The Hormone Reset Diet by Sara Gottfried Read Free Book Online Page A

fruit, and clean proteins, regardless of your blood type and ethical views. In fact, such native and unprocessed foods keep you lean and your hormones in balance, particularly estrogen.
    Unfortunately, rapid changes in industrial agriculture and cultural expectations over the past century have outpaced the ability of our genes to adapt. Consequently, obesity rates have nearly tripled in the United States since the 1960s. 2 Agricultural policies were changed in the 1970s, allowing our government to subsidize corn and soy—which is fed to cattle to accelerate the production of meat and dairy—to the tune today of $30 billion per year. Meat used to be a luxury to my great-grandmother, born in 1900. She would get it from the local butcher on Fridays, and it was fresh from a local ranch. Now we expect meat daily and consider it a sign of affluence. Today, 95 percent of food is grown and processed by industrial agriculture. Put simply, our DNA-driven biology hasn’t yet adjusted to modern meat, and women are particularly at risk from the effect of meat on their estrogen.
    In this chapter, you will review the specific role of estrogen and how it behaves and feels in your body when it’s out of balance and accelerating the growth of your fat cells. You’ll learn how to activate estrogen with food in a positive manner so it stops making you fat.
Self-Assessment
    Is your out-of-balance estrogen the reason for your inability to lose weight? Complete the following self-assessment to find out. Do youhave or have you experienced in the past six months …
    Difficulty with weight loss? Rapid weight gain, particularly in the hips and butt?
    Bloating or fluid retention?
    Consumption of conventional meat? Do you eat at least one meal away from home per week?
    Treatments with oral hormones (birth control pills or hormone replacement medication—even bioidentical hormones) or antibiotics?
    Soreness when you (or a massage therapist or reflexologist) press in the hollow on top of your foot, between your big toe and second toe? (This is called the LV3 point, and in Chinese medicine, it becomes sensitive to pressure when you have liver stagnation, one of the symptoms of estrogen dominance.)
    Autoimmune conditions, in which your immune system attacks your own tissues, such as Hashimoto’s disease (autoimmune thyroiditis)?
    Large or increased bra-cup size or breast tenderness?
    Abnormal Pap smears? Heavy bleeding or postmenopausal bleeding? Fibroids? Endometriosis or painful periods? (Endometriosis occurs when pieces of the uterine lining grow outside the uterine cavity, such as on the ovaries or bowel, and cause painful periods.)
    Mood swings, PMS, depression, or just irritability? Weepiness, sometimes over the most ridiculous things? Mini breakdowns? Anxiety?
    Frequent migraines or other headaches?
    A red flush or frequent blushing on your face (or a diagnosis of rosacea), triggered by heat, skin products, red wine, spicy foods, or dairy?
    Gallbladder problems (or removal)?
Interpret Your Results
    • If you have five or more of these symptoms, you are very likely estrogen dominant (a state when you have too much estrogen compared with its counterhormone, progesterone). Estrogen is most likely keeping you from getting lean. I urge you to address this hormone imbalance by following the instructions in this chapter, since estrogen dominance puts you at significant risk for weight gain, breast cancer, prediabetes, and diabetes. Women at the greatest risk are between the ages of thirty-five and fifty, when the ovaries make less progesterone, allowing estrogen to dominate. (Men can develop estrogen dominance too, as they age, which leads to fatty deposits on the breasts, hips, and love handles.) I recommend asking your doctor for a test of your estrogen and progesterone levels (see the Test Yourself section, page 72).
    • If you have fewer than five of these symptoms or are unsure, perform this reset, whether you’re a meat eater or not, so we