Hormone Health

Recovery from Stillbirth: The Benefit of Yoga by Laura Devine

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, 1 out of every 160 pregnancies in the United States ends in stillbirth. Of these, First Candle.org highlights that more than 50% are full term and occur in otherwise healthy, low-risk pregnancies. To many this is a staggering statistic but to the mother of a stillborn child it is a sobering reality.  

On New Years Day 2014 it became my reality. During a perfectly healthy pregnancy full of plant-based whole foods, plenty of exercise and daily meditation, my daughter’s heart stopped at 40 weeks and three days gestation; a heartbreaking three days past her due date.

In my work as a fitness director for a local country club, clients were constantly telling me how easy my labor would be. While visiting my OB GYN at 40 weeks I was congratulated by the nurse practitioner for being one of the healthiest pregnant women she had ever seen. Though it might seem like I am bragging, I assure you that any hubris surrounding my pregnancy dissipated the moment the fetal doppler fell silent.  

After learning my baby had died, all motherly effort expended over those nine long months seemed fruitless.
— Laura Devine

Despite my best efforts the outcome was worse than any I could have imagined and I was left devastated and disillusioned. After 52 hours in labor and a very difficult delivery I realized the healthy measures taken during pregnancy could serve a greater purpose. I would need all the strength I could muster to physically and emotionally navigate the rough waters I was unwillingly pushed into, especially over the next several months. Many of the tools I had acquired as a fitness professional proved valuable. However, yoga was, and continues to be, my life raft.

Recovery from Stillbirth

Postpartum, the delivery of a stillborn is dramatically different than the delivery of a living child. The stresses of any new mother are manifold, but those of the grieving mother are much darker and less understood. Instead of learning how to breastfeed and sending out birth announcements, I was focused on stopping the flow of my milk and making funeral arrangements. This trying time was made all the more difficult by dramatic hormonal shifts. For many mothers this is a veritable recipe for postpartum depression. In fact, the Massachusetts General Hospital for Women’s Mental Health tells us the risk of postpartum depression is four times greater for the mother of a stillborn than the mother of a living baby.  

While there is still much to be learned in the world of women’s health and hormones, the value of exercise is one of the few things most experts agree on. I was fortunate to have exercise so integrated into my life that it naturally became my main coping mechanism, my first instinct being to run as fast and push as hard as I could. The emotions were strong and so was my urge to fight against them. After a few weeks of fight or flight motivated movement I was sleeping poorly, exhausted, and no closer to feeling better than when I began.

Yoga is a unique form of exercise in that many postures are specifically designed to subtly massage certain glands, which may in turn help balance endocrine function.
— Laura Devine

Being a yoga instructor I did practice yoga daily but often at 3am as a substitute for sleep. During these late night/early morning practices it became apparent that although running was a great distraction, yoga was where the real healing happened. My practice brought me face to face with the feelings I was trying so hard to avoid which eventually led to feeling less anger and more compassion towards my body. By increasing time on the mat and simultaneously easing up on more vigorous workouts my body gradually shifted back towards balance. Intuitively I knew yoga helped but it was not until later that I realized how much of this was attributed to the positive effect it had on my wildly shifting hormones.

Many of these hormone-balancing poses are simple, safe, and can be performed at any fitness level. Even more encouraging is that, when practiced consistently, yoga strengthens the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting feelings of relaxation and proper adrenal function.

This enhanced relaxation response can partly be attributed to yoga raising gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels in the brain, a key factor in alleviating feelings of anxiety and depression. I felt powerless when, 5 months after the stillbirth of my daughter, my period had not yet returned. The doctor wanted to write me a prescription but I declined. Instead I relied on a combination of good nutrition, adaptogenic herbs, and yoga. The following month my cycle returned to normal and three months after that I conceived a son.

I encourage anyone in the midst of the difficult process of healing from stillbirth to seek out yoga. Even a short practice in the comfort of your own home can have a dramatic impact on hormonal balance and overall quality of life. By channeling the nurturance I would have lavished my daughter inward I was able to connect with a part of me that needed recognition in order to move forward.

While one never really “gets over” the loss of a child I believe it is truly possible for loss to be a gateway to greater care and compassion. After my experience I doubted I would be able to wholeheartedly promote exercise again. To my surprise I found the doorway to my heart was through my body, and yoga was the key.

 

FOUND THIS INTERESTING?

Laura Devine, 200 hr RYT, NASM CPT

Laura Devine, 200 hr RYT, NASM CPT

Read more here https://getfitlit.com/

10 Truths About Your Bathroom Scale’s Lies by Krista Goncalves

Bathroom scale.jpg

Dear Bathroom Scale… Why are you such a pretty little liar?

Does your scale whisper sweet nothings into your freshly painted toes one day, then turn around and bite them the very next day?

Does this same toe-biting scale like to play double-dutch with its numbers from week-to-week? Five pounds up, four pounds down, five more up, three down. Aaaaahhhh!

If you're experiencing this kind of pathological lying behavior from your bathroom scale - what’s the deal? How do we make sense of these seemingly nonsensical numbers?

As a Nutritionist and former Personal Fitness Trainer, this issue comes up continuously with clients. It’s always a challenge to enlighten them with the reality that surrounds their scale-weighing woes.

10 Truths About Daily Weight Fluctuations

Here are 10 uplifting truths for you to share with clients (and yourself!) about those annoyingly normal daily weight fluctuations:

1)    It is NOT a true measurement of your health. The scale number is simply one of many parameters you should be taking into account to determine if you are maintaining or approaching your optimal body weight. 

Girth measurements & body composition/body fat testing are often better evaluations of health. Heck, even how your clothes fit can be a better indicator!

2)    When we wake up after fasting for at least 8 hours, we're completely dehydrated and at our lowest weight of the day

This is why it is recommended to weigh yourself first thing in the morning, before you eat or drink anything, and after you have voided - that’s fancy-talk for "going potty".

3)    Speaking of voiding… you can experience daily weight fluctuations of 1-3+ lbs of waste that's been hanging out in your large colon. Who knew poop could be so heavy! 

Be sure to keep the bowels moving with plenty of fluids, plant-based fiber and targeted supplementation, if necessary.

4)    Your scale doesn't just weigh fat. It weighs muscle, bone, water, internal organs and as you just learned - fecal matter! When you lose "weight" - that doesn't necessarily mean that you've lost fat. In fact, the average run-of-the-mill bathroom scale has no way of telling you what bodily tissues or substances you've lost.

As most of us know and have experienced first-hand, losing muscle is nothing to get excited about, because muscle is a metabolically active tissue. The more muscle you have the more energy or calories your body burns, even when you're just sitting around.

That's one reason why a fit, active person (presumably with more muscle mass) is able to eat more food than the chronic dieter who is unknowingly breaking down and losing muscle. Weighing “skinny” on the scale does not always translate into healthy off the scale. This is what it means to be "skinny fat".

Generally speaking, it's only possible to lose 1-2 pounds of pure fat per week as a pound of fat = 3500 calories. So when you severely restrict your calories, causing your weight to drop say 10 pounds in 7 days - it's nearly physically impossible for all of that to be fat. What you're really losing is water, muscle, and glycogen (or muscle sugar - see more about that in #6).

The scale can only give you a numerical reflection of your relationship with gravity. That’s it.
It cannot measure beauty, talent, purpose, life force, possibility, strength or love.
— Steve Maraboli

5)    Another highlight of the scale's indiscriminate nature: it can't tell if you've gained muscle.

A pound of muscle is like a small, compact brick, whereas a pound of fat is like a bulky, lumpy pillow. So that's why when you gain muscle and lose fat, your silhouette is slimmer and your body is more firm. Hence, building muscle makes it possible to drop clothing sizes (and lose inches) without a significant change in scale weight.

Consider the example that after 3 months of doing that new "bikini-body boot-camp" program, the scale says you've lost 5 pounds. This may not sound like much (heck, I'd take it!), but what if you had actually lost 8 pounds of pure fat and gained 3 pounds of muscle? That would be a pretty nice improvement in your body composition. But you would be misled, not to mention disappointed, if you only used a bathroom scale to track your progress. Refer back to better evaluations of health in #1.

6)    What you eat during the days leading up to a weigh-in can dramatically influence the numbers.

  • Booze. Enough said.

  • Sodium. Excess salt (sodium) can also play a big role in water retention. 

Health Canada indicates that the recommended upper limit for daily salt intake is 2,300 mg sodium, which is easy to take in considering there's over 2,000 mg of sodium in a single teaspoon of table salt and upwards of 1,000 mg in the average can of soup!

Sodium is such a sneaky substance and the more highly processed a food is, the more likely it is to have a high sodium content. Be a savvy label reader.

When preparing food, always use natural, unrefined salt like Himalayan Pink Salt.

  • Excessive carbohydrates (carbs) – affect our glycogen or muscle sugar stores. 

As HealthDiscovery.net puts it:

"Think of glycogen as a fuel tank full of stored carbohydrate. Some glycogen is stored in the liver and some is stored in the muscles themselves. This energy reserve weighs more than a pound and it's packaged with 3-4 pounds of water when it's stored.

Your glycogen supply will shrink during the day if you fail to take in enough carbohydrates. As the glycogen supply shrinks you will experience a small increase in appetite and your body will restore this fuel reserve along with its associated water.

It's normal to experience glycogen and water weight shifts of up to 2 pounds per day even in the absence of changes in your calorie intake or activity level. These fluctuations have nothing to do with fat loss..."

This is why physique competitors get rather obsessive not only about the scale leading up to their events, but especially with alcohol, salt and carb intake.

7)    For all the ladies out there...it's not you, it's your HORMONES! Yep, certain times of the month can be marked by less-than-pleasing numbers on the scale. 

Dr. Raquel Dardik, MD advises that some women can gain up to 10 lbs right before or during their period

This is because the natural drop in the hormone PROGESTERONE just before your period often causes digestive complaints like water retention and constipation. And remember how heavy poop can be?

Our bodies also tend to lose Magnesium in the days before menstruation, which drives our INSULIN levels up leading to an increase in food cravings - especially for sugar.

Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas that keeps blood sugar levels in check but is also considered a fat storage hormone.

* It's a good idea to supplement daily with Magnesium as most of us are already deficient in this multi-tasking mineral. I generally recommend taking 200-400 mg of Magnesium Bisglycinate before bed as it can have a calming effect. Even better…soak in a hot Epsom salt bath before bed.

These hormonal drivers, along with overeating to feed the cravings, can contribute to weight gain.

8)    Birth control pills (that also mess up your hormones), and many medications like antidepressants (ex. Lyrica), beta-blockers, steroids and a host of others too numerous to list - can cause bloating, water retention, inflammation and hence, unintentional weight gain.

Discuss all of your medications with your Health Practitioner. Ask: are they absolutely necessary? And, am I on the correct medications/at the correct dosage?

9)    Long distance travel, especially air travel can cause dehydration & water retention, which may be reflected on the scale. 

Drink up and don't forget to replenish your electrolytes!

10)    Digital scales need to be re-calibrated every time they're moved. Learn How to Calibrate your Digital Scale.

Who knew? Maybe I shouldn’t have thrown my scales out – I should have just re-calibrated them!

So how do we deal with this pathological liar most of us consciously choose to live with? 

The key is to know, understand and believe the following...

Simply do your best to maintain an overall healthy lifestyle using the good ‘ol “80/20 approach”, which is basically eighty percent healthy choices mixed in with twenty percent of the fun stuff. 

✓    Drink plenty of water
✓    Reduce consumption of salty, processed, packaged and junk foods (including diet sodas)
✓    Improve your sleep habits
✓    Manage stress

If you’re already rocking your own version of an 80/20, or plan to be implementing a routine for a more balanced lifestyle, you must understand that these short-term ebb & flow patterns have nothing to do with your long-term progress and they are just part of the overall health journey.

Again, daily weight fluctuations are completely normal!

Best Practices Routine

However, when you do weigh yourself – consider this “best practices” routine:

    No more than once or twice weekly is recommended. (FYI - one study found that girls in particular experienced negative effects to their self-esteem levels by routinely tracking their scale numbers).
    Weigh yourself at a consistent time. It is often recommended to weigh yourself in the mornings, after voiding. 
    Wear the same thing each time you weigh, or nothing at all.
    Place the scale on the same surface and make sure it is calibrated properly.

This will all help to reduce some degree of fluctuation. Of course, be mindful of all the other possible reasons for daily weight fluctuations that were listed.

Final Thoughts:

Stop being a slave to the scale. It does not define you. You are worth so much more than THAT number!

 

FOUND THIS INTERESTING?

                 Krista Goncalves, CHN, RNC

                 Krista Goncalves, CHN, RNC

A former marine biologist, Krista is now a Certified Holistic Nutritionist (CHN) and Registered Nutritional Counselor (RNC) – a qualified practitioner who provides guidance for building and maintaining nutritional well-being.

Krista likes to say that she's having a culinary love affair with food and is captivated by how it fuels, nourishes and energizes us. She believes your food should work for you, not against you. 

The mantra of “what you put in, is what you'll get out” supports her belief that real food, along with some high-quality supplements, can help heal us from many health conditions, or even prevent us from having certain ones in the first place - like type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.

With over 20 years of diverse professional teaching experience and a deep passion for promoting balanced, healthy living, she feels her contribution to the rapidly expanding and ever-evolving field of "functional health" is not only important, but incredibly rewarding.

Krista is also a women's health writer and you'll find her blogging regularly on MakingLemonade.ca ~ Empow(her)ed Health & Nutrition!

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My Pain: My Motivation For Changing The Lives of Women by Melissa Turner

I had endometriosis. It was unbelievably painful. It is a condition that affects over 176 million women around the world and yet most of us have never heard of the condition. In some cases women endure pain for years before realizing that what they are experiencing is far from normal. I did this too. I believed that my excruciating period pain was normal. I thought my swollen belly and my aching body was normal. I thought that regular PMS and erratic mood swings were normal. Gotta love those TV commercials that say all of this is just part of being a women… right?

Women are told from an early age that period pain is simply part of their cycle. Something they have to learn to deal with. That they shouldn’t be so weak or pathetic and that every women goes through this. This is why endometriosis can take over ten years to get properly diagnosed and in many cases it can dramatically effect the ability of women to get pregnant!

I had never heard of endometriosis. Have you?

The most common symptoms of endometriosis include painful periods and pain during sex. Endometriosis is a condition where the cells which are meant to remain in the uterus, spread into the abdominal cavity and grow and change along with the cycle. These eventually form adhesions and cysts, which cause incredible pain for many women. Though pain is a key indicator of endometriosis, some women don’t experience any pain or little pain as their cysts form in less obtrusive places.

I had pain though. I had pain from my very first period and it lasted for over 15 years. I followed all the best meaning advice and went to the best specialists I could find. Some were doctors, endometriosis specialists and gynaecologist. I went through seven operations, a number of hormone treatments putting my body through menopause or stopping my periods all together. I had a huge arrange of pain-killers and drugs to overcome all the side-effects of the hormone treatments. I had a huge handbag and it was not filled with typical girly things. Instead it was filled with pain-killers and drugs to help me to get through a typical day.

As much as I reached out for help, I never found any new insights or options from the typical medical sources.

Something had to change, and it all began with me finally taking responsibility for myself and my health.
— Melissa Turner

I began with throwing out all the junk in my life. The junk food, the junk relationships, the junk thoughts and all the chemicals I was adding into my body each and every day. I shifted my focus in a big way… it was about taking care of myself and my body. It was about providing for my body with real, nourishing foods. It was about filling my mind with positive and uplifting thoughts and it was about finally acknowledging and realizing my own strengths and loving myself.

I won’t lie. It wasn’t an easy journey. I certainly can relate to so many women who struggle to make the shift in using a holistic approach for their endometriosis. However, I can tell you that it has shifted more than my pain levels. I no longer experience pain or symptoms from endometriosis. I never believed that I could ever say that!

I also never believed that changing my thoughts, my food and my focus could shift me into a whole new life for myself. One filled with real fulfillment from my work and my relationships. I am finally open and energetically ready to do anything I wish to do in this world, without fear or limitation.

This is why I do what I do. I want more women to experience the shifts that I experienced when I finally started taking care of myself properly. It goes beyond simply eating a healthy diet or moving our bodies. It is about putting ourselves first and deciding that we are worth it. Truly worth it. Beyond beauty products and pretty dresses but worth taking care of in terms of our health and our personal well-being.

The REACH Technique©

I run an online business which supports women with endometriosis who are keen to use a holistic approach. I guide women on how to:

  1. Eat for real nourishment

  2. Move to help heal their bodies of anxiety and poor posture

  3. Change their thinking and shift old emotional pain

  4. Cleanse the body of contributors to developing endometriosis

I call it the REACH Technique© and you can get the full picture in my free online mini course.

 

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Sign up to find out more about the REACH Technique© and how you can successfully manage your endometriosis.

Melissa Turner

Natural Solutions for Hormonal Imbalance with Dr. Carrie Jones

You are in for a treat with this interview with Dr. Carrie Jones!  Dr. Jones is a naturopathic physician who specializes in women's health.  She currently works as the full-time medical director for Precision Analytical, Inc, makers of the DUTCH test.  

You have heard me sing the praises of the DUTCH test on a past episode with functional medical practitioner, Ann Melin. DUTCH stands for Dried Urine Test of Comprehensive Hormones.  I really like this test because it is a great way to measure adrenal function, female hormone status and detox capacity.

Dr. Jones has looked at many thousands of these tests, and she recaps the common patterns she sees on this episode. She also talks about why and when to take such a test.

Finally, she dishes on all her favorite herbs and supplements for female hormonal complaints.  We put this together in a handy sheet for you. You can get a copy by using the button below:

 

Thanks for listening!

Bridgit Danner, Founder of Women's Wellness Collaborative

You Don't Have Adrenal Fatigue by Maria Claps

AdrenalFatigue

There are too many people walking around thinking that they have adrenal fatigue. This diagnosis was handed to them after a saliva test and a visit to a holistic clinician. I admit, I used to use this method of testing. I’ve ordered saliva tests on my clients and have coached them in recovering from the maladies of modern day lifestyles, and at that time I too called it adrenal fatigue. It was a good way to learn and it had some value, but the science of lab work is changing.

Many of my clients got better, because when we get adequate rest, deal with our stressors, eat nutrient dense food and take high quality supplements, our bodies usually respond well. But this didn’t mean that they had adrenal fatigue.

So if you don’t have adrenal fatigue, what do you have?

Most likely, you are experiencing a mismatch between your biology and your lifestyle. This shows up in two main ways. The first is nutrition. For the vast majority of our time on earth, we’ve consumed wild game, fish, vegetables, starchy tubers, nuts, seeds and fruit in season. Nowadays, the 6 most common foods in the modern diet are pizza, sugar sweetened beverages, beer, bread, grain based desserts, and fried chicken. This type of diet is inflammatory and is a factor in our modern day chronic unwellness.

The second, lesser known, mismatch between our bodies and our lifestyle is the activation of our stress response system. Our stress response system has two components, the sympathoadrenomedulary system (SAS) which is responsible for our immediate or short term stress response and the HPA axis, which is responsible for our intermediate or long term stress response. The HPA axis consists of the hypothalamus and pituitary glands (in the brain) and the adrenal glands (in the mid back). It helps us process threats to the body (whether those threats are a car accident or refined, nutrient poor food.)

Both of these stress response systems exist for our good. But the protective mechanisms they produce can become harmful over the long term if continually called upon.

Here’s the perfect scenario for understanding this: Imagine you're a hunter gatherer out for a walk on the savannah and all of a sudden a wild boar charges you. It's a good thing that your heart rate, blood pressure increase. It’s a crucial part of your physiology meant to ensure your escape and this your survival. But at the same time these survival mechanisms activate, your digestion and sex hormone production plummet. This is how it’s supposed to be, but it’s a problem when it rarely or never calms down.

Enter the modern lifestyle….traffic, work deadlines, inflammatory food, over-exercise, or its opposite, couch potato syndrome, smoking, OTC drug abuse, lack of rejuvenating activities. The list goes on…I’m sure you get it.

The constant activation of the stress response via the SAS and HPA pathways erodes resilience and paves the way for metabolic breakdown.

The loss of resilience is associated with the modern day disease epidemic and is why stress contributes to so many conditions.

SOME CONDITIONS ASSOCIATED WITH CHRONIC HPA AXIS STIMULATION:

  • Depression

  • Fibromyalgia

  • Excessive exercise

  • Diabetes

  • Central obesity

  • Asthma

  • Rheumatoid arthritis

  • Eczema

  • PMS

  • Thyroid disease

If you’ve gone to a holistically minded doctor and you’ve got any number of these problems and a saliva test, you’ve probably been handed an adrenal fatigue diagnosis.

The adrenal fatigue model is loosely based on the work of Hans Selye and his general adaptation syndrome theory. Selye explained the progression of stress over time in 3 stages: alarm, resistance and exhaustion.

THE ADRENAL FATIGUE MODEL WITH THE THREE STAGES OF ADRENAL BURNOUT IS LOOSELY BASED ON THIS MODEL:

  • Stage 1 of adrenal fatigue is high cortisol with DHEA on its way down.

  • Stage 2 of adrenal fatigue is falling cortisol (which is sometimes in the normal range) and decreasing levels of DHEA

  • Stage 3 is even lower cortisol and lower DHEA.

But is the adrenal fatigue concept really accurate?
— Maria Claps, HHC, FDNP

Not really. Consider two problems with the “adrenal fatigue” diagnosis:

Most people with “adrenal fatigue” don’t have low cortisol levels. The assessment of adrenal fatigue has depended on saliva measurement of cortisol taken at 4 distinct points throughout the day. Cortisol measured in saliva is only 2-5% of our total cortisol production. The vast majority (around 70%) of our cortisol is excreted in urine. This measurement is called metabolized cortisol. Free (salivary) cortisol is NOT the best marker for cortisol production. Metabolized cortisol, however, is a good marker for overall cortisol production.

This would not matter if free and metabolized cortisol was the same. But often, they are quite different.

It’s possible to have low free cortisol and high metabolized cortisol.

Some conditions with associated with low free cortisol and high total (aka metabolized) cortisol:

  • Obesity

  • Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

  • Insulin resistance

  • Hyperthyroidism

  • Active stress response

  • Long term glucocorticoid use

Also, it is possible to have high free cortisol and low metabolized cortisol. This is commonly seen in liver damage and hypothyroidism.

***Special note for hypothyroid sufferers: If you get a DUTCH test and it shows up as high free cortisol and low total (aka metabolized) cortisol, you might be getting overdosed on your thyroid medication***

Therefore, a saliva test is an incomplete picture of true cortisol production.

Even when total cortisol is low, it's rarely because the adrenals are tired and unable to produce it. The control mechanisms for cortisol production reside in the brain and central nervous system, not the adrenal glands themselves. The adrenals produce cortisol but the regulatory mechanisms are primarily outside the adrenal glands. Therefore we should not be calling the problem of low cortisol adrenal fatigue, but instead it should simply be called “low cortisol mechanisms”.

Here are two reasons why cortisol production can drop:

1) Down regulation of the HPA axis – when we are exposed to stress for a long time, there can be a down regulation in cortisol receptor sensitivity. This is the body’s attempt to protect itself from the damaging effects of chronically high cortisol levels. The problem with this is that it actually ends up hampering the body’s ability to produce cortisol. This is an adaptive short term mechanism that becomes harmful in the long-term.

 

2) Impaired cortisol signaling – High cortisol levels will lead to cortisol resistance. This can be caused by a decrease in cortisol receptor sensitivity and/or a decrease in cortisol receptor expression.

With the DUTCH (Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones) method of testing, which tests both free and metabolized cortisol, we have a greater understanding of the health of the adrenal glands. (We also get to look at sex hormone production and estrogen metabolite breakdown.)

True adrenal fatigue, if the term is to be used at all, should be reserved for those who have Addison’s disease, an autoimmune inability to produce cortisol.

But for the vast majority of us, our “adrenal fatigue” is simply a miscommunication between the brain/adrenals exacerbated by how we were designed to live (nutrient dense food, infrequent activation of the stress response, plenty of exposure to sunlight, connection with nature) and how many of us actually live (too much exposure to electronic screens, nutrient poor food and go-go-go lifestyles).

So what’s a woman to do?

You can get your adrenal hormones accurately (key word here!) and this is called the DUTCH test. This test uses dried urine to measure hormone levels. Precision Analytical laboratory in Oregon is the maker of this test.

Maria Claps, HHC, FDNP

Maria Claps, HHC, FDNP

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Sign up to get my guide on fixing your perimenopause hormones because knowledge is power.

This guide has everything I wish I knew when I went into perimenopause. Stuff even your holistic and integrative doctor may not be telling you.

You can get it at www.mariascopes.com.

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Interpreting Your Period Symptoms with Rachel Eyre

Rachel Eyre is a young woman who is of the generation of women that may get their periods quite young due to environmental factors.  Rachel got her period at age 8 or 9, and they came on heavy and painful.  She proceeded to develop an array of troubling symptoms, including severe migraines, and was taking 40 medications at day by age 28.

Luckily for her and us, she turned to natural medicine and educated herself on the causes of women's health woes.  She is now a wealth of knowledge on the following topics:

  • What that weird menstrual color means

  • Why you might have clots

  • A reason behind menstrual headaches

  • A reason behind frequent urination

  • Alternatives to hormonal birth control

  • Uterine positioning and "dancing fallopian tubes"

  • The link between dioxin and endometriosis

She will also cover some cool solutions that you can do at home such as:

  • Yoni steams

  • Castor oil packs

  • Abdominal massage

Rachel taught me a LOT on this interview, and I think you'll learn a lot too!

Links:

Rachel's site: thehealthywomb.com

Research site about progesterone and more: cemcor.ca 

Listen here:

 

The best way to listen to all our expert interviews is to be subscribed through iTunes or most podcast players.

Feel free to leave your comments below.

Thanks! Bridgit

Skin Care: Dangers and Possibilities with Denie Hiestand

Denie Hiestand is a natural health consultant, author, research expert, and former successful New Zealand dairy farmer. Denie has spent decades studying the skin and toxins/chemicals in everyday cosmetics and personal care products and identified a strong link between the high usage of chemical personal care products and the growing rates of cancers, infertility, hormone imbalances, allergies and various other modern day illnesses.

In response to his patient’s requests, Denie set about to create a completely pure and natural range of skincare products which not only contained none of the harmful additives found in the majority of commercial products, but equally importantly, contained life-giving, cell nourishing ingredients which feed and nourish the skin.

It took him eight years, many attempts and a big investment of his own money (including selling his wife's car out from under her!) to develop his skincare line, called The Cream.

Denie has a no-nonsense "New Zealand farm boy" style in his communication.  His passion to prevent women from using dangerous skin care products, and his passion to formulate alternative, effective products is evident in this interview.

Here are a few things he shared about conventional skincare:

  • Chemicals in skin cream are designed to enter through skin 

  • This makes them the #1 source of toxin ingestion- absorbing up to 2.6 lbs a year

  • 99% of disease involves toxins 

  • 90% of chemicals in use are used in cosmetics

  • One month on commercial skincare is worse 10 years of smoking

  • In reproductive women, toxins are stored in the fatty acid reserves, which the fetus lives off of in the 1st trimester

  • In menopausal women, storage is more in the organs such as the breast

Denie's skincare line is colostrum-based. Colostrum is produced in lactating mammals the first 72 hours after giving birth.  

These days colostrum is being used more a health supplement.  Denie was already aware of the power of colostrum from his experience as a dairy farmer. Colostrum activates the cells, the immune system, and has "electric and zeta potential." It stimulates growth hormone.

Their colostrum is sourced from healthy, grass-fed, antibiotic-free New Zealand dairy cows. The cows produce a surplus, so collecting it is no detriment to their offspring.

Denie and his staff are extending a 20% discount plus free shipping to our listeners through June 30, 2016 with the code HEALTHYSKIN at check-out.  Shop and explore at TheCream.com.  

You can listen to the interview below, and be sure to subscribe to a podcast at iTunes or most podcast players.

June Seed Cycling Challenge

In Portland, OR (my hometown), the city hosts a cycling challenge, challenging you to ride your bike to work as many days as you can.

This is a different cycling challenge!

Seed cycling - alternating the consumption of certain raw seeds every 2 weeks - is intended to support the production and clearance of hormones.  It's very safe and gentle, but always ask your doctor first if you are on medications or in poor health.  

This protocol is NOT intended for pregnant women.  It is safe for breastfeeding women, women trying to conceive, menopausal women and even for men!  My husband will unwittingly be on the rotation as I'll put the seeds in our shakes.

How to Do It:

Seeds:

Phase 1:  Raw, freshly-ground (same day), pumpkin and/or flax seed

Phase 2:  Raw, freshly-ground (same day), sunflower and/or sesame seed

Dosage:  You will see slightly different recommendations in different places.  You can do rounded 1 T of each, 2 T of just one type, or up to 4 T total (measurement is made before grinding) in a day.  I think what is most important to to get at least 2 T a day (size before grinding.)  If you happen to get in extra servings, no problem!

Timing:

Cycling women: If you are currently cycling, you start phase 1 of the seeds on the first full day of your period. Day 1-14 is your follicular phase. You will then switch to phase 2 on day 15 of your cycle.  Day 15-28 is your luteal phase.

Non-cycling women:  This goes for menopause, breastfeeding women, or women with amenorrhea (no cycle in 3 or more months.)  Start phase 1 of the seeds on June 4 (the new moon.)  You will switch to phase 2 of the seeds on June 20, or the full moon.  

To see a lunar calendar, click here.

Notes:

When do I switch the seeds exactly?

Seed cycling is recommend on a 28 day cycle.  However the lunar cycle is 29.5 days.

I would say if you are going with the lunar calendar, stick to the lunar schedule.

If you are a cycling woman, always switch on day 15, but if you cycle runs longer than 28 days, it's ok to keep taking phase 2 seeds a couple extra days, but no more.

This is a tip from the website of Dr. Amy Neuzil, ND, "If you’re trying to get pregnancy it’s important to continue the luteal-phase seeds (sesame/sunflower) until you actually have a period, just in case you are pregnant that month. This gives the egg the best chance at implantation."

Can you just take the seeds whenever?

It depends.  If you are trying to really stick to the phase 1 and phase 2, avoid eating a bunch of tahini (contains sesame seeds) in phase 1.  But, sure you can have hummus a couple times, no problem.

The other side of the coin, say if you are post-menopausal, or have a healthy cycle but just want to eat these foods as boost, you can take the seeds whenever, but just know you aren't really seed cycling anymore, but you are instead just getting some healthful, hormone-boosting foods throughout the month.

What if my diet doesn't allow me to eat some of these seeds?

If you are avoiding, for example, flax seeds and sunflower seeds, then just use the pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds in rotation. If you are avoiding all nuts and seeds, then you can rotate fish oil supplement in your phase 1 (2 caps a day), and then use borage oil in phase 2 (2 caps a days).

You can purchase these at our supplement shop under the names GLA 240 and OmegAvail Ultra.

Do I need to soak the seeds?

No, you don't need to soak the seeds, but you are welcome to do so to increase the digestibility.

Community:

We are mainly hosting the chat for this event on our private Facebook group. You can ask to join that here.  (It's free.) If you do use Facebook, I highly recommend that you join!

If you aren't a Facebook person, it's no problem.  You can also leave comments or questions at the close of this blog.

We had a super fun Q and A webinar, Fixing Your Hormones with Food, to talk about seed cycling and balancing hormones with food (especially estrogen dominance) on 6/23/16 with Magdalena Wszelaki of HormonesBalance.com.

Watch the webinar replay here.

Magdalena offers a really great, free, online cooking class called Cooking for Balance.  Watch it here.

Recipe Links:

Estrogen Boosting Crackers

Progesterone Boosting Crackers

Recipe Videos:

Please be sure to watch this first video, as it is the main instructional video. The other videos are recipes.  We have two and will be adding more on June 15!

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:

Audrey's website

Miranda Gray's website

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.

A Better Approach to Perimenopause

This is a guest blog article from our friend Dr. Anna Cabeca, MD, OB/GYN.  Learn more about Anna and her resources at the close of the article.

HORMONES IN BALANCE ARE GOOD, HORMONE IMBALANCE IS BAD. 

What do I mean by that?  In healthy menstruating females, hormones cycle on a monthly basis.  Our first day of our period is cycle day one, progesterone and estrogen is at their lowest; this is the follicular phase.  At around cycle day 12 - 14, ovulation occurs and our progesterone levels increase awaiting a pregnancy, this is the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, if pregnancy does not occur, progesterone drops and our period occurs again.  

Commonly, in our thirties, our progesterone levels start to drop, more than our estrogen levels, creating something called estrogen dominance. This gives us irregular menstrual cycles, possibly heavier bleeding, increased pain with the menses and PMS symptoms such as breast tenderness, irritability, bloating, etc.  

We may also begin to lose our sex drive and vaginal lubrication.  Our skin may become itchy, noticeably more wrinkled - sometimes this seems to appear overnight - welcome to hormone imbalance!

What can you do about hormone imbalances?  

The answer is not just one thing.  I always recommend a balanced head to toe approach.  My head to toe approach encourages every woman to take control of her health!  So, where should the focus be for women at this time?

Focus on the spiritual:  What is the mental atmosphere that you find yourself in and what can you do to gain some perceived control of it?

Environment: What are your personal and work environments; and what could be interfering with your ability to achieve happiness? How much nature are you experiencing?  Are you getting enough sunlight? When was the last time you walked outside barefoot?

Nutrition:  Your body is your temple and what should you be ingesting to nurture it? Is the food you are eating promoting ketosis or fat-burning?  Is it alkalinizing? These two principles are key.

Digestion:  No matter how well you eat, you have to ensure that you have appropriate digestion - that means adequate acid and digestive enzymes in your stomach and healthy bacterial flora in your intestines to absorb the nutrients. A surprising number of women have poor digestion.

Detoxification: Since the 1950's, corporations have introduced greater than 500,000 chemicals into our environment.  Additionally, no matter how we get our hormones, whether it is from what our body naturally produces or from the xeno-estrogens from the environment from pesticides, herbicides, food we eat, air we breathe, etc.;  how our body gets rid of it is even more important.  All my patients are introduced to my nutrient and protein base detoxification program that includes a modified elimination diet to remove foods, etc., that are likely to produce allergies.

Hormonal balancing: We need to consider the hypothalamic, pituitary, adrenal, and gonadal axis, i.e. the entire hormone web.  Additionally, each woman is hormonally unique and part of achieving your optimal health is in understanding this and achieving your own hormonal balance.

Structure and function: Physical strength and exercise are the final and very important aspects to achieving optimal health.

So, when I approach a woman who has symptoms of hormone imbalance, and this is my area of expertise for the last 20 years, we need to incorporate all of the above aspects into a balanced treatment program.  For hormone balancing, I consider the major hormones such as adrenaline, cortisol and thyroid, and the hormones estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and DHEA.  

Based on a given individual, I may recommend bio-identical hormone therapy for things such as for treating hot flashes, helping with bones, brain, and heart, improving our sex lives, skin, and energy, and for maintaining our optimal body weight.  

My approach has always been to prescribe the lowest doses in the most balanced fashion, based on a given woman’s specific medical history and symptoms, along with test results such as saliva and serum hormone testing.  Adding hormones may help, but there are a couple key physiologic lifestyle tips that we must incorporate for optimum success and optimum menopausal experience.  

Let me give an example:

Zoe is 43 years old and her periods had gradually becoming more frequent; she complained of more irritability prior to her periods and absolutely no sex drive.  And even worse than this – she just felt out of sync.  She said that she used to organize all 4 children’s schedules and keep her bills organized, and she volunteered a lot at the school; yet she suddenly felt that she couldn’t even organize her car pool.  She had 'lost her edge'.  

I took an extensive history, covering all 7 topics above, and did serum, saliva and urinary testing to evaluate hormones and detoxification.  She was definitely progesterone deficient, estrogen dominant and also was fatty acid deficient, i.e. she needed more healthy fats, especially omega 3's in her diet.  I prescribed a bio-identical progesterone cream and a testosterone cream and in 3 weeks she returned stating she was "feeling better than she had in years!"  She had "gotten her edge back".  She was also sleeping better, her sex drive returned and her focus and stamina returned.  I had also recommended a balanced quality multivitamin, omega 3's, calcium, and a few other nutrients based on nutrient testing such as Co Q 10, Alpha lipoic acid, and carnitine to improve her energy and weight as well.

Her periods became regular, in fact, she stated she couldn't even tell when her periods were coming - the PMS was entirely gone and her relationship with her husband became more satisfying and intimate again.

Dr. Anna Cabeca OB/GYN

Dr. Anna Cabeca OB/GYN

It is hard for women, especially because we have so many different roles and obligations, to take the time for ourselves that we need in order to feel our best and perform our best for all those that we love around us.  

I encourage each and every one of you to take that time…to remember to try and do as much naturally as you can towards the 7 areas above so that you can achieve your optimal health.

And if you are still struggling with haywire hormones, join me in learning more about the above principles. Take my Menopause Report Card quiz here!  

Four Tips for Menopause

When your ovaries are shutting down or have shut down, what is most important is to stabilize and nourish other systems.  You can be more energetic, balanced and joyful when all systems are a go!

So I want to highlight a few key systems to support, and share a tidbit on how to support each one:

1.  Adrenals- These glands will give you your get-up-and-go, and well as help you handle stress.  Tip:  Being fully asleep by 10 PM will allow you to repair these glands on a nightly basis.

2. Pancreas- This gland supports blood sugar handling, and it doesn't appreciate peaks and valleys.  When you jack in with sugars or skipped meals, you can get anxious, fat, fatigued and more.  Tip:  Also choose slow-burning whole starches like sweet potato, quinoa or wild rice.  Avoid processed treats and alcohol.

3.  Liver- Your liver starts the recycling process of hormones, so you want it running smoothly.  Tip:  Support with your liver with foods it likes such as pastured eggs, onion, garlic, brussels sprouts and spinach.

4. Intestines- The recycling/detoxification process continues in the colon, so you want a healthy gut that moves at least every 24 hours.  Tips:  Eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables to feed the friendly bacteria in your gut.  Aim for 20 different types a week!  Walking after a meal is great for digestion too, and it signals to your body to uptake sugars, thus avoiding insulin resistance and weight gain.

Getting older is inevitable, but being tired and miserable is optional!  You may need to learn a few new tricks to stay healthy, but it's totally worth it!

Article by Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP

Have you taken our hidden hormone stressors quiz yet?  You can do so here.

Testing and Supporting Your Neurotransmitters with Cammi Balleck

I think you're going to like this episode!  Cammi Balleck really brings it with great information on women's health, focused on brain chemicals (neurotransmitters) and their relationship to our hormones.  

When our hormones ratios are off, our neurotransmitters will likely get affected. Cammi has worked exclusively with female health and hormones for 13 years, and has developed a testing strategy and treatment strategy that get her clients great results from anxiety, pain, food cravings and more.

Learn more at CammiBalleck.com.  You can download detailed notes and links below. Thanks! Bridgit

Listen to Episode

 

Download Notes

 

Feel free to share your comments below.  And if you are not yet subscribed to Women's Wellness Radio, you can do so at iTunes or most podcast players.

Five Fun Ways to Fix Your Adrenal Glands

Many people mistake the picture of health for a picture of deprivation. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.  We can enjoy good food, good friends, and lots of fun and pleasure while we enjoy good health as well!

Today we’re going to cover five fun ways to heal your adrenal glands.  The adrenal glands produce hormones for energy and stress-handling, and they take a beating in our culture of chronic stress.

Adrenal function can go awry in three phases:

  1. Hyperfunction- You are producing a lot of cortisol and may feel like you have a lot of of energy.  However you may have trouble relaxing, may be gaining mid-section weight, and may have lost interest/focus for sex.

  2. Dysregulation- Your adrenals are fatiguing, and your energy is varied.  You may be tired in the mid-afternoon, and relaying on caffeine and sugar for a lift.  You might be getting sick too often.  You may feel like you only have energy late at night.

  3. Exhaustion- Your adrenals don’t have a lot to give.  You may get diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome or hypothyroidism.  You may just feel like a shadow of your once energetic self.

There are causes of stress beyond the obvious ones (traffic jams, deadlines, fights), that include things like environmental toxicants, internal parasites and food sensitivities.  

But today we are going to focus on ways to calm and restore your body, that you’ll also enjoy!  These tips support you, whichever phase of adrenal dysregulation you may be experiencing. 

 

1.  Have unstructured time. 

Is your day planned out and packed from morning to bedtime?  This is very tiring on your system!  Give yourself some time to just wander, relax and do whatever you choose.  If your day is really packed, you may have to actually schedule this time.  

2.  Get out in nature. 

Getting outdoors can shift your perspective away from your worries, and help you see the bigger picture.  This can be a true camping trip, sunbathing in a park, or just walking around your neighborhood.  The fresh air, vitamin D and phytochemicals emitted from plants will all help balance your cortisol. (1) (2)

3.  Vacation. 

With smartphones, laptops and ever-present wifi, many people are working seven days and week.  Taking a long weekend or, better yet, a whole week or month to really unplug and explore is super restorative.  When is your next vacation?!

4.  Read.

Reading, preferably on an old-fashioned paper book without the blue light of a screen, has been studied to be very effective for relaxation.  I also encourage reading fiction, or whatever subjects really ‘takes you away.’  Your body will appreciate this break! (3)

5.  Sleep. 

Sleep is the most restorative thing we do.  It’s so important that it takes up a third of our day!  There is an old saying that every hour of sleep before midnight is worth two hours.  This may be because we produce more human growth hormone when we sleep when it turns dark, instead of staying up. (4) So, especially while you are healing adrenal dysregulation, it’s important to get to bed before 10 PM.  

You may find that you ramp up if you stay up after 10.  This does not mean that you are a nocturnal creature.  It means your circadian rhythm and cortisol rhythm is off.  So you really need to try to get it back on track.  That may mean working with a practitioner, but for starters, avoid sugar and alcohol at night, and end screen time by 8 PM.  

You will find that you feel much better the next day when you are asleep by 10.  The human growth hormone we produce when we sleep repairs our bodies and gives us energy. (5)  Human growth hormone is what we produce more of when we are young, so getting good sleep is like a little fountain of youth every night.  

Please incorporate these five fun cures for your adrenals, and you just might find you want to keep these habits around!

For more information on healthy lifestyle for women, take our free Hidden Hormone Health Stressors quiz!

Contributed by Bridgit Danner, LAc, FDNP

Sources:

  1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2793346/

  2. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20074458

  3. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/5070874/Reading-can-help-reduce-stress.html

  4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3720426

  5.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12797841

Cooking Up Love for Your Thyroid with Chef and Health Coach Andrea Beaman

Andrea Beaman did not always eat so well.  Microwave dinners and toaster pizzas were on the menu.  Eventually she was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.  

Also her dear mom had breast cancer that had spread, and she was given not long to live.  In looking for solutions for her mom, she turned to whole foods and healthy mindset.  

Andrea later went on to be on the first season of Top Chef, after being encouraged by one of her cooking students.  Andrea did not own a TV, and had no idea what she was getting into, so it turned into quite an adventure!

Some of Andrea's many get quotes:

"Autoimmunity can be healed."

"Don’t wait till you’re in the grave to make a change."

"Cooking at home and feeding others is so valuable."

On pesticides..."the difference between the bug and us is size."

"This century is about thyroid.  50 years of women not eating fat, not getting minerals carried by fat got us here."

 "I value the doctors. If I go outside and get hit by a bus, please take me to the doctor, don't take me to the health food store."

"Fad diets are always missing some food group."

Vegans- Get adrenal exhaustion.

Paleo- Missing starches needed for microbiome, which backs up liver. Starches feed the mitochondria.

Nourishing Thyroid Health is Andrea's online educational program on the thyroid.  Learn about:

  • Preparing foods

  • How the endocrine system works

  • Environmental toxicants

  • How to heal the digestive system

  • How to heal the adrenals

  • The emotional and spiritual aspect of thyroid health

Includes:

  • Guest expert modules

  • Live coaching calls

Please check out the program here: https://tinyurl.com/thyroid123

Andrea's Top Five Take-aways:

  1. Eat clean- get toxins out

  2. Support your energetic body with exercise of some sort, inc. tai chi, yoga

  3. Destress- set boundaries

  4. Get some sun- get outdoors

  5. You’re worth it!

Andrea and I also recorded a short video on youtube that is super fun.  You can access it below, for your own mini-cooking lesson with Andrea.

 

The two books that inspired Andrea in those early days are:

Physician Heal Thyself by Hugh Faulkner

The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton

Listen below.

If you enjoyed this episode, please support us by rating and reviewing us on iTunes!

You can also get subscribed to this weekly show on iTunes and many Android podcast players.

The Four Pillars of Happy Perimenopause with Maria Claps

Before you jump into hormone replacement, or get hooked on mood-altering medications during your perimenopausal years, you need to hear out Maria Claps!

Maria is a health coach and functional medicine practitioner who entered full menopause before 50.  But before that, she had a rough ride in perimenopause.  After not sleeping for three full days, she broke down and saw a holistic medical doctor.  Though she got some relief, she didn't get the careful testing and holistic approach she would have liked.

She went on to become an expert on perimenopause, and now sees, primarily, women ages 45-50 who are complaining of fatigue, low libido, weight gain and low mood.

She developed her approach to hormone health, which she calls the 4 pillars.  These include liver care, adrenal support, blood sugar balancing, and hormone testing.

We talk especially about a test we both like, called the Dried Urine Test of Comprehensive Hormones.  This test can save you a lot of grief!

Listen in, and learn about Maria's approach.

For more on Maria, see:

Her program "Balance Your Hormones, Love Your Life" which starts May 2, 2016

Or pick up her free perimenopause guide: http://nourishandflourishhealth.com/

 

Have you joined our online summit yet?  It's free, and preview event start 3/30/16! Sign up at Hormones: A Women's Wellness Summit.

See Maria's demonstration on homemade kombucha below:

Eliminate Endometriosis Pain with Melissa Turner

Hello, and a big thank you for listening.  We've had a surge in listeners in the past month, and it's thanks to YOU listening and sharing!

About 6-8% of all women have endometriosis (source), and many of those experience severe, chronic pelvic pain.  Many of those women will undergo surgery, or multiple surgeries, as our guest expert Melissa Turner did.

Exhausted and frustrated, Melissa turned to dietary changes to see if that could help. She did find relief there, but also found that there was more the solution than obsessing over diet.

Melissa now experiences her cycle with nary a blip on her radar, and she teaches others to do the same at endoempowered.com.

In this interview, she explains how she developed her REACH method. (She's got a new Endo Wellness Technique program starting soon here.)

Melissa also made an appearance on our youtube channel to take about turmeric.

And she generously wrote a blog for us called, What Few People Will Dare to Tell You About Endometriosis.  Intrigued? Check it out here!

If you are not a subscriber to our podcast, we'd love for you to become one!  You can do so at iTunes, or search your podcast player for "Womens Wellness Radio."

Do you have any experiences overcoming your endometriosis symptoms?  Please share below.

Hormones: A Women's Wellness Summit- Registration is Now Open!

We are super excited to announce that our pretty registration page is now open for YOU to sign up!

Join Here

Just a few of our 35 features speakers!

Just a few of our 35 features speakers!

We are so proud of this event, and can't wait to share it with you!  But you don't really have to wait, because you'll get three video interviews with three reference guides right away!  

REGISTER FOR THE SUMMIT

We are also looking for good folks to spread the word about the summit. You can do that as:

A 'professional' (aka- you have an email newsletter and you're in the health field)

Become a Summit Affiliate

 

An individual (aka- you just love us and want more women to be healthy)

Join Our 'Street Team' Here

Thank you so much for your support, and we'll see you on the summit!

Questions?  Hit me up here.  

Love, Bridgit

Can We Treat Fibroids Naturally? with Dr. Allan Warshowsky

 

I was honored to interview Dr. Allan Warshowsky, author of Healing Fibroids: A Doctor’s Guide to a Natural Cure.  Dr. Allan is a pioneer in progressive and integrative care for women's health, doing it long before it was popular, and out of frustration that he couldn't get results for his patients with conventional care.

With his wife Priscilla, he now runs a small wellness practice in Rye, NY, and sees clients from all over the world.

 

Dr. Allan tells us that 30-70% of women get fibroids, and he estimates that 80% of fibroid surgeries could be avoided.

His approach includes:

 

  • Reducing inflammation

  • Restoring hormone imbalance

  • Detoxification

  • Gut repair

  • Blood sugar balancing

  • Caster oil packs or poke oil packs

  • Creating connection to fibroids with massage, visualization 

  • Moving into parasympathetic mode of nervous system with meditation, gratitude

  • Dry skin brushing

  • Breast massage

  • Clearing chakra issues

  • Elimination diet- including removing allergenic and GMO

"Being in the moment is the only time to heal and have joy."

Learn how to prevent fibroids, or if you are a good candidate to treat your fibroids naturally!

Listen below of subscribe 'Women's Wellness Radio' on your podcast player, for best health results!!

Resources:

doctorallan.com

American Board of Integrative Holistic Physicians

abihm.com


Reducing Toxins for a Healthy Conception with Lara Adler

Lara Adler is a Certified Holistic Health Coach and an Environmental Toxins Expert, and, let me tell you something, this girl knows her toxins.  Many of us know a thing or two about toxins, but Lara knows everything!

Today we talk about the influence of toxins on fertility and our growing babies. Because developing fetuses are so much more susceptible to the mal-effects of toxins, and because the effects can last a lifetime, it is important that we learn how to protect them as much as is possible.

However this episode is helpful for anyone who is curious about toxins and how to reduce them.  

Tired of having that same old argument with your uncle Ron, with him saying that there is no reason to be worried about RoundUp and food coloring and the like? Now you have some ammunition!

In this episode, we'll learn:

  • That indoor air quality can be 50-100 times worse than outdoors

  • That some chemicals are neurotoxins, especially in developing baby

  • The chemicals are linked to PCOS (leading cause of sub-fertility)

  • The chemicals linked to fertility issues in men

  • How birth defects on boy babies are on the rise

  • That being pregnant detoxes chemicals out of mom and into baby

  • That avoiding BPA is not enough and why

  • And Lara's three best first steps to reduce your toxic load

To learn more about Lara, visit her site here.  Lara specializes in teaching practitioners, but will be expanding her offerings to the public over time.  

You can listen through the audio player below.  But the best way to get this and all our interviews, wherever you are, is to be subscribed to our podcast.

Addressing Pelvic Pain and Infertility with Dr. Jennifer Mercier

Dr. Jennifer Mercier is a triple threat: naturopath, massage therapist and midwife.  I kind of fall in love with her work on the episode, as you'll hear!  

It was Jennifer's own experience with stage 4 endometriosis, coupled with her medical training, that helped her develop the Mercier Therapy.

Mercier Therapy is her own system of abdominal therapy that works with the ligaments and organs to move them into alignment with the goals of restoring function and /or reducing pain.

For women, it can help us have a smoother cycle, recover from surgeries, improve our fertility and heal trauma.

I find so many have strange sensations in their abdomens that they worry about. And many have complications form C section or even a natural birth, and feel there are no options to heal.  Still other have unexplained infertility, that can potentially respond to a new approach.

Jennifer works locally in St. Charles, IL, but also trains practitioners in other states and countries.  That means if this type of work speaks to you, you may be able to fidn a practitioner in your area.  And if you are practitioner, training is available.  

Her clinic

Her training program

Find a practitioner

The Mercier Movie

We are hosting a free Recipe Party Jan 9 -31, 2016. See new blog post to join!

Listen to the Interview

You can listen to the interview through the player below, but even better is to get subscribed to Women's Wellness Radio through your Apple or Android podcast player!