Latest / Nourished Fertility / Clockwork Hormones: How Your Circadian Rhythm Shapes Fertility & Period Health with Jillian Greaves, RD/N

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Clockwork Hormones: How Your Circadian Rhythm Shapes Fertility & Period Health with Jillian Greaves, RD/N · Nourished Fertility

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Welcome back y'all to the Nourishing Women Podcast, your go-to podcast to
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get your peer back and get pregnant.
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I'm Victoria Meyers, your host, peer recovery specialist, fertility,
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dietician, and owner at the virtual coaching Practice, nourishing
0:12
Minds Nutrition, where we work together to restore your fertility.
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Happy Thanksgiving week to those of you who celebrate.
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I know for myself, I love using this week to really spend some time
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thinking about how grateful I am for the life I get to live and I'm.
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Course, a huge part of that is this very business that I own, and I just
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wanna take a moment of appreciation to say thank you so much to my clients, my
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community, to you, for following along, for being here with me every other week.
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It means so much to me, and I hope that every single episode you get to.
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So much out of it to help you feel your best, to improve your hormones,
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to get your peer back and get pregnant.
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Now, today's episode is exactly that.
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This is such an incredible episode with guest expert Jillian Greaves.
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A little bit about Jillian.
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She is a functional dietician and women's health specialist.
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She's the owner of the private practice, Jillian Greaves, functional Nutrition
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and Wellness, the creator of the PCOS Root Reversal Program, Jillian
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provides comprehensive nutrition and lifestyle counseling to women with a
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special emphasis on PCOS, fertility, hormone balance, and digestive health.
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Jillian and her team help women identify the root causes of their hormone and
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digestive symptoms using advanced lab testing, personal nutrition,
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supportive lifestyle therapies as the first line of intervention.
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It is her mission to empower women to take back control of their health,
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reclaim their confidence, and to experience life at its fullest potential.
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Obviously that's a message I can definitely get down with.
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We're going to jump straight into this episode with Jillian.
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First, though, I just wanna remind you that we are in the middle
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So the sell ends so soon and we only have a handful of spots left.
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I'll also talk about that at the end of this episode.
2:23
For now, let's jump into this incredible guest, episode b Jillian.
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Hello, Jillian.
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Welcome to the Nursing Women Podcast.
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I am elated that you're here with me today.
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Thank you so much for having me.
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So excited to be here.
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Yes.
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I cannot wait to nerd out.
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This is, I know I shared this with you already, but for the listeners,
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I think this conversation is.
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Needed.
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We need to talk about this.
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And, um, it's such a simple, easy way you can support your health.
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So the focus, today's circadian rhythm.
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But let's just start first, Jillian, who are you?
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What is the work that you do?
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Yeah, so I'm Jillian Greeds.
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I'm a functional medicine dietician that specializes in women's health.
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So specifically me and my team support women with.
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Identifying and addressing the root causes of their hormone and
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digestive health symptoms naturally.
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So utilizing nutrition, lifestyle strategies, um, mind body practices,
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supplements, um, really to support the body back to balance.
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And, um, we work with a variety of, of women.
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Um, and kind of similar to you women that are struggling with,
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you know, irregular or absent cycles, uh, fertility challenges.
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Um, PCOS, endometriosis and women's health is, is sort of my jam.
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And, um, I have a virtual private practice where, you know, we see
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women really across the, the us.
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Yeah, a lot of similarities, that's for sure.
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I'd love to hear, 'cause I know for me personally, at least I got into this work
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because of my own period loss journey and just determined to figure out how to
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get it back and that definitely led me to having this extreme, I would say, passion
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for period recovery and fertility work.
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But what about you?
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What led you to women's health specifically?
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Yeah, so same here in terms of my own, own health struggles and experiences
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really kind of leading me to this work.
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And to make a very long, long story short, I, um, a little over a, a
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decade ago, I. Was in grad school, getting my master's in nutrition.
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I was working full-time in a clinical research setting, and I
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was also running half marathons.
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Hit training five days a week, eating predominantly a plant-based diet.
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Now why aren't all dieticians the same?
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Right?
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You know where this is going.
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So, you know, I was.
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I was burning the candle at at both ends.
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And you know, my life was stressful.
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My diet and lifestyle habits were adding stress, you know, to my life, to my body.
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And I had also been on hormonal birth control for a little
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over 10 years at the time.
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And I had been put on birth control at a young age for period
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cramps, heavy periods, and hadn't really thought about it since.
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Um, so I sought out support from, um.
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My providers, my PCP, because I started experiencing symptoms
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like, um, head hair loss, acne.
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I was experiencing eczema.
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I was anxious.
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I wasn't sleeping well.
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And on paper I'm like, what the heck I'm doing, you know, all the things, you know.
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Right.
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Um, or, or so I thought at the time.
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And, you know, my PCP didn't really have much to support me with and, you
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know, sent me to the derm and said, Hey, get, you know, topical steroids
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or, you know, see this provider for, you know, treatment for that symptom.
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And that was really frustrating for me and I wasn't willing to accept that these.
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Symptoms were happening for no reason.
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And you know, my provider basically said, you're the picture of health.
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Your labs look great, you know, be on your way.
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So, um, was not willing to accept that these were hap, these symptoms
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were happening for no reason and started to really dive deeper into.
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Understanding female physiology, understanding the hormonal birth control
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that I'd been on for 10 plus years without even kind of understanding the impacts or
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how it was, you know, working in my body.
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Um, and decided to take myself off birth control.
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And, um, at that time everything went haywire.
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So.
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My period was absent.
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Um, when it did come back, it was terrible and all of my symptoms got
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so much worse and I really continued to struggle to find answers and to get
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support for what I was dealing with.
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And that really led me to, um, again, kind of immerse myself in, in understanding
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female physiology, which was not part of my training at all in undergrad or grad
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school or, you know, becoming a dietician.
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And, you know, I found the, uh, functional nutrition functional medicine
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space, which really resonated with me in terms of, let's dig deeper.
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Let's understand the why behind these symptoms and what's going on in your body.
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So over the next few years, I, you know, was experimenting a lot.
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I was doing a lot of learning, and over time I was able to.
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Um, get my period back in regular, so ovulating regularly eliminating my, um,
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period related symptoms, clearing up my skin and ultimately resolving my symptoms.
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But it took me a long time, a lot of trial and error, kind of piecing
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things together and feeling very alone and very isolated on my journey.
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And, you know, after that experience, you know, talking with friends and colleagues.
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There were a lot of women struggling with sim, similar issues and feeling
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like they had nowhere to turn and birth control was kind of their only option.
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Um, and so that really motivated me to, you know, seek out advanced training
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and functional nutrition in women's health to ultimately really provide
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women with the support that I so, so deeply wished I had had when I was
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in the trenches and struggling and feeling like I had nowhere to turn.
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Yeah, I, I wonder if, uh, the birth control to functional medicine dietician
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is like a well known fact at this point.
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Like we all decided to get off birth control, had every issue happen after
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that, and that led us to our practices.
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Yeah, and it's interesting how many of our clients, I'm sure the same is true for you
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too, Jillian, of how many of our clients are having the same experience, right?
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They're getting up birth control for my pupils.
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Where is my period?
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Like I'm trying to get pregnant right now.
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Where?
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Where did my period go?
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And I know for me, similar to you, it took me 14 months to get my period back.
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And like with my clients, it takes such a small amount of time because we
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took that trial and error out for them.
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Doing what?
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Hopefully they never, I never had to go through.
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Exactly.
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Um, and overall, I think with the similarities in, we work with slightly
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different, like similar but also different types of conditions with hormone health.
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And though not willing to accept just what is, that's what resonates with me
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so much with me of what you shared of like, yeah, I'm not willing to accept.
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And I think the people listening to this podcast feel the same way.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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And, and you know, it's my feeling too that they're.
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Is nothing more stressful than experiencing symptoms or having
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your period be totally MIA and just not understanding why, right?
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Mm-hmm.
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And having to guess or throw things at the wall and, and hope something sticks.
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You know, trying all the diets and it's just the symptoms themselves, or the lack
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of, you know, period that is stressful, but then also just not understanding why.
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So I think, you know, both you and I really work to remove that
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stress for women and to create that path towards healing.
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Um, you know, so women don't feel alone and they have answers and it
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doesn't take, you know, two years to get their period back and we can, you
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know, do these things in a timely way.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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I love that so much.
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And you know, one of the things that I love about where, and this
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will evolve into our conversation today, but where I love.
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Where Hormone health has gone is in the beginning.
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I remember when I first started to immerse myself in it, I lost
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my period like a decade ago too.
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So that's about a decade is when I started this journey too.
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I feel like everything was about eliminating foods and taking all these
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supplements, and whilst that plays a role, sometimes in some places.
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I don't know.
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To me it feels like it's really evolved where it's, we're talking
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about things like metabolism and nervous system and circadian rhythm.
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And that's what we're gonna talk about today is like how can we
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actually support your hormone health in a true foundational way?
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And if and when you need to do like some of the more complex stuff, yeah, we
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can do that, but like your foundations seem to be taken care of first.
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For my people, that's.
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Making sure they have a monthly period and circadian rhythm
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support can even support that too.
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So let's just begin the conversation.
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You're our expert today.
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I even have like a million questions myself 'cause I recently did a training
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and it was talking about contact.
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So I got all the questions for you.
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Let's just start first and foremost though, with like what is your circadian
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rhythm and why the heck does it matter?
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Yes, love, love this question.
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So let's break it down.
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So circadian rhythms are physical, mental, and behavioral changes
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or shifts that follow roughly a 24 hour cycle or schedule.
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So the term circadian rhythm is basically describing kind of this 24 hour pattern.
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That all of our internal biological processes are, are operating on.
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Um, simply put, I always like to say that circadian rhythms are
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basically making sure that everything in the body is happening in the
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right place at the right time.
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So circadian rhythms kind of run, run the show circadian rhythms, regulate our
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sleep wake cycle, which I think is kind of the most, the, the biggest thing that
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people might think about if they hear, you know, the, the term circadian rhythm.
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So circadian rhythms do regulate the sleep wake cycle, but they also regulate
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immune function and, um, thyroid function, mood cognition, um, hormone secretion
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and hormone fluctuations, digestion.
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So all of these things are circadian and are regulated by circadian
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rhythms to break it down a little bit further, you know, and kinda make
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this a little bit more tangible, so.
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We know that all processes in the body kind of operate
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on this 24 hour cycle, right?
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Um.
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We have a master clock in our brain, which is referred to as the,
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um, it's a big, long name super charismatic nucleus, or SEN, so
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it's this master clock in the brain.
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Oh, actually, you didn't know that one.
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Right off the tip.
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If you're talking, you're like, actually, I'm not usually saying it out loud.
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So, you know, tripping over myself here, but.
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So this is the master clock in the brain and the master clock
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in the brain basically receives information from the outside world
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and then it communicates that information with the rest of the body.
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And so the master clock is sending signals to other systems, other
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organs, and telling everything the body what to do and when to do it.
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Does that kinda make sense?
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Absolutely.
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So when it comes to circadian rhythms, um, the master clock in our brain
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is influenced by just a handful of.
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Key external factors, light regulation, so light and dark
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exposure being the primary one.
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Um, but also when we sleep and also when we eat.
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So these external signals or kind of inputs that, um,
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influence that master clock.
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And then the master clock is gonna communicate, you know, that
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information with the rest of the body.
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All right, let's break down each of those.
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So.
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Our master clock is dictated by first and foremost, our light and dark exposure.
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What do we need to know as far as like what type of sun exposure
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and when should we avoiding certain exposure, like blue light?
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Tell us about that.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Great.
13:56
Great question.
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So with with light regulation to.
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Even take a, a step back and to explain why this is so important,
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particularly in our modern world.
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So, you know, in the olden days, people would wake up with the sun, right?
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And then they were outside exposed to natural sunlight for a lot of
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the day, and then when it got dark out at night, you know, they'd be
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winding down and, and going to bed.
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So people really operated with the sun ultimately and, you know, with, uh,
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kind of natural fluctuations with light and dark, um, in our modern world.
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Things are a little bit harder because, um, there's a lot working
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against us where, you know, for many of us, we wake up in the morning and
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instead of, you know, natural sunlight exposure, we might be on our computer
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diving into work, um, on our phone.
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And spending very little time outside.
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A lot of us work, you know, desk jobs and we're on a computer all
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day and we're exposed to bright, you know, artificial overhead lights,
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very little natural sunlight.
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And then in the evening when it gets dark, we're not winding
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down as the sun goes down, right?
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That's when we're flipping on the bright overhead lights, right?
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We're on our phones, the TV's on, we're on our tablets, our computers, and.
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You know, all of these, um, disruptions with, um, with light and dark is
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essentially confusing for the brain.
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So it confuses that master clock in the brain and it has a really big snowball
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effect on every system and organ in the body, and particularly with,
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um, things like hormonal secretion.
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So.
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That's kind of light, light and dark exposure in a nutshell where a
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lot of, you know, kind of the, the infrastructure of our, our modern world
15:39
is making it more difficult or leading to more circadian rhythm disruption.
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Um, so, you know, and it's not that we can all quit our jobs and like go
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be farmers and operate with the sun, even though that sounds like so lovely.
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Um, but ultimately, ideally what we want to aim for is, you know,
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can we get a little bit of natural sunlight in the morning, you know,
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within an hour or two after waking.
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Um, can we take some breaks throughout the day to pop outside, get a
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little bit of natural sunlight.
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Or even sitting near, you know, a sunny window in the evening at night.
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Do we have the ability to adjust our environment a little bit to
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be more conducive or supportive of our circadian rhythms?
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Meaning can we turn off the big bright overhead lights and maybe turn on floor
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lamps or table lamps, or dim our lights?
16:25
Um, can we, you know, maybe throw on a pair of amber colored blue light
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blockers that filter out blue light.
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If we, you know, need to be on, you know, our computer, or we're watching TV at
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night, could we dedicate a little bit of device free time, pre bed, you know, in
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the evening to really, um, kind of take us away from blue light emitting devices?
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Again, all of these bright lights, the blue lights absorbed through our
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eyes and impacting that master clock.
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And to explain too, why that's important, especially from a, you
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know, hormone infertility perspective.
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Um, you know, circadian rhythms, again, kind of run the, run the
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show in the body as a whole.
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But when it comes to, you know, the menstrual cycle and fertility,
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um, circadian rhythms are.
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Influencing hormones like our lh, our luteinizing hormone, and our
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our FSH in terms of these really key hormones that kind of govern and,
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and regulate the menstrual cycle.
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So disruptions to circadian rhythms can actually alter the secretion of these
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hormones that support, you know, follicle maturation and, and regular ovulation.
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Um.
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Uh, exposure to blue light at night in particular, and lack of
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sunlight exposure in the morning is tied to low melatonin levels.
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So melatonin is something we also typically think about when
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we're, you know, thinking of sleep or our sleep wake cycle.
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But melatonin actually plays a big role with, um, also governing
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some of these hormones that regulate the menstrual cycle.
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So melatonin is part of what regulates our gonadotropin releasing hormone,
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um, in the hypothalamus, which is gonna communicate to release, you know, the
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lh, the FSH, um, melatonin is also.
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Um, an antioxidant that is, um, found in high amounts in follicular fluid.
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Um, so it plays an important role with, um, egg quality, um, with, um,
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endo endometrial receptivity in terms of like supporting implantation.
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So if we, um, have all this bright light at night, no sunlight in the
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morning and our melatonin is tanked, this can, you know, contribute to.
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Um, issues with psycho regularity and, you know, fertility issues as a whole.
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Um, we also know that issues with light exposure, disruption to light exposure can
18:45
impact our thyroid function and thyroid hormone conversion, which is so key for
18:49
supporting, you know, a healthy menstrual cycle, regular ovulation and fertility.
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Now let's get back to today's episode.
19:43
So just to give you a couple examples, you know, tangibly of how, um,
19:48
something that sounds like so small or simple like light exposure can
19:51
have such a profound effect on our hormones and our reproductive system.
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That just, I love that though, and I love that.
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The education really helps people to take it seriously.
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That's what I find is when they understand the why behind it.
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People like my clients, like my community listening, they're so
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much more willing to be like, oh, okay, like this actually matters.
20:12
So to recap real quick, the light and dark exposure are one of the
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first things we can do to support the master clock being on the 24
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hour clock that supposed to be on.
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We need to get morning sun exposure, afternoon sun exposure,
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and to then dim lights as much as we can in the evening to mimic.
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The darkness outside.
20:29
Question for you on the afternoon, sun exposure.
20:31
I recently learned that contacts in classes block blue light.
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What do I do about that?
20:36
Do I like take my contacts out when I go on the afternoon walk?
20:39
I need to know.
20:40
Yeah, yeah.
20:41
So I, you know, so yes, there is.
20:44
Um, so contacts will have, most contacts have like uv, um, uv, different UV filters
20:51
in them, essentially that, um, can impact.
20:54
You know, the, the absorption from the sun.
20:56
Um, however, there is still going to be ample benefits from going
21:00
outside with your contacts on, um, from a circadian rhythm perspective.
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If you wanted to go like naked eyes, take the contacts off,
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throw your glasses on, and.
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Walk around outside.
21:11
Amazing.
21:11
I, I support you.
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I, I also wear contacts and that's not, yeah.
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So wait, what do you do then?
21:16
What do you do?
21:17
Yeah, so, so in the morning I do, I, in the morning in particular, I'll wear
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my glasses, you know, in the morning and I'll try to, you know, pop outside
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and get some sunlight, you know, with my glasses on during the day.
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I just get my sunlight with my, my contacts on.
21:30
Um, and again, there is still gonna be ample benefits to that light
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exposure, um, with contacts on.
21:37
Um, and then, you know, it's, and, and I I wanna mention too, that when
21:42
it comes to some of these things, I always like to mention, you know, my,
21:45
my philosophy is tools, not rules.
21:49
So we want to utilize these strategies as tools and, and not to approach these
21:54
things in some like, really intense, you know, rigid way that ends up
21:57
creating more stress, which we know is not, not gonna help our, our hormones.
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Um, so.
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You know, with light exposure in the morning, maybe you, you're
22:06
able to get out first thing, get that bright sunlight, amazing.
22:09
Um, maybe the way your morning is, or you have kids you're trying to get
22:12
out of the house or something going on with work that's not possible.
22:16
Um, do the best you can and, you know, get out when you're able to.
22:20
Um, for clients that are waking up when it's pitch blackout, I'll often
22:24
recommend they grab just like an inexpensive, um, full spectrum light
22:28
box that emits at least 10,000 loops.
22:30
So something that kind of simulates.
22:32
The sun.
22:32
So when they wake up, they can, you know, pop it on, sit in front of their
22:36
light and get that stimulation, um, in terms of, you know, um, light for
22:42
the, the master clock in the brain.
22:44
Um, and same thing like I mentioned at night with the.
22:48
Amber blue light blocker.
22:49
So in an ideal world, would we all just be in like a beautiful candlelit environment
22:53
and like chill in with no technology?
22:55
Like, yeah, that sounds wonderful.
22:57
Um, but it's also, you know, okay to enjoy a show at night or, you know,
23:02
maybe you, um, here and there, you have to work a little bit later.
23:05
Let's utilize these tools to support your body with the ebbs and flows
23:10
of life, um, and not, you know, fixate on perfection because.
23:14
These small shifts make a really huge difference.
23:16
There's been some great little, um, you know, studies done on the, the, um, amber
23:20
blue light blockers too that filter out a hundred percent of blue light in terms
23:24
of significantly improving melatonin secretion because it's the, you know,
23:28
again, the bright light that, um, kind of tells the body that it's not nighttime.
23:34
Um, and that means, you know, melatonin is suppressed and cortisol is, is increased.
23:40
So just even small shifts like that can make a huge difference.
23:44
Yeah.
23:44
Yeah.
23:44
We'll put links to all of this in the show notes too, just so people know
23:47
like where to go and what to get.
23:48
Yeah.
23:49
Okay.
23:50
Let's talk next then, because I feel like we got some incredible easy tools.
23:53
I love that you call it tools, not rules.
23:55
We have a philosophy here.
23:56
I'll ask you a question about this at the end called Wellness without Obsession.
23:59
So obviously that'd beautifully aligns with that.
24:02
Okay, so we know what to do about our, our sun exposure, what do we do about
24:05
sleep and eating, and how do those specifically influence the master clock?
24:10
Yeah, great question.
24:11
So with the sleep schedule, um, my recommendation and based on kind of what
24:17
research suggests, is to aim to keep your sleep schedule as consistent as possible.
24:24
Um, meaning variability with our wake up time, with our bedtime is a
24:31
big disruptor for circadian rhythms.
24:33
Again, it's confusing for the brain, confusing for the body, so, you
24:37
know, if you think about it, if we're waking up around the same time.
24:39
Um, you know, every morning the body is gonna be prepped and
24:43
primed for what it needs to do.
24:44
So that external input of when we're waking up is signaling to the body
24:48
that, okay, it's time to start to produce cortisol and, you know,
24:52
neurotransmitters and, you know, kind of get, get the show started for the day.
24:58
Um, so when there's some consistency there, it helps the body to
25:01
operate in a very rhythmic way.
25:04
Um, if there's a lot of variability with our wake time and our sleep time.
25:09
That's a big disruptor to circadian rhythms.
25:11
So, um, you know, the body doesn't, you know, can't anticipate and isn't primed
25:17
for what it needs to do and when, um, the perfect example of this is oftentimes,
25:22
you know, clients will wake up at 6:00 AM every day during the work week,
25:26
and then they're sleeping in until, you know, 10 o'clock on the weekends.
25:29
Mm-hmm.
25:29
Come Monday morning.
25:31
They feel like they got hit by a bus.
25:32
Right.
25:33
Um, and this is what's referred to as social jet lag, where, um,
25:38
big kind of, um, discrepancies between habits on weekdays versus
25:42
weekends actually, um, leads to.
25:45
Essentially jet lag, you know, come Monday because the body is, um,
25:50
you know, circadian rhythms have, have been disrupted and so we feel
25:52
foggy, we feel groggy and tired.
25:55
You know, our mood is off, our digestion is off.
25:57
So, um, focusing on consistency with the sleep schedule can be huge.
26:01
And what I typically recommend is aiming to keep that wake up time
26:06
variability to within about an hour.
26:09
If possible.
26:10
So, you know, if you're waking up at six during the week, um, maybe
26:15
we set our alarm and sleep till, you know, seven on the weekend.
26:19
Um, and I know that might sound terrible to some, you know, individuals
26:23
that are like, oh my gosh, I love like, sleeping good on the weekends.
26:26
Um, however, I promise you, reducing that, that wake up time variability.
26:33
Consistently feels really good, um, in an, in an immediate sense in terms of,
26:38
again, waking up and feeling energized and, you know, alert and, and like our
26:42
digestive system is operating well and our, you know, hunger cues are consistent.
26:47
Um, so I always say experiment with it.
26:50
Try it, do it for a couple weeks and just see how your body
26:52
feels or your body responds.
26:54
Um, so reducing the variability with the wake up time can be really powerful.
26:59
And same thing with the the bedtime.
27:01
And what I wanna mention here too is that.
27:04
You know, there's gonna be things that, that impact, you
27:08
know, the, the sleep schedule.
27:10
You're going to a wedding, you know, you're traveling.
27:13
We don't wanna get too zoomed in on sort of the one-off, you know, life
27:16
events that might be disrupting, you know, our sleep schedule.
27:20
We wanna focus on really the consistent, persistent things that
27:23
we're doing that are having the biggest impact on the body over time.
27:26
Um, and you know, don't stress about some of the situations that maybe aren't in
27:31
your control and focus on what you're doing the large majority of the time.
27:34
Yeah.
27:35
Beautiful advice there.
27:36
Okay.
27:36
What about eating?
27:37
'cause that one is especially huge for my people.
27:39
Yeah.
27:40
Yeah.
27:40
So when it comes to.
27:42
Um, eating and meal timing specifically.
27:45
Um, so meal timing is another one of those external, um, inputs that
27:50
is giving directions to the body in terms of what to do and when.
27:55
So for, for meal timing and kind of aligning our pattern of eating
28:00
with our circadian rhythms or to optimize circadian rhythms, um.
28:04
What I recommend is ideally, you know, breaking your overnight fast
28:08
or having something to eat soon after waking, ideally within an hour or two.
28:13
Um, and then eating really consistent meals throughout the day from
28:16
there, ideally about every three, four hours throughout the day.
28:19
So this is important for so many reasons, which, which I know you talk, you know,
28:23
talk about a lot in your audiences.
28:25
So beautifully aligned with what we recommend and to love it.
28:27
Yeah, exactly.
28:28
And you know, so in terms of blood sugar regulation and balancing
28:31
cortisol is so important.
28:33
Um, but ultimately, really important for, um, synchronizing or in training
28:38
our circadian rhythms as well.
28:39
And, um, know what, what has happened in our modern world is that, you know,
28:45
a lot of us wake up and we get going and skip breakfast or delay breakfast, right?
28:49
We're, you know, going a long time until we have our first meal.
28:53
Um, and then our whole kind of eating schedule is, is getting pushed right?
28:58
Where we're eating the large majority of our food later in
29:01
the day, and we're kind of under fueling the first part of the day.
29:04
Um, so this is again, another disruptor for circadian rhythms in terms of.
29:09
Confusing the body, confusing the brain in terms of, you know, this is my awake
29:14
time and I'm, you know, trying to gear up, get alert, you know, alert for the day.
29:18
Um, but I have no fuel, right?
29:20
Mm-hmm.
29:21
Um, and that's gonna, you know, kind of impact our circadian rhythms in a way
29:25
that, um, can have that ripple effect on hormones that we're likely trying
29:31
to avoid if we're trying to restore our period and support our fertility.
29:34
Right.
29:34
So, um, so eating consistently and breaking our overnight fast
29:38
earlier has so many benefits for our hormones, our metabolism, you
29:43
know, our stress response system, our immune function, all the things.
29:46
Um, so that's kinda my general recommendation with, with meal timing.
29:51
Um, I, I get asked a lot in relation to circadian rhythms, you know,
29:55
what about, you know, eating at night or eating too close to bed?
29:59
Or would you want me to kind of speak to.
30:02
Yeah, go for it.
30:03
Because especially like, I mean, you're talking to people, not only does
30:06
the modern world make it difficult, but also these are people who have
30:10
chronically dieted their whole life.
30:12
So what do chronic dieters do?
30:13
They drink black coffee for breakfast, they eat a salad for lunch, and
30:17
they save up more often than not, uh, you know, kind of a substantial
30:20
nighttime snack to kind of like allow themselves to be able to eat fun foods,
30:23
like popcorn, like dark chocolate.
30:25
And, um, I hope what this is helping instill in them is not only is this
30:29
vital to getting your period back and restoring your fertility, but.
30:32
In supporting your circadian rhythm, which only further enhances all of this too.
30:35
Exactly.
30:36
Yeah.
30:36
Yeah.
30:37
And you know, when it comes to, you know, eating, eating at night.
30:41
Um, you know, I find often with, with clients and um, I don't know if you see
30:46
this as well, but when we're fueling really well the first part of the
30:50
day, we're breaking that fast earlier.
30:51
We're eating consistently nourishing the body well.
30:54
Um, you know, typically we're having dinner, maybe we have
30:58
a, you know, snack or some, you know, something fun afterwards.
31:01
Um, but we're satisfied right when we're not kind of doing that save up situation.
31:06
You know, the circadian rhythm, alignment with meal timing kind of
31:09
happens a bit more organically when we're fueling properly versus under
31:13
fueling the first part of the day and then say trying to like white knuckle it
31:16
and, you know, not eat later at night.
31:18
Um, so, you know, in terms of, of eating at night, you know, generally having a
31:24
couple hours to, you know, digest before bed can be ideal for, you know, letting
31:29
your body digest and then kind of, um, shifting into preparation for sleep mode.
31:34
Um.
31:35
Uh, that being said, um, I always like to mention again, one tools,
31:41
not rules, and two, um, biological hunger trumps any external rule.
31:45
So, you know, ideally again, we're satisfied.
31:49
We feel really, uh, you know, well nourished throughout the day.
31:53
Um, and there's kind of naturally, organically, you know, gonna be a
31:56
couple hours before bed where your body's kind of digesting, then
31:59
shifting into preparing for sleep.
32:01
Um, but, you know, sometimes life just happens and, you know,
32:05
maybe we unintentionally under ate the first part of the day or.
32:08
Maybe, you know, we're just feeling hungrier on that
32:11
day, which is totally normal.
32:13
Um, or maybe we just want to enjoy a fun food.
32:15
Maybe we're going out and, you know, meeting a friend for
32:18
ice cream or whatever it is.
32:20
Um, these are the things we don't wanna stress about.
32:23
So again, biological.
32:25
Hunger always trumps any external rules.
32:27
So if you are hungry, I don't care what time of day it is, we always eat.
32:30
Um, but if we are chronically hungry, you know, at the end of the day before
32:34
bed, that might be an opportunity to look at what's happening during the
32:36
day to assess, okay, you know, am I undereating, is, you know, are there
32:40
long stretches of time between meals?
32:42
Um, but ultimately, you know, being able to kind of eat during your daytime
32:46
hours, um, nourish really well and then, you know, naturally have a couple hours
32:50
to digest before bed, you know, can be supportive for our circadian rhythms.
32:54
Yeah, we always tell people to be a curious, non-judgmental observer of
32:57
your eating habits, and that's exactly what you're articulating here, right,
33:00
is you know, if you are constantly, consistently very hungry at the end of
33:04
the day, that very likely just means that we simply haven't eaten enough,
33:07
consistently, regularly throughout the day and eaten in the bulk of our
33:10
calories during the day, which again.
33:12
Chronic dieters.
33:13
People with a past with eating disorders tend to be very fearful of doing that.
33:17
Mm-hmm.
33:18
So helping them see that nourishing during the day, it
33:20
supports every system in the body.
33:22
It supports their metabolism, their nervous system, their hormones.
33:25
It supports everything.
33:26
The circadian rhythm.
33:28
And also, you're just gonna notice that I feel like it
33:30
almost like takes care of itself.
33:32
Like you don't really have to worry again, if you have biological hunger,
33:34
at the end of the day it happens.
33:36
I had a day the other day where I was so hungry.
33:39
Ate normally, but we, we all have those days where we're just more hungry.
33:42
Always listen to your body, and more often than not, by doing this and taking care of
33:47
your body in this way, it just naturally, organically takes care of itself.
33:50
Wouldn't you agree?
33:51
Totally.
33:51
Yep.
33:52
Couldn't agree more.
33:53
So the main things here that I'm learning from you is sun exposure and
33:56
kind of mimicking the light and dark exposure of outside from the sun,
34:00
um, sleep and doing it consistently.
34:02
That's something I've gotten better about for sure, but kids, kids
34:07
are, what did that for me, feel really good to sleep in anymore.
34:10
Um, and then eating, which again, beautifully aligns with
34:13
with peer recovery work and what we encourage for our clients.
34:16
Is there anything else that we need to know of, like this also
34:19
influenced circadian rhythm?
34:21
I would say those are the, those are the biggest factors.
34:25
Um, one, one external factor that is there's some research on, I think
34:29
we're still learning a lot about is, is exercise and, you know, kind of
34:33
how that influences circadian rhythms.
34:36
The biggest takeaway there, I would say is, you know, likely not doing
34:41
rigorous exercise late, you know, late.
34:44
In the evening where we're, you know, jacking up our, our cortisol
34:47
at a time where we want kind of, you know, cortisol to be declining
34:50
and melatonin to be increasing.
34:52
Um, but other than that, I would say yeah, the sleep, you know, sleep
34:56
schedule, light regulation and meal timing, these are really the core
35:00
factors that, um, you know, train and, and synchronize our circadian rhythms.
35:05
Amazing.
35:06
That'd be really interesting to see too, what comes out with exercise.
35:08
And to me that makes a lot of sense, right?
35:10
We wanna be kind of winding down and having our entire routines kind of mimic
35:14
the, the process of slowly going to bed.
35:17
Um, much like we do our children and we don't want them like running
35:19
a bunch and playing a bunch.
35:20
Right.
35:21
They go to bed.
35:22
Exactly.
35:23
If you had to pick one, I know this is a hard question.
35:25
If you had to pick one of the three of light and dark exposure, um.
35:30
Sleep, consistency in schedule and eating.
35:32
Which would you say is the biggest bang for your buck to at least begin
35:35
supporting your circadian rhythm better?
35:38
Great question.
35:39
So I, I would say light regulation is going to have the biggest
35:43
influence on, on circadian rhythms.
35:46
Um, and I would say if we wanted to start with one thing, I would start with
35:51
morning light exposure, whether it be a sun lamp, natural sunlight exposure.
35:56
That makes a huge difference, um, with really anchoring the body and supporting
36:01
circadian rhythms, and I think often has such a positive snowball effect.
36:05
It creates space for then kind of tackling, you know,
36:09
other tweaks and strategies.
36:11
So that would probably be what I would hone in on, uh, first.
36:15
No.
36:15
So I appreciate you doing that.
36:16
Like give them like one specific thing to start with, but again, we'll link
36:18
to much of this in the show notes.
36:20
Uh, what would you say, what is the biggest thing that they're gonna notice?
36:24
Give them something like, okay, like I'm gonna feel this if I do this and
36:28
this is why I wanna move forward.
36:29
Thinking about master created rhythm more, what would you say?
36:32
Yeah.
36:32
So in, in an immediate sense, and I, I love this question because, you
36:36
know, when it comes to, you know, restoring your period or supporting your
36:40
fertility, getting pregnant naturally.
36:42
You know, obviously there's going to there, it is gonna take some time
36:45
and it might not be something that happens, right, in an immediate sense.
36:49
So I think it's great to have some more immediate kind of measurable signs
36:54
of, Hey, how's my body responding?
36:55
Am I moving in the right direction?
36:57
Some big benefits and honing in on specifically thinking about like that
37:01
morning light exposure and starting there or with, you know, some of the
37:04
other strategies we talked about.
37:06
Um, I think.
37:07
Big benefits early on would be feeling, you know, feeling more
37:11
awake and alert, um, experiencing a, um, more positive stable mood.
37:17
Um, more stable and consistent hunger and satiety cues, um, better
37:22
digestion and better motility.
37:24
So that light exposure is huge for gut motility if you're
37:27
someone that experiences with sluggish motility or constipation.
37:31
Um, so I would say those would be some of the immediate shifts.
37:35
Um, and interestingly that again, that morning light exposure
37:39
also influence hormones released at night that help with sleep.
37:42
So oftentimes, even with that morning sunlight, we start to notice
37:46
feeling naturally more tired and kind of ready for bed in the evening.
37:50
So those are some kind of immediate benefits that I think about, um,
37:54
that you might experience early on with some of these shifts.
37:57
Oh, I love that.
37:58
Definitely good reasons to just go ahead and get started with that today.
38:01
Again, we'll link to lots of this in the show notes to help get you started.
38:04
Jillian, we like to ask every guest that comes on the show.
38:07
Our philosophy here is wellness Without obsession.
38:10
We want to take care of ourselves.
38:11
Taking care of ourselves is fun, is enjoyable.
38:13
It helps us live long, healthy act of lifestyles, which is ultimately
38:17
the goal, right, of like health.
38:18
It's meant to be.
38:20
Help us enjoy our lives, right?
38:21
But we wanna do so without obsession.
38:23
And I don't know about you, but I definitely have my own experience
38:26
with some disordered eating and being way too obsessive.
38:28
So that's where this philosophy came from.
38:30
So I always like to ask every guest that comes on the show, how are you
38:34
personally not only practicing, but like living wellness, but without obsession?
38:39
I, I love that question and that it could not be more relevant for me right now with
38:43
having a 1-year-old and just experiencing a lot of life changes in the last year
38:47
that, you know, have, um, really kind of forced me to, um, approach my, my habits
38:55
differently because I don't have the time, you know, I, I used to for sure, for sure.
39:00
Yeah.
39:00
I, I think the, the, the biggest thing is, um.
39:04
Honestly, my mindset, um, especially this last year with, um, focusing on imperfect
39:10
action and progress over perfection.
39:13
And, you know, previously, pre, pre-baby, I, you know, I could have my long morning
39:18
routine and do all the things and, um.
39:22
You know, that's not the case for case for me anymore, but breaking away from that,
39:26
you know, kind of black and white thinking around, you know, it has to be all the,
39:29
all the things in order to do that.
39:31
So, um, really allowing for imp imperfection and fluidity.
39:36
Um, and continuing to show up for myself.
39:38
I think that's really how, um, I can prioritize my, my health and wellness
39:44
without kind of falling into the perfection perfectionist tendencies.
39:49
That was the perfect answer.
39:50
Thanks so much for that.
39:51
Tell everyone who is listening where they can find you, work with you,
39:55
learn more from you all the places.
39:57
Yeah, so you can find me over on Instagram.
39:59
My handle is Jillian Greaves Rd. You can also check out our website,
40:03
which is just jillian grieves.com.
40:05
You can, um, explore all the resources, recipes, uh, that we have there, and
40:10
learn a little bit more about what we do.
40:12
Awesome.
40:13
Jillian, thank you so much for coming on the show today.
40:15
Thank you.
40:16
I.
40:16
Jillian, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today.
40:19
Thank you to my incredible community for watching this episode.
40:22
I hope moving forward, you are thinking very intentionally
40:26
about your circadian rhythm.
40:27
Now that you understand the impacts that it has on your
40:29
health and your fertility too.
40:31
How big of a difference and makes in supporting healthy hormone production?
40:35
And I don't know about you, but I was so inspired after this episode to really be.
40:40
So much more intentional about my own circadian rhythm support on a daily basis.
40:44
I can now say confidently after recording this episode.
40:47
I recorded this about a month ago with Jillian that I get
40:49
my morning sun exposure.
40:50
I get my afternoon sun exposure.
40:52
We have red lights in all of our lamps downstairs and in our bedroom now And
40:57
finally, we also have blue light blocking amber glasses to wear in the evening.
41:01
It has made such a big difference.
41:02
So if you're skeptical or on the fence, just give it a go.
41:05
Try one or two of these things.
41:06
Start with morning sun exposure like Jillian discussed, and just see doesn't
41:11
make a difference, especially in your sleep and how you feel on a daily basis.
41:14
Thank you again, Jillian, for coming on the podcast, for being our expert today.
41:18
I'm gonna link you all to all of her information.
41:19
So that'll be included in the show notes.
41:21
And again, I want to remind you.
41:23
That these are the final days of our Black Friday sale for
41:26
our fertility Clarity package.
41:28
Now through Monday, December 1st.
41:31
You can grab your Fertility Clarity package for $400 off.
41:35
That means for only five 50 you can get a root cause investigation
41:40
complete with advanced labs and a custom roadmap explaining exactly
41:44
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41:46
Or a EC period causing your current fertility frustrations and know exactly
41:51
what your next steps are so that you can confidently move into 2026 knowing
41:55
that this is gonna be the year that you get your period back, restore
41:58
your fertility, and get pregnant.
42:00
There are only a handful of spots left, so if you want yours, I would
42:04
definitely do so before money just to guarantee that you can get one.
42:08
The link to purchase will be in our show notes.. Have a
42:10
wonderful Thanksgiving week.
42:12
We'll be back in two weeks, as always.
42:14
Until next time, November.
42:15
Nurse spotting is a powerful one.