Women's hormones, gut + metabolism

Are You Running on Stress Hormones?

I saw a quote a while ago that I strongly resonated with and I think most of you will too:

“If you listen to your body when it whispers you won’t have to hear it scream”

Society makes women feel like they need to do it all. We are seen as weak if we don’t.

We are expected to work hard and have thriving careers, take care of everything at home, take care of the kids, cook healthy meals, get a hard workout in everyday, you can’t say no or your are seen as a bitch, and on top of that we are expected to look a certain way. The pressure we put on ourselves is wild.

This pressure, these expectations, are what is causing our health to spiral.

We are stressed the F out. We spread ourselves too thin. We are stuck in a constant state of stress and honestly it’s hard to remember to eat and on top of that a nourishing meal. In some cases we even praise ourselves for being able to run on fumes (or stress hormones) all day not eating a crumb all day.

One of the only ways we can come out of this stressed out state and feel better is by nourishing ourselves. Eating every 3-4 hours, eating protein, carb and fat at every meal, getting in a bedtime snack, eat the damn carbs and fruit, focusing on eating superior foods from animal sources, and start taking care of yourself, stop over committing and just say no.

Symptoms are our bodies cries for help and most of the time we are too wound up in “life” that we don’t listen and we end up depleting ourselves even further. Listen to your body she is trying to keep you alive.

Why Am I So Hungry The Week Before My Period?

Do you find yourself ravenous a few days before your period? Or maybe even a whole 2 weeks before your period?

Well I am here to tell you this is totally normal and a GOOD thing!

Here’s the deal. After ovulation, progesterone is the dominant hormone. Progesterone makes your temps rise and warms you up, stimulates the thyroid and increases your metabolism. Your body is actually burning more fuel from ovulation to menstruation.

When this happens your need for nutrients and minerals goes up. In most cases, you will find your body needing at least 300 calories more a day. This is a great thing, you want your metabolism to increase!

Don’t fight it! EAT and honor those signals! This is just another reason why dieting and hormones don’t mix. You can’t expect to balance your hormones if you are eating the same macronutrients every single day and knocking out strenuous energy sucking work outs day in and day out.

Simple way to know what is going on with your cycle is to check your temps right when you wake up in the morning. During the luteal phase (from ovulation to menstruation) your temps should rise anywhere from 0.5-1 degree.

During this time focus on getting your blood sugar in check and eating balanced nourishing meals every 3-4 hours and upon waking. Just because you need more calories doesn’t mean you should be sucking down taco bell. Eat with intention and nourishment in mind.

Another thing to keep in mind- your body simply can not use progesterone efficiently when you’re on the blood sugar rollercoaster. A drop in blood sugar means a drop in progesterone.

Have no appetite? You are running on stress hormones girlfriend!

Your Breakfast Will Make or Break You

I know. “BUT I heard fasting in the morning is SOOO BENEFICIAL and working out fasted is even better”… 🙄

The number one thing you can do to balance your hormones is to eat breakfast. SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK! Yes, I am talking a nice balanced nutritious breakfast consisting of carb and protein within an hour of waking up. No this does not include some bullshit coffee with a fat bomb in it to hold you over until lunch.

“But why Laura? I feel so good when I fast in the morning.” 🙄

Give it some time Girlfriend- you are running on stress hormones and eventually your body will crash.

We have always heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day until recently when the fasting community decided we no longer needed to nourish ourselves after ALREADY fasting for 10 hours a night. Excuse me? Talk about adding fuel to the stress fire. As if our hormones are not already out of wack because of day to day life stressors why not make our body feel even less safe and secure by STARVING it.

Blood sugar balance is the NUMBER ONE thing we can do to balance our hormones and eating breakfast. Reason being is our bodies are completely depleted from fasting overnight. Our liver can only hold on to glucose for 8-10 hours until it has to start making it’s own.Talk about stressful. And if our liver is compromised at all from things like low carb diets and nutrient deficiencies then it will run out of glucose even sooner. When your body has to make its own glucose that’s when the stress hormones kick in – cortisol and adrenaline. What do these guys do? The lower progesterone and increase estrogen causing a hormonal shit storm- moodiness, PMS, PCOS, headaches, HA, acne, and poor thyroid function.

Eating breakfast when you wake up prevents your body from having to do this super stressful process and keeps your hormones in check.

No appetite in the morning? That is a clear sign your body is conserving energy and suppressing your hunger, digestion, and reproduction.

Don’t drink coffee on an empty stomach, quit fasting for 12-16 hours a day, and ditch the fasted workouts. And remember you are not more worthy because you don’t eat breakfast.

Are You in Survival Mode?

Some mornings you get up around 6am maybe 8am, slam out a HIIT workout, maybe eat your breakfast around 9/10am but you try to push having to eat for as long as possible. Maybe you even go for a walk or put in a double workout to get your mind off eating because you hear you need to fast in order to lose weight and feel great.

Your breakfast consists of a smoothie or protein shake of some kind because, you just “can’t stomach eating that much in the morning.”

You head off to work for the day and tend to “forget to eat” lunch because you are just too damn busy. But you feel good about it because that means you can eat more when you get home.

Girlfriend, WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING.

And we wonder why our hormones and thyroids are FUCKED and we don’t feel well. Why we experience PMS, horrible periods or no periods at all, acne, digestive issues, and every symptom under the sun related to poor thyroid function.

GIRL, YOUR BODY IS IN SURVIVAL MODE. Your body doesn’t give two shits about your reproductive system when it’s trying so damn hard just to survive.

Your body will not produce hormones, secrete digestive juices, or basically do anything it needs to do because it does not feel safe to do so. And just forget about losing weight, your body is going to hold onto that safety weight for dear life because it has absolutely no idea when it’s next meal is. Your body is on the blood sugar roller coaster and cortisol is at an all time high. If your appetite sucks we need to fix that, it’s not something to be proud of.

A few tips to help your body feel safe:
✖️Create a morning and night routine and go to bed and wakeup at the same times everyday (yes, even the weekends)
✖️Eat the goddamn carbs! Don’t add that extra stress onto the body and force it to create it’s own glucose.
✖️Eat at the same times every day and often, find times what work best for you.
✖️Eat within 30 minute of waking up in the morning
✖️Never drink coffee on an empty stomach and always add cream and sugar, never black.
✖️Ditch the fasting!
✖️Ditch the HIIT and intense workouts in the morning on no fuel, honestly WTF is the point of working out if you are not going to fuel properly?