Women undergoing menopause generally experience declining levels of estrogen, and this can make their menopausal symptoms worsen. Doctors might advise them to eat foods that have phytoestrogens to ease the unwanted menopausal symptoms including hot flashes and sleeplessness. Foods high in phytoestrogens can also help protect hormonal diseases like breast, prostate, colon, and endometrial cancers as well as conditions like osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.
Phytoestrogens are chemical compounds found in plants. Foods that have phytoestrogens include soy foods, apples, beets, carrots, cherries, citrus fruits, dairy foods, eggs, flax seeds, tomatoes. However, overconsumption of isoflavones found in soy foods might increase the risk of breast cancer in some people.
It is importance to know the side effects of having too much estrogen, what raises estrogen hormones, and how to naturally lower estrogen levels. Like good and bad cholesterol, estrogen also has good and bad types. Certain cancer such as breast cancer is believed to be higher in women who have higher levels of the less favorable type of estrogen.
In order to optimize one’s diet for lower estrogen levels, one should eat plenty of fruits, cruciferous vegetables, whole grains and increase the intake of fish oils. Foods that are high in fiber help bind with and remove excess hormones from the body while diets high in fat promote the reabsorption of estrogen into the body. As for me, my digestive system just cannot handle broccoli, cauliflower, nuts and grains etc. I will get diarrhea after consuming them. So I make vegetable juice to drink instead.
Interestingly, there are something called estrogen disruptors or xenoestrogens, where different elements in the environment can act like "false estrogens" and been absorbed by the body. The result is that a woman may be prompted from her exposure to these xenoestrogens to have a second cycle even though she already had one less than four weeks ago.
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