Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 959 | Birth Control Is Making Women Bisexual | Guest: Emily Detrick

Episode Date: February 28, 2024

Today we're joined by health coach Emily Detrick, @littleraeofhealth on Instagram, to talk about hormone health, nutrition, and the truth about birth control. Emily shares her story of figuring out that birth control was affecting her body negatively and how she began to heal. We talk about blood sugar and cravings and explain how to combat the "need" for sugar. We also discuss cortisol, the stress hormone, and how it affects us alongside other hormones. Emily explains the importance of protein throughout the day in balancing hormones. Then, what's the truth about birth control? We explain the harms of hormonal birth control and why women are lied to from a young age about this. We also cover how to optimize hormone health for fertility and periods and share what toxic products we should be avoiding. --- Timecodes: (00:53) Emily's story (08:20) Blood sugar, cravings and protein (16:06) Cortisol (19:00) Eating to balance hormones (24:14) Birth control (35:40) Fertility & periods (55:40) Exercise, cold plunges and saunas (01:01:28) Non-toxic products (01:09:55) Stanleys --- Today's Sponsors: Seven Weeks Coffee — Seven Weeks is a pro-life coffee company with a simple mission: DONATE 10% of every sale to pregnancy care centers across America. Get your organically farmed and pesticide-free coffee at sevenweekscoffee.com and let your coffee serve a greater purpose. Use the promo code 'ALLIE' to save 10% off your order. Good Ranchers — add 2.25 lbs. of free chicken breasts to EVERY order you receive for the next year—that’s over 25 lbs. of FREE, pre-trimmed chicken breasts! Go to GoodRanchers.com and use code 'ALLIE' when you subscribe. Jase Medical — get up to a year’s worth of many of your prescription medications delivered in advance. Go to JaseMedical.com today and use promo code “ALLIE" for a discount. Carly Jean Los Angeles — use promo code RELATABLE to get 20% off your entire order at CarlyJeanLosAngeles.com! --- Relevant Episodes: Ep 951 | What Does the Bible Say About Our Diet? | Guest: Chelsea Blackbird https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-951-what-does-the-bible-say-about-our-diet-guest/id1359249098?i=1000645362061 Ep 810 | Detoxifying Your Life: Birth Control, Cleaning Chemicals & Fake Food | Guest: Shawna Holman https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-810-detoxifying-your-life-birth-control-cleaning/id1359249098?i=1000614201869 Ep 741 | How to Realistically Live Toxin-Free | Guest: Taylor Dukes https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-741-how-to-realistically-live-toxin-free-guest-taylor/id1359249098?i=1000595318788 --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise – use promo code 'ALLIE10' for a discount: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed.

You can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Is birth control making women bisexual? Today we are talking about the importance of balancing your hormones naturally with Emily Dietrich. She is an expert in hormonal balance and also helping women understand the importance of their cycles and nourishing our bodies in accordance with the cycle that God has given us. We are covering this and so much more on today's episode of Wellness Wednesday on Relatable. And this episode is

brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to Good Ranchers.com. Use Code Alley at checkout. That's good ranchers.com. Code Alley. Emily, thanks so much for taking the time to join us. I'm so excited. Yes. Okay. First, can you tell us who you are and what you do? Yes. My name is Emily on Instagram. I'm Little Ray of Health. That's how most people know me. But my name is Emily. A lot of people think it's Rachel because it's Little Ray.

Yeah. Emily Ray, I'm a certified health coach and I help women balance their hormones naturally using mostly food as medicine. Okay. You're the first person that I followed that has an emphasis on balancing hormones. I mean, I see a lot of health coaches on social media. They help you lose weight, count your macros, change your body composition by eating certain kinds of foods.

But your emphasis is. on hormonal balance. Yeah. So tell us how you got there. Like, how did you make that central to what you do? Yes. Okay. I mean, I feel like with most people, everything got messed up.

And I had to heal myself. So you make your mess, your message kind of thing. Yes, yes. Became a health coach. And along that journey, I tried different diets. You learn about different diets. You learn about different things. I tried going vegan.

I tried doing this and that. I had been on birth control at this point since I was 15. And I became a health coach when I was 22. Hormonal birth. Control, like the past. Yes, hormonal birth control. I try like four different kinds. It was like a Goldilocks.

Like maybe the next one, maybe the next one over the course of eight years. And towards, at first, it was great. At first, I didn't notice anything. I was like, oh, this is great. I was put on birth control at 15 for really no reason. That's so many people's story. Yeah. I mean, that's my story too.

Yeah. I didn't have acne. Yeah. I wasn't sexually active. Like, I didn't have acne. I didn't have horrible periods. Like it was just, okay, this is what everyone's. doing, here you go. And so I didn't know any better. My mom didn't, you know, my sister was on it.

All my friends were. So got on birth control when I was young. And then, you know, years go by. I'm in my 20s. I'm drinking, right? I'm going out. I'm staying up late. I'm not eating the best. Like, I'm trashing my body, basically. And as I'm becoming a health coach, my health is crumbling. And I became a health coach. I got a psych degree, but I knew I didn't want to be like a therapist. I knew I wanted to help people. Always love helping people. I know I'm like a healer. It's kind of my ministry, you know? And I was like, but it's not going to be through like psychology. And I've always been passionate about nutrition and health kind of runs in my family. My grandpa was that way. My mom's kind of crunchy. And so I was like, I'll become a health coach.

So I do that. And as I'm doing that, my health is crumbling. And it was so scary. One, I didn't know what was happening. And I didn't have anything to compare to you. Like I didn't understand. I hadn't changed anything. Yeah. But as I'm going through, this like I'm gaining weight my periods are horrible super painful my acne is crazy this is early 20s this is early 20s this is like I'm 22 23 and everything everything just backfired on me and I you had been kind of you'd be interested in fitness and yeah people would probably have looked at you and said oh she's healthy she like working out she eats I looked great I was in really good shape and I didn't like yes I at that point I went through a phase where I was counting macros I was going to the gym and

but I wasn't under eating severely or anything. I was really eating good food, high quality food. And so that was part of it. I was like, I'm healthy. I don't understand what's happening. Why am I gaining weight? I had cellulite. And I was like, it was just scary to feel like I wasn't in control.

Like I was a prisoner. For you. Now, some people have always had cellulite even though they're working out. But for you, that's not something that you had. So it was kind of a strange development at the time. It was rapid too. It was in a matter of months. my body changed so much. And yeah, cellulite happens. Like, it's not abnormal. Even lean people have

cellulite. There's so many different things, genetics. And I still have some. You know what I mean? Like, it's normal. Yeah. But all of a sudden, I really didn't know what was going on. I went to doctors. My doctor told me that everything I was going through was normal, right? I'm telling her, I also had mood swings, right? Hormonal acne. I had no libido, like no nothing. Like, I felt nothing. Yeah. It's the only way I can describe it. I felt numb. I would look at the man that I loved and I'd feel nothing. And it was terrifying. I thought it was broken. And I've talked to so many women that have that same experience. And it's so scary. And so I went to doctor after doctor and they were like, we don't know what's going on. Also, I took a round of antibiotics for strep throat, messed up my gut. So like I was bloated. I couldn't eat anything without my stomach hurting. Like really everything unraveled all at once. What kind of doctors were you going to? Like endocrinologists? Like Kaiser. Kaiser does just just my stomach. traditional GP, I didn't go as far as seeing an endocrinologist or seeing like some, at that point,

eight years ago, gut health wasn't a thing really. Like they were just like, oh, you have IBS or you have this. We don't know. Going gluten free wasn't a thing. They diagnosed me with non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Okay. So like I do have an issue with it. But it's kind of like, in my opinion, it's kind of like saying SIDS. It's like we don't know what's happening, but something's happening. So here's a label. And so I just felt like going to doctor after doctor not feeling hurt, feeling gaslit about my own experience. And just going, no one believes me. This is not normal. Yeah.

I don't feel okay. Stop telling me I'm fine. I'm not fine. So they're just looking at all of your symptoms and they're saying, well, yeah, a lot of people are bloated. So what that you have cellulite. So what you gain weight. That's just something that happens. So what your periods are painful.

That's normal. Yeah. Welcome to being. I remember one of my doctors is like, oh, sweetie, that's just. being a woman. And I'm like, that's not the reality that I'm going to accept. And you were 22. It's not like you were 13 and you didn't know what a period was. Exactly. Exactly. And so I had a period long enough to know, like, this isn't how it should be. And it's changed so much. So I decided to take matters into my own hands. I was like, I'm, you guys are not helping me. I'll figure it out.

So I'm becoming a health coach. I'm doing research. I basically become my own guinea pig. And I research all of these things. I research the side effects of birth control. I get off birth control. And I just felt you get to a point where you know there's like a disconnect. You're like, I know this isn't right for me. Like I know I'm putting something in my body that's changing me. Like, why am I doing it? Did more research on birth control and like the side effects. I mean, the insert is insane. The side effects list is crazy. Yeah. And so I decided like, I'm going to heal myself. I cut out dairy and gluten. I work to heal my gut. And then that's when I dove into hormone balance. So I did take some courses in hormones, hormone health, just to be like more specific

so I could teach other women. But on that journey, I made it my mission to help any. I was like, if I can help one woman not go through what I went through, this is worth it. Yeah. And so then it took me about a year at that point because I was trying to figure out. It was like two steps forward, one step back. I didn't have a roadmap. And so it took a while. But here I am. And I realized food. It's like food you eat three times a day, right? Three plus times. It is something we're exposed to so much and it has such powerful healing properties. And that's that's kind of what got me here. Yeah. So tell us specifically what you found about how your diet affects your hormones and like what did that look like for you in that year. So what I realize is blood sugar is a massive contributor to hormone imbalances and mood issues and weight and crazy. and acne and all of these crazy things. And no one thinks about it. Unless you're diabetic or pre-diabatic or it runs in your family,

no one thinks about balancing their blood sugar, right? No one thinks about like, maybe first thing in the morning I shouldn't have like a venty iced coffee with caramel sauce and a croissant. Like it's just kind of the thing. People, that's what they do. Cereal. And your body craves that.

I think if you are used to that. And I, you know, I've been there of just wanting that. And I do. I love carbs and sugar. And so I understand that. And that's a craving, especially if you've kind of fasted since the night before and your body has low blood sugar. That's what you want in the morning. A hundred percent.

A lot of people don't question their cravings. They just want to satisfy them. And we hear like, oh, if you have creating, you should satisfy them. And there are certain things, but there's a reason you have those cravings. And so kind of like what you're saying is the more sugar you eat, one, you feed those bugs in your gut. And so the more sugar you eat, the more sugar you crave. But also what happens when we eat something really high in sugar, right? With no, I call them like naked carbs.

So we're talking like if you have sourdough, but you don't have like butter or maybe avocado, anything to offset it. That's going to spike your blood sugar. And then what's going to happen is your body will like kind of overproduce insulin to compensate for this big wave it sees coming. And then once that crashes, that sugar crash, your body, which is so smart, right? We were so like intelligently created that our body goes, okay, we're low on blood sugar. What's the quickest form of energy?

That's sugar. So then it sends signals out of like give us sugar, give us quick energy because we're crashing. Then more sugar cravings like ensue. So it's kind of this vicious circle. Yeah. And how does that affect our hormones? So blood sugar affect our hormones. Yeah.

So when our blood sugar dips or spikes, we also like if our blood sugar spikes, insulin also spikes, right? So insulin and then cortisol spikes. So we're spiking our stress hormones. And if we're constantly writing the cycle of spiking our stress hormones, creating inflammation, right? We're eating sugar, refined sugars. All of this just creates this perfect storm. And for example, like if you start your day with a croissant and an ice coffee from wherever it is or a bagel or something like that, without any protein or fats or anything to compensate for it, what's going to happen is you're going to start your day with a cortisol, a stress hormone spike. And then it kind of just creates this wave that you're going to ride where you're going to have sugar cravings. So you're going to give

into them. And then it just keeps going. So it's really the stress hormones and the cortisol with the blood sugar. Yeah. You know, I can see that there have been periods of time in my life. And that's not to say that I'm eating perfectly healthy right now either. But where not purposely, but I will just barely eat anything from the morning until like 1 p.m. And then by 1 p.m. I am so starved that really all I want, it's like my body is audibly speaking to me and saying, I want carbs. Yes. I want sugar. You need that.

And you feel like you're going to die if you don't get it, you know? The hangar. Yes. Yes. But you feel stressed during that time. So I don't really know how the cycle exactly works, but it does feel like cortisol is high and is telling you I need to get that sugar and carb. I need those quick forms of energy or else I'm just going to go kaput. 100%.

And this is why I'm such a big proponent of eating breakfast within an hour of waking up, which I know I'm not asking you to eat like some all-star breakfast, all-American three eggs, bacon toast. Like it doesn't have to be that crazy because I understand like you're a busy mom. If you're on the go, you have so much going on. You don't have time to sit down, cook yourself and eat an hour in like spend an hour on breakfast. So what I say is can you just eat something within an hour of waking? up that's high in protein, it's has some fats that's going to stabilize your blood sugar.

I'm telling you this one change, not starting your day with coffee, but starting it with something protein focused with some fats, maybe little carbs too. I'm not saying I'm not against carbs. And instead of just jumping for coffee right away, it is going to change the course of your day and your hormones drastically because it's going to stabilize cortisol. It's going to stabilize blood sugar. It's going to stabilize any cravings. And there's a lot of, also something. I don't want to get too sciencey or crazy, but there's something called the protein leverage hypothesis, which basically says that our body wants protein the most. It's what we search for in food. So if you are eating something that's high-carb, like chips or something like that,

there's not a lot of protein, but your body's searching for that protein in it. And so what it's going to do is it's going to continue to tell you to keep eating until it satisfies the protein. So it'll tell your body, I'm still hungry. Yes, I'm still hungry, I'm still hungry, even though maybe you've exceeded. You're in a calorie surplus, but you still feel hungry. Yeah. And so I think most people just don't get enough protein in. Yeah.

Okay. Interesting. I definitely am a coffee drinker first thing in the morning because I feel like I need it to wake me up. And it takes more effort to make an egg, especially, you know, on the go, trying to get my kids dressed and everything like that. You're just like, I just need the coffee. Totally. And but I can definitely see how it just kind of induces cravings and spikes cortisol. And it doesn't really make you feel that great.

It makes me feel a little bit jittery. Yeah. If I'm not also eating too. So I could see that being a problem and kind of setting you up for the rest of the day to not do that great. Yeah. Like I look, coffee is my favorite. No one has to cut out coffee.

I'm not telling you to cut out coffee. I love it. I can't go a day without it. It's my favorite. But what I've done now is I drink half-calf. So I buy like two bags of beans or whatever and I mix them together like Nespresso sells half calf pods. So I can have a full mug of coffee but there's less caffeine.

I add like real creamer like real milk, raw milk or coconut milk, cashew milk or some better options for some fats. And then I'll also add protein to it. And then I have a little snack on the side, not a full on breakfast. But if you're eating while you're drinking coffee, it's another compromise. Like I'm not asking you to eat a full breakfast first. But if we can eat something with it, it's going to change the game. Especially something with protein.

So even if it's just like a hard-boiled egg or something like that. Totally. All right, quick pause to tell you guys about an exciting new series that we've got for Blaze TV subscribers. And that is called Debatable. Our first episode of Debatable is between a Catholic apologist and a Protestant apologist, Catholic apologist Trent Horn and Protestant apologist, Dr. James. James White. It's an incredible conversation spanning two hours. You guys are absolutely going to love it, whether you are a Catholic or a Protestant or you're not either one of those. You don't know what to think. You are going to love this episode of debatable. So go to blaisTV.com slash Allie.

Use code Alley for $30 off your subscription. When you subscribe, you get access to this, all of the other content that we've got coming down the pipeline for subscribers as well as all. of the Glynn stuff, Steve Dase's stuff, the unashamed guy stuff, so much for Blaze TV subscribers there. Go to blazTV.com slash Alley code Alley. BlazTV.com slash alley. So what does cortisol do to your body when it spikes first thing in the morning? How does that affect your other hormones?

So cortisol is our stress hormone. And look, it gets a bad rap, but like we need cortisol. Yeah. Helps wake us up in the morning. So cortisol is highest kind of at the beginning of the day, which again is why you don't want to throw coffee, basically throwing fuel on the fire. And so it's highest. It helps wake us up. And then it will kind of peak again mid afternoon. Okay. And then what's going to happen is as the day starts to come to a close, the sun starts to set, cortisol is dipping off and melatonin is spiking to help you to help you fall asleep. Okay. So the hormones are kind of like a symphony. Okay. They all work together. You have estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, testosterone.

testosterone, cortisol, insulin, thyroid hormones, and they all work as a symphony. So when hormones are imbalanced, and also balanced hormones, there's not a perfect balance. They just kind of work together. Okay. So when I talk about balancing them, you just don't want too much of one more than you're supposed to have too little of the other. Right. And in the same way as symphony, if one instrument is out of tune, the whole symphony is out of whack. Nothing sounds right. Yeah. Same with hormones. Okay. So if one hormone is out of whack, you can't exactly play like, whack a mole of like, okay, but how do I raise, like, how do I lower cortisol or how do I raise progesterone or how do I lower estrogen? You really have to hit them all together and

focus on like the core foundations instead of just one. Okay. So for example, if cortisol is spiking, insulin could be spiking, you could have then progesterone gets eaten away. Okay. So if we're in a stress state and progesterone is the arguably the most important hormone when it comes to fertility. It's what helps sustain the pregnancy. So women that are having miscarriages, they have no problem getting pregnant, but it's staying pregnant, sustaining that progesterone.

And it's also what triggers, basically what triggers menopause later in life. It's like your estrogen begins to rise without progesterone. Progesterone tapers off, and that's when menopause starts. Right. So women who have,

sometimes when they have a history of miscarriages, once they get pregnant, they will have to take progesterone so that they're, baby will be able to survive. And that's when you, after you get pregnant, sometimes you have to test your progesterone to see if your baby is continuing to grow. And so all of this works together. Exactly. And progesterone is also known as the chill hormone. So if you notice that you're getting kind of anxious before your period, that could be of low progesterone. So progesterone is supposed to

raise in the second half of your menstrual cycle, which is your ludial phase. And so if you don't have enough, you might have shorter cycles because progesterone is what helps length in that phase. But you might get kind of heart palpitations or feel anxious or have trouble sleeping when you're getting closer to your period. Okay. So we covered breakfast in kind of the hormones that can start off your day and set you up. What about the rest of the day? Why does it matter what you eat for lunch or what you eat for dinner?

And how can we eat in a way that helps balance, as it were, our hormones for the rest of the day? So I always like to make protein the star of the show. If you take one thing from this podcast, it's just eating more protein, high quality protein as often as you can, making that the star of the show. So kind of helping, it's easy to eat enough protein if you're not overeating other things. Like a lot of people are like 100 grams of protein. Minow, I'm like, how am I supposed to get that? It's like, well, if you're not eating a ton of other stuff, right? Like I said, I love carbs. I eat a lot of potatoes. I love rice. Fries are my vice. But what I focus on is making protein. the start of the show. So making sure we're having like breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the focus is protein, at least a serving. So four to six ounces, depending on whatever that is. And then building your plate around that. Okay. So adding some carbs and some healthy fats. So balancing your plate, really at the bottom, like, bottom line is you want protein to fill up like almost half your plate, like a good amount of protein. And then some healthy fats, just a serving, whether it's you're

putting olive oil and fats can be part of the protein. So like you have a fatty or kind of meat. And You have salmon, something like that. And then maybe some greens, some carbs, and you're good to go. Okay. Do you agree with kind of the traditional advice that we've heard for a long time that we should be eating a ton of leafy greens? Because you hear such an emphasis on vegetables. They tend to be the thing that a lot of people don't like eating. I don't love eating vegetables.

And you hear that is the key to being healthy and staying away from infections and getting sick and things like that. I will say, and I get this message all the time, like, Emily, I don't see you eat a lot of vegetables. I really don't. I eat like starchy veggies. I like carrots, potatoes count. And I do love greens. Like if it's a roogala, I'm not eating a ton of greens. I'm not overdosing on veggies for the most part.

I really think protein is the most important macronutrient and then behind it fats and then behind it carbs. But avocado has carbs and fiber. I count that as kind of a vegetable on my plate. I really look for vegetables as fiber and colors. Like you can get colors from sweet potatoes and carrots and there's purple potatoes and there's so many different things. I also think there's something to it of if no one likes. Like there's this whole thing.

No one likes vegetables that much, right? Unless they're slathered in butter or something like that. And I think there's a reason for that. That's an interesting theory. Yeah. Same with babies. Like if you give a baby either steak or broccoli, they're probably going to choose the steak. Yeah.

You know, that's interesting because you do hear, especially from people who are hardcore carnivore. And I'm not saying that's where you are, but people who basically only eat animal protein and animal fat, they have made the argument, which I thought was interesting, that a lot of the leafy greens that we eat, a lot of vegetables that we eat, that we're actually eating the wrong part of it, that the part that we're eating is more toxic. And the reason why it tastes bad is because it is the plant telling you don't eat Me? I don't want you to eat me. You can eat the fruit that I bear, but don't eat the leaf part. And that's

why it tastes bad. I'm like, oh, my gosh, I'm such a genius. That's why I've never liked kale. That's it. Yeah. No, I would have to agree with that is that there's something called anti-nutrients inside of plants. So if you think of an animal, it's defense mechanism, it can run away from you if it doesn't want to get eaten. Plants can't run away. Yeah. So they have antinutrients, oxalates, these kind of like little toxic compounds that are meant to essentially kind of make you sick, mess up your digestive system for animals so that animals don't eat them. We don't eat them. And yeah, here, they're like, here I made you fruit. Like, eat my fruit. You don't need to eat my leaves or anything like that. So yes, I eat like arugula here and there. There's

like bitter digestive. They're good for your digestive system. But yeah, I will say I don't think vegetables are the end-all-be-all of health. I really don't. Well, that's good to know. Yeah. I like beef a lot more than I like broccoli. So that's great. That's good news. Hey, this is Steve Deast. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers

wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed. You can watch this D-Day Show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. So when you were on this healing journey yourself, you were discovering this. When did you start to see improvements in your body? I will say I started the second I got off birth control, I felt a million times better.

Like I can't even immediately. Like immediately. The same way people, when I've heard people describe like getting implants taken out of like when I woke up, I immediately, like my eyes were clearer. Wow. And getting off of birth control was the same thing. I was like, oh, this is what it feels like to be me. Like it feels like coming home to yourself. I can't explain it, but I get messages all the time from women that are like, I got off birth control and like I woke up happy today. That is so sad. It breaks. It makes me want to cry. It's so sad. Okay. Let's talk about the birth control for a second. I know that I asked you a question and we're not

totally finishing it. We'll go back to your health story. But let's talk about the birth control because what you said, how you described that you got on birth control when you were 15, basically for no reason. Me too. I was 17. Almost all my friends. Now, maybe some of them had some kind of reason or they were told they were, it was a reason at the time for me. And sorry related bros out there. Like this is really a related gal heavy episode. But so I think I had mono when I was 17. And so not great, but, you know, it happens. And so I think I missed like two periods or something because I was sick and that's what happens. But my doctor acted like this was a really big concern.

This was a problem. 17 years old. I didn't have a period twice in a row. You need to get on birth control to regulate your period. That's what we're told. Regulate your period. And I was the same way. Everyone was on birth control.

Like there were people. Okay. This is, and again, if my dad and my brother, are listening to this, they're not going to like this. But like there were people who got on birth control because like they didn't want to be on their period for spring break or something. And so they would go on birth control to know when their period was going to be. And so you're presented birth control as a teenager. Like this is a harmless thing. You should just get on it and it'll be totally fine. Yeah. And so I didn't see it as a big deal. I don't think my mom saw it as a huge show because

she just didn't know. She just didn't know. When you have the doctor telling you, this is the healthy right thing to do. And then you're scared to get off of it because you're like, am I going to get acne? Is my period going to be messed up? And so I did the same thing. I went through, you know, probably three or four different kinds until also I was 21, 22 and I was like, I don't want to do this anymore. Yeah. So many other women have gone through that. This is such a common, like, a story. Insane. Yeah. And so, okay, birth control. There's so many different kinds and I'm going to address basically all of none of them are good. I used to be on the fence like, oh, you should do what's best for you. And obviously you should. But I don't think any woman

needs to be on birth control for any reason. Like it doesn't regulate anything. That's the biggest thing is, oh, it's going to fix your period. It's going to regulate your period. You don't get a period on birth control. It's not a real period. It's a withdrawal bleed from withdrawing from these fake hormones. So fake progesterone, fake estrogen, it's all fake. They're all exogenous hormones. And the way that they work is by basically putting your body in almost like an either like a postmenopausal state or like some people compare it to pregnancy. So you're not ovulating. And it also works by basically like mess thickening the uterine lining so that even if by some chance you got pregnant, nothing can implant. And so there's different forms. The non-hormonal birth control, copper

IUD, copper toxicity is a big issue. Copper can increase estrogen and really mess things up. But with the copper IUD, yes, it's non-hormonal, right? So people like, it's great. There's no hormones. No. The way that it works is by irritating, basically inflaming your uterus. So it's inserted into your uterus. It inflames your uterus. And they say it's how it works because nothing can implant. You could still have an egg be fertilized every single month. And it just doesn't implant. Yeah. No one talks about that. Which is an ethical and moral problem for those of us who believe that life starts at fertilization, not implantation.

A lot of people don't realize that. And that is true about the IUD. Some people think that the IUD is different than the pill in that, but it's all doing the same thing. Exactly. And also what they found is that inflammation doesn't stay localized. So I've heard from women, they were like the copper IUD was the worst one for me. Most painful periods, like most heavy cramp, like just terrible. Well, it's a foreign object in your body.

Yeah. Which is just weird, creepy. And then birth control, you're supposed to take it every single day, but you can literally, you can only get pregnant six days out of every cycle, six days. And so why are we taking birth control every single day to prevent something that can only happen maximum six days? Yeah. Like I speak to women who are in their 30s and they're like, what? I thought I could get pregnant every day. Like I just thought it was more fertile when I'm ovulating. Yeah. No. No. It's just six days. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I just think that birth control, no woman needs to be on it. So why do you think that so many of us were put on it? Do you just think that these doctors thought that they were helping us out because they just assumed that we were all sexually active when we weren't? It, I feel like it's so multifaceted. That's true. And what it comes down to, in my opinion, I think women are sold a lie that birth control is empowering and birth controls, liberating. I think the root of it, it assumes that women are too dumb to understand their own fertility and their own hormones and to like take control of it. So they're like,

we're just going to give you this and you can go do whatever you want now. Yeah. And you're going to be so empowered. It's going to be so great. And you're fine. Don't worry about the side effects. Don't worry about the short term or long term effects. Like, you're fine. And so. I don't even think we were told that there were any. No. And now there's Yaz commercials being like, did you take Yaz's You might be entitled to financial compensation. Exactly. It's, yeah, it's crazy. And so, yeah, women also, they don't think about these things until they want to get pregnant,

until it's time to just get off birth control. And they try, they're having, like, the infertility problems that are going on in this country right now are insane and heartbreaking. And it has to do with men also, like men's fertility, which also has to do with food and microplastics, all of these things in our environment. But it's just, it breaks my heart that no one has told this. Like we go on birth control and we're so young. Maybe you're on it for 15 years.

Yeah. And then you want to have a kid and you're having massive issues. Right. And people don't talk about, they're starting to. I've started to see conversations about this, but the psychological impact that you can have. And again, this was something that I think we all knew in a very amateur way in, you know, high school and college, you would hear people say, oh my gosh, this brings.

control made me psycho. And so I had to, or it made me depressed or I was crying all the time. And so I switched and all of us were like, oh yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And without thinking, oh my gosh, that is a horrible thing to go through. Yeah. Young women that are put on birth control, like teenage women are 70% more likely to be prescribed antidepressants and anti-anxiety medication. 70% more, which is insane. And that was kind of my, my experience as well. I went on one, went on another, went on a third, and I was so depressed. Like, so, like, I'd never experienced anything like it. I'm a very upbeat person and I couldn't get off the couch.

Like, there was like this inner monologue of just get up, go for a walk, get in the sunshine. Like, you'll feel better. And I couldn't move. Couldn't move. And it was just so, like I said, feeling like a prisoner in your own body going like, I don't know what's going on. I'm not in control. You feel so detached.

And that was the final straw when I felt like depressed. My doctor was like, we can put you on this one. I said, no. Yeah. I'm just done. I got to get out of this. Yeah. And so, yeah, the psychological impacts are crazy.

And I've heard Dr. Sarah Hill say that you also may be more likely to be bisexual if you are on the pill and that it can actually change whom you are attracted to. if you are a woman. And I've heard the argument that women may be, because I can't speak for everyone, but may be more attracted to more feminine men, if men at all, when they are on the pill. This is true.

Yeah, there's data. There's data. There's studies. When I say this, a lot of women don't believe me. Even men, they come at me in the comments. I'm like, I can send you the studies. One of the ones they did is they showed women on birth control, like pictures, basically like AI models.

of men and then they slightly feminize their features. So one, they look masculine, they'll cook a man, right? The other one, slightly more feminine features. Women on birth control chose the men with more feminine features. And not only that, yeah, there's something called the T-shirt test, sweaty T-shirt test. You can look this one up too. And they had a bunch of different men work out in these sweaty T-shirts, right? Put them in bags and have women smell them, essentially smelling their pheromones. Oh my goodness. I have not heard this. Oh my gosh. It sounds so fascinating. And they had women on birth control and not on birth control do this. And the women that were on birth control chose the scent of men who were more genetically similar to them, which you don't want. For the

most viable, like resilient offspring, you want someone with like the DNA for this from you to give them the best chance. Women chose men with DNA more similar. And I've also got messages from women like I got off birth control and I broke off birth control and I like was so not attracted to my fiance like I'll it's like I've gotten messages that are like Emily I almost got married. I'm like oh my gosh too much oh my gosh your birth control is making you gay it's making you have maybe I don't know bad choice of men not always but that is crazy that it would change your attractions that much potentially but it makes sense people don't realize how much our hormones can affect us and affect our minds, affect how we think,

and how we think kind of can form our reality. And of course, it affects the decisions that we make, which then does inform our reality. And people don't realize how much. But, you know, more people are talking about this now, which I'm encouraged by. It makes me so happy. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's emerging now. I feel like it's, now it's kind of trendier to talk about hormones and balancing your hormones. And I'm like, this is like the base level stuff that we should be talking about. Like we can't keep playing God with our cycle, right? Like, oh, I don't want my period. I think a lot of young women athletes are also put on it so that they don't have a period so it doesn't mess with their performance. Yeah. I've heard that a lot. And it's just for what? Like, is that worth it?

Yeah. It's not. Okay. Let's talk about the cycle then. Because all right, I will just say that until I started trying to get pregnant back in 2018, I really did not know anything about the period cycle. I just didn't. And I mean, for as long as sex ed has been around in this country, I think most women and especially most men, but even most women, we really are totally ignorant about the stages of our cycle. So can you just talk about those and why they matter? Yeah. I did this on Instagram the other I was like, here's, welcome to my sex ed class where I teach you everything you didn't know. Yeah. Like arguably the most important stuff about how our body works.

Yes. And so, okay. So I like to compare it to the four seasons that, you know, like we, nature, the four seasons of nature. We as women go through four seasons over the course of one month. So our cycle, men have a 24 hour hormone cycle. 24 hours, they can get up and go every day. They're the same. Women are not this way at all.

It's like this way. say like the nine to five was meant for a man like women are not meant to be the same day in and day out we just go through a cycle like 28 to 35 days right four phases your period actually marks the start of your cycle i used to think like i'm either on my period or not on my period that's it that's all there is well and period it's the end of a sentence and so you would think it's the end of it okay and granted it is actually the least exciting part of your entire cycle like really ovulation is the main event periods, what happens if you don't get pregnant. And then your body's already getting ready for another, like, getting ready to hopefully

get you pregnant again. Yeah. And this is what our body was designed to do. We, whether or not we're trying to have a baby right now, our body is. And so I just want to touch on it for a minute that if you're missing your period, are you a painful period. Period is the canary in the coal mine. Your period is like your monthly report card to tell you what's going on.

So it's so important to stay in tune with it because it can tell you, like, okay if it was heavy if it was painful if you know it was irregular something's going on something's going on under the hood your body doesn't feel safe so if all our body wants to do is have a baby and our periods messed up it means our body's not safe it's like something's going on we're stressed whether it's emotional psychological like whatever kind of stress that looks like that's the reason we're not having a period it's not you don't have a birth control deficiency like there's something else going on and these symptoms are invitations there's signs from our body of like, hey, something's going on.

I need help. And I'm trying to tell you. And if we slap on birth control as a band-aid to quiet all of that, once you get off birth control, everything's going to come back or it's going to get worse. So they'll say, birth control helped me so much. And what it did is it just covered up the symptoms. It didn't, it did help you short term, but you didn't heal anything. There's still all this stuff going on into the surface.

So your period, day one of your period marks day one of your cycle. Then your period should last between like three and six days. days. That's a healthy period. Three and six days shouldn't be terribly painful. Like, you really shouldn't be painful at all. You shouldn't have to take ibuprofen. You shouldn't have to pop my adult. You shouldn't have to stay home from school or work or anything like that. See, that was another thing that I feel like was kind of normal growing up is that some people would have like debilitating cramps in their back or in their abdomen. Both at the same time was me. I'd have two heating pads at one time. And that was just seen as totally normal. Yeah. That's the whole

welcome to womanhood. Like this is what it's like. Yeah. It's not. It's not. It's not. not. I think the same goes for the birth industry, right? Like all the stuff that we're told. But so you're on your period, three to six days. Three to six days as as long as it should last. And all your hormones are at their lowest. So when people are like, I'm so hormonal, you're actually, yes, you are. We're supposed to be hormonal. But on your period, you're the least hormonal. So all hormones at their lowest, this is when you feel, you know, you don't have motivation. You're not supposed to be going out. You're not supposed to be like hitting the town, doing anything crazy. You're supposed to stay in. Nurture your body, slow down. And chances are, this is what you're inclined to do. Yeah. Your body innately wants to kind of hibernate during this time. This is your inner winter.

And that's why you were saying like the 9 to 5 isn't just really, it's just not designed for women or women weren't designed for it because you still have to go, go, go, be on it, be excited, be out there. When really your body during this part of your cycle is telling you, hey, you need to slow down. You need to maybe be alone or more alone. And, yeah, our world, really no matter what you do, just isn't designed for that. I'm not saying that women aren't meant to work. Like, we can work, we can work hard. We're capable of doing so much. Just not in the terms, not in this nine to five, like square that we're put in.

It's just not flexible. Exactly. So you're on your period. And then the next phase, maybe around day seven, you move. into the follicular phase, which is your inner spring. So the same way, like, flowers are blooming in the spring. You're getting your energy back after your period. Your hormones begin to rise. And this is when your body is kind of preparing for ovulation. So this will go from day about seven to day 14. Hormones are beginning to rise. This is the best time to like brainstorm. So this is the

best time to do like creative work, brainstorm the month ahead or kind of things that you want to do outline projects. Our brain is kind of primed to do these things during this time. We might have, again, more energy. So start to make some plans. Go out, hang out with friends. And then what you want to focus on food-wise is healthy fats during this time are really important. Healthy fats to prepare for ovulation. So healthy fats are going to help increase progesterone, cholesterol-rich foods, super good for progesterone production. That's another thing. Calesterole, like, gets demonized so hardcore. And cholesterol is so good for us. We cannot make hormones. without cholesterol.

Hmm. So without fats, without cholesterol, we need them. So, like, eggs. Eggs are good. Butter is good. Butter is good.

Grass-fed meat, the fat from grass-fed meat. Like, all of these things are so good. Okay. In addition to obviously, like, almond butter, peanut butter,

olives, olive oil, coconut, milk, dairy, cheese, all of these things are super good. Especially during this time yeah, during the,

when your progesterone is rising. Yeah, when you want to really focus on supporting that progesterone production. Okay. Then you move into ovulation, which usually occurs around day 14. This is when like you see those period tracker apps. There's like that little flower on day 14, which it's different for every woman. I'm day 15, like summer 16, summer 13, 14. It really varies. And so ovulation is the main event. This is the star of your entire cycle. This is the only time that you're fertile. So ovulation though, a lot of women, you're supposed to feel your best. This is like your inner summer. So if we had menstrual phase, your periods, your winter, follicular spring, ovulation is summer. Your libido is highest, because this is the time that you're fertile.

Your libido is highest. You feel better. Actually, the bone structure in your face shifts slightly, ever so slightly to give you more feminine features to make you look more attractive, more fertile during this time. Sometimes even like the way that you walk, the way you carry yourself. Now, ladies, pay attention. Like I promise you, if you pay attention around day 14, you're, you're, you're you're going to know. You're going to feel it for a few days. But there is science to behind, like,

some days I feel ugly. Like some days I look in the mirror and I'm wearing the same outfit that I've worn and it just doesn't look right. Yeah. Yeah. That's usually ludial phase, which we'll talk about next. But during ovulation, a lot of women may actually retain some water or maybe get constipated during this time. So you want to increase fiber. I try to think like if it was summertime, this is your body's inner summer, what do you eat during the summer? Light, light foods, right? Salads, fresh fruit, raw fruits and veggies, seafood, lighter, fiber-rich foods to help kind of offset some of that water retention and bloating. And then, again, this is the time that you can get pregnant. So this is the time you're fertile, usually lasts about six days. Spirm can live for up to

five. And then ovulation is a one, like a one-day event. As soon as you release an egg, it starts to die. And this is all considering that someone does have a healthy cycle. And obviously there are some cases in which women are not ovulating, and that is a whole problem. Yeah, you're having an ovulatory cycles or you're not ovulating. Same thing with like, oh, I had a late period. There's no such thing as late period. It's just that you ovulated way later. So your period will always come about 10 to 14 days after you ovulate.

Okay. So it's usually delayed ovulation. Again, if your body doesn't feel safe. Yeah. You're stressed, whether it's emotional stress, financial stress, work stress, kids. Your body just goes, oh, this is not a safe place to have a baby right now. we're going to hold off on this until we can handle all the other things that are going on. Yeah. And I know that we're in the midst of looking at these cycles, but I just want to say that just from the little personal experience I have with all of this is that it took me for whatever reason.

Maybe you would be able to diagnose this. But for every child, it took four months of trying to get pregnant. And as far as I know, there's nothing wrong with me. But the first time I remember that my, My thyroid hormone was apparently off. And it wasn't until I got on the right dosage of medication that we were able to get pregnant. And I'm guessing that's kind of what affected it. But then also for everyone, it's always been on the fourth month that we've gotten pregnant. We've never had to have like any help or anything like that. It's just been four months.

Who knows? But I do realize, like, just the importance of understanding your cycle, of understanding when you're ovulating of how the thyroid. hormone, how that can affect all of the other hormones that are necessary to have a normal cycle. It all just, it really plays together. And I think I did used to think that, well, if you just have unprotected sex at any point, you're just going to get pregnant. Like mean girls. Yeah. The whole that was like, don't have sex or you will get pregnant. Yeah. That's basically the sex that that we all got. Yeah. And that's what I thought too. And having, you know, gone through pregnancies now, I realize it's a lot more involved than that. Yeah, and I think there's also this idea that if you don't get pregnant

on the first try, there's something wrong with you. Yeah, you're infertile immediately. Yeah, no. Like, I really urge women to wait, like, yes, six to eight months of trying. I remember hearing statistic, I don't know what it is now. It might be different, but that it takes the average couple 16 times. So 16 tries, whether that's like, it's not 16 months, but 16 tries. It's not normal to just get pregnant on the first try. It's not common. It's not common. And so it means, yeah, it doesn't mean anything about you if you don't get pregnant on the first try. Yeah. Some people do.

Some people don't. It just takes a little bit longer. It happens at the right time for your body. Mm-hmm. Right. Okay. So that's the, you said follicular and then let's move on to the ludial. Yeah.

So luteal is your last and longest phase. Okay. This is the two weeks before your period. Okay. So ovulation, all hormones are at their highest. Like progesterone, testosterone spikes like right after. And testosterone is high. high, estrogen's high, everything's high. And so if ovulation is when you feel the worst,

this is one of the signs also, again, canary in the coal mine, like something's off. For example, if you're kind of have excess estrogen and estrogen peaks during ovulation, you're not going to feel great because now you have too much. Or if you break out during ovulation, it should be when you feel your best. So luteal phase, you might still ride that like ovulation high, like feeling good, looking good. This is the best time, again, to like use your cycle. I always say use your cycle as your superpower, like plan interviews during this time, plan date nights during this time, like plan projects, take pictures. If you have front-facing stuff, ovulation is the time to do it. You're just more magnetic. Okay. And so Luteal phase,

first half, you're still going to feel good. You're still going to feel good. Moving into the second half, though, the week before your period. And I would argue this whole phase, you should pull back on caffeine, pull back on like refined sugar, pull back on fried foods. All these things are going to increase inflammation. And your ludial phase is when your body's essentially like kind of incubating a pregnancy, right? Implantation is happening. It's making, like setting things up for a pregnancy. So what's going on is your stress threshold is much lower because your body's on high alert for anything in your environment that could jeopardize that. During this time, also our immune system is suppressed to accept that pregnancy. So our body's going to reject it. So if you're someone that gets sick,

a lot right before your period. This is a sign to maybe like up your vitamin C because yeah, immune system is suppressed during this time. And so the week before your period, just kind of slow down. It's like you'll feel it. You kind of feel your energy start to dip. You start to get closer to your period. This is when PMS occurs and PMS is not normal.

It's common. And there's such a difference there. And just because everyone else is experiencing it, everyone you know, still doesn't mean it's normal. Yeah. I don't experience any PMS. Like my period comes on the. day it's supposed to come. I don't have lower back pain. I don't get irritable. There's no mood swings.

It shouldn't, it shouldn't be crazy like that. Your period should not affect your life. Like you're going to know it's happening. But again, like you shouldn't have to stay home from work or anything like that. So avoiding intense exercise, avoiding super stressful things, caffeine, sugar, alcohol, seed oils, fried foods during this time is just going to really help set you up for an easier period. Yes, I have noticed the seasons of my life where I am really dedicated to cutting out inflammatory foods that cramps pretty much go away before my period, where again, I thought that that was just a normal thing that everyone went through even to have totally debilitating cramps right before your period. But you're saying that that's not a good thing and that's an indication

that something is off. Yeah. Yeah, these are little signs that you can listen to it instead of covering them up. Like, okay, what am I doing? Take a little inventory of your habits. And again, like, I want everyone to know I'm not perfect. I go out. I eat seed oil, French fries when I go out, like, I eat dessert. I'm not perfect.

I get my hair done. I get my nails done. You don't have to do it all. You don't have to, I like to say, you don't have to live on a farm and churn your own butter. Do all these things. Have no Wi-Fi. You don't have to do all of those things to be healthy.

It doesn't have to be all or nothing. but every little change that you make matters. Yeah. Like you're saying, like you avoid inflammatory foods, your cramps are better. And it's making those connections. Yeah. Okay, what I'm doing is working. Yeah.

And being in tune with our cycle because I think most of us don't change anything. It's just every day getting through the day. And I totally understand, like everyone's busy, whether you're a mom like I am or whether you're not. Like, we all just have things that we're just trying to get through without any thought about our bodies needing things from us besides just its immediate need of hunger or thirst. So you're advocating for, one, understanding our cycle, being more in tune with our cycle and the hormones and the hormonal changes that come with that and then nourishing our bodies

in a way that, I don't know, honors, I guess, the cycle that God has given us in the pacing of our life and also in the kinds of foods that we're ingesting. Yeah, exactly. listening to your body. And the more you do it and the more you tune in, you have the answers. Like, that's what I try to empower women is like, you have the answers. You don't need to look necessarily all the time. You don't need to look to someone in a white coat to tell you what to do or to tell you what's best for you. Like we are given discernment and we know. And it's not that like if we gain weight or all these things like your body doesn't hate you. It loves you.

It wants to thrive. It doesn't just, it's not just trying to keep you alive. It wants to be healthy and vibrant and thrive. And so if you gain weight or if your period suck, like, it's not that your body's punishing you. It's that your body's trying to tell you something. Yeah. It's not trying to discipline you. It's just trying to say, hey, we got to figure this out so we can function better. So your brain can function better. So your relationships can be better. Oh, that's a huge one too. Yeah. Like when I was on birth control, I was the typical crazy girlfriend. Like that's, it did make me crazy. And getting off of it, I just remember, yeah, like, oh, wow. I feel happy and I feel calm and I feel like grounded. And so it affects like our mental health. It affects our relationships. Like I have

almost like ran my relationship into the ground with just picking fights before my period, being moody, being hungry, being hormonal. Like, oh, I'm just hormonal. It's my period. Just like lashing out and saying mean things and just not being who I want to be in a relationship and then blaming it on my hormones, as if that was a valid excuse. Yeah. Wow. We don't even think about how God has designed our bodies to affect all of those things. Tell us about in addition to diet, what else do you do and recommend as far as exercise, the time that you spend outside? We hear a lot of things about like red light therapy, saunas, grounding. What do you, what do you typically? recommend when it comes to those things.

It can be overwhelming. It can be overwhelming. You're like, I don't have enough time in the day. I need to get a cold plunge now. I need to get a sauna. I need to do this. I need to be outside. Cold plunging, I get a lot of questions about.

Yeah. I recommend it for women if you're already like pretty healthy. Okay. It can cause inflammation and stress. That's what it's doing. It's an acute stressor. Yeah. That makes your body more resilient in the long term.

But if your thyroid is trashed, if you're like having all these issues, don't recommend it every day. And I don't recommend it for any woman unless you don't have a cycle, right? Your post-metapausal, maybe. But just because it's causing stress, and your body can negatively react to that? Yeah. So it can actually cause, like, more inflammation. But during your follicular phase, like, I just recommend avoiding it before your period.

Or if you're having trouble conceiving, avoid during ovulation too. Just to really make sure your body's feeling safe during that time. Yeah. But follicular phase. And again, you kind of know, like, oh, I'm feeling tired and gross. And I don't want to do anything. maybe not jump in ice water. Yeah.

Yeah. And I do think it's different for men than for women. Yes, exactly. You know? Yep. Men could do it every day. Yeah. They're fine.

Yeah. And I understand I could see the psychological benefits of enduring something that feels impossible first thing in the morning and showing yourself I can do this really hard thing that I did not want to do. I didn't want to get out of my bed in the morning. I just wanted to lay there and scroll on my phone. but I went and I did the very last thing that I wanted to do this morning and that I do see how that, whether it's the cold plunge or running or whatever it is, sets you up for the rest of the day. Because I've had different experiences like that.

I don't do cold plunge, but the one time, a long time ago now that I ran the half marathon, I do remember the positive impact that that made on my mentality and my confidence about myself that, oh, I did that thing that I thought that I could never. ever do. Now I'm confronting this different obstacle. And I bet I can do that too. And that's true in so many different areas of life. So I could see the benefits as something like a cold plunge, but it doesn't have to be a cold plunge. I do cold showers. I do 30 seconds, 45 if I'm feeling crazy, but 30 seconds before I work out in the morning for that exact reason. Because, look, there's going to be involuntary challenges that you face every day, hard things are going to come up. like what you're saying, if you voluntarily do something hard that you don't want to do, when something involuntary arises, you're like, oh, I can do this because I do hard things on my

own. Yeah. I force myself to do hard things so, like, I can handle this. So I do the cold showers, 30 seconds. And I really like it. I feel the same way. Like, you just feel better. You're like, wow, I didn't think I could do it. I can. Like, just reinforcing this, like, I can do hard things. Yeah. But even dunking your face. Oh, I like to dunk my face. Okay, I do both of those. Yes, you told me about that and I started doing that. Or even like my ice roller in the morning, I'm not saying at all that it's the same thing as cold plunge.

I'm not saying it's difficult. But even just the initial like difficulty of doing something in the morning that doesn't feel great. I do think it kind of helps you. I like it. I like the dunking my face in a bowl of ice water. I love it. It feels good. I do it mainly.

It can help benefit like your nervous system and your heart rate variability. I do it mainly for my, I feel like my skin glows. Yeah. And it just kind of wakes me up. And same thing. Yeah, it's like who thinks about dunking their face and ice water in the morning. But it really helps. Yeah.

So I would say, okay, we're going to talk about like just the main things that you can do. Basically things that are free, right? So yes, you can go in a sauna. If you have one near you, you have one at your gym, sauna is so good for you. Or you can take a hot bath with like Epsom salt in it. Get yourself to sweat. You really want to like open up your detox. pathways, which sounds kind of complicated, but really it means like, are you drinking enough water?

Are you going to the bathroom every day? Are you sweating? Are you moving like your lymph? So we have limp nose all over our body. They play a huge role in our immune system. They help flush out excess estrogen, excess hormones. And if they get stagnant and our liver can't process things, it's bad news. It's bad news. We're not going to feel good. I would say if you're someone that has a hard time sweating, you probably have like stagged in or congested lymph. So it can help to get in a bath and try to start sweating. That helps a lot. So again, like you don't need red light therapy is great also, but free red light therapy is the sunrise and the sunset. So watching the sunrise, game changer. Also, it's beautiful. Like I don't know. I watch sunrise and sunsets every day.

They still make me want to cry. Watching the sunrise and the sunset. So the half hour after sunrise, and half hour before sunset, that's red light. That's what you're getting during that time. So concentrated red light, super good for your mitochondria, healing. It can help hair growth. It can help so many things. But red lights are expensive. Yeah.

And so if you can afford one, watch the sunrise. Like when you wake up, get outside. Watching it through a window helps like brain benefits. But to get the real benefits, you want to be looking at it with your eyeballs. So waking up watching the sunrise, that's really helpful. Avoiding fragrance. also is like kind of like things that are non-food things that help our hormones. Avoiding fragrance.

I'm not saying you have to like swap everything out, but if you have your favorite thing and it comes unscented, laundry detergent. For example, hand soap, just by the unscented version. Fragrance can mean so many things. It's an umbrella where it's usually proprietary ingredients. They won't tell you. It just says fragrance. It can even say natural fragrance or like natural flavors. And they're not necessarily.

natural. It's basically just a chemical storm of things. So buying unscented stuff. What else? Are you okay with essential oils? Like diffusing those or that being the fragrance that is used in deodorant or something? Yeah. I think that's safe. There are some companies out there that use like real essential oils. But I wouldn't trust something that says like all natural fragrance. Right. You want to make sure it is. It does say like scented with essential oils and it'll tell you in there. I love essential oils. Yeah. I diffuse them. I have rollers. I think they're great. I've noticed massive benefits from them. So I think those are great. You just want to avoid like when it's in quotes on the back of something, whether it's lotion. I mean, even perfumes in makeup,

in dry shampoo, in body wash, in cleaning. And I don't want to scare anyone. Like my biggest goal, I don't want to shame anyone or scare them. There's still some things that I have. Like I use perfume, but I have a more natural one. The company's Dime Beauty. I love them. It smells great. It's way less toxic. I wouldn't call it non-toxic,

but it's way less toxic. And I spray it on my clothes instead of my skin. Yeah. And so doing things like that, there's great companies out there making candles. Yeah. With essential oils. Yeah.

So, yes, please ditch your bath and bodyworks candles, but like you can still have candles and you can still have perfume and you can still have these things. Yeah. We did. I love candles. And so I'm not saying that you have to, cut out candles either. We did. We cut out candles. I switched to natural deodorant and,

you know, of course, unscented non-toxic, or I guess it's considered non-toxic, laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent and the dryer sheets and things like that. But then I still have scented, you know, kitchen spray some. And I also have not been. been able to go the non-toxic route on my hair. Okay, me too. I just haven't. Me too. With my shampoo and my, my body wash, yes. All my face stuff, yes. My hair products, no. Everything is still toxic and scented. Yeah. And that's a thing. Like, I say the same thing. Like, y'all, I still get my nails done. I get my hair done. Like, there are things I don't want to give up. Thank you. Thank you. My sister does my hair. And I love it. What I say is it's non-toxic for my mental health.

Yeah. Like, yeah. I just, you don't, it's not all or nothing. It's not all or nothing. And yeah, hair care is a really hard one. I've heard good things. If anyone's watching, inner sense. I've heard good things about inner sense. Okay. Less toxic. Try that. But I, I get my hair wash once a week. I wash my hair once a week. So I'm like, okay. What's otherwise, if it strips your hair dye, you have to get your hair done more often. That's more toxic. So, you know, you got to pick your battles. Yeah. And what do you do for skin care? skincare I use. So this is crazy. I don't wash my face. I haven't washed my face in, I know. I know. And look, I have nothing. No, you have beautiful skin. That's why I ask. Okay, so you don't want, what? You know what? I clean my face. I just don't wash it the traditional way. Okay. I use facial cleansing oil to take off my makeup. Yes. Yes. So I use oil and then I just use a warm wash cloth with like filtered water or what you, what you can do is. there's this company called a filter baby and they make filters for your bathroom tap. Yes. That's the thing. Tap water is is bad news.

I don't drink tap water. Like we have our Berkey filter. Yeah. But we do use the tap water for, you know, our hands in our, you know, our shower. Yeah. But I know you can get the filters. So easy. Yep.

I think I saw the shower head filter. You can either get a new, like they make shower head filters like where it replaces the whole thing. Yeah. Or you can get something that goes in between like your shower head and the little spout. Yeah. which is hooks on.

There's aqua bliss. I think Jolie is a popular like showerhead one. Okay. Just because our skin, like we're going to absorb, dermal absorption within 30 seconds, the things you put on your skin are in your bloodstream. Yeah. And so if that's tap water,

it could be like fluoride. It can be chlorine. It can be so many things. Yes. That we don't want in our bloodstream. So I always recommend filtering, filtering anything. That's a pretty easy.

You don't have to get a $3,000 like, whole house filter. Yeah. You can get these little things. that hook on to the most important ones. For my dishes, washing my hands, like, I don't worry about my actual sink, but the things that are going on my body.

So I use facial cleansing oil to take off my makeup. Yes, I do too. Just FYI. It works so well. Yeah. Like you think rubbing oil on my face seems weird. Yeah. It makes your skin feel so good.

It's so gentle. And the oil just basically grabs onto the impurities in your makeup. That's on your face from your lotion. Works like a charm. Yeah. So I do that. Just the main ingredients, avocado oil. I could probably make it myself.

Yes. And mine is, well, they're a sponsor for the show, but Adele Natural Cosmetics is the facial oil I use. Now, when I am in the studio, because I have more makeup on here than I typically do, I do also use, like primarily pure has the, like, facial cleansing bars that I will use just because I feel like I need that extra to get all my makeup off. But I agree with you. Typically, I think that the oil by itself is,

fine and it leaves my skin feeling so moisturized. Yeah, I love it. Like you almost don't, I do still wear moisturizer, but like you almost kind of don't need it. If you didn't have any, you'd be fine. So I do that. And then I also use like a rose water, like a toner. Kind of like what you're talking about, you're, I'm kind of double cleansing, I guess. And then I mainly use tallow. I mainly use tallow. Yeah. I think there's a little bit of hajoba oil in there and maybe like Frankenense. It's like a little blend. Yes. The companies, tallow, there's so many companies. But I love it. And that's mainly what I do.

And then during the day, I wear a moisturizer because the towel is too oily for me to put makeup on during the day. Yes. But that's really what I do. And castor oil on my lashes. That works like a charm. Oh, wow. I'd never heard of that. Game changer.

Because I had lash extensions for four years. And I was like, I don't want these anymore. So I looked up how to grow your neck. Castor oil is amazing for so many things also. Yes. Yes. I've heard this. And it worked great for growing your lashes. And I'm sure you could probably do it.

Yeah, your lashes are long. Wow, my goodness. Okay, that's good to know. Okay, this is a hot topic that people are talking about right now. And that is, I would say it's in the larger conversation about plastics and microplastics and how we're trying to avoid those as much as possible. And glass and stainless steel have both been offered as healthy alternatives. And with the Stanley craze and people going absolutely insane trying to get their Stanley, Stanley is kind of seen as the alternative that you should choose over your plastic water bottle. But there have been these viral videos going around showing that there's lead in Stanle's and in other stainless steel cups.

So what do you think about that? It's the hottest hot. Stanley's like if you don't have a Stanley, you're not cool. Right? I had one. And I was like, I got a different one. Yeah. But I, yes, they have lead in them.

It happens in their sealing process. So it's kind of in the sealant that they use to seal these cups. It's not like the whole thing is made out of lead. I really think there's a lot of fear mongering happening. Like, yes, there is lead in them. We'll stay the one brand I know, I mean, if you're using glass, but I've had three glass water bottles that I've broken. Of course.

Shattered. Of course. Really? Yeah. So stainless steel is a better option. There is small amount of lead. Yes. But if we're going to be worried about that, let's start looking about everything else, right?

If we're going to be worrying about heavy metals and that, like, let's look at the tap water. Let's look at at this. Like there's so many bigger things to worry about. Okay. And yes, Stanleys have some lead, but it's better than drinking out of plastic. Okay. So it's, it's so hard. I don't. So it's not to you, you don't think it's just six in one, half dozen in the other plastic water bottle, Stanley's. You still think the Stanley is better than plastic. Yes. Stanley's definitely better than plastic. I mean, hydroflask has no lead. They've come out. They kind of threw shade at Stanley, at Stanley actually and said like this process is more expensive and took us longer but we stand behind our product. Yeah, that's hey. Go for it. So by the way, I know there's a plastic water bottle

right here, but she's not drinking out of it. Has this been in the frame the whole time? Yeah, probably. It's just a prop. Okay. So you still think it's better to go with the stainless steel. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, because glass is just who's, you can't give a child glass. You're not going to, that's, it's so tough. No, we, the best that we've been able to do with stainless steel. And even in not like there's some either plastic or silicone. Yeah. That is like playing a role in those cups, especially with toddlers because it's so tough. No one can be perfect. Yeah. Like if I, I would love for everyone to drink more water. And if you can do a Stanley, you love drinking out of your Stanley. It helps you drink more water. Cool. Great. It's better than plastic. Same thing with like

Tupperware. Like let's switch to glass or at least if you have plastic and you're like, I'm trying to switch to glass. It's kind of expensive to invest. Don't put hot food in it. Yeah. Don't put it the microwave. Yeah. Like there's so many little nuances that I'm not saying you have to go into your kitchen or overhaul your entire life. Yeah. But there's better ways to go about these things.

Yes. I, the one thing I liked about my Stanley, I switched to, I switched to. And none of this is sponsored. But I did switch to a brumate and I do like the brumate because it doesn't spill. I didn't like the Stanley because it spilled everywhere. The brumate, you can just stick in your bag. You can actually like close it. But one thing I did like about the Stanley is that I could put my glass straw in there.

And that's just like one elimination of plastic. There you go. I love using my glass straw. Yeah. So it is just a, it is a balancing act. Like you are just trying to figure out what changes you can make. Yeah. Maybe some people can go all in and you are living on a farm and you don't have to do anything that's toxic at all.

For most people, that's not the case. But yeah, I don't want people to get discouraged thinking, well, I just can't be natural or holistic at all. Yeah. Because I can't do everything. I think that's the, there's a big, like the crunchy community. is under attack for this mentality. Like if you're not doing everything, it's not good enough. And like I've said, every little thing you do makes the difference in your health.

Every single thing you do. So like, yeah, switching to glass, switching these things. Maybe not going on your phone first thing in the morning. That's random, but that has a bad about that. I'm so bad. It's hard. It's so hard. But that will spike your cortisol.

Like starting your day like that. Makes sense. Boom. Totally makes sense. So like even half an hour. If you can hold off half an hour makes a huge difference. Yeah. So there's just so many things.

Like I don't want to shame anyone. I don't want to shame anyone for doing whatever because I've been there. I still do some things. But it's just the more you know, you can make more informed decisions. Yeah. I saw you post the other day about exercise. Obviously, like you are very fit. You have a lot of lean muscle.

But you posted that you haven't been doing heavy exercise recently, right? Yeah. It's been a while since I've had like a solid routine. And I'm a big advocate. I think we should always exercise and move our bodies, but just sometimes in our life, it's not, we can't figure it out. Like, we can't get into a routine. We have busy lives.

So I am active. Like, I try to be active. I walk. I get a lot of steps in. I try not to be sedentary a lot. But working out with our cycle, kind of like I was saying with before your period, you want to avoid super intense exercise. So you want to avoid that in your luteal phase and on your period.

Again, you don't want to work out. Like, let's not, this whole no days off, like hustle hard, grind every day, girl, boss thing. No, let's be done with that. We don't need to. So I do lift weights, but I'm able to basically maintain my body by eating. I would argue that eating enough protein is probably the main thing that helps me maintain the muscle that I have, even if I'm not consistently working out. Now, genetics also play a small role for sure in how quickly you can gain muscle and how well you hold on to it and all of these things. But I think just by being an active person, like you don't need a crazy routine to see results. Like I think you worked out 30 minutes a day, three days a week,

you could probably get pretty fit. Yeah, especially if you are eating the right things. Yes. If you are eating the muscle. Because like you said, your body is looking to latch on to that muscle. Like it's trying to find it. So it makes sense that even if you're working out, but you're just eating carbs, that your body isn't getting what it's looking for. And so it's not holding on to or building the muscle that you're trying to create. of excess. Protein. Protein contains essential amino acids, which are the building blocks of like everything. Our muscles, basically everything we do. So we need the essential amino acids. Otherwise, we can't do those things. And if we're, again, if we're fasting, if we're doing these crazy things that we shouldn't be doing, I don't recommend women to fast. It can eat away at our muscle because our body needs to get energy from something. And if we're not feeding it, it's going to atrophy what we have. Wow, that'll make so much sense. Okay, if you're listening to this and you're like, there's no way that I'm going to remember all of this and you're frantically taking notes.

One, you can follow on Instagram, little ray of health. I've been following for a long time. Absolutely love following her. But also, you have a course for women. So tell people about that. Yeah, so I have an online course. It's called the Balance Bay Blueprint. It is basically everything that I did to heal my hormones.

So it covers gut health. It covers metabolism. It covers nutrition. it covers like how to balance your plate what to eat there's grocery lists there's ebooks there's Pinterest boards with ideas for different recipes for each phase of your cycle there's masterclasses there's three masterclasses one of breaking up with birth control so it gives you like a step-by-step guide to getting off there's one on the fertility awareness method which is what i've been using for five years it's some people call it family planning um but you track your temperature and like

a bunch of other symptoms to determine your fertile window so i've been using that for five years It's basically side effect-free birth control. So it's amazing. It's 99 when practice with perfect use, it's 99.4% effective, which is more effective than hormonal birth control. Yeah. Which is crazy. Wow.

So I have a master class on that. I have a master class called like Busy Babe Masterclass if you're always on the go. So I really created it as a resource that you can use for your whole life. For like every phase of your life, I'm going to add stuff on fertility, adding stuff on nervous system. I just want it to be a resource for women to come back to over and over and over again. Okay, we will put a link to your course in the description of this episode so people can easily find it and we'll put your handle for Instagram, encourage everyone to follow her. Thank you so much, Emily. Of course. This is so fun. Yeah, go see hi to Instagram, everyone.

Yes, definitely. Thank you so much. Hey, this is Steve Deast. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular.

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