The daily raw carrot makes me more estrogen dominant, why?

[NatachaRose]

I have been on and off the daily raw carrot for years now because everytime it seems to make my estrogen dominance worse.
Am I the only one?
I do see the shredded raw carrot in my stool so this is not gut related in my opinion.
Why would this happen?

 

[Dutchie]

According to the list on the site below, carrot contains natural estrogen. Maybe you're sensitive to it?

Estrogens In Food (List)

 

[Zellig Pliskin]

You’re not the only one. I notice that every time I try to eat a carrot a day I develop serotonin symptoms / brain fog / constipation.

 

[mostlylurking]

I have been on and off the daily raw carrot for years now because everytime it seems to make my estrogen dominance worse.
Am I the only one?
I do see the shredded raw carrot in my stool so this is not gut related in my opinion.
Why would this happen?

Are you soaking/rinsing/draining the shredded raw carrot before use? If no, then you may be getting more beta carotene than you can tolerate. Beta carotene is orange oily stuff that rinses off into the sink. It is PUFA. If you are hypothyroid you won't be able to convert beta carotene into vitamin A and it will cause problems. PUFA is estrogenic.

 

[Zellig Pliskin]

You’re not the only one. I notice that every time I try to eat a carrot a day I develop serotonin symptoms / brain fog / constipation.

Are you soaking/rinsing/draining the shredded raw carrot before use? If no, then you may be getting more beta carotene than you can tolerate. Beta carotene is orange oily stuff that rinses off into the sink. It is PUFA. If you are hypothyroid you won't be able to convert beta carotene into vitamin A and it will cause problems. PUFA is estrogenic.

Beta carotene is estrogenic?
Orange sweet potatoes are a staple for me .
I am currently hypothyroid but should this be a problem once someone’s thyroid function is normal?

 

[mostlylurking]

You’re not the only one. I notice that every time I try to eat a carrot a day I develop serotonin symptoms / brain fog / constipation.

Beta carotene is estrogenic?
Orange sweet potatoes are a staple for me .
I am currently hypothyroid but should this be a problem once someone’s thyroid function is normal?

Beta Carotene is PUFA; PUFA is estogenic, therefore, beta carotene is estrogenic. If you are hypothyroid it would be a good idea to avoid beta carotene. I'm hypothyroid, optimally treated with prescription desiccated thyroid medication. I still avoid it. Sweet potatoes are also high in the starchy fiber that feeds the gut bacteria, which is one reason Ray Peat warned against them. He liked to suggest white potatoes instead because when well cooked and eaten with some fat (butter, cream) they are a pretty good food and contain some protein.

My own beta carotene debacle came from my bumper crop of home grown butternut squash and a to die for butternut squash curried soup recipe. I just loved it; it nearly finished me off.

Ray Peat says here that the beta carotene blocks progesterone production:

View: https://youtu.be/g3huy94-0qY?t=875

and another short clip specifically about sweet potatoes, thyroid hormone, and female hormones:

View: https://youtu.be/BGS3PPgBApU?t=1612

 

[NatachaRose]

Thank you! You’re right probably the beta carotene.
I won’t be eating sweet potatoes either.

 

[mostlylurking]

I do see the shredded raw carrot in my stool so this is not gut related in my opinion.
Why would this happen?

You see it there because it doesn't digest. It isn't supposed to digest. It's supposed to help clean debris off the surface of your intestine. Try rinsing the shredded carrot in a bowl of water, drain, then squeeze the water (and the beta carotene) out of the shredded carrots with your clean hands. Then store the batch in the refrigerator and work out of it to make your daily carrot salad.

 

[aniciete]

If you are truly sensitive to beta carotene, I wouldn’t bother with trying to rinse some out of a carrot. The carrot will still be orange. Either try to find white carrots or try boiled mushrooms to see if they produce the same effect.

 

[NatachaRose]

Thank you for your input everyone!
I will just not eat a carrot salad anymore and will try mushrooms.

 

[mostlylurking]

If you are truly sensitive to beta carotene, I wouldn’t bother with trying to rinse some out of a carrot. The carrot will still be orange. Either try to find white carrots or try boiled mushrooms to see if they produce the same effect.

White carrots are great! But I've focused on eating well cooked mushrooms daily for the last couple of years. I think I do best on them.

 

[oxphoser]

Beta Carotene is PUFA; PUFA is estogenic, therefore, beta carotene is estrogenic. If you are hypothyroid it would be a good idea to avoid beta carotene. I'm hypothyroid, optimally treated with prescription desiccated thyroid medication. I still avoid it. Sweet potatoes are also high in the starchy fiber that feeds the gut bacteria, which is one reason Ray Peat warned against them. He liked to suggest white potatoes instead because when well cooked and eaten with some fat (butter, cream) they are a pretty good food and contain some protein.

My own beta carotene debacle came from my bumper crop of home grown butternut squash and a to die for butternut squash curried soup recipe. I just loved it; it nearly finished me off.

Ray Peat says here that the beta carotene blocks progesterone production:

View: https://youtu.be/g3huy94-0qY?t=875

and another short clip specifically about sweet potatoes, thyroid hormone, and female hormones:

View: https://youtu.be/BGS3PPgBApU?t=1612

Carrots


From the video cited above:
Eluv: Effects os Stress and Trauma On the Body



At around 27:00 minutes:

RP: Sweet potatoes often contain so much carotene that it interferes with digestion, and too much carotene has anti-hormonal effects. It can slow down your production of thyroid hormones: progesterone, adrenal hormones and so on, if it accumulates to the point that it’s making your palms turn orange.



ELUV: Which it does with some people who are juicing carrots a lot.



RP: Yeah. I constantly warn people that there are good chemicals in the juice, good nutrition but unless your thyroid is pretty active it’s going to accumulate the carotene because you convert carotene to vitamin A if you have vitamin B12 in proportion to how active your thyroid hormone is, and if for some reason you are getting more carotene than your vitamin B12 and thyroid can handle, then it turns off the thyroid function. I experienced that myself about 40 years ago eating so many carrots that I suppressed my thyroid. But if your thyroid is good then having a whole carrot every day has sone very important anti-stress functions. Yesterday I heard from a woman who said she had started a daily carrot salad and had almost immediate relief from her premenstrual and digestive problems. We have measured the blood hormones in a few people after they started a daily whole carrot and it’s the stimulating effect on the intestine. The fiber in the carrot isn’t digestible and so the excretion of the bile into the liver carries all kinds of detoxified chemicals and hormones that if you have fiber in your intestines these toxins that the liver has got rid of will be carried out bound to the carrot fiber. But without enough fiber they can be reabsorbed and recycled and so your estrogen tends to go up as the fiber in your diet goes down. And that in turn turns off your thyroid and progesterone so it can cause all the symptoms of estrogen and cortisol excess and in just 3 or 4 days we’ve seen the cortisol and estrogen drop as the progesterone cones up just from eating a daily carrot.



Takeaway: your thyroid has to be working to handle carrots. Otherwise the carotene will accumulate and suppress you thyroid. Also, if the carrot works for you, you will see a change quickly (within 3 or 4 days).

 

[Nicole W.]

You’re not the only one. I notice that every time I try to eat a carrot a day I develop serotonin symptoms / brain fog / constipation.

FWIW, I have found that young carrots (not the bagged “baby carrots”), are far more digestible, sweeter and far more effective than the older, large carrots that have “hairs” growing on them. If you choose the smaller, smoother, more orange carrots often sold with the tops still attached, I think you might have a different experience.