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Great question and apologies for my delay in response! My response is layered in nature and I will do my best to address the major concerns.
First, we heavily utilize the blood type diet (Eat Right for Your Type) in our practice. It provides a framework for patients and the app (and the book, of course!) provides some additional information for overall healthy living and lifestyle adjustments. Patients love it and has proven to be an invaluable “palm-of-the-hand” resource, broken down into beneficial, neutral, and avoid categories. Whether you “buy in” to the blood type diet or not, is based on personal preference.
The next layer is the actual estrogen-inducing foods aspect (and yes this includes phytoestrogens). Is this an all inclusive list? No, probably not and it hits on the major foods that we know promote, stimulate, or include high levels of estrogen that work against the goal of decreasing the growth/maturation of uterine fibroids. Here is a list that we utilize:
- flax seeds
- dairy – eggs and whole milk
- hummus
- soybeans (including edamame)
- dried fruits
- sesame seeds
- pomegranates
- spinach
- garlic
- nuts – Brazil nuts, almonds, cashews, roasted salted peanuts, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and walnuts
- some legumes – green beans, alfalfa sprouts, peas, chickpeas, lentils, lima beans, carob, kidney beans, mung beans, pinto beans, and black-eyed peas
- peaches
- berries – especially strawberries, cranberries, and raspberries
- wheat bran (including some wholegrain breads, rice, and wheat berries)
- apples, dates, and cherries
- tofu
- fennel
- cruciferous vegetables – cauliflower, Brussels, broccoli, and cabbage
- tempeh
So the first question our patients ask is, “Well, what if a estrogen-inducing food is on my beneficial list?” The answer is: It depends. If a food is already in high rotation in one’s diet, then we might suggest cutting back (but not eliminating) so that the body can still derive the benefit of that particular food. In the same way, if a food is in the estrogen-inducing category and is also in the avoid category, then we would suggest eliminating the food for a specific period of time (usually 30 days) with the assurance of reassessing at that time.
We make all of our decisions with the guidance and under the instruction of a nutritionist/dietitian; however, we promote eating whole foods over supplementation % about 95% of the time.
Before this post/explanation becomes too lengthy, I will stop here and should you have additional questions, I welcome further discussion/exploration.