Of all of the symptoms that women experience with their menstrual cycles, menstrual migraines are among the most debilitating. Read on to learn what they are and how to avoid them.
Detox Your Personal Care Products with Bunny Ghatrora
Bunny Ghatrora runs Ellebox, an online delivery service for organic tampons, pads and other treats you can use during your cycle. In this episode, we will talk about toxins, tampons, deodorants, and different personal care products.
Here's what you'll hear:
Min 02:25 Introduction to Bunny Ghatrora & Ellebox
Min 07:50 What's in regular tampons?
Min 10:40 Tampons vs pads
Min 13:00 The Tween box & transitioning into puberty for girls
Min 19:00 Other menstrual options for women
Min 21:10 Personal products from Ellebox (Antiperspirants & deodorants)
Min 27:00 Phthalates in personal care products
Min 31:00 Customer testimonials on using Ellebox
Min 33:25 Bunny's resources
To learn more about Bunny Ghatrora, visit her website here and follow her on social media:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
Resources:
Update: Ellebox has changed its name to Blume! Access their products here.
Beautycounter products - non-toxic line of beauty products
Bridgit's deodorant
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If you have not yet joined our community, be sure to get our 5 Detox Swaps Guide here, and come on board!
We have lots of valuable, free resources for women's health we share weekly.
How to Tackle Hormonal Mood Swings by Abby Quillen
There are certain body processes that are not under our control. Take hormones, for example: For women, essentials such as estrogen and progesterone help to regulate things like reproduction, growth, and metabolism. They’re necessary, and their levels are not something that anyone can regulate.
Hormones may cause women to feel differently based on different levels, but those changes do not have to be something that happens without awareness. In fact, understanding what’s going on in the body and why it’s happening is a good way to feel and be more in control.
Take menopause: Many women are taught to fear it because of how radically the body changes hormone levels. But in fact, many women experience menopause as a positive phase of life. Even so, it’s helpful to understand what negativity may happen and what women can do to understand it. This graphic helps explain those hormone fluctuations.
The Balancing Act
If you feel like your hormones are holding you hostage, here are some relatively simple lifestyle changes that may help.
1. Pay attention
Keep a diary of your symptoms for a few months. Every woman is different, and the only way to understand your moods is to record them and analyze the data. It may bring relief to observe that cyclical annoyances don’t usually last long.
2. Eat up
Studies suggest that women with PMS may be deficient in calcium and magnesium.
According to some experts, foods rich in vitamin B6, omega 3 fatty acids and zinc may help prevent mood swings. It can’t hurt to eat a more nutrient-dense diet. Reach for vegetables, leafy greens, beans, seeds, nuts, legumes, whole grains, poultry, seafood, seaweed and fish.
3. Improve your sleep habits
Some women report insomnia before menstruation, which is when estrogen and progesterone levels plummet. 40 to 50 percent of women experience insomnia during menopause. Women with sleep disturbances are more likely to feel stressed out, tense, anxious, or depressed. To improve your odds of a good night of sleep, make your room dark, quiet, and cool, and stick to routine sleep and waking times.
4. Move more
In one study, eight weeks of aerobic training significantly reduced participants’ premenstrual symptoms. Choose physical activities you enjoy since the point is to feel good.
5. Manage stress
Women who experience stress early in a menstrual cycle are more likely to experience mood swings later in the cycle, according to a study. Walking, mindfulness exercises, visiting nature, and hanging out with friends are proven ways to reduce stress.
6. Reduce caffeine and alcohol
In studies, caffeine has been shown to decrease feelings of relaxation and increase ratings of anxiousness, tenseness, and nervousness. Alcohol may interfere with estrogen detoxification (which could be why it’s associated with a higher risk of breast cancer). So reach for a drink such as water or herbal tea that will help you feel calm.
If you experience mood swings that interfere with your daily life and these healthy makeovers don’t help, it may be time to check in with your doctor or naturopath. Herbs like chaste tree and red clover, vitamin supplements or medical treatments may help.
Conclusion
Hormonal cycles should not be used to discount or discriminate against women or medicalize normal life changes. However, it doesn’t serve women to pretend their bodies and moods stay constant through the course of their lifetime. Whether the subject is menstruation, menopause, or moods, they should take their health seriously. Recognizing and understanding hormonal fluctuations may help them move through their lives with more awareness and ease.
FOUND THIS INTERESTING?
Abby Quillen is an author and marketing strategist who writes about sustainability, gardening, green living, health, business, and other topics. Her work has appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, YES! Magazine, and in dozens of other publications. She lives in Eugene, Oregon with her family.
This article originally appeared on Health Perch
Menstrual Cramps With Bridgit Danner
This is a quick episode about menstrual cramps. I'm planning on doing more of these in-depth instructional reports about hormone conditions. I'll talk about initial supplements and protocols that I would recommend for cramps and get into all the strange and unusual reasons why you may have menstrual cramps and how I approach it.
Also, we've launched our one-on-one coaching program "Restore Your Radiance" this month and it's in its beta version which means we're offering some hefty discounts for you to be one of the first people who go through the program. Learn more about it here.
Click here to download an mp3 of "Menstrual Cramps with Bridgit Danner."
Here's what you'll hear:
Min 02:00 Introduction to the Hormone Report and Menstrual Cramps
Min 03:00 The uterus and what triggeres menstrual cramps
Min 04:00 The 4 things that help with menstrual cramps, their sources and recommended amounts
Min 07:10 Unusual causes of menstrual cramps
That's all for today. Next week we'll have Dr. J Davidson talking about Lyme disease and its co-infections.
If you're looking for support for hormones, auto-immunity, and digestive health you should check out our current coaching options here.
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If you have not yet joined our community, be sure to grab our hidden Hormone stressors quiz here, and come on board!
Thanks for listening,
Bridgit Danner, Founder of Women's Wellness Collaborative
Learn Your Most Fertile Window With Justina Thompson
Welcome to Day 7 of Fertility Week!
Justina Thompson is a Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) coach and is our last guest for Fertility Week. She took a 2-year certification program with Sarah Naomi Bly and has successfully been using FAM to prevent pregnancy for 7 years. It is a natural birth control method free from side effects.
She learnt more about the importance of FAM for couples trying to get pregnantduring her 2 years training and while in internship. A large portion of her training involved understanding how hormones work for the female body from the scientific level. The focus for the program was to support hormonal health with lifestyle, nutrition and environmental factors.
Couples are often told by their doctors that unless they’ve been trying to conceive for more than 12 months, then they should keep trying which kind of leaves them in the dark. But with FAM and other types of charting like the BBT, which is very popular, the method targets the time when the woman is most fertile and more capable of conceiving.
In this episode, Justina talks about:
Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) and how it works
Signs of fertility in women - cervical fluid, BBT charting and cervical position
Factors that trigger early or late ovulation
Ovulation Predictor Kits (OPKs)
Common problems and frustrations in charting
Access Today's Interview
You can listen to today's interview through the player below, or through our podcast channel, Women's Wellness Radio. Our podcast is available for subscription on iTunes and other podcast players as well.
Today's Raffle
Today we are raffling another amazing Nutribullet blender, plus a care kit from Healthy Hoohoo.
Healthy HooHoo is a mild, PH- balanced, chemical free feminine wash. Founder Stacy Lyon has generously donated 3 foaming wash cleansers (enough for one year) and 3 travel packs of wipes. Maintaining a normal vaginal PH is important for fertility, and keeping the endocrine-disrupting toxins found in most washes away from your body is important too!
About Justina
If you want to learn more about Justina Thompson, click here to visit her website.
You can also follow her on:
PS: I'm going to do a webinar called "Perfect Periods for Fertility" this coming Wednesday Nov.16 at 4.00 PM Pacific Time. So be sure to mark it on your calendar and join me.
We put all of Justina's information together in a handy sheet, print-able for you. You can get a copy by using the button below:
Nutrition And More For A Healthy Cycle With Caroline Zwickson
Welcome to Day 5 of Fertility Week!
Caroline Zwickson is a fertility coach originally from Germany and has been living in the US for 16 years. She holds a Masters in Counselling Psychology and studied dreams, imaginations, and how to help people cultivate awareness for that and integrate it into their lives in order to create more wholeness. She did her Masters’ thesis on women and mind-body connection and looked into how women experience emotions like fear, joy and anger in their bodies, and how they can use the body to work with those emotions.
After graduating she slowly made her way into life coaching because she was passionate about helping people figure out not only why they're stuck but also what they can do about it, taking that future oriented outlook of life and really thinking about life in a positive way. Her focus in the coaching world is to help women create a fertile life; prepare them for a healthy pregnancy.
She had hormonal imbalances after coming out of the birth control pill and this experience made her dive deeply into women's hormones. She figured out a natural and holistic way to heal her hormone imbalances. The positive effects she experienced made her want to help other women.
In this interview, we’re talking about:
Nutrition and balancing hormones
Our thoughts and their effects on our bodies
Movement and exercise
The luteal phase and blood sugar balance
Supplements
Diet and food sources
Access Today's Interview
You can listen to today's interview through the player below, or through our podcast channel, Women's Wellness Radio. Our podcast is available for subscription on iTunes and other podcast players as well.
About Caroline:
To learn more about Caroline Zwickson, click here to visit her website.
You can also follow her on:
Today's Raffle:
For today’s raffle, Caroline Zwickson is giving away her fall-cleanse workbook, and our sponsor Nutribullet donated another awesome kitchen blender.
Caroline's beautiful, info-packed 62-page workbook that includes:
An introduction to fall cleansing with a special focus on your lungs and your colon. The goal is to eliminate congestion and optimize elimination.
Small daily exercises & action steps to promote emotional well-being, strength, resilience, and feeling calm and beautiful!
Tips for how to overcome cravings and constipation (without your morning coffee)
A shopping list packed with delicious, fresh, and invigorating foods
Menu ideas and suggestions for how to keep things easy, simple and delicious
lots and lots of amazing recipes that brighten up your day and make you feel amazing from the inside out
We put all of Caroline's information together in a handy sheet, print-able for you. You can get a copy by using the button below:
“We welcome your comments and questions below!”
Progesterone Boosting Crackers by Magdalena Wszelaki
Magdalena Wszelaki, Certified Nutrition Coach, has shared some great recipes with us for our seed cycling challenge!!
Try these Progesterone Boosting Crackers:
Magdalena Wszelaki
Harness Your Cycle Superpowers!
My guests today are Audrey Sourroubille Arnold and Lucia Lukanova, both women's health coaches and also partners in a women's health app called The Flow.
A bit about the pair:
Audrey- Diagnosed with endometriosis a few years ago. She feels her former high pressure career contributed to her endometriosis diagnosis and overall burn-out. She switched careers into women's health.
Lucia- Working long hours doing big technology projects. She got burned out as well, and started to learn about hormones of stress and the menstrual cycle. She started to notice the subtle symptoms related to the phases of her cycle. She wanted an app to help her track her cycle, but didn’t find one, so she started to develop one, now out in several languages, called the Flow App.
Stages of the Cycle
Week One- Starts with day one of your cycle. Cleanse time, from the inside out- want to be alone and peaceful. Your verbal skills are lower, but is a 'wise stage.' Energy is low and if you push you get cravings to create energy.
Paula Ratcliffe ran the Chicago marathon in world record time, and was on day 1 of her cycle.
In transition from period to the next stage (dynamic), is a good time to knock out your to-do list.
Week Two- Dynamic phase- energy is good, accomplish things, 'maiden' phase
Ovulation- femme fatale moment - phéromones are high, vocal chords have highest range, good time to ask for pay raise
Post-ovulation- a mini PMS is possible
Week Three- Reflexive phase- decide what to keep or give up, evaluate, very empathic, mother, femininity, caring, nurturing
Week Four- Creative phase, Enchantress, represents Autumn season
Some resources we mention on the show:
Jason Karp's book, Running for Women: Your Complete Guide for a Lifetime of Running
Video on How to Use the Flow App
Ultimately you will have to download the Flow App from the app store on your smartphone, but you can find more info on the Flow App here.
You can listen to the full interview below, but be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get an interview weekly! Just got into your the podcast app on your smartphone and search, "Womens Wellness Radio."
Enjoying the show? We'd really appreciate you taking a moment to rate and review us on iTunes.