There are so many reasons why a cleanse is a great idea for your insides – not limited to happy bowels, less bloating, weight loss, clearer skin…actually pretty much every corner of your wellbeing loves you for it. People think that pills, herbs or supplements handle hormonal imbalances and food programs and cleansing therapies are optional but this misconception is not true.

How Will A Cleanse Affect Your Hormones?

Let’s look at cleansing from another angle today. Let’s understand why your liver wants you to cleanse and how this influences your hormones.

The liver controls your energy level by regulating the amount of glucose available for your brain and the rest of your body. Naturally, when your liver is sluggish, tired and sickly, you will not get the glucose release needed. All of the glands of the endocrine system use the blood to carry hormones to where they need to go. The liver’s job is to also cleanse out unnecessary hormones from the blood system so that communication can occur more efficiently.

In a nut shell, when you have too much oestrogen in your body, your liver has a darn hard time of metabolising it. You’re making it work over time and some more. End result – your liver ends up exhausted and backed up, like a clogged up sewage pipe.

Nobody wants a dirty liver. Let’s dig deep but keep it really simple.

Oestrogen dominance is a result of your own bodies sex hormones being out of kilter. Too much oestrogen (think weight gain that is impossible to shift, irregular periods, anxiety, depression, ovulation pain, fertility issues…) is often a result of other hormones in your body also finding themselves in the same kind of situation – everything is out of whack. Quite simply your body needs to metabolise oestrogen otherwise it will end up in your blood stream, resulting in too much oestrogen in your body, aka oestrogen dominance.

Let’s re-hash for a tick. Things that will lead to excess oestrogen in your body include stress, conventional (non organic/natural) body products and house hold cleaning products (xenoestrogens), excess alcohol consumption, over eating phytoestrogens (plant based foods like soy) and of course environmental influences like unfiltered water or poor quality foods. They all contain chemicals that mimic your bodies oestrogen. When we continue to top up with these external oestrogen like things, our bodies own oestrogen levels continue to rise.

To adequately deal with this abundance of oestrogen, our livers need to go to work through a few stages to fully eliminate it. The first stage is called Hydroxylation. Don’t be put off by the big word. Basically it’s a chemical process preformed by your oh so clever liver. The second phase of this this process is called Conjugation, another chemical process that basically ships oestrogen out via the bowels and urine. If Hydroxylation can’t be carried out, it will lead to excess oestrogen roaming around in your blood which over time can become carcinogenic – this may be the trigger to various cancers including breast, cervical and prostate cancer. Same goes for phase two – Conjugation. Again, if oestrogen can’t be marched out, it will continue to recirculate and build. This is known as dyestrogenism – the name given to the condition when you have issues regulating your oestrogen.

So you see, if your liver can’t process properly, your hormones simply can’t be happy! Not to mention the load that the pill and other medications place on your liver too. Our poor livers end up like a punching bag – sitting there doing their very best to fulfil their job but continually being hounded.

Do You Think It’s Time You Gave Those Hormones Some Love?

If you think your hormones are out of whack, book a Discovery Session with our naturopath, Tracey, who is a detective in finding the cause of what is disrupting your hormones, prescribing cleanses and implementing achievable strategies to have you feeling energised, healthy and happy again. All the details can be found here.