REBUILD: WEEK 2 OVULATION
DETOX.
I love helping my lymphatic system any way I can. It thrills me to no end to know I can help clear out the toxins in my body and also support my liver by making greener, cleaner choices in the first place. This also means I can help clear out the excess estrogen in my mombody too.
There is a really important dance happening in your mombody - the estrogen and progesterone balance is crucial. There needs to be more progesterone than estrogen being produced in your luteal phase. Like this diagram shows:
Photo from In the Flo by Alisa Vitti
In order to look and feel as healthy as possible, we need to have a progesterone spike that’s higher than estrogen levels in the luteal phase. But most of us are estrogen dominant throughout the entire 28 day cycle. (By the way, it’s important to have just the right amount of estrogen too - if you have too much in ovulation you will feel anxious. If you have too little in luteal, then you will feel depressed. It’s a very delicate balance indeed).
But most women in this day and age are suffering from too much estrogen. Why is this happening to so many women?
The short answer is: our cleaning and beauty products are messing with our mombodies.
About ten years ago I heard a lecture called “Is your skin care making you fat?” This title caught my attention and it’s really when things started to click for me. Our world is filled with fake estrogens that confuse our mombody (which can show up as weight gain!). It leads to estrogen dominance and it’s so prevalent these days for two reasons:
We live in a toxic environment and the products we use on our bodies create xeno-estrogens (a fancy term for fake estrogen that makes your estrogen to progesterone ratio off balance). The non-organic, gmo-filled food we eat can also throw off this balance.
Momlife is stressful and when stress levels rise you have something called the “progesterone steal” happening in your body. Your body pumps out cortisol as a normal stress response and it’s your body’s job to think making cortisol is more important than making progesterone. IF you are stressed all the time, you can almost guarantee your body isn’t making enough progesterone because it is too busy making cortisol.
So, how do you know you are estrogen dominant?
Estrogen dominance is tied to nearly every hormonal imbalance: infertility, PMS, low libido, cramps, heavy bleeding, and PCOS. If you experience any of these things then you might be estrogen dominant. Imbalanced hormones can have a negative effect on gut, vaginal, and breast health. Something else noteworthy about estrogen dominance is that you can still be estrogen dominant even if you are low estrogen. You might have more estrogen than progesterone even if you are low estrogen. So how do you help your body metabolize excess estrogen?
The answer is everything we are learning in this program. Let’s recap how to best support the hormonal dance in our mombodies: choose healthier products, eat and exercise each month to support your mombody, rest your mombody, try to get your body out of the stress mode of “fight or flight” when it doesn’t need to be there, balance your blood sugar, eat foods that help your liver detoxify (drink milk thistle tea), etc. And how do you help you body produce more progesterone? Stress less, eat foods (like pumpkin seeds) that help create more progesterone in your body, balance your blood sugar, eat foods that help your liver detoxify. Now you are beginning to understand all of the amazing things you are doing for your mombody in this program.
Another thing you can do to help support your mombody is dry brushing. This technique helps moms flush away toxins and excess estrogen - I love that I can help this process along. Watch this video to see how you help your mombody detox. .
Since this video was made, I also incorporate using a jade roller on my face and neck - it’s the exact same premise as dry brushing your body. Only a jade roller is much gentler on these delicate areas while still effective for pushing out the toxins and decreasing inflammation. I also love a gua sha facial stone as well.
Once a month I like to use a derma roller with small needles that poke holes in your skin making it flush with new collagen to heal the injured skin and also easier for product to absorb serums and product.
Lastly, you should know you have four main areas of lymph glands in your body and they are the calves, groin, armpits and neck. It’s a good habit for moms to get into dry brushing around each armpit and around each breast. And try not to wear a bra all the time either. Studies show that this delicate area can become clogged and congested with underwire from your bra. And the excess estrogen can lead to breast cancer. Taking care of your lymphatic system should become part of your self-care ritual.
Brush your teeth, brush your hair, brush your fascia, brush your lymph!