The Liz Moody Podcast - The Truth About Birth Control, Cycle Syncing, PMS, And More

Episode Date: October 7, 2024

Lauren Papanos, RDN certified in functional endocrinology, dissects your reproductive hormones and what’s impacting them, the optimal diet and exercise to support your menstrual health, how to lighten the impact of PMS and cramps, and more. Lauren and Liz dive into the ways in which birth control is actually affecting your body, how to keep toxins away from your reproductive system, how to know whether or not you’re really ovulating, and SO much more. 1:39 Cramps 3:00 Ovulation 4:10 Is Cycle Syncing Legit? 7:32 Workouts and Periods  10:02 Cycle Length 10:47 Progesterone 13:24 Cortisol 15:55 Perimenopause  17:29 Three Phases of Liver Metabolism  19:00 IUDs 20:45 Going Off of Birth Control 24:20 Anti-inflammatory Support 26:37 Toxicity in Menstrual Products For more from Lauren, you can find her on Instagram at @functional.fueling or her website, www.functionalfueling.com. You can listen to her podcast, The Strength In Hormones Podcast, on whatever platform you love to listen on. Listen to her first episode on The Liz Moody Podcast, What Social Media Gets WRONG About Hormones: A Guide To What's Real & What's BS. Ready to uplevel every part of your life? Order Liz’s new book 100 Ways to Change Your Life: The Science of Leveling Up Health, Happiness, Relationships & Success now!  To join The Liz Moody Podcast Club Facebook group, go to www.facebook.com/groups/thelizmoodypodcast. Connect with Liz on Instagram @lizmoody, or subscribe to her newsletter by visiting www.lizmoody.com. This episode is sponsored by: AG1: visit drinkag1.com/lizmoody and get your FREE year supply of Vitamin D and 5 free travel packs today. ARMRA: go to tryarmra.com/LIZMOODY or enter LIZMOODY to get 15% off your first order. Naväge: go to Navage.com/LIZMOODY and use the promo code LIZMOODY for a free cleaning kit with your starter pack. The Liz Moody Podcast cover art by Zack. The Liz Moody Podcast music by Alex Ruimy. Formerly the Healthier Together Podcast.  This podcast and website represents the opinions of Liz Moody and her guests to the show. The content here should not be taken as medical advice. The content here is for information purposes only, and because each person is so unique, please consult your healthcare professional for any medical questions. The Liz Moody Podcast Episode 271. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lauren, welcome to the podcast. We're going to get into a lot of period questions today. Let's do it. If we are having painful cramps, is that a sign that something's wrong? It definitely can be. Yes. Is the length of your cycle indicating anything about your hormonal health? It can.

We see that with women that have really short cycles or really long cycles, both of those can be due to hormone irregularity. No one tells them, oh, this increases your risk of vitamin deficiencies. And then they're like, well, why am I so fatigued all the time? Why do I feel depressed and I'm on birth control? Is there any scientific validity to the idea of sinking your cycle to your workouts to what you eat, to your lifestyle habits. What's your take on the toxins and tampon situation? I mean, they're there for sure. It makes sense. Hello, friends, and welcome to the

Liz Moody podcast, where every week we are sharing real science, real stories, and realistic tools that actually level up every part of your life. I am your host, Liz Moody, and I'm a best-selling author and longtime journalist. Today's guest is Lauren Papanos, who we first head on back in September. She is a registered dietitian with a master's in integrative nutrition. She is board certified in functional endocrinology. She's also the founder of the Integrative Nutrition Practice Functional Fueling. She hosts the podcast, Strength and Hormones. And she's been featured in outlets like Forbes, Shape, Insider, Pop Sugar, and more. She has worked with tons of clients to get their hormones and especially their reproductive hormones in check. This episode is all about our periods. What we get

wrong about them, how to work with them, how to alleviate cramps. Lauren's thoughts on cycle-sinking and hormonal birth control, her pre-period plan to alleviate PMS, and so much more. Lauren, welcome to the podcast. We're going to get into a lot of period questions today. Let's do it. If we are having painful cramps, is that a sign that something's wrong? It definitely can be, yes. So generally with any of your PMS symptoms, cramps included, it's a sign that there's high levels of prostate glandins. And prosticlidins are like these little inflammatory signaling molecules that are what are released anytime we're in pain. So you spraying your ankle, it's prostaglanins to thank for that. But they're naturally released in higher

quantities before your period to be able to shed the uterine lining so that you have a period. So they have to be there. But when there's already preexisting levels of chronic inflammation going on, generally that's what's going to cause people to have worsening issues with cramps. Or if there's inadequate levels of progesterone, that can also cause this to happen because progesterone actually helps to build a lower that prostaglandin production. If we're regularly having really bad cramps, what should we do? First, I would say look at, do you have low progesterone levels? And you would know that if you're not ovulating.

And if you're wearing an aura ring, you can sync that over with natural cycles or you can look at the temperature data. If you're not getting a temperature spike about halfway through your cycle, so around like day 14 to 20, you're not ovulating. And if your temperature's not staying elevated for at least 10 to 14 days, you're not getting an adequate progesterone response. And one of the big things that impact progesterone is our friend cortisol, because cortisol will really steal the show when our body wants to make more of those stress hormones and it'll pull it away from progesterone. That can sometimes be an issue for people. And I see it

really often that women are dealing with low progesterone or an ovulvulatory cycles. What do you do for them? Well, we have to look at it's like, why is the body in so much stress? What are areas that we can recalibrate that stress response and get the body out of this fight or flight? It could also be that there's inadequate signaling of lutenizing hormone coming from the brain down to the ovaries. And sometimes we can use herbs to be able to help stimulate that production. Vitamin C and vitamin B6 have been shown in research to help support progesterone production. I haven't seen them on their own really move the needle very much for women. I find that dealing with the stress response is a better way of going about that.

And that's where we're looking at exercise stress, nutritional stress, all those factors that are like in the controllables. Under eating, over-exercising. Exactly. Don't do those things especially before you. you're supposed to ovulate. Because that's the point when you should be getting that LH response. And if your body's under stress, then you're not going to get that LH surge. And then that's why your cycle becomes really long. People always wonder, they're like, why is my cycle so late when I was really under stress? It's because your brain isn't getting that stimulation to release down to make

adequate progesterone. Which leads us into one of the biggest questions that people have, which is, is there any scientific validity to the idea of sinking your cycle to your workouts, to what you eat, to your lifestyle habits? There can be. The big. The big. thing to know about all of the cycle-syncing information out there is that it's based off of someone having the right levels of hormones. The information you're going to see is going to say around ovulation, you have the best energy levels. That's when you should really push it. Well, yes, if you have adequate levels of progesterone, but if you aren't having adequate levels of progesterone because your body's under too much stress, then don't do that because that could actually

inhibit your ability to ovulate. Oh, that's so interesting. So if we're listening and we're trying to decide whether cycles syncing is something that would benefit us or potentially harm us, what should we look for? I would really start to track your own cycle and just make sure your cycle is regular, even just using basal body temperature tracking where you're taking your temperature either through your finger on or a ring or under the tongue with the thermometer. And you're plotting that temperature all throughout the month of your cycle is the best way to understand if you're having a normal cycle pattern. And we're looking for, you said, an elevated temperature from about halfway through the month onward. Correct. Are there other things that we're looking for? You can track

cervical mucus production and symptoms and things, but it's sometimes hard to discern because you could be having cervical mucus because you're aroused, might not be because there's progesterone production happening because you're ovulating. So sometimes it can be hard for women to discern if that's what's causing the change in hormones. Body temperature tracking is the most accurate way to really know where you're at within your cycle. I hear from a lot of people who have different types of hormonal imbalances, though, and they feel like cycle sinking is the thing that helped them feel better from that place of being hormonally imbalance. Is there validity to that? Feeling better, maybe one thing, whether it's like actually moving a needle hormonally is a

different thing. It really depends too on what type of hormonal imbalance are we talking about and what does your individual body need. Maybe you have a hormonal balance like you just have high estrogen levels, then yeah, cycle syncing is probably going to be beneficial for you. But if you have a hormonal balance like PCOS where you have low progester levels and high testosterone, cycle syncing is probably not going to move the needle very much. person that I'm thinking of had PMDD. PMDD is where there's extreme mood changes that happen before your menstrual cycle. So I could see where cycle sinking would help with that because you're basically helping

to increase serotonin production, which is like one of the factors that drives PMDD. What people are doing during cycle sinking, they're kind of like doing different types of workouts at different phases in their cycle. They're eating differently. Those are enough to actually change things, though, and have a noticeable effect, even if it's not necessarily the effect that every person needs. that actually is going to make a difference? It can, but a lot of these nutritional exercise interventions,

they're not going to have an immediate effect. It's going to take three months for your hypothalamus to really reset to them. When we're talking about a lot of these cycle-syncing things, you're asking your body to make a huge change within a couple of days. And that's pretty hard for the body to do in that short period of time, right? You're going to need to do something consistently. Like, inputs need to be consistent for longer than that. I think it creates more stress for women than it does help them,

and that so many women are dealing with different types of hormone imbalances, that it's really hard to across the board say, this is what all women should be doing to achieve balanced hormones. Do you think there's things that we should typically be adding in, though, or avoiding different parts of our cycle? Like, for instance, should we be avoiding doing hard workouts while we are on our periods? Actually, you should do your hard workouts when you're on your period because that's when you have the lowest hormone levels.

I don't recommend doing it maybe the first day or two because generally you still have high levels of those problems. Glens, that inflammation. So then if you add like a hard workout to it, more inflammation, probably going to notice a worsening of PMS symptoms. But really once you get through day two, and a lot of women can probably attest to this, right, your inflammation levels go down. You don't have the cramps as much. You don't have the headaches and all those PMS symptoms. And at that point, you have a really low hormone output. Your estrogen and progester are at the lowest point of the whole cycle. And that's when you're most hormorally similar to like a man's hormone profile,

right? That would be a time where you could actually push yourself more. And there's even been researchers show the women who are in athletic events actually hit more PRs during that time because it is a lower hormone output. Oh my gosh. That's so interesting because I was thinking about the Olympics and I was like, wait, are these Olympic athletes ever competing on their period? Because that sounds awful to me. But you're like as long as they're not on their first day or two, they might even be better. Although also I'm sure a lot of athletes aren't maybe menstruating regularly, unfortunately. A lot aren't and a lot are on oral contraceptives to show off the reproductive system. Yeah.

specific thing that's interesting. But we can work out on our periods. Would you say avoid the first day or two or no? Yeah, or just something that's lower impact that's not going to create that much inflammation. So maybe it's like a walk or the zone two aerobic exercise or yoga, Pallotti, something like that, not like a heavy, high intensity interval training or strength training type workout. And for the rest of the month, is strength training or harder workouts cool or is there any other time that you would be avoiding that? For someone that's having difficulty with ovulation, sometimes I like to do what I call like a low stress week the week before where we do. do reduce some of that allostatic load by reducing the high intensity exercise and the resistance

training, just so we can bring down that cortisol dysregulation that's going to block that LH response. So for some women that are in that situation, it can be helpful. But really it goes back to what is the dose and how are you dosing it, right? If you're doing these chronically high cortisol level workouts every day of the week, then yeah, that's probably going to be something you need to pull down when you're trying to ovulate. But if it's not something you're doing every day, it's not going to have that detrimental impact. If you suspect, that you're not ovulating, take the week before your period and just kind of really do like a low stress input week. Yeah, you can use that as like what we call like a delode week or it's basically

just a week focused on recovery and you're still maybe exercising. You're getting movement in for your physical and mental well-being, but it's not something that's adding more inflammation to the mix. Is the length of your cycle indicating anything about your hormonal health? It can. We see that with women that have really short cycles or really long cycles, both of those can be due to hormone irregularity for different reasons. Generally, a normal cycle length is somewhere around like 28 to 35 days. So sometimes I see with women, they're dealing with 24 to 27 days cycles. Generally, they're not ovulating because there's just not enough time in that 24 days for you to have a full follicular phase, an ovulatory phase, and a ludial phase. So generally, they're not ovulating or if they are,

they're not making adequate progesterone. And that's why the cycle length is so short. On the other end of the spectrum, for women that have longer cycles, we typically see that a lot with either like PCOS or amenorrhea type situations. And that could be because they're not getting that ovulatory response as well. And that that's causing like this prolonged cycle to happen. Why would we not be making enough progesterone? And what can we be doing to fix that? There are some issues that can happen with that LH response. So LH is a hormone that comes from your brain. That's what signals down to your ovaries to make progesterone. FSH is the hormone that comes from your brain as well that signals down to your ovaries to make estrogen.

It's a lot easier for women to make adequate estrogen. And we can actually make some estrogen from our body fat as well. But progesterone seems to be much harder for women to make. And progesterone is something that's only made after that LH surge happens. So if there is high cortisol going on, that's going to block that LH surge. And then you're not going to see that progesterone response come from the ovaries. There can also be issues with high prolactin levels or with low thyroid hormone levels that can cause this as well. Your thyroid is progesterine friendly. So it's going to help support your progesterone levels. And so if you have hypothyroidism that's untreated or there's causes that are going on that are driving your thyroid hormones below, you're probably not going to be ovulating and you're probably not going to be making adequate levels of progestrone.

So in that case, you're looking to treat the root cause of perhaps a cortisol imbalance or a thyroid problem. Exactly. Okay. And then on the other end, the longer cycles you said PCOS, etc. What's causing those? It can be PCOS that's causing it where they're not getting any progestone response. It's happening. Generally with PCOS, we see that chronically high loutinizing hormone.

So it's kind of the opposite situation where the LH is just constantly being stimulated. And so that's part of what's causing the inadequate levels of progesterone and high levels of testosterone that are happening because LH also helps us make testosterone. It's also the stimulatory for that. Generally, it's because there's a chronically high LH that's causing the really long cycles for those women. Also with amenorrhea, it could be because with amenorrhea, we see that GNRH, which is going Natotropin releasing hormone that comes from our brain that then signals to our brain to make

FSAH and LH is like shut off. So I always think of it as like your brain and your ovaries are like two best friends. And so in that situation, they're not talking. Usually it's because there's high allostatic load, which means that the body's under a lot of stress. There's not enough nutrition, too much exercise, too much psychological stress. And that's what's telling the brain, hey, this isn't a safe place to reproduce and the hormones just get shut off. Aren't all of those things, the contributors to cortisol dysregulation. So is it the same at both ends of the spectrum that we have too much allesthetic load? Yeah. So why do some people's bodies respond by going these really long cycles and then other people's bodies respond by doing these really short cycles? It really depends on

like where it's starting to impact your hormones. So with people that have just acute levels of cortisol dysregulation, then that's where we see that it generally blocks that ovulation from happening. And oftentimes with shorter cycles, there isn't as much chronic cortisol. issues that are going on. It's usually more issues with they're not making adequate progesterone, and it's probably because there's thyroid hormone insufficiency. That's usually what we see with that. But cortisol plays a role in all of it, whether it's short or long cycles, and cortisol is not my favorite term to use. Like, it's more HPA access dysregulation, right? It's more so the brain is not getting the feedback signals that it needs from the ovaries. And that's why all of this is

getting dysregulated. I very rarely get genuinely excited about. about skincare, but this is one of the most innovative products that I have come across in years, and I'm so obsessed with it. I've been telling all of my friends to get it, so now I need to tell you guys. Here's some science first. Your skin isn't just getting older. It's being actively broken down by something called senescent cells. These are cells that have stopped functioning, but refuse to die. They sit there, releasing inflammatory signals, breaking down your collagen, degrading your skin barrier, and accelerating every visible sign of aging. Scientists call them zombie cells, and as they accumulate, they are one of the primary drivers of how old your skin

looks and feels. The team at one skin, a group of female longevity researchers and PhDs, spent five years testing over 900 peptides to figure out how to help reduce the accumulation of senescent cells. And they finally landed on it. OSO1, the first peptide scientifically studied to reduce skin's biological age at the molecular level. OSO1, goes in and it clears out the senescent cells so it helps skin function like healthier, younger looking skin. It is not masking the signs of aging. It's not targeting one thing. It is actually rolling the clock back at a cellular level. I've been using the face moisturizer for almost six months now and I love it so much. It feels amazing. It goes on really smoothly. It's not

tacky at all. And I actually see a difference, which I just feel like is never the case with skincare. You want to always like see a real difference and you're kind of like, do I? Do I? Do I? and this I genuinely do. Because it's clearing the senescent cells, it doesn't just target one thing. So my skin looks firmer. It looks glowier. The texture feels dramatically smoother. And I feel like you can see that too.

I also love the body moisturizer. It dries down really quickly, which is always a pet peeve of mine with moisturizers. I hate that like sticky feeling when you go to put your clothes on. This does not do that. But it does moisturize really, really well. And then again, I'm reducing my skin's biological age. I am not making it just look younger. I am making it actually younger.

OneSkin has four peer-reviewed clinical studies in over 10,000 five-star reviews. The data backs everything up. For a limited time, get 15% off with code Liz at oneskin.co slash Liz. Again, that's 15% off at oneskin.com with code Liz. The mattress that you sleep on is one of the highest exposures that you have.

Like, if it's off-gassing, you're breathing that in for basically a third of your life, and most conventional mattresses are loaded with synthetic foams, flame retardants, microplastics, and more. Plus, if it's not comfy, you're going to be tossing and turning, you're going to be really hot, and sleep is the foundation of health. It is so important. Because of all of this, if I were not going to invest in any other part of my house, no other things in my house, I would invest in my mattress. And in fact, I have four years well before I had much money to spend on any of these things because it is such a big needle mover.

The birch mattress is incredible. It is made with organic cotton, natural latex, and ethically sourced wool. So it has literally no off-gassing. You can not smell anything right when you unbox it. It has no microplastics, no synthetic foams or flame retardants. And the wool makes it so breathable, which if you've listened to this podcast for more than five minutes, you know that I run very, very hot. Like I am a furnace.

Zach has basically accepted that sleepy next to me is like sleeping next to like a little fire and the birch mattress has been a game changer for that. It's made me sleep so much better like I can see my sleep score going up because I'm not hot all night long. It's also hypoallergenic, which is really worth paying attention to if you find yourself waking up stuffy or congested. Dust mites in a conventional mattress can actually impact your breathing and your sleep quality without you even realizing it. And again, we need to be able to breathe to get good sleep and getting good sleep is the foundation of our health. And then comfort wise, Zach sleeps on his back and then I sleep on my side and my stomach.

So we have two completely different sleep styles, and we both wake up feeling really good, no aches and pains. CNN actually named the Birch mattress, the best mattress for side sleepers. And Wired named it the best organic mattress, period. So there you go. Birch has options for every kind of sleeper in your household.

They have three firmness layers. I like the Lux Natural, which is the medium one. And then parents, they even have a Birch Kids natural mattress. Birch ships right to your door. It sets up in minutes and it comes with 120 night risk-free trial. So if it is not for you, they will pick it up for free. You have nothing to lose here. I want all of you to enjoy a deep, restful night sleep with a new mattress from Birch. Go to birchliving.com slash Liz Moody for 20% off. That is birchliving.com slash Liz Moody. And you're going to get 20% off, birch living.com slash Liz Moody. If you have headaches, allergies, brain fog, skin irritation, or you've been dealing with hormone issues, you are especially going to want to listen to this ad. Every single thing that I just listed has been linked to chemicals and household cleaners. One study found that regular use of cleaning sprays was associated with a lung function decline

comparable to smoking 10 to 20 cigarettes per day. Synthetic fragrances are a well-documented migraine trigger and a number of studies have linked ingredients in common household cleaners to fertility issues, thyroid dysfunction, mood changes, and more because of their impact on our endocrine systems. Luckily, you can just make one simple swap and you can eliminate all of those risk factors that you get from common household cleaners. Branch basics makes cleaning products that are plant and mineral based, completely fragrance-free, and made safe certified, meaning they are screened against thousands of known and suspected harmful chemicals. And best of all, you literally use one product, but you mix it with different amounts of

water to make your kitchen spray, your bathroom cleaner, your laundry detergent, your produce wash, your glass cleaner, literally everything. It does not smell. It does not give me headaches. It does not give me rashes or itchiness from clothes because you are. Remember, we're using this for laundry. We're using this for literally everything. And it works so well. Everything gets so clean. And I know that I'm protecting myself from all of those long-term issues. too. And I'm protecting my kittens who are much tinier than me. So anything they're exposed to has a much greater impact on their little tiny systems. And they're running around on their little paws and then they're licking them. So I'm protecting them too. Branch basics is now available at Target.com,

Amazon and branchbasics.com. So it's easier than ever to make the switch. And if you want to grab their premium starter kit, you can use code Liz Moody for 15% off at branchbasics.com. That's code Liz Moody for 15% off the premium starter kit at branchbasics.com. And when they ask you where you heard about us, please make sure to mention the show. That is branch basics.com and use code Liz Moody. I'm genuinely confused how masterclass gets literally the absolute top people in every single field to teach every single one of their classes. I use it when I want to learn things directly, like the cooking class from Thomas Keller has all of the wisdom that you would normally have to go to culinary school for. But also, I'm being honest, this is like a use case I don't hear a lot of people

talking about. I'll just watch it for entertainment when I want to do something that's far more interesting than scrolling. Christina Aguilera taught me to sing. Shan Boudrum's Art of Mastering Confidence and Sex Appeal class is 10 out of 10. There's menopause classes with leading doctors. There's script writing with Mindy Kaling. Literally, you name it, they're on master class, and it is such a good way to get off your phone, but have something that's like not quite as long or hard to get into as a TV show or a movie and that it just keeps you entertained and interested. are learning. There are over 200 classes from the world's best, all for just $10 a month when build annually, and you get unlimited access to every class on the platform so you can learn

at your own pace whenever you want on your phone, your computer, or even in audio mode, like a podcast. If you're looking to stop scrolling and start consuming entertaining content that makes you feel excited and helps you learn, masterclass is it. And the best part, every membership comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can start learning risk. free. Right now our listeners get an additional 15% off any annual membership at masterclass.com slash Liz Moody. That's 15% off at masterclass.com slash Liz Moody. Masterclass.com slash Liz Moody. So can you give us a few action steps and they can include testing, but I would also love one or two things we can do at home if we're on the longer end. We're trying to bring that back down to a more

healthy cycle. A lot of it is just going to go back to looking at your total allesthetic load. So you've got to look at, are you over-exercising for what your body can handle? You might not feel like it's overexercising for you, but it might be for what your body can handle in that moment, especially in conjunction with your other stressors in life alongside of your psychological stress, your work stress, all those other things. Nutrition is going to play a big role. Are you in an energy-efficient state? Are you meeting your calorie needs every day? Carbohydrates and fat are going to be the two macronutrients that are going to disrupt the ovarian function the most.

If you aren't eating enough carbs and fats, you're just eating like all protein or you're in a chronically low calorie state, you're going to see some suppression to that release from the brain down to the ovaries. That can be a big issue that's going on that can be addressed. Also looking at for women that have PCOS is, is there a way that we can support lowering those antigenic hormones? Maybe it's working on improving blood sugar balance or maybe it's working on increasing muscle mass because the more muscle we have, the more insulin sensitive we are. And if we're more insulin sensitive, we make less of those androgenic hormones. So it really will defer based off each individual person. And sometimes when with PCS will say, well, I'm doing all those things. I'm eating a really blood sugar, healthy diet.

And I'm exercising. I'm like, let me take a look at it. If somebody feels like they're doing all those things, yeah, what actually is happening. Sometimes it's even deeper rooted. Sometimes with PCOS, it's not the high antigens or it's not that they are over exercising and things of that sort. It could be that their immune system is totally going disray from something. That can sometimes be the case. I often find, too, that a lot of times people take information that they see on Instagram,

and then they apply that and then think that they're like an expert in that area because of it. But there's so many more nuances that go into it. When we actually take a look at how they're taking that information and then applying it, it's not being interpreted how the information came off, if that makes sense. If we're on that shorter end of the cycle, what's our next action steps there? A lot of times we see short cycles with the thyroid issues. We see it a lot with perimenopause as well, that the cycles can get shorter. because the progesterone levels are low too.

So with perimenopause, there's only so much you can do, right? But sometimes hormone replacement therapy can be a helpful option to explore in that area. With the thyroid, I mean, the adrenals, cortisol does play a role with a thyroid. But really we have to look at is what's going on in the liver and the gut because those are where mainly thyroid hormone conversion is happening. 70% of thyroid hormone conversion happens in the liver and about 20% through your gut bacteria. Oftentimes when there's low thyroid hormone levels, there's something going on that's causing the liver to not work as efficiently. There's genetic things that are slowing down liver

metabolism, insufficiency of bile production or minerals that the thyroid needs to be able to make those thyroid hormones. So maybe it's something as simple as like someone is iron deficient or their iodine deficient because those minerals are how we make thyroid hormones and how we sensitize our thyroid cells to actually using those hormones. And we would probably want to get our thyroid tested if we are experiencing a short cycle, correct? Yes, definitely. And make sure it's not just TSA because oftentimes you're not going to see any issues with TSAG unless you have full-blown hypothyroidism going on. So we really want to look at is T-4 in the free state, free T-3 and reverse T-3. And then if you don't know if you have an autoimmune thyroid disease or not, then I would rule that out at least at one point.

What's your very favorite thing to do to support the liver? And what's your very favorite thing to do to support the gut? There's three phases, a liver metabolism. We always start the back and work forward. When it comes to phase three of liver metabolism, it's all about pooping. So supporting just like regular motility, eating more fiber. And then if you need support in that area, maybe using things like olivera, magnesium citrate that are kind of more natural laxatives, just to kind of get things going. And that third phase can be a helpful starting point. Phase one and phase two require a lot of amino acids, a lot of antioxidants, B vitamins. So we need to make sure that we are getting those in through the diet and that we're also getting in adequate supplementation. If not, I would say the one

that's probably the most underlooked is just the role of bile in the liver. Bile actually helps with thyroid hormone conversion and activation. You can also stimulate bowel flow through bitter foods. So things like arugula, apple cider vinegar, dandelion, beets, those can all be things that you can incorporate milk thistle, glutathione. Those are all like supplemental things you can do too. Oh, cool. And the gut? Really, those bacteria are converted through your beneficial bacteria, what we call your keystone species. So making sure that we're eating a wide variety of plants. So from the research, we know that over 30 varieties of plants per week is really where we see the healthiest good gut bacteria. Trying to diversify the plants you're eating, you know, not just eating broccoli for dinner every night, but trying to get in maybe like two or three different plant sources and then getting a diversity of those throughout the week so that you have the most robust gut microbiota.

If we are on birth control or we have an IUD, are we still experiencing the four phases of our cycle? With oral contraceptives, no. One of the ways they work is by shutting off the brain to ovary connection. So those two best friends I talked about earlier, they've like got their backs to each other. They're not talking. That's kind of what oral contraceptives do. With the IUDs, they work through a little bit of a different mechanism. On like a hormonal IUD, they do contain progestin, which is like a synthetic form of progesterone.

So they do have a hormonal effect, but some of them are really low in progestin. And they work more by actually impacting fertilization. So not as much through the hormonal system. So some women find that with IUDs, they still do ovulate, especially if they either have like just had it placed and the levels of the progestin haven't built up enough or if it's on like its last leg and you need to get it removed or replaced soon, then sometimes women do ovulate with IUDs. And if you're ovulating, you are having the four phases of the cycle. So that is possible. If you're on a non-hormonal IUD like the copper IUD, then you definitely can still be

ovulating. If you're remotely interested in cycle sinking, though, the only way that would apply is if you're on a last phase of like a Moreno or your potential in copper. Or not on birth control at all. Or not on birth control at all or not on any sort of external birth control. Yeah. What's your vibe on birth control? There's a lot of hearsay around, well, if you use birth control, like your hormones are just messed up for the rest of your life. There's no literature to show that that's really the case, that it's having a long-term detrimental impact. And I think that ultimately comes down to is, why did you get put on birth control in the first place?

And that's what I always ask women that come to work with us that have been on birth control and are like, I still haven't got my period back, or now I'm dealing with cystic acne once I came off of it or X, Y, or Z symptom. I'm like, well, let's go back to when you went on birth control. Why were you put on it and what was happening at that point? Because the answer of why there's post-birth control issues always lies in why you were put on birth control in the first place. Because birth control is just a band-aid. And then you take the band-aid off and nothing's been healed.

So for people who are stressed out about not getting their period back post-birth control, it's about figuring out the root cause. Is there anything that you think everybody going off birth control should be doing to, quote-unquote, detox from the pill? We do know. It's hard on the liver. It's hard on the gut. it depletes a lot of vitamins, especially minerals and B vitamins. So I would definitely say is, yes,

add in some B vitamins, some methylated B vitamins, sure you're eating enough protein, because that's going to be where you're mainly going to get B vitamins. Maybe add in like a mineral complex or make sure you're eating enough different nuts and seeds and vegetables that provide all of those natural minerals in them. You can do some liver support absolutely because any type of pharmaceutical you're on long term, it's all going through the liver. So your liver is getting, has more work to do when that's happening. There's definitely some ways you can support the livers through a lot of the strategies that we talked about earlier. And that could be something that someone looks at exploring. I recommend generally like started it three months prior to when you plan to come off of it.

That way your body has enough time for these things to actually go into effect. Because really our cells turn over every three months or so. And then that way by the time you've come off of it, okay, now you're in a position to where at least we know that yeah, now we've got to work on the hormone communication happening. But we don't also have to work on the liver detoxing, the vitamins restoring. All of that's already been addressed. and we can just focus on putting the body into a place where the brain and ovaries can restore the relationship. Would you recommend all of those techniques for somebody who's choosing to be on hormonal birth control just to mitigate the negative effects? Definitely. That's really overlooked too, is that a lot of women are on birth control. No one tells them, oh, this increases your risk of vitamin deficiencies.

And then they're like, well, why am I so fatigued all the time? Why do I feel depressed? I'm on birth control. Is there anything else that you'd recommend for somebody who's taking it to help? We know that there can be impacts to the thyroid and to the gut from birth control. So I would definitely make sure like you're eating enough diversity in your diet to support those good gut bacteria. Maybe even looking at using like a spore-based probiotic that has a really high ability to inoculate the gut bacteria with beneficial bacteria. That may be beneficial or using something like l-glutamine olivora that help to be able to prevent things like intestinal permeability that can cause more gut-related issues. So those can definitely be things that you do while on it. You can also look at just making sure that you're having your thyroid checked every so often while you're on it.

so you know what's happening with your thyroid. If you start to see that your T4 and T3 are dropping, that they're getting really low or your TSA is getting high, really above like 2.5, the birth control is probably playing an impact on your thyroid, and we then need to look at how we can support the thyroid to really help with that whole equation. Going back to cramps,

what does the scientific evidence say about actually leaving cramps in the moment? Is there anything that we can do, like, right before periods, that would help? So it all goes back to that whole prostic gland situation. There are actual prostaglandin inhibitors. That's actually one of the ways that omega-3 fatty acids work is through prostaglandins. I always recommend doing what I call a PMS stack. And that's one week before you start your period. You take a high dose of omega-3s with curcuminoids, which is the active compound and turmeric because those also help reduce inflammation and the immune cell sensitivity that happens at that time. You can also use something like magnesium and minerals because those helped to build to reduce the muscle contractions that cause a lot of the cramping as well. And then sometimes vitamin E, my favorite form is called a nato, can be a really helpful way to help with that too because it's helping lower the oxidative stress that's happening during that time.

And I have seen substantial outcomes with clients that we've started on that where they're like, I had no issues this period at all and had debilitating cramps before. Of course, there can be other cause of cramps like fibroids and polyps and things and those might require different support options. But if you know that there's nothing going on in that area, you're just having really severe. cramps and maybe headaches even, start on some of that anti-inflammatory support seven days before, maybe through like day two. And you're probably going to notice a dramatic effect in how you feel. When you say really high dose of fish oil, what do you mean? I mean, it can depend on what someone's needs. Like, if they already have high levels of inflammation, they might need more, but usually about 2,000 milligrams or 2 grams per day. Is cold plunging

on my period bad? I don't think it would be bad, but I mean, you are getting an inflammatory response from it. Remember that there's already high levels of that inflammation. Isn't part of the reason that I'm cold plunging to alleviate inflammation? Or is it about the acute versus the long term? It's the acute versus the chronic. I would just see how you feel with it. I personally, like I feel totally fine strength training when I'm on my period. But some people don't.

So I think it really just comes down to how does your body tolerate those things? I feel like I spent a long time trying to kind of like do nothing on my period. And I always felt so much worse. But then when I added back in working out and hiking and strength training and cold plunging, I felt so much better. And I'm like, wait, am I doing my body harm even though I feel better in the this moment. No, because like I said, maybe you don't have this high prostitinin situation, so there's not really high levels of inflammation and you feel really good when you

have low hormone levels. Like I said, you are technically in a better athletic state when those hormone levels are low. So then if you take the inflammation out of the equation, then, you know, you could feel really good at that point. Is it good for me to eat a lot of chocolate in like the day or two before my period and the first day of my period? Yeah, so chocolate is a big source of magnesium. So that's one of the reasons why it can help with the PMS symptoms. And they say why people crave it is. well because you crave what your body's low in, right? I'm just very intuitive. So my intuition's like, go to seas. Yeah. Just make sure it's cadmium free, right? So you're not getting the end of crick instructors. Are you okay with leaning into this like a little bit snackier impulse that we have?

Scientifically, you do have an increased resting metabolic rate in the week before your period. You burn about like 150 calories more per day. Scientifically, there is a merit to that, but I would not go like crazy overboard or anything or like add in a lot of sugars and things that could cause more inflammation. But yeah, you might have an increase in hunger because you have a higher rest of metabolic rate. What's your take on the toxins in tampon situation? I mean, they're there for sure. It makes sense. They're all chlorine and you've got all of the fragrances and things, the plastic applicators. So all of those, they contain endocrine disrupting chemicals. What do you think is the best way to deal with our menstrual blood in terms of toxicity? Because there's the recent study about

all of these things in tampons, which they were very clear in the study. They didn't. know if it was enough to impact our endocrine system, but it was even in organic tampons. And then there's the plastics that have been found in the period underwear. I don't know if the silicon cups have their own issues. So what's the best way to actually deal with the blood? I think the best out of all of them is probably the menstrual cups that are silicone. I mean, I don't think there probably ever is going to be a perfect option in that category. I like the period underwear. Do you think if I'm looking for brands that have been tested that I'm okay? Yeah, definitely. If you were going to give us a homework assignment to universally help support our menstrual cycle. What's one thing that you would

recommend everybody do? Eating more antioxidants, anti-inflammatories. What are your favorites? The most powerful ones are going to be things that help us make glutathione, like our body's master antioxidant. So sulfur-rich foods, cruciferous vegetables, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, garlic are all great for that. Your fat soluble antioxidants are things like vitamin E, vitamin A, beef liver, egg yolks, olive oil, extra virgin olive oil can all be really great options. You do have other antioxidants like leafy greens and berries and things, but they're not quite as potent as some of the other glutathione-producing antioxidants are. Selenium is so important, especially when we're talking about the thyroid. It's what helps with glutathione recycling, and glutathione is actually what combats

the inflammation that causes all the thyroid destruction and a lot of the thyroid-related symptoms. I love it. A lot of food for thought. Thank you so much, Lauren. Can you tell us a little bit about where we can find you and all of your programs? I am on Instagram at functional.fueling. Our website is functionalfueling.com. My podcast is called a Strengthenhorment. hormones podcast and we do one-on-one work where we do testing and kind of root cause treatment with individuals and then we also do programs. So we have a program called inflammation harmony and that's really where we're addressing the root causes of hormone imbalances. Oh, I just realized that's a pun, isn't it? Yeah. I like that. I like that. I love a pun title. Well, thank you so much for

coming and sharing all your beautiful wisdom. Thank you. That is all for this episode of the Liz Moody podcast. If you are new to the podcast, welcome. I am so glad that you're here. Make sure that you are following the podcast on whatever platform that you like to listen on. I know that 50% of you listening to this episode do not follow the podcast. What is up with that? You're making your life harder by not following. Not only is it the best way to support the podcast, but it also makes sure that episode show up right in your feed.

You don't have to search for them anywhere. And trust me, you do not want to miss what we have coming up soon. I will be delivering some incredible science, interviews and advice, every single Monday and every single Wednesday for you. Okay, I love you and I will see you for the next episode of the Liz Moody Podcast. If you loved this episode, you will love the episode where Lauren and I dive into everything that social media gets wrong about hormones, including diving into intermittent fasting, cold plunging, a deep dive on cortisol, which I was completely wrong about before talking to Lauren and so much more. I will link that episode for you

in the show notes so you can go and listen. Oh, just want to more thing, it's the legal language. This podcast is presented solely for educational and entertainment purposes. It is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, a psychotherapist, or any other qualified professional. The number one rule of habits is to make the things that you want easier and the things that you don't want harder. Yet so many of us want to eat healthier, but so few of us actually take the steps to make eating healthier easier. That's where Marley Spoon comes in. What I love about this company and what's different than all of the other companies out there that are doing like stuff in the same

arena is that you can customize your choices based on the effort that you want to put in. So if you want them to send you ingredients, so you can make your own 20 minute meal and like get into your chef energy, they'll send it to you to all be in perfect portions so you'll eliminate waste. Great. That's sorted. But they also have meals that you can just heat up. They have ready made breakfast, which is always such a tough time of day to get a healthy meal in. They have grab and go snacks. Everything is made from farm fresh produce with high quality proteins and you can select by dietary preferences, including Mediterranean diet, which is the top diet that doctors on this podcast recommend. Also things like gluten-free, dairy-free, low sodium, anything that you need.

The food is so good and it's so gourmet feeling like you feel like you're at a nice restaurant. We're talking like chicken milanese with a crunchy cucumber arugula salad or everything bagel salmon with truffled chive potatoes. My favorite recent meal was the creamy lemon chicken tray bake. I had one of those moments where I looked at my plate and I was like, wait, I made this and so quickly, like so easily, it's just so little effort for so much reward. Marley Spoon just makes eating well feel easy instead of stressful. And honestly, that is everything. This new year, fast track your way to eating well with Marley Spoon. Head to marlyspoon.com slash offer slash Liz Moody for up to 25 free meals. That is right, up to 25 free meals with

Marley Spoon. That is Marley Spoon.com slash offer slash Liz Moody. So remember to get the offer slash Liz Moody for up to 25 free meals. When you think about strength and resilience, like your ability to feel energized, to recover well, to stay strong as you get older, what do you think that actually comes from? Most people say working out or good nutrition. And yes, of course that matters. but there is a biological foundation underneath all of that that most people are completely overlooking. I have been diving deep into this lately with the team at timeline and what I've learned has genuinely shifted how I think about my own health. Every single movement that your body makes every step, every workout, every muscle contraction depends on energy produced at the cellular

level. And at the center of that is your mitochondria. Here's the thing that nobody tells you, certainly nobody told me, starting around age 30, are mitochondrial. naturally become less efficient. More get damaged, more become sluggish, and over time that impacts your energy, your strength, your recovery, and your resilience. Most of us respond by pushing more. We're like noticing these things and we're adding in more protein. We're trying to fix it with more supplements. We're trying to do harder workouts. And those things do help. But timelines research suggests that we also need to be supporting the cellular machinery underneath. And that is exactly what their supplement, Mitopure does. It contains urolithin A, which helps your body clear out

damage mitochondria and support healthier ones so that your cells can produce energy more efficiently. Because this is happening to your cells, it's going to impact your entire body, your immune system, your muscles. One study found that taking mitopure increased muscle strength by 12% in four months with no change in exercise routine, it's going to impact your energy, your sleep, your skin, Your cell health impacts all of this, and urolithin A keeps your cells healthy. Timeline has done over 15 years of research and testing on this one product, urolithin A, which, by the way, most of us lack the gut bacteria to synthesize naturally. That's why many of us need to supplement it to get the benefits. This has become a staple supplement for me.

It is my top way to support how I want to look and feel as I age. Support your cells and how you age with mitopure gummies from Timeline. Visit Timeline.com slash Liz and save up to 3.3. 39% on your mitochondere gummies. That is timeline.com slash Liz.