Most of us (especially in peri menopause) are dealing with low progesterone and therefore I wanted to share with you my top 6 tips to help you boost your progesterone levels & keep your estrogen levels in check:
Tip #1: eat sufficient protein! A minimum of 1g protein per body weight is appropriate. If you weigh 55kg, that means you need at least 55g protein per day which equals 2 eggs & 210g of lean meat or fish. That's a lot isn't it? I for sure have trouble eating that much protein. A tip I can share to pimp up your daily protein intake: add grass-fed collagen powder to your morning tea, coffee, porridge, smoothie: 1 serving has a whooping 10g protein! (I get mine from Amazon - no specific brand)
Tip #2: pimp up your vitamin B6 intake Our body especially needs vitamin B6 to produce progesterone and it will also benefit your liver! Good sources of B6 are: nutritional yeast, liver (beef, turkey, veal, lamb), emu, fresh tuna, salmon, chicken and turkey breast, beef steak, Canadian goose, rice bran, chestnuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds. As with most Vitamins, the vegetarian source is more difficult for our body to convert and process, so animal sources are best.
Tip #3: eliminate physical & mental stress The first thing our body is doing when being stressed, is stopping the production of progesterone, so the less stress we have, the better. As we cannot always avoid all stressors, it's also important how we mange our stress levels with relaxation techniques.
Tip #4: support your liver & digestive health Our liver is our most important detox organ. The toxins around us and those we ingest via food & drink (smoking, alcohol, coffee, medication, synthetic hormones etc.) are actually keeping our liver so busy that it does not have the "bandwidth" anymore to detoxify and break down hormones. Also, our liver actually needs a lot of nutrients to be able to do its work and these nutrients can only be provided via a nutrient-dense diet. A low-toxin diet is also very welcome of course :-) Coffee and / or alcohol are an integral part of everyday life for many. The problem: whenever your liver is busy detoxifying caffeine and alcohol, it doesn't have the nutrients and the capacity to take care of detoxifying and breaking down hormones.
Another important point is that our excretion organs, our intestine and kidneys need to be healthy for us to actually be able to pee and poop out the toxins that our liver has processed and packaged for them.
I’ve talked about detox and liver health before, I know. The thing is, in peri menopause, we can’t really cut corners anymore and if we are not supporting our body daily, we will feel it. UGH - I know!
If you cannot go to the bathroom every day or if you are constipated, toxins and hormones cannot be completely eliminated. Vegetables and salads not only contain tons of important nutrients, they also contain a lot of fiber, which supports your digestion & elimination. For example, start the day with a green smoothie, eat a salad at lunchtime and a delicious vegetable stew or curry in the evening - not that difficult, is it?
Tip #5: eat a lot of cruciferous vegetables These include broccoli, cabbages, cauliflower, radish, beets, kale, kohlrabi, arugula or watercress. They contain phytochemicals that support the liver and contain indole-3-carbinol (I3C). When you eat them, your stomach acid breaks it apart and converts it to di-indole-methane (DIM), which effectively helps our liver to detoxify estrogen.❗Good levels of stomach acid are crucial here
Tip #6: try Vitex berry (agnus castus) Vitex berry is an herb that will help raise your progesterone levels and also helps with PMS. My 2 favorite products are Endomenat (from Copmed in Europe) and FemGuard Balance plus from Designs for Health
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