Latest / Beyond Limits With Olivia Marie / Hormone Health & Ways To Balance

Transcript

Hormone Health & Ways To Balance · Beyond Limits With Olivia Marie

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, guys, we are diving in again today on another episode about hormones, hormones.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Hormones, hormones, hormones.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like this is the most popular question that I get asked for a good reason because it really affects so much of our systems and our bodies.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: So we're diving into it.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: What's new?
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: If you guys haven't downloaded the new free healthy dessert ebook, it is revamped.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: It just came out a couple weeks ago.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it has all over 20 of my top healthy desserts.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: They're all healthy, they're all good for you.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: So definitely get your hands on that because it's free.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: And you guys know my healthy desserts are my specialties are gonna have your hands on that.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: She's currently sleeping in my office.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: We have been having some behavioral aggression issues, but we are working through them and coming this week to kind of help us.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's a whole thing.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely feel like I had the whole time.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, definitely hormonal.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: I know I felt my hormones were off when I was sleeping deprived and you know running out of four hours of sleep and I was stressed out when I had a new puppy.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely felt that my hormones are a thousand percent saying that if you're not getting enough sleep, that is going to happen.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: With that being said, let's just go ahead and dive in together.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Live Well Podcast.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: This podcast is designed to help you live well, body, mind, and soul.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Liv, a natural health and wellness expert, and each week you will walk away with the insights, tools, and tips to truly live your best life.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: If you are looking to live well, you are in the right place.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: A new episode starts now.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, guys, welcome back to another episode of the Live Well Podcast.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: You guys love when I talk about hormones.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: You guys have so many hormone questions.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Hormones is gonna be again the topic of today.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you haven't listened to my other episodes on hormones, there's one on balancing hormones and there's one on PCOS.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we're gonna get more into the nitty-gritty of balancing hormones in this episode, but definitely go back and listen to that because I'm gonna try not to repeat any stuff from that one.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so there's gonna be kind of like adding on to that.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: So definitely listen to that one as well because you're gonna need to know all of those basics.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: But think of your hormones like chemical messengers of your body, right?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Each hormone sends specific instructions to every organ that makes hormones responsible for just about everything in the body, how it works, how it feels, how healthy it is, and not only that, and ladies, you can attest to this, hormones really influence your mood, your energy, your weight, temperature, digestion, like honestly, so many aspects of your health.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: So if they're out of whack, if they're not balanced, you're gonna be feeling it in so many different areas.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, we don't often think about or like really appreciate uh our hormones when we when we want them and when they're good.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so when everything goes out of whack, it's only then that we're like, oh no, we have to fix it.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: So your hormones are produced in the major endocrine glands, your brain.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: So like your hypothalamus, your pineal gland, your pituitary, but also areas like your thyroid, adrenals, pancreas, reproductive glands, so like your ovaries, and as well as some are also produced in your GI tract.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: So with hormones, it is all about balance.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want too much, you don't want it too little, you want them to be just right.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like Goldilocks in her porridge.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely it's paleo porridge, definitely no oatmeal over here if we want to be having good hormones.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um you guys make me laugh.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so happy when you guys listen to the episode of PCOS and you're like, oh my god, I was eating oatmeal, and I was like, yeah, that's why we should stop.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: So um, if you're curious as to why you know you want to be avoiding oatmeal, um, go listen to that episode.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: But as Goldilocks know, you don't want too much, you don't want too little, you want them to be just right.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: So otherwise, all these downstream effects can happen.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: And even if your labs come back quote unquote normal, um, you know, you can be given the kind of synthetic hormone creams or a pill that can have side effects, and even those ones can come back normal and you are still experiencing symptoms.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: So it's important to work with like a functional medicine doctor or a naturopath like me to really find out the root cause and see um if it actually is normal because blood results aren't normal.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: We'll get into that because that was someone's question.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I did take a QA from Instagram that I will be answering at the end of the episode, but there's so many underlying causes of hormone imbalance that you guys need to be looking at.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: So you need to look at chronic inflammation, you need to look at methylation impairments like MTHFR, you need to look at nutrient deficiencies, you need to look at stress overload, you need to look at toxin exposure.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna go over some of the common hormone problems that I see and explain kind of what you might be experiencing with each of them for you to kind of identify, hey, I think I might be struggling with this, okay?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: So let's go with number one, which is cortisol.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: So your adrenal glands secrete several hormones, and one of them is cortisol, which is your body's primary stress hormone.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: And adrenal fatigue happens when there is an imbalance in this cortisol rhythm.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: So cortisol is high when it should be low, low when it should be high, or always high, always low.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Again, like Goldilocks, it's not just right.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so adrenal fatigue is really a dysfunction of your brain's communication with your adrenals because it's not really the adrenal glands themselves, it's the communication between them because adrenal fatigue is a brain stress problem.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: So you might be experiencing um trouble getting started in the morning, craving salty or sugary foods, low sex drive, fatigued in the afternoon, but getting a second wind in the evening, trouble staying asleep, um, dizziness, afternoon headaches, blood sugar issues, chronic inflammation, weak nails, brittle hair, moodiness, trouble losing weight.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, in order to actually get a good picture of your cortisol response, you need to do a Dutch test.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it is a urine test, and it takes a 24-hour period.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's the most reliable one.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: So if you feel like you are struggling with cortisol, you're definitely gonna want to look into that test.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Also, because I will note people were people do sometimes attribute it, oh high cortisol.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: I have high cortisol, my cortisol is through the roof, my cortisol is through the roof, because all we hear about is high cortisol.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: However, if you are have been stressed out for a long period of time and your cortisol has been high for a long time, then basically what happens is your cortisol can actually go into the toilet and you can experience low cortisol.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what happens with this is that people think, oh, high cortisol, so they take all these herbs, adapogens, and everything to bring their cortisol down.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: However, if you are experiencing low cortisol, then this is actually gonna make you feel shittier.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: So moving on to thyroid.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I think I'm actually gonna do a whole episode on thyroid because I feel like there's so much for thyroid, but we're gonna touch on it here.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: So every cell of your body needs thyroid hormones to function optimally.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so there are many underlying thyroid problems that won't show up on standard labs.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: For example, thyroid conversion issues, thyroid resistance, or autoimmune attacks against the thyroids.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: So for thyroid, you might be experiencing tired, cold feet, hands, or cold all over, rapid weight gain, constipation, depressed or lack of motivation, um, morning headaches that kind of go away as the day goes on, um, thinning of the outer third of your eyebrows, excessive hair loss or thinning, dry skin, brain fog, um all of these things.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so you might want to get your TSH and T4 to determine, you know, thyroid hormone levels, but I honestly would look at a full thyroid panel that looks at free and total T3.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that was a mouthful.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, reverse T3, thyroid antibodies just to rule out any autoimmune and everything like that.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: So this is what you're gonna want to go to your um doctor or you know, ND functional medicine practitioner with.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: So moving on to estrogen.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone talks about estrogen, and what they don't talk about is that there are three different forms of estrogen.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: So we have estrone, which is E1, estradiol, which is E2, and estriol, which is E3.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and all of them are important for both men and women, but of course we're gonna be focusing on women in this episode.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: So they actually found that imbalances in estrogen are linked to mortality rates with heart disease, but also the progression of some cancers.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: And if you guys have seen me do my interpretation of my um clients' death tests on Instagram, you can see that if you're having too much of your 16OH um metabolite of estrogen, then you are actually putting yourself at risk, not only for DNA damage, but for breast cancer.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: But we're gonna go with first of all what you might be experiencing with low estrogen.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: So vaginal dryness, night sweats, brain fog, recurrent bladder infections, feeling lethargic, depression, hot flashes, and what you might be experiencing with high estrogen, bloating, rapid weight gain, breast tenderness, mood swings, heavy menstrual bleeding, anxiety, depression, migraine headaches, cervical dysplasia, insomnia, brain fog, gallbladder problems.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: So again, Dutch test.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: If you want an accurate representation of your estrogen, you need to do the Dutch test.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like honestly, no affiliation.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: I wish, I wish there was a sponsorship by Dutch test.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: That'd be fun.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's the only reliable one.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Those blood works, guys, is does not give you the full picture.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's not accurate at all.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: So moving on.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Pegesterone.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: So both men and women actually need healthy progesterone balance, and progesterone really helps to balance and neutralize the effects of too much estrogen.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: So without proper progesterone levels, estrogen becomes out of control, also known as estrogen dominance.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: So, what you might be experiencing?
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: PMS, insomnia, poor complexion, painful breasts, or like breast tenderness, stubborn weight gain, cyclical headaches, anxiety, and infertility.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Again, what do we want to do for progesterone?
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: We want to do the Dutch test.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, moving on to testosterone.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Again, testosterone you need in both men and women.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and actually, studies have linked low testosterone women to heart disease, low sex drive, breast cancer, and more.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: And they actually found that men with low testosterone had a greater rate of death, but you can also have too much.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, with anyone who has a male partner out there, um, you also don't want them having low testosterone.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, what women might experience with excess testosterone?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: We're looking at acne, PCOS, excessive hair on the face and arms, hypoglycemia or unstable blood sugar, thinning hair, infertility, ovarian cysts, mid-cycle pain and cramping.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, mid-cycle, irritability.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then women with low testosterone, we're looking at weight gain, fatigue, low sex drive.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, moving on to leptin.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: So leptin is probably one that you guys are maybe a little less familiar with.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't talk about it a lot on my Instagram, but like I use this a lot in my Well Nurse program and in my one-on-one, but your fat cells just aren't some like unsightly nuance that you know jiggle and make clothes not fit, right?
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: They are actually an intelligent part of your endocrine and hormonal system.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: So fat cells produce a hormone called leptin.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: One of leptin's job is to tell your brain to use the body's fat stores for energy.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: However, leptin resistance occurs when your body, specifically your hypothalamus in your brain, stops recognizing leptin, right?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Leptin resistance.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: It is becoming resistant to recognizing leptin.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: What happens is that this can trick your brain into thinking you are starving, resulting in excessive and inappropriate fat storage.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: So what you might be experiencing is rapid weight gain, weight loss resistance, frequent strong food cravings, high stress levels, all of this stuff.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: So you're gonna be wanting to look at leptin resistance.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: And going from leptin resistance, let's dive into a little bit of insulin resistance.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, just like leptin resistance, insulin resistance is not a hormonal deficiency, but a hormonal resistance pattern.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: So most people know insulin resistance when it comes to type 2 diabetes, but insulin resistance can also happen in those who are pre-diabetic or have a subclinical blood sugar imbalance.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Note, if you have PCOS, you need to be balancing that blood sugar.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Go back to the PCOS episode, listen to it in depth, but Jesus, please be balancing your insulin, okay?
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: So insulin resistance is meaning that your body is producing insulin, but the insulin is not doing what it should, i.e., shuttling blood sugar into your cells where you can use it.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: And instead, this ineffective insulin throughout like a this cascade of reactions ends up resulting in excessive fat storage making weight loss seem impossible.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm gonna repeat that again.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: Insulin resistance results in excessive fat storage making weight loss seem impossible.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: What you might be experiencing, cravings for sweets, irritability, dependence on coffee, shaky, jittery tremors, um being really agitated or upset, poor memory, blurred vision, fatigue after eating, sugar cravings, um, frequent urination, increased thirst, weight loss resistance, all of this stuff, okay?
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: We need to be looking at all of these hormones, right?
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because they are all tied together because all systems in the body are interconnected.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you have one hormone problem, you probably have other ones as well.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, in other words, to say that you only have like one of these issues, you probably don't.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: They're probably like multifactorial.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: So you might have progesterone and estrogen or insulin and estrogen and everything like that.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: So you need to be really looking at all of them as a whole.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: So you also want to be looking between your blood sugar balance and any hormone disorders because of PCOS, and like I said, irregular menstrual cycles, um, acne, excessive facial hair growth, or ovarian cysts, go back to that episode and listen to that.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: But you want some like natural lifestyle ways in order to be managing your hormones.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna mention ones that I don't think I mentioned in that previous episode, one of which is monitoring your phytoestrogen consumption.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: So these are plant-based estrogens that are not produced by your endocrine system, but instead must be gained by eating phytoestrogen plants.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: One of which is the ever so controversial soy.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: So, since soy is commonly found in a lot of plant-based and gluten-free products due to its high protein content, you need to be extra cautious when shopping.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: Also keep in mind that all legumes, flax, sesame, and lentils are also considered phytoestrogens as well.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: So even though you know you might have high testosterone, high testosterone levels, for example, if you have PCOS, the phytoestrogen consumption could help mitigate symptoms.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: However, since soy is often processed and genetically modified, it can actually further perpetuate hormone imbalances by triggering an overload of estrogen, which then comes with its own set of symptoms.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: So flaxseed is, I would think, um, is probably a better option that is actually as effective as soy for reducing androgen levels due to the fact that it's a lignin, which is a group of polyphenols that is found in certain plant foods.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: And this will help to increase the sex hormone binding globulin, which will decrease the amount of free testosterone in the body.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: So keep that in mind.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: We also want to be making sure we get enough sleep.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: So sleep is the time where your body regenerates its cells and it maximizes hormone production.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: You need to be getting, you know, enough sleep so you're not getting insulin resistance as well, so that your leptin is appropriate and everything like that.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: You also want to find the proper adaptogen.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna say find the proper adaptogen because as we heard, you might have low cortisol, you might have high cortisol.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: We need some of like my favorites are like ashwagandha, cordyceps, rhodiola, all of these things, but depending on your cortisol levels, you're going to need different amounts of these things or different herbs themselves.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Some of them raise, some of them lower.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to want, or finding one that balances depending on your levels.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you are also staying away from endocrine disruptors.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: So um, I believe the environmental working group has like a list of the 12 worst endocrine disruptors that you need to be looking for.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we have things like parabens, BHA, BHS, all of these things, you need to be, you know, cleaning these out of your system so that we're not overburdening our liver so that our hormones stay balanced.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: You want to switch over to all natural cleaning and beauty products.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and all of this is gonna help support the natural detox process.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: When we're detoxing our hormones, our hormones are going to be in better balance.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: So let's dabble a little bit into the nutrition when it comes to hormone health and adjusting things like you know, weight gain or you know, P PCOS, PMS, and all of that stuff.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there are like a few, you know, eating styles.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't like labels, I hate labels, but you know, a few eating styles or like ways we want to be eating in order to really balance our hormones.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna run through a free few different ones um, a few different key things for you to look at.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: So autoimmune protocol or AIP is number one when you're treating things like Hashimoto's.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: So autoimmune conditions occur when there's basically a genetic weakness that is triggered by the autoimmune system.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: So the AIP diet takes out all potential inflammatory foods, and it's even more strict than like a paleo diet.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it eliminates everything the paleo diet does, in addition to eggs, chocolate, nuts, and seeds, nightshades, tomatoes, and peppers.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have Hashimoto's, you're gonna want to look into AIP and working with someone with that.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: Next up is more of like I'm gonna touch on the keto diet.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: So the keto diet is out to be like kind of like the new kid on the block, and it's been used for many years with children with epilepsy, but it's actually gaining popularity because of its ability to restore energy, fight inflammation, and regulate hormones.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is hard to stick to long term.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: However, I am going to touch on the fact that it has been shown to be beneficial in studies because it is a high-fat, low carb, moderate protein.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: So everyone has a different caloric intake per day that they need depending on their height expenditure of energy and everything like that.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: But with a ketogenic diet, basically what it does is it forces your body to use ketones instead of glucose for energy.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: And when your body no longer has glucose as a source, it uses fat to produce ketones.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then your body becomes reliant on fat for fuel.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_00: So keep us in mind that like babies rely on like the fat from breast milk for their brain growth and development.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like your brain is actually 60% fat.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: So a ketogenic diet can help you manage blood sugar and control metabolism due to the fact that it focuses on fat.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: And by feeding your brain fat, it helps alleviate adrenal fatigue, which is like that HPA axis dysfunction.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the only thing is that it can be hard to do because you do have to measure your blood every morning to make sure you're in ketosis.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Which brings me to my next one, which is paleo, um, which is a great place to kind of like it's less strict than AIP, um, it's still healing, and it's less like annoying, I would say, than ketogenic, because you're not having to like prick your finger for blood every morning.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it really removes also inflammatory foods like sugars and grains, um, and also eliminates legumes and like the beans that contain phytate and leptin, which can also make you have um not only digestive issues but lead to increased inflammation, which will again feed hormone problems.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, touching on intermittent fasting, because I know this is gonna be a question when it comes to hormone health.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, I need a sip of water.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I've been talking for been talking for how long?
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: 17 minutes.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, it feels like a long time, more than 17 minutes.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: Intermittent fasting can be really great because it not only helps to heal the gut, which will help your hormone levels, but it also helps to reduce inflammation.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: You need to know that there are um some potential side effects for those who deal with thyroid and adrenal fatigue issues in particular.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: For example, depending on your levels of the adrenal fatigue, intermittent fasting may not always be the best choice when you are treating circadian rhythm dunctions because women can be more sensitive because of the higher amount of protein called cispeptin, which can contribute to menstrual irregularity, poor metabolism, and infertility.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not to say that intermittent fasting is out of the question with those with hormone imbalances, but you need to make sure that it is the center stage when it comes to insulin resistance and that you're doing it properly.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry guys, Akasha had a little moment there.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but jumping back into intermittent fasting, so intermittent fasting is going to really help to increase your metabolism, lower insulin resistance, um, and it's actually going to improve your brain dopamine levels and positively affects your hunger hormone ghrelin.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: So intermittent fasting can be good.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: You just want it to make sure you're not making the mistake of not eating enough.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: The main problem or the main issue I see with women is that they try to do intermittent fasting and they just skip meals and they end up under-eating, and it's that that's the reason that the intermittent fasting um negatively affects your hormones and it's not the intermittent fasting itself.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: So now I'm gonna go through some of the questions that you guys asked me on Instagram.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, best natural support for low thyroid function.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you wanna be getting good bioavailable sources of protein.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: So that's wild-caught fish, grass-fed beef, um, and blue and green algae.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: You wanna be getting enough vitamin B12, you wanna be um, and that's in things like egg yolks, salmon, and organ meats, magnesium, which is in like leafy greens, um like spinach and kale, but also nuts and seeds.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: You wanna be getting enough zinc, um, and zinc is found in you know, grass-fed beef, that's the highest source, but also shellfish like lobster, oysters, um, and then nuts and seeds are good plant based options, but the best one is grass fed beef.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then um, you also want to be looking at B vitamins, um, vitamin C, selenium, vitamin A, vitamin D, and all of those.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, do you interpret Dutch Tels for clients?
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: I sure do, Kennedy.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: So if you guys ever need Dutch test interpretation, I am Do do those, but you have to become a one-on-one client.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: Are there foods that balance hormones?
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, there are.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: There are foods that naturally support your hormones.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Those will include high-quality fats, proteins, um, nuts and seeds, everything like that.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: You basically want to be staying away from sugars, um, grains, and obviously gluten.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you're no stranger to my content, you guys know that gluten should be like not in the household, um, and all of those things.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I love all the benefits of intermittent fasting, but I tried and it totally threw off my hormones.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: So press chess.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: I suspect that you probably weren't eating enough because I see women do it all the time.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: Clients who come to me who have been doing intermittent fasting um and they're just not eating enough per day.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: What are the best tests to take to know what to focus on?
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: The Dutch test.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: 100%.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: How and where do you get your hormones tests and how they are interpreted?
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the Dutch test and you know, work with someone like me, a functional medicine doctor, a naturopath, like um, or like there are some also like some holistic nutritionists who interpret the Dutch test, but the blood one isn't going to be accurate.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry guys, I'm just looking through some of the questions.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: More about estrogen dominance, uh, causes and ways to reduce.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: So you need to be a looking at your what endocrine disruptors things do you have in your system already?
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, where are you, you know, not having clean um beauty products and everything like that?
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, is your liver um balanced enough?
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: Are you detoxing your estrogen properly?
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: Are you eating lots of sugar?
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: Are you on medications?
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Are you also on um like eating lots of like poor quality meats?
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: Are you um I think like those are all the like estrogen dominance ones um ways to reduce it?
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: You need to be cutting the gluten, you need to be cutting the inflammation, you need to be cutting sugar, you need to be eating lots of like protein, healthy fats, fiber, micronutrients, um, good quality things.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: You need to, you know, ditch the dove shampoo and the ole and get yourself some clean, all natural ones, all of that stuff.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: All right, how to increase progesterone levels?
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so A, you probably all oftentimes low progesterone actually comes from estrogen dominance.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I would work with more with your estrogen than to be increasing your progesterone specifically.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: But um, if you've been tested um and you've had like low progesterone levels according to the DATS test, then healthy fats like avocado, olive oil, wild salmon, coconut oil, and then leafy greens, and then things like B complex, magnesium, vitamin D, vitamin C are gonna be good.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Should you exercise right before or on your period?
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yes, you can, but the type will vary.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: So while you're on your cycle, you don't want to be doing any kind of abdominal work and you wanna be doing more low impact.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: So more yoga, Pilates, that kind of stuff.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, after your cycle, those like after the full week of your cycle, you have more energy, you can do more high-intensity stuff if your adrenals allow you.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one thing I'll say if you get tired after your workouts, then it's too much.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: So you can definitely exercise on or while it's just different types of exercise.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: What to do about period cramps?
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, get to the root cause because you should not be having cramps or PMS.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, if you don't know already, PMS is not normal, bloating is not normal, cramps are not normal, fatigue is not normal, um, headaches are not normal, insomnia is not normal, mood swings are not normal, all that kind of stuff.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: You need to get to the root cause.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: So you would need to see someone like me to figure out what is causing your you know, period cramps.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: But symptomatically, ginger is really great, magnesium is really great, but they're gonna keep happening unless you get to the root cause.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: Is it normal to feel very low energy and hot before your period?
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely not.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: What can you do if you suffer from menorrhea?
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: Get to the root cause by working with someone like me.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you're connected to your feminine, make sure you're eating enough, make sure you have the building blocks of hormones, make sure you're eating enough fats, make sure you're not eating too many, um, too much sugar and all that.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Anxiety and hormones throughout your cycle.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that is a good one.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: So anxiety is actually a symptom of low progesterone, which you might mean have you might have low progesterone, but also a relative estrogen dominance, so you're gonna want to borrow um balance those, Amy.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: Low estrogen, progesterone ways to increase.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: So A, um, I highly doubt you have low estrogen and progesterone.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I would Jenny message me differently about that.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but chances are you're going to need to work on liver support.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: You want to make sure you are detoxing them properly, and then you want to make sure that A, you're managing stress, that your adrenals aren't affected, that you're getting enough of the micronutrients in order to have the building blocks of hormones and everything like that.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, are you connected to your feminine?
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: Everything like that.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm looking for more questions that I haven't answered already.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: Ways to balance hormones when dealing with stress.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: You need to manage stress.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: When people say, Oh, I'm stressed out, okay, but are you managing your stress?
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: Are you meditating every single day?
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: Every single day, no excuse.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: Are you taking time for yourself?
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: Are you setting boundaries?
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: Are you not engaging in people pleasing?
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: Everything stress is not gonna go away.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: Stress is a fact of life, but there are things that you can do in order to balance stress.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: Adaptogens.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: Adaptogens are great.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have to look at your cortisol.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: What are your cortisol levels so we can figure out what adaptogen is right for you?
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: You can balance hormones when dealing with stress, but you also need to prioritize your health and prioritize managing that stress.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: Eating about 200 and uh yeah, 2,500 calories a day and still no period, what can I do?
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um depends what else is going on in your body.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: So is are your hormones, are your beauty products clean?
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: What are your stress levels like?
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: What is your cortisol like?
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: What is your everything like?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what is your estrogen levels like, your progesterone, and everything like that?
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: How to clear liver of excess hormone um after the pill experiences cystic acne.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you want to do lots of liver support.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: So liver support herbs, um, liver support diet to help you detox.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: Dandelion tea is a really great um tea that I like to use.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: You also want to make sure you're not overburdening your liver with other things, so alcohol, um, toxic products, and everything like that.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Hair loss and PCOS, does your hair automatically come back once you have balanced hormones?
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: Can plants and health hold helps for hormone imbalance?
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yes and no.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like plants secrete things like oxygen.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: Are there really going to be night and day in your hormone levels?
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: Probably not.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, guys, I hope you enjoyed this little snippet.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: I try to answer all of the questions that I haven't either answered already in this podcast episode or the previous one on hormones and PCOS and everything like that.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope you guys found this useful.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: Any more questions on hormones, just send me a DM.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm happy to address them and kind of point you in the right direction about what kind of support that you need or what you should do to go about fixing them.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: So if you enjoyed this podcast, I would love for you guys to leave a five-star reading in review.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: That way other people can find them, and I can continue to help lots more people feel great in their bodies, balance their hormones, have their gut health in check, love themselves, and all of that wonderful magic.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I appreciate you guys for listening to this episode, and I hope you learned something, and I will see you guys in the next one.