Ep 84. Hormone Health & Cycle Syncing for Busy Moms in Business

In this episode, host Phylicia Pough and guest Leisha Drews dive deep into the causes of hormonal imbalance in women and its impact on mom burnout and energy levels.

Leisha shares valuable insights on the side effects of hormone imbalances, emphasizing the correlation between hormone balance and productivity in business and motherhood. She also highlights natural remedies for hormone imbalance in females and provides a quiz to identify the top three imbalances affecting individuals.

Furthermore, she explains the importance of understanding the menstrual cycle and how it affects cognitive function and energy, offering tips for aligning activities with different cycle phases to improve productivity.

Listeners looking for natural remedies and practical strategies for managing hormone imbalance and combating mom burnout will find valuable insights in this informative and empowering episode.

About Leisha

Leisha Drews is mom of three, RN, FDN-P and Holistic Hormone Coach and host of the Happily Hormonal Podcast. She brings a unique understanding of how our body systems work together and how stress on the body and mind impact overall health.

She believes that as women we can have it ALL when it comes to health and motherhood, and helping women restore energy, balance hormones and feel good in their bodies again is her passion.

Hormone balance doesn’t have to be overwhelming, and she is here to empower women to understand & trust their bodies again to create change for generations to come.

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Transcript
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You are now tuned in to the mom CEO suite podcast.

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I'm your host, Felicia, wife, mom, and

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entrepreneur. In this podcast, I'll be sharing my mompreneur

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journey along with strategies that will help you build your online

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business operations in a sustainable way. The goal is

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to help you build a business that fits into your lifestyle as a mom who

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values putting family first. We will also hear the

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experiences and expertise of other moms with service

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based businesses. You'll get a peek into our journeys so you'll

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know that you aren't alone. Motherhood gets hard.

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Entrepreneurship gets hard. But together we can

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do hard things. Welcome to the suite.

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Hey friends, welcome to another episode. Thank you so much for being here. And

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we have another guest. I'm super excited for this episode, a little selfishly,

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because I am on, you know, my own wellness journey, and this is

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going to be super informational for me. And I know for you as well.

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So today our guest is Leisha Drews. She is a mama

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three and RN FDMP and holistic

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hormone coach and the host of the happily

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hormonal podcast. She brings a unique understanding of how

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our body systems work together and how stress on the

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body and mind impact overall health. She

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believes that as women, we can have it all when it comes to health and

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motherhood and helping women restore energy, balance hormones and

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feel good in their bodies again is her passion.

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Doesn't have to be overwhelming, and she is here to empower women to

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understand and trust their bodies again to create change

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for generations to come. This is going to

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be so amazing. Hi, Leisha. How are you? I'm so

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good. So good. So glad to be here. Yes, very,

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very excited. So, you know, we've read your bio, but tell us a little bit

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more about you, your business, and what is life like for

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you at this intersection of motherhood and entrepreneurship right

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now? Yeah, so, you know, you can

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write things down in a bio and kind of wrap it up in a pretty

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package, but. What life looks like is I do

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have three kiddos and a husband as well,

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of course. And, um, I am not only working with

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women on their hormones, which I love to do, but I also homeschool my kids

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and I like to be outside and I like to, you know, be the fun

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mom or recording this in the summer. So trying to do like all of those

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things is truly a lot of things. so it can get busy. But

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July, we're almost to July when we're recording this and July

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is my slowdown season this year. I'm really

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hoping anyway, it's my plan. So I'm really looking forward to,

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just time outside with my kids and not having too many things on the

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schedule. Hopefully we've got like, um, my daughter's in dance and we

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did soccer and, you know, just like those things are off the calendar. So that's

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kind of where we are right now in, um, Life and business, but

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there's always plenty to fill up the calendar for sure.

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There's always something to do when it comes to kids and family, right?

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And business too, but when you have it all, it's like, there's always something to

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do. Um, so let's dig in a little bit more into your

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story. talk to us a little bit about what life was like for

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you both prior to and after you

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became intentional with hormone health and functional

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nutrition. Yeah. So a little backstory on me

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is that I started my Kind of like health

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career in nursing. So right out of high school,

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I, um, went into like a pre nursing program kind of like

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right after my, my last year of high school, kind of tried that out. Wasn't

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sure if I would like it and just went all in. I was like, I

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do like this. This is what I want to do. Went to nursing school right

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away. And I really went into it because I

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wanted to help people and I wanted to help people with their health. And I

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wanted to help them when they're sick and when they're hurting and all of those

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things. And I spent between

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while I was in nursing school, I started working in the hospital and, um, through

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my years of working as a nurse, I spent about 10 years in the hospital.

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And In those 10 years, that was when

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I started having some hormone symptoms of my own or started to

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recognize that some of the symptoms I had were hormone symptoms, had my first

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baby, had my second baby, and really just started

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to notice that there was

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something different that I wanted to be able to

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help my patients with. And I saw the same patients coming back again

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and again. And I really was not able to help them like

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get better in the ways that I wanted to. And I didn't have time to

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really, you know, dig into like, what's going on in your lifestyle, what's going on

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with your food, um, those types of things that I knew would be able to

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help them. But that wasn't my role in the hospital.

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And I didn't have a lot of resources. And I also just really didn't have

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a lot of time with my patients besides like keeping them

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alive, generally happy. And like

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checking all the boxes that you have to check as a nurse. And so I

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really started to just think about like, what, like, what can I

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do that is going to be more nutrition focused, more,

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you know, preventative. And as I started to transition into that,

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I really learned that I love working with women. I love working

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with moms specifically because of, you know, that last line of my

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bio of like how we can change our health for generations. You can do that

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by working with moms. Like that automatically impacts at

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least one generation, or I mean, of course the mom and

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then their kids, and then it might even impact their parents. And it's

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definitely going to impact their grandkids. Like it just really

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goes out from the woman and the mom and the household.

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And so when you work with moms, you find that

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hormones are a big part of this. And I think that hormones are so

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just like under Underrated essentially,

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or like a lot of us just kind of think like, uh, hormones, like they're

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bad. They're annoying there, whatever, because it's like what we equate with

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symptoms that are kind of negative. But when we

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actually dig into hormones and what they do, like, hormones are what.

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Allows us to create new life. Like

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that's a mic drop right there. It's like, okay, like, why are we just like

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hormones when it's like, this is what allows us to have babies. This was, this

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is what allows humans to like, keep propagating in the

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world. And so. When I really dove into hormones, I started to

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understand that there was just so much that I hadn't even learned. And

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even in nursing school, like even going through all of these anatomy classes and physiology

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classes and like all the things that I did, I really still didn't even understand

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my own cycle. I had irregular cycles. I thought it was pregnant every

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single month. Like it was just a whole, whole mess. And so

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to kind of like wrap up that question, what has changed for

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me after Understanding hormones better

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and starting to, um, you know, align my

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life a little bit more with how my body was created and how my body

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changes throughout the month as a woman who is cycling. Um,

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it has given me so much more encouragement

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about who I am as a woman and why that is so special and

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why that, you know, Is a beautiful thing to be a woman and it's not

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something that needs to be either, you know, kind of like shut

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down or erased or just thought of

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as like, not as good, which sometimes does happen in our culture,

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but it's really something to celebrate and it's

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something that. We can really change

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the way we see ourselves when we understand how our bodies work. And we

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don't just expect essentially to show up the same way that a man would

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24, 7, because we're not the same. And that's a good thing.

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Yeah. So you said a lot of good things and I want to kind of

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go back a little bit because you didn't mention about how we have

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this, you know, misconception about hormones or we automatically

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think that they're negative. So can you give us like a high

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level? I guess explanation of

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hormones and how they work and then what does it mean for them

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to be balanced? Okay. Yes. So I love this question.

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So hormones essentially are just chemical

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messengers in the body. And so they're little signalers that

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say, Hey, this organ needs to do this thing,

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this cell needs to do this thing. Um, and there

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are many, many, many hormones in the body. Now, as

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women, we typically think most about our sex

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hormones. So estrogen and progesterone are ones that we

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maybe know about. And those are the ones that are going to cause

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our menstrual cycles to happen, cause us to ovulate, cause us to

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bleed, cause us to be able to get pregnant.

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Something that I think is really, really important to know, though, is

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those hormones aren't just like their own little system over here that's

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disconnected from everything else in the body. There are many

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other hormones that interact with those hormones. So some of those are

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going to be stress hormones from our adrenal glands. Some of those are going to

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be thyroid hormones. Some of those are going to be hormones like insulin,

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which relates to our blood sugar and our metabolism like hormones. All of those

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things are actually working together and talking to each other. So we could look at

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it like this is a room full of friends and these two

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besties over here are estrogen and progesterone. And these two other besties over

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here are like DHEA and cortisol, but like, they're all

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part of the same group. They all know each other and they're all talking all

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the time just because we like categorize them, that these two go

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together, like they're all still. Working

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together, essentially. And so when we're looking at hormones,

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I think that it's really important to understand that

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hormones are responding to what is happening in your

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life, whether that's nutrients, whether that's stress, whether that's

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environmental factors, whether that's you like having a baby or

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having a You know, a house fire, or like, there's so many different

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things that our hormones are responding to. And our brain is always telling

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our hormones what to do. And so hormones are a really big

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picture, but when we're talking about hormones in the context of women's health,

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we primarily are looking at those estrogen and progesterone

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hormones to kind of see what is normal and what is

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not normal within the cycle, which I'll go into in a minute. Um, And

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it really is helpful to note that just

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estrogen and progesterone are like not doing their own thing. And so,

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so much of the time when there are hormone symptoms, we get

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told, Oh, just take some birth control because that will

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balance. I'm using air quotes for those of you who can't see me, your estrogen

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and progesterone. But the thing is, birth control actually

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just gives you a very, very low dose, almost a menopausal dose

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of those hormones to keep your brain from telling your

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ovaries to ovulate. So essentially it kind of just shuts down that

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system. It doesn't balance anything. It just turns it off.

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But if you're having those hormone symptoms, there's something else in your

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body that's making you feel better. Telling your brain,

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it is not safe for you to ovulate well, or ovulate. It's not

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safe for you to have balanced hormones. It's not safe for you to have a

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baby right now. So I'm going to put up some red flags for

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you. And, but instead of, you know, asking what are these red flags mean

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so much of the time, we're just like, let's put the little red flags down

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and tape them up and like, not look at them. And that's what happens with

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breast control. So what I consider to be actually.

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Normal in a cycle versus not normal. I'll go through that. Um,

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so much of the time for women, we have hormone symptoms and just think

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it's a normal part of being a woman because your sister has them, your mom

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has them, your best friend has them. So that would be things like, um,

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PMS mood swings. So feeling like moody, irritable,

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anxious, depressed before your cycle, really any

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time during your cycle, if it is a cyclical thing. So a lot of women

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will have that like the week before their period. Sometimes it shows up around

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ovulation to some women have it for three days. Some women have it for 12

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days. Like that can be. a huge spectrum of symptoms

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with PMS. Um, painful periods, heavy periods,

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lots of cramping, fibroids, um, hormonal

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acne, breast tenderness. All of those things are

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symptoms and it's your body telling you something's going on here

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that isn't allowing me to either make or detox hormones well. So

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all of those things are very common, but I don't consider those to be normal.

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What I would actually consider to be normal is just kind of like a Really

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a little bit more of like a gentle shift throughout your cycle. And then you

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have a period that shows up kind of without any drama, like

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no mental drama, no physical drama. You can just keep living your life.

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Maybe you're like a little, like a little more tired or like, Hey, I think

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I'd like to take an app or I'd like to have a little time to

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myself. But other than that, like you're not debilitated by

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symptoms. That is so

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interesting. Okay, so you mentioned previously the

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red flags. So were all of those things that you just mentioned, those symptoms,

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are those what you would consider red flags? Yeah, those are definitely some

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of the most common ones. Okay, so now

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when we see those red flags or for people who might have those

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symptoms, right? I guess, how can

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they get rid of them? Like, since it's not considered, you know, I'm air

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quoting normal, how can they get rid of those?

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Yeah. So that is what I work on all the time. So

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I love this question and there's lots of different kind of

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more root causes of these symptoms. But the two that I focus on

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first in my programs are, are you making hormones? Well,

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And are you detoxing hormones? Well, so if you're making hormones, well,

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then you would be able to make enough estrogen that it's going to

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not be too much, but be the right amount to cause you to ovulate

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within the first, like 15, 16 days of your

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cycle. And then you ovulate and you create progesterone, which

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is your secondary Um, hormone in the menstrual cycle and you

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create enough progesterone to keep that as the dominant hormone

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for about another 14 days of your cycle. Numbers can vary a

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little bit for people, but I want to see a luteal phase, a secondary

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part of your cycle of about 14 days for optimal

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metabolic health, um, thyroid health, and even ability to get

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pregnant. So that would be like making hormones.

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Well, now if you're doing that, And your

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cycle looks pretty good and you still have symptoms, then a lot of times we

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need to look at detoxing hormones. Well, and

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detoxing hormones is something that a lot of us are not doing very well

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because our bodies can be pretty overburdened by all

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of the things in our world that are not entirely

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working for us. So that can be toxins in our environment that can

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be toxins in food. It can be just like. Really not eating a

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lot of nutrient dense foods, eating a lot of more just kind of like processed

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foods that don't have a lot of nutrients in them. Um, not having

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balanced blood sugar, that can be a really big one. And this is not just

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like diabetes level. It's like just, you know, having these

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crashes throughout the day. Um, but all of those things impair

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detoxification because the liver gets overburdened and that's one of the

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big factors for detoxification. So kind of, that's kind of the

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baseline of like, What I like to figure out first is, you know, where's

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the problem? Is it both of these places, which often it is? And if so,

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then I really focus on, are you getting the

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ingredients that you need to make hormones? Well, so that's going to be

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really good nourishment. It's going to be consistency with your

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food. Blood sugar balance, um,

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moving your body, getting sunshine, like some of those things that sound

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basic, but also like as a mom and a business owner, are you doing it?

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Like maybe not so much. Um, so that's, that's what I

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look at to make hormones well. And a lot of those things are going to

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be similar to detox hormones. Well, and then we kind of like get a little

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more in the weeds there, but really it does come down to

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those two things to start with. And if you're listening and you're like, okay.

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This is a lot. I do have a quiz that will help you

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just kind of like get through the weeds a little bit and figure out which

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of the top three hormone imbalances is likely affecting you most.

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And then I'll send you a private podcast playlist that

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will kind of like give you more information about that hormone imbalance. So you can

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be like, okay, like I'm, you know. Coming through the clouds a little bit. I

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kind of understand like a little more what I could do, that kind of thing.

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And that's why it's broken down into those three.

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Perfect. So we'll definitely link that quiz in the show description. So you

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guys can access that. Um, You said some of the

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things you mentioned sounded basic, right? And you know, it

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does. We hear it all the time. Go, go outside, get some sunshine, eat

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right. But like you said, are we really doing these things? and so you

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mentioned nourishment, right? And a lot of times when I'm

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scrolling in mom communities or just on social media, I'm

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always seeing that moms are burnt out, they're

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tired, they don't Um, but they want

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to have the energy, right? But then I also see, you know,

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not in a judgmental way, but you know, I, I see the coffees with

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the creamer and the sugar and maybe some things that are

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not healthy. So what are some

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easy nourishment shifts that moms can make?

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Um, just to have more energy and kind of move away from that state of

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being burned out. Yeah. So I always like to focus

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on first, like, what can we put in versus what can we take out?

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Because I think with diet culture and just like, as women, we're just

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so, we're just so easy to go to the, like,

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okay, I have to cut sugar, cut carbs, cut dairy, cut like whatever.

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And just like, right, cut it all out and then you're left with

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and you have this like time frame. You're like, I'm gonna do it 30 days.

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I'm gonna do it 90 days, whatever that is. And then you're left with like,

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okay, but then like, what do I eat? And then you're just eating like carrots

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and chicken and they get really tired of that really fast. And then you're like,

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nevermind. This is terrible. And I don't even feel better because. I'm

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starving, right? So what I actually see so much of the

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time, like, yes, maybe, maybe it is too much sugar. Maybe it is too much

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coffee. Um, maybe it's too much fried food, too much fast food,

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processed food. Like none of those things are great. And

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I like to focus on one thing at a time for us, busy mamas. And

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the first thing that I always like to look at is you. Are you eating

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breakfast within 30 to 60 minutes of waking up in the morning?

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Even if you don't have the appetite for this, if you don't have the appetite,

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it's likely because you've trained your body not to have the appetite for that.

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Um, and that is a sign of stress hormones in the body. It's a sign

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of probably like lower thyroid hormone. Um, and one of the ways you

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can get your appetite back, I'll just throw this in really quick. If you've been

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intermittent fasting or accidentally, just not really eating breakfast, cause it's

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easier. As soon as you wake up in the morning, don't look at your

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phone, don't put on your glasses or your contacts, walk

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outside and just look at wherever the area of the sun coming

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up would be. Whether it's past the time that the sun has come up,

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maybe it's just a little bit before if it's like pitch black, this, you just

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wait a minute till the light starts to happen. But just giving your brain

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that really slow burst of light versus like.

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Whoa, my phone like this is super bright. It's two o'clock in the afternoon that

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just sets off like panic alarms in your head because you're like, like, you

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know, it's not two in the afternoon in your brain, but like the subconscious does

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not know that to go outside, spend three minutes, five minutes,

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breathe for a second, take your baby outside. If they woke you up, whatever

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you need to do. Um, and just let your brain turn on

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with the outside light and you'll be amazed how fast your

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appetite comes back because it's a slow wake up.

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Um, with that being said, going back to breakfast within 30 to

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60 minutes of waking up in the morning is ideal because that will tell your

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body essentially. It is safe. There's food here.

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Everything's okay. Um, you don't have to run on stress

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hormones because essentially what I see a lot of, especially business women

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doing is you wake up, you've got all the things to do

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running around. You're going to drink some coffee to get yourself going.

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And that coffee stimulates stress hormones like cortisol. Just

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spikes. Those right up can decrease your appetite for a couple of

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hours. But all you're doing is running on these stress hormones to

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artificially keep your blood sugar propped up instead of giving your body something to

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actually go on. So I like to use the analogy that it's like getting in

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your car and just like hitting the gas, but your tank is empty and you're

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expecting like to be able to go and keep going. But if you put some

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gas in the tank, you're going to be able to go a lot further versus

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just like two minutes down the road and then you crash. So. that

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breakfast. I like to look at it and I want it to be real food.

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So real food doesn't look to me like a pop tart or a

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donut or something like that. Like, I think we all know that, but also.

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Sometimes it happens. Um, but something that has protein, I

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really love 25 plus grams of protein in a

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breakfast. Um, and some carbohydrates to match

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essentially. And so I love things like sweet

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potatoes, fruit. Potatoes,

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um, a whole grain, something like that for your carbs. And then for

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protein, like a real meat, a real egg,

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something like that. That's just like real food, basic. And

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if that means you need to prep boiled eggs at the beginning of the week,

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do that. Like it can still be easy. Um, it can be Greek

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yogurt. It can be something like that, but something with. A really

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solid start to your day and taking a few minutes to eat that.

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Hopefully not while you're running around in circles is just truly a game

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changer when it comes to energy, because you start your day off with

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something solid and then eating consistently throughout your day,

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about every three to four hours is usually pretty good for people. If your blood

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sugar is not super high. and balance and always eating carbs and protein

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together. I cannot tell you the difference that makes in your hormones because your blood

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sugar starts to be balanced. And with hormones, we're always

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looking for safety in the body because like

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your body is working for you at all times. And with sex

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hormones, especially. You're, you're essentially looking at

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like, does my body have the resources that it needs to make a

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baby? And if you're running around like crazy and you're stressed out all

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the time and you're not eating and you're drinking a ton of coffee, your body

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is going to be like red flags everywhere. No babies for you.

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Right. And I say that, like, I don't mean specifically, like you will not

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be able to have a baby. Sometimes that is the case, unfortunately,

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but it's like, let's, you know, let's try not to right now because it seems

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like this isn't safe. It seems like she doesn't have everything that she needs. And

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so to have balanced hormones, we want to just continually give our

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body signals of safety throughout the day. And that's where nourishment comes in.

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And nourishment isn't just food. There is so much more to it, but that's where

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I like to start. And then I also just want to throw in one other

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quick thing for moms, especially minerals are so

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important. Um, and minerals get

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depleted with stress. So hello to all of us. And then

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also with having babies. So when we have babies,

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we lose minerals because we're giving it to the babies,

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beautiful, you know, we need to do that. But we also need to make

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sure that those are being replenished. And so actually making sure that you're not

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just guzzling water that's plain all the time and that you're getting like some

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electrolytes or some minerals in it, or you're doing something like an adrenal

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cocktail. You can Google that and get a recipe. Those things can be really game

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changing for energy as well.

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Wow, this is so good. You've given us so much information. Like I know y'all

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are going to have to pause right now, go back, rewind, take some notes,

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decide what you need to do. What's your first step going to be? Um, now

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I know you work with women and moms, um, to do this one on

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one, but do you have like other resources if there's somebody that's kind of just

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starting this journey and they just want to like research and they want to dive

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into all of the things, do you have resources that you share as

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well? Yeah, absolutely. So on my podcast, I

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have, I think I'm at like 150 episodes, something like that, where I'm talking about

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this all the time. So that's a deep dive. That'll take you a minute. If

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you want to just go there, that's obviously free. Um, if you're like, I

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want a little more of a specific, like, just give me some real tips.

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Um, a couple of the things that I just said, I would definitely start with,

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but I have a mini course called the restored mini course

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that is on my website, but I'll make sure to give you the link for

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the show notes as well. And that is just a. Podcast

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mini course, where I will go through blood sugar balance with you even more in

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depth, blood sugar balance and minerals, which is always where I start. So that would

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be a super good resource. If you're like, I just want to like have it

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in one place. I want some bite sized things to start with. Um, that mini

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course would be really great. And then also, like I mentioned in the, in a

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little, a little while ago, the quiz will give you some resources to

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start with as well. So those are all.

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Um,

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and that is going to be, you know, kind of like the

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step by step so that you can really walk through and fix

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things like low energy, painful periods, PMS. Um,

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but like I said, that any of the other things are a great place to

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start 1st, awesome. And again, we are going to link all of

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that. I'm going to be clicking those links. I definitely want that.

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Private podcast. Um, so let's shift gears a little bit. We've talked

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about, you know, the nourishment piece a little bit.

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I feel like we could just keep talking about that, but I want to talk

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about cycle syncing a little bit So when we're talking about

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hormone balance, like how does that correlate to

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your capacity in business and motherhood? And just how can you use your

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cycle? Um, being aware of your cycle to be more just

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productive in general. Yeah, so I think number one,

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if you've been listening and you're like, okay, I do have hormone symptoms. I

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am feeling really exhausted. I'm feeling burnout. And I have, you know, some

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PMS or some bad periods or things like that. Just

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knowing that your capacity will

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be less if your body is in that, you know, stressed state,

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essentially, and doesn't have those signals of safety. One thing. You know, I

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talk about the basics essentially of like, let's

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make sure you've got your energy back and your periods aren't knocking you out. And

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you're not grumpy a whole week out of the month and just like, not yourself.

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Like those are life changing in and of themselves. But like, once those symptoms start

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to go away and you kind of are like, Oh, I remember who I was.

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It's really amazing how your capacity increases. And so that's

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really where like, You know, that's the real thing that I love helping women with

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is like, you know, feeling good enough that you're like, here I am

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again. And I remember what I love. And I remember the mom I want to

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be. And I remember how to like pour into my business or whatever else I'm

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passionate about. It's really amazing. So even just,

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you know, starting to nourish your body will increase your capacity, but

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kind of as a cherry on top, I, I love cycle sinking because I'm like

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a hormone nerd over here. But also I don't, um,

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I don't think that cycle syncing needs to be like the first step

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because it can feel a little, like a little bit of like a to

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do list of things to do. But I think that awareness of your cycle

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is very helpful. So I'm going to do a quick little overview of what

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happens in your cycle again with estrogen and progesterone and what that does to your

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brain. So you can kind of be thinking through like, Oh, I do notice this

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throughout my month. And like, I could change how I'm doing things a little bit

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to make this better. So when you start your period, the first day of your

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period is the first day of your cycle. And that is when estrogen and

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progesterone are at their lowest level. So they've dropped off just before this

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happens to create that bleed essentially. So it's almost like

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when those hormones drop off, your body says, okay, I can bleed. I can shed

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this lining. I don't need it anymore. There's no more progesterone. There's no

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baby. So during that first week of

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your cycle, essentially, estrogen and progesterone are low and you're

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bleeding and that causes more of a connection between the

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right and the left sides of your brain, which means that you are

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more equipped essentially to plan

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and to analyze so you might have a little bit lower social energy,

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lower physical energy, But your brain works really uniquely in

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that phase to be able to plan or analyze. So, you know, you can

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take it from there as far as like, what does that look like in your

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motherhood? What does that look like in your business? But we do a lot of

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planning and we do a lot of analyzing in whatever roles we're in. And so

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it could be meal planning. It could be content planning. It could be budgeting. Like

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any of those things, um, is a really great time to do that in the

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first few days of your cycle. And then as we move into week two

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of your cycle, that's called your follicular phase and estrogen

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starts to rise and it kind of rises gently for a few days. And then

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it really sharply rises because it triggers other hormones to make

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ovulation happen. And so when estrogen rises to its

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highest peak, um, those few days of high

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estrogen are your most fertile days of the month. And this is the time

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of your cycle where you are most magnetic and

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creative, often have really high social energy, um,

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might be kind of like more of your social butterfly era of your

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cycle. And this is where it's really great

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to do things like collaboration, just in your personal

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life, great time for date night. Great time for kids, birthday

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parties, like whatever that looks like where you're like, I really want to be on.

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I really want to enjoy this. Um, the follicular phase is

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really good for that. Um, it's also really great in your business for all the

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things, whether that's like collaboration or a launch or content

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creation. And you can't fit everything in this week of your month. And

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that is okay. But especially for something like a launch or like a

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lot of content creation, it might really help you to plan it in this phase.

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If you notice, Hey, sometimes I'm really good at this. And sometimes I just want

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to lay on the floor and never want to do it again. You might just

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check in with your cycle because it could have something to do with that. So

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once you do ovulate, you switch over into your

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luteal phase. And it's kind of like, I kind of like to split it into

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two separate weeks because the luteal phase is when progesterone

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is dominant and Usually feels a little bit

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different in the 1st week in the 2nd week. So that 1st week is

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usually a pretty stable week where you might still have pretty good social

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energy. A really good time for communication. Um,

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it's a really good time for again, like, collaboration. And I kind of think

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of it as like a. Just kind of stable, steady

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phase in your cycle where you can just check things off the list. So it

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might even be the phase where you're like most true to yourself at that

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point, or it's like, okay, this is just me, not super up high, just like

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regular me. This is where I can get things done. You can look back at

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what have you planned? What did you, you know, collaborate on in your follicular phase?

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And like, what do I need to check off the list this week? Typically physically,

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this is a pretty good week of the cycle. Yeah. Feel pretty good in general.

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This is probably the week with the least symptoms typically. Um,

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and then when we move into the last week of your cycle, progesterone is

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still supposed to be dominant as long as you're detoxing well.

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Um, but there is a little bit of a rise of estrogen and then both

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of the hormones drop off at the end of the week. And so for a

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lot of women, again, this isn't. Technically good and

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normal, but a lot of women are like, okay, my energy is not so great

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this week. My mood's not so great. Um, but even if that's not you and

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you're feeling pretty good, usually that social and mental energy

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will kind of taper at the very end of the week, the last couple of

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days. But this is a really great time in your cycle again, to be kind

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of like wrapping things up, almost like a nesting phase where it's like, okay, I

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want to clean the house. I want to clean out my business. Want to clean

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out the inbox. Want to like, you know, kind of just like wrap things up

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in my month. Um, this is also, I've talked to so many business

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owners who agree with this, but this is also a phase of your cycle where

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either like, um, comparison fatigue or like imposter syndrome can

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come in. And especially those last couple of days, I

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cannot tell you how many women I've talked to who are like, Well, this happens

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to me every month where I'm like, nevermind, nothing's working.

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I'm going to quit. Like, this is the worst thing I've ever done. And then

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like two days later, they're fine again. Um, and I've definitely experienced that

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myself. So just knowing, like, if that's you and you're thinking like, Oh man,

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that has happened to me. Maybe again, just check in with your cycle

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and notice where that's showing up. Because if it is your

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cycle, you can still listen and you can still think maybe there are

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things I want to change, but also like I know I'll feel better in a

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couple of days. So maybe I don't actually make the decision to like shut things

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down in this phase. So I really like to think of the cycle

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as more of like, kind of like a container where it's like,

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where am I best at things? And where can I fit those things in,

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you know, realistically, and then also not just, you know, a black and white of

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like, I can only create content one week of the month, or I can only

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plan one week of the month. That's not true. But you may be best at

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those things in certain weeks.

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That was such a good breakdown. And I know as I was listening

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before I, you know, became aware of the different phases in

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my cycle and all that I wouldn't notice that I just felt

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different throughout the month or, you know, a certain week I would be tired and

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I'm like, Oh, my period just came on. That's why I was tired. It was

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always like an afterthought and I never was proactive in understanding,

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you know, my body and all the things that was going on. And. I just

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think that was so funny though, which is not funny, but very interesting what you

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said about how during the last few days, when you're

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about to go into your cycle, you're feeling this imposter syndrome and

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like everything is over. And then next week you're like, Oh,

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everything is fine because I've definitely felt that as well. It's like, Oh, the

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world's not ending. It's, it's all okay. Sometimes you

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never really understand why you just think it's, uh, Part of life or

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whatever, but understanding that it's a part of your hormones and all of those

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things, it really helps you to be able to, just

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be better prepared and be more intentional

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about your actions. And I really love that. Um, and I love how, in the

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beginning, when you started this, you said that the work that you're doing.

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It's really when you're working with moms, it can affect

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generations. And I think that's so powerful because once you know

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it, of course, you're going to pass it down to your children. and then you

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just have more aware individuals. Um,

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there's a whole lot that can be said about this topic and, you know.

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The health of America and all those things, but I

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think having this positive, influence and

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encouragement and information about how our bodies work and how we

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can be our best selves. I just think it's super amazing. And

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so I want to thank you for coming on and sharing all of your

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knowledge and wisdom. And so I guess to wrap up, of course, let people

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know how they can reach you. But for somebody who is just

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starting this journey, we know that you have The resources and all

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that, but is there anything in terms of like mindset that

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you would give for somebody who was just starting this journey and wanting to be

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better with their hormone health? Yeah,

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absolutely. So two things, one would be the first

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one would be. Perfectionism is not going to work

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in this journey because it's just going to hold you back to be

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honest. And I think as women, like we have all been there, we're all

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there, you know, it's, it's hard to let that go when

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it's like, okay, I'm going to fix my hormones. I have to do every single

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thing that I possibly could do to make this work. And then

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we are like, Well, it's not working fast enough. I still had a

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symptom. I, you know, I'm burnt out on all of these

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things that I'm trying to do. So really, what I see is for my

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most successful clients and students is just

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commitment truly. And like, you know what? I'm going to work with my

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body. I'm not going to keep working against it. Um,

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and I'm just going to like really get consistent with this one thing until I'm

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really good at it. And then I'm going to move on to the next thing.

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That is what I find to be so helpful. And so I would really say,

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you know, some of the tips that I gave earlier about like breakfast and starting

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to just pay attention. Are you eating carbs and proteins together? And how many meals

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are you eating? Processed food that will make a huge difference. And you just

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need to, you know, Be honest with yourself about where you are

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and then just start making little changes without without that. Um,

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like, on and off the wagon mentality of, like, oh, well, I ate a French

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fry. So might as well eat 2 pizzas for dinner, right? Like, it's so easy

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to get there. But, like, where did we get that idea? Because apparently we

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all have it, but it's like. It doesn't even make sense, really, where

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it's like, okay, like, no, you ate one french fry. Cool. Like

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french fries are fine sometimes. And if then you eat

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two pizzas, like, then you've probably done, I was going to say done some damage,

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maybe not necessarily done some damage, but like, you're not moving in the direction you

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want to move necessarily. Um, and.

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Giving yourself that grace. And just truly, I think the second mindset

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thing would be just really understanding that your body is working for

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you and you're not working against your body. So even when you feel bad,

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even when you have these symptoms and you're like, I hear women say, like, my

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body hates me or, you know, like, I just have to like fight

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myself. Right. I have to like fight off this way or have to like restrict

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and like beat myself into submission. It's like, But is that

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working? Like, would we want, would we ever look at our daughters and

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say, like, talk to ourselves that way? Like, no, we wouldn't.

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And we would hide that from our daughters, to be honest, if we're talking to

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ourselves that way, because we would never want them to feel that way. And so

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really treating your body, like you would want to treat someone you love

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is a completely different concept, I think, than a lot of the times how we're

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treating our bodies. And it really allows for that grace where

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You don't necessarily have to be so black and white. So on or off the

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wagon. And I think so many of us are afraid to get there because

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we think we'll just go totally off the rails. And in my experience, it's really

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the opposite. When you give yourself that grace to trust what you're doing and to

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trust your body. Then it becomes this like slow and

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steady movement in the right direction. So I think those are the most important things

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for a mindset. That's so good and

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relatable. So I'm doing like, I'm detoxing from sugar

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out of my diet. And I definitely have had those moments where it's like,

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I can't eat a cookies. If I eat a cookie, I'm going to eat the

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whole pack of cookies or just stuff my face with the whole tub

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of ice cream. So it's definitely helpful

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to have that mindset encouragement to know that it's not like black and

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white. It's not. Like this all or nothing thing. and just being,

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being kind to yourself and your body, I think it's helpful as well.

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So Leisha, thank you so much for coming on and let people know how they

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can connect with you. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me.

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So my favorite place to hang out is my podcast, the happily hormonal

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podcast. So if you're a podcast listener listening to this podcast,

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That's the place for you to come. Hang out with me. You can find me

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on Instagram. I am less active there, but I do answer my

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idea. And so if you want to chat, that's a great place to chat. Um,

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it's at Leisha Drews. And then my website is leishadrews.

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com. And like I said, we'll link everything in the show notes, but if you

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go to my website, you'll or my Instagram, you'll find the quiz and that will

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lead you to the mini course and all of those other resources. So,

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um, you'll be able to find everything really easily there.

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Awesome. Awesome. And you know, like we've been saying, it will be linked in the

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show description. So go ahead, click those links, get the information and the

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resources that you need. Again, Leisha, thank you so much for coming

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on and we will see you all in the next episode.

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Thank you for listening to the Mom CEO Suite Podcast. If

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you enjoyed this episode, can you do us a favor? Leave a review on

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iTunes and share with other moms in business like you.

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Help us spread our message and empower others who are at this intersection

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of motherhood and entrepreneurship.

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