Harness Your Period’s Power For Peak Fertility

Introduction to the Summit and Jenna Longoria 0:00

Hey. Welcome to the Beyond Infertility Summit. I'm your host, Dr. Aumatma And today I am joined by Jenna Longoria, a.k.a. the period guru. She's a board certified functional nutrition practitioner specializing in women's hormones. She is listed as the Huffington Post Top 20 new health writers to follow. Her work has been featured in Mind Body Green, MBC, The Elephant Journal Southwest by Southwest. And she's the author of The Period Solution, A 28 Day Hormone Balancing Guide. Through her virtual private practice, Jenna helps women reclaim their hormones and digestive health with a multidisciplinary approach, combining functional medicine, nutrition and diagnostic lab testing in her one on one and group programs in her online course.

The Period Solution. Join me today because we're going to talk as I talk to Jenna in this conversation, in this interview. We talk a lot about the foundations laying the foundation for good fertility starts maybe 10 to 15 years before we're actually trying to get pregnant. So in this chat, we're going to break down everything about a healthy period, what it looks like, what to look for, when to get support and how to optimize fertility by laying a solid foundation. So I hope you'll join me for this conversation and I'll see you guys soon bye!

Welcome we're so excited to have you here, Jenna. And I'm excited to talk about the foundations of fertility, which we have to say starts

What a Healthy Menstrual Cycle Looks Like 1:51

with the menstrual cycle. So what does a healthy menstrual cycle look like? Yeah, well, thank you for having me on. I'm so happy to talk with you about these things and you're so right. You know, I feel like we get kind of taken off guard on our fertility journey because we wait too late. We're trying to get pregnant. And maybe these some of the women that are trying to get pregnant that may be having issues, they look back and maybe they were like, oh, you know, I did have some problem periods or I did miss a lot of periods or, you know, they weren't always easy for me growing up.

And that's why I got on the birth control pill. And you're exactly right, the foundations are ovulatory cycle Menstruating is so important. And by getting that balanced earlier on and not just ignoring those painful periods and taking ibuprofen or the birth control pill or ignoring the inflammation or the irregular cycles and actually getting to the root causes of that earlier is going to set up set us up for more success on our fertility, journey on our perimenopause, journey on our post- menopause journey.

I mean, so it really is starting as young as we can, really. Yeah. Yeah. So I find that a lot of times women, young women especially, have irregular menstrual cycles or they have some symptoms and they kind of either ignore because like we're made to believe that these things are normal. Right So they go to some doctor. The doctor says it's normal for you to be in so much pain. It's all in your head, whatever that conversation goes like. And then when they may have been put on birth control. So by the time they get to the point where they're like, okay, I'm ready to have a child, they may have put that imbalance on a back burner for 15 years.

So what are some of the signs and symptoms that we could catch earlier so that we can be working on these things earlier in life and not have to wait till we are at that point of getting ready to get pregnant? That's such a great question. And, you know, so it is normal when we first start menstruating for the first few years to have irregular cycles, to have really heavy cycles. It takes a while, as you know, for our hypothalamus, pituitary ovarian, you know, axis to kind of establish a really steady connection.

So that's why, you know, if you were, you know, 13 or 14, we really can't diagnosed with things like PCOS and things like that right off the bat because it's so normal to have cystic ovaries at that age and have irregular cycles. And so I would say like in the beginning, it's normal to have some of those issues, right? So just take that with a grain of salt. So getting on birth control pill at the age of 14 for issues like that might not be necessary because that's just that's a normal part of of establishing our healthy menstrual cycle.

So let's say you've been menstruating for like three or four years and those irregular periods persist. So irregular periods I would say, you know, we want our menstrual cycle to be anywhere from 21 to 35 days, but optimum really at least 24 to 25 days. And when I say menstrual cycle for those listening day, one of your menstrual cycles, the first day that you're bleeding and the last day of your menstrual cycle is the day before your next bleed. So we want that anywhere between, you know, optimum ranges, 25 to 35, let's say that.

And we want to be bleeding the active part of the l not active, but the period portion is when we're bleeding. We want that to be any anywhere from 3 to 7 days. So bleeding fewer than three days, you know, points to an imbalance, bleeding more than seven days points to an imbalance. So these are some things to look for. We want our blood, our menstrual blood to be bright, cranberry red, that of a consistency of maple syrup. We don't want a lot of large clots in our menstrual blood. So I would say anything larger than a dime and would be would be cause for concern if you're having a lot of clots, if you're having dark purple blood, if you're having, you know, brown light pink, these all point to other issues that could be going on.

And we don't want it to be very painful. That's that is a myth in our society because because something is normalized doesn't mean it's common, you know, because just because there's a sick society doesn't mean that it's actually normal. I just mean that it's it's common. And, you know, I'm not saying that our menstrual cycle, our periods should be all rainbows and unicorns and you should just, like, be singing The Sound of Music like, oh, I feel great the first day of my period. Let's go for a run.

No, I mean, some mild cramping is normal the first day, maybe even the second day. But hopefully things like, you know, if you have to take ibuprofen or a hot water, you know, a heating pad or something should take away the cramping. But if you're having such severe pain that you can't get out of bed, that you're

The Four Phases of the Cycle and Living in Sync 6:54

nauseous, that you can't go to school, you're missing work, the not is an issue that is not normal. So we don't want to have such severe pain that we're having to, you know, miss out on activities and that, you know, I would say anything over a level two on a scale of 1 to 10 would would be a cause for concern. So those are some of the signs that we're looking for. And of course, the most important one of all, we want to be ovulating, everybody. The period is so so you can't miss the period because we have to use a product.

You know, there's menstrual blood. We can't miss it. But ovulation many times gets missed because it's this hidden event going on internally. And that's the most important event of the whole menstrual cycle. So if you're not menstruating, if you're not ovulating, then you're just having a withdrawal bleed or a breakthrough bleed, and it's not the same as a true period. So we want to make sure that we're having ovulatory cycles. That's awesome. So I like to I like that you mentioned how we should it normalize the things that we notice.

Those are really important. Let's get a little bit into the different phases of our menstrual cycle and what it looks like if we're living kind of in sync with the rhythm rather than what you said earlier with you, it's like, Oh, I'm on my menstrual cycle. I'm going to go for a run now. I'm probably I know we're on the same page, like we probably don't want to do that. So let's talk a little bit about what an optimal, optimal harmony looks like through these different phases. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I had no idea about this until well, you know, my late twenties, I had no idea about the four phases of the menstrual cycle.

I had no idea that our hormones ebb and flow over this 28 ish days and that we are not expected to have. It is not normal for us to have the same energy levels every day of the month, to have the same even interests in activities. It's not normal for us to have the same libido every day of the month. It's not normal of us to have the same productivity levels and learning. This was really empowering for me, learning about the four phases of the menstrual cycle. So for those of you listening, you're like, what are the four phases of the menstrual cycle?

We literally we have from day one of our period to the last day of the menstrual cycle, we have four phases. The first phase is the menstrual phase where we're bleeding. The second phase is the follicular phase. The third phase is the ovulatory phase and the last phase is the luteal phase. It's everything post ovulation and they each one has a hallmark of a of a different ratio of hormones going on in our body. So, for example, the menstrual phase or hormones are at their lowest point. So we are not feeling very extroverted.

We have very low stamina. We're in a state of kind of deficiency. We need to, you know, rebuild our mineral balance. We need to rest. And so, you know, in our society, we're in this kind of linear, male dominated, male dominated 24 hour society where it's like 8 to 5 desk job, go, go, go all the time, every day. And that's just not how women work. We are we don't have like 100% productivity. Every day we get we go in cycles. So for example, like I would say, you know, instead of trying to fit our female peg into a square hole, which is not going to work because we're very different, we need to have the whole thing with living by these four phases of the menstrual cycle, which I'll cover a little bit, is that we're embracing our physiology, we're working with our physiology instead of working against it, instead of saying, What's wrong with me?

Maybe you're on day 26 of your cycle. You're about to start your period in four days and you're working on this deadline at work and you're like, What's wrong with me? I've no energy. And I just my brain's not working. I'm not as fast thinking as I as I usually am. That's not your fault. You're about to start your period, your estrogen levels, you know, are your progesterone levels are very high at that point, which is very calming and grounding and kind of slow moving as well. And so we're more we're in a more of a in that time in our luteal phase.

It's a really good time. I know in my business I save that time for like editing videos or editing projects or accounting because the progesterone keeps us very grounded. So we have a very strong attention to detail, whereas in the follicular phase and ovulatory phase, when our estrogen levels are really high, we are just, you know, and then our serotonin levels are very high, we're feeling more extroverted, our vocabulary is more robust. We are you know, we have these really innovative ideas. And then I would say the luteal phase is when we drive those ideas home.

So embracing our physiology, knowing the four phases. So yeah, definitely not going out for a long run or hit exercise and your menstrual phase resting is going to serve you more in the long run during your menstrual phase than pushing yourself too hard. So resting and it doesn't. I get it. Some of us have kids. Some of us have two jobs. Some of us are going to school and and working. So you're like, I can't rest my whole menstrual phase. When I say rest, I mean, like, just maybe avoid doing intense workouts, taking some time for yourself instead of going to that party on day two of your menstrual cycle.

If you feel exhausted and you feel bad telling them you can't come, stay home and just rest a little bit, take some time for yourself. It doesn't have to be a spa day, you know. And then our second phase would be follicular phase. As I said, the estrogen level, testosterone levels are rising in the body. And so we have more stamina. Our bodies are more accepting, you know, embrace, maybe some cardio, some more higher intensity exercises, heavier weights. And we don't if fatigue is easy, we burn fat easier in this phase and ovulatory phase.

We build more muscle. We build muscle easier because of the higher testosterone levels in this phase. So that would be the time in later follicular to ovulatory where you can kind of maybe have fun with exercises, push the limits a little bit and not push the limits to where you're over fatigued, but push the limits, you know, outside of your comfort zone a little bit. A good sign that you've overdone it with exercising is if you are fatigued for the rest of your day after you exercise and you don't have space for anything else, that means you overdid it.

And our foods will also change studies to these cycles to, you know, each one, our appetites change. For example, in our follicular phase we have high estrogen levels and ovulatory, so that can suppress our appetite and that helps us to be more that helps us be more sensitive to insulin. So our blood sugar levels are naturally just a little bit more balanced, whereas when we get into post ovulatory phase, luteal phase, we are hungrier because progesterone is thermogenic. It heats up, our body heats up, it speeds up our metabolism.

We need to eat more calories on average about 250 more calories. And it also makes us a little bit more, you know, slow moving, a little bit more. You know, you shouldn't be so tired that at 3 p.m. you have to, like, go to sleep and you have no energy. That's not good. That's not normal. But you just feel a little bit more slow moving, I would say. And, you know, because of our estrogen levels are lower in this phase, we are more prone to blood sugar instability. So I would say make sure check yourself that you're, you know, getting a meal every 5 hours, having a snack.

You know, I would say every 3 to 5 hours in this phase is really good. No intermittent fasting, nothing like that. Take care of yourself. And we could go on and on. But that's really just the I would say in a nutshell, we have four phases. You're not meant to be the same every single day, and that is normal. So by having this awareness and knowing what phase of your menstrual cycle you're in, it can make things in your world, make a lot of sense. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. I feel like that's how I felt. After I actually, like, message my business partner to about a week and a half ago, and I was like, I'm on fire.

Like, I am knocking this stuff out.

Working With Your Cycle at Work and in Daily Life 15:00

And I was in the shower reflecting like, why is this? So what's happening right now? And I, of course, I was in my follicular phase and I was like, Oh, cause like, yes, of course I was super worried and I like, I just messaging him like should really figure out how to integrate this into our business because having the degree of awareness and like there are times I go through phases, like I'll plan it into my calendar and then other times where I don't and the times where it's planned or where I can anticipate what's coming, I tend to prepare better, right?

Like if I know I'm headed into the luteal phase or that like really that week before the period where we really do want to rejuvenate, we want to actively slow down. It's not a great time for me to have deadlines. Like it's not a great time for me to be like, Hey, I need to do six presentations this week because it would be not really using my energy in the right way, right? Like, yes, I still have energy, but I shouldn't necessarily use it to do those types of things. I feel like I'm better off doing more things that need more reflection.

I like what you said about paying attention to detail is really prominent during the luteal fades, so any what I feel like the when I have conversations with clients, a lot of times they're like, well, but I work for a company and I can't. I can't like tell them that I need to change the deadline or I can't tell them that I can't go to this networking thing because I'm on my cycle. Any tips for times when people feel like they have less control over what they're doing in their cycle now? You know, it's not always we can't always plan to match up with our menstrual cycle.

I mean, that's just how the cookie crumbles sometimes. I think what we can do is to the best of our ability. So, okay, you know, if you have to go to that big networking group or presentation and you're in your menstrual phase and you're, you know, then make sure that you're going to bed as early as you can that night, make sure to not come home and do something else that makes sure to maybe lay down and rest and, you know, nurture yourself with a hot cup of ginger lemon tea instead of like maybe going out after that networking group or presentation with everyone and having drinks and talking and pushing yourself over the limit.

So just in any way that I would feel like especially your menstrual phase in any way you can conserve energy conservation is kind of the the name of the game here. So yeah, sometimes we have to do things like that, especially with certain jobs. So just where can you save energy? Where can you maximize that? You know, can you wake up, can you sleep in a little bit that morning instead of working out and get a little bit more rest or, you know, maybe sit down and have a cup of whatever you drink in the morning and journal or reflect instead of like maybe hitting the gym and carving space for yourself that way.

So just saying, you know, be as be as it doesn't have to be. As I said, a spa day. It doesn't have to be like I take the first day of my period. I don't work at all. I take the full day off. You know, not all all of us get that, you know, and

Nutrition Foundations for Hormone Health 18:30

and it doesn't have to be like that, but there can be things that you do for yourself, maybe take a long lunch lunch break and make sure that you're nourished and having a really, you know, nourishing lunch to fuel you. Yeah, yeah. Go for a walk. Spend some time with a. Walk in nature. Exactly, exactly. Yeah. Awesome. Are there you mentioned that foods can also change during these different phases. Do you want to share a little bit about are there what do you recommend? Like are there specific types of foods that people should or shouldn't eat during these different phases?

Yeah, you know, well, overall, there are and we, you know, there are certain foods that really help us during each phase. But I would say for the overall for optimal hormone health, we want to make sure we're getting enough protein. First of all, you know, I would say before, I've been very big on the on the different foods. And I have you know, I've made meal plans for people based on each menstrual phase and things like that. But over time, I've started to kind of shift my my viewpoint on this a little bit because I feel like sometimes people get overwhelmed and with too much information and they're like, Oh, no, I should eat raspberries in my follicular phase and not in this phase.

And I need to do this. And, and then they freeze and then they just don't. And so I'm more now on just sharing the foundations of what we really should be focusing on first. And once you get those foundations and then okay, we can fine tune things later on. But first of all, I mean, everyone just we need to make sure we're getting enough protein. I don't know if you find this too in your practice, but everyone coming to me is not eating enough. I'm like, you are not eating enough especially and not enough protein.

So making sure you're getting at least 30 grams of protein each meal, eating within an hour to 90 minutes of waking up. No, no. Intermittent fasting in the mornings. Absolutely not. And, you know, making sure that your your prioritizing protein, as I said, healthy fats, these are some of the things that we can do to, you know, I feel like are the first things that we can start doing now. The follicular fluid over breaking it up in these two kind of you know two halves the initial cycle we are hungrier in the luteal phase that is normal.

So knowing that we're dynamic. And so instead of like if you're following a certain diet or meal plan or something that in a book that you read or with a dietitian or whatever you're doing and they're not accounting for that luteal phase where you need about 250 more calories. You are hungrier, you're more prone to blood sugar and, you know, instability. So if someone is telling, you know, how fast you need to continue fasting and go at least 7 hours without eating, absolutely not. In our luteal phase.

Honor your cravings, honor your hunger. It is not static. You should not be eating the same way in your luteal phase as you are in your follicular phase. Absolutely not. You need to be eating more and maybe you need some more starchy carbs in the luteal phase too. So I would I would say that that would be like the biggest emphasis, you know, just making sure you're getting enough protein, making sure you're honoring your cravings and the luteal phase. And, you know, during our follicular phase or the end of our follicular phase and our ovulatory phase, our liver is going through a lot of work because it is having to detox all of the estrogen we're making because we're having that estrogen spike as we get closer to ovulation.

And that's a lot of work. Our liver has to work at neutralizing estrogen just as it would neutralize, you know, toxins and pesticides and and things like that. It also has to get rid of these endo toxins so something we can do during that phase to help support it or maybe, you know, eating some bitter greens, dandelion root teas, things that help support the liver beets. So maybe increasing that amount, cruciferous vegetables, fiber intake that can really help in your follicular phase and leading and through your ovulatory phase to help, you know, give your liver some love.

You know, don't shoot the messenger. But, you know, alcohol is not the healthiest thing for us. And it really gets in the way, I think of it like a bouncer at a nightclub, you know, your liver is a bouncer at a nightclub. And and, you know, you have all the people waiting to get through and the liver. So think about the liver. And it has all these toxins waiting to go through to neutral, to, you know, to neutralize it so it can get out of the body. And alcohol will always get into the club first.

Always your liver is getting prioritized, you know, you know, detoxing you from the alcohol. So if you like, drink a few glasses of wine because and then then your estrogen is going to take a back burner and everything else you're exposed to in the day, if you're still using, you know, if your products that have perfumes or toxins and things like that. So limiting alcohol consumption, especially during that time, I think this would be some of the key hallmarks. And yeah, we can definitely get more into it and talk about like certain foods that are definitely really supportive for each phase.

But I would say focus on the foundations first and get those in place. Yeah, absolutely. I think the foundations are so crucial and I like that you keep it relatively simple, you know, like eat based on what your body is telling you, especially in the luteal phase. And then the other big thing that I heard you say, which I agree with, is stop with the fasting. Like fasting is good for men and sometimes good for women in very specific situations. But most of the time, like it's not great for our menstrual cycles, it's not great for fertility, especially if you're doing fasting while pregnant or like that early period that two weeks where you're not sure you're pregnant yet and you happen to be intermittent fasting.

What's your take on that? What what would happen if you were fasting early, your phase? I think it could be seen as a stressor on the body and it can tell the body that, hey, we're in a famine right now and we don't have enough food and resources to support a baby. And so, you know, it could it it could potentially be an issue with not being able to carry pregnancy full term and so that goes for trying to conceive as well. You know, I mean, we should be nourishing ourselves more at this time, I think.

Eat like you're pregnant before. You're pregnant. Yes. I say that all the time. I love that because like we very infrequently do, I hear of a woman

Fasting, Fertility, and Preconception Nutrition 25:00

who's like, Oh, yeah, I'm intentionally not going to eat while I'm pregnant. Like, no one can do that if they have the resources they're going to eat and most of the time we have this belief which may or may not be what I stand by, but this idea of like eat for two, you don't really need to eat for two, but you need to eat more than you are normally accustomed to during the follicular phase, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I know. I was really surprised by that because I was reading something like you might know the exact number, but I was reading that it's actually really only about 500 more calories a day we need during pregnancy and and so this eat for two thing I'm just yeah I don't know where that got into the mainstream narrative like and we always see in the TV shows you know growing up as the pregnant woman is eating like pickles and in a whole like an ice cream out of the tub.

And I'm like, well, it's become normalized. Yeah, it's it's not that normal. You're right. You're right that. But yeah, absolutely. I think that eating a little bit more is a good thing. And then once you find out you're pregnant, you can eat. I think that is I want to say it's like 500 to 800 calories the way that it. Is for the trimester. Right. And like I think it should said and you know, if you look at society's back and you know, hundreds of years, thousands of years, pregnant women would get this, especially like the organ meats and the the most prized foods.

And they would conserve this for the pregnant women because they needed more nutrients. They knew that, you know. And so I feel like it's not necessarily eating for two, but it's just being a little bit more aware and conscious of, ah, my, getting enough to support this pregnancy and my eating enough. And so, you know, you're just being a little bit more mindful and aware. So imagine if you're doing that preconception you Yeah. And what you just said so just to reiterate these like organ meats or high nutrient density foods, that's what we get.

Gary I mean and I know everybody has different ideas now, especially in this world of vegan is very popular. But there was just a study that came out I just feel just very recently and it was showing that that that diets higher in fruits and vegetables can reduce actually a miscarriage. This is sort of showing they studied I don't know how many women they followed, but the ones that eat more fruits and vegetables and dairy as well had there were fewer miscarriages reported. And I just think that's really interesting because dairy gets such a bad rap nowadays with the oat milk and with everything, it's like dairy.

It's in my and I don't know if you agree with me or not, but in my view, I think it is a perfect fertility food because it has a perfect if you can digest dairy. I mean, I was like a goat milk goat cheese machine in my first trimester. I craved goat milk and goat cheese like all day long, and that doesn't have lactose. So a lot of people who can't you call dairy can can digest goat dairy. But dairy is a is a great resource. And, you know, it's an it's a perfect food. I mean, it's a third carbohydrate, a third fat, a third protein, has fat soluble vitamins.

And so, you know, I but we could go on and on about diet and it and it's a very it's a very you know, people are very, very opinionated opinion, strong opinions about it as well. So yeah, yeah. I think regardless of dietary choice, I think the key takeaway is like what has the most nutrients in what it is that you choose to consume? So I like fruits and vegetables, especially. Vegetables are if you're eating loads of green leafy vegetables, they're really high in almost every single nutrient. The only thing you can't get from vegetables is B12.

Everything else. You could get rid of vegetables. Oh, having as much of it as you can and being aware and conscious about integrating more of these foods into our diet so that we're really like creating an environment that that our body feels nourished, like that overflow of. Yes, I have so much abundance of nutrients that I can give some to this baby. Yeah. So really, really kind of focusing on the things that are going to support baby even before conception. I really like that. Eat, eat as if you're pregnant, even if you're not pregnant, even if you're not trying.

Because I guess. It's not trying. And that's the thing. Fertility gets this dirty. It's it's like it's become a dirty word sometime in a way that people think, you know, especially women who are not wanting to get pregnant right now. And when I'm like, you're fertile health, like, you know, women in their twenties are like, oh, I don't want to get pregnant. I'm like, No, that's not what I'm talking to. You're fertile, healthy weight. You should always want to be, you know, have peak fertility. You should always want to have healthy menstrual cycles.

Troubleshooting PMS, Irregular Cycles, and Estrogen Dominance 30:30

It doesn't mean that you want to get pregnant right now just because you're fertile. You know, fertility is not it doesn't it doesn't apply just to those who are trying to actively get pregnant. We always want to have peak fertility. We always want to ovulate. You know, we want to ovulate monthly. This is a sign that our body is working in harmony and that there's homeostasis. The processes are working. I mean, imagine if you just stopped going to the bathroom and you didn't go to the bathroom. That would be a cause for concern, would it not?

So the same thing if your period disappears, if you stop ovulating, that is not a good thing. That is not something to be ignored. This is a body bodily process that is there for a reason. Whether you have kids now or never. So yeah, we should always be eating to support fertility. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Is there any suggestions or advice or insights you can share about troubleshooting symptoms like PMS or irregular menstrual cycles? Kind of that? Oh, I feel like a lot of women these days are coming in with like perimenopause or early. Yes.

Sometimes I don't know what is happening, but it seems to be like growing drastically. And. Yeah, so I'm curious if you have any thoughts on that. Absolutely. Well, you know, we live in a very fast paced society and we're exposed to a lot of toxins more than ever. An unprecedented amount of toxins. And we're going, going, going. And then we're also we are we are overburdened with toxins and we're under burdened with nutrients that we need for phase one and phase two detoxification. So stress can mimic the symptoms that stress can cause individual cycle and on us can also mimic perimenopause symptoms.

So if you are like 32 and you're going to the doctor and are saying you're in early perimenopause, I would take that with a very large grain of salt, because a lot of these symptoms can mimic them like shorter cycles or, you know, yeah, low, low sex hormones. A lot of these things can can be mimicked from stress or undernourishment. So let's talk about, I guess, some of the first ones I see. I see. You know, I would see a lot of a lot of people that have really heavy periods prone to fibroids, ovarian cysts, that kind of group maybe, you know, really bad PMS or painful periods.

I would say a lot of times that is one of the best things that we could do is support our liver so that it can detoxify the estrogen that we're making every day. So how can we get, you know, estrogen dominance is a buzzword. Everybody's like, oh, estrogen dominant estrogen. I mean, I took a quiz and I'm estrogen dominant and it's like it's not that easy. Like, you could actually have low estrogen and be estrogen dominant. You could have high estrogen, and then you have normal estrogen. You have no progesterone and B, estrogen dominant.

And estrogen is good. It's not the villain. But we want to make sure that we are detoxifying the estrogen that we make so supporting your liver, eating lots of green leafy vegetables, eating a lot of fiber, flaxseed is excellent. Bitter greens reduce your exposure. So to toxins would be like number one, getting a quality water filter, making sure that the products that you put on your skin are fragrance free, are chemical free because these are all mimic or hormones. And this is one of the reasons we are having more of the estrogen dominant, the fibroids, the heavy periods, the clotting, because we have all of these, you know, estrogens that that keep us in this an elevated state of estrogen.

And they they prevent our real estrogen from locking into the cells as well. So it creates a huge issue. It's it's not natural with these chemicals that we have in our environment. So I would say first step, reducing exposure, you know, second step supporting your liver, eating enough fiber, making sure you're having a bowel movement every day. If you are not having a bowel movement every day, you are not able to get rid of the toxins that you need to be getting rid of, you know, detoxification, sweating, peeing, pooping.

We need to support our bile so, you know, our bile has to be free flowing. And I see a lot of times, especially on the GI maps, I don't know if you run GI maps in your clients, but you see that static crit marker where there's large and digested particles, fat. And I see that almost all the time with with the women that have fibroids or heavy periods or these estrogen issues because they're not making enough bile, they're not able to get rid of this estrogen. And so that's what I would say for that type of period troubleshooting.

And then if you're someone who is, let's say not perimenopause, you're not post menopause, you're, you know, under 37 ish or under 40 and you're having missing periods, really, if you are menstruating, only bleeding for one day, light pink blood, it's not bright red. When you take a hormone test, you have very low sex hormones. Your adrenals are probably, I would say, low, maybe having some thyroid issues. You're in a state of deficiency. So in that it's it's eating more more protein, more nutrients, resting more or not go, go going.

I would say this is like probably the two stereotype typical hormone imbalances that we sometimes can see, right? So that like kind of go go going state of a deficiency, having to restore adrenal function, having to restore nutrient deficiencies. And so that would be probably, you know, we could talk about this all day, but if if I'm trying to like generalize something and like what are some things you could do, you know, and I think everybody could benefit from swapping. I'm such a big I'm such a big fan of this.

I'm like, everybody focuses on what they should eat first, and that's great. But then it's like, I see someone eating the perfect diet, and then you walk into their house and they have like a million scented candles and they're putting all the jergens scented lotion all over themselves, and then they're spraying themselves with it. And I'm just like, oh, like they're drinking tap water. And I'm just like, that's the first place to start. And I'm not trying to judge anybody who's still doing this.

If you're listening to this, I'm like, Oh my God, I do that. No, this is just a healing opportunity. Let's, like, just make some clean swaps in our in our house. Absolutely. I think that is a really great starting point. And even you guys like for those who are listening in on the summit, they're going to hear me say this a million times, but it's popping out period products.

Reducing Toxins and Choosing Better Period Products 37:00

Oh, my gosh. Yes. Probably the big game changer, right? Like swap out your tampons and pads. You guys, I cannot even stress this enough. 80 like we've had 80% of our people come back with, oh, my period pains went away completely or went way down from like a nine to a two just by changing period products And that's yeah. And the level of toxins that we're being exposed to from and then they. Go, right, you insert like a tampon that's bleached and non-organic cotton. So it's tons of glyphosate on it, which is a bad, horrible pesticide.

You know, we're considering it to our vagina. It's going directly to our bloodstream. So it's really important to get, you know, if you're using tampons, organic tampons or period panties or a menstrual cup, something that works for you. Yeah, that's a great point. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. This has been such a great conversation and thank you for sharing your time and your expertize with us today and all of the amazing wisdom. I feel like there are a lot of things in this specific conversation that are really easy to do, things that are essentially like I call them low hanging fruit.

Like we can just go pluck and do it today, right? Like, like. And things are usually free. Like, that's what I'm always like. Like the best things are really free that you can't buy them. But it takes a little bit of commitment and time, like waking up and having a breakfast, 30 grams of protein, you know, swapping, getting a water filter, things like that that we've just discussed. Like it's it doesn't necessarily have to be the most fancy diagnostic test or the, you know, $5,000 worth of supplements like those things can help for sure.

And I'm a big fan of diagnostic testing and smart supplementation, but if you're not doing the foundations, don't jump to that yet. Start with the foundation. So important. Absolutely. Thank you so much for being with me today and sharing the foundation of a good, healthy menstrual cycle. For those of you listening. And thank you for being with us and we will see you very soon.