Women NEED to Know This Before Getting on HRT

"Should I be on HRT?" is the number one question I'm asked today, especially since the FDA removed the cancer warning from many hormone products in late 2025. While hormone therapy can be a life-changing intervention for some, it is often a "band-aid" that ignores the foundational failure of nutritional deficiencies and chronic stress. In this episode, I share the protocols I use in my clinic to help men and women reclaim their libido, clear brain fog, and lose stubborn weight by honoring the body’s natural design. We examine the critical difference between bioidentical hormones (structurally identical to the human body) and synthetic formulations that often come with higher risk profiles. Dr. Axe details the "Survival vs. Reproduction" hierarchy, explaining how high cortisol and insulin resistance act as the primary "thieves" of your sex hormones. Drawing from ancient medical wisdom and modern clinical studies, we break down the Astrobolom (the gut's role in estrogen metabolism) and the use of Yin-boosting foods like duck eggs and yams to naturally "cool and moisten" the body to stop hot flashes. We also dive into the tactical use of peptides like Kisspeptin and BPC-157 to restore cellular communication between the brain and reproductive organs. Sponsors: Sunlighten Sauna: https://get.sunlighten.com/axepodcast Manukora Manuka Honey: https://manukora.com/axe Caraway Home: carawayhome.com/drjoshaxe (Use code DRJOSHAXE) for an exclusive discount Watch The Dr. Josh Axe Show every Monday & Thursday on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@drjoshaxe?sub_confirmation=1⁠ 🎧 Early Access! Our podcast listeners get every episode early, and you can tune in and be a part of our exclusive listeners below → ⁠Spotify⁠ ⁠Apple Podcast⁠ Order my NEW BOOK, The Biblio Diet → ⁠https://bit.ly/4oPEP3t⁠ Watch my free training on how to naturally balance your blood sugar and reverse your symptoms → ⁠DrAxeDiabetesClass.com⁠ Discover practical steps you can take today to start healing your thyroid naturally → ⁠DrAxeThyroidClass.com⁠ If you’re ready to start feeling like yourself again and balance your hormones, take my free class → ⁠DrAxeHormoneClass.com⁠ Uncover what’s really going on in your body with advanced biomarker testing for hormones, thyroid, and metabolism— plus a 1-hour consultation with a Senior Health Advisor! → ⁠MyBloodWork.com⁠ CONNECT WITH DR. JOSH AXE ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠ ⁠TikTok⁠ ⁠X⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠ ⁠Website⁠ ⁠Sign up for my newsletter⁠ ⁠Ask me a question DISCLAIMER This content is strictly the opinion of Dr. Josh Axe and is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice or to take the place of medical advice or treatment from a personal physician. All viewers of this content are advised to consult their doctors or qualified health professionals regarding specific health questions. Neither Dr. Axe nor the publisher of this content takes responsibility for possible health consequences of any person or persons reading or following the information in this educational content. All viewers of this content, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medications, should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition, supplement or lifestyle program. Links: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1126376/#:~:text=Among%20their%20findings%20was%20that%20the%20risk,cases%2C%20and%20its%20incidence%20has%20increased%20by https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12511246/#:~:text=The%20risk%20of%20atherosclerotic%20heart,a%20person%2Dcentered%20risk%20assessment Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Josh Axe?

  Should I be on HRT? This is one of the most frequent questions I'm getting now on a regular basis. And maybe you're one of those people, you're feeling the force of aging coming on, you're feeling your hormones drop, and because of it, you're dealing with issues like loss of libido, brain fog, you know, stubborn weight gain in your belly area, your hips, and yet your labs are coming back normal. By the end of this episode, you'll know exactly how to determine if you're a good candidate for HRT, or if you simply are experiencing a foundational failure. If we address the nutritional deficiencies, and if we make slight lifestyle shifts, or even use a natural therapy like red light,

• 0:41Josh Axe?

  many of these holistic treatments today can allow you to avoid HRT. And here's the reality, there might be some side effects for some people, but still, HRT for some people can be a good idea. On today's episode, I'll walk you through exactly how to know that for sure. Welcome to the Dr. Josh Akk Show.

• 1:03Josh Axe?

  So in November of 2025, the FDA and Marty McCrery and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed the black box warning from many menopausal products for hormone replacement therapy. This does not give it a free pass. However, this black box warning was basically to say there is an increased risk of cancer, or can be, when you're using hormone replacement therapy. Now, what happened was is they pulled together a lot of studies, and they found overall, in most groups of women, that was not the case. It didn't increase cancer very much, or it was only miniscule. And maybe a couple of groups, it was, it was higher. So they said, listen, we don't, we don't believe it's a big enough risk factor

• 1:48Josh Axe?

  that we should keep this big warning on the box of saying it may cause cancer because it's keeping a lot of women from using it. And listen, I don't necessarily agree or disagree with that. I think for certain women, it's a good idea and it's very helpful. If your hormones are absolute rock bottom, your estrogen and progesterone are very low. I think in certain instances, it can be very helpful for women. However, I do want to share this. I know three women, three, in the past year.

• 2:17Josh Axe?

  That got on HRT and then were diagnosed with estrogen-based breast cancer within a year or two of getting on HRT. So here's the problem. A lot of women now are like, okay, there's no cancer risk. I can go ahead and do it. Listen, it depends on your demographic. For some women, if it's very low and you're in the right phase of life, it makes sense. But if you're too young or too old in terms of where your hormones are, it actually can increase your risk of certain types of cancer. And you know, I had Dr. Mindy Pelts on the show recently, and she brought up an interesting point. In several other areas of the world, including Japan and Sweden,

• 2:57Josh Axe?

  women are using hormone replacement therapy at much lower levels than they are in the United States. You know, in Japan, what they do first is they opt for natural remedies like black kohosh and purple sweet potatoes in their diet. And then they tend to age much better than here in the US. If you get on hormone replacement therapy and you don't address the underlying issues of why those hormones are off in the first place, you can end up with another chronic illness or even dying early because you didn't address why your hormones are off. An example of this is men on testosterone. Let's say a man has their testosterone gets very, very low. And they decide I'm going to get on TRT.

• 3:40Josh Axe?

  Well, let me ask this, why is their TRT, why is their testosterone low? Well, likely it's because insulin was too high or cortisol was too high. Well, just because now you take testosterone and bring your testosterone up, that doesn't mean you're lowering cortisol or insulin. So let's talk about HRT and what it's good for. Hormone replacement therapy uses what we tend to call exogenous or external hormones like estrogen, progesterone, or testosterone to replace what the body isn't producing adequately on its own. Okay, generally, this, this happens more and more as we age. The most common symptoms it's prescribed to relieve are hot flashes is number one, poor sleep and mood changes.

• 4:24Josh Axe?

  And also, when it comes to men, Lack of motivation, lack of strength, uh, those are, those are there as well. Listen, it's not a longevity cure. It's not a cure at all, but it can give you relief. And so this is where I'll give you an example of, of when hormone replacement therapy can make sense. Okay. Let's say, and I'm going to use one woman and one man as an example. Let's say you have a woman and again, her hot flashes are so bad that she's only getting five hours of sleep a night. And she's waking, waking up every day and she's exhausted. She just feels totally depleted. If you can get on HRT and now sleep soundly eight hours a night. Well, even though it's not necessarily healthy to take an outside hormone in that way for a long period of time.

• 5:06Josh Axe?

  Because what happens is when you take an exogenous hormone, your body now stops producing it on its own. And we know this is true for men, right? If a man gets on TRT testosterone, well, they're, uh, you know, they, they stopped producing testosterone uh, on their own. And this is why they will, um, become infertile, right? So if a man gets on testosterone for that period of time and for a period of time after they, they, they can't reproduce. They're infertile. Okay. So, so, so we know that happens with men. The very same thing happens with women. This is why most women, the risk factor around, um, around HRT therapy for women would be most closely tied to

• 5:46Josh Axe?

  breast cancer or, or something like ovarian cancer, because that's where most estrogen and progesterone are impacted or, or produced in those areas. What increases your risk of disease even greater though than turning that tap off is, is not sleeping. Or having just absolute terrible depression or anxiety or, or mood issues, right? So if it is destroying your wellbeing and, and, and by the way, 80% I believe is this, is the statistic or around that number of the, the amount of women who say that they have. Menopausal symptoms, when they're going through menopause, it's affecting their quality of life. So if you get on HRT and it greatly improves your sleep and quality of life, well, that's going to lower cortisol, that's going to raise melatonin, that's going to

• 6:31Josh Axe?

  have a hormonal impact that's going to actually help your body heal. That's where some of those side effects of HRT can be lessened and the benefits start to outweigh the risks of HRT because you become more action oriented. Now, here's the ideal, though. The ideal is the first thing you do is go improve your diet and take the right supplements and do all those right things. And then if you still need it, then you consider HRT, but it shouldn't be the first thing you do in most cases. Now, if you are going to do hormone replacement therapy, it's important that you do bio-identical hormones and not synthetic, and there is a difference. When we look at bio-identical hormones, they are structurally identical

• 7:14Josh Axe?

  to hormones that the human body naturally produces. Now, you might be familiar with this if you've ever done HRT in the form of a hypothyroid, more natural medication. There are thyroid meds like Armour Thyroid and Nature Thyroid, where what they do is they take, Nature Thyroid takes a cow, they take their thyroid and they extract the T4 and T3, they extract some of those hormones from the animal, and then that is used in the human body. So that is an example of a way of bio-identical hormones, very similar fashion that can be done with bio-identical hormones for women or for men. And so it's

• 7:58Josh Axe?

  a, there are more natural ways to do it where they are identical to the human body. And these are available at pharmaceutical grade or compounding pharmacies, often better tolerated than a lot of these other prescribed medications. Now, the synthetic are, they are structurally different from human hormones. These are often older formulations such as conjugated equine estrogens or some progestins, and typically comes with more side effects. Okay. Now, I want to say this, bio-identical does not mean safe. A very similar thing happens, as I talked about, your body's getting it externally, it's not going to produce it itself. And so there's an important, it's important to distinguish that there as well.

• 8:38Josh Axe?

  Now, I want to turn to the Bible for a moment because it's the greatest health book ever written. And I think it brings to light a little bit of our idea around hormones and aging. One of the patterns I'm seeing more and more are women in their twenties that are going and starting to get, you know, their lips filled and doing a lot of things that make them look unnatural. And even also in that same way, a lot of women are getting hormones earlier and earlier. Men are getting on testosterone early and earlier. And I just want to say this, our culture today in the Western world, does it look at aging the same way that the Bible does?

• 9:22Josh Axe?

  Or even a lot of areas in the Eastern part of the world, look at it. When you age, when you see somebody getting that silver hair, it should be distinguished in ways of a sign of wisdom and purpose. And knowing that person's entering the phase of their life where they're going to be more of a mentor, where they're going to disciple others, where they're going to pass on their wisdom. And they sort of moved, it's almost like they've moved on to that point of their life. Okay, when you're young, you are connected to more vanity. You tend to be more tied to the physical. As you age, you should supersede that and be able to look in the world with a more spiritual lens, with a more eternal, further down the line, be more selfless, add more value to others.

• 10:06Josh Axe?

  And when you're constantly reflecting on your own appearance, it can be negative. Now, listen, you want to feel good. Nobody doesn't like to feel good. In fact, it's hard to disciple others. It's hard to add value to the world when you feel miserable all the time. But I do want to mention, there's sort of an identity issue here where, listen, care for your body. But listen, like for Chelsea, my wife, like I really, and any of you that are married in a virtuous marriage, you'll understand this, my attraction to her and love to her at this point doesn't really, is not tied primarily to how Chelsea looks, right? Chelsea could be burning a fire and have permanent scarring, and I would love her the exact same, right?

• 10:49Josh Axe?

  And so with that being said, I just think there's also this sort of cultural issue we should talk about with hormone replacement therapy. And what we're thinking about, I think the most important idea here is honor God with your body. We should do the best we can to eat in alignment with the way God designed us to eat, to live in tune with nature, right? And so I would say this, focus on aging as slowly as possible in order to do the greatest work for God, for your family, for those unique gifts you've been given, but don't over obsess about looking perfect and trying to look 30 when you're in your 70s. Do everything you can to honor God's temple, but do it authentically. Okay. Now, I want to walk you through the biggest symptoms that push

• 11:34Josh Axe?

  women to seek HRT. Hot flashes and night sweats, that is number one. Sleep disruption, mood swings, anxiety and irritability, brain fog, fatigue is a major issue, dryness in the body, and I'll get to why that is and how to fix that. Joint aches in the body and then body composition changes, right? For men, the most common things that cause them to seek out TRT and testosterone therapy are low libido, erectile dysfunction, fatigue, low drive and low motivation, depressed mood, loss of strength and muscle, increased body

• 12:14Josh Axe?

  fat, poor recovery, and as I mentioned before, a general, like a less excited outlook on life. It goes back to this, if you're going to get on HRT, you need to follow the direction of a really great doctor who gets you on it and monitors you. And here's the biggest thing of all, that you're doing the other correct things in combination while doing HRT. Now, here's who needs HRT the most in most cases. Women that are symptomatic in early menopause, and it's typically those women that specifically are having major sleep disruption and major lifestyle disruption. Okay. If they're being really negatively

• 12:55Josh Axe?

  affected, those are the women that will do the best. And in that case, the benefits of low dose individualized HRT often outweighs the risk. And again, notice I said low dose there and that you're doing other things to support. And then also, women with distressing things like major hot flashes, sexual pain and dryness, again, something else that's really disrupting your life and causing probably your cortisol to stay on. Those are the women that will respond best to HRT and have the least side effects. And the men that will do the best with testosterone are men that have confirmed low testosterone symptoms based on lab findings. Now, here's the group of people that might benefit, but they require great personalization from a great doctor.

• 13:37Josh Axe?

  Women with bone health concerns when their symptoms are also present and perimenopausal mood or perimenopausal women with severe sleep disruption. And then here's who really doesn't don't need HRT. Anyone with mild symptoms. Okay, if your symptoms are just mildly bothersome, make lifestyle changes. That'll completely correct it. You should not get on HRT if your symptoms are mild and people with normal fluctuations, but no life impairment. You do not need HRT. You're much better off taking the right supplements, making dietary changes. Those will get you in the right range very quickly. And here's who should absolutely avoid or use extreme caution with HRT. Anyone that has current or past hormone sensitive cancer.

• 14:22Josh Axe?

  Anyone with a history of VTE or blood clotting. Anyone that has uncontrolled cardiovascular disease. Anyone with active liver disease or major gallbladder issues. And anyone with long-term use purely for prevention, not symptom relief. Those people, listen, start making those natural holistic changes. It's important just to note this, listen, HRT, it's not a longevity drug. Don't treat it as such. Treat it as a temporary intervention that can restore the foundation that creates longevity. Right? So, so it's something where you're saying, okay, you know what? It's time for me to get healthy. It's time for me to change my lifestyle, my eating, do everything I can to support hormonal health. I'm going to do that.

• 15:05Josh Axe?

  And while I do that, or after I do that, if I'm still having some issues, I'm going to get on it for a period of time while I continue to improve my lifestyle and then I will taper off in the future. So what I'm going to do now is I'm going to walk you through exactly what to do to start to fix your hormones naturally to prevent having to use HRT or TRT, or to get on the lowest dose possible. By the way, if you're finding this video helpful, do me a favor, share it with someone who might benefit from it. Also, I want to say this, if you want a more in-depth review about my protocol, and how I help people heal their hormones, you can go to Dr. Axe Hormone Class. That's DrAxeHormoneClass.com. If you want to watch it in its entirety, where I really go in-depth in an hour,

• 15:48Josh Axe?

  on exactly how to heal your hormones at the cellular level. All right, let's dive in. Step number one is your diet. Right, we talked about this all the time. We have to stabilize blood sugar if you want to prevent needing HRT and TRT. Insulin resistance is the number one cause of needing hormone replacement therapy. And you really want to focus on high protein, moderate to high fiber, lots of vegetables, lots of high-fiber fruits like berries and pomegranate and apples, and then a small to moderate amount of healthy fats, like omega-3 fatty acids. You want to be getting things from like walnuts. A little coconut oil here and there. I would avoid doing a lot of high saturated fats, or of course, seed oils. You want to stay away from the bad fats and processed foods.

• 16:33Josh Axe?

  And really focus on organic meat and protein sources like eggs and organic protein powder and bone broth. Focus on high-fiber foods like vegetables, like berries, pomegranates and apples. And then get some healthy fats from things like avocado, little bit of coconut, lots and lots of extra virgin olive oil. And that is the ideal there in terms of the diet to balance insulin. And I also want to say this, food is medicine. You know, for thousands of years in Chinese medicine, they've recommended foods for supporting certain hormones. For instance, when we look at an avocado, avocado, they would say looks like a uterus. Okay, and avocados are high in magnesium, they're high in potassium,

• 17:17Josh Axe?

  and they're high in really unique fatty acids that support hormonal health in women. And so olives, they would say, look like ovaries, or maybe the testes in men. These are going to support hormones as well, according to ancient forms of medicine. Getting those healthy fats like olives, like avocado are great for your hormonal health. Step two, improve your lifestyle by balancing cortisol. Get more morning sunlight, have a consistent sleep-wake cycle, do strength training, right? Add that in two to four days a week, maybe zone cardio or, you know, doing cardio one day a week, but doing things where you're just moving to lower cortisol. Okay? That is step number two. Step number three is this. Use plant-based medicine. Okay?

• 17:58Josh Axe?

  There are herbs that have been used for thousands of years to help lower these symptoms, especially around things like menopause. And let me go through some of the most beneficial herbs you can have. The number one herb that tends to relieve menopausal symptoms by getting it at source is black cohosh. Japan has such low levels of using HRT as they're using some more plant-based medicine. And black cohosh modulates serotonin and dopamine receptors to ease hot flashes and mood swings and may also support estrogen at the same time. So black cohosh improves estrogen, dopamine, serotonin, lifts your mood, and it's been shown in studies to reduce hot flashes.

• 18:40Josh Axe?

  Number two are red clover or red clover isoflavones. These contain phytoestrogens that bind to estrogen receptors, helping offset declining estradiol. Number three is wild yam. Now, this is more for progesterone. These contain something called diosogenin. This is a precursor used even in lab synthesis to create progesterone. So it creates more progesterone activity in the body. Now, it's not directly converted to progesterone, but it generally supports progesterone in the body. And so one of the things a lot of women have done for a long time. In fact, I was interviewing Barbara O'Neill. We were in London, England, and I had her on the podcast. If you don't know Barbara O'Neill, you've got to watch this interview.

• 19:23Josh Axe?

  It's one of the best we've ever done where she shared with me her story of her, literally, uh, because the midwife wasn't there in time, you know, basically delivering her own baby. She is a really fun and brilliant woman who has been in the natural medicine space for a long time. But she had said when women are having hormonal issues, her number one therapy is using wild yam cream to help support progesterone in women during, especially during menopause, and supporting them in that way. Now, number four is an herb that Solomon talks about in the Bible. We know is probably used by women like Queen Esther. That herb is called saffron. It is prized

• 20:03Josh Axe?

  in Ayurvedic medicine. It supports serotonin availability, which declines as estrogen drops. This really helps with mood, anxiety, and libido during your menopausal transition. Now, another one that's famed in Ayurvedic medicine is shadavari. This is an adaptogenic phytoestrogen containing herb that supports your FSH and LH balance and your adrenal function. So it's really, really great for estrogen and for your cortisol. And then we have, I want to move into some minerals here, magnesium. Magnesium supports cortisol regulation and your HPA axis function. It aids

• 20:43Josh Axe?

  in sleep. It reduces anxiety, supports progesterone as well. So magnesium, specifically magnesium glycinate, is tremendous for women going through menopause and then omega-3 fatty acids. These are going to reduce inflammation. One of the core root causes of typically hot flashes, or even low testosterone in men and women. And number eight, this one might surprise you, creatine. This supports brain energy metabolism, which is estrogen dependent, and helps preserve muscle mass as testosterone and estrogen both decline. So this is important for both men and women hormonally. And then vitamin D. Remember, vitamin D is a prohormone.

• 21:24Josh Axe?

  It works synergistically with estrogen to help you maintain bone density and support your mood and overall estrogen levels. And number 10 are probiotics. You want to support what we call your estrobolome. Okay, this is your gut microbiome's role in estrogen metabolism, helping you maintain

• 21:44Josh Axe?

  Hormone levels, again, your gut also produces a lot of serotonin. So if you want to keep your hormone levels balanced, probiotics can be critical. And listen, you don't have to take all of these, but think about which one most aligns with these symptoms or issues you're having. Now I want to talk about some key peptides and bioregulators here next. The first peptide is caseptin. This signals the hypothalamus to release the right amount of hormones. So it improves cellular communication, especially between the brain and the reproductive organs to balance out estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. So that can be a great option there. Another one is epitalin. This is one that's used to help improve your circadian rhythm balance. And then if you're not recovering as quickly as you want, this happens a lot with men with

• 22:29Josh Axe?

  low testosterone. BPC 157, that's known as body protective compound, supports regeneration of the gut lining, repairing your connective tissue, overall recovery, and it's also great for estrogen and progesterone levels. So those are some of my favorites there when we're looking at peptides you can use to support your body. And then here's number five, use glandulars. Okay, now glandulars were the original peptide supplements. Okay, these are organs that support your organs that are not functioning well. So if you're a woman and you are having issues hormonally, okay, you can do ovary and adrenal and uterus and take those as glandulars from animals.

• 23:12Josh Axe?

  And that can naturally support giving your body the nutrients and peptides it needs to create more of those hormones. Or for males, same thing. If you can take adrenals and you can take testes and some of these natural, you know, beef liver, if you can take some of these natural glandulars and organs, they support your hormones. It's following an ancient principle called like supports like. You need building blocks to create the right amount of hormones. Here's what glandulars naturally contain. Number one, as I talked about, they contain peptides. This helps restore communication between your brain and endocrine organs. They contain amino acids. These are raw materials that your body needs for hormone synthesis or even detox pathways. And then it contains something called nucleotides. These support tissue repair.

• 23:54Josh Axe?

  In cellular regeneration, they also have enzymes and cofactors, even minerals like zinc and selenium and copper and iron are found in glandulars and organs there as well. Now, I want to talk about a dietary concept here, and this is really, really eye opening as we look at both functional medicine, but also the ancient form of medicine and what they taught. And when, when you look at why women get, and I'll talk about men next, but why women get a lot of these menopausal symptoms, it'll make sense and what the hormone is doing. So what the biggest symptoms women get when they're going through menopause are things like hot flashes and dryness. Your body's getting too hot and it's getting too dry. Okay.

• 24:38Josh Axe?

  Did you know that the hormones estrogen and progesterone help cool and moisten your body? They bring coolness and they bring moisture. So you're having hot flashes because now your body doesn't have the hormone that's used to cool your body or in your body doesn't have the hormone it needs to bring moisture to your body. And that's why you're getting those symptoms. And so there are foods that actually can help you do that. So, so yogurt, by the way, and what they would call these in Chinese medicine are typically Yin boosting foods. That's Y I N Yin boosting foods. These are foods that cool and moisten. And a lot of times you can help offset the symptoms by eating the right foods. So for instance, yogurt is both cooling and think about it, just like you could even

• 25:20Josh Axe?

  put, put it on your skin or I know women who have had microbial imbalance and dryness and they've used that yogurt as a suppository. So, so we know that yogurt, it cools, it moistens. That's an option. Egg yolks, very similar. They're a very good Yin producing food. They bring moisture, they bring coolness. Salmon or omega three fatty acid, they bring moisture, they reduce inflammation. And so women, you could look up Yin producing foods and understand, hey, here are the foods that are going to support you hormonally, but it's a lot of steamed vegetables. It's things like sweet potatoes and yams. It's a lot of, it's pears, it's berries, it's pomegranates. These foods tend to bring moisture and coolness to the body that are going to support progesterone

• 26:05Josh Axe?

  and estrogen levels. And for men, you want foods that bring energy. You want foods that create more, the body being more anabolic. That's going to be things like grass fed beef. It's going to be pumpkin seeds. It's going to be organ meats. It's going to be. Actually herbs like fenugreek and turmeric, you want foods that cause tissue regeneration and your body to be more anabolic and healing. It's high protein. Those are greatly going to help. And then what I want to do now is dive into the foods, according to medical science today, that most boost estrogen, the list that most boost progesterone and the foods that most boost testosterone as well.

• 26:47Josh Axe?

  Hey guys, I'm here with my good friend, Dr. Dave Jockers. In fact, we've been friends for more than 20 years. He runs the podcast, The Dr. Dave Jockers Functional Nutrition Podcast. Dr. Dave, tell us a little bit about what your podcast is about.

• 27:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, absolutely. We dive deep on functional nutrition, really how to personalize your nutrition plan for better energy, mental clarity, better hormone balance. And we talk a lot about cellular health, mitochondrial function, cell membrane. We do a deep dive on every major nutrition topic and natural health topic. So everything you need right there at your fingertips. Dr. Jockers Functional Nutrition Podcast.

• 27:23Josh Axe?

  I want to encourage you, run out and listen to the Dr. Jockers Show. Again, I'm a big fan of it. I think you will be as well.

• 27:30Josh Axe?

  So I want to walk you through the top 10 progesterone boosting foods in a ranking order. Remember progesterone is so key hormonally, especially for women, as we talk about balancing out mood, just feeling steady and stable hormonally. Of course, it's important for reproduction, a lot of things, but let's dive into progesterone. Number one are pasture raised eggs. Cholesterol is the backbone of progesterone synthesis and many, many steroid based hormones. So again, pasture raised eggs are number one. Unique fact, duck eggs are probably even better for some women because the egg yolks of ducks are even larger and more nutrient dense, rich in vitamin B6, which is really important for progesterone. Number two are pumpkin seeds.

• 28:14Josh Axe?

  Pumpkin seeds are high in the mineral zinc, which is going to support tissue regeneration, healing gut health, but specifically also boosts and supports progesterone production.

• 28:25Josh Axe?

  Number three is grass-fed beef. Grass-fed beef is also high in zinc. It's a good source of cholesterol, some good saturated fat. Now, you don't want to go real fatty. You want to go more lean. Think filet mignon, or 90-10, or 97-7 ground beef. But grass-fed beef is going to have some ALA, like omega-3 fatty acids. It's going to have some CLA. These are good omegas and minerals that can support progesterone levels. And number four, one of my favorites are sweet potatoes and yams. In fact, we know in Chinese medicine, they will take yam cream and rub that on the body, and that can support progesterone levels and ovulation. And part of it is also, it's very high in beta-carotene, very nourishing to progesterone levels.

• 29:09Josh Axe?

  Number five is spinach. Spinach is really high in magnesium. And spinach, especially when steamed, is one of the most nutrient-dense foods out there today. And its magnesium levels can lower cortisol, which in turn actually helps progesterone. It's also high in folate, which is really important for hormone signaling. Number six food that supports progesterone are avocados. Avocados are loaded with mono and saturated fat, which supports hormone production. Also, really great levels of magnesium and potassium there as well. Number seven is wild-caught fish like salmon, high in omega-3s. When you reduce inflammation, that stops the blockage of progesterone creation, or keeps as much progesterone from becoming cortisol. So really great there as well.

• 29:54Josh Axe?

  And then number eight are walnuts. Again, omega-3 fatty acids are important. Number nine are bananas. This brings moisture to the body, high in B6 as well. You'll notice a pattern here. Vitamin B6 and magnesium are really important for progesterone. By the way, as well, if you are a woman that is looking to get pregnant, one of the biggest reasons why women get morning sickness is due to a vitamin B6 plus magnesium deficiency. And then a lot of times, that's carried throughout their life, and that'll later on cause menopausal issues. So you really want to address B6 issues and magnesium issues. And that's why avocado- And banana and some of the foods we've talked about are so healing to progesterone.

• 30:38Josh Axe?

  And number 10, dark meat chicken, high in B vitamins, also a little bit more healthy fats in there that are great for progesterone levels. Now let's talk about the top 10 estrogen supporting foods. Okay, we know estrogen is important for fertility. It's important for bringing moisture to the body, important for bringing coolness to the body. It is a key hormone for slowing the aging process in women. And you can eat food that in cases can help you do a lower dose of hormone replacement therapy or not do it at all, because these foods support estrogen in the body. The number one food for doing so are flax seeds or flax meal. These are really high in something called lignin content, which have a phytoestrogen effect on the body.

• 31:22Josh Axe?

  Number two, fermented organic soy, like tempeh, like miso, like natto, great options there. These contain isoflavones that have been shown in studies to actually help reduce menopausal symptoms. So if you're just going to pick two foods to support estrogen in the body, organic soy and flax seeds are the best. Number three, sesame seeds. These were actually used for female hormones throughout Ayurvedic medicine. They contain lignans, very similar to flax seeds, that support these estrogen receptors. Number four are chickpeas. These are mild phytoestrogens as well. They're also good for gut support. They've got good fiber there as well. So chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans are there.

• 32:04Josh Axe?

  Number five are lentils. Now, part of the reason why lentils are so effective at balancing out estrogen is they support estrogen recycling. So if you have too much bad estrogen, they can support that, but they getting rid of it, but they also support your body in recycling and creating more estrogen on its own. Number six are pomegranates. These may increase estradiol levels through antioxidant protection of the ovaries. And we know pomegranates were actually prized in Roman culture, also for supporting reproductive health in men and women. Number seven are dried apricots. These have natural phytoestrogens as well. Number eight are berries, especially strawberries. But remember this, only organic berries,

• 32:48Josh Axe?

  especially strawberries are some of the most sprayed crops with Pesticides and herbicides. So if you, so that creates a whole nother problem, right? So if you're gonna buy produce like berries, you want to make sure they're organic. But again, they can be great for estrogen in women. And then sprouts like alfalfa sprouts and broccoli sprouts. These have really, really great content for phytoestrogens. And here's one, red clover. You can do this as a tea or do it as sprouts. These also support menopausal symptoms. All right, now let's go through the top 10 foods that support testosterone. Number one, grass fed red meat. Could be beef, could be bison, could be elk, could be venison. But red meat is high in zinc.

• 33:32Josh Axe?

  It's high in cholesterol. It's high in creatine. It's high in the nutrients you need to build muscle, become more anabolic. That's going to support growth hormone and testosterone. So number one, grass fed meat. Number two are egg yolks, eating the whole egg. Now I do want to mention here, you also need to be careful not to do too much saturated fat. Right? You can have too much of a good thing, but you do want some because cholesterol is the building block of testosterone. So literally, if you didn't have cholesterol, your body could not make testosterone. That's why it's so important. This is why statin drugs, by the way, are so bad for men is they literally totally wipe out your testosterone levels. Number three, wild fish like salmon and tuna. High in vitamin D, high in omega-3 fatty acids.

• 34:17Josh Axe?

  Wild salmon also high in astaxanthin. These are antioxidants that support the body. These improve testosterone. Number four, one of the best foods are pumpkin seeds. These are high in zinc, which is critical for testosterone production. Another unique fact here, pumpkin seeds also in a way with higher zinc. It blocks something in the body called DHT. That's dihydroxy testosterone. When that gets too high, that'll cause male baldness. Okay, so pumpkin seeds are a remedy. They've been used a long time for that. One thing I do with a lot of men that I take care of, I put together a dietary plan for them that includes a lot of these foods. And I will sometimes have them buy sprouted pumpkin seed butter, even on amazon.com.

• 34:58Josh Axe?

  Do a tablespoon of that in a morning superfood smoothie with, with a scoop of bone broth protein, a scoop of, you know, either plant or animal protein, scoop of pumpkin seed butter, and then something like water or coconut milk or some berries there. And it's a great testosterone boosting smoothie there in the morning. Number five, raw local honey or manuka honey.

• 35:22Josh Axe?

  Honey contains boron, which increases your free testosterone by lowering something called sex hormone binding globulin. That's SHBG. By the way, when I'm doing clinical testing on both men and women, we do a really advanced blood panel in my clinic here. And we will test for all of these hormones. And this is something I look for, not just testosterone, but what is the free testosterone levels in men? And, and one thing that I can do, sometimes I'll see a man has good testosterone levels, but their free testosterone level is low. Well, that's because this sex, this sex hormone binding compound will bind to your testosterone. And it's sort of like a taxi. If you jump in a taxi and it never

• 36:04Josh Axe?

  lets you get out. That's what happens. And so there are ways to open the door and then let all the testosterone go free in the body. So a lot of men, you have good testosterone. You don't have good free testosterone. And boron and zinc and vitamin D, when used together, now allow your free testosterone to go up. And so sometimes it's just getting the right blood work and figuring that out. But again, boron, which is found in high levels in honey can be great. Now, listen, you don't want to go overboard for insulin resistance reasons, but doing one or two teaspoons a day is all you need to lower those SHBG levels. So that's another great thing there. Number six, pomegranates. These are also great for men for supporting

• 36:46Josh Axe?

  testosterone levels because alesic acid supports mitochondria function and increases nitric oxide in the blood, which also lowers blood pressure, great for heart health, but in addition boosts testosterone. Number seven is garlic, also great for heart health, lowers cortisol, indirectly boosts testosterone. And then number eight, extra virgin olive oil. Men, when you're using an oil at home, It should be olive oil pretty much every single time. It's a secondary oil. You could do a little bit of coconut oil or some avocado oil. Those are number two, two and three. But extra virgin olive oil is the oil you should use for everything for the most part. Number nine, Brazil nuts. These are high in selenium, which is critical for creating testosterone

• 37:31Josh Axe?

  and for sperm health. And number 10 is spinach, especially steamed greens like spinach or kale as well. But steaming it is going to help unlock more of the magnesium, which is going to increase your free testosterone as well. So those are the top 10 foods that are going to help boost your testosterone production. All right. So to close out, what I wanted to do is answer your most frequently asked questions, rapid fire. These are questions that we had people asking on Instagram, on social media there, and we've had them on YouTube as well. So on Instagram and YouTube, when I've done episodes or talked about hormones, you all have asked questions. And so I want to be able to answer some of those questions directly now. So here is one. Why did everyone get scared of HRT? Okay. Again, a big driver, we talked about this, was in the

• 38:16Josh Axe?

  early 2000s. There was interpretation by the WHO, Women's Health Institute, plus broad labeling that that was based on doing hormonal therapy from synthetic hormones of a combination of estrogen and progesterone that was linked to cancer, in fact, doubling your risk of cancer. But today, we now know that if you're only using estrogen and if you're the right demographic, and it's done with bio-identical, it's much safer than it was historically. Next question. Will HRT make me dependent forever? You know, here's what I would say. I mean, not likely, but it's possible. Let me say this. It's not likely if simultaneously you're doing things

• 39:01Josh Axe?

  to get to the root cause. Okay. You're doing everything you can to change your diet and do supplements, then you're not going to become reliant. But if you're taking HRT and not doing anything to improve your levels on your own, then yeah, I think that most likely you will become dependent, and that's not ideal. Next question is, HRT caused cancer? Not in most

• 39:22Josh Axe?

  Cases, but listen, it's very individual dependent. If you are not taking it within that 10 year window of of going through menopause. If you're taking it too early or too later, you're one of the demographics we talked about, like a history of hormone based cancer or blood clotting or some of those other issues. Then yes, it can increase your risk. But listen, if you're the exact right person demographic and you're doing these other healthy things I talked about, the risk is very, very low according to the study. And that's why they removed that black box warning. Another question, will HRT make me gain weight? Well, the reality is often the opposite happens, especially if your sleep improves. Listen, one of the biggest reasons why women, when they're going through menopause, gain weight is their sleep suffers.

• 40:07Josh Axe?

  And when your sleep suffers, cortisol gets too high and then that causes you to store store body fat. Okay. So, so it's important to note. So listen, if you get on HRT and you're doing the right lifestyle things and you're the right demographic, no, typically you will not gain weight. In fact, if you're doing the other correct things, you'll typically lose weight. So here's the conclusion. Here's the thing to know, the takeaway. HRT is not the enemy, but it's also not the foundation. Your hormones reflect deeper factors like, like, like your nutritional status and your stress levels and your sleep and, and a number of things. And while it can be life changing for some, and I do recommend it for some secondarily after you've already changed your lifestyle.

• 40:47Josh Axe?

  I do think that again, you need to understand the risks, but for some, some of you, it does make sense to do. The goal is to again, first build a strong foundation. You're eating the right foods. You're doing, you, you've addressed your nutritional deficiencies. And then and only then, if you still need it, then you find a really good practitioner that can help you get you on the right dose for the right period of time and then transition you off at the right time as well. And if you do that, then HRT can be a great tool to supplement you as you're going through these hormonal changes. Well, I want to say thank you so much for watching the show today. And remember, uh, you know what? There are so many people today who don't know the truth about how to heal their hormones.

• 41:31Josh Axe?

  And one of the greatest things you could do is share this episode because I think like, I think about my mom growing up, my mom had no idea how to balance her hormones. And it wasn't until I shared with her, or I think about, you know, other people, I wish somebody would have told her this, or shared an episode of a podcast, or something, which I guess they didn't have podcasts the first time. But now we do. And, and so I just wish we would have been educated earlier on, and we would have known the side effects, and we would have known the truth about how to heal our hormones naturally. You know, there are millions of women today, and men, dealing with hormonal issues. So I just want to say thank you, all of you. Think about, who's the one person you could text this to, or you could share with, that it would really improve their life? So I want to say thank you for doing that. And then also, subscribing is the number one thing you can do to support the show.

• 42:15Josh Axe?

  So I just wanted to say thank you for subscribing here, and supporting the show as well. I can't wait to see you on the next episode.