Leia Cohen www.greenearthmind.com & www.taiflow.com

As an Integrative Health Coach, I have recently been focusing on Hormone Health. For women, taking care of our hormones is important at any age. I find that being more mindful of what we put into our bodies, can really support our moods, emotional balance and general health.

How does caffeine influence estrogen production? There are three sources of estrogen in our bodies: our ovaries, our adrenal glands and our fat cells.

With the start of menopause our ovaries begin to wind down. This slows the production of estrogen and leaves only the adrenal glands and fat cells to keep up our estrogen levels.

Too much coffee on top of this puts the adrenals into overdrive and shuts down their production of estrogen as well. Now imagine you are going through menopause. Your ovaries are slowing down. You are drinking too much coffee.  Where does your estrogen come from? From your fat cells!

This means that as your cycle starts to slow down, you will have more trouble losing weight, since you need your fat to produce estrogen.

If you drink a lot of coffee, your body will hold onto the fat to maintain the estrogen levels in your body.

Eliminate caffeine and the adrenal glands will be able to do their job and produce the estrogen you need. You can avoid taking estrogen supplements and you will have more energy.

I used to struggle with mood swings when I was younger. I drank 2-3 cups of coffee per day. This shut down my estrogen production. Now that I only drink herbal teas, I am much calmer and find it much easier to maintain my weight.

Sorry guys, this one is for the ladies, the female endocrine system can be very tough and requires special attention.