In Your Pants with Dr. Susie G - Good Ol' Aunt Flow

Episode Date: January 17, 2018

When Aunt flow comes around, you get moody, bitchy, and cramps are normal. What if I told you that was all bullsh*t? Don't just take my word for it, listen to the show and find out for yourself. I've got the period girl, Nicole Jardim, on the show today giving you the secrets on how to fix your period blues. Buh-Bye Aunt Flo'!

You're listening to In Your Pants with Dr. Susie G, the physiotherapist for your private, helping you get in the know down below. On a Saturday, Susie welcomes the period girl, Nicole Jarman. Nicole is a certified women's health coach and creator of Fix Your Period, a series of programs that empower young women to reclaim their hormonal health. Listen in as Susie and Nicole discuss common myths about periods. Hey guys, it's Dr. Susie G, and I'm so excited about our guest for today's episode. I'm here with Nicole Jardim, the period girl.

She's a certified women's health coach and a functional nutrition coach who's been fixing periods one woman at a time. So on today's show, we're going to be chatting about good old Aunt Flo and giving you the number one solution to your period problems. So Nicole, thanks so much for being on the show. you've been helping women all over the globe fix their period woes. So I'm curious to hear your story behind your passion helping women in their 20s and 30s. Hi, Susie. Thank you so much for having me. First of all, I'm really excited to be on a podcast with the name of your podcast

in your pants. Exactly. Like, are you kidding me? It's the best ever. And of course, as you can imagine there's always a story behind the story. And for me, it actually began a really long time ago. And it was sort of unbeknownst to me at the time I was 11. My dad passed away really suddenly. And it just, it kicked off a series of events in my life that were pretty traumatic and obviously, and what I didn't realize at the time is that that kind of trauma, that kind of stress can have such a massive impact on your hormones. Um, and so when I was about 14 or 15, I started to develop all these problems, like really heavy periods. And then my period would just show up like every three or four months. And I had this horrible, like mood situation happening. I might

have, you might've been because I was a teenager, but all of these problems, like really bad cramps, like I was in bed for two days, it was just kind of a mess. And finally I went to my doctor because my mom was like, well, you know, all that's kind of normal. Cause that's what she had, which I, you know, I hear from a lot of women now they say, yeah, you know, I never really saw a doctor because my mom said it was totally normal because that was what she experienced. And that was my story as well. And you know, nothing wrong with that. It's just what we're sort of conditioned to believe. And so I saw the doctor finally, and she put me on the birth control pill and I totally thought that was a panacea. I was convinced that that was going to be the solution

to all of my problems but what ended up happening was my period quote-unquote regulated itself and my cramps pretty much disappeared and my period became a lot lighter and my mood issues disappeared for the most part but then I started developing horrible urinary tract infections and chronic yeast infections and then my period kind of disappeared completely and my hair was falling out and my sex drive like diminished to nothing. And I was literally like 21. So what ended up happening was I came off the pill because I just had enough. I'd seen so many doctors. Nobody had contributed my symptoms to the pill or even made any connection. And I saw this acupuncturist, this tiny little Chinese guy who was a traditional acupuncturist. And he told me

I had to come off the pill because it wasn't natural. No one had ever said that before. And that's what I did. And it really was the catalyst for this journey to reclaiming my hormonal health. Um, and that, you know, I ended up training with Dr. Sarah Gottfried with our friend, Jessica Drummond, uh, Chris Kresser, a number of different people to really get an understanding, like a really thorough understanding of how women's bodies work, work, uh, hormones, the endocrine system, everything. And, uh, and then that's what led me to create, uh, my business and Fix Your Period, which is the program that I had created for women to help them fix their period problems. What a story. You just blew my socks off. That's amazing. And what best person

to help with fixing your period than someone who's experienced what you've experienced and bringing your knowledge and your expertise and that experience to the table to help other women who are in similar situations. So thank you so much for contributing to the world in such a positive way. Thank you. I do my best. You are doing beyond your best. That's great. Thank you. And I'm sure all the women that you've worked with, thank you as well. So, um, so based on that, what do you think is the root cause of period problems? I know you mentioned several things that happened in your life, but in your opinion, what is the root main root cause of period problems? Yeah. I mean, there are obviously a couple of different ones like I was talking about,

But I think what I what women need to be asking themselves today is what is sort of the common denominator? Like, what is it that's potentially causing all of these seemingly unrelated symptoms? Because I had seemingly unrelated symptoms. I had got health problems and then I had a period that kind of disappeared. My hair was falling out. Nobody could really connect them. And ultimately, it's that our hormones are out of whack. but what we don't really realize or what we're not really taught is that all of our hormones

are constantly communicating with each other. They're all on the hormone superhighway, as I like to call it, just surfing through the whole body. And they're all talking to each other and telling each other things. And one of the most important hormones that we don't ever really pay attention to or even talk about is insulin. And insulin is a super powerful hormone. It's definitely not one of those you want to mess with. It kind of reminds me of the, like the hurricane that we were just talking about prior to this. Yeah. And so you really don't want to mess with insulin, but the problem nowadays is that our blood sugar is so dysregulated. I feel like now more than ever in modern history, we have so much blood sugar dysregulation because of our diets

and because of our chronic stress that we're now in a state of perpetual, uh, either insulin dysregulation or blood sugar dysregulation. And, you know, this sort of brings me back to a story about a little bit earlier this year, I saw Jessica, our friend, Jessica Drummond, and, you know, we were talking about, you know, how I could like fix my mood issues because the first couple of months of this year, I just felt like I was depressed and that could have been winter, but I felt like something was off. And so I did a bunch of testing and whatnot with her. And she was like, you know, I really think you should just try a grain-free diet and see what happens. And I, I'd never tried a grain-free diet before all the things I've tried. I've never just

gone completely grain-free. And for anyone who doesn't know what that is, that means like no wheat, no rice, no flour of any kind or corn, barley, or buckwheat, like none, none of it, which is, you know, challenging to say the least in our, in our flour loving world. Right. Yeah. Give me more gluten. I know. Right. Seriously. Exactly. Anyway. So that's, so I tried it out and honest, I like, I couldn't believe it. I felt within a month, I felt like a totally new human. I was just a thousand percent happier than I had been. I had way more energy. I was actually losing weight, which I haven't really lost weight in a really long time unintentionally. And it was, it was really with minimal effort.

And so that's why I just really think that people need to understand that, uh, when you're eating too many of these whether it's grains or refined flours or sugar it's going to swing your blood sugar high and it's going to cause this insulin dysregulation and insulin has an impact on all your sex hormones which we can get more into but that's basically the gist of it can you tell the listeners what insulin actually does some might not know so oh yeah oh i'd love to i feel like it's probably good yeah to just share how it all works in the body i love to talk about this stuff because I think it's really helpful. So basically like when we eat a meal, our digestive system goes to work, it breaks down our food into usable components. And then the starches from the

carbohydrates that we consume are broken down and converted into glucose, which gets transferred to the bloodstream. Our blood can only handle about five grams of glucose at any one time, which by the way, is only a teaspoon of sugar. So it's good for people to know that. And so then what happens when there's more than that, like if we eat a sandwich or a bagel or something like that. So our pancreas is called into action to help with that overload of glucose that's entering our bloodstream. And to help get this excess glucose out of there, the pancreas calls upon its trusted delivery boy, which is insulin. Yep, exactly. And insulin does its job and it comes right up and it does what it needs to do to get the blood, you know, the sugar into our cells.

So our pancreas will release that insulin, it goes to work, it does all of that. And what happens is the blood sugar drops, right? So the higher amount of blood sugar you have, the faster it drops because insulin is going to work really quickly. Like our bodies recognize that too much sugar in our blood is toxic. So insulin is just going to be really aggressive about getting it out of our blood as quickly as possible. And so the pancreas will then notice that the blood glucose levels have dropped really

fast, right? So they're quote unquote crashing and in danger of becoming too low. So it's just going to release another hormone called glucagon, which will tell the cells to stop storing glucose so that our blood sugar can settle and then rise back up to stable levels. So think about, I always ask women to think about how many times a day this must happen when you eat more than five grams of sugar. And yeah, and like usually, you know, people, what they don't realize is that like, for

instance, in a cupcake, there's 25 grams of sugar in a cupcake. There's like 40 something grams of sugar in a soda, in a Coke. So we're constantly in that state of being, we're eating too much of it or we're consuming too much of it. So over time, we end up with this high blood sugar and high insulin. And then this condition known as insulin resistance, which is where our bodies just don't respond to what insulin is trying to do. And that actually just ends up being a disaster for our little sex hormones. Oh my gosh. No kidding. What are some signs and symptoms that someone can recognize if they have blood sugar imbalance? I know. Usually women are like, okay, Nicole, so what's a blood sugar dysregulated girl supposed to do now that you've told us all

this really bad news? Okay. Some early signs are brain fog, ongoing fatigue, as well as not feeling rested when waking up, increased belly fat. So if you're noticing that you can pinch more, there's a reason. The mid-morning or the mid-afternoon energy dips or crashes where you definitely need coffee, sugar to get you back up to where you are functioning optimally, as well as sleepiness after meals and sugar cravings, especially right after a meal, especially at night, that typically is a sign as well. So what I have women usually do is pay attention to the mental and emotional changes first. So the mental changes are often, I think, the easiest symptoms to recognize. And it's really interesting because there are certain cells in the

brain that are very sensitive to insulin and dependent on blood sugar to function normally. So when these brain cells become insulin resistant, they begin to starve for fuel, causing this brain fogginess and the inability to concentrate and remember things like, oh, where did I put my car keys? Or where did I put my kids? You know, and you're there in the backseat. Oh man. Yeah. That's like home alone, right? I know I had a new mom friend recently say to me that she felt like her brain was like a confetti, like a million bits scattered all over the place. And I could totally, I could totally see how that might happen. So that's what I think women need to just think about first is, is the mental and

emotional changes. Like, what about your mood? Is it, is it really up and down? Because that's another sign. That's what I talk about with PMS is because it's so closely linked to blood sugar, which we can jump into, but it's that your mood issues are, are exacerbated or you notice them more as, as your blood sugar becomes more dysregulated. Wow. And no, that's a great segue to the next question is, you know, how is blood sugar imbalance linked to some of the common issues that women face like PMS, PCOS, and thyroid issues, just to name a few? Totally. I mean, like, and these are the biggest ones, right? I mean, I, you know, I have a quiz on my website and people fill that out and whatnot. And the results, I see the results every now and again, we're checking

out to see what people say. And it's like 85% of women who fill this quiz out experience PMS symptoms. So it's just a massive number of people. And so what I ask women to think about is when you're thinking of the symptoms of blood sugar instability, like I was describing, or hypoglycemia, the symptoms of PMS seem really similar. I always say like, is PMS the same as being hangry? And it kind of is because they really are similar. So there's evidence that suggests that insulin sensitivity is higher in the follicular phase, and then it decreases in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. So that's the first phase versus the second phase. And so what this means is that our bodies are more prone to blood sugar and insulin imbalances in the second half of our

cycle and the symptoms that accompany those issues. So these include PMS cravings, the mood swings, the brain fog, the bouts of fatigue, all of it. And this all happens because it's believed that estrogen enhances the efficiency of insulin. So in the first half of the cycle, when estrogen is high, this will help keep blood sugar and insulin stable. And then on the other hand, progesterone can actually impair insulin sensitivity. So in the second half of the cycle, when progesterone is high, or if you have low progesterone, so it works both ways, there's a Goldilocks amount of progesterone. So either too high or too little progesterone can affect blood sugar regulation, which is very annoying to a lot of people because then they're

like, well, Nicole, what is, you know, what, what do I do? Like, what's the optimal amount of progesterone? And it's, it varies. It's unique to every single person's body, but basically it means that, you know, it's going to be just a little bit different for each person, but you'll, you'll definitely know. And like, you know, when your progesterone is too high or your progesterone is too low because it shifts your mood significantly. Also, insulin resistance raises the activity of an enzyme called aromatase. And so this is responsible for estrogen production. And so what this means is that high levels of insulin essentially raise estrogen and then set the stage for estrogen dominance, which is often connected to those

physical and emotional symptoms of PMS and PMDD even. So that's a connection between PMS and PMDD and our blood sugar. And then there's PCOS, which is polycystic ovarian syndrome, which a lot of women are experiencing now and in fact is the number one cause of infertility in the US. And so PCOS connects with insulin resistance because insulin interacts with our ovaries. So when our cells stop responding to the insulin signals a la insulin resistance that I was just describing, this causes our pancreas to release more and more of it, just flooding our system with it because our bodies don't realize that it's not working. So what happens is our ovaries, our little baby ovaries, have insulin receptors in them, and that triggers them to make androgens rather than their pro-fertility hormones that they usually make, estrogen and progesterone. So we have these prolonged high levels of circulating insulin, and this can sidetrack the ovaries from their usual duties, just disrupting the entire menstrual and reproductive cycle. And what's so frightening about this is that children, like really young kids, are being given so much sugar now.

I mean, it's unprecedented how much sugar children are eating nowadays. I mean, that's just never happened in our history. And so this is having a really long-term impact, and we're seeing it in the rise of metabolic syndrome, which is basically connected to PCOS, and of course, the significant rise in PCOS as well. So that's PMS, that's PCOS, and then I wanted to mention the thyroid issues as well. So the thyroid gland and our body's blood sugar regulation are actually very intricately connected.

insulin resistance can lead to thyroid dysfunction and thyroid dysfunction can lead to insulin resistance so they go back and forth and usually when there's one there's the other so this goes as well for hyper and hypothyroidism so for anyone who doesn't know hyperthyroidism is when your thyroid is kind of all jacked up and it's just like over producing thyroid hormones whereas hypo is when it's not producing enough thyroid hormone. And insulin resistance affects the thyroid because it inhibits its ability to convert the basic thyroid hormone, which is T4, into the active form, which is T3. And so this, of course, can lead to that low thyroid function that I just described and has a negative impact on the pancreas. So it's like a big feedback loop,

essentially. And so the pancreas then just, uh, make, you know, what happens is the pancreas just starts to make more insulin and we, and then the cycle continues. So it just becomes worse and worse. And also to what women need to understand is our, our thyroid is so closely connected to how our ovaries function. Low thyroid function is often the culprit behind low progesterone, short luteal phases, inability to get pregnant or recurring miscarriages, even heavy periods, painful periods, and short cycles. So it's really important for us to have an understanding of how everything is connected. That's great. And so how would you go about, what did you have to do certain tests? Tell the listeners what you would usually do to

find the culprit or multiple things going on in their body so that you can provide a good plan. Totally. When it comes to this kind of thing, most women who come to me are in that state of blood sugar dysregulation likely, but they're not at the state of insulin resistance. It takes a while to get there, but I do recommend seeing your doctor. If you do have any of these symptoms, I would definitely recommend going to your doctor and getting your blood, your flasting glucose tested, uh, and getting your insulin tested as well, just to see what's going on there. And you can also do this at home too, which I think is awesome. You just have to buy a glucometer, which is what diabetics would buy. And you can get that at the drug store and just

test your blood sugar 15, 30, 45, and 60 minutes after you've eaten. I know it's like four pricks on your finger, which is not ideal, but it will really tell you what's going on. And the idea is that your blood sugar should be anywhere between 75 and 85, your resting blood sugar. And then it shouldn't really jump more than 25 points after you've eaten a meal, whether that's the 15, 30, 45 is 60 minute increments. So that's like one really awesome sort of biohacking way to do things. And the rest of it is more food and lifestyle changes. Like I'm such a huge proponent of blood sugar balancing from the get go. So for breakfast in the morning, having a breakfast with protein and fat in it, just say bye bye to the bagel, start your day with a whole

foods meal that's packed with nutrients to fuel you through the morning. And I think that it's really important to say that it's good to not be afraid to eat foods that you might have at other meals for breakfast. So veggies, for instance, like leafy greens, I'm a big fan of the eggs and the greens and the avocado and sweet potato or other veggies put into that mix. That's a really great breakfast or some kind of yogurt and berries with nuts and seeds in it or breakfast burrito, vegetable frittatas, anything along those lines that brings together fat, protein, carbs, complex carbs, and fiber is going to really help you start the day amazingly well and take you through to lunch so that you're not at 10 a.m. grasping for the coffee or a muffin or something like that.

So that's the first recommendation that I would say. And the second thing I would say is to really think about avoiding or reducing caffeine. Some of us are definitely more sensitive to caffeine than others. If you have anxiety at all in your life, ladies, do not drink coffee. Don't consume caffeine because it is making it exponentially worse for you. And so with caffeine, it increases the production of prostaglandins. So these are chemical messengers that cause uterine muscles to contract around the time of menstruation. So higher prostaglandins are linked to an increase in breast tenderness, really bad period pain or cramping, headaches or migraines, backaches, and even joint pain during our premenstrual period. So caffeine is one of those things as

well that I highly recommend not having in your life. And the reason also too is that it actually causes a blood sugar imbalance. Like that's what caffeine does because it triggers stress hormones, which throw your blood sugar out of whack and insulin out of whack. So I really think it's important for us to think about the caffeine equation. Cause I know that that's a, that's a tough one. Um, so that's like two of the things that I really think, I think the other thing to for so many women is the stress component. I mean, I don't know who isn't stressed. And I swear, if you figured out the solution to not be stressed, like call me immediately because we just don't seem to know how to fix that. And it's not really going away. And everyone just sort of lives

their life like they're on a runaway train as far as I'm concerned. So I really think that a mindset shift around how we approach the stressful things in our lives is so crucial. So when we're under stress, our adrenal glands, they've released two key hormones. We've got cortisol and DHEA. Cortisol provides our bodies with a boost to help meet whatever challenge we're facing by countering insulin production, interestingly enough, and encouraging higher glucose, which is why stress actually makes you have high blood sugar problems. And then we have DHEA, which is a steroid hormone that boosts how our brain functions to help us learn from the stressful situation. So the idea here is to really shift our mindset regarding stress, right? We want

to be able to produce more DHEA and less cortisol because cortisol is damaging over time and DHEA is protective over time. And interestingly in studies, there have been studies where people are told that stress is negative and it actually makes them respond negatively, whereas people who've been told that stress is a positive thing and that it enhances them and strengthens them and it was found that when they were in a stressful situation their levels of DHEA skyrocketed so it's really just about the simple act of thinking about stress in a more positive way to encourage your body to start to react differently on a physical level so there's those I feel like those are three things that women can do to really start to address the blood sugar

imbalances that i feel plague us right now nicole you just gave us some juicy ass content like that's awesome so i just want to recap it for everyone and so that i can literally digest what you just said that was amazing thank you so much so ladies get yourself a glucometer if you feel like you have blood sugar dysregulation let's be a little more objective and figure it out right from the gecko uh your normal blood sugar should be around resting 75 to 85 fasting and then uh it shouldn't go more over 25 points right nicole after eating uh and check it 25 45 and 60 minute increments 15 30 45 60 15 30 okay 15 30 45 60 holy moses lots of pricks but it's all for good purpose it doesn't hurt um food and lifestyle changes are the number one thing you would

recommend right so getting rid of caffeine and starting breakfast and starting your day with protein and healthy fats um drop the donuts ladies sorry the european breakfast does not apply i know in italy it was just like sugars cheese and it works there why does it work i don't know it must be yeah it's because you're on vacation and stress like you said and you mentioned that the stress component great segue it needs to be controlled mindset shift is huge and when we give our body times to relax and recuperate and rejuvenate everything else just falls into place so a little bit at a time and implementing healthy lifestyle changes into our life will certainly go a long way in controlling those periods ladies so nicole how can someone

connect with you? How can our listeners connect with you if they want to work with you further or just learn more about what you do? Absolutely. So you can find me on my website. It's Nicole Jardim. It's J-A-R-D-I-M.com. And I have a blog on there. I post about once a week about everything related to periods and hormones and how that's all connected to your fertility. You can also find me on Facebook and it's just forward slash Nicole M like Mary Jardim or Instagram, which is the same handle. And I'm on both of those daily too, sharing articles and all the goodness about women and their hormones. Listeners, she's got some great stuff, Nicole. Thank you. What a great conversation. You're such an inspiration. It's contagious. And I hope that

listeners will feel more comfortable to talk about their issues down below and embrace their periods. Thank you. Awesome. Thanks so much, Nicole. We'll talk to you soon. All right. Thanks. Bye. Thanks for listening to today's episode. Be sure to head on over to drcgg.com where you can get more information, show notes, and related articles on today's topic. Also, if you like what you're hearing, head on over to iTunes, subscribe to the podcast, and leave us a rating and review. We'd love to hear your feedback. Thanks again. Minus the dog barking.

Not my dog. I don't have a dog. Oh, dear.