Mariah Berendt - Ep.65
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Mariah Berendt: [00:00:00] number one is educating women about their bodies, whatever, wherever you land on that.
It's almost like we're talking about the wrong thing here, my [00:00:08] friends, because body literacy is. The empowerment that we need in order to be able to make difficult choices [00:00:16] about our bodies, and it also, I think will resolve a lot of the issues that we face to when it comes to [00:00:24] women's health, because we put the power back in the women's hands when we learn how to track our biomarkers, because not only [00:00:32] is this.
Can we do this for health? We can also use it as a method of natural birth control as well.
Welcome to [00:00:40] the wild and well, a collective podcast where we believe empowered health is your superpower. We have combined our expertise in medicine and nutrition to bring you [00:00:48] the latest research, expert insights and success stories of people on a mission to live a big life. So buckle up and get ready to learn [00:00:56] how to live wildly well.
/Welcome back to another episode of the Wild and Well [00:01:04] Collective. I am truly excited for today's guest. She is such a beautiful soul and someone I had the pleasure of connecting with [00:01:12] and learning alongside in terms of a woman's health and hormonal nutrition. Now Mariah is an absolute powerhouse when it [00:01:20] comes to this space.
She is a nutritionist on a mission to help women eat their way to a healthy menstrual cycle. Her approach focuses on [00:01:28] real food, which we are such a big fan of here. Body literacy, and absolute no bullshit. She wants a woman to know their [00:01:36] bodies are not the enemy and that they have so much more control over their health and they've been led to believe.
So a woman after our own hearts, she loves [00:01:44] to read. Cook, and go to baseball games with her family. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and her dog, Cookie. I am so excited [00:01:52] to have you here, Mariah. Welcome to the Wild and Wild Collective.
Sheree: Hi Mariah, I am so excited that you are here and [00:02:00] joining us on this episode of the Wild and Wild Collective. Thank you so much for being here.
Mariah Berendt: Thanks for having me.
Sheree: I am so [00:02:08] grateful that we've got you because I got to connect with you in program all hormone health. And so today's topic of conversation is going to be very deep diving [00:02:16] into all things hormones.
But before we start there, can you share with us a little bit about your journey and how you wound up [00:02:24] doing the magic that you're doing in the world?
Mariah Berendt: Yeah. I think like a lot of women who do the work that we do, I got here by way of my own [00:02:32] experience. So, my background is in public health. Like my undergrad, I should say is in public health.
And [00:02:40] that kind of was a four year long crash course in like everything that is wrong. I don't think it was [00:02:48] intended to be that way. Cause I just wanted to like, it's not like I went to like, I just went to a regular university in Philly where I'm from. And yeah, it wasn't [00:02:56] like a program for rebels or anything like that.
It was just a lot of the people who went through the same program I did ended up like going to nursing school or becoming doctors. [00:03:04] But for me, even though I learned the same information, it was basically just like, yeah, a four year crash course on the flaws [00:03:12] of the healthcare system. A lot of focus on like the health insurance industry and also just how payouts happen [00:03:20] in the healthcare industry.
Meaning like doctors basically get paid based on like volume rather than outcomes. So they're not being paid [00:03:28] for how well they're healing people. They're being paid for how many people they're seeing anyway. So that kind of started to plant a seed in my mind [00:03:36] of like, I'm not so sure about, going into the healthcare route, which was my original plan to become a nurse.[00:03:44]
So anyway, through trying to learn a bit more about like holistic health and like, learning all these things that were wrong. So I'm like, [00:03:52] okay, what are the alternatives? I got really into nutrition and it started out as an interest in like nutrition from a public health point of view. [00:04:00] So really like, nutrition programs and it basically led me to get a job as in urban agriculture.
So I was working on [00:04:08] urban farms in Philly. That were located at public schools and housing facilities in the city. So we were, like, growing food and teaching [00:04:16] families and children and students how to grow food, how to cook food and, like, having them eat broccoli or kale for the 1st time, or carrots, even some of them [00:04:24] and being able to see where this comes from.
And it. Was such inspiring work. It was also really, really difficult. The inner city school system in Philly is [00:04:32] not great. And also just like, yeah, being exposed to families living in facilities as well, children [00:04:40] and the work hours were crazy. And I was basically like farming and doing all of this more like health focused, nutrition focused work.[00:04:48]
And I burnt out like, Burst into flames, burn down, doesn't even begin to describe it. And I'd always struggled with my periods. My very first period was [00:04:56] painful. I remember it. I was actually at my dad's house. My parents. I had split up or, are divorced and I was at my dad's for the weekend and having like [00:05:04] horrible cramps.
And I remember like not knowing what to do. I had two brothers too. I don't have any sisters. So like, I don't know. Yeah. I feel like so many of us have stories like that of [00:05:12] like when we were little and we just didn't have what we needed. So yeah, my peers had always been painful, but I was on the pill for a long time as a teen also really [00:05:20] common.
And then once like this burnout hit. Early on in my career, I was like maybe 25, a [00:05:28] little younger. And yeah, I, it really showed up in my cycle. So my peers had always been painful when I was on the pill. I didn't [00:05:36] experience it. Obviously we all know that's a whole other conversation, yeah, just the pill often women don't have symptoms on the pill.
That was true for [00:05:44] me. So I wasn't cycling and so yeah, then I Like wasn't on the pill anymore. I was having really painful periods. [00:05:52] And then PMS is the thing that like got really, really bad and noticeably, like, I don't remember experiencing that when I was younger. And then [00:06:00] just, yeah, from like pushing my body too hard farming year round.
And then the, just, I think the [00:06:08] grind of modern life and working in nine to five, that was more like an eight to seven. And yeah, I just. Started [00:06:16] to notice these symptoms getting worse and worse. And I actually did while I was still working there as if I needed more stuff to do, but I enrolled [00:06:24] in the Institute for Integrative Nutrition's health coaching program.
And that kind of started me on this road of like becoming a [00:06:32] practitioner. And part of my motivation was to figure out a holistic solution for what I was dealing with. Cause I had gone to the [00:06:40] doctor and they had. Done all the blood work and said, you're fine and it's normal painful periods. And, then also because I shared [00:06:48] that I was like, experiencing emotional struggles, like, premenstrual, like, severe emotional symptoms.
yeah, the doctor said that I should go on an [00:06:56] SSRI and I wasn't interested in that because of my education in my undergrad. I was like, I don't want to get started on that conveyor belt [00:07:04] of the pharmaceutical world. I want to see if I can avoid that. So I started, yeah, just deep diving on hormone health and [00:07:12] nutrition specifically, and I had been vegan and vegetarian for on and off.
Like, sometimes vegan, sometimes [00:07:20] vegetarian, sometimes I'd crave a turkey sandwich, because for me, for some reason, it was always a turkey sandwich and like, wouldn't be, but yeah, like, really restricting my diet in those [00:07:28] ways. And I also definitely struggled with disordered eating as a teenager as well. So all of that started to, like.
I was like, oh, maybe these [00:07:36] things are connected. So I changed my diet and my life changed. Like, the, PMS and period pain were [00:07:44] running my life. I was experiencing PMS from ovulation until menstruation every month and then having another. So, there's basically 1 week where I wasn't experiencing either [00:07:52] PMS or period pain and it just started to, get shorter and shorter and.
After a while, and I also gave up [00:08:00] coffee, I really radically changed my diet. I wouldn't say all at once, but slowly over the course of about a year, and then experience my very [00:08:08] first pain free period and just found so much relief from PMS that I was like, all right, like, this is real. This is [00:08:16] real.
And so Yeah, I slowly phased out of the work that I was doing the work that I was doing in urban agriculture, because I also part of [00:08:24] this was realizing that I, it was physically, like, not possible for me to keep doing that and started seeing clients [00:08:32] because I think for me and the thing I notice is like.
Believing in this work is as a practitioner is so important [00:08:40] because it is also difficult in other ways. I'm not outside of farming every day, but as there's a grind that comes with this too. And I just believe in [00:08:48] it. And that's like the thing that's kept me going as well. But yes, my work focuses on nutrition and lifestyle and [00:08:56] menstrual health and fertility and I've just watched myself transform.
I've watched so many other [00:09:04] women have transformational experiences from shifting their diet and how they nourish their cycle, nourish your cycle. And [00:09:12] I think. Yeah, basically like nourish your cycle from the perspective of food, but I also love to look at that from the way that we're living our life as [00:09:20] well.
So, yeah, that's how I got to this point where I am now and it's been an up and down journey for me to like, seasons of work that are more stressful. I find that my symptoms come [00:09:28] back and not robots. So. That's to be expected, but now I know what to do when that happens is the difference.
So, [00:09:36] yeah,
Christa: I think it's a perfect conversation to have. I know that there's a lot of work being done by front liners that are, like, [00:09:44] addressing Congress, addressing the problem that we have in the US with the bombardment of just crappy food. And there's a lot of busy [00:09:52] people.
We are also A culture that is go, go, go, go, go. And I think, yes, that we're going to grab what's easy. We're going to [00:10:00] grab whatever's there pre packaged mostly. And I think that there, our government potentially needs to be woken up [00:10:08] to the fact that more of us are awake to the fact that the food is medicine.
The food is a messenger to the cells. I would [00:10:16] love to ask where, like, I think what would serve most people, including myself, when we're busy, it's just a matter of grabbing things when we're [00:10:24] busy. Right. And so it's just a matter of changing that choice of what we're grabbing. And so I think most people would love to [00:10:32] know where, how do you create.
nutrition that is easy and sustainable, right? Like you're not spending [00:10:40] three hours prepping food on a Sunday because we have sports or we have, whatever's going on. Where do you start , with people who come to you that are like, Hey, I feel [00:10:48] terrible. How do I change my nutrition in a way that's actually going to fit my lifestyle?
Mariah Berendt: Yeah, I think that looks different for [00:10:56] everybody. And honestly, I will talk to the more general things that we can do, but also like, this is why like one on one work is [00:11:04] so beautiful because the ability to meet people where right where they are is impossible to do With an Instagram post that's [00:11:12] created, especially for agement and something that's created to go viral.
And we live in this world. That is very much like, the things that we crave are these [00:11:20] 1 size fits all solutions. And so some of it is a little bit of tough love to say, like. you know the lifestyle that you're living and I [00:11:28] had to come to terms with this myself to it's that the lifestyle we're living is the thing that got us to this point.
So some tough love to say like, [00:11:36] where can we make adjustments help you nourish your body more and also help you slow down because I think that's a big part of it too is [00:11:44] where can we make. Yeah, find the time. Because some of us, really do need to or make the time, and so [00:11:52] that's one thing.
And yeah, I do think it's exacerbated by this culture that we're in right now where it's like people like me or y'all, it's [00:12:00] like when we're creating content or we're looking, to help, because, I know When we create content, a lot of the goal is to help, and so when we're focused [00:12:08] on like, okay, what's a message that's going to cast the widest net and reach the largest amount of people that might not actually serve everyone, because what people [00:12:16] really do need is like eyes on their life, and anyway, that's why I love one on one work and why I think, in the world of online courses, I have found it really [00:12:24] valuable to continue working with women one on one because then I get to have a conversation and understand where you're at.
And because [00:12:32] the only way to make really sustainable change in your life is to do it step by step and not to overhaul your whole life and to work with me where you are. If you're too busy [00:12:40] and you can't fit things in. It's like, okay, what can we do then? What are these small wins that are going to give you confidence so that you can.[00:12:48]
Start to see a change to your health. And I think, yeah, the grab and go culture, I always start with breakfast. I always start with breakfast. Most women are [00:12:56] under nourishing themselves in the morning. This was an issue for me as well. And so there's so many quick and easy breakfast. And if you don't have [00:13:04] three hours on a Sunday, do you have 30 minutes?
Can you throw a package of like sausages, breakfast sausages, [00:13:12] fresh breakfast sausages in the oven, Bake eight of them so that you have them for the week. Some egg bites that you can throw [00:13:20] ingredients into a blender and then make some egg bites, bake those at the same time for 30 minutes and throw them in the microwave in the [00:13:28] morning.
I know that, like, in the holistic nutrition space, so many people and again, I think a lot of this is because of click baby stuff. It's like stuff that looks [00:13:36] controversial the posts that are controversial are the ones that get more eyes on them, right? Because people argue with each other in the comments and it drives up the engagement.
So, I like to [00:13:44] live in reality. And in reality, I use my microwave. I have a microwave and I use it. And I think, are there pluses and minuses to it? Absolutely. [00:13:52] Are there, also, you can find research to back up or to go against or for literally anything these days. And I think. It's more [00:14:00] important to provide your body with the nutrients that you need for form and function, because like you said, the food that you eat literally builds the [00:14:08] organs and, the enzymes that run your entire body, and the hormones, the cells, all of it, the form and [00:14:16] function comes from the nutrients that you consume.
So is the question actually, should I be using my microwave or not in my mind? No. There's that's like [00:14:24] level five, level one is how can we get those nutrients in your body? And if it is the microwave use the freaking microwave, like, so , [00:14:32] that too, like, yeah, just like being really real and living in reality and not these like high end questions, which it seems [00:14:40] crazy, like microwave yes or no, is that a high end question, but for a lot of women, like you say, who are super busy, their life is packed.
They're [00:14:48] mega stressed. They feel like crap. Because they're undernourished, under resourced, over worked. The question is not yes or no to the microwave, the [00:14:56] question, like the first thing is let's get some food in you in the morning, so yeah, I love, I
Sheree: love this
Mariah Berendt: conversation.
Sheree: it's the conversation that I think all [00:15:04] of us are having with people every single day.
Right. And I love that you mentioned from a one to one perspective, because it is, it's very easy to create this cookie cutter [00:15:12] approach. It's very easy to, I quite often think I'm like, Oh, I literally had a client yesterday and they're like, Oh, what about the coffee? Then do I have to get rid of it first thing in [00:15:20] the morning?
Cause there's that whole 90 minutes of waking. And I'm like, you're sitting here and you're telling me you're not stressed. You're not holding extra weight. Like you genuinely just [00:15:28] want to improve your health and your wellbeing. You are at the stage where we can talk about maybe the microwave. Yes or no.
But most women are [00:15:36] coming in with this conversation or the situation where they are, like you say, overburdened, undernourished, and they're not looking at the low hanging fruit. [00:15:44] Instead, they're actually getting analysis paralysis from all this conversation online with the polarity going, well, this person says [00:15:52] I need to make sure that I eat at this time.
And this person is saying that fasting is the way, and this person is saying that I should go vegan. And it's like, no wonder we've [00:16:00] got these poor humans showing up at our doors or on our computer screens going, Honestly, like, excuse my frame. What the fuck do I [00:16:08] do? It's overwhelming. And even like as a practitioner, sometimes I scroll through and I'm like, what is all of this?
Like it can be [00:16:16] very confronting. And I know that you have this concept called , the big girl breakfast, which I absolutely adore because it is one of , the first things [00:16:24] that we have to look at changing. Right. And can you talk to as much as we obviously need the nourishment from having a really high quality breakfast?
And there's so many things [00:16:32] that we can eat for breakfast and put together. The again, one woman will come in and go, I just not hungry in the morning. So, I know [00:16:40] we know why that happens, but can we talk to that a little bit? And to. How to get it from whole real foods, because I know that, yes, we can pop in some [00:16:48] protein powder.
But there's a lot of barrier to not just the time factor. Like I love that we've got some quick, easy go, but like, Oh, [00:16:56] do I want to eat that? Do I want to have like the fact that you can have steak for breakfast is quite mind boggling for people in the Western world. They're like, Oh, but I have a [00:17:04] couple of eggs.
That is not enough protein.
Mariah Berendt: Yeah. Oh, I love these questions. Yeah. Right up my alley. Okay. So to start off with not being hungry in the [00:17:12] morning, I think some women maybe are genuinely not hungry in the morning, but there are steps that I walk through first and questions [00:17:20] that I ask first, because oftentimes it's the sign of something else going on.
It can be something else that's, again, a little more high level like, [00:17:28] High cortisol can mess with your hunger cues. So are you chronically stressed? Is that why that's a little bit harder to [00:17:36] identify sometimes? I think for the everyday woman, they're like, yes, I'm stressed, but. Like you're saying that eating breakfast is going to make me [00:17:44] less stressed, but I'm not hungry.
And then we're in that loop again. Like you're talking about really honestly for so many women when I'm like, what [00:17:52] are you snacking at night? They're like, yes. So they're sitting in front of their TV snacking at like 11 PM. Right. [00:18:00] And then they wonder why they're not hungry in the morning. And I'm like, my girl, Going to bed with a full stomach.
Like it's like, I do think [00:18:08] sometimes it is actually that simple, maybe not obvious, but it is that simple. And I've seen that help a lot with, [00:18:16] restricting your eating window at night. So, yeah, those are all words that maybe it's like, wait, restriction to, but there's positive ways in which we can use those [00:18:24] phrases, which is basically just giving yourself two to three hours before you go to sleep.
And again, seeing how, seeing what happens. [00:18:32] If then you find you're having a hard time falling asleep or you're waking up in the night, maybe you need a little Like a tiny little bedtime snack to help keep your [00:18:40] blood sugar stable throughout the night. So you're not waking up or so you're sleeping better.
And this is where that individual thing comes in. But yeah, giving you not eat [00:18:48] it, not like eating a whole bag of chips in front of, while watching Netflix, which like, hello, we're all guilty of, I'm not saying I never do that, [00:18:56] but you know, then in the morning you might find that you're hungry. If you're not going to bed.
So, yeah, humans are diurnal, meaning [00:19:04] we function on a 24 hour clock that is influenced, like our body functions on a 24 hour clock that is influenced by day and night [00:19:12] by sunlight. And so our body kind of rests in the evening. There's certain functions that happen, but when it comes to digestion, we're not really [00:19:20] digesting while we're sleeping.
So if you're going to bed with a full stomach, chances are that is still going to be in your stomach or in your, not fully [00:19:28] digested when you wake up because your body is. resting, your digestion is resting at night and the sun is down. So it can be as simple as that. The other [00:19:36] thing that I recommend, some women are just so used to skipping breakfast that it's like, you're literally, you've literally just trained your body not to be hungry in the [00:19:44] morning.
Or a lot of women also like to work out in the morning. And my advice there would just be that still plan to eat breakfast. [00:19:52] And if it's not going to be. Within 90 minutes or an hour to 90 minutes of waking up, have a little snack so that because [00:20:00] the longer you go without eating, the more likely it is that your cortisol is going to raise because hunger can release cortisol.
And that's what we want to avoid. That's why we [00:20:08] say eat within 60 to 90 minutes in the mornings, because we want to get that food in you before that cortisol rises. And especially if you're someone who [00:20:16] is chronically stressed or struggling with cortisol, high cortisol so having a little snack and then once you have [00:20:24] time, say, after your workout class, if you must, or, if you have to get the kids out of school or whatever your is busy, once you're sitting at your [00:20:32] desk.
And you're at work having, like, a proper breakfast then, if you can't fit it within that 60 to 90 minute [00:20:40] window. Cause skipping breakfast is associated with period pain. It's associated with PMS. It's associated with fertility [00:20:48] issues. There's like awesome research about this. And so also like if you're trying to eat a hundred grams of protein a day, [00:20:56] which is the minimum for women, if you ask me and you're skipping an entire meal of 30 grams, you're not going to make up for [00:21:04] it the rest of the day.
You're just not. And so, without, yeah, especially with you're focusing on real food and not, just pounding [00:21:12] three protein shakes a day. So yeah, making like, if you're not hungry in the morning, I still urge you to, [00:21:20] again, try. Restricting your eating window to earlier in the day. So say you go to bed at 10 p.
m. Being eating dinner at 6 [00:21:28] 30 so that by seven you're done and you can give your digestion a break. You can give yourself time to digest that food before you go to [00:21:36] sleep. Or yeah, working on stress important or having a little snack and then a full meal. It's still within the breakfast window.
But [00:21:44] if you really can't get that 16 to 90 minute having a high protein snack in the morning as a starting point, that's not ideal [00:21:52] to like, I'd want the goal to be breakfast. Like, I'm a big. I'm such a huge proponent of breakfast, especially if you're struggling with your menstrual health or [00:22:00] fertility, but we can get there slowly, you don't have to be fan, but you don't have to [00:22:08] go from, like, literally drinking celery juice for breakfast to pounding.
Because I think also that kind of falls into like, one of the [00:22:16] things that I really try. I'm not perfect, but I really try not to fall into these dietary trends because I think literally what I just [00:22:24] said is like, I can relate to that because it was me too. But it's like, the trend was like juices and smoothies in the morning.
We all [00:22:32] had juicers. We were literally juicing celery for years. Like what the hell are we doing? Do you know what I mean? I, like I did it. I didn't absolutely did it. [00:22:40] And medical medium, all that stuff, and then now it's like, 30 grams of protein at breakfast, steak at breakfast, like, just pick up the [00:22:48] steak with your fork and eat it with your hands, basically, and it's like, if we're just following trending advice, and we're not like, actually [00:22:56] learning about our bodies.
We're going to go from drinking celery juice to eating an entire steak and your digestion is going to be wrecked if you do that, not going to feel [00:23:04] the same. It's going to be the same as the celery juice where it's like, everyone's saying I should drink celery juice. Why do I feel like crap?
Everyone's saying I should eat [00:23:12] steak for breakfast. Why do I feel like crap? So
Christa: yeah. I think it is confusing for people and there was a big push for intermittent [00:23:20] fasting for a long time, like don't eat until noon, don't eat until one. And I think just like you said, for every [00:23:28] fad diet, there are ideal people that that is for.
But the problem is that when we blanket it and say [00:23:36] everybody intermittent fasts I pick and choose who that's appropriate for and certainly a stressed out woman on her, [00:23:44] that's menstruating probably, intermittent fasting every single day of the month is not going to do her any favors, but she doesn't know that because [00:23:52] she's just hearing, Oh, I'm going to get thinner.
I'm going to whatever. So I love the personalized approach with that. And I think Yeah, [00:24:00] because it can be confusing with all the things. I know right now there is a big push for protein and I think it's science backed though, I think [00:24:08] this is more of a, protein is the building blocks for immune cells, protein is the building blocks for our amino acids that build all the things and the enzymes like you [00:24:16] mentioned protein is Cornerstone to muscular health, which we know is cornerstone to our metabolism.
Right? [00:24:24] So all of these things, I do think that everybody's version of how much protein and do they add vegetables? Are they going carnivore? All of that has to be [00:24:32] an individualized thing. It's interesting. We. All don't have the same DNA and so sometimes people can do really amazing with just [00:24:40] animal protein and no veggies and then other people can do amazing as vegetarians and then other people that works for about two months until their body, uses up the [00:24:48] supply and then They feel terrible.
So I appreciate that you take an individualized approach on like what works for people.
Mariah Berendt: So [00:24:56] you have that just to add to that. It's like, it's not just individual. It's like, you're going to have different seasons of your life as well. So just because carnival is [00:25:04] working for you right now, pay attention to how, like, I see women who are like, I was carnivore and it worked for me for 6 months.
And then for the last 2 years, I've been struggling. I'm like, [00:25:12] okay, my girl, that's it. The thing is, and what I think us as practitioners who work with women, especially, I specifically work with women, which is why I say that, but it's like, [00:25:20] We need to be giving women the tools to be able to say at that 6 month mark.
Oh, this is no longer working for me. It works because it's [00:25:28] a diet dogma, you know, it might, just be a short term thing that healed you and then you don't need to do it, or you can not be as [00:25:36] restrictive, but when you start getting signs from your body, and I think women are really lucky that we have our menstrual cycle, like things often show up there 1st.
So it's like, if we're getting [00:25:44] signs from our cycle that this is no longer working for us. Then we adjust. We don't get so stuck in diet dogma that we're like. [00:25:52] I am now a carnivore. It's like part of my identity. So therefore I can't do anything else or I'm going to get ripped to shreds online. If I [00:26:00] say that I'm eating leafy greens again, or whatever,
Christa: for sure, no, for sure. I think you're right. Different phases of life require different [00:26:08] nutrients, different things. Somebody in their 20s is going to require something different than in their 50s. So it sounds like you focus a lot on, like, [00:26:16] younger women, I'm assuming, more in the fertility stage menstruating stage.
What angle do you take at women in their mid to [00:26:24] late 40s or postmenopausal? Do you work with any of them? Because it's interesting. I was watching this study last night, [00:26:32] actually, on how the brain, like, our brain actually, Changes, redesigns, reconstructs, renovates essentially [00:26:40] with menopause and how the importance of, estrogen is a sex hormone, but it's also a brain hormone.
And [00:26:48] the decline in that can really change the, even the structure of our brain, which leads to, in some [00:26:56] people, more extreme brain fog and cognitive changes into menopause, which I find really fascinating. And. Also, I'm [00:27:04] thinking we're really intelligent beings and our bodies are very intelligent. There are other ways and technology now with, through peptides.
I'm [00:27:12] personally a fan of some peptides that really help stimulate the ovary to stay online a little longer. But I'm curious too, on where do you [00:27:20] go from, you change kind of dietary guidance on where a woman is in that stage
Mariah Berendt: Yeah. [00:27:28] So funnily enough, my first two clients were women in their fifties who were, one was perimenopausal and one was [00:27:36] menopausal.
And I have since then worked with women in those stages of their life. It was not my goal. It just happened. [00:27:44] And I think, I don't know, it was literally like word of mouth through friends, because those were the first clients I ever saw. I saw them like in my home when I was first starting.[00:27:52]
And Yeah. So that's just, I always thought that was cool. But yeah, obviously my content really focuses on menstrual health and fertility and I [00:28:00] don't in my work, like on my front facing work, like talk about that a lot. And I've noticed that because I'm like, I want to [00:28:08] more. And I have people asking me in my weekly Q and A's about it.
I think so my experience of working with when I was just say this [00:28:16] with the women that I've worked with is that The vast majority of us are not educated on how to nourish our bodies properly and also [00:28:24] not educated about our cycles. And how our bodies work, like, how the reproductive system works, nutrition aside, literally, just the function, [00:28:32] our reproductive system, so that then when we get to that point of our life, I think this also can happen.
When we're teenagers, obviously, though, [00:28:40] that feels a little different, like when we're in menarche and first getting our period. around fertility for sure. And then also [00:28:48] perimenopause and menopause that we have this moment where it's like, what the fuck is happening? I know nothing about like, just being completely in the dark because the medical system [00:28:56] especially treats the female body like this mystery.
And so we're like, I don't know what the fuck is happening. Like, there's no way for me to know, and I find that like, there's [00:29:04] a lot of grief that shows up around that too, in women who are perimenopausal and menopausal, just because it's like, This is about to end. [00:29:12] Also, it's like, how did I get to this point without knowing this stuff?
So I find it really like interesting to work with women at that point too, just to support the emotional side of [00:29:20] things. Cause it can be so stressful. And I think a lot of what happens is I forget who, said this. can't remember. Like Laura Briden [00:29:28] or Jolene Brighton. maybe it was Christiane Northrup. I'm not sure, but somebody spoke about how, like, Going through and [00:29:36] menopause and that drop in hormones that happens is like taking rose colored glasses off and those rose colored glasses are estrogen because estrogen is also like [00:29:44] you said, it's a mood hormone to like, it can enhance your mood.
It makes you feel, your libido rises, you get around ovulation, it's [00:29:52] the fertile time of the month. So, you're like, very focused on. On finding a mate and even if you have a partner, it's just this like it can be obviously not all women [00:30:00] experiences but ideally it's this like Bubbly sparkly time of your cycle.
And so you can imagine once you get to perimenopause and estrogen levels are dropping or they're [00:30:08] very up and down, which is what tends to happen that it's like taking those rose colored glasses off. And I think also the women who speak about, like, the [00:30:16] archetypes of the menstrual cycle to that. The feminine archetype associated with perimenopause is the wild woman.
And part of that is because those like rose colored [00:30:24] glasses are coming off and you're just, you have no time for bullshit and you just see the world as it is. And I think that's a beautiful thing to lean into. And it's this dance between leaning [00:30:32] into that and like the truth that may be exploding out of you at that time of your life, like it does when you're premenstrual.
Cause it's also [00:30:40] hormonally mirrors almost the premenstrual phase When estrogen is falling. So I think it's like balancing between managing those symptoms and also leading [00:30:48] into the emotional of like, okay, where are these suppressed emotions coming from? And how long have they been there? Kind of thing.
Nutritionally speaking, though, [00:30:56] I will say, like, all of percent of the women who have come to me and perimenopause and menopause. I have no idea how their body works and do not [00:31:04] have the foundations of nutrition down. everyone I've worked with, it's actually, it's the same thing that I work on with all women, which is making [00:31:12] sure you're eating enough because I'd say the vast majority of women are not.
And if you are eating enough, making sure you're eating enough nutrients. And not, the standard American [00:31:20] diet is like 60 percent ultra processed foods. So if it's 60, 40, like 60 percent process, 40 percent whole, [00:31:28] slowly adjusting that ratio to more like 80, 20 Because again, I live in reality and you're not going to walk by Cheetos 100%, like by a [00:31:36] Cheeto ever again in your life.
I wish there weren't Cheetos everywhere, but at least in this country there are. And so they're at the gas station. They're [00:31:44] at like the place where you buy your sheets. for me, like, 90 percent of the work I do is working on the foundations, which, and [00:31:52] the foundations in my work are nutrient dense diet and really blood sugar balance, one of my main focuses, and then [00:32:00] body literacy.
So. Teaching women what's happening and what are the phases of perimenopause? Where am I at? Is this peri, like, I have so [00:32:08] many women who ask me questions that are in my DMs who are my age. I'm 33. Who are like, I'm 33 and like, my cycles are [00:32:16] changing. Am I in perimenopause? And it's. It's almost like this fear that I'm feeling of women in their thirties who are, and [00:32:24] I guess because of our age, like the first thing women jump to is perimenopause and it makes me sad.
And it's something that I've been noticing more in the [00:32:32] last couple of years and I'm like, and I don't know if it's just because I'm getting older. And so those are the women who are reaching out to me, but I'm like. Oh, my gosh. [00:32:40] Like so many women in their 30s think that they're in perimenopause when really I, obviously some of them probably are, [00:32:48] but also a lot of them when we work together and we support the foundations, their cycles even out.
So,
Sheree: As I say, it's, it's really. [00:32:56] Important to have this sort of conversation because I find the exact same thing and I think there's this fear as well as biological clock is ticking and [00:33:04] people are having kids later and later. And then they go, oh, my gosh, my, my cycle's changing. It must be I'm leading into this perimental causal phase and I love [00:33:12] that a huge part of the work you do is around body literacy and understanding what is going on in your body.
Like we always talk about here on the podcast, [00:33:20] empowered health is your superpower. So when you understand what your body is doing, what your body is doing as a woman, the fact that we have a [00:33:28] different rhythm, our Infradian rhythm, can you talk to I know a huge part of the work you do is yes, starting to dive into that [00:33:36] fertility side of things, but even fertility aside, like cycle sinking.
And we've already started and opened up this conversation so beautifully around a lot of the [00:33:44] dogma that can be put out there. And then all the fear that can end up happening because it's like, well, I'm not eating a carrot and I'm now in my ovulation phase. And did I miss my [00:33:52] window to eat the carrot?
Because the supposed to have, like, again, we can get a lot of this fear, like. When we think cycles thinking that can also be popped in the [00:34:00] overwhelmed bucket. And so how you tie in this body literacy with the cycle thinking and making it simple. Cause I think that's [00:34:08] one of the things you do so beautifully.
And I mean that in like the most, biggest compliment, because it can be so overwhelming [00:34:16] and you make it so simple to do so simple to follow. And I'm excited for you to share that with, with our audience.
Mariah Berendt: Thanks love. Yeah. [00:34:24] I I've got gripes with. The cycle thinking movement. I think that my biggest issue with it is [00:34:32] perfectly illustrated by a question I got last week.
And I do like a weekly Q and I, and my story is most weeks and girl talk Tuesdays is what we call it. But a [00:34:40] woman asked me, she said, if my cycles are like, if my last cycle was 7 weeks long. Did I still ovulate on day [00:34:48] 14 and I'm like, oh, my gosh, this is exactly why I have issues with cycle sinking because.
So much of it is [00:34:56] that cookie cutter advice where it's we get really obsessed with like, I think when we start cycle thinking and paying attention to our cycles. We get really [00:35:04] obsessed and hyper focused on numbers. So we're like, okay, all women. Obliterate on day 14, the healthy cycle is 28 days long.
[00:35:12] Like, the follicular phase is day 7 to 14 that did it. You know what I'm saying? And I think actually that is the results [00:35:20] somewhat of the fact that so many of us were on the pill when we were teenagers and the pack is 28 days long, but we're like, oh, that's what a menstrual cycle [00:35:28] is because the pill pack has 28 pills.
So do you know what I mean? Like, I feel like that is. Why we've gotten so high on that
Christa: number.
Mariah Berendt: [00:35:36] So, if you go through all the cycle thinking advice online, so much of it is based off of that, the, what phase you're in is [00:35:44] day one through seven is menstruation day, whatever they are. Cause I'm, I don't look at that.
You know what I'm saying? And so the problem with [00:35:52] that is that it's. You're taking a template and applying it to your body. And [00:36:00] that's not the point of cycle thinking. The point to me, the point of cycle thinking is body literacy. And what so many women don't know is [00:36:08] that there the same way that you know, you're in the menstrual phase of your cycle when you're menstruating, there are other physiological biomarkers that [00:36:16] happen that you can track that tell you what, like the other phases of your cycle that you're in.
So, like, the crash course [00:36:24] is that when you're bleeding, you're in the menstrual phase of your cycle. When you stop bleeding. basically the time after menstruation before [00:36:32] your ovulatory biomarkers show up is the follicular phase. The ovulatory biomarkers are your body creates, your cervix creates [00:36:40] cervical fluid, which is not the same thing as discharge.
It's a fluid that is the texture of egg whites. And it [00:36:48] is the result of high estrogen. So high estrogen stimulates your cervix to create this mucus that you can see in, especially when you wipe [00:36:56] on your toilet paper. I know that we're getting into TMI, but we're doing it. We're just, we live in the TMI world.
It's the so [00:37:04] you can track, you can track it. And then during the luteal phase, that cervical mucus dries up because [00:37:12] progesterone stimulates your cervix to, you stop producing that fertile quality cervical fluid. And then also, if you track your basal [00:37:20] body temperature, so if you take your temperature at roughly the same time, every single morning with a basal body thermometer that has 2 decimal places, you can track [00:37:28] a very slight increase in body temperature that happens as progesterone rises.
So. When you put all of these things together, when you learn to try, and it's [00:37:36] way more, like, it's a skill that we learn. It's not just an infographic that you saw on Instagram, it's actually a skill. And it requires you [00:37:44] to pay attention to your body and to look at your toilet paper and to look at your, your menstrual fluid, which I know are all these things that are taboo, [00:37:52] but it's, there's so much information that you can glean from your menstrual blood from your cervical fluid.
It's kind of like x ray vision, your menstrual, [00:38:00] the quality and quantity. So like how much and what it looks like and feels like of your menstrual blood is a reflection of your hormonal [00:38:08] levels in the, in your previous cycle. If your estrogen, if you're, or let's say if your menstrual fluid is really watery and light and pink, and [00:38:16] you're only maybe using one.
panty liner a day, or you only bleed for a day or two. That's an indication that estrogen is low because estrogen is [00:38:24] the hormone that proliferates your uterine lining. So you almost have x ray vision into what was going on hormonally without ever even getting a [00:38:32] hormone test. I'm not saying those things aren't important, but as well, they're in addition to body literacy, in my opinion, if you're not seeing [00:38:40] cervical fluid as well.
High estrogen stimulates your cervical fluid. So if you're not seeing any cervical fluid, it's also potentially an indication of low hormonal [00:38:48] levels. And so that's just like a couple examples. You can learn so much from tracking your cycle in this way you learn, then you [00:38:56] get to see like, how long was your luteal phase?
The ideal is about 11 to 17 days long. If you're not getting to 11 days, if you're having a [00:39:04] shorter luteal phase. then that indicates the progesterone is low. You get to know that before ever getting a hormone test before ever going [00:39:12] to your doctor. Also, hormone tests can be hard to get because a lot of doctors are very dismissive.
Not all of them. Of course, I've had positive and negative [00:39:20] experiences with doctors, but if you feel like you're having a hard time with doctors taking you seriously, know that there are so many tools in your toolbox that you can use [00:39:28] to start getting at least to The root of what's going on before ever stepping into your doctor's office.
So when I [00:39:36] see a lot of this advice online about cycle syncing, that's very cookie cutter. I think 1 of the reasons and I've seen you talk about this in your [00:39:44] content. It's like. One of the issues with modern life is that, like, it doesn't take into account the fluidity [00:39:52] of the female body, right?
It doesn't take into account that, like, we are different every single day. And I really [00:40:00] feel that a lot of the cycle syncing, like, the more trendy advice has become more masculine because it's like, Taking this [00:40:08] very rigid framework and applying it to our bodies, which are fluid and feminine.
And then I get end up with questions [00:40:16] like that, which is like, if my cycle was 17 or 7 weeks long, did I still have you on on day 14 and just to cover the answer to that [00:40:24] question is, no, like, for sure. 100%. No, if your cycle 7 weeks long, you either didn't ovulate, you either had an ambulatory [00:40:32] cycle, Or if you did ovulate, it happened in, 10, 11 to 17 days before you got your period before the [00:40:40] seven week mark.
Because the luteal phase is very fixed. Once you ovulate, The cascade of events that happens between ovulation and [00:40:48] menstruation is very fixed. It's the same most months and ideally 11 to 17 days long. It can be a little shorter if you're struggling with your hormone health, [00:40:56] like I said, with some low progesterone, but it's not common for it to be longer.
Then that window of time. And so, and it varies cycle to [00:41:04] cycle, cause you're not a computer functioning off of program. You're not a programmed computer. You're a human woman with a life and like [00:41:12] life is crazy. So, our bodies are constantly responding to our internal and external environments. So it was the follicular phase essentially that was [00:41:20] extended.
So, me too, when I was teenager, I'm always like, Oh, my period's late. My period's late before I learned all of this, it's very rare for your period to be late unless you are [00:41:28] pregnant. It's actually ovulation that was delayed. And when you track these biomarkers, and when you track your cervical fluid and you track your basal body temperature, you already know [00:41:36] that by the time you ovulate, you already know that you're going to actually, even by the time, say, you were on day 14 [00:41:44] of a 7 week long cycle, you would know I'm not getting any signs from my body.
The ovulation is happening right now. So I know already at day [00:41:52] 14 of. However long, however many days, seven weeks is. Is I already know now that this cycle is going to be delayed [00:42:00] and you would also know that, once you ovulate, all right, say you ovulate somewhere in day or in week 5, okay, [00:42:08] periods come in and yes, it's a very long cycle, but you have that body literacy, this body literacy and this is what drives me nuts.
Body literacy is not [00:42:16] just for people who have regular cycles, who have healthy menstrual. Body literacy is for everyone. No matter what your cycles look like, [00:42:24] you get this data, this real time data about your body. But cycle syncing seems to only be for people who have regular cycles. You know what I mean?
It's [00:42:32] like, It doesn't and the thing it's like how people are. So, yeah, the thing about the carrot, it's like most women don't know how to track their biomarkers, and [00:42:40] I did a fertility awareness training, the fem fertility education and medical management training. And in that training, the figure that [00:42:48] they share is that 3 percent of women globally know how to track their biomarkers
I don't know. I would hope that that's changing, but [00:42:56] also, we're in our little corner of the Internet. Most women I speak to don't know, and so then to your point, it's like, women are like, oh, it's day 8. So [00:43:04] I'm in the follicular phase. So I'm going to eat my raw carrot salad, but they're not actually follicular phase.
You know what I mean? They're still [00:43:12] menstruating or. Whatever, so, or it's like, it's day 15 and I just entered the luteal phase. So I'm going to whatever the foods [00:43:20] are. But you're not, you haven't ovulated yet because, but you don't know that because you don't track ovulation. Or you rely on an app.
The app told [00:43:28] you. Yeah, and I had a friend who was struggling to get pregnant with her 2nd and she was like, well, I'm using the app and it says I'm fertile on these days. [00:43:36] And I was like. Yeah. I'm like, how did you get pregnant with your first? My dude, you got lucky. I was like, no, all I [00:43:44] did was tell her about cervical fluid.
She started tracking it and she got pregnant the next cycle. And obviously it's not that easy for everyone. It's not that simple for [00:43:52] everyone, but for her, it was. And the other thing that drives me absolutely nuts as someone who used to be a farmer and used to grow food for a living. [00:44:00] It drives me nuts that like, I won't name names, but the person who really coined the term cycle sinking.
started that movement. It's [00:44:08] like eat watermelon while you're ovulating. I'm like, what about in December when it's not in season? So you're like, you're promoting, okay, [00:44:16] get the watermelon from Mexico. It was harvested two weeks ago and it's been sitting on a shelf for five days. So by the time you eat it, [00:44:24] it's the nutrition, things start losing nutrients the moment you pull them out of the ground.
That's why I like local seasonal food is so. [00:44:32] Beneficial and why you see everyone talking about that's another one. That one's legit because that food's not having to travel and it's, [00:44:40] the time from when it is picked to when it is in your body is shorter. So you get more nutrients out of it. So I remember.
Yeah, just when I first [00:44:48] started getting into this work and this was years and years and years ago and I didn't this was before cycle syncing blew up the way it has that I'm like. Watermelon while you're [00:44:56] ovulating, like, we eat watermelon in August or July, and that's one thing I talk about a lot.
I'm like, do not choose what you eat [00:45:04] based off of your phase of your cycle. Choose what you eat based off of what is in season. And then I will say all of that rant. I'm a [00:45:12] long winded Pisces is what my friend called me. So I could literally talk forever. So just stop me if you need to. Obviously I'm like so passionate about this too.
[00:45:20] I'm like
Christa: da
Mariah Berendt: da da da da. But the other thing is that all of that is true. Facts. Like, I feel [00:45:28] passionately about that. But the other reality is that our body does change every single day as women are, [00:45:36] like, depending on what phase of our cycle we are in, our body functions really differently. I really prefer, so medically speaking, [00:45:44] there's really only 2 phases of the menstrual cycle.
You have the follicular phase, which runs from menstruation to ovulation. And then you have the [00:45:52] luteal phase, which runs from ovulation to menstruation, and menstruation is kind of part of the follicular phase and then ovulation as a phase, [00:46:00] the ovulatory phase, not the event itself, straddles the follicular and the luteal so [00:46:08] yeah, there is also legitimacy to the idea, the concept, despite like the fad stuff, because it's [00:46:16] almost like a fad diet at this point. Despite that, all that trendy information, there are ways in which your body changes a lot throughout your [00:46:24] cycle. That I find really valuable. I really focus on nutritionally.
I focus on three things when it comes to [00:46:32] cycle thinking, which is your appetite, your blood sugar, and your digestion. It's normal for your appetite to be suppressed [00:46:40] during the phase and to be stimulated during the luteal phase. So what that means is that estrogen literally suppresses your [00:46:48] appetite.
So during the points in your cycle, when estrogen is high, basically estrogen rises from menstruation to ovulation and then peaks [00:46:56] that ovulate just before ovulation and then is lower during the luteal phase. So at those moments when estrogen is higher. You're going to feel that you're [00:47:04] less hungry, and then during the luteal phase when progesterone is higher and estrogen is lower progesterone stimulates your appetite.
[00:47:12] So you're going to feel like you can eat everything in sight. And I experienced that every single month. I'm like, right. I'm ovulating right now. And I'm like, literally, I'm like, I [00:47:20] don't care. I don't even want to meal prep. I'll be fine. And my husband, thank God he meal prepped this week for us. But yeah, and then I know that next it's going [00:47:28] to next week, it's going to be all I can think about.
I'm so helpful to know that it's like why that's happening, and also to adjust accordingly. And I [00:47:36] like have a bigger snack when I'm luteal or I'll like add a little bit more protein. You need a little more protein and luteal phase too. So things like that. [00:47:44] When it comes to app to blood sugar balance.
Estrogen basically promotes blood sugar balance progesterone makes your body [00:47:52] less efficient at using glucose. And so you're more susceptible to those ups and downs that can come with the blood sugar roller [00:48:00] coaster. I'm way more cognizant about my blood sugar balance when I'm luteal, I'm never going to like, drink a sugary coffee in the afternoon on an empty [00:48:08] stomach.
I'm going to make sure I have those high protein breakfasts, Crystal, like you were saying, like, there's some research about intermittent fasting with the [00:48:16] menstrual cycle and that research, Mindy, I forgot her last name. She wrote the book fast like a girl. She recommends it. Yes. If you're going to [00:48:24] intermittent fast, which I don't promote personally, but I do, I'm down with this.
Perspective, which is do it in the follicular [00:48:32] phase. Do not do it in the luteal phase. You will cause hormonal chaos. And also you'll feel like crap. And so part of that is because of blood [00:48:40] sugar, eating a high protein savory breakfast is 1 of the best ways to balance your blood sugar. And so.
Yeah, little things like if you're going to eat [00:48:48] dessert, do it after a full balanced meal. That kind of thing I think is a really valuable way to cycle sync. And then the other thing is just digestion. And the [00:48:56] biggest thing there is that your digestion slows down in the luteal phase, estrogen stimulates digestion, stimulates the smooth muscle in your digestive [00:49:04] tract to push it along, basically, whereas progesterone is a muscle relaxer.
It's a natural muscle relaxer, and that [00:49:12] includes the muscles. In the smooth muscle of your digestion system, meaning that your digestion is a little more sluggish. It moves a little more slowly. And [00:49:20] so being aware of that is important. And like, hydrating more so that you make sure you don't get constipated.
So many women I work with have constipation [00:49:28] in the luteal phase. I've experienced that in my life as well. And knowing that part of that is because. Digestion is naturally more sluggish and there's [00:49:36] things that we can do to support digestion. One of my favorites, especially this time of year, at least in the northern hemisphere, is that it's soup season.
So [00:49:44] eating, basically what soup is, the way I like to think about it, my nutritional brain is like It's almost like pre digesting your food and so, but [00:49:52] you're containing it all in a pot, right? So you're maintaining a lot of the nutrients, but you're like making your food easier to digest. You're letting your instant pot or your stove [00:50:00] do a little bit of that work for you.
So that by the time you're consuming it, it's easier to digest, but you're still getting a lot of really, really beneficial [00:50:08] nutrients and that can help prevent constipation. And when you're eating things like salads and like, cabbage slaw [00:50:16] and raw carrot salads in your luteal phase, those things can back you up because they're a lot harder to digest.
So when I talk, [00:50:24] I'm not like anti cycle singing. I don't think the whole thing is BS. It's just that I think a lot of the mainstream advice around it that's [00:50:32] circulating right now is like completely misses the point and completely misses the mark. To me, the number one point of cycle syncing is body [00:50:40] literacy.
So do that first, learn how to track your cycle, and then we can incorporate these things. And also I think a lot of it [00:50:48] is like learning about your own unique body. learning to pay attention to your symptoms. the site cycle thinking again is like [00:50:56] this one size fits all cookie cutter situation.
And it actually is bypassing the part where you're connecting with your body. And I [00:51:04] think, yeah, that really frustrates me because it's that thing where I'm like, Oh, we're so close. It's just so
Christa: close, but we need to [00:51:12] understand. Yeah. It's just like doing breast exams, right? You partly, you do that just to learn the landscape of your breast tissue so that if something is out of the [00:51:20] ordinary, you recognize it.
Like it's just knowing your body better. It's It's yeah, it's a template to say, Hey, you've got [00:51:28] this phase and you've got this phase, but not everybody is textbook once you're paramedic puzzle, good luck sister, because things could [00:51:36] be left and right and up and down. So yeah, I think you're spot on with that, that it's great information.
And for most of my life, I never even really knew about the [00:51:44] cycles, most people don't know about the ebbs and the flows and the rises of estrogen and the rise of progesterone. But what you're speaking to, and fully [00:51:52] agree is that we need to educate. Yes, this is what happens.
It might not look this way for you. Be in tune with your body period dot
Mariah Berendt: Yeah, I [00:52:00] actually, I love the example of like breast exams to learn the landscape of your breast tissue because it this. Now on the head, [00:52:08] that's literally the same with body literacy because. Yeah. It's the same situation.
Once you learn your rhythm and you learn your [00:52:16] body, the moment something is different, you're going to notice it. And you're going to understand that, Ooh, something's changing. And it's literally like the [00:52:24] best medical record you could ever keep is learning how to track your menstrual biomarkers. Because it's a way.
It's a health [00:52:32] record. You're building a health record when you track your cycle, whether it's on an app, not like a app that has predictive features that tells you when you're on, [00:52:40] but an app like read your body is my favorite, which you use to let it, to just, keep this record of your health. It's a health record.
That [00:52:48] then, yeah, the moment something shifts. You'll know and you will know before long before it's [00:52:56] going to be something that's like scary. It's something that, you know, and that's why this is so empowering and literally life changing. And I believe [00:53:04] like when we talk about how this work changes the world, this is what I think about.
It's like, [00:53:12] imagine. Even a lot of the, more politicized issues that are obviously very front and center in the U. S. right now with the presidential election, whatever side you [00:53:20] fall on with like even abortion for me, I'm like, whatever you believe to me, number one is educating women about [00:53:28] their bodies, whatever, wherever you land on that.
It's almost like we're talking about the wrong thing here, my friends, because [00:53:36] body literacy is. The empowerment that we need in order to be able to make difficult choices about our bodies, and [00:53:44] it also, I think will resolve a lot of the issues that we face to when it comes to women's health, because we put the [00:53:52] power back in the women's hands when we learn how to track our biomarkers, because not only is this.
Can we do this for health? [00:54:00] We can also use it as a method of natural birth control as well. So, we get to rely on ourselves. No, 1 can [00:54:08] ever take that knowledge away from you. Once you have it, it cannot be taken away That's where like, yeah, the cycle syncing stuff and even just, [00:54:16] more watered down information.
I'm like, no, this is serious. Like, this is a serious tool that can literally [00:54:24] transform the world if women have this power, because. It puts the power back in women's hands, which I think is really what needs to [00:54:32] happen. And it not only gives us agency. I think it also gives us confidence. Like, I remember the 1st time I confirmed ovulation.
[00:54:40] By tracking my biomarkers, it felt like a superpower. And I really just see this, that's where I'm like, where no, no presidential [00:54:48] candidate is talking about that. You know what I mean? So not to get controversial or anything.
Sheree: I [00:54:56] love it. I've absolutely loved this entire conversation. I feel like we could just.
chat for hours and hours and hours. And we may have to get you back for another, [00:55:04] for another chat. I feel like that's going to have sparked, you can feel your passion, right? If you can feel the energy, even like through just the screen. [00:55:12] And it's so beautiful that you are showing up and doing this work and helping women empower themselves, especially around this body literacy conversation, cutting through [00:55:20] the bullshit, cutting through the noise, and really just.
Again, come back to that word of empowerment because, I'm a strong believer in our Christers too. Like [00:55:28] our hormones are our superpower and it's not coming from this. Okay. Feminist action and woman must take over the world. It's coming from, [00:55:36] we've been suppressed for so long and not understood our bodies for so long and told to shut down our bodies for so long and then expected to produce little humans [00:55:44] where the switch of a button it's amazing that we can now have these conversations.
It's amazing. We now have this knowledge at our hands. And the [00:55:52] more women we can get this out to the better. And so I thank you for your time today. I thank you for showing up and doing this work and just for [00:56:00] the conversations you've been willing and open to have. Thanks,
Mariah Berendt: babe. Thanks for having me. Both of you.
It's been great. Where can people find [00:56:08] you if they want to work directly with you? Best place is on Instagram. And yeah, my handle is nourish your cycle. I hang out there all the time. So every [00:56:16] day,
Sheree: We'll pop that in the show notes and, like Mariah's one of those people that you can, she'll message right back or she's got a beautiful girl talk Tuesdays, [00:56:24] like you're there to help, you're there to support. So yeah, if you have any questions, I know that you'll be right there ready to answer.
[00:56:32] If you love this episode, be sure to leave us a review, download and subscribe. If you know someone that could also benefit from this conversation, please share. [00:56:40] That's how we spread empowered health. We'll see you again for another episode of the Wild and Well [00:56:48] Collective.
