we dive into *insert high ranking keyword here*, it’s important to understand what estrogen is and why imbalances happen. Estrogen is divided into three primary forms: estradiol, estrone, and estriol. Estradiol builds the endometrium for possible pregnancy. It is also beneficial for bone health, insulin sensitivity, healthy weight management, neurotransmitter balance, sleep, mood, concentration, memory, hair, skin, vaginal pH and lubrication, and cardiovascular health. Estrogen dominance may have adverse health consequences, which include endometrial cancer, gallstones, clotting issues, heavy bleeding, menstrual cramping, tender or fibrocystic breasts, mood disturbances, acne, fibroids, headaches, and weight gain. In cycling females, estradiol is predominantly made in the ovaries. Estradiol levels are highest during the ovulatory phase and lowest in the early follicular phase.
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Here are Some Common Signs of Low Estrogen
Symptoms are a sign that something is off internally within one or multiple of these systems: Inflammation, Gut Dysbiosis or Imbalance in the Gut Microbiome, Impaired Detoxification, Hormonal Imbalance, Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Circadian Rhythm Disturbances, Oxidative Stress, Neuro-disruption, or Immune dysregulation.
- Hot Flashes
- Night Sweats
- Insomnia
- Joint Pain
- Skin Issues
- Low Sex Drive
- Low Mood
- Brain Fog
- Vaginal Dryness
- Weight Gain
- Decreased Bone Mineral Density
- Increased Cardiovascular Disease Risk
Understanding Potential Root Causes of Low Estrogen
Understanding how to fix low estrogen starts with knowing it’s potential root causes. Low estrogen often isn’t “just about low levels of estrogen or estradiol” it’s connected with things like:
- Chronic Stress (HPA axis dysfunction)
- Thyroid Disorders
- High Prolactin
- Breastfeeding
- Perimenopause
- Certain Medications
- Diindolylmethane (DIM)
Less common symptoms include anorexia, extreme exercise, low body weight, and low androgens.
Identifying and understanding these deeper patterns helps create your whole body, root-cause protocol instead of simply treating symptoms.
Functional Labs
Understanding how to fix low estrogen levels may require functional labs to assess whether or not you are dealing with low estrogen or potentially another hormonal imbalance.
1. DUTCH Testing for Hormone Health (Urine/Saliva):
2. GI-MAP Stool Testing for Gut Health:
Diet/Nutrition: Here’s What To Eat
Tip: Keep a food journal so that pre and post meals you can become more in tune with your body and see how certain meals make you feel. Continuously check in with yourself to see how you are feeling, this is the type of subjective information that only you can know for yourself and make sure to share this information with the dietitian that you are working with!
Supplements & Herbal Support
Discuss supplements with your dietitian to determine which will be the best fit for you. Always consult your healthcare provider prior to beginning a new supplement.
Consider dosages, timings, and if should be taken with or without meals for optimal absorption.
- Basic Supplements:
- Advanced Supplements:
- Adaptogenic Herbs:
- Herbs:
- Probiotic Strains:
- Loose Leaf Teas:
You may order from my supplement dispensary below through Fullscript’s catalog where each brand and product meets strict top quality standards. You can learn more about third party testing here.
My supplement dispensary is linked here and you do not need to be a client to place an order. (with 30% off!)
Stress
Sleep
Nutrition & Lifestyle Strategies That Improve Low Estrogen
Here are some helpful tips for you to begin the process of balancing estrogen:
- Breath work sessions or checking in with yourself during the day to make sure that you are breathing deep abdominal breaths instead of shallow, rapid chest breathing.
- Consume magnesium-rich food sources to promote relaxation and regulate overall mood.
- Consume fermented foods to improve beneficial gut microbiome diversity and maintain balance. You may also choose to supplement with a high quality probiotic supplement.
- Hydrate with adequate water intake with mineral-rich salts like Celtic sea salt or Himalayan pink salt.
- Daily early morning sunlight exposure to help regulate the circadian rhythm. (the sleep-wake cycle)
- Daily sunlight exposure during optimal timings, typically around noon, for Vitamin D3 production.
- Reduce overall caffeine intake.
Gentle reminder: It’s important to be patient during this process of healing which may take some time but will ultimately be worth it in the long run. You got this.
Note: Don’t stress yourself with an all or nothing mentality where you feel like you have to implement everything on this list all at once. Sometimes in order to reach the end goal, you need to take baby steps at first and build these habits bit by bit.
