Hormone Disruption Prevention

Hormones influence far more than reproductive health. They play a role in energy, mood, sleep, metabolism, thyroid function, appetite, skin, hair, bone health, and many of the subtle signals our bodies give us every day.

In Episode 238 of Wellness in Every Season, Autumn takes a closer look at everyday environmental exposures that may interfere with normal hormone signaling—and, more importantly, how to reduce those exposures without trying to overhaul your entire life overnight.

The conversation starts with plastics and expands into some of the commonly discussed categories of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, including BPA, phthalates, PFAS, parabens, and certain pesticides. Autumn walks through ordinary places these exposures may show up: food storage containers, cutting boards, cookware, water bottles, cosmetics, fragrances, personal-care products, clothing, household materials, and even the products used around our lawns and food supply.

Rather than turning this into another overwhelming list of things you should be doing, the episode focuses on a much more realistic question:

What is one thing you can change when it naturally makes sense to change it?

Maybe that’s replacing a scratched plastic cutting board. Maybe it’s transferring hot leftovers into glass instead of plastic. Maybe it’s reconsidering heavily fragranced products when the bottle runs out. Maybe it’s choosing different cookware the next time yours needs replacing.

Autumn also explores some of the many symptoms that can prompt a conversation with a healthcare professional about hormones—from menstrual and reproductive changes to fatigue, sleep disruption, unexplained weight changes, mood shifts, skin changes, libido changes, temperature sensitivity, and other changes that feel unusual for your body.

And because environmental exposures don’t stop with humans, the conversation expands to children and household pets, encouraging listeners to become curious about the environments the entire family lives in without jumping to conclusions about the cause of any individual symptom.

The goal isn’t perfection.

It’s awareness.

Our modern environment contains a lot of plastic, chemicals, fragrances, coatings, packaging, and convenience products. Trying to eliminate everything at once would be expensive, exhausting, and nearly impossible. Instead, this episode is an invitation to notice what surrounds you, make thoughtful replacements over time, and create a home environment that supports your long-term wellness a little better than it did yesterday.

Related Episode

Episode 224: How to Research Your Wellness — a deeper look at how to evaluate health information and research wellness questions more carefully.

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Episode Tags:
hormone disruption, hormone disruptors, endocrine disruptors, endocrine disrupting chemicals, hormone health, hormonal health, hormone imbalance, hormones, perimenopause, menopause, estrogen, testosterone, thyroid health, cortisol, reproductive health, fertility health, BPA, bisphenol A, phthalates, PFAS, forever chemicals, parabens, pesticides, microplastics, plastic exposure, reducing plastic, plastic free living, environmental toxins, environmental wellness, environmental health, healthy home, non toxic living, low tox living, food storage, glass food storage, plastic cutting boards, cookware, nonstick cookware, personal care products, fragrance, fragrance free, cosmetics, household chemicals, water filtration, organic food, pesticide exposure, children’s hormone health, pet health, preventive wellness, lifestyle medicine, healthy habits, intentional living, wellness education, Wellness in Every Season, Autumn Carter

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

My most listened to wellness episodes are related to hormones. So we are diving into hormones today, specifically about what disrupts our hormones. Welcome to Wellness in Every Season. We talk all things wellness regarding the environment that you spend a lot of your time in, your physical health, your intellectual health, your financial health, your spiritual health, professional health, your social health, who you have relationships with, your emotional health. This is a really big umbrella, so expect all kinds of topics within all of these amazing dimensions of your wellness.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Let's dive in.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

This started off with me really contemplating how much of what's going on within my own body, wellness-wise, is related to hormones. Hello, perimenopause, and starting my 40s, and how much is related to my car accident and my neck flaring up, which it impacts thyroid in here, it impacts the blood flow through my neck. Let me start off by explaining what hormone disruptor means. So think about things that are blocking our hormones or changing our hormones. And I have had a whole deep dive with my family with this. And I was discussing this with my kids. It is summertime. So my kids, I think only my oldest heard me say that I am recording. So who knows what's gonna happen? But I opened up a bunch of different tabs here to explain to you what first of all common hormone disruptors are. So let's start there. So BPA is it's uh bisphenophole. It's used in hard plastics and food can linings, and it mimics estrogen, is what Google AI is telling me. So think about first of all, and this is where I've started off with within my family. How many things do you use that have plastic? Get a drink of water right now, or whatever beverage it is. Does it have any plastic inside of it? We're not worried about the outside, we're worried about the inside. Is it contaminating whatever liquid you're currently trying to drink? And then when we think about the outside, if we put it through the dishwasher or we put it in the microwave or however we're heating it up, are any of those plastics getting into there? And then you are going to grab something to eat in your mind's eye, or for real, if you're hungry. Does it have any plastic? If it's a packaged food, if it's processed, chances are pretty high with the life that we live that there is plastic that was used within the machine. We're in a very plasticky environment. So think about that with your processed foods. Think about what are you eating off of? Is it a plastic plate, bowl? Are your utensils plastic? This is like I said, not judgment here because it's something that I'm doing within my family, is really going through. I think I will take a picture and at least put it in my newsletter. I'll see if I can attach it to this video of my kitchen right now of all the plastic that I pulled out. So my cutting board, replacing that. We're replacing the smoothie containers when we filled up and put it in the fridge, and then the bottles that we're drinking it out of. I have little kids. So plastic was awesome. Was until I'm thinking about hormones. Let's see, where else have I gone? The water for our kids. Next will be lunch containers. Are there plastic inside that they're eating their food off of? Here's one thing that I thought about while making lunch. Is the food stored in plastic? I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Plastic bag for the red, plastic for the peanut butter, glass jar for the jelly. Think about if you're going to grab a beverage from your fridge, is it put in plastic? We live in such a plastic society. So take a breath with me. Just take another breath. Just we're doing good. We're gonna talk about making better choices slowly along the way, okay? This is absolutely impacts our hormones. So there's also phylotates, I think is how you pronounce it. It's used to make plastics flexible and scent last in perfumes or lotions, and it interferes with testosterone and reproductive hormones. If you are trying to get pregnant right now, something to consider. When you're going to replace the products you're using, how about you replace it with something better? Your lotion, body wash, shampoos, conditioners. Think about unscented. Think about maybe the plastic bottle that's used, and maybe you want to switch to a bar instead. That will be the next thing that I'm gonna work on. And then there's PFAs, forever chemicals. They're found in nonstick pans, stain-resistant carpets, and waterproof clothing, and it impacts your thyroid and cholesterol. So think about the clothes that you're wearing. Think about it's not in here, but I've heard this several different places. Maybe the mattress you're using. And I just replaced mine, and I've thought about organic versus not for the mattress because there's the fire safety with it, too. This is where we talk about wellness in general of what is best for you. You can change your whole world. That takes a lot of time, mental energy, a lot of money, or you can think about when it's time to replace your pans and really look at your pants. Is it time to replace it and you've used them too long? Maybe you switch to something that does not have forever chemicals in it. And if you're looking for the pans that are best for that, do some research. If you need help with that kind of research, there is a really great podcast episode.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

That is number, let me find it for you.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Episode 224, and it was live on July 6th, How to Research Your Wellness, and it will go through how to best research it. I interviewed somebody who she has a degree in biology, and she has a career that is all about researching. So I asked her questions, and we spent time sharing her screen and really seeing how to best research questions. Then there's paraffins, and those are used as preservatives and cosmetics, hair products, and it mimics estrogen. That is something that has been on my mind for a while within my own personal use. So I will be putting that on my list, the last one. And this is the one that I am actually going to be working on probably next month because of my kids being in school, I could focus on our grass and what products do I want to use instead. So pesticides, chemicals like I'm gonna butcher this name, altrazine or organophosphates, and it's used in agriculture and they disrupt reproductive and thyroid functions. And you think about this in farming. So if you live anywhere near a farm, that's important to think about. But if you have a lawn, have you thought about it that way as well? What are you putting on your lawn? There's ways to reduce exposure, like not heating up plastics, checking labels, changing cookware, filtering your water, and eating fresh. So think organic options when possible. Think a little more farm to table, especially if it's an organic farm for the pesticide part. Know where your things came from. And my conversation with my kids was talking about microplastics, the really tiny particles that you can't even see that can be in water. Talking about how when we clean plastic, there can be abrasion and that releases the plastic, especially doing smoothies because there's acidity from a lot of oranges. There's thinking about our cutting boards. We use plastic cutting boards. And that'll be switched out tomorrow. Think about where do you have a lot of plastic in your life? Maybe go throughout your typical day. Where do you have plastic? Or go through your whole kitchen and look at it that way. And if you're doing it by order of importance, think about cutting board. Super important. Especially if you're somebody who uses a cutting board a lot. For us, we drank a lot of water. So what is our water in? And then leftover food storage. Is it a glass container? If you're using a plastic container, that's important to switch out. If you financially can't do it yet, make sure your food is totally cooled off before you put it in there. And do not microwave that plastic. Possible, don't even put it in the dishwasher. Hand wash that.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

And switch things out when you can afford it. Or when they break.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

And then next order is what are you eating your food off of. Especially if you're doing any kind of knife cutting, those little tiny plastics that are getting in your food system. And then think about what are you cooking with? Are you cooking with plastic utensils? That is one of, for me, the most important areas. If you feel like you're already cleaned up in there, maybe think about your clothing next. Or maybe think about what you're putting on your skin topically. Now, I have tons of tabs open because my daughter started this conversation and we started talking about hormones because I have two preteens in my house, and hormones are really important. I was explaining to them about the plastics, then I explained to them about why organic products are better. And some of those areas are stringent, some of them aren't. We will have a totally different podcast conversation on this. But think about the hormones that are put in animal products specifically. Your milk, your meats, your cheeses, what makes people the most money. If you're a farmer, would be making sure that you have really good turnover of your animal products, really good turnover of milk, really good turnover of meat. So you are stimulating your animals, you're putting hormones in them, especially if you're not organic, because when you purchase something organic, the intention behind it is that you're not giving hormone therapy to the animal products, and that they are treated ethically. But and there are studies on this, I'm not going to give you the studies because it's been a while since I've looked at them, but those products that are given any type of non- or synthetic hormones, hormones that are not naturally occurring in the animals, that passes on to us.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

So let's think about that.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

Something I was talking about my kids with. And then my daughter asked the question of okay, we're talking about plastics and we're reducing plastics in our family. What about our animals? Our animals eat off of plastic dishes. You're right. We're gonna have to work on that too. So with this, take an extra exhale. You can feel like maybe I'm judging you, or you're judging yourself, or if somebody shared this with you, somebody's judging you. That's not the intention. The intention is when you know better, do better. What can you do a little bit better with this knowledge? Let me back up a little bit because maybe you're wondering, do I need to worry about this right now? So research this for yourself. If you're having any of these symptoms, or if you're questioning, most of all, talk to someone who specializes in this. Okay. Or start off with your primary care physician. Symptoms of hormonal imbalance in women, general women, all ages, says irregular periods, unexplained weight changes, and persistent fatigue are the most common signs of hormonal imbalance in females because hormones act as the body's chemical messengers. A fluctuation in estrogen, progesterone, thyroid hormones, or cortisol can trigger a wide range of physical and emotional changes. So let's try this again: irregular cycles, heavier painful periods, vaginal dryness. That's interesting to think about. Pain or discomfort during intercourse with the vaginal dryness, low libido, breast tenderness. So these are reproductive and menstrual symptoms. Interesting because so many things can cause that. I think that's why historically it has been hard for us as the general population to know what is causing breast tenderness, low libido, vaginal dryness, heavier painful periods, irregular cycles, is it hormones? Could it be because we're pregnant? Could it be because it's that time of the month? It's so hard for females to know. Okay, is this because of time of the month? Because what's changed to make my hormones be a little different. There's the metabolism, unexplained weight changes, chronic fatigue, temperature sensitivity, digestive issues, appetite shifts, mood swings with mood and cognitive symptoms. There's a lot I'm gonna be scrolling through apparently. Brain fog, sleep disturbances, skin and hair symptoms, hormonal acne, hair thinning. I've never seen this word before. This one is hurt shoe. Yeah. Excess facial or body hair growth, skin changes, unusually dry skin or skin tags, is what this one says. So this is for women. Hormonal imbalances in men most commonly involve low testosterone. That's called hypoganuism. The hypo means lower. And it can also stem from issues with the thyroid, adrenal glands, cortisol, or insulin. There's sexual and reproductive systems. So I think low libido, erectile dysfunction, fertility issues, physical and body changes, muscle loss, weight gain. Never seen this word before. It's gyneco mastia. That means development of enlarged male breast tissue. There's hair loss, bone loss, chronic fatigue, insomnia, brain fog. That was under energy and cognitive symptoms for the energy and cognitive symptoms, chronic fatigue, insomnia, brain fog, mood and emotional changes, irritability, mood swings, depression and anxiety, other systemic signs, which is thyroid and cortisol, temperature sensitivity, like with women, digestive issues, heart fluctuations, unexplained racing heart, tachycardia, or very slow pulse. If you're a parent, and this is the question that I asked causes of hormonal imbalance in children.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

So what does that look like? Okay, so here's one.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

If you have children, signs of a hormonal imbalance in children is what I put in, and it is citing sources. If you are seeing this in your children, talk to a doctor. And while you're at it, why don't you start trying to remove some of those factors within your household? So, symptoms of hormonal imbalance in children, and also do your research. Early or delayed puberty and sudden weight shifts because hormones control growth, energy, and mood, and imbalance can show up in several different ways. I wanted to let you know that I'm very excited about. The first one is I am opening my podcast up for sponsorships. So if you are an aligned brand with wellness, reach out to me. You can find me wellnessevery season.com slash podcast slash sponsor. I also have something going on for you listeners. If you've been listening for a while, I interview people who are aligned with wellness and they talk about the healing modalities and different modalities that they do, but it is in a very descriptive set. I am making it so that you have the chance to experience it during a recorded episode, and other people get to experience it alongside you so that we can really see how it works. So you can find out more about that at wellnesseveryseason.com forward slash listener wellness guest. Abnormal height, puberty changes, bone developments, so slower or abnormal bone growth with teeth or anything. Weight shifts, skin and hair. Let me go back with weight shifts, it's unexplained sudden weight gain or rapid weight loss, skin and hair, severe persistent acne, oily skin. Oh, this was totally me as a kid. Unusual hair growth patterns such as extra facial hair or body hair, mood and behavior, emotional shifts, frequent intense mood swings, irritability, or severe anxiety. I can think of one girl in particular growing up who had severe mood swings. She threw a knife at her brother because he made her mad. She needs to go to the doctor. Past me needs to know this and tell her that. Then there's focus issues, trouble concentrating at school or during daily tasks. Of course, this could be a sign of like ADC or a whole bunch of different things, but maybe this is a place where you want to start is start removing the plastics from your family. Start removing scents from your products, start removing paraffins. That's the stuff that's used in cosmetics and hair products. Start removing pesticides that are around your family. Okay, so that's in children. Then the next thing that I asked is symptoms of hormonal imbalance in female dogs because a lot of us own pets. So I did female dogs, male dogs, female cats, male cats. So if you're not an animal person, share this with somebody who is, and you can fast forward a little bit. So it's very interesting. It's changes in the skin and coat, unusual thirst or weight shifts and shifts in mood. And there's also reproductive signs, irregular missing heat. Cycles, unusual discharge, energy levels, mood shifts, nesting during false pregnancies. I used to house sit a friend's dog or the dog used to come and spend the week or whatever with us when they were on vacation, and she would have sometimes have false pregnancies. So, what about male dogs? They most common symptoms involve changes to the skin and code again, sudden shifts in behavior, altered energy levels, and reproductive abnormalities. So scrolling down, it says reincurrent infections for the skin and ears, hyperpigmentation, darkening of skin, symmetrical hair loss, thinning or bald patches that appear identically on both sides of the flanks, trunk, or thighs, texture changes, skin that becomes unusually thin, thick, greasy, or prone to dandruff, behavioral changes, unexplained aggression, increased anxiety, lethargy, extreme lethargy, loss of libido, there's weight fluctuations, potbellied appearance, a descended sagging abdomen due to weakened abdominal muscles, muscle wasting, excessive thirst and urination, and large mammary glands, visible swelling in the nipples, testicular changes. So this is something that the vet would check. Attractiveness to other males. Other male dogs may treat him as if he is a female in heat. Female cats, drastic weight changes, snuffle hair loss, extreme vocalization, and increased thirst are the most common signs. So female cat persistent heat cycles, continuous crying, loud howling, pacing, and rubbing as objects due to conditions like follicular cysts, false pregnancy, aggression or anxiety, vaginal discharge, heat cycles after being spayed. Crazy. Unexplained weight changes, increased thirst or urination, extreme lethargy and hyperactivity, digestive upset. So there's also symmetrical hair loss, fragile, thin skin, poor coat quality, pot bellied appearance. Let's just take a minute here. If you are noticing anything abnormal in your animals, go to the vet. Along the way, think about are there things that are lifestyle-wise for your pet that you can change to make it better? Think about pesticides if they spend any time in the grass. Think about are there plastic sources? Are you storing their food in plastic? Are you feeding them on plastic? What is their water quality like? Male cats. It's still the unexplained changes in weight, hair loss, extreme shifts in thirst or appetite, and distinctive behavioral alterations. So very similar to male dogs so far. The thing that I'm seeing difference is curling ear tips. The physical structure of ears may begin to fold or curl inward. Interesting. And weakness in the hind leg. That's the only difference that I'm seeing between that and a dog. Oh, here's one other change. One other difference is less territorial aggression, less urge to roam, and a decreased desire to spay or mark territory. Honestly, sounds kind of nice. So you have an idea of you might be seeing any symptoms in your animal or yourself. Obviously, talk to somebody who's a vet, if it's your animal. Talk to your doctor. Find a doctor if you don't have one. But the next thing that I'm going to keep advising is think about your environment. What are you introducing to your body that is toxic? What can you do to change that? And without judging yourself, without going through the shoulds, because when you know better, you can do better. And that's the point of you listening to this podcast is you're learning how to change your life, you're getting the knowing better, and you're doing the best that you can with the resources you have. You can only make so many changes at one time that stick. So, what is one thing you are willing to change because of this podcast episode to make your life a little bit better, to give you better wellness, better health, whatever word works for you, better optimization, better longevity. Insert your word of choice here. What can you do to make it a little bit better? For us personally, we're working on our plastics. This episode is about hormones and how to make them better, specifically plastics. For you listening to this, you may have come away with a different story, but you have an idea of how you're going to make your life better. So, yay, this episode was worth it for you. I will see you in the next one, and we will come up with something else that you're going to change in your life to make it better. Thank you so much for joining our discussion. If you enjoyed this, please subscribe. Most of all, share the love with others. Please share this episode so that we can help other people really recalibrate every aspect of their lives so they can be the best version of themselves. And I will see you in the next episode. I want to have my quick disclaimer here that this is not a one-size fits-all. If you want one-on-one coaching, let's talk. And we will make sure what wellness means to you is really put into your life, put into practice. I am using my undergrad in applied health and my life coaching experience to bring this podcast to you.