Latest / Nourished Fertility / Life After Period Recovery: Wellness Without Obsession

Transcript

Life After Period Recovery: Wellness Without Obsession · Nourished Fertility

0:00
Today we're gonna be talking about something incredibly
0:02
special and honestly not talked about enough, like what happens.
0:07
After you get your period back, this episode is for my courageous, brave,
0:13
incredible women who've done the hard work, you've said yes to more food, less
0:17
control, deep rest, and finally reclaimed.
0:21
A regular reliable period.
0:23
Oh my gosh.
0:24
Maybe for the first time in years.
0:26
This may be happening to you after your first recovery period as you do the
0:29
work months or years before trying to conceive, or maybe you're officially in
0:34
the postpartum thanks to period recovery work that led to you getting pregnant.
0:38
You're holding a baby in your arms, you've gotten your period back,
0:41
and you're ready for next steps to feeling like yourself again.
0:45
Either way.
0:46
Let me just start this episode off by saying I am so proud of you.
0:50
You did something that takes guts.
0:52
You let your body change, you let go of obsession.
0:57
You said yes to your future.
0:59
That is so worth celebrating.
1:02
But here's the truth that no one tells you.
1:05
Recovery doesn't stop the moment your period comes back.
1:09
So what I wanna do in today's episode is talk about the next phase of your
1:13
journey, wellness without obsession, and what that really looks like to
1:17
get back to feeling like yourself and adding back into health habits.
1:21
I know You love.
1:22
We actually consider in our practice recovery in three phases.
1:25
Number one is getting that first recovery period back with our clients.
1:29
We get, you know, 95% of our clients that first recovery period in 90 days or less.
1:35
Then number two from there is getting either three back-to-back periods or
1:40
getting a positive pregnancy test, either getting back-to-back periods or pregnancy.
1:45
Both indicate safety in your body again, which then leads us to number three,
1:50
life after period recovery, wellness without obsession, which is the focus of
1:56
today's episode, and I was even thinking.
1:59
For this episode, this one specifically is gonna be the one that you go
2:03
to when you're like, okay, like I'm there, I'm at phase three.
2:05
What do I specifically do with my eating, my exercise, my health habits and more.
2:10
And then I also think what I'm gonna do is start recording maybe
2:14
like every six months, an episode about like where I'm, as I continue.
2:19
A lifetime in wellness without obsession.
2:21
Now it's been 10 plus years with a period.
2:23
I've had my two beautiful baby girls.
2:25
I'm done having kids, and my hope with those episodes that will come in the
2:29
future is that it kind of gives you inspiration of just seeing like what
2:33
is a healthy relationship with food, but also being someone who deeply
2:36
cares about health and wellness and also wants to maintain their period.
2:40
What does that look like?
2:41
If that episode sounds like you would love to hear it, let me know in dms and that
2:45
will really encourage me to record it.
2:47
So let's start first with what being recovered means.
2:52
So phase three.
2:53
It means that you are in period maintenance.
2:56
You have a reliable monthly cycle.
2:59
Your body's giving you a green light.
3:01
Basically your hormones are humming, your habits are aligned,
3:05
really getting a monthly period.
3:06
Your fifth vital sign is your body's saying like, Hey, the
3:09
amount you're eating is good.
3:11
Like your body's saying like, Hey girl, we're good.
3:13
And at this point is when you can start to.
3:16
Eat and maintenance and adjust eating.
3:18
We're gonna talk about that next, and it's also your sign.
3:20
You can start to add in more exercise.
3:22
We'll talk about that too here in a moment.
3:24
Specifically as we're shifting into phase three, this is your sign that is
3:29
okay to shift out of the calorie surplus phase and start eating at maintenance.
3:34
Like we always say on the podcast period, recovery is a temporary timeframe.
3:39
So what do we do after that Temporary timeframe?
3:42
Let's dig in.
3:44
So always, always, always moving forward.
3:46
We eat three meals a day.
3:47
We never go back to skipping meals, especially never skipping breakfast.
3:51
It is.
3:51
Very much the number one most important meal of the day, like
3:55
you need to be eating breakfast.
3:56
And I'll also argue a lot of protein at that breakfast too.
3:59
So we're always eating three meals a day.
4:02
When it comes to snacks though, where, you know, impaired recovery, we're like,
4:06
alright, three meals, three snacks.
4:07
We really need to do that as much as possible, um, in period
4:11
maintenance in phase three.
4:12
And is wellness without obsession?
4:14
It is anywhere from one to three snacks a day.
4:16
If there's, of course, the person out there, I'm sure that can maintain
4:19
a period eating three meals a day.
4:20
But I find with most women, we do need some snacks in between meals.
4:24
Um, at least, you know, after noon and nighttime is what I
4:28
find to be the most common.
4:29
Although it may be different for you and your schedule.
4:31
And that's really what we're looking for here.
4:33
And period recovery, we're a little bit more strict.
4:35
We're a little bit more specific about how we're eating.
4:38
Now you have the privilege of being a little bit more intuitive,
4:41
a little bit more flexible.
4:43
You can have anywhere from one to three snacks a day, depending on hunger
4:46
activity in your day-to-day life.
4:48
For example, for me, um, I eat a breakfast, an early lunch 'cause I work
4:53
out kind in between breakfast and lunch.
4:55
An afternoon snack, that kinda acts like a second lunch, a dinner, and then
4:59
a nighttime snack, and that is pretty consistently how I eat across the board.
5:03
Yours may be different again, depending on your own hunger
5:05
activity in your day-to-day life.
5:08
In phase three, wellness without Obsession.
5:12
You also had the privilege of being able to truly, now at this point, honor
5:16
your hunger and fullness cues with way more intuition, meaning that you
5:20
don't have to eat even when you're not hungry, and push through fullness cues.
5:25
As a reminder, we have to do this in period recovery because your body
5:28
has adapted to an unhealthy amount of calories, too few calories, and adjusted
5:33
your metabolism hormones, and even the way your digestion functions to adapt to this.
5:39
Significantly low amount of calories.
5:41
This is why hunger and fullness cues are unreliable in the
5:44
beginning of pure recovery work.
5:46
But at this point, it's when you really truly can listen
5:49
to your hunger and fullness.
5:50
Cues, eating and maintenance.
5:52
Eating in phase three also means prioritizing, still
5:55
eating enough carbs and fat.
5:56
Please don't ever go taking those foods out of your diet again, however, you
6:01
may find you feel naturally satisfied with slightly different portions.
6:05
For example, impaired recovery, I'll usually recommend a third to
6:08
a half the plate carb set mealtime,
6:10
where in phase three, wellness without obsession, you can adjust
6:14
to about a fourth to a third of your bare plate carbs at mealtime.
6:17
Again, depending on hunger activity.
6:19
Life, et cetera.
6:21
In phase three, you're keeping protein high.
6:23
You may have actually needed to take away some protein to make more room for
6:27
carbs and fat in period recovery, but this is specifically the point in which
6:32
we would start to really add it back in and eat a higher protein diet, 30
6:36
grams at a mil, around 15 grams outta the snack especially, especially if you
6:40
are strength training again, which I do recommend strength training for everyone.
6:44
I think it's such a healthy thing that women, especially as we age, should.
6:48
All be doing, even though we may be eating a higher protein diet to support
6:53
the strength training that we're doing.
6:54
We'll get to the exercise here.
6:56
Next, though.
6:57
Um, we still need to maintain adequate carbs, especially if you're someone
7:01
who's like, I'm, what I'm interested in is getting back into running.
7:04
I wanna do my endurance workouts again.
7:06
You especially really need to maintain a higher amount of carb threshold where
7:10
someone who's doing different exercises like strength training, may not need
7:13
as many carbs as you individualization here with carbs matters so much.
7:18
In phase three, you're still saying yes to full fat products,
7:22
carbs, fruit, the foods you love, like ice cream, pizza, and fries.
7:26
Ideally, the difference now is that you're eating these foods
7:29
without guilt, fear, or obsession.
7:32
And if you can't, it just means we still need to keep working
7:36
on your relationship with food.
7:38
And if you feel out of control around a certain food.
7:42
You know, ice cream bread, peanut butter
7:45
what that may mean is that there's still some physical or mental
7:47
restriction going on, and habituation won't happen until you fully give
7:52
yourself that unconditional permission.
7:54
So give yourself time and keep working on your relationship with food, even
7:58
though we're in phase three and wellness.
8:00
With that obsession, a healthy relationship with food,
8:03
as we always say, is that.
8:04
A healthy foundation for your health, for your fertility, for life, for
8:08
being that positive role model to these beautiful kids that you've worked so
8:11
hard to bring into this world, right?
8:13
Like that still matters so much, even in phase three.
8:16
And hey, if you need more support with this, not only will we
8:19
love to work with you, but also
8:21
I would recommend the books.
8:22
Intuitive eating, body kindness, or unapologetic Eating.
8:26
Alright, let's dig into what you're probably the most
8:28
excited to hear about exercise.
8:30
So yes, in phase three, wellness of that obsession, we're bringing
8:34
more movement back into the mix.
8:37
But hear me loud and clear, we start slow before jumping into the gym or something
8:42
for every fitness class in town, I first want you to check your foundations.
8:49
You've been told you need to gain weight, stop exercising or do IVF
8:54
to get pregnant with no period.
8:56
What if I told you that's not actually true?
9:00
You're tracking your food, working out, trying everything to be healthy,
9:03
but your period is still missing and now pregnancy, it feels impossible.
9:09
I know exactly how that feels because I've helped hundreds of women get their
9:14
peered back and get pregnant naturally.
9:16
Inside my free training, I'm walking you through the exact five step
9:20
method that's helped women like Lex.
9:22
Lauren and Stephanie restored their fertility in 90 days or less.
9:27
Without extreme weight gain or giving up on movement, you'll learn what's
9:32
really causing your missing period.
9:33
Why food freedom is essential for fertility and the customized approach
9:38
that actually works even if you've tried.
9:40
Everything.
9:41
If your dream is to see two pink clients and hold a baby in your arms,
9:45
this training, it's your first step.
9:47
Click the link in the show notes to watch the free training.
9:50
It's time to restore your period, your fertility, and your hope.
9:54
Now let's get back to today's episode.
9:56
Namely, are you walking most days?
9:59
Walking is one of the healthiest things we can do for ourselves.
10:02
So focus on those foundations first of, uh, both walking, and
10:05
then I'll also add stretching.
10:07
Those are the two foundationals to your movement routine.
10:09
And then from there you can add back in more formal exercise.
10:13
Ideally, with walking, we're talking about, you know, six to 10,000 steps
10:16
per day, walking 30, 60 minutes.
10:18
Maybe for you it's more than that.
10:20
Your period is that sign that your exercise is appropriate.
10:24
If you lose your period from too much walking, that's your sign that
10:26
you need to bring it back down.
10:28
Okay.
10:28
With stretching, I just think with any formal movement that you do,
10:31
it's so important to do exercises that support your muscle recovery, so
10:36
that's why I add in the stretching.
10:38
You'll go whatever you want to call it.
10:39
That's important to do most days too.
10:42
From there, again, you can add back in formal exercise.
10:46
I personally recommend adding in one day a week.
10:49
Per month, checking that your period stays consistent, that's your green light,
10:53
and then you can build up from there.
10:55
I do also recommend starting first with lower impact, lower intensity exercises,
11:01
and then building an intensity as you feel ready or if that's even a goal.
11:06
A few yours with formal exercise.
11:09
You can work up to four to five days a week if that works for you.
11:14
But let me just say this, if you only want to move your body three days a week moving
11:18
forward, that's what feels good to you.
11:19
That's okay too.
11:20
There's no one size fits all wellness plan.
11:23
And if I could add here, just like a personal antidote.
11:26
I think it also depends on your life and what's going on and what
11:29
your goals are, and that's okay too to hopefully in wellness without
11:33
obsession, you have such a positive, healthy relationship with yourself.
11:37
You can know that it things adjust and change and you can really work with that.
11:42
For example, for me.
11:44
For the first gosh, year or so of after I was done having kids.
11:48
So Annabelle is now two.
11:50
I was like, I just wanna slowly get back into exercise.
11:53
It was one day a week and then two days a week and then very slowly
11:56
increasing to three days a week.
11:57
And I'm now at a place where, um, working out most days of the week,
12:02
probably five days a week, sometimes four days a week, it took a long
12:05
time to get there 'cause I wanted to make sure I maintained my period and
12:08
I was doing it in a really healthy way, but now I'm at this place where I'm
12:12
doing heavy strength training, more intense exercises most days of the week.
12:16
But that's what works for me.
12:17
'cause those are my personal goals right now.
12:19
I wanna feel strong again.
12:20
And there is many years, honestly, of my life where that just wasn't a goal.
12:24
And that's okay too.
12:25
That flexibility really plays an important role here too.
12:28
When we talk about flexibility.
12:31
And while without obsession, that also means that while you often do
12:34
have to plan and schedule exercise into your busy lifestyle, I think
12:37
that's healthy and appropriate.
12:39
You can be flexible with that.
12:40
You know your kid's sick.
12:41
You can take a day off from exercise.
12:43
You are sick.
12:43
You can take a day off.
12:45
Flexibility is key.
12:46
And now also add here too, you have to have two rest days.
12:49
Like that's a must.
12:51
And wellness without obsession, we take our rest and recovery seriously.
12:55
This is like a lifestyle, right?
12:56
So two rest days.
12:57
Okay.
12:58
That is a must, and I'm not talking like active rest days.
13:00
I mean, some walking is okay.
13:02
Maybe some restorative yoga is okay, but really if you can't let yourself
13:06
just not move at all one day, that's the sign you still need to do more work
13:10
on your relationship with exercise.
13:13
Okay, up next, I think we have to talk about body image because this
13:17
is often the part, even in phase three, even in wellness without
13:21
obsession, that lingers the most, even after you get your period back.
13:25
You allowed your body to change, and I think that's something to be wildly
13:28
proud of, but let's also be real.
13:31
Your relationship with your body will continue to ebb and flow.
13:35
That is normal.
13:35
If you've worked with me in our practice.
13:37
You hear me say this, I just wanna normalize.
13:39
What an actual healthy relationship with your body looks like.
13:43
It does not mean that you're like loving light with your body every day,
13:46
like talking in the mirror to yourself thinking how much you love your body.
13:50
That's not realistic.
13:51
That's not what healthy body image is really about.
13:54
What matters most now is that bad body image days or moments when they happen,
13:59
they don't drive the bus anymore.
14:01
You can have a bad moment, a bad day, and it doesn't send you into
14:04
a spiral of researching a new diet to go on or compensatory behaviors
14:08
like exercising to earn food.
14:11
You can feel uncomfortable in your body and still eat.
14:13
You can feel bloated or tired or off and still rest.
14:16
You can allow the continued phases and stages of body grief to occur
14:22
knowing that it is, you know, we ebb and flow in our body, grief
14:26
and how we feel about our bodies.
14:27
And I, again, I just like to be really realistic when it comes to body
14:30
image, what that can often feel like.
14:33
It's not always gonna be love and acceptance, and that's okay too.
14:36
But the difference is that it doesn't dictate your actions.
14:39
You still nourish your body.
14:41
You still give yourself rest days.
14:42
You still support yourself even on an off day or off moment.
14:46
For continued support here, I love the books.
14:49
The Body is not an apology fearing the black body, especially if you
14:52
wanna learn more about the racist roots, the diet culture, and oh
14:56
my gosh, my favorite book is like Mother's, daughters and Body Image.
14:58
I love that book so much.
15:01
Okay, so we've talked about eating, exercise, and body image.
15:05
In phase three, wellness without obsession.
15:07
Now that we have restored your cycle, maybe now you're also thinking
15:11
about how to optimize your health.
15:12
Maybe you're in the postpartum and trying to feel like yourself again.
15:16
Or maybe for you, you're trying to optimize your health for fertility, right?
15:19
What's healthy for fertility is healthy for you.
15:22
Maybe this is because you're preparing for baby number two or just now trying
15:26
to conceive for baby number one.
15:28
While period recovery will solve almost all of your
15:31
health problems, I promise you.
15:34
If you're still dealing with fatigue, chronic bloating, mood swings,
15:39
especially painful periods, this might be a time to dig deeper.
15:43
We always recommend starting with an HTA or hair tissue.
15:46
Mineral analysis is a great way to check mineral imbalances,
15:50
metabolic patterns, toxic metal exposure without having to guess or.
15:53
Google yourself into a spiral.
15:56
In my opinion, this is a must for every person, period.
15:59
Recovery or not to customize your mineral, nutrition, and supplement needs.
16:03
Personally, I now do this test once a year and let it guide my supplement plan
16:08
for the year from there, based on your needs and what's going on specifically
16:12
for you, if you're still having additional symptoms, that's time to now address.
16:17
We may also suggest other functional testing like a GI map,
16:21
which is a stool test or a Dutch complete, which is a hormone penal.
16:25
But again, it all depends on you, your symptoms and your goals.
16:28
For example, I worked with Sophie back in 2024 to get her period back and
16:32
while we were successful in getting her period back and getting her recovered
16:36
from HA in 2025, she reached out still having some cycle irregularities
16:40
and signs of hormone imbalance.
16:43
We did a Dutch complete combined with an HMA protocol to give her a completely
16:47
customized look at her mental status, her hormone status, and nervous system, and
16:51
within weeks of getting her customized protocol, she was already having a more
16:56
regular cycle and less symptoms too.
16:59
Another client.
17:00
My team and I recently worked with Kelsey, got her first recovery period back within
17:04
five weeks, but because of some lab work and some symptoms she was experiencing,
17:08
we are now investigating inflammatory PCOS and using a GI MAP and HTMA.
17:13
To further give us insight into a customized protocol, I
17:17
highly recommend functional lab testing for painful periods.
17:20
P-M-S-P-M-D-D, continued digestive issues, post period recovery.
17:25
Postpartum recovery.
17:27
Oh my gosh.
17:27
I recommend it so much for that and so much more.
17:30
Truly, wellness without obsession is all about you.
17:33
Your goals, your needs and functional lab testing does allow
17:38
us to take this to the next level.
17:39
So while you know the eating and maintenance and adjusting exercise, adding
17:44
it back up and, you know, continuing the journey with your relationship with
17:48
your body is still like the foundations of fondness without obsession.
17:52
Functional lab testing allows us to optimize health and
17:55
fertility that much more.
17:57
And by the way, if you're just interested in learning more, maybe
17:59
you've already done peer recovery work.
18:01
You're already kind of in these, in this phase three with or without
18:04
having worked with me, maybe your client from way in the past or again,
18:07
maybe we never worked together.
18:09
If you have any questions at all about this, this is just something
18:12
to email me directly about.
18:13
And you can do so by emailing me at hello@nourishingmindsnutrition.com.
18:19
Finally, just to like, a last note I wanna make here is please keep tracking
18:23
ovulation and keep tracking your period.
18:25
Your period is your vital sign each month.
18:28
So tracking that data point gives us so much information as to
18:31
what's going on with your body.
18:33
Not only do we wanna know that you're having a period every month,
18:36
we wanna know that you're ovulating and how long your luteal phases are
18:39
and what your temperatures are like.
18:41
We still want you to be tracking cervical mucus and basal body temperature.
18:44
They truly are your best friends here, because data allows us to make informed
18:49
decisions for our body and helps tell us as the practitioners to tell you when it
18:54
is safe to add in more exercise, adjust carbohydrates, change a supplement, or
18:58
hone in on a specific area of health.
19:02
With that shared, that is the end of today's episode.
19:04
I wanna thank you truly for trusting me to be part of your recovery
19:08
journey, whether or not we work together to get your peer back.
19:10
I'm just so honored that you listened to this show, and if you're in phase
19:13
three, wellness Without Obsession, or you're just listening to this episode
19:17
for inspiration of what you can do one day once to get your peer back.
19:22
I want you to be so proud of yourself.
19:24
You're doing life changing work.
19:26
So here's to the next chapter, wellness Without Obsession.
19:30
Thank you so much for listening to this episode.
19:32
I'll be back as always for another episode next week.
19:35
Until then, know that a nourished body is a powerful one.