This topic is becoming a not-so-well-kept secret: Excess fat around your belly is a hormone factory that includes estrogen. Yes, this means that the more fat you are carry around, the more estrogen dominant you will become.

Estrogen Dominance in Men – Yup, in Men!

Forget all the fancy commercials about drugs for erectile dysfunction, all the poppycock about penis enlargement, and any other simple-minded approach to making ‘manly’ things work right. The underlying issue is estrogen dominance. And if you are too fat, then you are making yourself worse.

A Couple of Solutions

Of course, everything that you can do to get rid of belly fat is going to be helpful. That is the man theme of this blog. However, you may still reach a plateau and get stuck before you reach your ideal fat composition. I’m going to give you two crucial and overlooked solutions that men either don’t know about or refuse to act on.

Number 1. The first solution is to address your estrogen dominance with a key hormone supplement. (I know, that sounds weird for men). You can do this directly by a daily intake of 10 mg of progesterone, which is the key hormone for opposing estrogen. Women have known about this for decades. This is a significant part of Hormone Replacement Therapy. However, progesterone is a hormone that we men must have in balance, too. The main difference is that men require about half as much as women, so progesterone supplements have been designed for men.

I have been supplementing with progesterone for a few months now, and I already feel the influence on my sleep, energy level, and even my workout results. Several companies make excellent products. The best ones, based on what I see as sound biochemical reasons, are in creams that are delivered in pump dispensers. You can certainly find one at your local nutrition store. Or you can see the products that I have selected as the best at my store site, Doctors Nutrition Center. (Just look at the list of products under Men’s Hormone Balance.)

Number 2. Human Growth Hormone. Forget about what you read regarding professional athletes and the misuse of HGH. The most important thing to know is that this is the master hormone. Your your testosterone and other steroid hormones will go back into balance when your HGH levels increase to youthful levels.

If you are so fortunate as to have an anti-aging doctor who gives you HGH injections, then have at it. For the rest of us, HGH levels respond to certain amino acid supplements, foods, sleep patterns, and types of exercise workouts. I’ve  addressed some of these in the final installment of my report, “5 Steps to a Slimmer and Healthier You.” If you haven’t got your copy yet, do so by subscribing my Belly Fat Science News.

You can also get some good perspective on natural ways to stimulate HGH at my anti-aging page at HerbScientist.com. It is a great place to get started.

All the best in natural health,

Dr. D

Let’s delve into the world of a chemist (me) for a moment and see what we can find that will help you get rid of some fat. Today the topic is plastics, or more specifically, plasticizers. This topic started for me in 1974, while I was still a graduate student. At the time our lab had been buying solvents in plastic bottles because they were so much cheaper than in glass bottles. However, some of the chemical analyses that I was doing at that time were giving me odd results. After a lot of thought about what the problem might be, I got lucky when I noticed that the plastic solvent bottles smelled like … plastic! In hopes of finding out the nature of the odor, I distilled a gallon of methanol from one of the bottles, then noticed a syrupy sludge that was left over. It smelled strongly of plastic. After a quick chemical analysis, I identified the main substance as a compound called dimethyl phthalate. I then learned that this is one of the plasticizing agents that go into making plastic bottles. At the time I thought nothing of it, except from then on I distilled my solvents to rid them of this contaminant.

Fast forward to the 21st century, and plasticizers are now big news. Phthalates, along with a compound called bisphenol A (BPA), have attracted a lot of attention because they leach into plastic containers and cause toxicity in the foods and drinks that contain them.

We are talking about thousands of products. Water bottles are only the most obvious of the plastic containers. Plastic is also found in plastic food containers, in canned foods and drinks that are lined with plastic, in boxes of processed foods, in plastic dishes, and in plastic baby bottles and sippy cups, to name a few. Plastic seems to be almost everywhere.

Plasticizers, Estrogen Dominance, and Fat

The reason that these kinds of molecules are toxic is that they have an estrogenic effect. This just means that they add to the estrogen load even though they are not natural estrogens. So bear with me while a make this point. Natural estrogens, such as estradiol, are steroids. Natural estrogens are not at all similar to BPA and phthalates.

Somehow the human body accepts plasticizers as if they were estrogens, although not perfectly. If you wonder about the effects of non-natural estrogens (called “xenoestrogens”), you are not alone. They are now being blamed for causing estrogen dominance, even in infants, and all of the consequences that come with it. The FDA is doing its usual dance, since plastics are part of a big industry. in 2008 a scientific panel evaluated several research studies on plasticizers and concluded that they do, indeed, pose a significant health risk. At  first the FDA ignored the recommendations to remove plasticizers from contact with foods and drinks, and even claimed that they, “…needed more studies,” to confirm the danger. The danger was so clear already, though, that the FDA finally relented, at least partially. BPA is supposed to be removed at least from containers for baby foods and drinks. Canada and other countries have already seen the light and banned BPA from food and drink containers, so the U.S. is a little slow on this issue.

As you may know by now, estrogen dominance leads to fat gain, and fat gain accelerates estrogen dominance. This is really a dangerous spiral, and it is made worse by plasticizers in your diet. One of the two absolutely best things that you can do to negate the fat-building effects of xenoestrogenic plasticizers is to avoid them. Never cook with plastic,  never cook or reheat food in plastic containers in the microwave oven, never drink water out of plastic bottles … you get the picture. Although this doesn’t sound easy, it can be done if you have enough incentive to get rid of excess fat.

The second, and probably more important, thing to do is make sure you are getting enough progesterone into your system to counterbalance estrogen dominance. This is not necessarily a simple thing to do, so I will be posting much more on this topic very soon. Even if you have no exposure to xenoestrogens, which is unlikely anywhere in the U.S. today, you are most likely deficient in progesterone anyway.

All the best in natural health,

Dr. D

Leptin is a protein whose role is to signal the brain about how much fat you have. The brain’s response is either to tell your body to use up some of your current fat or add more to it. This astounding discovery in 1994 is at the heart of obesity research. However, even though leptin is the master fat hormone, it is not a lone ranger. Your hormone balance depends on many other kinds of hormones, especially including insulin. This is a fascinating story that will help people understand how they got fat and what to do about it based on real scientific research.

I will be posting lots of material here about leptin and how you can take advantage of what scientists are learning about it. If you are in a hurry to get the full story, you can get the definitive book on the topic. The site that the book authors maintain is http://www.masteringleptin.com/.

Eating plans, exercise strategies, supplementation, and everything you can think of can be optimized for leptin metabolism so you can be slim and healthy like you are supposed to be!

Although mastering leptin is not as simple as boosting or supplementing your natural levels, the steps for getting your leptin back into balance are simple, easy, and rewarding.

If you subscribe to my newsletter, you can find out right away how to get your leptin working for you instead of against you.

Dr. D