Hormones in our food? Does it effect ttc?

Dropey · 04-14-2009, 06:13 AM

I'm not sure if this is the right place to put this but here it goes. I was talking to this lady at a herbal shop the other day and we started talking about PCOS. Se was asking me what foods I was eating and meds that I was on things like that. She said her daughter had it and that she doesn't use any kind of dairy or poultry that is not organic. The lady then goes on to tell me that they give all these animals all kinds of growth hormones and the cows especially get more female hormones to help with milk production and having more calves. I don't know why this never occurred to me but it does make sense. If the cows are getting all these hormones of course they are going to be in the milk and then when we drink it they go into our body. Where our hormones are already out of wack couldn't that make our PCOS worse and ttc harder?

I'm curious to know if any of you guys know anything more about this? I have just started buying organic eggs, milk, and cheese and will let you know if I notice any differences. They are more expensive than the non organic foods but I'm gonna try it anyways. If you have already done this did you notice anything?

JoyannaWants2BaMommy · 04-14-2009, 06:32 AM

i have tried a few organic items before but never on a reg basis, although i have heard this from many, many sources. it will also cause people to have problems with yeast and candida overgrowth, i don't remember where i heard that but it's got something to do with the hormones. check out this website, its a good one http://natural-fertility-info.com

ps theres a lot of pcos info and herbal stuff and theres a forum where you can ask herbalists questions

Ragnazidnar · 04-14-2009, 04:22 PM

This is actually one of the reasons I became a vegetarian. I am not vegan, but I don't typically like dairy anyway. I do only organic cheese or Tillamok does have cheese from dairy cows that are not given artificial growth hormones. My husband and I have been TTC for almost 3 years now and I stopped eating meat and went organic a year ago. In the 8 years I've struggled with PCOS this last year has been the biggest improvement in my life. I don't know if I can necessarily link it back to the hormones in meat and dairy, but I figure that if my hormones are all outta whack I don't want to injest whatever hormones they are giving the cows!
Good luck to you.

SoapDiva · 04-14-2009, 08:13 PM

Yeah, if you want a wake up call about our food supply and just how corrupted it is with hormones, pesticides and other hormone disruptors, check out the Environmental Working Group. http://www.ewg.org type in Hormones and you'll be depressed for a week.

It's everywhere. Do you think that water treatment plants are equipped to remove the hormones that women pee into the toilet? They're not.

Amphibians are swapping sexes or have serious hormone disorders, polar bears are retaining serious levels of estrogens, impacting their health, there are native american tribes in certain areas where there are higher levels of hormones in their water and an odd discrepency of births. They have a 98% rate of female births. Extremely high rates of MC and still births.

I could go on and on and on.

What I do, is buy local. I buy from small farms that don't mass produce. I personally don't drink milk. I eat cheese made with skim milk.

I eat butter, my girls eat butter. Butter is actually best for growing girls. It contains an enzime that is very healthy for reproductive health. Margerine is the devil. LOL!

As far as I can tell it's everywhere. All you can do is become more aware and educate yourself.

Ragnazidnar · 04-15-2009, 02:43 AM

Absolutely! I am all for buying locally grown as well. As someone who sells handmade goods I am a full supporter of handmade/local products of all kinds. You are much safer eating local and organic regardless of health problems.

jeminijad · 04-15-2009, 06:40 PM

Yes, yes, yes.

Eat locally, seasonally, naturally... to me, my PCOS is a symptom of how out of whack modern lifestyles (and thus my lifestyle) have become. Cows are crammed together, far, far more than should live in one tiny spot, fed cheap grain and waste products and pumped full of various meds to keep them relatively healthy and we wonder why there is an explosion of illness in the people that eat them.

SoapDiva · 04-16-2009, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ragnazidnar

Absolutely! I am all for buying locally grown as well. As someone who sells handmade goods I am a full supporter of handmade/local products of all kinds. You are much safer eating local and organic regardless of health problems.

What do you make? I'm all over the handmade stuff as well, seeing as I do the same!

I make handmade soaps, body butters and the like.

mshoney2u · 04-16-2009, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoapDiva

Yeah, if you want a wake up call about our food supply and just how corrupted it is with hormones, pesticides and other hormone disruptors, check out the Environmental Working Group. type in Hormones and you'll be depressed for a week.

It's everywhere. Do you think that water treatment plants are equipped to remove the hormones that women pee into the toilet? They're not.

Amphibians are swapping sexes or have serious hormone disorders, polar bears are retaining serious levels of estrogens, impacting their health, there are native american tribes in certain areas where there are higher levels of hormones in their water and an odd discrepency of births. They have a 98% rate of female births. Extremely high rates of MC and still births.

I could go on and on and on.

What I do, is buy local. I buy from small farms that don't mass produce. I personally don't drink milk. I eat cheese made with skim milk.

I eat butter, my girls eat butter. Butter is actually best for growing girls. It contains an enzime that is very healthy for reproductive health. Margerine is the devil. LOL!

As far as I can tell it's everywhere. All you can do is become more aware and educate yourself.

You dont know how much I want to thank you for saying this. I have been preaching this for a couple of years now. Food, water, products we use on our bodies. It is everywhere like you said. I just discovered the EWG site last week.

I saw a special on t.v. about water treatment plants and how they aren’t removing all the hormones out of the water. To add to what you said- do you know some people flush their old prescribed drug down the toilet. Birth control included.

Since my miscarriage last month I started getting serious and doing research. Not only your diet OP but you need to watch the stuff you put on your body.

Parabens can be found in shampoos, commercial moisturizers, shaving gels, cleansing gels, personal lubricants, topical pharmaceuticals and toothpaste.

They are also used as food additives in some products. Basically, a huge percentage of the products you buy for everyday use contain some form of paraben, so it can be difficult to find products that do not use them

Parabens can mimic the hormone estrogen.

Do you know that Johnson & Johnson baby lotions have parben in it? Their body washes do as well

Sodium sulfate is something to look into as well when it comes down to personal care items

I know this may sound crazy but since I switched out my body washes, lotions and a few other things as well as replaces some foods with organic versions. I noticed the different and it isn’t a subtle change either.

You also have to be careful with organic/ natural stuff too. According to Mercola.

Burt's Bees is now owned by Clorox, a massive corporation that has historically cared very little about the environment.

Tom's of Maine is owned by Colgate- Palmolive

Odwalla is now owned by Coca- Cola- Almost as soon as Coca- Cola bought the company, it stopped selling the fresh-squeezed OJ that made Odwalla famous and popular-- fresh squeezed cant last the days and weeks the juice are now in transit or on the shelf.

Pepsi bought Naked Juice in 06 in order to compete with Odwalla

Kashi cereals (whom I used to LOVE) was bought in 2009 by Kellogg's

I am sorry but I get on my soap box when it comes to this because this is what I believe is the culprit behind PCOS at least for me mixed with high levels of stress. I never had problems with my cycle until two years ago. My ovaries were perfect, my hormone levels have always been normal. I NEVER had a problem with my weight NEVER until 2 yrs ago. That why when I added progesterone I got pregnant the 3rd month of using it and the first time trying (my SO and I are long distant I probably would have got pregnant on the first) but I lost it cause I was just experimenting and had decided to stop using it that month to see if my cycle would come on its own because I was doing so well. But they didnt cause I was pregnant.

Dropey · 04-16-2009, 06:23 PM

Thanks for all the info guys. I will check out that site as soon as I can get enough time to sit down and actually absorb all of it.

Right now Im buying Organic (the brand for the milk is Horizon) milk, cheese, chicken and eggs. I really would love to find somewhere to buy beef where the cows are free from any kind of hormones but I don't even know where to look to find that. Any suggestions? I live near Statesville NC.

We don't have city water. We have well water and our well is 350 feet deep so Im crossing my fingers that it is ok but I do buy that walmart bottled water do you think there is anything I need to be worried about for drinking that?? Is it just glorified tap water? I only buy it for the convenience of it being in a bottle. Maybe I will just save the bottles instead of recycling them or buy a water bottle and put my well water in it.

DCBailey · 04-16-2009, 08:59 PM

YES i think and also read it does!
Not good for PCOS and not good for infertility!
I have not gone 100% organic only because its hard to get everything organic where i live. ( not hear a whole foods or trader joes) but i try to get as much as I can! and here and there i take the hike to Trader Joes to get meats when i can.
I think our bodies can take some of the crap they put in our foods because we were simply born into this..but similiar to Soapdiva's post there is soo much coruption!!!
and its has only gotten worse! so even if you dont go 100% organic i think it can help! It makes me ill when i think about what they do and the fact we have to request Organic..kinda twisted.. Organic should be norm and the hormone pestiside induced food should be special if you want to eat that for a cheaper price.

Im not from NC but maybe you can google farms in NC?
I found this link
http://www.ncfarmfresh.com/farmmarkets.asp

maybe it will help! and maybe whoever you talk to on the phone can direct you to a farm.

Good luck!

Ragnazidnar · 04-18-2009, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoapDiva

What do you make? I'm all over the handmade stuff as well, seeing as I do the same!

I make handmade soaps, body butters and the like.

I LOVE handmade soaps. It's an addiction, really. I also use all handmade, organic and vegan shampoos and lotions.

Most of my stuff I buy at farmer's markets or on Etsy.
I make mostly paper goods out of recycled paper, books, etc. I also make reuseable coffee cup (to-go cup) sleeves out of eco-spun felt, which is made from recycled plastic bottles. Can you tell I love to recycle?

SoapDiva · 04-19-2009, 11:49 AM

There is a really good book out there, called Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.

She goes back to the basics as far as food goes, and educates you on what certain types of foods can do to your body. for instance, certain grains can cause inflamation in your tissues, which creates a hormone response.

She goes through many different early civilizations and describes what they ate, and why.

She goes into the history of some of the trends that we see food wise (specifically the politics behind the food pyramid - which you will learn has nothing to do with physical health, but the health of the american economy).

I don't subscribe to everything that she talks about, but I have adopted many of her practices because they make sense.

She strips away most of what we've been taught and takes you back to eating simply. Staying away from processed foods.

Quote:

I saw a special on t.v. about water treatment plants and how they aren’t removing all the hormones out of the water. To add to what you said- do you know some people flush their old prescribed drug down the toilet. Birth control included.

My SIL works at a plant, and she can attest to this. They measure the water for bacteria, parasites and metals, but no "drugs".

Independent testing of the water in many large cities has shown it to be full of common anti-depressants and higher levels of hormones.

Quote:

Right now Im buying Organic (the brand for the milk is Horizon) milk, cheese, chicken and eggs. I really would love to find somewhere to buy beef where the cows are free from any kind of hormones but I don't even know where to look to find that.

Go for a drive where there are farms. See cows? Stop and talk to the farmer. If he doesn't, then he'd know who does. You can also check this site: http://www.eatrealgood.com/ someone I know on another message board has started it, she has a listing of CSA approved farms. You can also check the bulletin boards of local organic markets. Hell, talk to the owners of the markets!

And STOP buying bottled water. Number one, it's not healthy for the environment, and number two, it sits in plastic bottles, which are hormone disrupters. They may not be using the other type of plastic anymore, but its plastic. It sits there, leeching who knows what into your water. It took us how many years to discover BHA disrupts hormones? Pfft. I've lost complete faith in our food/water supply.

Quote:

I make mostly paper goods out of recycled paper, books, etc. I also make reuseable coffee cup (to-go cup) sleeves out of eco-spun felt, which is made from recycled plastic bottles. Can you tell I love to recycle?

Oooooo, sounds really fun! I've been thinking about making soaps with rove wool, but wet wool makes me squicky. So I likely won't!

My soaps are all vegan, I have no idea why anyone would use tallow when there are so many other yummy oils to work with. All my buttahs are paraben free.

I'm on Etsy and Artfire, as well as have my own site. www.creativewanderings.ca

Ragnazidnar · 04-20-2009, 03:48 PM

That books sounds amazing! I am going to have to check it out for sure. Thanks for sharing.

I am also on Etsy and Artfire. I looked for you, but couldn't find you. I wanted to favorite your shops. My user name is the same here as it is on both sites. I'll have to bookmark your website so I can check out your bath products. I love vegan bath products.

aj1785 · 04-20-2009, 04:12 PM

Ok, so first off, I want to say that I am not saying there are no repercussions of eating beef or dairy products. There are all kinds of se's of foods and medications that were previously considered safe that the FDA is finding out there are problems with every day.

I work with dairy farmers of all sizes, anywhere from 15-3500 cows. I just want to say that until you work within the dairy industry the way I do, you have NO IDEA just how carefully regulated everything is on these farms!!! Farmers these days are more aware of the health of their animals and the ways to care for them using fewer drugs than ever before.

It is extremely frustrating for me to read comments on here about animals supposedly being mistreated and fed things that are bad for them! My question for those of you posting comments of this nature is this: Have you ever actually spent any amount of time on one of these supposedly terrible farms??? Have you done your homework and educated yourself???

The bottome line is, there is no way to say one way or the other that anything is completely safe. Trust your instincts and your doctor. If you are still concerned ask your doctor for a referral to a nutritionist and see what they recommend when it comes to dietary changes while ttc, and if they feel that there may be any correlation between the foods you eat and your current situation.

Good luck to all of you!

wannaova · 04-20-2009, 05:08 PM

eatwild dot com and localharvest dot org are great sites if you are looking for local produce and meats from your area. My mom raises grass fed beef cattle and doesn't use any hormones so I get my meat from her when I go visit. It's kind of funny to take several pounds of frozen beef in my suitcase to the airport, but I can't beat it (or the price -- i.e. free!) and it tastes so good. If you can't afford the organic dairy products, rbGH-free is usually less expensive, but still without the hormones. The organic certification process is very time consuming (I think you have to show no chemicals/pesticides for 3 years on your land) and expensive for small farmers (getting the FDA to approve the label takes time and attorneys) so rbGH can be a good alternative for them and you!