Latest / Cortisol Coach / Hormone Imbalance, Menopause, and Cortisol | Why You Feel Terrible and What to Do About It with Dr. Anna Cabeca

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Hormone Imbalance, Menopause, and Cortisol | Why You Feel Terrible and What to Do About It with Dr. Anna Cabeca · Cortisol Coach

0:03
Welcome to the Cortisol Coach Podcast. If you're exhausted, gaining weight,
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losing your hair, your anxiety is through the roof, or the depression and emotional
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overwhelm have completely consumed your life, or maybe you're not showing up
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as the wife and mom you want to be.
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You've spent years never feeling
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good enough, taking care of everyone else while you quietly fell apart.
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And your body has been keeping score of every single bit of it.
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The chronic stress, hormonal shifts, perimenopause, menopause,
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whatever season you're in, cortisol is making all of it worse.
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And until you heal the root, nothing changes. But this show here is about to change that.
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I'm your host, Christine Marie, Holy Spirit-led Biblical Mindset Coach,
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and I have helped thousands of women heal their hormones and cortisol levels.
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Every week, I bring you leading experts, doctors, and coaches who will help
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you heal your body, mind, emotions, and your spirit so that you can step into
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every kingdom purpose that God has planned for your life.
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So go grab your cup of coffee and let's jump in.
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My guest today is one of the most credentials and sought-after voices in women's
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hormone health in the world, and I have been wanting to get her on this show
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since the moment the idea was breathed. Dr.
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Anna Kabeca is a doctor of osteopathic medicine, a board-certified OBGYN,
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and a fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
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She's triple board-certified, spanning gynecology, obstetrics,
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integrative medicine, and anti-aging, and regenerative medicine.
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She also holds special certifications in functional medicine,
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sexual health, and bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.
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She is the best-selling author of The Hormone Fix, Keto Green, 16, and Menu Paws.
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And if you have not read any of these books yet, I promise you,
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after this episode, you're going to want to read them.
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But what makes Dr. Anna unlike any other doctor in this space is not just those credentials.
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It is how she shows up.
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She speaks from the heart. She's refreshingly blunt, and she has a sense of
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humor that will make those really uncomfortable, complex, hormonal conversations
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feel like you're sitting across from your best girlfriend.
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That is also why she's called the girlfriend doctor.
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Today, we're talking about something that affects every single woman in this audience.
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Cortisol, hormones, menopause. And I want to particularly talk with her about
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the keto green approach that helped me lose 10 pounds since I just met her.
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It is changing the way that women heal.
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Dr. Anna, welcome to the Cortisol Coach Podcast.
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Oh my gosh, Christine, I'm so glad to be here with you. Really,
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thank you. Thanks for having me.
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So I just want to talk to you first. I want to kick this off.
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You have dedicated your entire career to women's hormone health.
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So talk to us. Was there a moment that made this your personal mission?
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Well, I definitely will say that, you know, there's that saying that your mess becomes your message.
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So that's the reason. It's my personal mission. And I've seen too many women suffer.
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But for me personally, I had been
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diagnosed with early menopause and infertility when I was 39 years old.
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I'd failed six rounds of infertility treatments, and then the diagnosis of early
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menopause or premature ovarian insufficiency was given, and that,
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you know, that my dreams to become pregnant again with another child was completely squashed and that
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Took me on a healing journey around the world where I met with,
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like as a sabbatical, but I knew I had to keep the earth moving under my feet,
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right? That was just my coping mechanisms.
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And I met serendipitously indigenous healers and from all different walks of life,
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a Native American shaman and Andean philosopher and Indonesian medicine man
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and some of the leading world scientists and clinicians as a result of that
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journey and just life along the way.
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And I say the hand of God was leading me, even though I had felt abandoned by
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God at that time after that diagnosis, the hand of God was definitely in my life.
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And with that, naturally reversed early menopause and then naturally conceived
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the child I was told I would never be able to have at 41 years old.
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So that was when I became pregnant.
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I was like on fire to tell other women, your diagnosis is not your destiny.
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Your body has tremendous power to heal let
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just give it what it needs you know mind
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body soul and spirit and change lives
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changed my life wow that's amazing
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i i do know so some of you guys do know and some of you guys don't know but
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the day that i met dr anna was the same day that i found out i was in mid menopause
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and i was having hot flashes continuously but i connected the they were perimenopause.
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I never knew until I got those actual lab results that I was mid-menopause.
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And that was when the connection of high cortisol levels leading to these hormone
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dysregulations, and then she introduced a way that I could help my body better adjust to menopause.
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But first, before we go there, because I want to share Keto Greens with everybody.
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Can you talk to me about how cortisol connects.
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How it's the foundation? How does it impact your body and your hormones?
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Well, cortisol, let me say that if you think of the battle for existence in
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our life, we have cortisol always at opposition to oxytocin.
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So cortisol, and this is what I found through my own trauma,
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Christine, you know, from my story that we lost our son in March 12,
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2006 in a tragic accident. And I was still breastfeeding him.
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And, you know, from that moment, my breast didn't produce another ounce of milk, right?
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That was completely gone.
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And any mom knows if she breastfed, you miss a feeding, like you're 10 minutes
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late for a feeding, your breasts are engorged. I mean, they literally completely deflated.
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And from there, the ensuing infertility and early menopause and the trauma.
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And, you know, I'm a physician. I trained at Emory University in Atlanta.
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I'm integrative-based. I'm always as part of my life. And I'm an osteopathic
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medicine trained. So really believing that, you know, the body,
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empower the body to heal through so many mechanisms.
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And that's when it was completely devastated. But the psychological and physical
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trauma that resulted from that, from post-traumatic stress, I say I now have
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post-traumatic growth.
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No more PTSD, but there's that underlying physiology.
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And cortisol, when cortisol goes up, oxytocin goes down.
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To simplify this complex sequence of events, but cortisol, you think cortisol
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goes up, oxytocin goes down.
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And if cortisol is up for a long time, the paraventricular nucleus in the brain
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will, through negative feedback, inhibit cortisol production.
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It's like, you are frying me out, right? You are frying me out.
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And cortisol goes up, glucose goes up, inflammation goes up.
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I mean, it's a nasty circle.
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But then you get, when the cortisol is then suppressed...
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And you get in this dangerous state where cortisol is low and oxytocin is low at the same time.
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And that really is a physiology of depression, a physiology of disconnect,
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a physiology of burnout, you know, maybe even a physiology of suicide.
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It's a very dangerous physiology. And as I started to understand that in myself, because for me.
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You know, from completely desiring and loving my marriage to post-traumatically
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becoming divorced and burnout from my medical practice, I mean,
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speaking from experience here, I mean, I've been to the depths of hell for sure.
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And so, you know, I know I say this very sincerely that there's always hope, right?
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And then I had to learn to shift my physiology to get out of the acidifying
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cortisol, foot on the gas, and break at the same time experience.
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And I did that through increasing oxytocin, oxytocin-increasing practices like
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prayer, meditation, gratitude, walking on the beach.
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These alkalinizing factors, in addition to adding more alkalinizing greens to
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help decrease the acidifying effects of cortisol as well.
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So hence the keto green approach that I ended up developing that was part of
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this journey and then really recognizing that we have to empower oxytocin.
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And that through that, we really balance so many aspects of our physiology and longevity.
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I am so glad that you brought that point up because for me, when I switched
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to the keto green approach, I started feeling more joyful and I started feeling happier.
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I didn't know how connected it was. But when you are fueling your body properly on a cellular level,
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I am such a believer that God has provided every single tool in this world so
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that we can heal our bodies because we are made in the image of Christ.
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And so talk to us more about this Keto Green approach.
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What are some of the biggest mistakes that women over 40 are making in their diet?
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That are maybe hurting them, even not just body-wise, right?
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Not just the image, not just the weight, but mentally.
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Yes. Yeah. And I want to take people back in time because I was thinking,
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okay, what do I wish I knew in my 40s?
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So let me just tell you where I was then, what I learned as a result of this.
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So when, you know, that full-blown perimenopause when I was So initially diagnosed
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at menopause at 39, reversed it, had my baby, Ava Marie.
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And so she's now 18.
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She'll be going off to college next year. And I'm 60 years old this year.
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And so still hauling horses, riding, living life in a very happy, authentic way, right?
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That's because when God puts something in your heart, you have to listen. You have to follow.
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So really happy that I've learned all these things.
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But from that state at 39, then reversing early menopause, then at 48.
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Being in that post-traumatic, this is when cortisol was winning, the PTSD was full on.
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I'd only slept like three to four hours a night for years at this point because
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of PTSD during that cycle.
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And then add in perimenopause when you're plummeting, your hormone,
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your physiology is shifting.
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And even though I was a hormone expert, I've been in hormones since 99 and really
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trained in bioidentical hormones since early 2000.
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So, you know, hormones were dialed in. And that's why I always say it takes
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more than hormones to fix your hormones because those were dialed in.
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So, but here in this, at that 48, the anxiety, the mood swings,
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the irritability, like where did this monster in me come from type of scenarios?
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Like, why did I, you know, react or more like more, you know,
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accurate to say overreact instead of respond with calmness or clarity.
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And then the, you know, memory loss, the brain fog, the difficulty, like I had burned out.
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I had to, you know, retire from my medical practice.
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You know, it was just burnout and exhausted.
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And I knew that I had to put God and family first. And I was a single mom,
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you know, several years post-divorce at this point, a single mom and taking care of my girls solely.
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And so putting God and family first, and there was this spiral.
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And then I experienced with so many women, besides the neurologic and sleep
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deficiency and mood issues,
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experience which was my, say, let's say the needle that broke the camel's back
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or the straw that broke the camel's back is the weight gain without doing anything
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different, you know, gaining 20 pounds literally overnight without doing anything different.
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Now, when I had patients say that to me, I think, okay, surely you're doing
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something different, right? This can't just happen.
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Well, I tell you, I was really humbled. I think it was 2014. I'm like, okay.
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And I had been well over 240 pounds at one point, had lost 80 pounds,
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kept them off. And so this weight gain, without doing anything different,
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I'm like, that's terrifying. When will it stop?
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Will I be 300 pounds by the time this stops? And so that's when I really,
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I structured into very low carb, restricted, complete restricted carbs, keto.
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And I knew keto because my oldest daughter has seizure, had seizure disorder.
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So we used and recommended I'd research the keto diet for her as well as patients
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in my clinic with keto seizure or neurologic disorders, as well as my candida patients, right?
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Very carb-restricted, ketogenic-type diet.
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It all was in a healthy way, but I found out, like, I was still irritable,
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and I'm like, I cannot be a good mom this way, right? What is going on? It wasn't keto flu.
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I checked my urine pH because it's something I learned to do many, many years ago.
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And I was as acidic as the urine pH paper read. So our bladder pH is designed to be.
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Somewhat neutral. I mean, it'll get acidic with stress and exercise,
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but it's just a marker of what's happening over the kidneys at the cellular level.
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And so cortisol increases acidity, increases hydrogen ion secretion across the renal tubules.
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So it makes a, like, basically, you're having acid in the bladder.
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Now, long time women, men, that's going to cause bladder irritability,
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infections, you know, erosion of the bladder.
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I mean, we see all these urgency symptoms and all this stuff.
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That has to be a part of it. Now, we need more, you know, more research in that area.
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But definitely, I was like, the pH paper read 5, and I was as,
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I mean, pH of 5 or lower, because it was as low as the pH paper read.
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And it should be 7. It should be neutral. It should be a good neutral pH,
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7, a little bit alkaline, 7.5, 8. That's very healthy for the bladder.
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And it's also a sign, you know, of good nutrients. So I started adding more
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of the greens and the alkalinizers.
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And that started to make a little bit different, the bone broth with all the minerals, right?
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But the mornings I did my gratitude journaling, my prayer meditation,
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or my walks on the beach, my urine pH was more alkaline each day.
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And that's because oxytocin is the most alkalinizing hormone.
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So if we can bring in more oxytocin, that's going to lower cortisol.
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So you get all those benefits. So that's how that green concept,
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not just like keto, not bacon and butter keto, but getting your body into ketosis
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to create that insulin sensitivity and decreasing inflammation,
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which you've already experienced, is that decrease in inflammation.
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It feels so good and clear.
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And the alkalinizing to feed like the micronutrients, the broccoli sprouts,
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the bone broth, the, you know, arugula.
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I mean, all my good recipes are in there to help feed the gut microbiome,
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which is key for hormone balance and decreasing inflammation.
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So that's why a good amount of fermented foods are recommended.
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And I mean, it's, these are
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It's a concept between nutrition and lifestyle that really helps us decrease that inflammation,
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improve that insulin sensitivity so we have glucose stabilization and really feel so much better.
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So that's how that came in. And when I started,
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when I realized that and really focused on getting that urine pH more alkaline,
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adding in more of the alkalinizers, the greens, etc., and oxytocin practices,
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I lost that 20 pounds in six weeks.
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I mean, it really came 18 of the 20 pounds in six weeks. And from there,
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I was like, okay, I got to see if this will help my other menopausal patients,
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my most difficult ones. And that's how I literally invited eight of my most
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difficult patients. I'd retired at that point.
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So I brought them into my living room and we met weekly.
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And that's how my magic menopause method was born or the keto green method that
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we implement in my menopause program.
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So it worked on everyone. And that felt more clarity, felt whole.
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I mean, I've written now three bestselling books.
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I couldn't write a blog back then. Well, and what I love so much is that you
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have truly thought of the full picture.
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And I know for a lot of women, especially in menopause, libido is a huge problem.
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You've even answered the call of that one as well.
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Can you share more about the struggle would be with libido for a woman who is
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walking through menopause and then why you created the product that you did?
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Yeah, no, happy to because, you know, the issue of libido, sex drive,
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intimacy, and to be honest, sexless marriage, people becoming roommates instead
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of lovers is always a heartbreaking one.
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The one of the most difficult conversations that patients have with their provider
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or their, you know, their partners, their friends, et cetera,
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it's the most vulnerable area, whether man or male or female,
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it is the most vulnerable topic that we talk about.
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But yet when we restore that, reconnect that intimacy, that connection,
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that spark of connection again, oh my gosh, it's like they,
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you know, reverse age 20 years, right? That intimacy, that spark.
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And I love it when clients tell me we are lovers again instead of roommates, right?
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Like, you know, we've got that twinkle back in our eyes, you know,
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like that flirtations back.
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And I really researched this over the years and I have found,
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you know, like I grew up, would say, I, let me just say it this way.
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I grew up Catholic and very introverted and reserved, right?
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But these difficult, you know, helping my patients through these issues became
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that area, like, I have to solve their problem.
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I have to lean into these difficult conversations. You know,
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I have to ask these questions, listen, help them, because otherwise,
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you know, they're not getting help.
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And that's my job as a physician is to help, to educate, to empower, right?
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And so way back in 1999, and plus my brave patients that came in telling me of their issues.
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So over the years, I really delved into the issues of lack of intimacy and desire,
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and I found that it comes to three main things.
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If we simplify it, these are issues of disconnect,
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Issues of desire and or issues of discomfort. Like if it hurts every time you
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do something, why would you want to?
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Or after the fact, for women, a vaginal dryness, discharge, bladder infections,
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odor after sex. I mean, you don't want to have it, right?
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Like that is not something you lean into.
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So that's one of the reasons I started really working with bioidentical hormones
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topically and intravaginally for bulvar health, vaginal health, and bladder health.
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To address incontinence symptoms because incontinence symptoms and UTIs are issues.
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So I started using, I started combining my cream and I created my cream,
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which is called Jolva. So it's like vulva with a J.
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Jolva, let's say joyful vulva. Jolva.
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And it has DHEA, which at the cellular level converts to testosterone and estrogen.
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It's been shown to be safe topically and intravaginally and even clients with
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a history of breast cancer, but always talk with your oncologist.
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But it's one of the reasons I created it was something safe for my breast cancer
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patients that I was treating.
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I added plant stem cells from the alpine rose.
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Our formula has emollients to really help drive those ingredients deep.
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And I say we need to use it for intimate health.
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On the vulva, clitoris to anus, keep that tissue healthy and strong because it matters.
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We never want to suffer at any age with problems in that area,
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let alone in our 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and beyond. This is one of the reasons
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I created Jolva, because when I retired my practice, Christine,
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my patients were like, Dr.
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Anna, no one will give us your creams, lotions, and potions,
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all these compounds that I'd created.
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And so I said I would create something over-the-counter that's better than anything
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I can write on a prescription pad.
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And so that's how Jolva was born. And then adding into that, they, you know.
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Vaginal and bladder health targeted probiotics. So important because we deplete
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them, so we have to reseed those.
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We always worry about the gut, but we need to think about the vagina and the
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bladder because none of us want to deal with those consequences of aging.
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And we found that the, which was so interesting, that the microbiome of the
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urethra and the bladder are very similar to the vagina.
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And when we lose that healthy microbiome, we get more susceptible to incontinence,
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urgency symptoms, and of course, urinary tract infections.
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So the advent of vaginal targeted probiotics, that's really key.
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Clean lubricant. So all these things that are so important for pelvic health.
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And it's like the last thing you talk about with your physician,
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right? It's the last thing.
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And it really, when we talk about this, we're bringing awareness.
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Solve these problems that so many times people are dealing with silently.
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So that's why I really like to talk about it.
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I love that you address this because I do feel like, especially in the conversations
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that I've had with thousands of women, a lot of people will tell me privately
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in a conversation that they're struggling with libido.
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I've had many conversations with people that are in almost sexless marriages
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and they don't feel comfortable to share these things with other people. and.
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That is one of the pieces that is the difference between a friendship and a
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marriage, is the intimacy.
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And so it's a really big topic. I feel like if you have anxiety,
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you're fine. It's comfortable. It's normal to talk about in society.
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If you have depression, we are all able to talk about that.
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But sexual health, being intimate with your partner, it almost has this taboo
22:20
to it. I was telling somebody on a previous episode, I don't think I've ever
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heard a church sermon on sex.
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So true. But you hear church sermons on anxiety and depression and suicide and
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every other topic, but not sex.
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And I think this needs to be something that the stigma is broken and we can
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just have these open and honest conversations.
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Anybody, even if you're listening to this and you're not comfortable having
22:43
that conversation, just go to the show notes.
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You will find Dr. Anna's links for all of her products in the show notes.
22:50
I know I use many of your products.
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And tell me a little bit more about your Keto Greens protein because I am obsessed with that.
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I love that you are. The reason I created that is because I wanted a clean sourced
23:06
protein with my multivitamins and minerals and their activated form.
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So we say the Albion Micronutrients, chelated minerals, so their body absorbs them.
23:14
They're not synthetic with super,
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you know, super detoxifiers and antioxidants and zero grams of sugar.
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Now, this is so important. Look at your protein shake, zero grams of sugar and
23:27
added some healthy fat from MCT oil and just clean protein.
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So it is designed to be, you know, again, we want to always supplement a good
23:36
diet, but this is additional clean protein with antioxidants and vitamins and
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minerals will keep your blood sugar nice and stable.
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So that's one of the reasons that I invented it.
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Very clean, very healthy, easy to digest, hormonally balancing with detoxifiers,
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again, because we want to decrease inflammation, improve insulin sensitivity,
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and support the adrenals.
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So that, and I usually say add a scoop or two of my Mighty Maca 30 Superfood
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Adaptogen formula, goes a long way to decreasing inflammation and I would say
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increasing intimacy, right? Because we need that.
24:15
I agree. So if a woman is listening to this today and she just wants one simple
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step to start somewhere, what would be the first food choice that you would
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tell her to change or make? Yeah.
24:26
Well, usually the biggest thing is to stop snacking and start intermittent fasting.
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So and, you know, then there's let's reduce carbs, reduce sugar and anything like clean it up.
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Whole foods, if you can pick it, peel it, fish it, hunt it, milk it,
24:44
grow it, then for the most part you can eat it. Right.
24:47
Right. Go back to basics of how we used to eat. Just clean whole foods. Yeah.
24:54
Yeah. Yeah, I think that's so important. And more and more we see in the medical field.
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So I came back into practice a few years ago. And so just right as the pandemic
25:04
was ending, it was called to come back into practice.
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I'm here in Dallas, Texas now because my youngest does rodeos. She's a barrel racer.
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And so we've been here. And I started seeing patients and immediately seeing
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the consequences post-pandemic.
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The issues that are coming up with that, like the increase in autoimmune diseases,
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inflammation cascades, I mean, it's incredible.
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So I really wanted to address these inflammations, insulin sensitivity.
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Really focus on, you know, I'm a longevity specialist, so hormone optimization,
25:38
certainly, but it comes from the foundations first.
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Let me ask you one last question, Dr. Anna. What would you say to the woman
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who's been from doctor to doctor and they have said,
25:48
your labs are normal they're totally normal but she's starting
25:51
to lose hope that she will ever feel like herself again
25:54
because i don't know if they are like me but when my doctors ran my labs they
25:58
did not run everything it took a different doctor to really truly dig into all
26:04
the different hormone testing that you can do because there's a lot it wasn't
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just a cbc that's not what i was looking for and that did not give me that was
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the your labs are normal congratulations.
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Eat less, walk more, have a nice day. What would you say to that woman?
26:20
Yeah, no, that's tragic. That's why I wrote my book, The Hormone Fix.
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I would just recommend that reading.
26:26
And Christine, for your audience, they can do my free 10-day breeze through
26:30
menopause program. Put that in my insider link.
26:34
It's dranna.com forward slash tribe. So d-r-a-n-n-a.com forward slash tribe.
26:40
And that they can access my free 10-day breeze through menopause program,
26:44
which kind of gives five to 10 minute videos daily, some medicinal menus that
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will really help. So we'll give that to your audience.
26:51
And the biggest thing is that, you know, optimal is very different than normal, right?
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So on those labs, optimal is very different than normal. In looking at testing,
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we really need to look at so much more.
27:03
When I look at what are the key lab tests that we wanna look at for a patient
27:07
for hormone optimization and when in their cycle we're doing these labs.
27:12
That's really important.
27:13
And honestly, for that woman who's told she's normal, but she does not feel
27:17
like herself, she does not feel like joy and healthy and happiness,
27:22
or she's feeling stiff and achy and moody.
27:25
Look, there is something going on. So this is that empowerment piece.
27:29
Advocate for yourself. It takes a health care team. It's not your standard.
27:33
Typically, very rarely is it your standard medical doctor. You need someone
27:37
with integrative, functional training. I say for take care of women.
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I'm triple boarded. But I'm telling you, like, you know, without the integrative
27:44
medicine piece, we're not taking care of women well, and we're still not.
27:47
You know, we're understanding more and more for hormones. Like,
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I've been prescribing hormones for 30 years now, but we don't,
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they don't understand the integrative piece.
27:56
And so, really understand that for yourself and be empowered in that area.
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So, the functional labs make a difference, inflammatory markers.
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Where in your cycle you are. but always, always detox because the answer is
28:11
often, you know, we may need to add some.
28:14
Progesterone and pregnenolone cream. We may need to add some estrogen.
28:18
We may need to add some testosterone, but we have to continuously support your
28:22
adrenals, decrease inflammation, and detox hormones safely.
28:27
And so that's the piece, that's the key piece of the puzzle.
28:31
Understand, like advocate, tell your doctors, I want these labs. I want these tests.
28:36
Give them a copy of my book, The Hormone Fixed. I mean, I learned way back in
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early 2000 to open my mind even further, because one of my patients brought
28:45
me Christiane Northrup's book, Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom,
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and highlighted key areas and bookmark key areas for me to read.
28:53
And she's like, I know you don't have time to read the whole thing, but read these part.
28:57
I mean, it really helped because it just, you know, we have to,
29:02
again, first and foremost, we're in charge of us.
29:05
Trust that intuition. If you
29:07
know that you are not feeling good and you're being told you're normal.
29:11
Something is going on. You're called to find that answer.
29:14
Amen. And I truly believe, and I've said this before so many times,
29:18
that I believe that dysregulated hormones is spiritual warfare.
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Because God did not create our bodies to live in the place that they are now.
29:29
And so I just want to say thank you for everything you have done.
29:32
And thank you for giving this gift to our listeners today. We will link that
29:36
in the show notes. Please go follow Dr. Anna on Instagram.
29:40
Purchase her books. Try her products. I cannot recommend her Jolva cream enough.
29:46
Go get it. I just want to say thank you so much for being on today's episode.
29:49
And I have a feeling you might be seeing more of Dr. Anna and I connecting more in the future.
29:54
Thank you so much. It's such an important topic. I love what you're doing. Thank you. Thank you.
30:01
Friend, I am so thankful that you are here today. I pray this episode blessed you big time.
30:06
And if it did, would you do me a favor and leave me a review on Apple Podcasts?
30:09
It helps more women just like you find the show and it may be the very reason
30:13
that somebody else gets the answers that they need.
30:16
I would also love to connect with you personally on Instagram.
30:18
You can find me by searching cortisol underscore coach.
30:21
That's where I show up every single day and send me a DM. I would love to connect
30:25
with you. I'll see you next time.