Natural Testosterone & Estrogen
Fun fact: Testosterone and Estrogen - and T & E causers - are in like, everything.
Obviously eating natural sources aren't going to cause the level of results hormones will - not even close. But if you're on HRT, increasing natural amounts of the hormone you're taking and decreasing the alternate hormone can help improve your results (source: my GP).
Also I think it always feels nice to know you've got a little extra of your favorite hormone pumping through you.
Pictured: Me, enoying all the T I can get
This post is broken into two parts: first is natural T, and second is E. Increase or avoid such foods based on your personal hormone preferences :)
Natural T
1. ZINC is super important to testosterone
production.
Sooooo important. Most cis guys don't even get enough of it. Foods that have it: oysters (bleugh), pumpkin seeds, lamb, toasted wheat germ, spinach (Popeye knew what he was doing), cashews, cocoa poweder, pork & chicken, chickpeas, kindey beans, baked beans, mushrooms, pine nuts, pecans, almonds, sunflower seeds, crab, and lobster.
2. Indole-3-Carbinol is shown to help dissolve stores of estrogen. You can find it in stuff like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, kale, and turnips.
3. VITAMIN D is also crazy important. It helps increase your natural testosterone levels (and also turn up the libido, if that's a thing you're looking for too). Sources are cod liver oil (ew), oily fish like trout, halibut, salmon, tuna, and sardines, mushrooms, fortified cereals, tofu (though soy has been known to interfere with T production, so I'd not eat it a ton. Source: my GP), caviar, dairy products, pork, spinach (Popeye was teaching us how to transition all along) and eggs.
Other ways to help with testosterone production are getting plenty of sleep, trying to reduce stress in your life, limiting sugar intake (or cutting it out altogether), eating healthy fats (see item 8 for chart), and chug whey protein.
Natural E
An important thing for Estrogen is trying to find
phytoestrogens. Phytoestrogens are natural
plant hormones that your body converts into estrogen. I've split this up into some groups of foods that either provie phytoestrogens or other types of estrogen.
1. Soy has 103,920 micrograms of estrogen per 100 grams. It's definitely one of the top things you want to consume if you're trying to increase E. Raid your local walmart for every tofu block they've got.
2. Flax seed is your new BFF. 100 grams of flax has 379,380 micrograms of estrogen. It's also found in a ton of bread products, so ignore Scott Pilgrim, bread is your friend.
3. Legumes (and Hummus!) are foods to focus on. Chickpeas (garbanzo beans) red beans, black-eyed peas, green peas and split peas specifically, and hummus is a great source.
4. Animal products, sort of - on top of the fact that animals have testosterone and estrogen in them, since they're alive and have hormones, many companies (especially factory farmed animals) pump their female animals full of extra estrogen, which has been shown to then end up in the animal products & byproducts. Not really natural, but it's there.
5. Herbs! A lot of herbs are shown to help increase estrogen, including black cohosh, spearmint, licorice, red clover, gingko biloba, damiana, fennel, and dong quai. I only know what a few of those are, honestly, but they should help.
Hope you all find this info valuable!
Sources:
http://health.in4mnation.com/foods-boost-estrogen-levels/2/
http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/estrogenboosting-foods-4911.html
http://www.alternet.org/food/4-surprising-foods-packed-estrogen-chemical-linked-obesity-and-sexual-dysfunction
http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/high-vitamin-D-foods.php
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/dietary-factors/phytochemicals/indole-3-carbinol
http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/zinc.php
& FTM Magazine's T Boost article in the free sample on their site