First of all I would like to thank Katie Bressack for putting together this amazing interview series: Happy Healthy Hormones.
All the women that Katie has interviewed (including Katie herself) are brave for sharing their stories and experience with all of us and what has led them to explore Women’s Health and Hormone Balancing.
The series was filled with precious information. In almost all the cases one of the main things that pay an important role in Hormone Balancing is nutrition. The way Women nourish their bodies is very important to support Happy Healthy Hormones.
During this series nobody shared about the role that essential oils may have in hormone balancing so I’ve got inspired and I will be sharing those benefits in my next post.
Some of the highlights of the Happy Healthy Hormone Series that I would like to mention in Skin at Heart were:
1 – How to Get Rid of PMS for Good with Nicole Jardim
“Nicole Jardim is a Certified Women’s Health Coach and creator of Fix Your Period, a series of programs that empower women to reclaim their hormonal health in a fun and sassy way. She runs a successful group coaching business and has helped thousands of women from all around the world who are struggling with PCOS, infertility, amenorrhea, PMS and much more. Nicole also cohosts The Period Party, a top-rated podcast on iTunes. Rather than treating problems or symptoms, Nicole treats women by addressing the root cause of what’s really going on in their bodies and minds. She passionately believes that the fundamentals to healing any hormonal imbalance lie in an approach that addresses the unique physiology of every woman. This is essential to reclaiming and maintaining feminine vitality at any age.”
Nicole mentioned how societies have been using a masculine model focused on production, production, production in 24h cycles and how harmful that can be for women’s health and therefore it is imperative that we begin to find new healthier models.
Nicole also explained how insulin levels affect women, the importance that eating slowly can have in Women’s Health and why we should quit sugar.
2 – How to reduce heavy or painful periods with Robyn Srigley
“Robyn Srigley is The Hormone Diva, Holistic Nutritionist and Women’s Health and Nutrition Coach. Robyn’s own journey with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) jumpstarted her passion for helping women replace their anxieties with joy to open possibility in their lives and break free of hormonal imbalance. Robyn runs a successful 1-1 coaching and online program practice where she uses diet, movement, botanicals and a self-love lifestyle to transform the lives of women with PCOS, Endometriosis, PMS, Painful Periods and much more.”
You can find out more about Robyn’s work here and Skin at Heart will be interviewing Robyn Srigley soon.
Robyn mentioned that a new name for PCOS condition should be found, since the current name doesn’t fully reflect what the condition is and can even be misleading (this is something that Lara Briden also mentiones in her book Period Repair Manual).
Robyn also mentioned the importance of eating enough protein (and firmly believes that animal protein has an important role in the diet) and also why quitting sugar has a positive impact in Women’s Health. Another important note on this interview is the explanation how every single cell in our body has a memory made of fat and the important role that eating healthy fat has in Women’s diet.
3 – Why Your Thyroid Health Is So Important with Andrea Beaman
“Andrea Beaman is a Natural Foods Chef, health educator, thyroid expert, holistic health coach and herbalist, dedicated to alternative healing, and sustainable eating and living. Andrea is recognized as one of the top 100 Most Influential People in Health and Fitness, received the Award For Excellence in Health Supportive Food Education from the Natural Gourmet Institute for Food and Health, as well the Health Leadership Award from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Andrea is the author of The Whole Truth – How I Naturally Reclaimed My Health, and You Can Too! and The Eating and Recipe Guide – Better Food, Better Health, and Health is Wealth – Make a Delicious Investment in You! And, Happy Healthy Thyroid – The Essential Steps to Healing Naturally! Andrea makes learning about better health, good food, and sustainable living, a fun experience for everyone.”
Andrea shared her story with us, as well as tips on what we can get from food and how nourishing our body properly is a must to every woman. She also explained what waking up in the middle of the night in a regular basis may actually mean (typical hormone imbalance symtpon) and why our hair and nails reflect our internal health state.
4 – The Role that Cleansing Can Play in Healthy Hormonal Balance with Elissa Goodman
“Elissa Goodman is a holistic nutritionist and lifestyle cleanse expert who believes that proper nourishment, healing by listening to your gut, and a daily renewal practice are essential for optimal living. Elissa’s mission is to educate and encourage healthy, mindful living, helping others embrace the concept that we are a product of what we eat and how we treat ourselves.”
One of the remarks that I would like to make about Elissa’s interview is that she brought our attention to gut listening. Our belly health has a lot more to say about our health than we imagine. Elissa explained why. This subject was also covered in a claryfing book that I’ve mentioned before in Skin at Heart by Dr. Giulia Enders, entitled Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body Most Underated Organ.
5 – Five Herbs to Help Your Cycle with Amanda Stanley
“Amanda Stanley is a passionate herbalist who teaches empowered health & healing with a focus on individualized care, Amanda has been studying & practicing holistic herbalism for over 12 years. Combining a broad spectrum of integrative practices, Amanda includes ayurveda, traditional herbal medicine, Reiki & yoga, to create a unique tool-box for each person she works with.”
During her interesting interview, Amanda gave a very useful tip as regards to the use of chamomile tea, she said that we should take the chamomile from the water less than 5 minutes after we prepared the tea. The reason for it is that chamomile often makes the taste of the tea too strong, even bitter and if we only leave it in the water for no more than 4 to 5 minutes, the taste will be just perfect!
6 – How to Identify Pelvic Pain with Jessica Drummond
“Jessica Drummond, DCN-c, MPT, CCN, CHC, is the Founder and CEO of the Integrative Women’s Health Institute. She is passionate about caring for and empowering women who struggle with women’s and pelvic health conditions. She is equally passionate about educating and supporting clinicians in confidently and safely using integrative tools to transform women’s and pelvic healthcare. Having over a decade of experience as a women’s and pelvic physical therapist plus owning a private women’s health clinical nutrition and coaching practice gives her a unique perspective on the integrative, conservative options for pelvic pain management. She is currently a doctoral student in clinical nutrition at Maryland University of Integrative Health.”
Amongst the precious information that Jessica shared, we heard: how dairy negatively affects our health, the importance that sleeping plays in Women’s health and hormone balancing, how the cycles of Men and Women are different, what happens during pregnancy, what happens during teenage years and, above all, how it is not supposed to be painful. If it’s painful it’s because something needs a shift, not just intaking a pill, but looking to the overall nutrition and habits and adapt them. Being painful means that the body is sending a message and the root causes (quite often nutrition and stress) should be identified and changed.
7 – How Toxins Affect Our Delicate Hormonal Balance with Lara Adler
“Lara Adler is an Environmental Toxins Expert & Educator and a Certified Holistic Health Coach who trains and educates practitioners within the health & wellness community to better understand the links between environmental chemicals and their impact on disease states – from weight gain and diabetes, to thyroid disease and infertility – so they can more comprehensively support their clients and patients. She also teaches health enthusiasts who are proactive about protecting their and their family’s health & well being, helping them achieve the peace of mind that they’re doing the best they can.”
In this claryfing and informative interview, Lara explained how come the body chemistry is directly affected by the environmental toxins in our lives and how to minimize it. She also explained how plastics blend chemically with some foods and therefore why we should avoid plastic containers, as well as what is the chemistry of scented products and why are they harmful for the delicate health of our hormones. The three main tips that Lara provided were: 1 – go organic, 2 – get rid of the plastics and 3 – get rid of scented products (skin, house like candles, laundry products).
8 – Everything You Need To Know About Birth Control with Lara Briden
“Lara is naturopathic doctor with 20 years experience in women’s health. She runs a busy hormone clinic in Sydney, Australia and is the author of Period Repair Manual.”
I have previously mentioned Lara Briden’s book Period Repair Manual and she was also interviewed for Skin at Heart. Lara explained why the birth control pill is so harmful for Women’s Health and talked about other contraceptive Methods. She said and I quote: “We’ll look back in history and think: what the heck have we been doing when it comes to women’s health?” which I totally subscribe. Lara also explained what is the post acne pill and how we can support the body to get rid of it.
9 – The Role Nutrition Plays in Managing Endometriosis with Melissa Turner
“Melissa Turner is the founder and creator of Endo Empowered. Melissa has become an expert in the field of endometriosis and employs her REACH Technique©™ to empower women on how to manage endometriosis holistically.”
In this interview it was said something that really resonated with me: “The doctors are not the gods of our health. We are!” Melissa shared that she is often asked what is the key thing: is it this, or that, but what she can say is that it’s a mixture of everything that affects us, it’s a blend of all the food supplies we give to our body (nutrition has a crucial role) as well as the habits we have in our daily lives, such as the environmental toxins we are exposed to, the stress we are dealing with. Our body is a temple and we should treat as such. Melissa also mentioned how our periods are the monthly healthy report card and the way we can make sure that our body is healthy and everything is running smoothly and we should therefore see our periods and analyse it monthly to be sure we are tuned with our bodies, instead of seeing it as something disgusting or embarassing.
10 – Have a Smoother Transition Through Menopause with Vikki Ede
“Vikki Ede is a Hormone & Natural Menopause Expert, and creator of the “5 Fabulous Fixes Formula” written specifically for 40+ women to show you step by step how to manage your hormones, so you THRIVE rather than barely survive during this challenging life phase. Vikki has been helping women like you improve their health & lose weight for almost 25 years as an expert in women’s natural health, wellbeing, nutrition and fitness. She now specializes in helping women over 40, who struggle with their hormonal health, to transform their lives, get their confidence back AND feel fabulous again.”
Vikki talked about menopause and how women can support their bodies going through this phase. She said that the average age is 52 but it varies a lot from woman to woman and also there may be some indications of it 5 to 15 years during that phase. Vikki explained why cutting caffeine, alcohol, processed foos and sugar has a gigantic posivite impact in our health and is an overall supporter of the menopause phase, as well as starching up with a lot of greens in the diet. As nutrition, so exercising plays an important role for women’s overall health particularly during menopause, since it can be a great supporter both for the body condition and for the mind resilience to stress as mood uplifter.
11 – How Yoga Can Help Your Support Your Hormones with Dina Ivas
“A former competitive gymnast inspired by how yoga made her feel empowered, strong, and centered, Dina signed up for the teacher training program at Sonic Yoga and became a registered Vinyasa Yoga teacher in 2010. “My mission is to make yoga fun and accessible to everyone! I strive to inspire students to go beyond their perceived limits, while maintaining calm breathing, safe alignment, and a smile,” Dina shared. She specializes in teaching beginners, and structures her classes to be fun and friendly to everyone. Her teaching philosophy is simple: Breathe. Play. Grow. “I encourage my students to explore on their yoga mat without any judgment,” Dina shares.”
Dina shared the transformations she can see in many women when beginning a yoga practice. The benefits are endless and spread from body to mind! I highly recommend yoga and meditation myself and it was with excitement that I listened to this interview. Dina addressed the common questions that beginners have and also how we should feel comfortable with our yoga teacher so we can talk about any issue on how to manage the practice when we’re just beginning.
These were only some of the main points mentioned in this insightful interview series that Katie Bressack fantastically put together. Thanks Katie!
Note: that almost everyone interviewed mentioned the fundamental role of nutrition in hormonal health. It is possible to read more about nutrition and essential oils in this post.
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