Gijs Heerkens

Xenoestrogenphobia 💀

Gijs Heerkens

Xenoestrogens are a type of environmental hormone that imitates estrogen, the female sex hormone. Both synthetic and natural xenoestrogens are ubiquitous in modern life and both of them fuck up your hormones.

Reading Estrogeneration made me realise that we are bombarded by these toxins in modern life. Both men and women can greatly influence their hormone levels by eliminating artificial estrogens from their daily lives.

This is important because these toxins have an impact on our overall health. They impact cancer rates, obesity, infertility, metabolic syndrome and allergies because they disregulate basic hormone functions, such as:

The problem is excess artificial estrogen is subtle. You don’t notice it right away. It causes modifications and functionally alters your dna in the long term.

The doses that we’re exposed to are no joke, and pretty difficult to avoid as well. Don’t think it’s simple to find and eliminate all the sources of xenoestrogen in your life.

We have to accept the fact that manufacturers don’t care. They just follow the law and for the rest it’s simply the cost-benefit for them. Like the food industry, they don’t care about your health.

Some environmental estrogens are beyond our control, like air fresheners in shops and some plastics in foods and water is unavoidable. The best you can aim for is to reduce your total estrogen burden. Awareness is the first step and that’s what this article is for.

I’m composing an extended lists of things to avoid in life, without it being a big impingement on it. Get ready for the greatest via negativa of all times.

This topic might be next level if you don’t have your diet, sleep and exercise in check yet. If that’s the case, I’d advise to focus on those things first.

The low hanging fruits are tap water, cleaning agents, personal care products, clothing, bedding, some foods and first and foremost making sure to have a healthy body fat percentage.

Since the list is endless, I categorized it for you:

  1. Body fat
  2. At home
  3. Food Supply
  4. Cleaning
  5. Personal care
  6. Miscellaneous

1. Body fat

The first one isn’t actually a xenoestrogen but the most important factor to consider. Body fat is highly estrogenic. The higher your body fat percentage, the worse your hormone balance and metabolism get.

Body fat percentage isn’t a vanity metric but a health metric. Men should aim for 10-14% body fat, women for 20-24%.

Waist:height ratio is a simple indicator of your metabolic health. Measure waist at your belly button and divide it by your height. If the result is below 50% you’re doing fine, otherwise you should start losing body fat.

Mine is 40,7%.

One of the reasons too much body fat is so bad for you is because it synthesizes estrogen, increases cortisol and blocks testosterone production. Men who have excess fat will often have as high estrogen levels as females as they get older, hence they look and act feminized.

2. At home

We are touching and inhaling stuff all day in our homes, so we’d better make sure it doesn’t contain endocrine disrupting chemicals.

Carpets: Preferably buy carpets and rugs made of natural materials such as cotton or cork, and choose a wooden floor or tiles. Otherwise, always wear socks in the house. Cotton socks of course.

Shower water: Install a shower filter to reduce the chemicals you absorb via the skin while taking a shower.

Candles: Use beeswax candles only, no synthetic ones.

Food packages: Never store food in plastic, especially not when it’s hot. Buy and store food in wood, metal or glass containers. You can recycle glass packaging as a storage containers. The last thing food should be packed in is plastics, yet everything is packed in it. After buying it, move foods to your own containers as soon as possible.

Cookware: Plastics have absolutely no place in a kitchen. Use stainless steel or cast irons skillets and pots and wooden or metal tools like cutting boards and spatulas.

Furniture: Cheap sofas and mattresses are often made of plastics like polyester, and can off-gas dodgy chemicals. Consider choosing organic materials when replacing furniture, or use cotton toppings when your furniture is made of plastic.

Smoking: Don’t smoke, or let anyone else smoke in your house.

3. Food Supply

Unfortunately, our food supply is full of toxins causing hormonal disruption as well. Tap water and plant foods are the main things you should be worried about in this regard.

Tap water: Our water sanitation system is great for eliminating bacteria but not so good for breaking down estrogens. Because of estrogens leaching into the water supply over time these concentrations build up and there is no way for them to get cleared out. Getting a non-plastic water filter is the least bad option. Drinking mineral water from glass water bottles is best, although can get quite expensive.

Soy: Don’t be a soy boy. Either never eat it, or only occasionally eat fermented soy products such as tempeh.

Beer: Beer is the less masculine drink available because of the amount of estrogen it contains. Fully skip beer, drink red wine occasionally or no alcohol at all.

Grains: Avoid all dietary grains, including corn. The pesticides used for cultivation are highly estrogenic.

Dairy products: Eliminate liquid dairy products and butter, unless completely grain fed and bottled in glass.

Oils: Only buy quality oils, stored in glass.

Flax seeds: Flax seeds contain a very high amount of phytoestrogens, which are plant chemicals mimicking the effects of estrogen in the body. Yes, they are a good source of omega 3, but there are better sources without xenoestrogens. Don’t eat.

Canned foods: Avoid foods stored in metal.

Meat: The quality of the food makes the quality of the meat. Animals that eat corn and soy produce a completely different type of meat than grass-fed animals. Eat organic, grass-fed only, packed in paper.

Seafood/fish: Only eat wild seafood, the oceans unfortunately are a xenoestrogen galore.

Coffee: Drink organic tea and coffee, non-organic coffee is the second-most-sprayed crop in the world.

Tea: Drink organic tea. Make it using an infuser and tea leaves, not the prepackaged plastic teabags that dissolve millions of microplastics into hot water.

Salt: Don’t buy sea salt, but for example Himalayan salt.

4. Cleaning agents

Commercial cleaning agents are cheap, yet come with a huge estrogen burden.

Luckily, you can DIY all cleaning products with only a few essentials: water, baking soda, vinegar, Marseille soap flakes and optionally some essential oils for fragrance.

All-purpose cleaner: Mix 50% vinegar and 50% water in a plant spray bottle. Add essential oil (not lavender) if you don’t like the smell.

Laundry detergent: Mix 500 milliliters of water with 2 tablespoons of Marseille soap flakes, 2 tablespoons of baking soda, 2 tablespoons of vinegar and soms drops of essential oil (not lavender).

Can use this as dishwashing agent as well.

Dishwashing agent: Mix 500 milliliters of water with 2 tablespoons of Marseille soap flakes, 2 tablespoons of baking soda, 2 tablespoons of vinegar and soms drops of essential oil (not lavender).

Can use this as laundry detergent as well.

Plastic cleaning cloth: Only use cotton, reusable cloths.

Sink unblocker liquid: Mix baking soda and vinegar and pour it down the drain. The sink will be unclogged and odourless.

5. Personal care products

If you wouldn’t eat it, you shouldn’t put it on your skin either. Just like commercial cleaning products, modern personal care products have become too much of an estrogenic burden for our health.

But you can DIY everything you really need with baking soda, coconut oil and some essential oils.

Birth control pill: All chemical anticonception methods are flat out poisonous. Never take exogenous hormones, stop living a promiscuous life instead and earn about Natural Family Planning.

Makeup: Sorry ladies, don’t use makeup and maintain your natural beauty by eating healthy and sleeping enough.

Shampoo: Try nopoo.

Soap: You don’t need soap everyday. Just use plain water and give your skin some rest. If you don’t eat processed garbage you won’t smell bad anyway.

Toothpaste: Mix coconut oil with baking soda and add a few drops of essential mint oil to taste.

Mouth wash: Ditch, kills good bacteria.

Chewing gum: Use mastic droplets instead, maximizing facial aesthetics, increasing bite force and experience numerous health benefits.

Deodorant: Mix liquid coconut oil, cornstarch, baking soda and essential lemon oil (for fragrance) in a small glass bottle. Let it get hard in the fridge. Rub under your armpits and let it soak in.

Perfume: Either don’t use or spray directly on your clothes.

Body lotion: Use coconut oil, or buy Vanman’s Tallow & Honey balm,

Hand soap: Stop killing good bacteria, just wash your hands with water, or use 100% alcohol from time to time.

Face balm: Use coconut oil, or buy Vanman’s Tallow & Honey balm.

Lip balm: Use pure beeswax, or buy Vanman’s peppermint beeswax lip balm.

Nail polish: Avoid nail varnish and remover at all.

Sunscreen: Don’t use it, only get safe sun exposure instead. We need sunlight to survive for several reasons. For the rest, cover your skin.

Condoms: Consider buying or ordering natural condoms, as nonoxynol-9 spermicide is endocrine-disrupting.

Lube: Consider buying or ordering natural lube, as nonoxynol-9 spermicide is endocrine-disrupting.

6. Miscellaneous

And finally, some random other things to keep in mind.

Receipts: Don’t ask and/or refuse receipts.

Toys: Give your kids wooden toys, no plastic. They put this in their mouth, too.

Clothing: Skip synthetic materials like polyester and spandex. Only wear 100% cotton, woolen or linnen clothes.

Underwear: You don’t want your vitals to touch plastic all day. Skip synthetic materials like polyester and spandex. Wear natural fabrics like cotton or silk.

Bedding: Skip synthetic materials like polyester. Only use 100% cotton, woolen or linnen bedding.

If you want to dive into this topic even more, I advice you to watch the video interview below. Dr. Anthony Jay is the author of Estrogeneration, the book I mentioned in the intro.

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