0

What 9 Estrogen Foods to Avoid if You Don’t Want Your Man Boobs to Grow

Excessive estrogen in the body isn’t a problem for women alone, men also often experience high estrogen symptoms in their bodies. Anyone wanting to know if male body also produces estrogen, the answer is yes.

Here, you will learn how estrogen can make your moobs bigger and what you need to do to balance your hormones and cure your gyno.

>>Want to lose your moobs fast? Discover the best solution for you>>

Like women, estrogen in men’s bodies can also rise to very high levels, or decrease significantly. There are many food items that contribute to such skewing of estrogen levels in the male bodies. We’ll go over these estrogen foods to avoid later in this write-up.

Although a majority of the scientific research in the past has been about how estrogen impacts women’s bodies and how testosterone impacts men’s, it’s now a well-established fact that estrogen does play a significant role in testosterone-regulation in men’s bodies.

Other than that, it also impacts various aspects of the male body, including bone health, sexual functioning, cardiovascular functioning, cholesterol regulation, various brain functions, libido levels and skin health.

Symptoms of High Estrogen Levels in Men:

Usually, estrogen and testosterone levels always stay in right balance in the male bodies. However, any time there’s a spike in estrogen, there is a corresponding decrease in the testosterone level, causing the manifestation of high-estrogen symptoms, other than the various low-testosterone symptoms.

As a result, it can be hard to differentiate the low-testosterone symptoms from high-estrogen symptoms in male bodies.

The most commonly noticed symptoms of high estrogen levels in men are:

• Significant loss of muscle mass
• Fatigue
• Signs evident in the lower urinary tract, related to benign prostatic hyperplasia
• Sexual dysfunctioning; loss of libido, decreased erectile function and fewer morning erections
• Type II diabetes
• Enlarged breasts or gynecomastia
• Depression and all kinds of emotional disturbances
• Increase in abdominal fat (sometimes also related to low estrogen levels)

As is evident from the above list, men having excessive estrogen in their bodies aren’t just exposed to the risk of symptoms like loss of libido and man boobs, they also face the risk of more serious problems like type II diabetes.

Recent scientific research reveals that this elevated risk of diabetes is independent of the testosterone levels in the male bodies, implying that high estrogen level increases the diabetes risk regardless of what the testosterone levels might be.

High estrogen also exposes men to the risk of autoimmune diseases and prostate cancer.

How is High Estrogen Related to Overgrown Male Breasts?

Gynecomastia is a far more commonly seen condition in men than many people think.

It manifests particularly at certain stages of life, for instance, in the elder years or during puberty.

In a majority of the cases, the male breast tissue growth is owing to the decline in the testosterone levels and a corresponding increase in the estrogen levels in the person’s body.

Such high estrogen levels also imply that the man is witnessing something known as aromatase activity.

This activity is primarily about the enzymatic conversion of testosterone and androsterone into estradiol, commonly known as estrogen or E2.

Any time there is an imbalance in these two hormones, it sends a message to the man’s body, particularly his breast tissues, that they must grow.

Although it can be a pretty distressing or embarrassing condition for men, especially teenagers passing through puberty, enlarged male breasts mostly go away on their own.

Furthermore, you can expedite their reduction by staying away from the estrogen-rich foods.

The hormonal changes in the male body which lead to gynecomastia can be due to many reasons, some of which are pretty easy to fix.

Some of these causes are:

• Hormone-secreting tumors
• Kidney or liver diseases
• Excessive consumption of estrogen boosting foods
• Rare genetic disorders
• Recreational drug abuse, including marijuana
• Certain prescribed medications

Foods That Can Increase Your Estrogen Level:

There are a couple of important ways in which excessive consumption of specific food items can lead to male breasts or gynecomastia.

The first is when a man eats too much of high-calorie and high-fat foods, leading to weight gain, and a condition referred to as pseudo-gynecomastia. In pseudo-gynecomastia, men witness excessive build-up of fat on their chest walls.

Such accumulation of fat also leads to increased production of estrogen-like hormones, causing the growth of male breast tissues.

Secondly, excessive consumption of foods that boost estrogen can also lead to this condition.

The ideal way to get rid of gynecomastia caused because of dietary problems is by exercising regularly and eating the right foods.

Let’s now go over some of the estrogen foods to avoid if you have gynecomastia:

1. Excessive Carbohydrates and Refined Sugar:

It’s crucial for men to stay away from excess carbs and refined sugar if they are vulnerable to gynecomastia or man boobs.

Whenever you consume such foods, you are mainly spiking up the insulin level of your body, leading to a corresponding decline in the sex hormone binding globulin.

Globulin is responsible for binding estrogen and testosterone in the male body, and whenever it gets too low, it results in excessive estrogen floating in the bloodstream, which in turn can have all kinds of effects.

You must replace carbohydrates in your diet with healthy fats capable of stimulating testosterone production in your body.

2. Non-organic Dairy Products:

Men concerned about high-estrogen and gynecomastia must also stay away from non-organic dairy products.

Nothing against dairy as long as it’s consumed in moderation, but anyone wanting to be at his productive best during the workday, consuming excessive milk would slow him down flat out.

Your regular glass of milk and majority of dairy products consist of way too many medications to wreak havoc on any male body.

In fact, a study carried out by the Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering in Japan revealed that conventional milk consists of large amounts of progesterone and estrogen, known to suppress gonadotropin production in the male body, which in turn suppresses the testosterone production.

If you are too keen on having milk and milk products, you must opt for organic milk, or perhaps goat’s milk instead.

3. Soy and Soy Products:

Another food item that all men must stay away from is soy. Soy consists of something known as xenoestrogens (chemical-based estrogens) and phytoestrogens (plant-based estrogens), that mimic the effect of estrogen in the male body (despite not being the real estrogen).

Excessive xenoestrogen and phytoestrogen in a man’s body disturbs the hormonal balance and might cause it to produce it even more.

Why this happens is because the majority of the soy available in the marketplace is not the real soy.

A large percentage of it is so genetically modified that it becomes completely devoid of the natural benefits that healthy soy is so well-known for.

Anyone who is vegan and is looking for an ideal protein powder must opt for pea protein instead.

Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas, USA conducted a study involving a healthy and virile 60-year-old man suffering from gynecomastia, caused as a result of drinking soy milk on a daily basis.

The study was also published in the Journal of the American College of Endocrinology. The researchers found that his body had very high levels of estrone and estradiol (the estrogen hormones).

List of other estrogenic foods you must avoid:

4. Berries:

Conventionally produced fruits that have edible skins, especially berries, have estrogen-mimicking pesticides in very high quantities.

Other than strawberries, you must also stay away from apples, kale, cherries, and peaches. If you’re keen on having these fruits, you must look for organic produce.

5. Seafood Contaminated with Pesticides:

It has been found that an average person consumes almost 10 to 13 different kinds of pesticides each day through food items. Majority of these pesticides are endocrine disruptors and impact both female and male hormones.

Seafood items like fish and shrimp are particularly contaminated with different pesticides, which can increase gynecomastia risk in men.

6. Canned Foods:

A study done by the Environmental Working Group on canned food items revealed that canned – tuna, infant formula, ravioli, beans and chicken soup contain very high BPA levels.

BPA or Bisphenol A is a commonly known phthalate which was developed mainly for estrogen therapy in women before researchers figured that it could even be utilized in packaging foods.

7. Beets:

Taking away nothing from the beets being one of the most delicious, sweetest and nutritious vegetables out there.

It should be noted that like many root vegetables, beets also contain compounds that help in the maintenance of healthy estrogen levels in the human body.

Hence, beets should be avoided by anyone vulnerable to hormonal imbalances as its regular intake can lead to high estrogen levels, and gynecomastia.

8. Junk Food:

Like canned food items, fast foods also consist of various chemical preservatives, added to increase their shelf life.

It’s these preservatives only which can keep those French fries free of fungus and mold, for as long as one year.

Many such chemical preservatives have a gender binding effect and can alter the hormone balance of the body.

Researchers have also proved that there is a strong connection between gender-bending chemicals like BPA and fast foods. As mentioned earlier, excessive intake of BPA can lead to estrogen spike in the body.

9. Meat and Cheese Purchased from Supermarket:

As against the plastic wrap commonly used in homes for wrapping the leftovers, the wrapping product used for meat and cheese in the supermarkets is normally made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

This PVC often leaches into the fatty food items and leads to hormonal imbalances.

Here, we should also mention alcohol consumption as one of the possible factors interferring with your hormones and leading to chest fat and/or gynecomastia growth.

What can be Done to Combat High Estrogen Levels?

Making healthy food choices can help a great deal in reducing the occurrence as well as symptoms of gynecomastia in men’s bodies.

You must opt for cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower and broccoli that contain an important substance called indole-3-carbinol.

This has repeatedly been found to help reduce estrogen levels in the body.

Such vegetables also have healthy amounts of sulfur in them, which aids body detoxification.

Consuming them on a regular basis not only helps you reduce estrogen’s serum levels in your body, but also aids their easy elimination.

Furthermore, as estrogen levels are known to spike at the night time, there’s nothing better than a big bowl of broccoli before you hit the sack!

Please also note that majority of food items can be split into two categories – alkaline and acidic.

You get the best chance to overcome man boobs or gynecomastia if you opt for a diet consisting of 30% acidic and 70% alkaline foods.

Altering your body chemistry by consuming more of alkaline foods will also help in boosting your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) and burn more calories, which in turn will also be immensely helpful in getting rid of gynecomastia.

Some of these popular foods are:

• Buttermilk
• Asparagus
• Fennel Seeds
• Green Beans
• Lentils
• Edamame
• Coconut
• Brussels Sprouts
• Lemon juice
• Lima beans
• Spinach
• White Beans
• Sorrel
• Peas
• Cider Vinegar
• Sesame Seeds
• Wheat Kernel
• Spelt
• Fresh Comfrey
• Cumin Seeds
• Buckwheat Groats

On the whole, the idea is to steer clear of foods that boost estrogen in the body (see the above list of estrogen foods to avoid), and instead opt for foods that help in lowering the estrogen levels.