Speaker 1 0:00
I'm excited about today because this is kind of your zone of expertise, which is really all around hormones. And today we're gonna zone in to birth control and particular birth control pill, all the effects that it can have on our bodies. And yeah, I'm excited to ask you some questions, because I know that you have seen a lot more patients and clients in this realm of hormone dysfunction, having symptoms, and some of them are on the pill. And I'm really curious to learn about how you kind of taper them down, why we need to get off of them, etc. So yeah, let's start like, first off, let's just talk about the birth control pill and go to the most common reasons you see women get on them outside of just preventing pregnancy, because I think that's where I know for my patients, I get the most frustrated with that the only reason they're on it is for some symptom. And in that sense, we're using the birth control pill as band aid, which we know is not are not what we do. And so yeah, tell me a little bit about who you commonly see you using it outside of the reasons for preventing pregnancy.
Speaker 2 1:06
I love this question. And I love this topic. I'm so excited that we're diving into it. It's one of the most questions and things and probably a really bad way of wording it, the things I get the most questions on when it comes to birth control. And for a very long time, I was all about the fluff and like there's a place for it. And you know, when it comes to birth control, not just the pill, like we're talking all hormonal contraceptives here as well. It's given women so much freedom. So you know, the ability to have that autonomy over our bodies and not want to fall pregnant, you know, think about way back in the 60s, which wasn't really that long ago. But that's when it first started to become more and more popular. It allowed women to go into the workforce, it allowed us to, like I say, had that autonomy on our bodies. So yes, there's a place for it. But like you say it's become this bandaid. And that is the biggest thing I've noticed women start to become more and more aware. And the beautiful thing is I've seen women start to become aware, younger and younger and younger. There's a lot of pushback now, from a lot of the teenagers that I work with, for me a lot of the you know, get girls in the early 20s and early 30s. They're like, actually, I'm realizing this isn't supporting my body. I'm realizing this pill has got a whole lot of nasty side effects that, you know, when I was back at 1314 years old, I only just got my period and I got put on it for my skin. I was 14 and I started taking the pill and I asked there in the doctor's office is like what are the side effects? Oh, there's nothing like maybe an increased risk of stroke. And when you're a 14 year old girl, you're like, I'm not going to have a stroke. You know, and there are younger girls that I know, actually who have had strokes since and I wonder if there's some connection. But that's one of the, you know, more extreme side effects. And so, to answer your question, there's a lot of research to support over 60% of women who get on hormonal contraceptives, particularly the pill are actually on it for reasons outside of contraception,
Speaker 1 3:03
which is wild. And I do like that you open it up with that, because it's not to demonize birth control. I think it's you're right, it gives us women, you know, freedom, it gives couples freedom. But you're right, I mean, to put a 14 year old on for skin, let's dive into some of those side effects. Because you what people are going to see and what's going to be expressed to them in an office visit is probably going to be the what the white label says or what the what the white paper says on it as far as stroke, cardiovascular risk, but not the underground things that we know what's going on under the surface,
Speaker 2 3:40
I can let you remember sitting in my bedroom, pulling the packet out and reading through step by step by step. I mean, like I don't know what encouraged me to do that. And I was like, Okay, this is fine for me to take because I you know, look after my body, I'm 14 my risks are really low for the cardiovascular stuff. But what I wasn't informed of was the increased risk of anxiety, the increased risk of depression, the fact that it would probably load up my liver and actually cause more skin problems long term, the fact that it can cause and drive leaky gut, which then leads to food intolerances. The fact that we've got weight gain, you've got insomnia that can happen your mood swings that can actually be a byproduct of being on the pill which is ironic because PMS is one of the reasons you might get put on the pill in the first place, right? migraines and headaches again, things that people are told gone the pill for are actually driven by having these synthetic hormones thrown about you can end up having painful six you can end up with vaginal dryness. Your libido is one of the biggest complaints I get from women of all ages when they've been on especially something like the pill or other forms of hormonal contraception. You've got thyroid imbalances, you've got nutrient depletion. So you know this is another thing I feel like with all Medicare patients but particularly with the pill, and we can dive into this in a little bit. There are key nutrients that your body needs to utilize the medication but doctors don't turn around and go to you, Hey, make sure you're taking extra zinc, extra B vitamins, extra magnesium, because we're depleting you by putting this pill in, it actually can shrink, like, I'm going on a tangent, like about a tangent here, but I like a massive list of all these things, it can shrink your clitoris, like, like, and your ovaries besides of your ovaries. So you think about all these fertility issues, we're now seeing an out and like, and particularly in my generation, I've got to start to ask those questions like Is it because we've been suppressing our system for so long, like, I'm just getting started on the symptoms, we're looking at skin issues, hair loss, you've got an intensified as the risk of blood clotting it really the list does not stop. And there was an American journal that published a study with over a million woman like that's a lot of women on birth control. And that showed that women who were on the pill were far more likely to be as prescribed an antidepressant
Speaker 1 6:15
that does not surprise me because the patients of mine that have been on the pill and I've looked at micronutrients, B vitamin status across the board, you'll see really depleted B six, really depleted B 12. And B six is such you know, it's a, it's a precursor to some of the neurotransmitters and so it makes sense to me, you're low and B six, you're depleting that. And then now you've got some anxiety and increased depression. And I love that you pointed out that it's, I mean, it's ultimately I think people get, they assume that they're having some kind of a cycle because they have bleeding because they have the, you know, if you're on a pill, and you take that week long of the sugar pills, you're bleeding, but it's not a real bleed. Because they're cutting, they're completely shutting down the brain to ovary conversation. There is no communication anymore. It's completely hijacked. And so it I don't even know why we're, it's just to make us women think we're having a period. But you're not it's not really a cycle. Yeah,
Speaker 2 7:10
yeah. And I can talk to that, because it's quite interesting. Again, the pill was designed by men. And they actually, in the research of doing it and putting the pill out to consumers, they found that they had to put those withdrawals that withdrawal bleed in the white sugar pills in because they like otherwise women are gonna start to question what they're doing to their bodies. And so the amount of women that I talked to who still and again, it took me a long time to wrap my head around it. So I can understand when you hear it once or twice you like, it kind of goes over your head, it is a withdrawal bleed, it is not a real period. Yeah, what that means you've taken the medication out, so your body bleeds, it is not a result of your hobo hormones doing what they're meant to be doing. Yeah,
Speaker 1 7:54
and I think that is just a beautiful segue into, can you speak to the power of the cycle, because we are meant to cycle we're meant to have the higher estrogen that drop in it, the higher progesterone, so many health benefits to it. And I want you to talk about this. But it's, you know, I like to think about our cycle and the years that you're menstruating as money in the bank, because we're living so much longer. And because estrogen has such a correlation with cardiovascular health and bone health, it's so important to be having that natural ebb and flow throughout your menstruating years. So that your 50s and beyond, you have kind of put into that health bank. And you're really like stealing that from yourself by not having that. So can you talk to some of the benefits of having a natural cycle
Speaker 2 8:40
100%. And there's a couple things here. First thing is I one of my ongoing Statements is your cycle is your superpower. And when I talk to that, I'm not just talking about cycles thinking and I feel like we could do a whole different episode on that. So I'm not going to go down that pathway. But just be aware, there is a thing called cycle thinking if you haven't heard of it. And you can use the four different phases that your body is in to really support where you're at with your energy with your productivity with your nutrition with how your body's training. So there's a lot we can do in that space. But your period, your cycle is your fifth vital sign. Like just let that sink in. I mean, there's the blood pressure, there's your heart rate, like I don't know the other ones off by heart. But there's five vital signs for a woman yet we're taught to shut off the fifth vital sign that tells us whether we're healthy or not the amount of woman that go, I don't care if I'm ovulating. I'd rather be able to skip my period and I don't need ovulation because I don't want to fall pregnant. Just speak to what you've said. It's not about whether or not you want to fall pregnant. Your body's goal every month is to fall pregnant. Yes, your goal may not be your goal may be never to have children. But if Every single ovulation you have from the moment you hit puberty, to the moment you enter a postmenopausal phase is like money in the bank like exactly what you said health almost like health points, if you think about it that way. It supports your bone density, it supports your mental clarity like estrogen is incredible for our brain health, not just our bone health, right? Like all of these hormones, if you you know, I think back to when I was on the pill. Back when anxiety wasn't what it is now, right? It's not this label that everyone puts on themselves saying they have anxiety. And there are obviously a lot of people that do struggle with anxiety as well. But I didn't realize what anxiety was. I had a full blown anxiety attack full tears and everything in the middle of Central Park in New York City. I was like, What is this what is happening to my body? And it wasn't till I got off the pill, looked back and realized that I wasn't obviously having enough progesterone, because it shuts off progesterone production, if you're not ovulating, there's no progesterone, what is progesterone, I'll keep calm and carry on hormone, the one that anti anxiety I was most so prone to anxiety, I remember dropping my drink bottle, like my boss bottle, and the lid smashed, and I like burst into tears. Like, I look back and like oh my gosh, I was acting like a full on crazy person. I was 21 years old, and just thought that how he was behaving was normal. You know, Mom and I have had conversations since and she's like, I love you, sweetie. But you weren't always the most pleasant to be around. And I think the amount of girls that were put on at such a young age as well, like it shaped a lot of who their identity was and how they think they behave. And then when they come off it, they're like, Whoa, I am not this person that has these insane mood swings. I'm not this person that overreact at the drop of a hat. I'm actually not someone who has anxiety. This is amazing.
Speaker 1 11:58
Yeah, I think there's so many things that we symptoms that we don't realize and don't kind of tie back to our birth control. And I think a lot of women can relate to mood disruption being on the pill. What, you know, we've talked a little bit about mood, but what about the digestion? You know, our gut detoxification, you mentioned a little bit about the liver. So share a little bit about what you know, and how the birth control pill in particular affects our complete digestion and ability to detoxify.
Speaker 2 12:30
Yeah, huge, a huge thing I focus on is you know that that connection that has been studied and really researched around the pill and the leaky gut. And how it for those of you who aren't aware of what leaky gut is, it's essentially when you have the tight junctions in your gut start to separate or open. And that allows food particles, pathogens, parasites, all sorts of things to float through and end up in your bloodstream, which causes another whole world of problems. And so quite often, we'll get women coming to me and they're like, I just want to fix my hormones. Like, that's great. But you have to start with your gut health. And if you've been on the pill for a long time, chances are your gut is not happy, you probably got some I mean, even day to day, take the pill or take any sort of hormonal contraceptive out of the picture. Most people in the Western world have a leaky gut, or have had leaky gut of some sort. And it's very hard to stay on top of not going back to that, right. So you add in the pill, which causes more damage to the gut lining, you then also loading up your detoxification pathways because just like any medication, and this was the point where I was like, I hadn't even connected the dots myself. The pill is a medication. And it's not just this contraceptive thing that you put your body on. And so the fact that it's medication means that it loads up the liver, the liver has to process everything, right, everything that enters the bloodstream, and that's where it takes those key nutrients, the zinc, the B vitamins, your magnesium to actually be utilized, and made sure that the pill does the job effectively. But then because it's got synthetic hormones, not natural hormones, not bioidentical hormones, synthetic hormones, that then starts to load up the liver. And when we're looking at things like the endocrine disrupting picture, or the hormone disrupting picture, with things like synthetic fragrances and all of that that can come in from candles or perfumes. And it's just another thing the pill is just another thing to add to the mix. Hormonal synthetic hormones are another thing to add to the mix that the poor liver is already overburdened by even the air we breathe, puts a lot of stress on the liver. So it's like why are we putting even more stress in when we don't need to?
Speaker 1 14:43
Yeah, women I think are particularly susceptible to just day to day toxins more so than men even when it comes to beauty products when it comes to cleaning products around the home. I mean, we really do slather a lot on our skin that does contribute to that as well. So yeah, I like that you say birth control is another medication and it's we got to do something with it, we have to excrete it. Do you see that you have the same physiological effects with, let's say, the ring, or IUD? Like what are other options for women who are like, okay, great. I've been on the pill for 15 years. Now what? I don't want to have a baby. So what are other options that you find that are less less, I guess have less side effects and less under under pinnings of disruption to the body?
Speaker 2 15:33
That's a great question. I'm a huge advocate for the copper IUD, and I'll touch on that in a second. But yeah, there's the ring. There's the injection, there's the rod that people get in their arms, there's the Mirena, or there's a couple of other names for it, but that's the most commonly termed one, that's the hormonal IUD. Some women do still ovulate on that. And it's more of a localized secretion of synthetic hormones. But I'm like, in my opinion, anyway, there's still synthetic hormones going into your body. So again, sometimes I'm sure we'll touch on this at some point, like, sometimes it may be the thing you need, because you've got insanely heavy periods, but then my practitioner brain kicks in and goes, But why, right? Like, the reason that you're getting all of these symptoms is because something deeper is going on, but we will touch on that in a little bit. And to answer your question, I always advocate for non hormonal forms of birth control as much as you can for some people, especially if you're with a long term partner. Like I'm gonna be frank, condoms suck. You don't want to have to put one of those people. I'm gonna stick to that. Yeah, yeah. And it's really not the most pleasurable like, as women, we have quite often suppressed that sexual side of ourselves, we've suppressed the part of us that really enjoys going having fun having sex, whether that is with a long term partner or not. Right. And so when you've got something that's already suppressing your libido, it can be like, Oh, well, it doesn't really matter. I'm not really overly sexual anyway. And that was, again, something I noticed as I came off the pill, I was like, wow, okay. I had been this really highly active, and then the pill really dropped my libido. And then it started to pick up when I fixed my hormones. And so because it's and that's, you know, this is where I'm going with that. Because of that reason, one condoms and not fun, in my opinion, but they're a great option for people if you're willing to use them or willing to use them consistently. The other option is your way of tracking your cycle. Forget it now. My goodness, it's gone from Yeah,
Speaker 1 17:33
well, you're tracking the cycle. I actually, to that point, I have, there's a device here in the US that I recommend to my patients, it's called neato device, we can actually put the link in the show notes. But I like that device, because it does track every month, when you get a pretty clear look at your FSH and your LH surge. And did you ovulate feeling like natural family planning? And if you're not in a consistent relationship, because you're just out and about and you have, yeah, if it's kind of unpredictable for you, when you're going to have sex that I would say maybe that's not the best option? So but yes, certainly, if when you're kind of in a more monogamous relationship where you can track that a bit easier.
Speaker 2 18:12
Yeah. So it's come back to me. So the fertility awareness method, for some reason basal body temperature was coming up. That's because that's how you one of the ways you track it. So yeah, but silletti Awareness method is another great portal, like you say, if you are someone who is in a long term relationship, you are super aware of your body, like even if you're coming off hormonal contraceptives, or the pill, I always recommend you have some other form of contraceptive method in place for at least three months, until you know your cycle is normal, then you can actually start tracking properly. And there are some incredible coaches out there that teach that I'm not one of them, because I haven't done it personally. And my personal preference is the copper IUD still, but I mean, it's like having a little piece of copper that's living in you all the time. It's not ideal. I mean, it's always about balancing out the the side effects, right? But for me, and it's what I what I personally use and have a lot of my friends and clients on it, because you don't have to think about it. It gets replaced every five to 10 years depending on which spike size you get. And it means you can still have sex at the best time of the month and not have to worry about getting pregnant because I'm the guy with the fertility awareness method. You are getting to enjoy your ovulation. This is too much for people I do apologize but six six is a really natural part of our human experience. I don't want him to have to shut that off. If you do choose to look into any witness method. Obviously you can use condoms and that during that time or whatever, but for myself, it's like I'd rather not have to worry. I
Speaker 1 19:42
also would always recommend anything that's not oral so like the pill by now for I definitely agree with the IUD even with the the ring that goes around the cervix although that's still a bit more hands on where's the IUD is placed? You don't have to worry about it for five years. But that's definitely keeping it more local. It's not something that's having to go through the liver. So you're kind of releasing that need for, you know, detox support, it's not going to affect the gut lining the gut microbiome near as much. So I agree, that is definitely something that I recommend my patients go to, can you speak to a little bit the difference between the hormone and the copper? So the copper, do you find that women need more zinc because copper and zinc kind of go hand in hand? And so do you have a protocol that you share with women who choose the copper IUD and supporting that balance? And this also might be an educational moment that if you're choosing and looking at them, what is that? What are the pros and cons of choosing a hormonal IUD like a marina, or a copper IUD, which contains no hormones? It's just disrupting the individual lining? And what kind of care do they need to take ie taking maybe a zinc supplement alongside
Speaker 2 20:49
that, yeah, so the Mirena we like we've spoken to a little bit, it's still going to have localized synthetic hormones that are circulating through the body. So you do have to be mindful that you're supporting your liver a little bit more, and you are supporting the gut as well, because it is still got those synthetic hormones, right, that are going to be loading those detoxification pathways, even though it is a little bit more localized, but you don't miss and you're still going to have to support your body with extra zinc can be vitamins, and that sort of thing as well, purely because you've got those synthetic hormones being pumped through the copper. On the other hand, the copper IUD, you do definitely need to add the extra zinc because the way that the copper ad works is it repels the zinc and the sperm. So therefore it can repel some zinc in your body. And considering we're generally because we don't have zinc in our soil in most countries, and nothing can so to get it into our foods was generally zinc deplete, like depleted already already in a deficiency, I will normally tell my clients to be like almost double, if not triple the amount of zinc that they actually need, like on a day to day basis for someone who may not have the copper ad. So one of the biggest complaints that I get from women like I don't want to go on a copper ad, because I've heard that your skin is going to flare up, I've heard that it's really painful, like your cramps get worse, or I've heard you get really heavy bleeding. And to talk to those points. Again, zinc is one of the key nutrients, you need to get clear skin. And so if you're zinc deficient already, because maybe you're transitioning off the pill and you haven't been having zinc the entire time you've been on that, and then they pop in something that's going to deplete your zinc and even more with the copper IUD, you're probably going to find you get more breakouts. So someone like myself, I actually take 50 milligrams, if not more of a zinc each day. So not 15, which is the daily recommendation, right? I don't really agree with but 50 so that I'm topping up myself for what I need. And then on top of that, because I had the copper IUD there. The other thing is like heavy periods, this is often due to an iron deficiency, or an estrogen dominance, it's not actually the copper IUD. And so for women, it's actually addressing the underlying need for maybe more iron or clearing out more estrogen, maybe their liver needs some extra support. When I've found when I hear a woman at the root of their hormones, that they don't actually have to worry at all about the heavy periods, I don't get heavy periods at all on the copper ad none of my clients do. Because they've healed at the root, they don't have the estrogen dominance. And the same thing goes for cramps, you know, like, if you've got something that sitting in your uterus, it's a little IUD, the uterus isn't going to feel like the cervix isn't gonna feel overly comfortable with a bit all the time. So you may be more prone to cramping. And that's where, you know, I recommend everyone has magnesium as an addition to their normal dietary intake. But we might have to double that, particularly in the lead up to your period just to mitigate those effects. So it's a really easy way without putting in synthetic hormones without putting in other nasties, you can just bump up your supplementation a little bit. And you're mitigating a lot of these side effects that I know a lot of women are concerned about when they do go on the Coppa ad. But
Speaker 1 23:57
I bet you there's not a lot of this education when someone's placing an ad. First of all, it's probably not promoted by your practitioner, there's definitely something different. And then they're probably not educating you. If you do choose the COPPA, they're probably not educating you on some of those things and how to really support yourself and not have some of the side effects that could perhaps come from the copper IUD via you know, zinc, like you said, magnesium to help cramping i two things. And I think let's start with how to taper off. So if someone's listening, saying, Oh, I've been on this pill forever, and I want to taper off. Is there a point in the cycle that it makes no sense to just stop taking the pill? Or is there more of an ideal place in let's say, your packet to stop? And should you get something placed like an IUD or your next form of birth control if it requires that before you get off the pill?
Speaker 2 24:45
Yeah, great questions. And I will say to your point, so many people get put off like so many people get diverted to another form of hormonal contraceptive. They want to come off the pill over the amount of clients I've said it If it feels aligned again, you always have the autonomy over your body. And if you know that, that's what feels good for you do that. So when they do, they're like, Yep, okay, I'm going to try the copper ad doctors will often derail them, or nurses will be like, Nope, we don't want you going and doing that. Because of all these other side effects with like I just explained, they're very easy to mitigate for the most part. But if someone is looking to transition off, I mean, I was on the pill for 10 years, I found out the side effects that same that very next day, because I've already taken my pill, that money I stopped, I just cold turkey stopped, I was like, I'm not putting this crap in my body. Ever again, I don't recommend doing that. It's an option, I normally recommend that people do a bit of gut healing and a bit of gut support first, so that your your guts already in like a probably a pretty poor state, even though you may not feel it significantly, like in terms of bloating or food intolerances, you'll be surprised how much healing you actually need to do, because you've been pumping it through your system for so long. So normally recommend we do some gut healing, then come off the pill, do some more gut healing, then we support the liver to make sure we're clearing out any leftover of those synthetic hormones. And then we transition you into like just a normal, natural, eating whole real foods consistently to a lifestyle that's really balanced, right. So that's what you do kind of on the back end to support detoxification pathways to support the clearing out of any sort of hormones that may be lingering to talk to the fact with when you stop, it really doesn't matter. Because if you're on something like the pill, you haven't been having a real cycle anyway. So you're not in a cycle to be like, Okay, I'm gonna wait till ovulated. And then I'm gonna come off, you haven't ovulated. When you're on the pill, you do not ovulate, it shuts off the connection between your brain and your ovaries. So you could and I'm not recommending you do this, but you could stop tomorrow. And it wouldn't matter in terms of how long it takes to reconnect. And one of the things that I didn't realize was, it takes a long time for that brain and ovary connection to be established in puberty. Right. And so if you're someone like myself, who went on at 14, after only having a year of periods, maybe even like nine actual periods, before we interjected with something for your skin, like for the pill to help with your skin, or whatever, which is a lot of the stories I ended up hearing, you haven't even given the body, the time for the brand new viewers to connect. It's why so many young girls get to age 16 1718. And they're told they have PCOS, or pick us because they've got a regular cycle that can take three to six years for the connection to develop. And so when you come off the pill, if you've only given yourself a year to develop that connection, and then you've gotten 510 15 years where you've interrupted that interrupted that connection, you can then take another three, four years on the other side of the pill to establish that. Yeah,
Speaker 1 28:00
it's interesting, you know, when people talk about PCOS, there's four different kinds and most of the time insulin resistance, but they're post pill PCOS. And that's because it does take some time to actually create that FSH, follicle stimulating hormone connection from the brain to the ovary again, so some women that I know can last three, six months even longer, depending on how long and how long it takes, how long they've been on the pill, and how long it takes their body and their brain to kind of recover and reestablish that. Oh, hey, we need to send a signal again. And that can sputter in some people and can be really frustrating. If you've been on the pill for let's say, 15 years, and you're ready to have a baby. And it's just not happening because now you've you've got some post pill PCOS where you're just not getting a mature ovulation. Like it's just that that connection is just not there.
Speaker 2 28:51
That's the heartbreaking thing. And that's where I get a lot of women coming to me going, I want to come off the pill because I want to have a baby. So and I'm like how soon? I honestly recommend if you're on the pill right now, or if you're on any hormonal contraceptive, give yourself at least a year. I know that sounds like a long time. But if you are thinking or contemplating having children, and there are there are some people who come off and they their hormones, great bang, beautiful, you have a baby within the month, make sure you've got that other form of hormonal contraception lined up if you're not wanting to have the baby, baby for a year.
Speaker 1 29:25
I was one of those within a month, it worked just fine. But that being said, I had only been on the pill for about a year. Yes. And so I think it has to do also how long you've kind of been suppressing that system right? So I hadn't been suppressing it that long. And so in my particular body and came back right away ovulation, but that's not always the case, especially like you said, people get on at 14. And they're like, Well, I don't want a baby yet. So why go off the pill, you know, until I'm 30 and I'm 35 and I want to have a baby and you've been on it for half of your life and that's I think that's the sad thing when people don't understand what it how it can impact fertility but also how it can be impacting their overall level of inflammation in their body because of the gut dysbiosis because of the detoxification issue that's been going on for half of their life. But let's, let's flip the script a little bit. And I want to talk to you about women who do have, let's say, insulin resistant PCOS, or they've got heavy bleeding because of endometriosis. Or they don't know why they just have really heavy periods and their GYN is like, get you on the pill? Is there a time and a place for the pill? And if the answer is no, how do you address someone who is coming in with just I've had a period for six weeks straight? What's going on, you know, talking to those women and saying, Wait, don't let your do and put you on a pill? Let's let's do some other work. You know, is there a place for that, in your opinion? And how do you manage your patients that come in like that?
Speaker 1 32:00
Coming to the Edina meiosis a lot of women get it get on the pill for the pain for the endometriosis for I shouldn't laugh, but it just I can't not laugh like the fact that they put people on the pill to regulate their cycle just baffles me because it just
Unknown Speaker 32:18
shutting it off cycle
Speaker 1 32:21
cycle you're shutting your area your whole cycle off. But yeah, anyway, with things like PCOS and things like endometriosis, it's actually getting to the root cause is resetting if you're insulin resistant PCOS let's balance your blood sugar's, let's get you into insulin sensitive again, let's get you having a regular cycle like polycystic ovarian syndrome is a syndrome as well. And I do want to talk to that a little bit because I've seen a lot of women reverse completely because they've done the deeper healing work for their gut. They've cleared out their detoxification pathways, and they optimize what they're eating at regular timing. They're not doing the crazy fasting, they're not doing the massive restrictive diets. They're not going for keto for like five years, right, they are listening to the body, he calls disappears. Yeah, Endo, I get that you can get the growth. And sometimes surgeries are needed to remove some of those growths. There's a lot of research of different ways you can get rid of the growth as well for dietary changes. But again, there is specific foods, there are specific protocols you can go on. And that's what I take my clients with endo through to mitigate the heavy bleeding. Ultimately, most people that endometriosis have super heavy bleeding, because the estrogen levels are really high. Right? So we can support estrogen, detoxification and the body, we're not going to be experiencing that. And if we manage the risks through dietary and lifestyle changes, those growth aren't going to come back. Yeah, there's the pain. Yeah,
Speaker 2 33:56
and I think that this is just, I think the goal in this conversation. And I know, we both feel this is that empowered health is really where it's at. And when you don't understand what's happening. And all you know is that your GYN says get you on the pill. And that's the only option you're given will no wonder I mean, you're tired of having this nonstop period, you're tired of feeling the way that you do with the pain or whatever symptom you're having. And so I'm hoping that this conversation at least opens the door to different thinking for yourself of what's available to me what's actually going on underneath my underneath, you know, it's not that we need to just shut this off, it's that we need to fix why it's kind of gone a bit haywire. And you know, you've really brought up some really three pivotal things. It's number one, metabolic health. So regulating blood sugars across the board can be really, really supportive. Healing, the gut is super important. And there's a bazillion protocols out there a bazillion different supplements out there. And maybe we can put some in the show notes of some options that can help people. And then finally, you know, supporting detoxification. And I think for the listener who's like, Where do I even start, if I don't know, a practitioner, I think some really easy ways to start is to supplement correctly. So what I'm hearing you saying and what I use also is maybe a bit complex, and magnesium and zinc, some ratio of those can be really supportive for, you know, for ovarian health. And then also when we talk about metabolism, and we talk about ovarian health, dairy, and sugar, and alcohol, those all tend to be really, and sometimes gluten for sure with the gut, kind of the heavy hitters, right with things that you do have control over maybe just eliminating those for, let's say, 30 days to see how you feel. And then slowly bringing some of those in piece by piece and see which one is kind of the one for your body that that's really kind of causing more of his inflammation symptoms. How do you feel about those kinds of recommendations like where what are the foundations that you would recommend for our listeners that are like, Great, now what, what do I do? Yeah,
Speaker 1 36:06
and I just, I just want to say because it's coming through like, this is not here to shame anyone or judge anyone either. Like if you feel like you need to stay on it. If you feel like that's your only option. If you for whatever reason, it's the right choice for you and your body. Please know like, I'm not coming at you. With the pill, no judgment, it is literally I'm coming at this from a place of love. And this is the information I wish someone had shared with me when I was 14 1516 when I went to the OB GYN and I was like, why am I still getting all these symptoms? Why is my weight not shifting from my thighs? Why is my mood so low? Could it be the pill? Could it be the pill? Could it be the pill? No, no, no was every single answer I got and I got told all of these things were in my head and so I'm sharing this like I said from a real place of love but if the only option is to stay on it or stay on hormonal contraceptives, like I said, there's a lot of ways we can sell for you, but to talk to your question of where someone should start, I think you said it perfectly. The other thing I do quite often will recommend on top of that list of these, I think the magnesium, the B complex will be an Amiga of some sorts on omega three, especially if you've been on the pill and the moods are an issue for you some sort of a balanced omega, in a sense, you've got some of the evening primrose oil that comes through the really good Omega six can be great, even borage oil. So Nordic Naturals does one for mega a woman. And I know that that's available worldwide, which is why I absolutely love it as a recommendation for a supplement. They are super, super highly could quality control tested as well for mercury and that sort of thing. Also very, very digestible. They're tiny little pills, and no reflux component sounds like an advert for them now. But essentially, I do love that. And that's all things you need to consider when you're we are shots to shopping for supplements, but adding that in forum, an anti inflammatory effects from the effects of balancing the moods, also from the effects of oil, combat oil, and the body. So if you ask someone that's concerned about skin health, it can be a really great place to like a really great addition to add, add to that, if you're someone that's got the gut issues, and maybe a need to add in a probiotic as well, just to bring up the good bacteria, because the bad bacteria has probably been thriving most, most women I speak to have had some sort of issue with Candida or yeast overgrowth or thrush when they've been on the pill. And that's another sign to show the dysbiosis, or the balance the imbalance of good and bad bacteria in your gut that can be going on when you're on it's particularly things like the pill. So that would be another place to start. And then, like you said, removing those foods that are really highly known to drive inflammation, I have a specific protocol that walks you through it step by step. But if you're just wanting someone to start and reset, you've got your 30 days of like you say, reduce the sugar, reduce the alcohol, reduce the gluten reduce the dairy, and I know it sounds like a lot. And you'll probably be amazed at how much these show up in foods that you weren't even aware aware of the other one, which can be really hard. And I still like hand on heart say that I could not eliminate them 100%, but seed oils, your canola oil, your vegetable oil, your sunflower oil, like all of the oils, that realistically you couldn't actually get oil out of unless you highly processed thing, right, you're gonna squeeze a sunflower and get a drop of oil out of it. Like this is where we need to remove it really remove those because a lot of them drive up the high level of inflammation in the body, and can actually be causing a lot of the underlying hormonal imbalances in the first place. So if you can reduce those, you're also going to make your transition off, or even if you're staying on so much smoother. Yeah,
Speaker 2 39:43
the processed oils are hard and most processed foods are made with them, because they're cheaper oils, most restaurants use them because they're cheaper oils. So you know, the way you can have control over that is eating out less eating less processed foods, but also in your home. Never using vegetable oils, I find like avocado oil, I'll use even with brownies, because like my kids making something and avocado oil tends to be really mild in flavors. So it's not like the olive oil, you can actually use it in place of some of the highly processed vegetable oils that are so inflammatory. And so again, it's just kind of making choices where we have options where we have some control because there's so many places that we don't. So that's another really great add on. And we can put in a quick protocol in the show notes, I'll attach that that you'll just go through full script where there's just a cluster of some supplements that we recommend that can be supportive. And of course, we are practitioners, but we are not your practitioner. So if you're listening to this, it's always good to check in with someone who knows your personal your health on a personal basis. But we can certainly put in some recommendations with brands that we trust that we can pop in there. I think this talk has been great. And I hope that women listening feel really empowered and the choice that they're making no matter what it is, obviously like you said several times that you know birth control is a blessing for women that we can have control over fertility amazing. But next level is that we understand the levels of birth control and the options that we have and kind of being able to weigh those risks versus benefits and how to support yourself while you are taking control over your own fertility because I think that's really the true empowerment there. So thank you so much for sharing all of your insight brilliant, brilliant around all of this and definitely you guys reach out to Sheree directly in her socials if you have questions around this whole topic because she is a wealth of knowledge around hormones and kind of tapering down and talking to you on a personal basis maybe about your birth control options. So thank you so much for your sharing your brain. Oh,
Speaker 1 41:46
thank you for letting me if you can tell it's something I'm very very passionate about. Yeah, it's great to have this conversation and and to have it with no holds barred because I feel like sometimes we have to put a filter on ourselves, but I'm not I'm not doing that. More or open, my inbox is always open. Like, I know this can be a really scary transition. I know this can be scary to even think about. I know sometimes it can just be the shock factor if you're listening to this. And it's the first time hearing a lot of information and just know that we're holding you through this. Like, it doesn't have to be scary. It doesn't have to be overwhelming. And please don't do what I did and beat yourself up for being on the pill for so long. Like I said, I was on it for 10 years and didn't even realize what I was doing to my body but look at it as a blessing. Because if I hadn't gone through that and had all of the issues, I probably wouldn't be sitting here sharing all the knowledge with you. Now. You can say
Speaker 2 42:37
this falls in the bucket of once you know you can't unknow and you do the best with what you know. And now you know a bit more. So, you guys, thanks for joining us. We can't wait to share more and more with you. So yeah, follow us share this with anyone who needs it and thanks for being here. We'll see you next time. Take care
