Women's hormones, gut + metabolism

What Doctors Tell You About Hormone Balance Vs What You Should Actually Do

Period problems? PMS? PCOS? Endometriosis? Acne? Weight gain? Mood swings? Fatigue? Sore breasts? Night sweats? Low libido? Anxiety/ depression? Migraines?

Let’s just put you on birth control, spironolactone, and metformin (the basic bitch package for hormonal health).

Not into that? You head to a holistic doc.

You are told to take DIM, Zinc, Vitamin D, Vitamin C, eat high fiber, low carb and load up on the cruciferous vegetables. You are told to eliminate dairy, meat and saturated fat, watch the salt and eat more PUFA! Start seed cycling and let’s also start you on a HRT cream from a compound pharmacy, why not, it’s natural and bioidentical, no harm right?

WHAT DA?! 🤯Now we are talking about the alternative health basic bitch package.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, your hormonal issues are not hormonal at all.

Absolutely none of these recommendations gets to the root cause of your hormonal issues.

Seed cycling, nuts and seeds? Talk about a rancid, estrogenic, toxic, shit storm.
DIM and cruciferous vegetables let’s destroy our thyroid and metabolism while we are at it.

Low carb, high fiber? Why are carbs a problem in the first place and fiber? Gut irritation station.

More exercise? Let’s just add to that stress bucket that got you here in the first place.

Zinc, Vitamin D, Vitamin C? Sure let’s just create more mineral imbalances.

HRT? Hormones work in balance with one another and can work against each other.

So what to actually do?

Eat a traditional diet that supports your physiology. This includes eating seasonal – root vegetables and tubers, fruit, honey, grass-fed/ pasture-raised meats (nose to tail), eggs, dairy and wild caught fish.

Address mineral and nutrient imbalances.

You will never heal hormones without addressing digestion and detox. I don’t care if you have zero digestive issues.

Balance your blood sugar, the #1 thing you can do. Eat every 3-4 hours. Combine carb, protein and fat.

You can be doing all of the above but if you hate your life, sleep like shit, have no joy, stressed out, over-exercising or under-eating you simply will not get your hormones in check.

Put in the work girlfriend, it will be worth it!

The Dangers of Soy, Flax, and Plant Estrogens

“We are inundated with propaganda that tells us we can “stay young” with bio-identical estrogen, flax, and soy based products, when in fact these recommendations are literally killing women. Excessive estrogen is the main culprit of breast cancer, yet estrogen therapies have become the mantra for breast health” – Wendy Sellens

The medical industry can skew any study, review, or research depending on what their intention is and what will be the most profitable.

The saddest part.

We are all being played.

How many times have you heard that soy + flax are fantastic for your hormones?

I’l never forget the day I walked into the ND office riddled with estrogen symptoms and was told to add more soy and cruciferous vegetables and seed cycle with flax, as well as take DIM supplement. After I had already been on the birth control pill for 12 years. Holistic healthcare can be dangerous.

Here’s the deal. We live is a highly estrogenic world. We are all ridden with estrogen and most of our hormonal problems come back to an imbalance between estrogen and progesterone.

If you were vegan, fed soy milk or formula as a baby, seed cycled for “hormone balance” took birth control pills or bio-identical estrogen, added flax to your smoothies, took DIM supplements, and ate all the plant estrogens this is not to scare you!

You know better you do better. First step. Knock it off.

Next step. Evaluate your estrogen burden.

That includes the phytoestrogens above as well as those found in skincare, makeup, tap water, plastics, cooking utensils, cleaning supplies, etc…

Third step. Eat a metabolically supporting diet that works for YOUR physiology, address mineral imbalances and get your gut in check.

Girlfriend, you are smarter than this.

Stop being fooled into thinking this garbage will balance your hormones. Your body knows best, really truly listen to it. I can guarantee it’s not jumping for joy every time you give it that man made soy milk or vegan burger and that flax seed waste product.

Your breasts don’t lie. Dr. Hobbins spent his career studying the impacts of these such things on breast health using thermographs.

Not medical advice.

Cruciferous Vegetables + DIM Won’t Balance Your Hormones

So you walk into your holistic docs office with hormonal complaints of breast tenderness or pain, migraines/ headaches, heavy or irregular periods, cystic acne, PMS, anxiety, low libido, fatigue, fibroids, endo, PCOS, and/or weight gain.

They either runs some testing, most likely a blood panel that won’t tell you anything or they just tell you to take some DIM and eat more cruciferous vegetables to help eliminate excess estrogen. You leave thinking OMG I found my answer, this supplement and those vegetables will save me!

Girl, hold your horses!

There is so much more work that needs to be done before slugging down loads of cruciferous vegetables on the daily and taking a DIM supplement.

Not to mention they are probably causing a hormonal shit show. When cooked and in moderation these can be fine but too much of anything can create havoc.

We are living in a world where we are so afraid of carbs that we now replace everything under the sun with cauliflower and kale. PLEASE. Who actually wants cauliflower mashed potatoes, this is some sick joke.

Never in history have we ever consumed this many leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables but yet we are the sickest we have ever been riddled with thyroid and hormonal issues.

I have some clients coming to me that have been taking DIM supplements for years, yes, I said YEARS and making sure they get in their cauliflower mashed potatoes and cauliflower rice everyday, because… “carbs and sugar are bad for hormones but cauliflower helps to balance them!” And they wonder why they aren’t getting any better!

I challenge you to stop making these vegetables a priority in your diet and see how little you actually want them. I gag at the thought of kale or cauliflower. My body is saying “please bitch, give me more energy, what do you think I am?”

I’l pass on these low energy, heavy metal, nutrient sucking, thyroid attacking, digestion destroyer vegetables.

Scroll down to learn more.

A self-paced program designed to help you overcome your uncomfortable digestive symptoms without restrictive diets and stressful protocols so you can enjoy food again and live a happier, healthier life. Click here to learn more + enroll.

This program is designed to educate you to understand your body better, ditch the diet confusion, optimize your metabolism, and balance your hormones (for real this time) by providing the foundations necessary for you to thrive in a world of diet culture and confusion. Click here to learn more + enroll. 

The Digestion + Hormone Connection

“My doc told me I have adrenal fatigue, I was put on this herbal formula to help with my cortisol response but dang I am just not getting better.” “I was told i’m hypothyroid and to take some supplements targeted towards thyroid health and to avoid dairy and sugar. But it’s been a year and I still don’t feel better.” “I have all the symptoms of estrogen dominance so I started some supplements but I haven’t seen any changes.” Why is this? Because girlfriend. YOU NEVER ADDRESSED THE ROOT CAUSE. We are all so quick to jump right into our diagnosis or symptoms without ever addressing the real root causes: your digestive system and metabolism. “But Laura, I’m taking a probiotic, I poop everyday and I eat “clean” so I know my digestion is great. It’s got to be my hormones that are making me feel awful.” 🙄 OKAY sister, listen up a probiotic and your quote on quote clean diet WILL not heal your digestive system. Mark my words. We need to take into consideration all the shit we have been exposed to that have and are continuously destroying our guts, it can go all the way back to the day you were born, hell the day you were conceived that determines your digestive and overall health later in life Most of us are full of them – pathogens, fungus, opportunistic bacteria, autoimmune triggers… We got them and they are wreaking havoc on our beautiful bodies. If you have tried everything and are still struggling with “mystery” symptoms it’s time to address your gut. The next time your doc or Google MD tells you that have any of these hormonal issues, ask questions and please get yo’ gut in check!

A self-paced program designed to help you overcome your uncomfortable digestive symptoms without restrictive diets and stressful protocols so you can enjoy food again and live a happier, healthier life.Click here to learn more + enroll.

This program is designed to educate you to understand your body better, ditch the diet confusion, optimize your metabolism, and balance your hormones (for real this time) by providing the foundations necessary for you to thrive in a world of diet culture and confusion. Click here to learn more + enroll. 

The Truth About Melatonin Supplementation

I hate to say it but you’ve been fooled! Melatonin is a stress hormone! No not a vitamin, not an “all natural” support for sleep, and certainly not a supplement everyone should be taking. Marketing has done a great job at duping us once again! It is a highly profitable supplement bringing in millions per year.

“Many health food stores are now selling melatonin, to induce sleep and “prevent cancer.” They have taken some information out of context, and don’t realize how dangerous melatonin is. It makes the brain sluggish, causes the sex organs to shrink, + damages immunity shrinking the thymus gland. It is the hormone of darkness and winter, and is produced in the pineal gland by any stress which increases adrenaline.” – Peat

But Laura, “it knocks me out.” Sure, it can make you sleepy because it is impairing your brain and putting your body in hibernation mode (not a good thing). Drinking vodka can also “knock you out,” it’s also “natural”, should you be taking it to fall asleep? Eh no.

Melatonin slows your metabolism, adrenaline goes up in response. When adrenaline goes up, so does melatonin which further slows your metabolism, which worsens sleep.

As humans we perceive darkness as stress.

Stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol rise during darkness. These hormones when chronically high reduce metabolism, lower immunity, decrease blood flow to the intestines, and contribute to storage of belly fat.

Excess stress inducing melatonin increases prolactin levels in the body which can cause excess secretion of calcium in urine leading to mineral imbalances, anxiety, and osteoporosis.

On top of that, excess melatonin stimulates the production of estrogen and inhibits progesterone production causing infertility and every symptom that involves estrogen dominance.

The problem is not that your body is not producing enough melatonin. Why are you having trouble falling asleep in the first place? Look at how you spend your day, your stress levels, get light on your eyes upon waking snd balance blood sugar by eating enough during the day.

Here are six ways you can implement some of these sleep strategies before you reach for that stressful melatonin:

  1. Put devices away 2 hours before + use blue light blocking glasses + red light
  2. Eat a snack 30-60 minutes before bed to keep your blood sugar stable (make sure the snack has sugar + calcium – think dairy)
  3. Get to sleep before 10pm to prevent the stress hormone surge that happens after 10pm. Make sure you go to bed at the same time every night + wake up at the same time every morning regardless of the day.
  4. Stop all caffeine past 2pm
  5. Make sure your bedroom is a comfortable temperature, dark as possible, + use a fan for white noise. Sleep in light clothing or naked + use blackout curtains
  6. Try a weighted blanket, grounding pillowcase, + a pillow that supports your neck
THE COMPLETE BLUEPRINT TO HEALING
YOUR DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

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A self-paced program designed to help you overcome your uncomfortable digestive symptoms without restrictive diets and stressful protocols so you can enjoy food again and live a happier, healthier life.