What are we doing to women!?

Did anyone see today's Oprah about our food!? I loved it and can't wait to read "Kind Diet." I am a huge believer in eating "whole" foods and staying away from the processed stuff. And though I'm a vegetarian, I do buy meat and dairy for my husband but ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS the grain fed, anti-biotic free stuff. The first thing that got me started on this was actually learning about what all of those hormones that the animals are given, do to our hormones. I'm an Arbonne Independent Consultant, and since we sell a natural progesterone cream, I've attended many hormone seminars. Here is some fabulous information from Dr. Deanna Osborn that I think is worth sharing:

What Are We Doing To Women?!!

Family Physician Reevaluates Traditional Hormone Treatment

By Dr. Deanna Osborn, D. O.

Hormone imbalance is an epidemic among American women causing many ailments from severe PMS to breast cancer. Estrogen dominance is thought to be the culprit of hormone imbalance.

Symptoms of hormone imbalance include:
PMS	Hot flashes
Difficulty with concentration	Hair loss
Vaginal dryness	Loss of sex drive
Certain auto immune disorders	Migraine headaches
Mood swings	Depression
Osteoporosis	Fatigue
Fluid retention	Irregular menstrual cycles
Heavy bleeding during menses	Thinning hair
Fibrocystic breasts	Symptoms of slow thyroid
Sleep disturbances	Uterine fibroids
Unexplained weight gain	Dry, thin, wrinkly skin

A recent journal article published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) July 2002, entitled The Women’s Health Initiative Study, found that traditional HRT (hormone replacement therapy) increased the incidence of breast cancer, stroke, heart attacks, blood clots and pulmonary embolus even within the first year of therapy. The results were so overwhelming that the FDA ruled it was unethical to continue the study because it was putting women at too much risk for serious side effects.

Here’s how we were designed:

Estrogen is the dominant hormone during the first half of a woman’s monthly cycle. It is a growth hormone and is responsible for proliferation (growth) of cells in the lining of the uterus so that a fertilized egg can implant. Progesterone is the hormone we should find in the second half of the cycle. It is released into the body when a woman ovulates. It is responsible for sustaining the newly fertilized egg that has implanted in the uterine lining.

Progesterone also functions to:
Restore sex drive and support fertility	Act as a natural diuretic
Stimulate new bone formation	Act as a natural antidepressant
Normalize blood sugar levels	Restore normal vascular tone
Protect against fibrocystic breasts	Normalize blood sugar level
Protect against endometrial, ovarian, prostate and breast cancer	Reduce incidence of autoimmune disorders
Facilitate thyroid hormone action	Help use fat for energy

A 1996 Johns Hopkins study concluded that women low in natural progesterone have an 80% higher risk of developing breast cancer and that the risk of developing other malignant cancers increases ten fold.

How do our hormones become unbalanced?

Hormones and our health become unbalanced due to stress, hormone replacement, diet, and environment.

1. Stress: Studies show that by age 34, 50% of the women in America have no progesterone. American women are always on the go, go, go. This causes increased stress which depletes our bodies of its own progesterone. When our bodies are stressed, we make cortisol, a hormone that uses progesterone as a building block. In addition, when a woman’s body is stressed she may not ovulate, and therefore not produce progesterone, furthering the downward cycle.

2. RX’s: We consume a tremendous amount of prescription hormones in birth control pills, hormone replacement therapies (HRT), etc. (Please note that Progestin – used in HRT is not the same as natural progesterone.) These prescriptions further add to the imbalance by adding more estrogen to the problem.

3. Diet: One of the most appalling contributions to the imbalance is found in what we eat. Beef, chicken and pork all contain estrogen. They are fed estrogen as a growth hormone to get them to the market more quickly. Sugar, refined starches, and petrochemical infused foods all add to the problem. (When plastics are heated in the microwave, they emit certain toxic, carcinogenic (cancer causing) chemicals.)

4. Environment: Petroleum based products like mineral oil (baby oil); most soaps, skin care and hair care; plastics, pesticides, detergents, etc. are found to be sources of xenoestrogens (or “false estrogens”) – which bind up our estrogen receptors and cause hormone imbalance in the body. (Any product placed on the skin that contains mineral oil actually dehydrates the basal cell layer of skin contributing to premature aging, not to mention that it is a gasoline byproduct and carcinogenic.)

What can we do to protect ourselves?

For starters we can balance the estrogen dominance by supplementing with natural progesterone cream. When looking for a natural progesterone cream it is important to look for USP grade progesterone, at 20 mg. per dose. Look for a product that is in an airtight, metered dose pump container such as Arbonne International’s Natural Balancing Cream. (Products in jars are oxidized when exposed to air; they are usually hand mixed which can separate, as opposed to machine mixed, and are usually formulated in a mineral oil base.) Arbonne’s Natural Balancing cream is formulated in a botanical (plant) base, not mineral oil which interferes with absorption.

When possible, buy organic meats and produce. Many health food stores, co-ops, and local grocery stores carry organic. Never use plastics in the microwave. Do not use products on your skin that contain any mineral oil or petroleum based products.

What else can be done?

Supplement your diet with quality vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. They must meet the US Pharmacopeia (USP) standard of 30 minutes disintegration time or they will pass through the digestive tract unused.

The Cancer Prevention Coalition released a statement on June 17, 2002 stating that mainstream cosmetics and personal hygiene products pose the highest cancer risk, due to exposures, to the general public – higher than smoking.

Use personal products for your body that are pure and safe.

For testimonials and general information log on to arbonne.com.

For research information on natural progesterone log on to JohnLeeMD.com.