So have you heard about anchor? Well, if you haven't I'm going to tell you a little bit about it. It's the easiest way to make a podcast. I can tell you from personal experience. But let me explain one. It's free to there's creation tools allow you to record and edit your podcast right from your phone or your computer anchor will distribute your podcast for you. So it can be heard on Spotify Apple podcasts andMore places you can make money from your podcast with absolutely no minimum listenership. It's really everything that you need to make a podcast and one simple Place download the free anchor app or go to Anchor dot f m-- to get started. Hey everyone, and welcome back to day three of the 2019 hormone Summit. I am Christine Garvin and wow what a week. It's been so far. Right. I've just been blown away with being credible information that we got from our guests. Like I just it it's been so great for me. So I hope that the same has been true for you, but I'm particularly excited about today's guests because of the personal impact that she's had. In my life over the last few months. So her name is Nicole Jordan and she's also known as the period girl and we'll get into why here in just a second, but I came across Nicole's work probably about two years ago for the first time and I started following her and that was really when I first started to understand crazily aged, you know, 3738 about the impact of hormones just on my life as things started to shift and change and of course, you know, So most of you know that I went through a pretty traumatic experience last year with getting a fibroid removed and then having multiple surgeries after that. And so really my big thing was after that. I was like, I need to bounce my hormones. I need to figure this out and it was very serendipitous timing because Nicole actually announced her apprenticeship right when I was desperately looking for something to help and the crazy thing was she was like, I'm at I'm not actually sure I'm gonna be able to do it this year because she was And this book writing process that actually will be coming out next year and I'm so excited about it. But she yeah didn't know she's going to do it and I was like, oh my God, you have to do it you have to do it and thank God just an email that she was doing it and I was like whoo, and so I just have to tell you that it was such an incredible experience to do this apprenticeship with her because she's so knowledgeable. She's so down-to-earth and so hard-working it kind of blows my mind and she's helped. To literally hundreds of thousands of women around the world with her work. So she has a couple of programs called fix your period and that's why she's known as a period girl because she can really help you get out of the struggle that you've been having with your period and your hormones and she also co-host an incredible podcast is actually my favorite Foreman podcast called the period party and every time they have, you know a guest on there. I'm just blown away with the information so Before I can I could go on and on forever about her. But today we're actually going to tackle something that I really wanted to talk to her about because so many women deal with this at least once in their life. It's literally not every month and she's going to dispel a lot of myths and give us some really good information about it. And that is the dreaded PMS. So thank you Nicole so much for being here. Oh my gosh Chrissy. I'm just cracking up. Because I feel like I need to call you every morning so you can say what you just said. About it boosting a girl's you go. Thank you. Thank you for that all true. Oh my god. Seriously, thank you for that wonderful introduction. I'm just like beaming over here. Seriously. Thank you. I so appreciate you saying all those nice things. Oh my gosh PMS. Yeah. I know right? Everybody's like, oh great team. That's but literally everybody's like just thinks that this is a normal thing for us to have right, but it's just part of being a woman. So, can you Start just at the beginning like, you know, a lot of people don't even quite understand like what PMS is and you know how it comes to be. So can you tell us about that? Yes, I you know, I want to preface it by saying that this is, you know considered a syndrome. So it's premenstrual syndrome and then there's premenstrual tension or pnt. So it's another that's other terminology for it and it refers to a collection of physical and psychological. Go symptoms that arise in a cyclical pattern right or on a cyclical in like cyclical nature and they can they coincide with the second half of your menstrual cycle. And so that's known as the luteal phase. And so these symptoms are usually anywhere, like people would experience them anywhere from like to to maybe 10 days before their period begins and in most cases they resolved when . Actually starts and so a lot of women will say that to me they'll say that they have all of these raging symptoms, you know, it's just like saying things they shouldn't say and eating tubs of ice cream, you know, like your partner never knows whether angry you or happy. He was going to walk in the door all those things and when their period comes they're just like oh my god, really? So yeah, that's you know, that's really what PMS is from, you know from a non medical perspective. I see. You could say and I think that it's really important for us to understand too that PMS or PMS symptoms affect approximately half of all women worldwide. That's what the literature says. And in a number of studies they talk about the fact that roughly ninety one percent of women have experienced at least one PMs and to me each month as like that sounds a little bit more debt on a 91 percent right 91% I know I think like what is really interesting about premenstrual syndrome and I'm going to get into pmdd which is premenstrual dysphoric disorder. I'll talk about that. But I think what's really interesting is that we you know, first of all culturally like you said right this women don't even think that this is a real thing. They just think that this is just sort of their hormones acting crazy and it's causing them to have these problems. But ultimately when you think about it, you know, it has been characterized as a syndrome. It's very Go to diagnose right because there are so many different symptoms associated with it and they can be very erratic and someone's you might feel okay, and then others you might not feel okay at all. So it's you know again in from a medical perspective. It's difficult to diagnose. And so when I think about you know PMs and whether it's considered a legitimate condition or not, of course it is right your symptoms are legitimate, but is it do we collectively have You know have bodies that were designed to experience these symptoms and how in the eye and the extent of the symptoms every single month. I'm not so sure. Okay. I really think that PMS is on a spectrum and so it depends very much on what's happening in your life and with your diet and all of these different factors that play into all aspects of your health. Why wouldn't they play into something like this as well? Right? So that's you know, that's a big part of this I think. You think that women used to experience PMS as bad, you know, 20 40 60 years ago. I mean, I know it's hard to say because there's not a lot of literature out there. But yeah, no, I think that's such a great question. I've really I've thought about that long and hard and I have no doubt that women experience these symptoms. I guess my point is is that I I like to think of PMS as premenstrual changes and you know, there's there's Is a great website it's called menstrual matters and the researcher who runs it she writes extensively about this stuff. And so she's talked about these premenstrual changes and I really like this idea. I like the idea of describing it as that rather than you know, so many of us have this syndrome and of course all of the negative societal connotations that come with that and so how you know, it's more along the lines of like looking at this as a spectrum like I was saying and what are the changes that are happening? Every single month and how it how extreme are they like how extreme are your moods or how extreme is your bloating or your breast tenderness or breast pain? So how can you measure those based on the symptoms that you've had in previous month's and the best way to do that, of course is take, you know, taking charge of your health tracking your cycle really understanding what's happening on a cyclical basis for you individually because yeah, you could go to a doctor and they they may diagnose you potentially based on the guidelines that are current like currently out there or you could just say that you know, these symptoms may be reflective of what's going on with my overall health. It's just like, you know what we've talked about so much right that this idea that your period is your fifth Vital sign and it's a it's a definite. It's like a barometer of what's happening with your health. It's the same for PMS PMS symptoms are coupled with that. And so I feel like that's It's really something that we as if we're as PMS sufferers need to start to reflect on and take action around right and our society as we know, you know, this connects us so much from our body and particularly our period and PMs and puts it in this box. And so I love that you brought that up about the fifth bottle Vital sign because I don't think that a lot of women think of it that way or maybe you know, they're just starting to understand that a little bit now and how yeah that Either, you know and we have we have a lot of abilities to shift and change things as we make changes in our lives. So can you speak to it kind of from a medical perspective of you know, I feel like I understand it more deeply in my body now since I'm getting near or in perimenopause, it's hard to say, you know, but I feel that drop off of progesterone, right and it's crazy because in tracking my cycle like I feel it now. Where you know you're supposed to have your highest progesterone, I'm great and then literally the next day I'm like it goes down, you know, like I can feel it in my body. And so, you know, even if you're 21 or something like what is happening in terms of your hormones when you start experiencing PMS? Yeah, you know, I did want to I'll get into that in just a second. I did just want to mention premenstrual dysphoric disorder because oh yes, yeah - as well and so for anyone who doesn't really know. Know what that is. It's you know, they call it pmdd for short and I you know, I not jokingly but you know, I you got to add a little bit of fun to this because these are stairs conditions and there are and there really hard for a lot of women every single month. So, you know I joke is that PMS is bigger better sister and it really is that right? So it's considered a severe mood disorder. It's characterized by pretty significant emotional and physical symptoms that occur, you know in the one to two weeks before your period And I was Chatting a doctor Laura bride and the other day and we were talking about PMS versus pmdd. And she was just saying that you know with pmdd, you know, it's really it's what it might it usually starts like at the beginning right. So right after ovulation happened and until the end of your luteal phase we that's where no pmdd shows up typically. Yeah and that it's like you said right that estrogen drop off right after you ovulate and progesterone hasn't quite kicked in yet. Let me that's part of it for sure. And so like I said pmdd is just a more severe form of PMs. And you know, it's not really just a matter of you know, feeling a little bitchy every month. It really is much more comparable to debilitating actually and sometimes even traumatic symptoms that really impact a person's relationships their careers their their life their mental well-being and like I was saying, these symptoms really can range in severity because they are you know, highly influenced by so many external factors like we were saying right like nutritional deficiencies genetic factors, even our gut health our blood sugar that any kind of excess psychological stress past what your threat stress threshold is, you know, there's and then of course that that those all create hormonal upheaval in our bodies and so that's where We run into these problems. So it really almost requires us to look on a deeper level deeper and deeper to figure out what it is in our life or our lives that is that are triggering, you know, these hormonal imbalances or this hormonal Cascade to happen. So, yes. So anyways, that's pmdd. And I totally don't remember the question. You asked me. That's right. Now, I'm really glad you went into pmdd because this is something that people just started hearing about You don't understand. So thank you for that explanation that because I think that will help that a lot of women out. I was curious just from the you know from the hormonal medical perspective. Yeah, what happens, you know, yeah post ovulation and yeah what your hormones are going through at that point. Yes, right? Okay. Yes good question. And um, I felt I was like, I know it's something to do with hormones on writing a book will do to you. Oh my God, I so I'm like my ability to remember her songs from the 90s is still very much on point. But remember what you just asked me 10 minutes ago, and I have no recollection. I can like sing New Kids on the Block songs from when I was in sixth grade like haven't heard them in years and I'm like, yeah, I got it and I'm exterior SLI. What did I do yesterday? I can't even remember. Yes. It's I guess we should be glad the long-term memory is not shot, right? Yeah. I know. Yes. I feel I feel comfort in bed, I guess. Oh my gosh. Yes coming back to hormones and what's happening with PMS and just generally speaking, you know, I think that it's so great for us to understand that there are you know, our hormones are cyclical. We have a cycle. That's what a menstrual cycle is. And this menstrual cycle is driven by this exclusivity of these these hormone this hormone production. And usually when I'm talking about that we're talking about estrogen estrogen or estrogen dial which is the more prominent. Or moan when we're still cycling or prominent estrogen that is we have progesterone. We have testosterone that plays a role to anti-mullerian hormone plays a role in our cycle FSH or follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone or LH all of these hormones come together kind of a juggling act they figure out how to make this whole ovulation thing happen and then for you to get your period every month and so when it comes to something like PMS or even pmdd? You know, there's so many factors that influence it like I said, and so when we're thinking about what's happening with our hormones, we have a real build up in the first half of our cycle, right? So your your body is basically preparing a follicle that contains an egg that is going to be released in this amazing thing called ovulation. It's kind of like a volcano and you know, like we're it's just building and building and what I have found is that you know in that first half The cycle life is great. Please have pretty good for the most part not everyone feels right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. See I just ovulating so I'm not like at that right over the hump and thank God. I know I was like, oh, yes, I still you know, I've got my Good Vibes going for this interview. Like don't try it. Ladies don't do an interview the day before your period that is out of all of this. But you know, what's happening is you've had this huge buildup. I see you've had estrogen building you've had testosterone building. You have had FSH and LH were also playing a role in all of this but those to estrogen testosterone. Those are really going to you know, make your they're going to help your mood. So they really do support your mood. In fact, estrogen is very much interconnected with serotonin production. So there's definitely moved things happening and also estrogen helps with blood sugar which is you know, something I want to talk about and so When we cross the prep the yeah, we hit the crescendo. I suppose you could say and then cross over and we move into progesterone territory. This is where a lot of us tend to run into problems. And so I think the first thing is that blood sugar thing that I mentioned so estrogen helps with insulin sensitivity in the first half of your cycle progesterone doesn't necessarily have a negative effect on it. But what I have found And is that when we're eating high sugar foods in that second half of our cycle progesterone has a blood sugar lowering capacity. And so it'll lower those high levels of blood sugar too much. And so you have a bigger crash. So it's you know, I like in a joke. Sometimes again, I have jokes because I feel like you know, this is serious. We gotta all like jokes are good. They are good. But like I do kind of like and PMs to being hungry and that, you know, they're a lot of symptoms that are overlapping and so if we take a look at our what's going on with our blood sugar, we might find a lot of answers in there. So that's you know, that's one thing that I found across the board seems to be happening is that we rise in progesterone causes these blood sugar dips to be more significant causing an increase in these kinds of symptoms. And then the second thing is like I said before estrogen is tied to serotonin, right so when Esther And drops off after ovulation and it's a pretty precipitous drop just so everyone knows it'll rise it again in the second, you know half of your cycle. It actually rises in a sort of a last-ditch effort to help your body prepare in case you fertilize an egg. But yeah, these mood low mood boosting on your transmitters or tone in dopamine norepinephrine these kind of go down with estrogen as well. Right and that will aggravate the problem that a lot of women experience and what you know these PMS like or even pmdd symptoms and even if you're what I've noticed two as well again, I don't know that there's research on this. I've done a lot of research and I can't seem to necessarily find this but what I find is that if your estrogen dominant meaning that you're in a state of estrogen excess over your progesterone levels because these are sister hormones, right? They got to play nice in the sandbox. So when they're yeah, so when estrogen tends to be higher In relation to Progesterone that dip or that estrogen crash seems to be more enhanced. So yeah like that. So that's something I've seen a lot of it was definitely my own experience. And once I started to get estrogen under control that seemed to really help matters and I've seen that with plenty of my clients over the years as well. And again that might not just be the estrogen dominant state, right? It might be what's going on with inflammation. What's going on with your Sugar all of it is tied in together. I was just like, you know, it's women say what's one tip you can give me to fix my period. I'm well liver and your gut health and your blood sugar and what's going on here thyroid and tell the talk to me about your diet and your stress, you know, you know that right? Oh my God. I know it's just like we're we get it. Where do we even begin? But it's you know, so these are I think that these are important things for people to remember that this you know this Drop in estrogen may be problematic and then of course in many cases to we might be in a low progesterone state right we might be progesterone deficient and progesterone is the Keep Calm and Carry On hormone. Right? Like it is just gonna it's going to chill you out in that second half of your cycle. If you have sufficient levels of it and many cases we don't and in some cases women are progesterone or progesterone. What's the word I'm looking for. Resistant that's it, like insulin resistance. You may have progesterone resistance that is a very common trait and women who have endometriosis and again there there's a lot of a lot of women who have endometriosis also have estrogen dominance and then this progesterone resistance. So I'm very curious about progesterone resistance when it comes to pmdd and PMs again, like there's just needs to be more research done in this kind of thing. But yeah, so it we may not feel the full positive effects. Right of progesterone in that second half for a cycle. So I find that these are kinds of the kind. These are the kinds of things that are happening in this second half to cause these symptoms that we might experience that's amazing that I definitely learned some things in there. That's really interesting about the estrogen dominance situation because you know, obviously most women going into perimenopause have that coming up but estrogen dominance has also taken over. For younger women to in a lot of cases right for a million of reasons, but you know, including Le xenoestrogens and everything that's in our environment and and our stress and all those kinds of things. And so that that drop off if you do have estrogen dominance and then that like drop off of estrogen like impacting you more makes a lot of sense to me, you know, like it's so it's all like intertwined in such a crazy way. But so can you tell me a little bit more about this progesterone resistant you said progesterone resistance? Of this before and I'm so I'm really curious about that and it's really interesting because again, like there isn't a whole lot of research and you know, I'm just basing it on the things that I've learned especially with researching the book and especially as it relates to estrogen or sorry and of endometriosis. And so this progesterone resistance like I you know, when you think about insulin resistance, right because that's an example A lot of people know about really what that means is that that your cells are no longer responding to insulin right in the way that they're supposed to meaning that they're supposed to take blood sugar into the cells and it's supposed to then be sent to your brain because brain thrives on glucose their number one. It's the brains number one food. And so I kind of liken progesterone resistance so that in a way where we're no longer responding like our cells the receptor on the cell is not responding to Progesterone. Whatever reason and my understanding of it is that it's very much linked to an inflammatory response. So inflammation happening in the body and when you think about PMS and pmdd, you know, they're they're technically characterized as well pmdd for sure is characterized as a brain disorder. And you know, this is something that I was writing about in my book and I feel like I still need to fine-tune it a little bit because I'm really trying to understand because there isn't a whole lot of science around this but this idea that At for depression for instance and a number of other men, you know mental disorders are linked back to inflammation in the body, right? So brain inflammation gut inflammation and between the gut brain axis, you know, they're both communicating bi-directionally all the time. And you know, I'm just fascinated by this idea that if we are inflamed then you know, we may experience PMS symptoms and it may very well be connected to pmdd. I Super preliminary research about the vagus nerve which is the nerve that runs from your brain stem all the way through your body, but it connects your gut in particular there being some sort of vagus nerve dysfunction in women who have PMS and pmdd, which I thought was fascinating and so, you know, it really does come back to your gut in so many instances. And so again, I think progesterone resistance just ties into all of that. Although again. I think that we just need more more of the research On it. I know a woman who has it's called cyclical vomiting syndrome and some inputs. It's related to hormones be well to the extent that they put her on a for monel. I don't know if it's Depo. It's a shot. You know that she has to get and it's the only thing that keeps her from like vomiting it just crazy all the time. Right and she's been on it. I mean she's yeah in her thirties now, I think she was like 19. And she you know first figured it out, but I recently read a thing about the vagus nerve being connected to cyclical vomiting syndrome. And so that you know makes a lot of sense when you bring that up and it's just like yeah this this brain gut connection that we have going on at we are just sort of on the precipice of figuring out, you know, how it can impact Us in so many ways. So yeah, I mean even thinking about Is that something that you think to like talk to women about in terms of like working with her vagus nerve? I mean is that is that part of the process? It's so interesting because first of all, I've never heard of cyclical vomiting syndrome. It's this is fascinating to me. I'm just not common for sure. Yeah, I'm sure it is things but I imagine that if I'm assuming she that she's throwing up towards the end of her cycle. Is that what I'm No, it's I don't know those that specific enough because she's been on so Wrong, so she doesn't it, you know, but they definitely they tell her it's hormone-related. You know, right? Well, I mean, you know nausea and vomiting are part of the PMS. Yeah syndrome symptoms. So yeah. Yeah, that's that is really fascinating and I actually had a client once who she what she also was had not vomiting, but she had symptoms that were completely out of control felt completely out of her control you towards End of her cycle. She was also put on an injection and you know, it's essentially my understanding was that it's just like it's almost like a birth-control injections. So just lines your hormones, right? So you stop ovulating and you don't have the that cyclical hormonal socks anymore. Yeah. It's so fascinating back to the progesterone resistance. I was curious as you were talking about it. So do you think if someone has been on birth control and then gets off birth control like especially progestin? You know base birth control like thing about the insulin resistance idea. Like if your cells are resistant to Progesterone, is that right? That partly be cut because of the progestins that have been coming in and they can occur. It's really interesting question. It's so interesting because the I don't know like I actually am not sure whether birth control can have that impact now I'm going to go look it up. I do wonder about that right because when you think about xenoestrogens and these, you know xenoestrogens for anyone who doesn't know our estrogens that are come from outside of your body, right so they could be very potent ones that come from chemicals like BPA or they can be something like flaxseed or soy so, you know it ranges but when I think about the fact that they are what we call estrogen mimickers, I do wonder whether there is a potential for that, but that The same time progestin the actual molecular structure of a progestin isn't very isn't super similar to produce strong. So again, I'm not sure although I don't know what the molecular structure of as you know, estrogen is either so who's to say right? That isn't potentially, you know blocking The receptors the professor on receptors as fascinating we have so much in our life and our environment. We have no idea how it really impacts us, right. We just like we're like guinea pigs, isn't it crazy and it's like every day there's Like 10,000 new chemicals introduced or whatever it is, you know. Yes. Well, okay. So now that we've kind of covered, you know sort of the science of it and you know kind of the some of the feelings of it. What are I'm going to ask you the question what is some of the first things that you recommend to clients do like we're kind of do you start investing a feeling process? No, and it's a trick question, right? Because we all want to know what we can do about that and That's all the science is nice. But tell me what the hell I can do right? I know seriously. I know I love to talk about those times I get carried away. So but I agree with and we have we got to start somewhere and you know, when I first got into the Whole Health coaching thing. I remember just you know thinking about how crappy I'd feel if I ate a piece of cake or I skipped a meal, you know, I never really thought it was that big of a deal like, you know, I didn't feel great, but I definitely didn't think it was super stressful on my body much less my In function, so I you know, I really keep coming back to the fact that we have to figure out what's happening with our blood sugar and this takes a little bit of biohacking and it you know, it takes some diligence but at the end of the day, like I said when you know that first time of our cycle things tend to be okay for many of us because estrogen is building it helps to it helps to desensitize us to insulin. So we don't have these huge swings that we may experience in the second half of our psyche. And then of course we get into the luteal phase and things changed significantly, but when it comes to these kinds of symptoms, like I said, we have so much control over them. In fact much more than I think we've been really led to believe and so looking at your blood sugar as a first step is to me like the most crucial part of it, right? And so when I'm talking about that I'm saying to you. What is it that you're eating, you know, every single meal that is Ali causing your blood sugar to go up too high because what happens is when it goes up to high higher than your body is is normally accustomed to then your body is just going to make a whole lot of insulin to bring all of that high blood sugar out of your blood straight into your cells so that it can be either utilized or stored for later usage. And so when we have that when the insulin does that it resolves a result in this major drop that we have right so we have this subsequent drop and Causes the cycle of blood sugar and balance and ultimately leads to insulin resistance and potentially diabetes. It's connected to polycystic ovary syndrome. It's even connected to conditions like Alzheimer's I mean, it's really, you know as far-reaching and so this is where I asked women to start to look at that like and one of the easiest things to do really is to look at your sugar consumption and your alcohol consumption. I know damn it's like Alcohol is very strong. Right? We just needed to get through life so I get it but I think that that's really where we have to start and you know, their blood sugar balancing supplements, you know, there's all kinds of things we can do but I asked women to take a hard look at this stuff and it's not like, you know, the it's not easy work like this balancing your hormones. They as you well know Christine like you've really been through it and I know listeners are going to have you know about your story, too, but I think ultimately that's the first place we have to start. And so when you're when I say that I'm talking about let's just look at what's happening with sugar consumption. How much are you having how much alcohol you having? What are you what's going on with refined carbohydrates in your life. So all of those are if you start to really look at your consumption of those I feel like they're going to make it it's going to make a huge difference in how your blood sugar save lives itself or dozen and And also what your moods and your emotional symptoms are going to be like as well. And so I always request women to start with just start with breakfast. Just think one meal a day even if you you know, I had a client once who basically was eating a brownie from Starbucks and a large coffee every single morning and she was like, I'm completely addicted. I cannot stop. I don't know what to do and eventually literally we were on the phone almost every single morning. Not going to have the Brownian this yeah, let's try it. Okay, let's literally try have decaf half caffeinated coffee. That's literally where we started and then slowly but surely we progressed to the point where she was having a breakfast with protein fat carbohydrates what that is, you know, like eggs, maybe some sweet potato greens of some kind or, you know, some kind of cruciferous vegetables like broccoli or cabbage. And you know, yeah, that's yeah, basically it may be some bacon if you want it or some kind of sausage something like that. So she was get got to the point where she was having that her shift in her PMS symptoms because she was really struggling was remarkable. And so I just asked women to try starting there. I mean, like if you're if you feel inclined to make the changes just the some of the smallest things that you do chewing your food. I mean just how your food digest so That your body can assimilate nutrients better. I mean, it's potentially life-changing and yet it doesn't have to be that hard. Right and as you know, I think that the sort of the conventional medical perspective. Is that or the current Paradigm is that really the complicated? Let's not test your food because it doesn't really mean anything. It's all too complicated and or it's just that your yeah, your body is kind of a mystery and I'm just going to either, you know, give you a medication of some kind and send you on your way and we have to be in charge of our own healing at this point as far as I'm concerned because we know this multiple women come to us almost every single day saying that they are just not getting the answers that they need and they know in their gut that there's something else or there's another way and so I think it's up to us to just start to make these small shifts. So I would suggest that and I would just say to oh, sorry you go ahead. I didn't Got it - well, I was thinking when you were talking, you know, it's interesting to you just like I mean, there's extremes across the u.s. And in food availability and those kinds of things, you know, but I live in Asheville where it's food-topia or whatever and there's a lot of places that will have like gluten free dairy free treats, right but people kind of see those as okay to eat because they're gluten-free and Dairy. Free but they're still refined carbohydrates and sugar in them to you know, and so there's also an education. I think that happens just on that basic level to you know, like we have all these things now that can seem healthy for us and as fine on occasion, but you definitely don't want to be eating that for breakfast, you know, like just from a brain function perspective. I yeah, I yeah, I'm sure she I'm sure your client that you walked through that. Process of changing the breakfast like just having that brain fog gone. I'm sure it was a huge thing for her. But yeah, really getting people to understand just like as much as possible real food, like real whole food that you know that comes from the ground or comes from an animal like start there and really yeah like the fat and the protein that being you know, making sure you get that in every meal and then throw whatever kind of Veggie you can you know greens are a plus. Yeah those simple Things and getting people and the in the like the dinner for breakfast idea. You know, that's what I'll tell a lot of people just like flip that switch, you know, and you feel better. Yeah. It's so true. I know and you know, it's so interesting because I'm in Mexico the moment like, you know, I told you this and I haven't eaten a single processed anything in a week since I've been here there's a lot of processed food. Yeah, but it's not I just for whatever reason just we haven't there's been no crackers with like, you know snacky things. All and personally lived on lots of snacks while writing this down, but you know like but I really haven't it is amazing like in two weeks. I've literally Drop Like 6 pounds, which is unbelievable, maybe because also I'm not as stressed as I was over the last six months but still like it is incredible ladies. Seriously how much your diet can shift your life in just two weeks then you think about, you know supportive supplement. Well, there's a lot A lot. I mean there are so much like when I think about you know, when if you were to just even incorporate some beans into your diet granted if you're allergic to them or you don't believe necessarily in how beans you know are digested in our bodies based on Paleo beliefs or anything like that. I get it but just like some just some black beans. I mean they contain a lot of different B vitamins B6 in particular has been shown to actually improve PMs and pmdd. And in fact, this is done because it Get these nutrients support your body's your liver detoxification, which is your body's ability to detox excess hormones. So it is really incredible. You know, when you think about just like the lowly black bean. Yeah, you know, it's about these new things in it that will support this process. And so I always come back to the fact that you know, it really is a multi-faceted all-hands-on-deck approach you you can't just eat the same thing over and over again. You really have to Bring in a number of different foods that are going to support this process and tune into how your body is responding to them to write like if you tuned in it'll tell you pretty quickly. Usually, you know, you don't have to go ton of like testing in order to figure out what isn't working for your body, you know, so, yeah, so I want to definitely dive into supplements here in a second, but he's a little bit about gut health because I you know, I don't necessarily know that everybody kind of fully understands what We mean we're talking about good health and how that relates to hormones. Yes. I'm so glad you asked this and you know, I talked a little bit before about gut inflammation potentially resulting in brain inflammation because of what's known as the gut brain axis, which is the correspondence between the gut and the brain and it's bi-directional. So something that's happening in the gut can influence the blind the brain and something is happening in the brain. It can influence the gut and so it's you know, it's in Resting like when you think about being super stressed you either have diarrhea or constipation. That's you know, one sign. It's also you know, what you think about getting bad news. You have to immediately feel like a pit in your stomach that is that brain gut-brain access and the communication between the two and so, you know, I think like what we need to understand is that there I feel like we're in an epidemic right? We're in a gut Health crisis epidemic and we Generally speaking just in the research. I've been doing like the sheer volume of research for this book what you know, what continues to come to light is the fact that gut dysbiosis which for anyone who does not know what that is. Basically that is when the your gut bacteria are not playing nice anymore with each other. So there's some problems there and then leaky gut which means that the intestinal barrier so it's only one Celtic which is crazy plus a little mucous lining. Has become inappropriately leaky right as Chris Kresser will say he's like, it's supposed to be kind of leaking but not to leekie. And so you get to the point where two large particles are being released into your bloodstream. So both of these trigger, you know, all kinds of problems but one is like a continual sort of immune reaction, right? So think of your immune system just waiting right on the other side of that intestinal lining and what's happening is your immune system little slow. They're little soldier guys. They're basically there to attack anything that passes through that's not supposed to be in your bloodstream. And that's an immune response every single day that immune response potentially becomes an autoimmune response and that's like an autoimmune condition. And so everyone knows those their rheumatoid arthritis or multiple sclerosis or anything that ends with is basically which means inflammation and so that's really what it comes down to right is this unseen somewhat unknown inflammation that's occurring in our body. It's not the same as like if you were to get a big cut on your leg, right and you've got your it's like it's all red and bloody and it's inflamed right? It's but it's still sort of is like that. It's just something inside and you don't really know and go on for years. And so I think that that's the root of all of this like, I always think back to that, you know, once I started to get my gut health under control my life completely transformed, I mean from PMS symptoms to period pain to Chronic yeast infections and Cheryl vaginosis, I mean girl, I had it all so I feel like you know, it really was life-altering and that's you know, what I continually come back to with with women who are experiencing all of these symptoms is that if your if your guts inflamed it's very likely that your brain is inflamed to and if your brain is inflamed you're going to experience these cyclical symptoms at a heightened level and so once we start to think about chewing our food getting eating to figure out what is happening is our gut is there dysbiosis. Do we have small intestinal bacterial overgrowth? Do we have a parasite do we have candida overgrowth what is going on in our gut and then really taking a you know, a functional medicine or a holistic approach to addressing every stage of our gut health whether it's you know from chewing our food our oral health our stomach are we producing enough stomach acid to break down said food all this great food, they're eating and has to be broken down. And then what's happening with the microbiota in you know in the small and large intestine, so it's you know, it's a multi-faceted approach, but I really think that that's you know, it's life-altering. Yeah, and you know, I've kind of focused on gut health in a lot of these interviews just asking about it because I think so many women don't really understand that connection between their hormones and their gut and that, you know loin when clients come to me. I'm always like okay we have to start with your gut health before we dive into You know anything really around your hormones, especially like do we need to do testing right off the bat maybe not because we want to get your gut working properly making sure that you know a you can digest all your food. I just heard recently like 80% or more of people suffer from hypochlorite idea, which is you know, low stomach acid and it's like if that doesn't work the whole rest of the system is not going to work properly or night and you've got your strobe alone the part of your microbiome that This is estrogen to get it out of your body. And that ain't working right then. Boom you back estrogen recycling in her body too, right? Yes. Yeah, and I'm not no. Can you tell us a little just a little bit about the liver in fact because that's another thing that I think you know a lot of women so really no. Oh my God, I swear to God, it's just a crazy when you think about the liver. Yeah. So the liver our livers are I feel very underappreciated not appreciate my boy liver. And I'm one of these people who does not have a great detoxification genes either. So my genes that are responsible for helping this detoxification process. Don't work that great a few of them are MTHFR. That's one that we all hear about a lot and then the other one is comped comt which is I'll talk about that in a second that's part of the phase 2 of liver detoxification. But so when we think about our livers, you know and detoxification. Generally, I think we all think of green juices and grind on a fast or something like that, but it's not really that It was detoxing all day everyday and it even has its own blood circulation system called a portal system is quite amazing. Actually. It's this whole complex process and just a reminder for everyone watching this like your body is so unbelievable. It is working so hard for you and it gets the food scraps. Sometimes it's still just trying it's definitely you better know exactly. So it's just like even if you don't want to make a change just try to make the change for your poor liver. Truly so okay. So Phase 1 and Phase 2 of liver detoxification is what we want to be focused on when it comes to estrogen detoxification. There's a phase three which you just mentioned which is in the gut and that's got to do with the estro blohm. So phase one we have this we have this process which basically takes all of these very toxic chemicals and your hormones and things like that as well and breaks them down into sort of the intermediary toxins. So Speak and so with your hormones what's happening is estrogen in particular is being broken down into three metabolites. We've got 200 H4 o agent 1608. I'd say the names but there are long and complicated like oh, it's okay. Oh h 2 4 and 6. So just think of the two four six Pathways and then in phase two what's happening is 1608 is taken and it's turned into estriol, which is another type of estrogen and then to equation for Ohr transformed in that second half of Of detoxification or in Phase 2 and they're turned into a another type of estrogen right? So another sort of breakdown or metabolites and that's then factored off. Send sent to the gut. So these are now broken down, right? So in Phase 2, it's fully broken down and your gut now receives this fully broken down estrogen and then what happens is a struggle. Oh like you were talking about they are responsible for just like further processing and removal, right? So it's like Seriously and dumped in the toilet is what's supposed to happen? Because Sara Gottfried says that she talks about estrogen as a use it and lose it hormone. And so the idea with estrogen is that your body uses it it's great awesome. And then it really is meant to just be extent right exactly down as carry Jones as the sewer pipe. And so, you know, like when you think about all of these phases, right this is very intricately orchestrated process. So if you're you're Phase 1 and Phase 2 need specific nutrients, right? They need huge amounts of antioxidants in it a lot of water so drink up. They need a lot of B vitamins. They need all kinds of different vitamins and minerals and nutrients and so if they're not getting those nutrients, so if there's you know, it's like almost like a crack in the pipe for instance and you don't have the stuff to fix the crack in the pipe. And so it causes problems right? There's leaks there's issues. And so it's the same thing right your phases don't have these Nutrients and so they're sort of just trying to make do with what they've got. And then what happens is these estrogens are not broken down properly. So they're potentially recirculated from your liver and then in your gut if you have to high beta glucuronidase you met which is, you know, a compound that basically turns all of those neatly packaged estrogens back into you know, estrogen that can be used and then they leave your poor got You're Gonna Fly. All right. I got do anything with us. I got it back out into her. I don't like you said estrogen recycling. It's totally that and then you end up in a situation where you've got more estrogen circulating than you originally had which is annoying and it just Builds on itself and it just gets worse as we get older because we just become less resilient. Unfortunately. I mean like you can you just need to do you need to work harder in order for your liver to work better and I are in your thirties and forties for sure. Yeah, and I mean to that point, you know in my own experience, you know with a fibroid. It and then something that I tell women that are dealing with fibroids. I get definitely you got to get your gut health together. You got to you know work on your insulin, but for me, I was like, you know, I ate I was paleo I was I mean my digestion was good in terms of what you normally would think of with people and I realized over the long term. It was my liver. Like I think I probably I haven't I haven't done genetic testing to find out about you know, my my detox but I have not. I'm almost positive. It was really about my liver because I was having literal liver pains when I'm drinking alcohol actually quit alcohol for a year because of that. Yeah, and that was like, you know, maybe half a year before the fibroid started and so the Irish I just kind of point at the importance of take a bath in their liver or because even if you feel like your guts working, well, you know, and that you're eating well, they're low sugar. Like there's this other aspect and like you said alcohol can have a huge impact. And more as we age unfortunately, this is the reality every woman over 40 is like I can't even drink a glass of wine anymore. And I'm like, you know, but I believe in a lot of ways. It's actually pushing us to be sort of the next level of ourselves too. And I know it's hard when you're in it because you're like but I always used to be this fun person that could do these things, you know, but there's so much growth and beauty that can come from kind of letting that old. Crutch go, you know and I think sometimes it's our bodies being like well, who do you want to be now, you know and I want you to do as well as you can for this next like stage of your life. So it's time to make a couple of sometimes hard choices sometimes, you know, you know, it's so hard. I completely agree. I you know, it's funny alcohols. Not really my thing but sugar is definitely my thing and I you know, so I I feel like it's usually one or the other because if the end of the day, right they have the same effect on your body, right? They'll raise Blood sugar you make you feel so great. Alcohol has the added benefit of making you feel totally uninhibited I could take on the world. But yes, so true that when you think about your liver and you know, if it's too much alcohol or its prescription drug or whatever it is or you know to high levels of BPA or any of these environmental toxins that have been introduced into our environment and the last 50 to 60 years. All of these are going to take precedence right because they are the most harmful to your body. So your liver is always going to be focused on those first. And so your hormones will take a backseat. And so this is why you know, we have to be so diligent about about these these different foods or beverages that were consuming because they are potentially going to mess with your hormones on that level as well write your liver just prioritize has more dangerous things. And yeah, it becomes a real problem. I mean not only for your hormones, but you start to think about Your mood and you think about your sleep and you know, we talked about in our 40s right like you don't get a whole lot of sleep anymore or your sleep is just not as deep. I was just talking to Jessica drum and the other day and she was like, that's the one thing I miss about being 22. No Miss. I could sleep through the phone ringing. I mean, you know, I know right Deal with now to that. We didn't necessarily have to do with 50 or 60 years ago because I know you've worked with plenty of women who are in their 20s and they are having these issues that usually women didn't necessarily have until 20 years later. Right? Exactly. Yes, and so it's like it doesn't matter what age you are like, you know, so yeah like a notification on my computer that just sorry ask, you know, you know, yeah, it's just it's That's what I love about this conversation with you. Is that like, you know, you can be 18 and have these PMS symptoms and really, you know, focus on all the things that we talked about focus on, you know, where your blood sugar is at your gut your liver and then we didn't have a chance to really go into thyroid and adrenal is but those are also those will be impacted in the changes that you make with those first three, right? Yes, and really that is going to set you up for a much better situation. When exactly are late 30s early 40s and cruise on to into menopause right? I couldn't agree more Yeah a hundred percent when you think about it, right? Like I think that that's really it's such an important point. You just brought up and I know we're running late on time, but I just feel like what you said about the fact that all the hormones are talking to each other. There's a whole conversation happening on on a daily basis on a minute-by-minute basis and the fact that you know, we can't continue to look at all of these. Organs and systems in our bodies and isolation like they're all in communication. And so of course like you said your adrenals, of course, they're affected by your blood sugar two ladies and so is your thyroid thyroid is affected by excess estrogen. So there's you know, all of this complex interplay that we need to take into consideration and that's why I think women are so confused by the terms hormonal imbalance or imbalanced hormones because ultimately it just feels like oh my God, there's so much happening. Where do I even begin and like that we were saying Blood sugar or at least starting to just look at that and look at how the nutrients you are actually getting a keep a food diary for a week and see what you actually are eating because we love to glosses over without it. Amazing. Right I made in our diet is the alto decline they're like and then they're like, oh I was it was just a weird time. I don't normally eat like this every time you know, it's a shame right because I'm all good. There I was in the forest so dog all about how great my diet is an absolutely no. I hate that thing there and yeah grab that back there. Yeah, it's yeah so I could go on forever with you because there's like so many things, you know, and I know everybody would benefit so much, but I wanted to thank you again just for being here with me today and sharing your wisdom and knowledge and you know, like I said earlier, it's just amazing. How many women? lives that you've impacted with this and I really see you and some of the other women that you have mentioned during you know, this interview that they're you guys are leading the way towards really not only empowering women but like actually having them feel better live better lives and be able to go out into the world and do what they are meant to do right because that's kind of what me like getting healthy is about a lot of ways like when you feel good Then you can do your work in the world. Right and you help other people in that way and so, you know, we need we needed a revolution and you guys are here like leading it. I appreciate that greatly and I know all the women listening also feel the same way. So tell them how they can get in touch with you and you know any projects that you have coming up. Yes. So everyone can find me on my website. It's Nicole. Jardim.com forward slash blog if you want to check out my blog and Course, you mentioned the period party. So that's the podcast. I co-host with my dear friend neck cream Buddhist and my Australian parents telling girls. All right, I know exactly and so you're we have tons of episodes everything. We read like a hundred and sixty at this point. There's a lot of episodes there. Yeah, and then I, you know, you can also like I said on my site you can go take my Period quiz, that's a great way to kind of figure out what might be going on or at least start to figure out what's going on. And then I've just finished we have mentioned this writing a book which Which is coming out in sorry, April 28th, I think yeah, it was one. Eighth of 2020 maybe a plan right now. Yeah, and it's go. Yeah, so that's titled fix your period and that really is so much about of this protocol includes a six-week protocol on how to fix your very problem. Yeah. I know right? That's the goal. I mean like I you know, I like we were saying right you can definitely spot treat right? You can take some magnesium and you can These different supplements and you can try a few a little few food changes and whatnot. But at the end of the day some of us just need a bit of an overhaul and so that was really what I was going for with the book. Yeah. Awesome. That's so incredible because you know that like we said earlier it's like I love I love people to actually understand the science of it. And then like we also got to give the protocol right because people are like, okay, I need to like change things. So what do I do? So it's really exciting. This book is coming out. Thank you for sharing that with the world and now I know it's been like birthing a baby, right? That's what they say. So then you get to watch it grow. So thank you guys so much for being here need a little help. It's going on and some other great stuff. So I will see you guys tomorrow. Bye.
Day 3 of the 2019 Hormone Summit brings us an interview with one of my favorite people, The Period Girl herself, Nicole Jardim. We chat all things PMS, and Nicole goes in-depth about what is happening in your body when PMS strikes. It's a multilayered process, but luckily Nicole tells you where to begin to help banish this bane of many women's existence. And she somehow makes the whole process seem fun and easy! Nicole is a Certified Women’s Health Coach and the creator of Fix Your Period, a series of programs that empower women to reclaim their hormone health using a method that combines simplicity and sass. Her incredible work has impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of women around the world in effectively addressing a wide variety of period problems, including PMS, irregular periods, PCOS, painful periods, amenorrhea, and many more. Nicole is also the co-host of The Period Party, a top-rated podcast on iTunes—be sure to tune into that if you want to learn more about how to fix your period—and she’s the creator of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition’s hormone health continuing education course. Connect with Nicole via her website at https://nicolejardim.com/, through her FB at https://www.facebook.com/nicolemjardim/, or her IG at https://www.instagram.com/nicolemjardim/. 