Clothes, hair, and makeup aren’t the only ways to enhance your femininity. The foods you eat can also have an impact!
Did you know that over 300 common foods contain plant estrogens known as phytoestrogens?
These foods and herbs have been used for natural hormone balancing for centuries. And since phytoestrogens mimic the effects of estrogen, they could potentially lead to feminizing effects such as:
- Breast growth
- Softer skin
- Redistribution of body fat
- Fuller, thicker hair
While phytoestrogens aren’t a substitute for gender affirming hormone therapy, these foods can help give you a feminine boost.
As an added bonus, they’re also super healthy and can help maintain an ideal weight. (Very important to your overall female appearance!)
Here are 5 phytoestrogen-rich foods worth including in your MTF diet:
Flaxseed
Among all foods, flaxseed is the richest source of lignans, which are a type of phytoestrogen. Flaxseed is also high in fiber and omega-3 fatty acids.
To get the full phytoestrogenic effect, you should consume ground flaxseed (instead of whole flaxseed) for easier digestion.
Try sprinkling ground flaxseed on cereal, yogurt, fruit, and salads. (It’s super tasty!)
Soy
Soy is the most popular high-phytoestrogen food. There are tons of soy foods available, so it’s easy to work them into your diet. Here are some options to try:
- Edamame
- Tofu
- Miso
- Tempeh
- Soy beans
- Soy milk
- Soy yogurt
- Soy protein powder
Fruits and Veggies
Many common fruits and vegetables contain phytoestrogens, giving you another reason to eat your fruits and veggies.
High-phytoestrogen fruits include:
- Dried fruits (especially dried apricots, dates, and prunes)
- Peaches
- Raspberries
- Strawberries
- Pomegranates
High-phytoestrogen veggies include:
- Alfalfa sprouts
- Winter squash
- Green beans
- Collard greens
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
Lentils
Lentils (and beans in general) are rich in phytoestrogens. They’re also low cal and high in protein and fiber, making them a great MTF diet staple.
Yams
Yams are another healthy, phytoestrogen-rich food. In fact, a particular type of yam (wild yam) is one of the most commonly-used herbs for female hormone balancing.
Bonus: Bustea
While not technically a food, many teas are also high in phytoestrogens. Check out your local health food store for fenugreek tea, fennel tea, or licorice tea.
Or if you’re feeling ambitious, try making Bustea. This recipe was originally shared by Dr. James A. Duke in his classic book, The Green Pharmacy. The tea is concocted of various “bust boosting” herbs, hence the name!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup fenugreek
- Dash each of anise, basil, caraway, fennel, marjoram, licorice, lemongrass, dill
Directions:
Combine the ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. After it cools, add honey and lemon to taste. Dr. Duke recommends drinking 1-2 cups per day.
Note: Since Bustea is very high in phytoestrogens, I don’t recommend over-consuming it if you take prescription hormones. (Always speak with your doctor before combining herbs and hormones or other prescription meds.)
Love,
Lucille
P.S. Curious about using herbs for breast enhancement? Check out The Flat to Femme Program. This one-of-a-kind program reveals specific techniques for natural male to female breast enhancement.
As a person under the direction of a physician taking feminizing hormones, drinking bustea in that situation is very dangerous.
Stephanie Stockton
Stephanie S.:
I just saw your 2 pics & could not leave the blog without telling you how absolutely stunning you look. Love the hair and accessories, Cleavage ain’t bad Neither! !
Just Enjoy Being Lady. ..at 71 now, I’m still trying to “keep up with you young Foxes “…T.J.
As a woman Stephanie- you’re looking beautiful!
Veronica
Thank you m’dear… even sideways giggle
Very good topic! I am so gratified that the foods i have been using are recommended for feminization. Even including the bustea concoction. I discovered flax seed by accident. I was going to buy some cornmeal and peanut oil to cook trout on a fishing trip, but got flax meal and sesame oil on a whim. It was so delicious that I have been adding flax meal to a lot of other things. Fenugreek seed is readily available in most grocery store bulk food sections, in with other spices, at ridiculously low prices! The dried seed is hard to grind, so it’s best to hydrate small quantities, just soak in boiling water for about ten minutes. Spoon up as much as you want, to add to dishes. It sometimes tastes a bit like maple syrup. I have seen a precaution that it interferes with medicines, so it’s a good idea to wait about three hours between one and the other. Fennel seed is also a good tasty addition to many dishes, again it’s inexpensive in the bulk spice section. The “yams” found in the grocery store are actually a type of sweet potato, not related to wild yam, but they are still enjoyable and healthful to eat…
Thanks for sharing this info with all us women. We need those breast to make us complete, and look real sexy, and to fill our bras up to capacity. Kisses Charlotte. Love being a Transgender Woman.
Lucille!
Another nice post! But on that recipe – 1 cup of “fenugreek what”? Seeds? Leaves (fresh or dried)? Powder? Capsules? It’s so confusing!
Probably leaves, as I assume all the other things are leaves too, though probably dried herbs since it says “a dash”. Although more specifics wouldn’t hurt on that either… 🙂
Hugs,
Chrissy
When you block testosterone . You will look old. Cause testosterone decrease yrs after yrs.
I am m2f and I am taking both estrogen and progesterone along with 2 anti-androgens. And believe me, they have made it very difficult for me to lose weight. I have lost over 100 pounds but my target is to lose 50 more. But I have plateaued (for about a year now) and that is really frustrating me. I am very active and I have a very active job so I suspect diet might be the problem. (Metabolism too, since it has been slowed way down by the hormones.) I have been doing an almost starvation diet but the problem with that is I become weak and sick – and then to overcome that I eat again and gain the weight back. So. This is not working. The information you have provided here is good news for me.
Oh baby, baby! Please don’t starve yourself! That is working directly against your goals, besides making you unhealthy. Go find “The Fast Metabolism Diet” – you will learn how to eat specific foods in a sequence to rip off your pounds! I lost 85 lbs in 9 months and have continued to fine-tune my weight (I’m 6′ tall, working towards 140 lbs, now at 156 and I started at 245!).
The goal is to give your body the nutrients it needs and it will burn fat for fun!
You don’t *need* fat on you – storing fat is your body’s response to starvation! So you see, the more you starve yourself, the more you’ll stay fat.
You can do it baby, I believe in you!
Love,
Chrissy
Plz give me hormone regimen that you used
My doctor has me on 4mg Estrogen/day. I’m also on a t-blocker, my initial t-count was 749, now down to 9! I, too have a weight issue due to Estrogen, but I’m dealing with it best I can through a better daily diet, less fatty foods, etc. I also drink Fennel tea everyday. If you can stand the taste of black licorice (I love it), you can drink it too. I add honey to mine instead of sugar.
How to aboid zinc if you need to eat some kind of Meat to add the rest of nutrients to your body?? Esting just fish is good enough??
Zinc is a No-No for male to female transition!
While this site focuses on food women to be as feminine as possible ( kudos ), also important is what is that inner you, which quietly and confidently expressed, is absolutely beautiful, that inner spirit.