If you're reading this right now, your estrogen levels are higher than you want them to be. That’s just a fact. Because if you’re a man in the 21st century, your age and environment is working against you.
Your age is working against you because as you get older, your testosterone levels naturally drop. And as your T-levels drop, your estrogen levels rise.
Your environment is working against you because there are chemical estrogens everywhere. In your food, drinking water, plastics, hygiene products, soaps, toothpastes, and fertilizers. Even just a small amount of exposure to these chemical estrogens is too much for men. Read our blog on The Cumulative Effect Of Endocrine Disruptors.
But don’t be too sad Batman…, I’m going to give you 4 warning signs that your estrogen levels are too high. Then I’ll show you 7 ways to lower excess estrogen and boost your testosterone.
4 Warning Signs That You Have High Estrogen
1. Excess Belly Fat & Love Handles
Think of your belly fat as a “estrogen factory.” The more belly fat you have, the higher your estrogen levels are.
The crazy thing about belly fat and estrogen is they work to protect each other.
The higher your estrogen levels are, the harder weight loss becomes. Matched together, this duo can be tough to defeat, which is why you may have been left feeling discouraged and defeated with your weight loss goals in the past.
But don’t lose heart… you can flip the switch by taking out the weaker opponent which is estrogen.
When you bring down estrogen, weight loss will be much easier. I am going to show you how… keep reading!
2. Man Boobs (AKA moobs)
High estrogen levels don’t stop at just fat… they also cause the highly dreaded “man boobs.”
The reason? Estrogen makes its home in “estrogen sensitive tissue.” The chest
is one place on the male body with the most “estrogen sensitive tissue.” When your estrogen levels are high, this causes the appearance of female breasts.
What’s surprising is how easily this can happen.
Research from a 2007 study showed when topical skin products containing tea tree or lavender oil were applied to the skin of young boys, it caused them to develop prepubertal gynecomastia, which is the term for male breast tissue.
The reason is these oils act as estrogen in the body.
The thought that such a small amount of these estrogen mimicking oils applied to the skin can cause such dramatic effects is alarming… especially given how many other disruptors we are encountering or ingesting on a daily basis.
3. Poor Mental Health And Low Energy
High estrogen levels drain your energy, and mess with your mind. Your “man” body was created for testosterone… not estrogen.
Men with high estrogen typically have brain fog, and erratic mood swings. You become more susceptible to depression and hopelessness even when your life seems good on the outside.
You may feel sluggish, restless, or both at the same time. This is because your body doesn’t know how to deal with having more estrogen than testosterone..
4. Swollen Hands And Feet
Men with high estrogen tend to have trouble with increased water retention. Your face looks puffy and your stomach feels bloated instead of everything being chiseled like it should be.
How To Lower Estrogen Levels
To fix high estrogen, you need to decrease estrogen entering your system, and increase your testosterone.
While this answer seems simple, it does need some explanation.
First we will address how you can reduce the amount of estrogens and pseudo estrogens you take in.
There are a couple of important things you can do:
1. Throw Out Your Plastic Food Storage Containers
Many of these containers are not BPA and Phthalates free, and can leach these chemicals into your food, especially when heated up in a microwave.
These chemicals mess with your hormones and raise estrogen levels.
Make sure the plastics you do use are BPA and phthalate free, and use glass containers or stainless steel whenever possible.
2. Be Careful With Your Milk Consumption
Cows are often milked through their pregnancy to maximize the milk they supply. The problem is milk from cows that are pregnant contain much higher levels of estrogen, especially during their late stages.
Because of this, you may want to try other options. Goat milk for example has the lowest estrogen content of all the animal milks. You could also try almond milk, but avoid soy.
If these aren’t options, limiting your intake to a couple glasses of milk a week may be your best bet.
3. Avoid Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals In Body Care Products
Cosmetics and body care products are sometimes overlooked because they aren’t ingested.
But remember the study I shared above about the young boys developing breasts when using tea tree oil?
Obviously… what we ingest is not the only problem.
Contrary to most people's understanding, your skin is highly absorbent, and will absorb chemicals applied to it…
A good rule of thumb is do not use topically on your body what you wouldn’t feel safe eating. Of course there are some exceptions, but you do need to be mindful of what you are using on your body.
A great example of an offender is toothpaste. The lining of your mouth is one of the most absorbent tissues on your body.
The chemicals used in toothpaste have long been ignored as an endocrine disrupting problem. Big brands have managed to convince people that if you spit it out, it won’t hurt you… but that just isn’t the cause.
When we searched for safe toothpaste for ourselves and our kids… we couldn’t find any. So we created Legendary Men’s Care toothpaste as a hormone safe alternative to the other options out there. You can read about some of the stuff we found in our blog "The 8 Dirty Ingredients Toothpaste Brands Don’t Want You Looking Into".
Out toothpaste avoids the typical endocrine disrupting chemicals and oils used in store bought toothpaste such as:
- Fluoride
- Tea Tree Oil
- Lavender Oil
- Triclosan
- BPA
- Phthalates
- Parabens
- Peroxide
- Mint
Some good news from the story about the boys with breast development… Once they stopped using tea tree oil, their bodies went back to normal within several months.
So if you stop using these products like toothpaste that increase your estrogen, you can see these effects reverse over time.
Now that we have talked about how to stop taking in estrogen... Lets move on to the next section.
How To Lower Estrogen By Increasing Testosterone
Why does increased testosterone help lower estrogen?
Estrogen and testosterone work like a seesaw.
When estrogen goes up, testosterone goes down.
When testosterone goes up, estrogen goes down.
So as you increase your testosterone levels, you’ll lower estrogen.
How do you do that?
1. Stop Long Cardio, And Start Resistance and HIIT Training
Working out increases testosterone. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been a couch potato your whole life or you’re a generally active person. By working out regularly, you’ll give your testosterone levels a boost.
With that said — not all exercise is created equally.
Resistance training is the best for both short term and long term increases in testosterone levels. A study from the University of Georgia, found men who did just one resistance training workout had a 21.6% increase in testosterone.
High intensity interval training (HIIT) is another form of exercise that boosts testosterone. One study from the University of North Carolina found that men who performed an all out sprint for 90-second bursts with a short recovery period in between had significantly higher testosterone levels than those who ran on the treadmill for 45-minutes straight.
And that’s another good point. Quit running long cardio. Long cardio raises your stress hormone cortisol — which both lowers testosterone and increases estrogen.
2. Cut That Gut
Shed excess pounds and you’ll increase testosterone. The best way to do that is by sticking to regular exercise and a whole-food based diet.
A 2012 study found when overweight men lose weight, they increase testosterone levels by almost 50%.
And it gets better — because having more testosterone makes it easier to lose weight. So by losing weight and increasing testosterone, you’ll make it easier to lose even more weight because you have more testosterone. It’s the opposite of the belly fat-estrogen cycle I mentioned earlier.
The easiest tweak you can make to lose weight is to eliminate processed foods from your diet. Processed foods are full of toxins and chemicals that elevate estrogen levels and cause weight gain.
So by eliminating those foods, you’ll have an easier time losing weight, lower estrogen, and a boost in testosterone.
If you take it one step further and replace processed foods with whole foods like cage-free eggs, grass fed beef, salmon, white potatoes, fruits and vegetables, you’ll be in even better shape.
3. Eat Plenty Of Vegetables
When you incorporate veggies into your diet — especially broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, and green leafy vegetables — you’ll boost testosterone levels.
Veggies are packed with phytonutrients that help block estrogen. They also increase testosterone. And help you stay fuller for longer — so you have an easier time losing weight.
Now if you are like me and don’t like to eat platefuls of vegetables… you could try a greens powder. A personal favorite of mine is called TestoGreens by Live Anabolic.
We cover more ideas of what you can eat to benefit your testosterone in our blog "7 Foods You Can Start Eating To Improve Your Testosterone".
4. Get 7-9 Hours Of Sleep
Your body produces most of your testosterone while you sleep. So the more hours of quality sleep you get, the more time your body has to produce testosterone.
Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep. I know we’re living in a fast-paced world. But this is crucial.
Also, it’s easy to get stressed throughout the day, isn’t it?
When you’re stressed, your testosterone levels drop and your stress hormones and estrogen increase. But what’s the one time of day you cannot be stressed?
It’s while you sleep. Sleep is your body’s natural “reset button.” It’s when your body calms stress and increases testosterone for the following day.
So there you have it, man…
If you take these 7 steps I mentioned above, you’ll naturally lower estrogen levels and boost your testosterone levels.
Recap
- Your estrogen levels are higher than you want them to be due to age and environmental estrogens.
- Excess estrogens lower testosterone, reduce energy, and cause you to store fat on your belly and chest.
- The good news is you can lower estrogen and raise testosterone by making some simple life changes.
- You achieve this by avoiding estrogens and endocrine disruptors in daily products such as plastics, milk, and cosmetics (Using Legendary Men’s Cares hormone safe toothpaste is a great start). And you can raise T levels by working out, losing weight, eating vegetables, and getting 7-8 hours of quality sleep.
Hope you were able to take a few points to try for yourself! Please let us know if you have any topics you would like to see covered by contacting us @ support@legendarymenscare.com.
As always, we got your back!
Joe, Kyle, And Clark
Your Legendary Men's Care Team