How Animal Products Are Contributing to Americas Latest Health Epidemic
Estrogen dominance is a huge health epidemic in America, causing a slew of undesirable side-effects including: fatigue, weight gain, hair loss, headaches, mood changes, reduced libido, PMS, endometriosis,fertility issues, increased cancer risk and accelerated aging. Much of the estrogen dominance is caused by exposure to environmental estrogens (xenoestrogens), and one of the most notorious offenders is plastic. You should try to only use BPA-free plastics, and never use plastic in the microwave because heating plastic increases the xenoestrogen levels and directly deposits them into your food.
The consumption of animal products is another major contributor to estrogen dominance. Fortunately, if you’re not willing to give up animal products altogether there are a few simple things you can do to minimize its harmful estrogenic effects. Before diving into the simple steps, lets first examine why animal products are such big contributors to estrogen dominance.
Firstly, animals are natural hormone producers themselves. They produce massive amounts of estrogen, and consuming them causes extra estrogens to be absorbed into your body. Secondly, most animal products in the United States come from factory farms, where the animals are kept in unsanitary, unnatural and extremely confined spaces. The animals on factory farms are fed estrogen in order to increase fat tissue, which in turn, increases profit, since animals are priced base on weight.
The health risks associated with consuming animal products from animals injected with added hormones are so severe that Europe has completely banned the process and the import of all meat from the USA. Unfortunately, the USDA continues to turn a blind eye to the negative health effects and Americans are paying the price, with dangerously high hormone levels in their produce. In addition to the hormone injections, the refined spaces that animals are kept in and the unhealthy diets they are fed, results in less muscle mass and more fat. This contributes to estrogen dominance in humans because extra dietary fat is converted into estrogen in the gut.
If you want to minimize the estrogenic effects of animal products, the first thing you should do is forget about the standard American serving size of meat, which is often served up in 6, 8 or 12 ounce slabs. That is extremely excessive and you should try and limit your intake to no more than 3 ounces per serving. When you do consume meat or dairy, choose free-range organic products. Animals that are allowed to range freely and eat a natural diet of grass and plants provide completely different products than factory farmed animals. Organic produce is naturally lower in fat, and higher in a range of nutrients, plus it is free from added hormones. Buying organic is not a free pass to consume high amounts of animal products however, meat and dairy should still be limited to a few servings per week.
Avoid eating meat from fast food joints, as they typically are much lower quality and substantially higher in fat. Finally, alternate your meat meals with vegetarian based protein meals. Plant based proteins such as sweet potatoes, beans, lentils and quinoa are not only safe, their high fiber content actually helps to absorb and eliminate extra estrogens in the body; thereby reducing estrogen dominance.
