Well with Arielle Lorre - 54: Nicole Jardim - Hormones, Stress, Digestion + Periods

Episode Date: April 29, 2020

In this episode I talk to Women’s Health + Functional Nutrition Coach, Nicole Jardim, about our hormones, periods, stress, digestion and how it’s all interconnected. Nicole breaks down what hormones actually do; the difference between a period and a menstrual cycle; birth control and what it really does; managing PMS symptoms; how sugar affects our bodies and periods; how stress really affects us; how to support our bodies through lifestyle; the difference between men’s and women’s energy cycles; the 2 tips that can change everything; and so much more.  http://fixyourperiod.com Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Sonderger Go to your Reisadviseur Orsonicars. The following podcast is A Dear Media Production Hey, welcome to the Blonde Files podcast. I'm your host, Ariel Lorry, and I'm here to talk all things wellness.

From how to achieve optimal health and well-being to the best beauty tips and everything in between, no topic is off limits and I'm bringing it to you real and unfiltered. I know there is so much information out there, so I'm here to help you navigate it all. Thanks for listening. Let's get into it. Hey, everybody, welcome to the show. Today, I'm talking to the queen of Periods, Nicole Jardom. If you have questions about hormones, birth control, periods, what's normal, what's not, how to make things normal without medication, all the period things. This episode is for you. So in 2010, Nicole trained at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition to become a health coach. Shortly after that, she completed a three-month apprenticeship at a

Women's Holistic Health Center in New York City. Then she did a one-year training program with Dr. Sarah Gottfried, who is the author of the hormone cure and the hormone reset diet. After that, she did an additional one-year women's health and nutrition coaching program with the Integrative Women's Health Institute. And then in 2016, she completed a one-year training program with the Kresser Institute for Functional and Evolutionary Medicine. So she knows. her shit. She also has a book coming out, How to Fix Your Period. And we get into it in this episode. We get into the interconnectedness of our bodies, including how things like stress and digestion affects our hormones and our periods, how to fix our periods. She gives two amazing tips that we can

all start implementing in our lives that can change everything. And so, so much more. So enjoy the episode. Thank you so much for coming on. I have been following you for a while. I myself have had period problems for years. So this is fascinating to me. This is something that really, really resonates with my audience. And I know that we're going to probably answer a lot of people's questions today. So really excited. Thank you. Thanks, Ariel. I'm so excited to be here too. And I can't wait to talk about all of this. I feel like women really deserve to have a very clear understanding of what's going on in their bodies so that they can make informed health decisions. Yeah. And so many of us don't know really what's going on in our bodies, what the function of our hormones are, what a normal

period is. And I want to get into that and why it is that we're so uninformed when it comes to this. But I kind of want to start by just talking about your own personal journey, if you don't mind sharing with health and hormones and how you became the period girl. Yeah, you know, I was the poster child for period problems as a teenager. I remember, you know, having months where I would spend one or two days in bed in pain because I really couldn't get out to leave the house. I couldn't go to school. And not only did I have really debilitating pain, but I also had these periods that would be like floods, you know, the type where you're the girl who's sleeping with two towels on your mattress so that you don't leak through your sheets. And, you know, like, I remember going to school

and having leaking accidents, which basically as a teenager is the most mortifying thing ever, right? You may as well just leave the planet. I'll never forget my first one. Oh, really? Yes, right? I feel like it's stared into our brains, isn't it? Yeah. I can laugh now, but truly, it was the most mortifying experience of my life as, and I know that's the case for so many of us. Yeah. Oh my God. This was my teenage life. And, you know, this is a thing that I see a lot of. My mom basically had debilitating periods too. And she was just like, well, you know, I think this is normal. I don't know. This is what I experienced. And we never went and saw a doctor about any of it because it was just so normalized. And eventually what started happening was my period would come like every two

months. Then it started coming every three months. And then once it took four months to come. And I was like, okay, this can't be normal. Although it seemed like a great blessing at the time. But eventually what would happen is it would just come and it would come with a vengeance and it would last for like 10 days and the pain would be excruciating. And finally my mom said, okay, let's go to the doctor. And I went and she really didn't listen to anything that I said so much. She just was like, okay, let's put you on the birth control pill. And I was just like, hallelujah, you know, let me get on this pill, join all of my cool friends who were also on the pill. I don't know why I wasn't on it before. I was just scared of it. And, you know, rightly so after the experience I had on it. But, you know,

I finally felt like I had found my silver bullet. And ultimately, my period evened out, it became less heavy. It became less painful. And I ended up, you know, for a number of years, just being really happy with that. And then I started to notice all of these seemingly unrelated symptoms, things like chronic yeast infections and urinary tract infections, which are a real bane when you're in your early 20s. And you're just like having fun and living life. And then you've got these chronic infections. And then I also started to notice my hair falling out and sex started to hurt when it had never hurt before. I had melasma all over. my face. I remember my dermatologist saying to me, oh, well, you know, that really only happens to

women when they're pregnant. So I can't understand what's going on here with you, you know, things like that that are also just adding to the mortification of it all. And so I finally, you know, gave up on conventional medicine because I kept going to all these different doctors for all of these unrelated issues. And nobody could really give me a reason why. And man, I really wanted a reason why all of this was happening so I could actually do something about it. And so finally, I saw an acupuncturist, and he was the first person to really say to me that he thought that the birth control pill was possibly causing or behind a lot of the symptoms that was experiencing.

And lo and behold, he was right. And so that really set me on this path. Girl, I don't know. It's been like a crazy 15 years. Okay. So there are a few things that I want to unpack there. I had a similar experience as you where I wouldn't have my period for months. And then, like you said, it would come with a vengeance.

And when I went to a gynecologist, this is probably like in my late teens, and I was also on the pill, I was just told that that's just what happens to some people and, of course, put on the pill. So I'm curious, why you think it is we're told that's normal or we're just kind of sent on our way with this band-aid and why we're so uninformed when it comes to our bodies and our periods and our hormones? You know, I am going to go on a limb hair and say that, you know, I think part of this is the patriarchal way that medicine is conducted in that women are traditionally not seen as people who can trust or be trusted to take care of themselves in a way that is suitable to them. And this one size fits all approach to medicine has been used for a very long time. And it's been to the way. And it's been to the, the detriment of women. I mean, when we think about like studies that were done up until the 90s, they were not required to include women. And a big part of that was the fact that we have hormonal fluctuations on a monthly basis. And that added too much uncertainty to scientific studies. And so as a result, so much of medicine is based on male bodies and male hormones. And

there really is a major exclusion of female bodies and how they actually work. And so when we translate that to going to the doctor, you know, we've just been fed this myth that our bodies are really complicated, right? That they're just menstrual cycles are too crazy and unpredictable for us to even include you in scientific studies. And as a result, you know, we just need to turn these things off and not deal with them. And so, I feel like that's really the crux of the issue is that we've never really been taught how to read our menstrual cycles and understand them because they're kind of an inconvenience. Yeah, and something that you've talked about before is like the how hormones kind of get a bad

reputation as disruptors of health and mood. So that's really interesting because it's, you know, it's kind of true and I don't think we really think about it, but they kind of get this bad rap and it's something that we have to control or like dull with something like the birth control pill. And I had the same experience as you did. It sounds like on the pill. So for people who don't know, and I have had Dr. Jolene Brighton on before, who is amazing when it comes to this subject about the pill. But I want to hear your take on it, like your experience and how you eventually went often and what exactly the pill does to the body? Because I think a lot of people have the misconception that the birth control pill regulates hormones. Yeah. Oh man, do they ever? I know. And again, right,

that comes back to the fact that we've been told that for a really long time. And so when you think about the birth control pill and what it does, it basically shuts off ovulation, right? So it turns off this vital process that's happening in our bodies or is meant to happen in our bodies on an almost monthly basis. And the problem that we have with that is the fact that, that ovulation is obviously not just for getting pregnant, reproduction, your fertility. It stretches far, much further or far than that. And when we're thinking about the health of our bones and our heart and cardiovascular system and our gut health and our brain health and the health of our skin, all of those are intricately connected to the sex hormones that are produced in abundance when we're

ovulating consistently. And so we've been fed this idea that, you know, you can turn off ovulation and there are really no consequences, but that's just not true. And so for many of us, like me, when I came off the pill, I felt like I was in a post-menopausal state is what it felt like. And in fact, tests on my hormones pretty much showed that. You know, my estrogen was actually at menopausal levels. So it was my progesterone. and my testosterone was too, which made sense. Like I had no sex drive at all. Sex had started to hurt.

I had these chronic infections, like I was saying. My hair was falling out. My skin was a disaster. My gut health was a total disaster. And so what all of this means is that these hormones, again, don't just play a role in your fertility. They're playing a role in so many other aspects of your health. And so ultimately, you know, when we're talking about hormones too,

I think it's important for us to really think about, you know, what they are, what they do. Because when we do talk about hormones, generally speaking, so many of us feel like they're, you know, they're bad things, right? We never really talk about hormones in a way that is positive. We talk about them as they relate to being super hormonal when you're in your PMS time or how terrible puberty is in the teenage years. And, you know, we talk about being so bitchy and I can't stop crying and like how terrible menopause is. So we don't really ever talk about hormones in this positive way, but they are, you know, a huge part of our overall health. They play a really big role in basically every aspect of our health. So whether you are happy or sad or you want to eat

chocolate cake or you're tired or you're, you know, you have, you're in a bad mood, whatever it is. Like, we're always going to tie those, tie that back to our hormones and how they're dictating our behavior. So I think that like we really need to start to think about hormones as being an integral player rather than something that just sort of kicks in as, you know, your menstrual cycle kicks in in puberty. Well, yeah, so let's kind of talk about hormones and talk about not just the negative symptoms that we might experience during different phases of our cycle, but the importance of certain hormones and what their role is. Yeah, totally. I should probably just start by talking about the menstrual cycle generally and, you know, what it is that happens throughout the cycle,

because I think a lot of us don't even realize, you know, we say, oh yeah, you know, you might have a hormonal imbalance, but what does that even look like? And so when we're talking about the key hormones that we really need to be paying attention to. I'm referring to the hormones, cortisol and insulin, because cortisol, the stress hormone, insulin, the blood sugar hormone, those two hormones really dictate so much that happens in our body. I like this idea of referring to hormones in a hormonal hierarchy, so to speak. And what I mean when I say that is that there are some hormones that are more powerful, like the queen bee hormones, as I like to call them, than other hormones. And so cortisol and insulin definitely rank high up at the top there. And then from there,

we go to the sort of mother or parent hormones, Pregnantanolone and DHEA. And those are the two hormones that have a downstream effect because they help produce other hormones, the ones that we really know, like the stars of the menstrual cycle show, right? We've got estrogen, progesterone, testosterone. those are the main ones that we think of when we think of hormonal imbalance. But ultimately, all of these hormones can be imbalanced and they will have a downstream effect on these other hormones. I didn't mention thyroid or melatonin. Those are other hormones, too, that can be impacted by the stress hormones and insulin,

which is the blood sugar hormone, like I said. And so ultimately, all of these hormones are communicating with each other all day long every day and they're talking through these endocrine glands that are throughout our bodies, right? So our brain is sort of hormone command center and it's going to be sending out hormones to the other glands in your body. So the endocrine glands like your thyroid, your adrenals, your ovaries, your pancreas. And that's how they communicate with each other. And then those glands are going to make hormones that are then, you know, going back to the brain and saying, okay, we have enough of this in our body or we don't have enough and we need to make more. And then the

brain sends out another signal. So this is a constant feedback loop that's happening unbeknownst to us pretty much every second of every day. And what I think is so critical for us to understand is that when there's an imbalance in those top tier hormones, it can really trickle down and impact all of these other really crucial hormones and their processes in the body. And so when we have too much stress, for instance, in our lives. And, you know, this can look like a lot of different things, right? This can be an acute situation, like a car accident. It can be an ongoing problem, like a job that you're not happy in or with a boss that you're not happy in or a relationship that's not working well. It could be multiple things. It could be stress in the form of over-exercising and possibly

even under-eating because when we don't have enough calories, your body views that as a stressor. So there are multiple ways this shows up. But ultimately, if we're producing too many of the stress hormones, too many for our body in the moment, what then happens is there's this trickle-down effect, right? So like, for instance, when we have too much cortisol, it can actually inhibit the conversation between your brain and your ovaries. And how it does that is, first of all, part of its job is to slow down GNRH production, which is gone at atopin. releasing hormone. That's what your brain basically, or your hypothalamus sends to your pituitary. And then your pituitary slows down production of FSH and LH. And those are the two hormones that are

sent to your ovaries to get the ovulatory process going. So almost every step of the way, your stress hormones are sending the signal to your ovaries that this is not a good time to ovulate. And so we often wonder, you know, why it is that we didn't ovulate this month or, you know, ovulation came late or we skipped a period or we're skipping multiple periods and we don't really know why. And it's because we're just not familiar with these checks and balances that are really built in to help you and to serve you into your body because it's based, you know, based on hundreds of thousands of years of evolution. And yet in the modern world, it just doesn't really feel like it serves us. So there are in multiple ways that hormones will

impact us. And so it's really important for us to understand like the root root cause of why our estrogen or progesterone aren't at the levels that we feel they should be. Yeah, I went through something a couple years ago where I was basically unable to function. I was so fatigued. I was nauseous. I was not getting my period. I was having all these symptoms and I had been diagnosed with PCOS and so I attributed everything to that. And when I went to various doctors, They kept saying, like, just go on the pill, go on the pill. And I've had really bad experiences on the pill. So what I ended up doing was going to a functional practitioner. And he was like, yeah, you know, there's something going on with your hormones. But like there's something going on with your gut. And that's probably what's causing this. You were talking about the different forms of stress and something that I talk about a lot on here is like the stress of having a gut and dysbiosis on your body. You know, that's a 24-7 stress. And so that can absolutely, you know, your cortisol is up all the time and then also like perceived

stress, you know, that we all experience and work stress and all of that, that's enough to to make those reproductive hormones stop, right? Totally. It really is. And that's such a good point. I love that you brought that up because, yeah, it's considered a physical stressor. And when you have like an infection of some kind, your body's fighting off a virus or you've got gut dysbiosis or something. going on with your gut. And it's such a good point. You know, I talk about this idea of your menstrual cycle being the canary in the coal mine. And really what that means is that long before you even notice what's going on for the most part, like you might not feel great, but you know, these things

tend to be normalized in our society, right? Like, oh, you need a gallon of coffee in the morning to get up and get going. That's totally okay. No big deal. But like your body doesn't think it's okay, clearly. what we have normalized in our society is not normalized by your body. But we might just not realize anything's wrong because it seems normal. But the problem is, is that your menstrual cycle is usually going to pick up on that pretty quickly. So it will indicate long before you actually notice other problems, what's going on. And that, unfortunately, is an issue too, right? Because menstrual cycle problems have been completely normalized as well. Like you said, you know, you were going to the doctor and they were just like, go on the pill. And so, you know, we continue to bandaid these

quote unquote bullet wounds and they end up, you know, just festering below the surface and becoming bigger, bigger problems. Yeah, I love that you call it the canary because I've spoken to a lot of practitioners who's who I ask like what the pillars of good health are or like what the signs of good health are. And they usually say like sleep, digestion and menstrual periods for women. And those are kind of like the warning signs. Like those things can be imbalanced or whatever before you even know that anything is going on. So let's talk about a period and what like what does a healthy period look like? I love this question because again, right, we have never really been taught anything about periods for the most part, or at least I certainly didn't. I went to a Catholic high school. So I learned

basically nothing and had to really teach myself. I was definitely the girl who I remember distinctly at 14, 15, 16, you know, every month when I was ovulating or whenever I was ovulating, I'd have that stretchy, fertile, quality cervical fluid. And I would be looking in the toilet thinking, oh my God, I have an infection, like what is wrong with me? And, you know, and then I would make up dates for my period when I would go to the doctor because I had absolutely no idea when my last period was and really no interest in it whatsoever. Like I feel like I landed on this role and doing this work completely accidentally. It kind of cracks me up. But so for anyone who feels the way I did back in the day, like I totally get you. And, you know, there's always great things to learn.

And I think one of the biggest questions is the difference between a period and an actual menstrual cycle. a lot of women don't really even realize this, but for everyone who doesn't know, your period is the days that you actually bleed and your menstrual cycle is the length of your entire menstrual cycle, including all the phases, the bleeding through the ovulatory phase, through the ludial phase, and then bleeding again. So from first day of bleeding until the day before your next period is your entire menstrual cycle. And, you know, when we're talking about, you know, what a normal period looks like or an entire menstrual cycle, looks like, I think the first thing is to start with the length of the menstrual cycle. And what I like

to see is a length somewhere between 25 and 35 days. I find that lower than 25 days or 24 days and less tends to indicate short ludial phases and a short ludial phase can be a problem when trying to get pregnant or just in terms of the health of your corpus luteum, which is the little gland that forms on your ovary after the follicle is released. And So when I'm talking about that short ludial phase, you know, we really want to see it longer than 10 days. So that's why I find that a shorter entire menstrual cycle just isn't conducive to healthy periods. That's, again, my experience with clients. And I know that there are some people who have a 24-day cycle and they're just fine.

So don't freak out if you do. But I will just say that, you know, when we're talking about, you know, that longer than 35 days, what I tend to see again is situations where ovulation just isn't happening. consistently. Someone may have a condition like polycystic ovary syndrome where ovulation tends to be very delayed, or there may be a thyroid imbalance happening. Or, you know, like we were just talking, there could be some sort of internal stressor that we don't even know about going on. I mean, it's amazing how often celiac disease goes undiagnosed. And in fact, it was the cause of a person's amenorrhea or very irregular cycles, irregular ovulation. So that's, you know, something to seriously

consider if you have cycles that are longer than 35 days. And I think, too, the other thing is, is that, you know, the science shows that the average length of a cycle is about 29 days long, which is perfectly in line with the moon cycles. It's always nice. And so, you know, really, you want to be looking for something that is between that 25 to 35 day window, but not too much fluctuation, right? So you're not seeing like a one month you have 25 days long, and the next month it's 35 days, and then the next month you've gone back to like 26 days. I feel like that's a lot of fluctuation and usually indicates to me that, like we were just saying, your body might not feel safe and secure enough to ovulate on a consistent basis,

or there might be something else happening like a nutrient deficiency or an internal stressor of some kind. So that's certainly something to think about. And then in terms of what comes next is how long is your period? And I, you know, it's funny, I'm talking about ovulation right now on Instagram and I'm getting a lot of questions about this like women freaking out about a two day period and a seven day period and really what I like to see is somewhere between three and seven days. I find that that usually indicates that things are going okay with our hormones. But I do find that there are some women who've had two day periods forever and ever and they don't have any other symptoms and they're fine.

So I think that that's really what's most important for us to pay attention to is that if you have a two-day period and you feel great, then rock on with your bad self, like with your two-day period, seriously. But like, if you have a two-day period and you are not sure whether you're ovulating or, you know, you have really low moods or low sex drive or low energy or sex is painful, you know, those are all signs of low sex hormones in general, right? Low estrogen, low testosterone. And that's where you need to start to pay attention. So if you do, you do you. You know, have some of what I'm describing and you're experiencing other symptoms, then it's important to pay attention to that and start to dig a little bit deeper. On the flip side, if you have a period

that's eight days or longer, usually you'll find that there's a lot of spotting involved. You know, you're having to change pads or tampons or period underwear a lot more than, you know, every couple of hours. Or you have clots or you leak through your clothing at night or, you know, you need a pad and a tampon kind of thing, then, you know, that's a sign of heavier than average flow. And it's difficult I find to be able to really measure it because, you know, menstrual blood has a lot of other things in it too. There's lots of fluids and there's lots of tissues and there's other tissue. But at the end of the day, if it's more than seven days long, then it's also something to be paying attention to. And I think, you know, when it comes to, you know, like what your period should actually

look like. I get this question a lot too, like what color should it be and, you know, what should it feel like, all that stuff. And so I always say, you know, you really want it to look like cranberry type red. I mean, there's multiple reds. So really any shade of red is okay. I like to see the brighter, fresher red color. But again, like if it's a little bit darker, it's not a big deal. And I like it to flow, right? So maple syrup type consistency is what we're going for. I feel like I could have a lot of food references here, but, you know, like maple syrup type consistency. And, you know, if it's brown or very dark, that's usually a sign of just slower moving blood at the beginning or the end of your cycle. And it's just exposed to more oxygen, right?

So it's just oxidized blood. And I think what we need to understand here is that this doesn't necessarily mean that you've got some health crisis going on down there by any means. But it could indicate that your uterus is maybe in a flex. or a tipped position so that it slows down menstrual blood flow. And that's pretty common, especially because we all habitually wear high heels. You know, a lot of us might sit improperly on our sacrum bone. You know, there are multiple ways that that can happen. And I always recommend if you do see very dark blood or clots all the time,

then you should consider working with our vigo practitioner or someone who does visceral manipulation, something like that. or a pelvic PT, so you can kind of figure out what structural issues might be happening there. So that's just a thought. And then, yeah, like on the flip side, if you see really light colored blood or watery colored blood, like very light pink or watery, you know, that can also be a sign that your estrogen in particular is not building up your uterine lining to have a significant amount of blood loss. So again, that's, you know, something to consider too.

So those are like those are my main things when it comes to what you're looking for. with a period. So what about like PMS and what's normal leading up to a period? Is it normal to be emotional or tired or bloated, acne, all of those things? Yeah, I know, right? I, you know, that's a good one. And I know, it really depends. I think that, you know, one of the biggest questions I get is about spotting before your period. And I feel like I used to be the spotting queen. I think there was one point where I think I spotted for 10 days straight before my period and that went on for a few months and it's the most exhausting, frustrating thing in the whole world. So anyone who is experiencing that my heart goes out to you, I really feel you. And it's actually possible to fix it.

And so I think that the first thing is to figure out how long should spotting happen for and if it does happen, you know, what could be the cause. And so I find that if you have one or two days of spotting before your actual period starts, like before you have a flow, that's totally okay, but anything more than that, I find three days or more tends to be a problem. And then in addition to that, you know, what would cause it. And so what I found more than anything is that it's either low progesterone on a whole after you've ovulated, after that egg has been released, like I was saying, that corpus luteum on your ovary, which is amazing, by the way, your body creates a temporary endocrine gland that is fully vascularized that produces progesterone,

for the second half of your cycle and would actually support a fetus if you were to get pregnant until the placenta took over the support of the fetus. And our bodies do that every single month. I mean, that's incredible. That's amazing. I know, right? Can we just high-five our bodies real quick? Because, you know, we don't, we again, right, we just always kind of harp on all the things that are wrong or not working with them. And we forget these incredible miracles that happen all the time. And so with that said, you know, what could be happening is that your corpus luteum, it's basically not as healthy as we need it to be in order to produce the amount of progesterone that's required to hold our uterine lining in place so that, you know, it stays there throughout

until you get your next period. Or there's just not enough progesterone and it drops prematurely. And so that's why you might see spotting it like three, four, or five days before your period. If you don't have enough progesterone, you might just see it throughout your ludial phase. So I think that's an important factor for all of us to be paying attention to when it comes to progesterone and the health of our ovarian follicle. And then PMS, I mean, if there was ever a condition that needed a cultural rebrand, I would say this is it. You know, I just to feel like there are, I think there are a few things.

You know, I love what Dr. Christiane Northrop says about. the premenstrual time. She talks about this idea that the veil is lifted, so to speak, and that we're suddenly more aware of things that we might not have been so aware of when estrogen was making us all happy and go lucky and the blinders were on. And I find that that really is the truth for many of us. Because you're like, yeah, I think I can relate to that. I've just never thought about it that way. Yeah, you know, I really think it's interesting because it is this time of our cycle where, you know, we are more reflective. We are going inward. We're preparing for this huge event that is menstruation because it really is a big deal, right? I mean, when you all think about this, think about the fact that when progesterone drops, progesterone is anti-inflammatory, by the way. So when progesterone drops, it creates this inflammatory response. And which makes sense because then prostaglandins are released and they trigger. the contraction of your uterus, and your uterus then expels what's in it. So there's this whole

inflammatory cascade that's happening. And it's no wonder we feel pain and we feel tired and we feel like we have no energy and we just want to retreat during this time. So when you go back 10 days, your body is in preparation mode for menstruation or pregnancy, potentially, one or the other, but either way, these are two huge events. And so if we could just, honor the fact that our body is basically just trying to prep us for a big event. And usually when we're trying to prep for a big event, what do we need? We need some space, some solitude, some quiet, just some time to think. And many of us don't get that, right? We are not giving ourselves that in the second half of our cycles in the lead up to our periods. We are go, go, going like we do.

And we're not taking the time that we need to really just take a breather and relax and really feel into what our bodies need. So this is why I'm like, pro-friend, do not go and do a CrossFit class, you know, two days before your period. Like, that is the last thing your body is trying to do right now. And, you know, don't plan your best friend's 30th birthday party the week before your period either. At least try not to. And, you know, so when what we do, though, we take on so many stressors. And so if we can start to remove things from our lives, we will find that those PMS symptoms do not feel as severe or even as significant as they might have, you know, the month before when we were just go, go, going like runaway trains. So those are, you know, some thoughts on PMS symptoms. And I think,

too, from a hormonal perspective, when progesterone is not where it's supposed to be, because again, progesterone is that soothing, calming hormone. You know, I joke that it's a keep calm and carry-on hormone. And it really is. But what happens is if it's low, then our tolerance for all the BS is even lower. So we end up in a situation with all of these things coming at us and we don't have the hormonal resilience to deal with them. I feel like it's so hard for us as women to give ourselves that grace and slow down and I don't know, give our bodies the time and the peace, I guess, like you're saying, that it needs to prepare for this. And I wonder why that is that we have this like guilt and we feel like we just have to push through and, you know, like, you know, like,

He said, keep doing that CrossFit and just work through it and go, go, go. And it's like, I don't know why we have this negative kind of connotation with slowing down. Our bodies are going through so much. They are. I know. Well, if I may bring up the patriarchy again, you know, I think about, again, about this very masculine way of going about things. And we live in a culture where taking a break is seeming. as weakness, slowing down as seen as weakness. That is not a very feminine model of doing things.

And so if we tuned into that, you know, when we tune into our bodies and into a feminine way of living our lives or running our businesses or taking care of tasks, there's a very cyclical undertone. And it's very much how our bodies work, right? So there's a time for really pushing and going for it. And then there's a time for slowing down and rejuvenating and basically regaining your strength, right? And like pooling your resources. So I would say that we just tend to live by societies or cultures way of doing things traditionally. And that is a very male dominated way of doing things. Like if you think of the male body, you know, they basically get up in the morning. their testosterone is high, their cortisol rises as they wake up. And then, you know, slowly but surely,

their cortisol tapers off. And then their testosterone does too. And by the end of the day, they're like, okay, I'm done now. And they'll sit in the couch and watch TV and go to bed or whatever. You know, like I'm totally generalizing. But it's true. For the most part, that's guys, that's a guy's energy cycle. Women, as you know, were a little bit more complicated than that. It was kind of more nuanced. I mean, I love men, but I would just, just for a month, I would just love to see how they would deal with all this. wouldn't it be the most amazing thing ever? I don't know if you've ever seen that funny video. It's been circulated a few times of these guys wearing these,

I don't know, like they're contraction stimulators or simulators on their abdomens and they're laying on a bed and they're hysterical. I think they're on the verge of tears. They can't bear it. And it's really just like menstrual cramps level. It's not like actual contractions and they are completely dying. And it is so, I mean, it's not funny to watch what it is. Because I'm just like, you guys don't have any idea what this is like.

They really don't. No, they don't. I'm not good at hiding my displeasure whenever I'm experiencing. I mean, I don't have this too much anymore, but like really bad bloating or just like that feeling of fatigue and cramps and all of that. And so I'll complain about it to my husband. And he just, I mean, it's just, he just has no idea. And why would they? There's nothing that they have really to compare it to. No, they really don't. It's true. I think that that's the problem, though, is that we don't really talk about this stuff from when kids are younger. And so they don't really have any experience with it at all. They just, you know, sort of hear you complaining about it or whatever. And as a result, they're very disconnected from that experience. And I imagine it's very similar for someone who's just had a baby as well, like the amount of feeling and pain and experiences that come with that. It's just like a whole flood that I think a man is a little

disconnected from it. Right. Yeah. Okay, so let's kind of transition into like fixing our periods, but let's maybe start with like how to support our bodies around the period since we're kind of talking about that already, but maybe with like diet and lifestyle things, how can we really kind of support the process? Yeah, I really love that. I think. that the first thing we really need to all do. And I'd love to hear from you, too, if this is something you do, I imagine you do, but tracking your cycle, right? A lot of us are in the dark about our menstrual cycles. And that, I think, creates a significant amount of the frustration and pain and anxiety that women live with as it relates to our cycles. Yes. So that would be my first thing I

would be saying to everyone is in order to harness the power of your cycle and to take care of yourself as best as you can, especially in those times of lower energy and pain or whatever it is you might experience during your actual period, you really have to know, first of all, when it's coming. And secondly, you know, if you're ovulating and what is going on with your other hormones in different phases of your cycle in order to be able to best take care of yourself. So, that's like my first thing. I always ask women to start tracking their cycle and their symptoms. And so when I say that, you know, in a basic level, really you're going to start with your period. So how much are you bleeding? How many days are you bleeding? What is your period blood look like? What are the symptoms that you experience

right before leading up to your period and then during your period? And then on a more advanced level, start taking your basal body temperature. So that's your temperature first thing upon a wake And if you're doing that, you'll notice what happens is you take that every single morning right as you wake up. And after you ovulate, your temperature will go up, right? So progesterone is a heat-inducing hormones. It's going to raise your basal temperature. And so when you start to pay attention to that and your cervical fluid patterns, because your cervix is highly hormone dependent, so when estrogen is rising, it's going to change your cervical fluid significantly, meaning that it's going to become wetter, more like egg white, stretchy, watery. And then as progesterone takes over after

ovulation, your cervical food will typically dry up or become sticky or tacky. And, you know, when you start to observe these symptoms that your body is sharing with you, really, then you'll start to be able to really know where you are in your cycle. And, you know, it's a level of understanding of your own unique menstrual cycle patterns that no one can take away from you. And once you have that, you can prepare in your life for, you know, this phase, right? So phase one of your of your menstrual cycle is that bleeding phase, right? So it's your period. I correlate that to the wintertime and the new moon. And really what that means is, you know, there's a sort of a rest and relaxation that we all have to make an attempt to build in to our lives.

whether there's some quiet time that you get, maybe if you have kids, like maybe your partner can take your kids for a couple of hours so that you can just be in a calm space, in a calm head space, you can meditate, you can go to sleep a little bit earlier, maybe wake up just a little bit later. Whatever it is that fits into your lifestyle, I'm a huge proponent of trying to bring that into that phase of your cycle right before you get your period and then during your period.

And I find that when we're able to do that, when we're able to just slow down in this way, you know, I kind of joke that your period is, you know, forcing you to basically relax. Then what happens is, you know, we are then now going to have more energy for those active phases when we're ovulating and right after ovulation. And so clearing our calendar of big events, like what's going on in your life? Like what is it that you need to maybe not do? Maybe you make a date with yourself instead of with somebody else. And, you know, I think that when you're doing something that is more inward, whether it's

journaling or writing or just focusing on, you know, taking a class or doing something that's like very calming to you, you're going to find that, you know, a lot of those symptoms that we've talked about are greatly diminished. And so with someone who experiences a lot of pain during their cycle, I think this is hugely beneficial, right? Because your body is, is responding to, you know, whether it's a hormonal imbalance, whether it's inflammation in your body or, you know, some stress, some kind of external stressor, when you're experiencing all of these things and your body is, you know, you're feeling pain during this time. It's just going to be heightened. And so I always think about, you know, what can we do that's anti-inflammatory

during this time of our cycle as well, right? Like maybe we're doing more gentle exercise. We're including warming foods in our diet, right? So bone broths or one-pot meals, chilies, soups, those kinds of things that are, you know, bringing warming spices in as well, like turmeric and cinnamon and whatnot, to really help support our body as it's going through this time. So anything really, I think, that supportive or feel supportive to you,

I think is going to be super beneficial during that time of our cycle. I want to talk to you about blood sugar. Yeah. Inulin imbalance while we're talking about diet and how to support our bodies. How does blood sugar and insulin, and now we're kind of going off into another subject, but how does that play a role in hormonal balance and period problems? Right before our period, we have maybe chocolate cravings, that kind of stuff. Oh, yeah. That we do. You know, it's funny. Yeah, it's either like wine or sugar. I wish the wine and the brownies would help, but they typically don't. Unfortunately, You know, I think they help in the moment, but then really we have so many problems afterwards. And so when I think about or when we think about blood sugar, you know, it's a little confusing because you kind of think, well, how does blood sugar or sugar that I've eaten affect my hormones and my menstrual cycle? And so for many of us, what we don't realize is that sugar that we consume is basically moved into ourselves by insulin, that top tier hormone. I meant to

in the beginning of this interview and the fact that it is a really powerful hormone is unbeknownst to many of us. And so this insulin is going to move that sugar into your cells and then your cells are going to utilize it for energy and whatnot. So the issue here is then when we eat too much of it, right? What does your body do with it? Right. So eventually over time, and this takes a long time, there's no doubt about that. But eventually what happens is our cells reach their capacity, right? They can no longer take on any. more of this sugar, also known as glucose. And what then happens is your cells become resistant, right? They become resistant to the effects of insulin. So it's almost like insulin is just

knocking on the door of the cell and it's not letting it in, right? So it's just not opening it. So the glucose is just left at the door. And at the door means outside in your bloodstream. And so you've got these high levels of glucose. You now have these high levels of insulin because your pancreas is continuing to produce more and more insulin in order to get that glucose out of your blood because high levels of glucose are not good for you. And what then happens is we eventually develop what's known as insulin resistance. So high blood sugar, high insulin, these horrible feelings of brain fog that never goes away. You know, we put on weight and we don't know why and we can't seem to lose it. We have crazy cravings. We're going to have even more

cravings and what we've had before. And we just don't feel well. Like we fall asleep during the day and then we can't sleep at night. It's not pretty. And this can really happen to anyone, by the way. It doesn't mean that you are overweight necessarily. It can pretty much happen to a lot of us. And so with regard to your menstrual cycle, there are actually insulin receptors on our ovaries. And a lot of people are like, wait, what? And there's multiple reasons for that. But the problem hair with your insulin is that it impacts the hormones that impact your ovaries and it also impacts the hormones that your ovaries make. And so excess insulin can actually raise LH, which is that lutinizing hormone. And LH is the hormone that spikes right before you ovulate.

So it causes the ovaries to produce more of the androgens like testosterone in particular and possibly less of the estradiol and the estrone. So these are, your estrogens that they are supposed to make. And so this is going to completely disrupt that entire feedback loop going from your brain to your ovaries and back to your brain. And this could actually lead to sporadic ovulation or delayed ovulation or you might not ovulate at all. And of course, this throws off your entire menstrual cycle. So you might skip a period or you might not ovulate and then you might just bleed for three weeks at a time. It just depends. We all respond differently to a lack of ovulation. Some of us might not bleed. Some of us might

bleed. And I think the other issue with this too is that, you know, if you are prone genetically to a condition like polycystic ovary syndrome, these symptoms might really be a problem for you. Like if your blood sugar is elevated, you might end up in a situation where you do develop polycystic ovary syndrome. And for anyone who doesn't know, there are multiple symptoms that come with this condition. It's an inflammatory condition in many cases. And it's also very much tied in many cases to blood sugar dysregulation. So, you know, someone might start to develop these erratic periods. They might notice acne, weight gain, hair loss on their head, you know, hair growth on other parts of their body. And again, that's very much signified by these elevated androgens. So PCOS is certainly

a disease that's linked to elevated androgens. And so this is all tied back to insulin in so many cases. So that's why, you know, we really have to be cognizant of the fact that our blood sugar is one of the key critical components of our overall hormonal health. Okay. So you have a book coming out called Fix Your Period, Six Weeks to Banish Bloading, Conquer Cramps, manage moodiness, and ignite lasting hormone balance. And this is a step-by-step natural protocol, right, to ignite lasting hormone balance and improve everything from PMS to period pain, heavy periods, to irregular cycles and missing periods. Yes, quite a mouthful.

Without giving away the whole book, if somebody is, experiencing irregular periods or some of these symptoms, they think something is off. Obviously, go out and get your book, but what are some other steps that they can take to either pinpoint what the problem is or help support a healthier period? Yeah, you know, I think that one of the issues that we tend to run into is this idea that, you know, we can sort of spot treat our hormonal imbalances, right? So like I hear a lot of the time from women that they have low progesterone and so what can they do or they have high estrogen or they have high androgens and what do they do about that? And I think that we have to really start to pay attention to what the causes might be, right? Because

depending on the cause, you're going to treat according to what that is. And, you know, from my perspective in the book and just generally in my work, you know, I've always been a big proponent of us figuring out what's wrong, like what's causing this in the first place? Because you can treat the symptoms and they'll potentially go away. But if you don't have an idea of what's actually causing the symptoms, then you're going to be feeling around in the dart for a long time and you might be treating something with a solution that doesn't really work for you because that's not going to fix the underlying problem. And so that's why, you know, when it comes to actually addressing these kinds of period problems,

it's important to sort of go through the steps. And that's why I laid this out as a six-week program in the book, and it's why I've laid it out in my Fixier Period program in the work that I do with women. And so the first part of all of this is to think about how you're feeding your hormones. And for so many of us, we have control over that. We may not have a whole lot of control over the stress in our lives, although I would venture to say that that is one of the bigger problems for us.

but I would say that with food, it's so easy. And one of the easiest things I ask my clients to do, and I suggest in the book, is to think about how you make your plate, right? Like, what does your plate look like on a daily basis? Like, what does it look like for each meal? You know, for me, as a simple ratio, I say, you know, make sure that half your plate is carbohydrates in the form of vegetables, particularly cruciferous vegetables,

if you experience a lot of estrogen dominant symptoms. And then another quarter of your plate is protein and the other quarter is fat. And you can play around with the ratio, of course, but the idea is to really start to think of the food that you're eating, particularly leafy green vegetables and cruciferous veggies as the main dish and the meat as the side dish, because I think we tend to eat more meat than maybe we might need to in many cases. And so like Mark Hyman calls it a condomite. Oh, does he really? Oh, I love that. A condiment, but a condomate.

That's so good. Exactly, right? I love that. I think that that makes sense for a lot of us. And, you know, one of the other things, too, is part of this slowing down and really becoming aware and attuned to what you need is to start chewing your food. Oh, my gosh.

I'll never forget. My dad was militant about chewing your food. I mean, he would tell us, like, make sure to chew your food 30 times. times and we just completely roll our eyes at him. But it was kind of drilled into me. So that's what I always did. And it's funny how many people say to me, oh, God, Nicole, you chew your food so slowly. But we are putting so much stress. It really helps. And we put so much stress on the rest of our digestive function. And we all need to know that our digestive function really impacts our hormones. So if we don't do it in the very beginning, taking care of chewing our food properly,

then your whole digestive system is strained afterwards. And so you basically chew your food, what, like seven times? And then you swallow. And this now sets off a whole, I feel like a whole catastrophe in your digestive system. And so what I find is that when we start chewing our food more, we end up in a situation where we have less bloating and we have less gas. and our stomachs hurt less. And it's just one of these easy solutions that we could do.

So if there was two things mindfully eating and arranging your plate and mindfully chewing your food, I mean, I have seen miracles happen. I had this woman tell me once that her period regulated from just chewing her food properly. She couldn't believe. That's all she introduced when she started in my program. So you just never know, right?

It could be a lot simpler than we've been led to believe, because that's another thing too, right? We feel like it's complicated, but it doesn't necessarily have to be. Another thing maybe is like eating in peace. I think so many of us eat while we're checking our emails or eat while we're working or eat watching the news and politics or something. As you're shouting at the TV. Right.

Oh my gosh. I really wanted to include that in the book. It's in my program. It's funny because there's only so much you can include. But I completely agree with that. like this idea of not standing when you're eating, I'm notorious. I feel like I've been doing that since I was a teenager and it's something that I've had to work super hard on.

But yeah, don't stand up when you eat, people. Yeah, or like in L.A. eating in your car. I'm the queen of eating in my car. Well, I mean, like sometimes it just has to be that way. And I get it. Like I get that life is that way. But I think we can definitely, first of all, we're worth it. I think that our bodies are worth it.

Our menstrual cycles are worth it. And, you know, our peace of mind is, too, to make a concerted effort to maybe not do that all the time. Yeah. I love it. Wow. We could definitely make this into a two-parter, three-parter, but time is of the essence. So why don't you tell everybody where they can find you, how they can work with you, what you have coming up about your book, everything. Yeah, I'd love to. So you can find me at Nicole Jardim.com. I have a blog. where I release a new blog post almost every week. I also have a podcast as well called A Period Party, and that's got a bunch of information there as well.

You can find everything you want to know about the book at fix your period.com. I have a ton of bonuses. I have a whole period toolkit for the taking. And you can also find me on Instagram as well. It's just Instagram forward slash Nicole M like Madeline, Jardim. And I'm always on there jamming about something related to our periods. You have such an amazing Instagram. It's so informative. Everybody should go follow. I'm sure a lot of people that are listening to this already follow you. Thank you so much. What you're saying that. And when is your book coming out? It's out on April 28th in the U.S. and in the UK and Canada. Amazing. Yes. Thank you.

So, so much for coming on. I might have to pick your brain again. I would love that. Thanks, Ariel. I'm really grateful to be on your show. Thanks. I hope you enjoyed that episode. If you liked it, and if you like the show in general, please take a second to rate, review, and subscribe. It goes a long way, and it's actually the best way to support the show. Also, if you want to see more about each episode, you can head over to The Blonde Files podcast on Instagram.

I'm always posting about each episode there or over on my personal page at Ariel Lurie. Thank you.