PART 4: Androgen Dominance: How to Fix It!
We’ve come a long way in Androgen Dominance Parts 1, 2 and 3 and you now know the signs and symptoms of Androgen Dominance and what causes it. That is why the very first step in fixing Androgen Dominance is TESTING your hormones.
Remember, Androgen Dominance is not always caused by too much Androgen. Sometimes it is simply that the Androgens are at normal levels, BUT your Estrogen and Progesterone are simply low. In fact, since Estrogen and Progesterone decline before and faster than the Androgens decline, this is the most common case scenario (if you aren’t replacing your hormones with a high-quality Estrogen and Progesterone bioidentical hormone such – like Hormone Heaven!)
So, if you don’t know the actual results of your hormone levels, it will be quite difficult to know if this is your particular problem, and you need to replace your Female Sex hormones to balance out your normal Androgen levels. OR you actually DO have too high of Testosterone and / or DHEA and need to work toward lowering these levels. Sometimes both situations occur as well – meaning you have this imbalance between your female sex hormones Estrogen and Progesterone AND you have too high of Testosterone. So, you see, the answer to YOUR specific need is based on YOUR specific lab results.
If you have missed PARTS 1, 2, or 3, go back and read them now and make sure you get going on the testing as soon as possible. Androgen Dominance only gets worse – like a fungus - it doesn’t go away. And the damage behind it only gets worse. Darker and more facial hair, continuing hair loss on your head and ugh… a fatter and fatter stomach.
OK! So, let’s get started on the treatment – how to FIX this BAD BOY Androgen Dominance!
Fixing Androgen Dominance naturally has 3 main parts to focus on.
1. Nutrition
2. Natural Supplements
3. Hormones
While you are waiting on your test results to get back, here are some recommendations you can do to start the process in balancing the Androgens with the Female Sex Hormones Estrogen and Progesterone.
Let’s start first with the Nutrition Part, then focus of the Nutritional Supplements, and then the Hormone Balance. We will try to give you as much as we can in this article, and give you everything you need to bring your Androgens in tune with your Female Sex Hormones.
1. Nutrition:
Everything ALWAYS starts with our diet. So let‘s start there, too!
There are 3 Macronutrients: Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats. Each of these Macronutrients plays a role in keeping your Androgens balanced with your Female Hormones Estrogen and Progesterone. Let‘s look at the basics of each of these Macronutrients:
a. Carbohydrates: To define it most simply, sugar is often at the core of our Adrenal glands producing too much Androgen hormones. And the reason is plain and simple: excess sugar and refined carbohydrates cause high blood sugar. High blood sugar then causes high insulin production. High insulin then stimulates our ovaries to make Androgen hormones (Testosterone and DHEA). By lowering your sugar and refined carbohydrate intake, you immediately stop the excess production of Androgens by the Adrenal glands.
But please don’t count on artificial sweeteners to replace sugar! Artificial sweeteners seem to stimulate insulin production due to the connection between the tongue's sweet taste buds and the brain. When the brain senses the taste of “sweet”, it sends a signal to the pancreas to make insulin. So, although diet drinks and diet foods do help lower blood sugar, they do not help lower Androgens.
So, the first thing you must do is lower your sugar and refined carbohydrate intake. That means eating whole foods focusing on carbohydrates that have a low glycemic index.
As an additional help, be in the know that Exercise also helps lower Androgens because exercise lowers insulin levels just like lower sugar levels lower insulin levels.
b. Focus on your Protein sources: Though there are plant sources of proteins, most people get their protein from meat and dairy. Try to eat hormone free, and if possible free-range meats. When it comes to fish, put your focus toward wild caught fish instead of farmed fish. This will help assure you do not consume toxins that become stored in your body – the same substances you are working to eliminate!
c. Now for the last macronutrient: Fats.
When it comes to the Fat in your diet, and your hormone balance, it gets a little more complicated. There are specific dietary tricks to lower and increase Testosterone through the fats you eat. But honestly altering the amount of specific types of fat does not offer a long term BALANCED solution.
Here is why:
There are 3 types of fats: Saturated, Polyunsaturated and Monounsaturated. Diets high in Saturated fats and Monounsaturated Fats will increase Testosterone, while Diets high in Polyunsaturated Fats will lower Testosterone levels.
When it comes to LOWERING Testosterone levels…. Manipulating fats in your diet is the WRONG way to go about it, because Monounsaturated fats are our healthiest fats while Polyunsaturated fats are not only our least healthiest fats, they are fats we should avoid most of the time.
1. The next category in Nutrition is Fiber. You’ve heard it before but you probably weren’t told why you need to consume a lot of fiber every day. And how much fiber do you need to eat daily?
The answer is that every woman needs to consume 25 grams of fiber every single day. (30-35 grams for men.) This isn’t easy to do without a fiber supplement, so if you need to use a fiber powder drink, don’t hesitate to do so. This supplement is equal in value to your baseline Supplement Foundational needs.
Fiber supplement capsules are not the same as using a Powder Fiber supplement. You end up having to take too many fiber capsules to equal a single powdered “fiber drink” and you still need to drink plenty of fluid for the fiber capsules to do their job.
Not only will this help remove excess Testosterone it also helps clear excess Estrogen from your body’s circulation, as well. It will NOT decrease your Estrogen levels or Testosterone levels to below normal healthy youthful levels though! It will remove EXCESS hormones.
In addition to directly lowering excess Testosterone and Estrogen, 25 grams of fiber a day will also help remove toxic substances that are damaging to your hormone balance as well. These are called Xenoestrogens and are ubiquitous in our lives. Examples of Xenoestrogens are industrial products, plastics, skincare products, food additives, synthetic preservatives, building supplies and insecticides. No wonder high fiber diets have been proven to decrease the risk of many forms of cancer including colon cancer and breast cancer.
2. Omega 3 fatty acids naturally balance our Androgens with our Female Sex Hormones.
3. Flaxseed is a type of Omega 3 fatty acid that has a special feature called Lignans. There isn’t another food that has higher levels of Lignans than Flaxseed. In fact, Flaxseeds have levels 800-times the amount in most other foods.
Lignans help remove excess Estrogen and Testosterone without affecting normal healthy youthful levels. Flaxseeds also help reduce the conversion of Testosterone to Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) which is responsible for male and female pattern baldness.
What you must be aware of is that Lignans also increase Sex Hormone Binding Globulin so supplementing with Flaxseed is a very fast way to reduce Testosterone when taken at high doses. This is quite attractive if you are trying to get rid of an annoying mustache, especially when you are also noticing excessive scalp hair loss. This will be the quickest solution possible, while waiting for all the other nutrition, supplement and hormone changes to take into effect.
Keep in mind that long term Flax seed consumption at high doses could potentially cause a problem due to increasing levels of Sex Hormone Binding Globulin. Therefore, as you incorporate multiple healthy diet, supplement and hormone changes, you will want to gradually decrease the amount of Flax seed you consume.
To get started however, and start decreasing your Androgens quickly, grind whole flax seeds in a coffee grinder or purchase already ground flax seed. Whole flax seed is not digested very well by humans. Once ground, you can sprinkle it on just about anything!
There have been studies on how much flaxseed is needed to decrease Testosterone. One study showed that 30 grams of flaxseed ground into a powder and taken for 1 month decreased Total Testosterone levels by 15% and Free Testosterone levels by 20%. And another study showing the same 30 grams of Flax seeds taken for 3-4 months decreased total testosterone levels by a whopping 70% plus decreased FREE Testosterone, (that is the ACTIVE Testosterone), by 90%. So be careful! This is an astronomical amount. You don’t need to overdo it! But it is a great way to get rid of a mustache while you are waiting for your hormones to improve with all the other methods that are more balancing for your body as a whole.
Remember that by increasing your Sex Hormone Binding Globulin, other hormones will be inactivated as they bind to SHBG as well, and this is not what you want as a whole when it’s all said and done. Flaxseed is a great addition to a whole plan and an even better way to drop your Testosterone quickly in an emergency such as when you see excess hair on the floor after blow drying it, and a darkening mustache when you look in the mirror!
2. Supplements:
The following herbal supplements will help decrease your Androgen levels:
Saw palmetto
Chaste berries (Vitex agnus)
Black cohosh
Licorice
Spearmint
Peppermint
Phytosterols
Pumpkin seed oil
Red clover
Green Tea
Maca
DIM (Di-indole methane)
Inositol
Additional supplements that are helpful by decreasing insulin levels include:
Vitamin D
Chromium
Cinnamon
Alpha lipoic acid
Additional supplements that are synergistic with Androgen lowering herbs and nutrients are:
Selenium
Turmeric
Zinc
And always remember… your body is going to function at a higher fine-tuned level when ALL of your nutrients are at optimal healthy levels.
3. Hormones:
As much as we love Nutrition and Understanding Key Supplements for specific purposes, we absolutely love understanding and teaching about Bioidenticals the most. Bioidenticals are our key messengers for ongoing growth and robust health in our brains, heart, bones, muscles, bowel, skin, hair, and metabolism!
Yes, Bioidenticals are critical for our Minds, Mental health, Motivation and Youthful Spirit. They truly can be thought of as “keeping us young”.
Link to Bioidentical Cream Selector HERE:
What should you do if your Estrogen and Progesterone are not low, and are actually “normal” and your Androgens ARE elevated?
First you have to know what “normal” means when you test your hormones.
You must always remember that the REFERENCE RANGES given for your particular results will be based on your age. If you are NOT on hormone replacement, the reference ranges will be given for a woman your age – NOT for a woman who is 30 years old OR a woman using hormone replacement therapy.
If you want to supplement your hormones to maintain a more Youthful 30 year old level, you will need to look at what the 30 year old Hormone Reference Ranges are and follow THAT as your guide.
Here are the optimal reference ranges for a 30 year old woman and a woman using hormone replacement therapy:
For Estrogen: 0.8 – 12 pg/ml with optimal ranges being 1.3 – 3.3 pg/ml
For Progesterone: 200 – 3000 pg/ml for topical Progesterone
So back to the question! What should you do if your Female Hormones are “normal” – meaning normal OPTIMALLY but your Androgens are high?
That’s easy! Just follow this guide to lower your Androgens without starting any Bioidentical Creams. That's it! If your Female Hormones are at healthy optimal 30 year old levels, just follow this guide to lower your elevated Testosterone!
So there you have it! Let's do a quick recap.
RECAP:
Increasing fat on your belly, increasing hair growth on your face and / or decreasing hair on your scalp, are the 3 most common signs of Androgen Dominance.
Here are 7 Simple Steps to Managing Androgen Dominance:
1. TEST your hormones with ZRT Saliva Profile ONE
2. Start right away with the Nutrition suggestions in this article by: lowering your refined carbs and sugar intake, and eat clean meat and healthy fats.
3. Take a baseline Essential Nutritional Supplement at least 4 days a week and preferable 5 days a week.
4. Try to get in 25 grams of fiber a day even if it means you need to use a fiber supplement. (Powder is better than capsules)
5. Add some ground flax seed to anything you want! But be careful at using too much! It works very well in lowering your Androgens but it also increases SHBG (Sex Hormone Binding Globulin) so it will eventually lower all of your hormones – and that isn’t something you want. We suggest using ground Flax Seed while you are waiting for your test results and then lowering your Flax seed intake after about a month of use little by little as you improve your hormone balance with Bioidentical Creams and thru the other nutritional tricks in this guide.
6. Use an androgen reducing herbal supplement that has multiple herbs that work synergistically for keep Dihydrotestosterone down. (I use NOW brand "Clinical Strength Prostate Health")
7. Choose and use the proper Bioidentical Cream to balance all of your hormones properly.
WHEW! That's it! How did you like it? 🤗
This article will be of great help to you in balancing your hormones for many years to come!
Leave a comment