Crunchy, colorful, and apparently champs in helping us balance our hormones; carrots are your new best friend.

Do you suffer from PMS, night sweats, stress, acne, weight gain, thyroid issues, cravings, or low libido? There are several symptoms that can arise when your body’s hormones are out of whack.

Wow. Now you see the important role balanced hormones play in your everyday health and happiness.

Let’s Talk Estrogen

Estrogen is a hormone produced in both men and women and is essential for regulating sexual and reproductive development.  Did you know your stress levels increase the production of estrogen?

Also, your body has to contend with a steady supply of xenoestrogens. These are synthetic estrogens used in personal care products, food can linings, plastic, Styrofoam and agricultural chemicals.

When you ingest or absorb these ‘fake’ estrogens your body recognizes them are real and we have no control over the havoc to our hormonal systems that they create, resulting in (among other things): cancer (ovary, breast, and prostate), decreased libido, low energy, poor sleep, and obesity.

As nutritional therapy practitioner Lauren Geertsen states:

“Estrogen dominance is an underlying cause of PMS, menopausal symptoms, hormonal acne, infertility, and mood disorders.  It doesn’t just affect women: men, and particularly pre-pubescent boys, face the threat of estrogen dominance.  Lack of muscle tone, erectile dysfunction, and ‘man boobs’ all point in part to estrogen dominance.”

How to Get Some Balance

The first thing to do is dramatically cut your exposure to xenoestrogens. Choose personal care products that are natural and free of synthetic chemicals. Your skin is your largest organ and what you apply can potentially be absorbed into your bloodstream. Simply ditch the toxic muck and go natural.

Second simple thing is clean up the kitchen. Refuse to buy canned goods with BPA, especially tomatoes as their inherent acidity leeches the BPA from the lining into you! I love to buy and store leftovers in glass containers, but when it isn’t an option I always opt for BPA free cans and containers.

Third thing I recommend is to detox what’s already out of balance. By helping to detox some of the excess estrogen, a raw carrot a day plays an important role in both male and female hormone balance.

Carrots Help Balance Hormones

Love it. It turns out raw carrots contain unique fibers that bind toxins, particularly excess estrogen, in our intestines while not feeding unhealthy bacteria (similar to what a charcoal supplement would do.)

How to eat your carrot a day:

• The organic carrot must be raw, not cooked. Avoid packaged peeled baby carrots because the peel acts as a buffer to keep out bacteria, and they are usually soaked in a chlorine solution.
• You can enjoy the carrot peeled or washed and not peeled.
• Ideally, eat it in-between meals and not with meals.
• Eat it whole or prepare a simple Detox Carrot Salad below. You coarsely grate the carrot and add coconut oil, vinegar and salt.

I love crunching on raw carrot while I’m making dinner, but this salad is delicious too!

Detox Carrot Salad

1 medium organic carrot

1 tsp. raw coconut or apple cider vinegar

1 tsp. coconut oil

1/2 tsp. raw honey (optional)

Sea salt to taste

Directions:

Wash carrot well. Do not peel! Grate lengthwise** with grater.

Add oil, vinegar and salt.

Mix and enjoy DAILY!

Note: if you notice the calluses on your palms turn orange after a period of eating this, it can be to do with poor liver function, an inability to convert carotene (potentially toxic) to Vitamin A and low B12.  If this is the case, rinse your grated carrot and squeeze out all the orange-colored juice, before dressing.

** If you can be bothered, use a vegetable peeler to shred carrot length-ways. This maintains the integrity of the carrot’s unique fibers. It can make all the difference to the toxin-binding effects.