How to Limit Your Exposure to Hormone Disruptors
Nov 28, 2011
Have you ever wondered why your hormones are not balanced? It's not entirely your fault. Before you even leave the house in the morning, there's a chance you've exposed yourself to hundreds of chemicals as part of your regular morning routine. Nowadays, most processed foods, body care and cleaning products contain the "bad guys", aka hormone disruptors.
Hormone disruptors are chemicals that disrupt the body’s delicate hormone balance. Xenoestrogens are a type of hormone disruptors. They are industrially made compounds that have estrogenic effects. They are synthetic chemicals found in pesticides, fuels, drugs and polycarbonate plastic that cause hormonal activity similar to estrogen, the human sex hormone, or alter the hormone’s effects. Avoiding all hormone disruptors is important for the prevention of cancer, PMS, cysts/fibroids, PCOS, prostate enlargement, hormone problems, infertility, autoimmune disorders ranging from fibromyalgias and chronic fatigue, stomach and thyroid problems, multiple sclerosis and to increase overall health in women and men.
• Avoid all pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. Wash your food well to rid some of the
pesticides. Buy organic as much as possible.
• Avoid nonorganic meat and dairy products and eggs; they have a high content of
xenoestrogens because of the pesticides used on animal food crops and the hormones
used for fattening the livestock.
• Opt for glass containers and bottles whenever possible. The more you use plastic
container, the more xenoestrogens are bound to leak into your food or drinks.
• Avoid plastic baby bottles; they might leak BPA into the milk, especially if heated in
microwave ovens. Opt for glass bottles, and warm the milk by immersing the bottles in
hot water.
• Avoid creams and cosmetics that have toxic chemicals and estrogenic ingredients such as
parabens and stearalkonium chloride.
• Refrain from microwaving your food or beverages in plastic containers. Chemicals from
plastics leach in.
• If you breastfeed, remember that everything you eat is passed to the baby through breast
milk, making it even more important that you avoid eating and microwaving food and
beverages in plastic containers.
• Avoid dry cleaning; let clothes air out of plastic bag for several days before wearing.
• Avoid the use of dark hair dyes; contain phenylenediamine, an estrogen mimicker and
known cancer-causing agent.
• Avoid using bleached pads and tampons as they are loaded with estrogen mimickers.
Purchase unbleached feminine hygiene products from a health food store or a Diva Cup.
• Avoid the use of regular nail polish and nail polish removers. Purchase tolulene and
phthalate-free nail polish.
• Use only naturally based perfumes or pure essential oils. Most perfumes are petro
chemically based.
• Do not drink hot liquids in foam styrofoam cups or receptacles.
• Change your laundry detergent to a natural castile soap. The chemicals in most
commercial detergents are no fully washed from the clothes and can be absorbed through
the skin. Do NOT use dryer sheets or fabric softener.
• Do not use anything on the skin with parabens (methylparaben, propylparaben, and
butylparaben) or phenoxyethanol in them. This includes shampoo, soap, makeup, hand
lotion, body lotion, and toothpaste. Oral substances are 90% filtered by the liver. Skinabsorbed
substances are 100% absorbed by the body, thus, a skin dose is 10 times an oral
dose.
• Avoid coffee. Avoid decaf coffee. No caffeine. No tea. No colas. Caffeine increases
estradiol levels by 70%! Have green tea and other herbal teas, which contain smaller
amounts of caffeine and other health benefits.
• Use only natural deodorant. Commercial antiperspirant contains aluminum, which blocks
pores, therefore preventing toxins to exit the body through sweat. Make a homemade
deodorant using virgin coconut oil, baking soda, cacao butter (solidifies it), corn starch
and tea tree essential oil.
• No sunflower oil, no safflower oil, no cottonseed oil, no canola oil. Use virgin coconut
oil for heating and extra virgin olive oil as your raw oil.
• Avoid excessive consumption of soy (tofu, soy milk, veggie meats, etc) as these are
estrogenic. Have only fermented soy products, such as tempeh, miso or natto, in
moderation. Exposing infants to soy formula wreaks havoc on their hormones and overall health.
• Use a natural sunscreen, or a hat and long sleeved shirt. All commercial sunscreens are
estrogenic.
• Use cosmetics with minerals or grapefruit seed extract as a preservative.
• Avoid pesticides and herbicides such as DDT, endosulfan, dieldrin, methoxychlor,
kepone, toxaphene, chlordane, and other chlorinated hydrocarbons. (Did you know that
baby roosters exposed to DDT in the U.S. grew up looking like hens?)
• Stay clear of products associated with plastics such as bisphenol A (BPA) and pthalates.
Use glass or BPA free plastic. (Did you know that pthalates along with excess estrogen
given to chickens used as food were suspected to cause girls as young as 18 months to
menstruate in Puerto Rico in the 70′s and 80′s.)
• Avoid all drugs, and especially Primpro, DES, Premarin, Cimetidine (Tagamet), and
Birth Control Pills, or any other type of artificial hormones.
• Avoid ordinary household products such as breakdown products from laundry detergent
and dishwashing detergent that include nonyphenol, octylphenol, and spermicide.
Hormone disruptors act like free-radicals, zapping everything they touch, then go into the liver to wreak havoc on the detoxification enzymes, then wander nonchalantly into the various tissues of the body to start over-feminizing them. Ever wonder why those 2nd-graders now look like someone in the Miss America pageant?
Give thought to the foods you choose, products you use, how they are packaged and how you store your food and beverages. If you think you’ve already exposed yourself to hormone disruptors, it is important to detoxify the liver. Once you’ve cleaned out your system, ensure that you don’t re-expose yourself to these harmful substances.
Looking to source quality foods, supplements, and nontoxic home products? This vetted list put together by Beyond Vitality can help!
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