October 1, 2024 ⢠34 mins
This episode is about to be a big game-changer for you! We talking about hormone health and what we don't know about our hormones is scary!!! In order to take control of our lives and feel our best you have to listen to this episode with Maddie Battle from Balance with Maddie.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi guys and welcome back to Confessions of a Wannabe
it Girl.
I am still buzzing aroundEurope, so I hope you are
enjoying these replay episodes.
Unfortunately, my acne hasstarted to come back a little
bit and it has got me thinking alot about hormones and hormones
health.
So I'm taking a look back atthis episode with Balance with
Maddie to talk all aboutunderstanding body chemistry and
(00:21):
Hormones 101.
Welcome to Confessions of aWannabe it Girl.
I'm your host, marley Fregging,and I'm here to help you filter
out all the bullshit and becomethe next it Girl.
This podcast explores thereality of what it really takes
to make it out there.
As it turns out, it is way lessInstagrammable than I thought
(00:42):
it was going to be.
I'm still very much a work inprogress, but there's simply
nothing else I'd rather be doingthan chasing my dreams.
So let's learn from my mistakesand work together to achieve
our dreams with more confidence,clarity and direction.
Let's get after it, hi guys,and welcome back to Confessions
of a Wannabe it Girl.
We are joined by Balance withMaddie.
(01:04):
Thank you so much for beinghere, maddie.
Yeah, I'm so excited.
Thank you for having me.
I am so excited to talk to youbecause I think hormones are
really a kind of trending topic.
But you are a holisticnutritionist and you have a
certification in clinicaldetoxification but hormone
imbalances have affected youpersonally.
(01:25):
Can you give us like a briefhistory and your story of how
you got into this hormoneunderstanding journey?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I went on birth control when Iwas really young in grade nine I
think I was 13 for hormonalacne and I just had the absolute
worst time with it.
It was so hard on my mentalhealth, so hard on my body.
I had no idea what was going onand then I finally went off of
the pill and, of course, got allthe hormonal acne back
irregular periods, painfulperiods, all this stuff Was
(01:55):
diagnosed with polycysticovarian syndrome, which I had
had the whole time but had noidea because, like the pill
band-aid method, you know thewhole thing.
And then I just kind of went onthis health journey, just kind
of figuring out how to reversePCOS symptoms.
I ended up going to school forholistic nutrition after I
became, like a Reikicertification, a Reiki
(02:16):
practitioner, and learned allabout mind, body, spirit
connection and decided tospecialize in helping other
women with hormone issues andtransition off birth control
pill and fix their hormonal acne.
Because you know, I just wentthrough such a hellish journey
on my own and now I loveeducating women and helping them
do the same.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
It's a very personal journey for you because you went
through it, so you understandall the struggles of those who
are in it Exactly.
As someone who also struggleswith hormonal acne and has been
on birth control since I was 13,.
I think it's a very commonthing that we are kind of
unraveling right now is notmaybe our best move?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Exactly Like more people are kind of waking up to
okay, is it really beneficial?
Do I really need it?
Is it helping, is it hindering?
Like what are the long-termrepercussions?
So I think it's like a reallyimportant conversation to be
having.
And you're right, more and morepeople are kind of looking
deeper into their health, whichI think is really great, and
really important.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yeah, so very want to be it girl thing we would like
to move towards in 2023.
So one of the things is likehormones.
I feel like it's a very glazedover topic in school.
We talk about like sex ed andthere's like a two second thing
about this is estrogen and thisis testosterone, and then we are
like that's covered, moving on.
But like, what do females needto know about hormones?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Okay, fair.
So when people say like hormonebalance, we're usually talking
about sex hormones and there'sother ones like cortisol and
insulin and all these other ones.
But when we're talking aboutsex hormones estrogen and
there's actually three differenttypes of estrogen progesterone
and testosterone.
So one of the most importantthings that, like I wish we
learned in school was that allof these hormones are changing
(03:57):
every single day within our ownpersonal cycle.
So either 28 to 35 day cycle,hopefully, is what we're at, and
each day our hormones arecompletely different.
So it's so different than amale body where their hormones
reset every 24 hours.
Ours are different every singleday and depending on where
we're at in our cycle, we'regoing to feel different, we're
(04:19):
going to have different cervicalfluid, we're going to have
different energy and want tonourish our bodies in all these
different ways.
So that's part of like what Ilove educating women on is kind
of cycle sinking and being moreintuitive with our body, because
we grow up in this nine to fivelife and we're not taught how
to listen to our bodies andwe're not even taught about
exactly like what our hormoneseven do or what the purpose of
(04:39):
them is.
But it's very useful to knowwhere we're at in our cycle, and
if we did know that, then ourlives would be a lot easier.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Right, I feel like I've seen a lot of people talk
about this.
What really is cycle syncingLike?
What does that actually mean?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Okay.
So what it actually means isthat, based on where you're at
in your menstrual cycle, yousync your life to it as much as
possible.
So, for instance, when you'reon your period, your hormones
are the lowest that they're atthroughout the rest of the cycle
.
So progesterone and estrogenare very low and it's kind of
like our inner winter.
So we'd want to be turninginward.
(05:15):
It's kind of when you're feelinglike less social, you want to
stay at home, cozy up, you wantto nourish your body with
grounding foods, iron rich foods, because you're losing a lot of
blood, like it's a big deal.
You know you're shedding a partof your organ, right, and so
making sure that you're notpushing your body.
So that's not the time to bedoing high intensity workouts
because hormonally we don't havea lot of energy at that time.
(05:36):
So that's when you want to bewalking, pilates, yoga, so it's
being aware of where you're atin your cycle and then sinking
your exercise.
It's being aware of whereyou're at in your cycle and then
syncing your exercise, yourfood, to an extent, and kind of
being aware of how different youfeel at different times.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, so what I'm getting from that is like, on
some level, everything affectsour hormones.
Yes, so what are, like, thegood and bad things to do for
your hormones?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
So I think learning about where you're at in your
cycle is key.
So being a little bit moreintentional, I used to be like,
okay, I'm either like on myperiod or I'm not on my period.
Yes, very easy.
Yeah, very easy, very basic.
And the thing about what welearn in school is that our
period is kind of like the starof the show.
But in reality, our ovulation isactually the star of the show,
(06:25):
because the whole point of ourcycle and whether we want to
have a baby or not, our bodywants to be fertile and have a
baby.
So our body wants to ovulatebecause when we ovulate, we
create progesterone, which is soimportant for so many different
functions in our body.
It's basically like our naturalXanax, like it alleviates a lot
of anxiety.
It's good for our bone health.
(06:45):
There's so many amazingbenefits to progesterone and we
don't get those benefits unlesswe ovulate.
So if we are paying attentionto where we're at in our cycle,
then we're able to help our bodyout with the process.
So, for instance, a lot of womendon't ovulate because they're
super stressed out and thatmeans that you're not going to
be creating the progesteronethat you need in order to help
(07:07):
with the anxiety and all theother health benefits that you
get, so just make you morestressed out.
Exactly that's the thing, andthere's so many other things
that go into not ovulating too.
Like you know, you need to benourished in a specific way and
you need to have lowinflammation, and there's so
many things.
But, like, our hormones dictatealmost like so much of our
daily life, and so much of ourdaily life also influences our
(07:28):
hormones too.
So it is like an importantthing to know, and I wish that
we learned more about that inschool, instead of just you know
a little bit of sex education.
It's important to educate womenon how their bodies work, how
ovulation works, how the cycleswork.
You know you can only getpregnant actually six days of
the month, and we learned that.
I feel like I've been lied to.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
I know because we kind of were.
I've heard that now and I'mlike what?
And we just fear, monger usinto believing you are like a
walking, breathing, fertilething.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Just a baby maker through and through, I know, and
if we knew that then we couldlearn how to have natural
contraception and learn howimportant it is to take care of
our bodies so we can create theright amount of hormones.
Like there's so many thingsthat go into it, but just
general.
I think health education isreally important.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Okay, so let's get into what we didn't learn in
school.
What are the cycles for afemale?
We've talked about the one weknow, which is ovulation, which
is having your period, and thenthere's three more.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Okay, so how it works is the first day of your cycle,
is your menstruation phase.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Okay, so you start with your period, really.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Exactly so your day, one of your first like day of
your heavy period bright redblood, like not spotting, but
like first full day of yourperiod.
That's your day one of yourcycle, in your menstruation
cycle, which is technically alsoin your follicular phase.
So the first half of your cycle, before you ovulate, is your
follicular phase and then whenyou're menstruating, it's kind
of like a mini part inside thefollicular phase.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Like a subcategory.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Exactly A subcategory .
Oh, you're a list girl.
I can tell me too.
Yes, me too, I love it.
Okay, so during yourmenstruation this is your inner
winter, as I was saying you'refocusing on nourishing your body
, resting, because you're usinga lot of energy to menstruate.
You're nourishing with ironrich foods, dark leafy greens,
(09:24):
grass fed meat, lots of healthynourishing like root vegetables,
and then you're also, you know,walking Pilates yoga.
You're not doing a lot of highenergy workouts because your
hormones are really low at that.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
So don't do a Barry's boot camp class.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
No, do not do boot camp Do not Exactly so.
Then as we go into, then yourperiod stops.
Then you move into the secondhalf, so your follicular phase,
where we are held by estrogen.
So this first half of our cycle, our estrogen is going up and
our progesterone is stayingpretty low and we are.
This is our inner spring.
So we're starting to get alittle bit more social.
(09:59):
Yeah, you're creative here,you're productive, you're
starting to like kind of comeout of your shell in that way.
You're nourishing withdifferent foods and you're
starting to get more energy.
So this is like strengthtraining starts to get more and
more intense as you reachovulation.
Then, when you ovulate, that'swhen the best time for a Barry's
bootcamp exactly hit workouts,high intensity strength training
, maybe more cardio, and you'refocusing on, like, water rich
(10:22):
foods.
Some women tend to bloat duringtheir ovulation, so more, more
water rich foods can be helpful.
Foods high in antioxidants,foods high in foods that are
good for the liver.
And then this is our innersummer.
So we're feeling super socialhere.
This is when you want to book aphoto shoot or a party, or you
also like your libido is thehighest because, technically,
like your wedding, exactly yourwedding.
(10:45):
Exactly.
That's the best time, yeah,best time, if you can plan that
far in advance, exactly, andthat's most ideal because you're
feeling the most like yourself,you feel the sexiest.
This is when your body wants tomake a baby.
So like you're going to be likethe horniest ever and you're
going to be like the hungriestever, like great couple of days
here corniest ever and you'regoing to be like the hungriest
(11:06):
ever, like great couple of dayshere.
Sex and food, amazing, exactly,exactly.
And then the next phase, whichis the last phase, is the luteal
phase, which is like our innerfall, and here we're focusing on
also being productive.
And in terms of workouts,they're going to be higher
intensity, like moving down tolower intensity the closer that
we get to our period, if thatmakes sense, yeah, so starting
off with like more intense, justlike ovulation, and then you're
(11:28):
kind of getting over towardsyour period.
And this, this second half ofthe cycle, is driven by
progesterone, because yourprogesterone that you created
after ovulation is going tocarry the rest of the cycle
through.
So here you're going to befocusing on making sure you're
not stressed here, making surethat you're doing lots of liver
support to try to like moveestrogen out and more like iron
(11:48):
rich foods, magnesium rich foods, again to like, build up to
your period and then it startsall over again.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Why do?
Speaker 2 (11:52):
you want to move the estrogen out.
So basically, part of hormonebalance is making sure that your
body is detoxifying theestrogen that we're creating at
an optimal rate.
So that can mean the endogenousestrogen that we create in our
body and it can also mean theexogenous estrogens that we get
from our environment.
So we get a lot ofxenoestrogens, which are
(12:14):
chemically they're man-madeestrogens, but they act very
similar.
They're basically very similarin structure in our body as
natural estrogen.
So from plastics, tap water,all of these different things
that we take in daily from ourenvironment can act as estrogen
and this can bog down the liverand it can create an estrogen
(12:35):
imbalance in the body.
So we want to make sure thatwe're doing tons of liver
support all the time, to makesure that we're doing tons of
liver support all the time andmaking sure that we're moving
that estrogen through to makesure that we have a healthy
estrogen and progesterone ratio.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
So if you're, on birth control.
Are you still going throughthese cycles?
Are they muted?
What's going on?
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yes, good question.
So you're not going throughthese cycle phases at all.
It's basically one long phase,like if you see a chart of all
the ups and downs of all thehormones, versus when you're on
the pill.
It's basically a flat linebecause you're not ovulating,
right?
That's how the pill works,right To keep us from getting
(13:14):
pregnant.
So you're not creating thatnatural progesterone, you're not
having the fluctuations andyou're pretty much missing out
on a lot of health benefits bybeing on the pill.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yes, If you've been on it for a prolonged amount of
time, you've been at thatflatline state for a very long
time too.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yes, exactly.
So that's a lot of what I helpwomen do is recreate that
connection, that brain ovaryconnection, because if you
haven't ovulated for years andmost women are in this situation
, I was definitely it takes alittle bit of time to
reestablish those systems.
So you need to be replenishing.
(13:52):
There's tons of nutrients thathormonal birth control depletes
while you're on it and those arevery similar to the very
nutrients that we need in orderto have hormone balance in
general.
And then there's also othersystems too, so it's really hard
on your drainage anddetoxification systems.
It's really hard on your gut andall of these pillars of health
that you need to be sorted outbefore you can reach hormone
(14:14):
balance, because your bodydoesn't care too much doesn't
care as much about ovulating asit does about all these other
things, like it's not going toovulate and create a baby if it
thinks that you're in anemergency state.
So if you're really stressedout or you've got tons of gut
issues that are creating lots ofinflammation, why would it let
you create a baby if it doesn'tthink that it's a safe
(14:34):
environment to create a baby?
So there's so many things thatyou need to be preparing your
body either before the pill, or,ideally, before or after, to
help your body reestablish allof these systems that it needs
to work optimally in order toovulate again.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
So can you start that transition while you're like on
the pill and like wanting toget off?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yes, ideally, you would be preparing to get off of
the pill and re-nourishing allthese systems three months
before going off of it.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
I do so, like you're not doomed like you can start?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yes, of course, and you can even start after, but
the sooner that you startpreparing your body, the less
chance of you getting anypost-pill syndrome symptoms, and
the less severe they're goingto be the more you prepare ahead
of time.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
I mean that sounds like a very good thing, because
it feels like all these systemsare kind of delicate but also
like workable.
We just have to learn.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Yeah, exactly.
And the thing about the pill,too, that we don't learn is that
it's really hard on your gutmicrobiome.
So a lot of women who get offthe pill, or especially the pill
but it can be the IUD as well,because it is still synthetic
hormones but especially the pillwith the gut specifically, is
that it causes dysbiosis, whichis like more bad gut bacteria
than good gut bacteria strains,which allows pathogens to
(15:51):
overgrow because there isn'tenough good bacteria to keep
them at bay.
So I see a lot of women who'vegot hormonal acne that's
stemming from a gut issue, thatis, from a pathogen overgrowth
like candida or parasites, justbecause the pill has helped
create this environment wherethings that we don't want in
excess are able to proliferate.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Well, you said the buzzword hormonal acne.
Let's talk about it.
Let's talk about it so you canstill get it.
If you're on birth control, youcannot get it.
You could actually be growingthese things in your gut to
start debunking hormonal acnefor us.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Okay.
So the thing with hormonal acneis that it's a sign, it's a
symptom.
It's not the actual problem.
It's just the sign of theproblem and I know I dealt with
it for so long.
I know it feels like the issue,but it really is just a red
flag telling you there'ssomething going on, and usually
that is a gut issue.
Or it's high estrogen, usuallypaired with a low progesterone
(16:50):
because they're not ovulating,or it's high testosterone, high
androgens.
So those are usually the threeroot causes behind hormonal acne
and it's very rarely just one.
So a lot of women who aredealing with hormonal acne have
a little bit of estrogendominance.
Their drainage anddetoxification pathways aren't
clearing it properly or they'retaking in a lot from their
environment and they're alsodealing with a gut issue which
(17:13):
is causing a lot of inflammationin the body and giving them
acne as well.
So it's very rarely just one.
But those are usually the threeroot causes behind hormonal
acne the high androgens, highestrogen and a gut issue.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Why do we put the bandaid of like a medication on
top of it, and isn't that goingto just make it worse?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
It does make it worse in the long run, but it feels
like short-term solution.
And that's the thing with birthcontrol is that basically, what
it does is it lowers yourtestosterone, which lowers sebum
production.
So in the moment you're notcreating this oil and then
you're creating less acne.
That's how surge in it and thenyou end up having the same
amount of acne, or if not more,afterwards, and a lot of women
(18:04):
even get hormonal acne on thepill.
So it feels like the solutionand if you don't know that
there's natural solutionsinstead, you're going to go for
it.
It's exactly what I did.
I was young and my doctor saidthis is a solution and I said,
okay, like no idea.
That's the thing about.
You know, I'm not anti birthcontrol by any means, but like
it's important to have educatedconsent, you know you need to
(18:27):
know exactly what you're doingto your body.
When you're going on amedication and it is a bandaid
method, like you will have todeal with the repercussions of
being on a pharmaceutical for along time, whether that's the
acne again or if it said it wasjust really hard on your gut, it
was really hard on your liver,and now you're having to do a
bunch of kind of cleaning upafter the fact.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
And will that lead to hormone imbalances or hormone
imbalances like genetic?
How do we get a hormoneimbalance?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
So I think with a lot of health issues, you know
genetics is the gun but, likelifestyle pulls the trigger.
So you can be predisposed to ahealth issue, but the way that
you live your life is going todecipher whether you actually
deal with that issue or not.
So with hormone issues, likebeing on the pill for a long
period of time can cause hormoneimbalances.
(19:11):
Living a lifestyle where you'renot eating a lot of whole foods
and you're eating a lot ofprocessed, inflammatory foods
Stress is a huge factor when itcomes to hormone issues, because
if someone is stressed out,either mentally and emotionally
like we think of how stress isor physically, with lots of
inflammation or a thyroid issueor a gut issue, that can cause
(19:31):
us to not ovulate, which thencreates a hormone imbalance.
Low detoxification so peoplewho are not working on their
drainage pathways, people whoaren't going to the bathroom
every single day, who aren'tworking on their liver, who
don't do lymphatic support, likethat can all contribute to
hormonal acne and hormoneimbalances.
Using lots of products, likethere's so many just chemicals
(19:52):
in our environment, so beingvery aware of what you're taking
in, what you're using in yourhome as cleaning products, what
you're putting on your body likeall of these things basically
add up to its compound effectand that can create a hormone
imbalance long-term.
The other thing is, too, for alot of women who deal with high
testosterone and high androgens,which is one of the hallmarks
(20:12):
of PCOS.
So when I was diagnosed withthis, I had high testosterone.
That's what was causing my acne, along with estrogen dominance
as well, which we can also talkabout too, because it's really
common in a lot of women when itcomes to high androgens or high
testosterone.
Blood sugar dysregulation is ahuge part of that.
Cortisol dysregulation is ahuge part of that.
So stress making sure thatyou're balancing your blood
(20:33):
sugar as much as possible.
There are so many differentkind of pillars of health that
go into a hormone imbalance andthat's why it can be so kind of
complicated because it's usuallyso different for everybody, so
very common.
A lot of women deal with highestrogen because, again, we're
so exposed to so many chemicallymade estrogens and in our
environment and this can kind ofcause an imbalance in our body
(20:57):
and also, if our liver isn'tworking through estrogen at the
optimal rate that we want, thatcan cause an estrogen dominance.
Having gut dysbiosis helpscreate an estrogen dominance
picture as well, and what thisusually looks like is really
heavy, painful periods, acne,weight gain, specifically around
like the top of the thighs andthe butt area just in that one
(21:20):
area mood swings and really badPMS.
So if you're the type of personwho is completely out for a
week before their period reallytender breasts, really bad mood
swings really tend to leantowards anxiety before their
period All of this is reallycommon symptoms of having a lot
of estrogen, either in generalor in relation to progesterone,
(21:42):
because you're not ovulating, oryou're not creating a lot of
progesterone during yourovulation because you're not
having a strong ovulation.
So you can have a lot ofestrogen relative to your low
progesterone.
And this is really common.
Just because so many exposed toso many chemicals in our
environment and we don't learn alot about how to support the
liver, how important gut healthand digestion is, like we need
(22:03):
to be going to the bathroom twoto three times a day.
No one learns about that, howto do that.
Or if you are you knowchronically constipated.
Why are you chronicallyconstipated?
How do you fix it?
All of these things are whatadd up to hormone imbalance and
they're all very common.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
So if you go to a doctor and you're experiencing
some of those symptoms,no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
I would say the recommendation is usually birth
control, because anytime in myexperience anyways that you go
to a doctor and you say I've gotreally heavy painful periods,
it's debilitating or they'reirregular, they're going to say,
okay, well, here's the pill,this is going to regulate you
out.
And it doesn't regulateanything, it just like slaps a
bandaid over it.
What I would recommend isfinding somebody who will do
(22:50):
hormone testing.
But before you even do that,like let's like go back to
basics.
Like you want to work onregulating your blood sugar.
So eating a meal that's basedaround protein, good quality fat
and carbs, so blood sugarbalancing meals, eating
frequently, not having coffee onan empty stomach, eating
breakfast every day, likethere's so many things that you
can do to help with this processinstead of just going on a pill
(23:13):
that is marketed as a cure allbut isn't really helping you
long-term.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
It might help for that month, that year.
In the long-term, there's goingto be so much at the end of it,
that you have to weigh out theoptions, which is something so
undiscussed.
It's a lot and like what areyour tips for you know, starting
to heal or manage, Like, arethere certain foods, there's
certain supplements you like tosee people taking?
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Yeah, absolutely.
So the first thing that youwant to start is you want to
balance your blood sugar.
So protein, fat and carb atevery single meal, because what
that's going to do is that'sgoing to make sure that you're
not getting like blood sugarspikes and dips throughout the
day, and that can totally throwoff your cortisol and it can
totally throw off your hormones,as your sex hormones as well.
So being very conscientious,eating high quality protein and
(23:58):
then creating a meal around that, getting high quality fat that
is absolutely key.
Drinking water with minerals init so adding in either mineral
drops, electrolyte drops, rocksalt and lemon is great too.
Making sure that you're gettinglots of minerals we're taught
you need to drink tons of water,but drinking tons of plain
water can actually flush a lotof your minerals out.
(24:19):
So making sure that you'reremineralizing your water that
is absolutely key, and becauseminerals are very important for
hormone balance in general.
The next thing that I wouldrecommend doing is working on
your detoxification.
So our drainage pathways workin a funnel and if the bottom of
the funnel is backed up, therest are backed up.
So the first part of that isyour GI and you need to be going
(24:43):
to the bathroom at least twicea day and if you're not, that
means your liver, your lymphaticsystem, kidney, skin, lungs all
that stuff is going to bebacked up because we actually
poop out a lot of our used uphormones and a lot of the toxins
that our liver has workedthrough.
Our liver puts it in the bileand then we excrete it through
our stool.
So if it's sitting in your GI,your body's actually reabsorbing
(25:05):
those hormones that your liverjust works so hard to get rid of
, as well as any toxins from ourenvironment, from our skincare,
from our tap water, all thisstuff.
So going to the bathroomregularly and then also working
on your liver.
So this can be done throughwhole foods with lots of
sulfuric compounds, socruciferous veggies, brussels
sprouts, kale, collard greens,cauliflower, broccoli, all those
(25:26):
dark, leafy, bitter greens.
Those have sulfuric compoundsthat help run the liver pathways
and run a lot of thoseestrogens out of your body as
well as the toxins out of yourbody.
So you can do all of thisthrough food.
The only thing that I wouldrecommend that is absolutely
imperative for everybody to takeand I would recommend it to
everybody even if I wasn'tseeing them is magnesium.
(25:47):
Magnesium is one of the mostimportant minerals.
It's involved in over five or600 functions in the body and we
just do not get it from oursoil anymore.
Our soil is completely depletedof it.
So it's extremely importantmineral for hormone balance and
for so many other things in thebody.
So I recommend taking magnesiumevery single day.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
And you said something on Instagram that I
thought was super interesting.
Not the ones just at Target.
They have to be professionalgrade.
How do you know they'reprofessional grade?
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Okay, this is a great question.
So the thing with supplementsis that it's not a regulated
industry, which there's nothingwrong with that, but it's
important to buy.
It really is You're gettingwhat you pay for when it comes
to supplements.
So if you look on the back of amagnesium supplement that you
get at a drugstore versus theback of a magnesium supplement
(26:37):
that you get from a professionalgrade dispensary, there's going
to be so many additives, colors, fillers in the cheaper one
from the drugstore, Whereas theone from a reputable company is
going to have just the medicinalingredient and just the capsule
.
There was actually a study donethat looked at a lot of cheaper
brands I think it was at, yeah,maybe Costco or Shoppers Drug
(27:00):
Mart and in a lot of thesupplements the medicinal
ingredient that said that it wassupposed to be on the front
weren't even in supplement.
It was really bad.
It was like 5% or lower of theactual.
Let's say it said magnesium,but there was actually like 5%
or lower of the actual.
Let's say it said magnesium,but there was actually like 5%
or less magnesium in it, whichis very scary, because what are
you ingesting every single day?
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Also just like what a waste of money.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Waste of money and waste of just resources, just a
waste all around.
And so how you know it's aprofessional company is I have
basically a trusted practitioner, but also there's professional
grade dispensaries, so I haveaccounts with full script, which
is both in the U?
S and in Canada, and they onlycarry professional grade
supplements.
So that's something that'simportant too is making sure
(27:43):
that you're getting high qualitysupplements, because it's
actually hindering you more thanhelping if you're just
ingesting, you know, die numberfive every, every single day, as
opposed to what you actuallywant to be taking.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Great Love that.
Also on your Instagram, youtalk a lot about parasites.
I'm very curious to learn howwe could have parasites.
How do you handle a parasite?
How do you know if you have aparasite?
Questions are endless.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Absolutely yes.
Parasites are way more commonthan people think.
I honestly think that if youhave a pulse, you have parasites
.
It's just a matter of the typethat you have, the amount that
you have and the health of yourimmune system in order to keep
them kind of at a healthy rangeand your gut health, you know
you can have them and it's okay.
Yeah, you can have them and it'sokay.
(28:28):
But you want ideally, everybodywould do a parasite cleanse
once a year In my ideal world,if that's what people would do.
But when it gets to the pointwhere you're dealing with gut
issues, like if you'reconstantly bloating, that's not
normal and I love this trend ofpeople saying this is my body in
the morning, this is my body atnight.
Like you know, it changes andthat's totally normal.
I think that's great.
But at the end of the day, froma health perspective, bloating
(28:50):
all the time is not normal.
There's a reason why you'rebloating all the time.
So if you're feeling like nomatter what you eat, you're
bloating, or you can't digestfats properly, or you're always
kind of burping, if you have anylike urgency or these are just
like the most common symptoms ofparasites in my experience, if
you're dealing with constantfluctuation between, like, hard
(29:11):
stools and diarrhea, that's areally big indication.
If you've got any anal itching,especially at night, that's
pretty much tell all.
If you've ever had foodpoisoning, if you've ever gone
away on a trip and your guthealth has not felt the same
after, like, the thing withparasites is that the symptoms
are different for everybody andthere's so many different types.
So a lot of women that I seethat have hormonal acne or acne
(29:32):
on their shoulders and back.
That's a huge indication too.
Or if you're dealing with ahealth issue and you just cannot
figure out what the heck ishappening.
You've tried all these things.
Some weeks you feel great, someweeks you feel really bad.
Usually that indicates that youshould be doing a parasite
cleanse, and what that entailsis a herbal parasite cleanse.
I don't recommend going to thedoctor and getting kind of the
(29:56):
antibiotics because they don'tlead to a gut issue.
Yeah, it's hard on your gutthat you don't take them for
long enough to kill them becausethey all have different like
life cycles too.
So you want to kill themmedicine, like herbally, so
you're killing them, you'retaking something to kill them,
you're taking something to mopthem up and you're taking
something to excrete them, andyou do that a series of times
and then you have tore-inoculate your gut bacteria
afterwards.
It's a whole process, but I'vedone it a couple of times and
(30:19):
every single one of my clientsthat I've done it with has felt
amazing after.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
This is so much, but in a great way, like it's so
much and like it can maybe seemoverwhelming.
You know, I myself am like, ohmy gosh, I need to get this
together.
What's the best or easiestplace you think we can get
started on our hormone health?
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Yes, okay.
So best, easiest place isstarting to work out in the
morning, not at night.
So if we're hitting all thedifferent kind of like pillars,
so cortisol regulation, let'swork out in the morning because
ideally that's when yourcortisol is highest.
When you wake up in the morning, put your face in the natural
light, in your full spectrumlight.
You don't need to fully gooutside.
Ideally you'd have youreyeballs in the sun for a good
(31:02):
you know five minutes.
That resets your circadianrhythm, so that's a perfect
place to start Eating within 30to 60 minutes of waking up in
the morning.
Really important.
So you don't want to be runningon stress hormones all morning,
and if you're the type ofperson who isn't hungry in the
morning, that's most likely whatyou're doing.
You're running on stresshormones in the morning.
And if you force yourself thisis the only time that I would
ever say to force yourself toeat or to do something, because
(31:22):
it's not intuitive Forceyourself to eat breakfast every
day for two weeks and you willbecome more hungry in the
morning and that's a sign of ahealthy metabolism.
So that's an amazing place tostart too.
Do not drink coffee on an emptystomach.
If there's anything that youtake from this podcast.
It is that.
So that is really important aswell.
That completely messes up yourstress hormones as well.
(31:43):
And have your coffee with yourfood or after your food and
focus on high quality protein.
So grass fed meat, wild fish,chicken, thighs, stuff with lots
of minerals in it.
Get some more mineral heavyfoods, oysters, shellfish.
Make sure that you're basingyour food, your meals, around
protein.
A lot of women don't get enoughprotein and this is a huge
(32:05):
reason for blood sugardysregulation, and your hormones
will not be balanced withoutbalanced blood sugar.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Wow, Maddie.
Oh, you are just dropping somuch knowledge.
I could listen to you talkabout this stuff all day.
I'm fascinated.
You speak so eloquently.
You're clearly so passionateabout it.
Can you tell everybody abouthow they can work with you,
where they can find you and allthat good jazz.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Yeah, absolutely.
So you can find me at balancewith Maddie on Instagram and
TikTok.
My website is naturalbalancenutritioncom and I work with
women in a group program that'salso personalized.
I also do one-on-ones and Ihave an ebook on detoxification
and drainage pathways alone, andI'm also coming out with a
(32:48):
smaller offering soon that isgoing to be about just
transitioning off of birthcontrol and how to do that in
the healthiest way possible, andyeah, Maddie, thank you so much
for joining us.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
It's been so nice.
Guys, that was like such acrash course in hormones.
I cannot wait to work withMaddie myself.
I've been dealing with hormonalacne and she is clearly so
passionate and so intelligentabout hormones and hormonal acne
.
So, guys, make sure to checkher out.
Guys, if you liked this episode, please make sure to share it
with a friend, and I am beggingyou, begging you rate and
(33:20):
subscribe to the show, but alsoplease leave us reviews.
We love reviews.
I don't know why I said it likethat, but, guys, thank you so
much for listening and we'll seeyou next Tuesday.
You so much for listening andwe'll see you next Tuesday.
Hi guys, and welcome back toConfessions of a Wannabe it Girl
(33:41):
.
I am still buzzing aroundEurope, so I hope you are
enjoying these replay episodes.
Unfortunately, my acne hasstarted to come back a little
bit and it has got me thinking alot about hormones and hormones
health.
So I'm taking a look back atthis episode with Balance with
Maddie, to talk all aboutunderstanding body chemistry and
Hormones 101.
Let's dive in.
Thank you.
Hi guys and welcome back to Confessions of a Wannabe
it Girl.
I am still buzzing aroundEurope, so I hope you are
enjoying these replay episodes.
Unfortunately, my acne hasstarted to come back a little
bit and it has got me thinking alot about hormones and hormones
health.
So I'm taking a look back atthis episode with Balance with
Maddie to talk all aboutunderstanding body chemistry and
(00:21):
Hormones 101.
Welcome to Confessions of aWannabe it Girl.
I'm your host, marley Fregging,and I'm here to help you filter
out all the bullshit and becomethe next it Girl.
This podcast explores thereality of what it really takes
to make it out there.
As it turns out, it is way lessInstagrammable than I thought
(00:42):
it was going to be.
I'm still very much a work inprogress, but there's simply
nothing else I'd rather be doingthan chasing my dreams.
So let's learn from my mistakesand work together to achieve
our dreams with more confidence,clarity and direction.
Let's get after it, hi guys,and welcome back to Confessions
of a Wannabe it Girl.
We are joined by Balance withMaddie.
(01:04):
Thank you so much for beinghere, maddie.
Yeah, I'm so excited.
Thank you for having me.
I am so excited to talk to youbecause I think hormones are
really a kind of trending topic.
But you are a holisticnutritionist and you have a
certification in clinicaldetoxification but hormone
imbalances have affected youpersonally.
(01:25):
Can you give us like a briefhistory and your story of how
you got into this hormoneunderstanding journey?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I went on birth control when Iwas really young in grade nine I
think I was 13 for hormonalacne and I just had the absolute
worst time with it.
It was so hard on my mentalhealth, so hard on my body.
I had no idea what was going onand then I finally went off of
the pill and, of course, got allthe hormonal acne back
irregular periods, painfulperiods, all this stuff Was
(01:55):
diagnosed with polycysticovarian syndrome, which I had
had the whole time but had noidea because, like the pill
band-aid method, you know thewhole thing.
And then I just kind of went onthis health journey, just kind
of figuring out how to reversePCOS symptoms.
I ended up going to school forholistic nutrition after I
became, like a Reikicertification, a Reiki
(02:16):
practitioner, and learned allabout mind, body, spirit
connection and decided tospecialize in helping other
women with hormone issues andtransition off birth control
pill and fix their hormonal acne.
Because you know, I just wentthrough such a hellish journey
on my own and now I loveeducating women and helping them
do the same.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
It's a very personal journey for you because you went
through it, so you understandall the struggles of those who
are in it Exactly.
As someone who also struggleswith hormonal acne and has been
on birth control since I was 13,.
I think it's a very commonthing that we are kind of
unraveling right now is notmaybe our best move?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Exactly Like more people are kind of waking up to
okay, is it really beneficial?
Do I really need it?
Is it helping, is it hindering?
Like what are the long-termrepercussions?
So I think it's like a reallyimportant conversation to be
having.
And you're right, more and morepeople are kind of looking
deeper into their health, whichI think is really great, and
really important.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yeah, so very want to be it girl thing we would like
to move towards in 2023.
So one of the things is likehormones.
I feel like it's a very glazedover topic in school.
We talk about like sex ed andthere's like a two second thing
about this is estrogen and thisis testosterone, and then we are
like that's covered, moving on.
But like, what do females needto know about hormones?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Okay, fair.
So when people say like hormonebalance, we're usually talking
about sex hormones and there'sother ones like cortisol and
insulin and all these other ones.
But when we're talking aboutsex hormones estrogen and
there's actually three differenttypes of estrogen progesterone
and testosterone.
So one of the most importantthings that, like I wish we
learned in school was that allof these hormones are changing
(03:57):
every single day within our ownpersonal cycle.
So either 28 to 35 day cycle,hopefully, is what we're at, and
each day our hormones arecompletely different.
So it's so different than amale body where their hormones
reset every 24 hours.
Ours are different every singleday and depending on where
we're at in our cycle, we'regoing to feel different, we're
(04:19):
going to have different cervicalfluid, we're going to have
different energy and want tonourish our bodies in all these
different ways.
So that's part of like what Ilove educating women on is kind
of cycle sinking and being moreintuitive with our body, because
we grow up in this nine to fivelife and we're not taught how
to listen to our bodies andwe're not even taught about
exactly like what our hormoneseven do or what the purpose of
(04:39):
them is.
But it's very useful to knowwhere we're at in our cycle, and
if we did know that, then ourlives would be a lot easier.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Right, I feel like I've seen a lot of people talk
about this.
What really is cycle syncingLike?
What does that actually mean?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Okay.
So what it actually means isthat, based on where you're at
in your menstrual cycle, yousync your life to it as much as
possible.
So, for instance, when you'reon your period, your hormones
are the lowest that they're atthroughout the rest of the cycle
.
So progesterone and estrogenare very low and it's kind of
like our inner winter.
So we'd want to be turninginward.
(05:15):
It's kind of when you're feelinglike less social, you want to
stay at home, cozy up, you wantto nourish your body with
grounding foods, iron rich foods, because you're losing a lot of
blood, like it's a big deal.
You know you're shedding a partof your organ, right, and so
making sure that you're notpushing your body.
So that's not the time to bedoing high intensity workouts
because hormonally we don't havea lot of energy at that time.
(05:36):
So that's when you want to bewalking, pilates, yoga, so it's
being aware of where you're atin your cycle and then sinking
your exercise.
It's being aware of whereyou're at in your cycle and then
syncing your exercise, yourfood, to an extent, and kind of
being aware of how different youfeel at different times.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, so what I'm getting from that is like, on
some level, everything affectsour hormones.
Yes, so what are, like, thegood and bad things to do for
your hormones?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
So I think learning about where you're at in your
cycle is key.
So being a little bit moreintentional, I used to be like,
okay, I'm either like on myperiod or I'm not on my period.
Yes, very easy.
Yeah, very easy, very basic.
And the thing about what welearn in school is that our
period is kind of like the starof the show.
But in reality, our ovulation isactually the star of the show,
(06:25):
because the whole point of ourcycle and whether we want to
have a baby or not, our bodywants to be fertile and have a
baby.
So our body wants to ovulatebecause when we ovulate, we
create progesterone, which is soimportant for so many different
functions in our body.
It's basically like our naturalXanax, like it alleviates a lot
of anxiety.
It's good for our bone health.
(06:45):
There's so many amazingbenefits to progesterone and we
don't get those benefits unlesswe ovulate.
So if we are paying attentionto where we're at in our cycle,
then we're able to help our bodyout with the process.
So, for instance, a lot of womendon't ovulate because they're
super stressed out and thatmeans that you're not going to
be creating the progesteronethat you need in order to help
(07:07):
with the anxiety and all theother health benefits that you
get, so just make you morestressed out.
Exactly that's the thing, andthere's so many other things
that go into not ovulating too.
Like you know, you need to benourished in a specific way and
you need to have lowinflammation, and there's so
many things.
But, like, our hormones dictatealmost like so much of our
daily life, and so much of ourdaily life also influences our
(07:28):
hormones too.
So it is like an importantthing to know, and I wish that
we learned more about that inschool, instead of just you know
a little bit of sex education.
It's important to educate womenon how their bodies work, how
ovulation works, how the cycleswork.
You know you can only getpregnant actually six days of
the month, and we learned that.
I feel like I've been lied to.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
I know because we kind of were.
I've heard that now and I'mlike what?
And we just fear, monger usinto believing you are like a
walking, breathing, fertilething.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Just a baby maker through and through, I know, and
if we knew that then we couldlearn how to have natural
contraception and learn howimportant it is to take care of
our bodies so we can create theright amount of hormones.
Like there's so many thingsthat go into it, but just
general.
I think health education isreally important.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Okay, so let's get into what we didn't learn in
school.
What are the cycles for afemale?
We've talked about the one weknow, which is ovulation, which
is having your period, and thenthere's three more.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Okay, so how it works is the first day of your cycle,
is your menstruation phase.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Okay, so you start with your period, really.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Exactly so your day, one of your first like day of
your heavy period bright redblood, like not spotting, but
like first full day of yourperiod.
That's your day one of yourcycle, in your menstruation
cycle, which is technically alsoin your follicular phase.
So the first half of your cycle, before you ovulate, is your
follicular phase and then whenyou're menstruating, it's kind
of like a mini part inside thefollicular phase.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Like a subcategory.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Exactly A subcategory .
Oh, you're a list girl.
I can tell me too.
Yes, me too, I love it.
Okay, so during yourmenstruation this is your inner
winter, as I was saying you'refocusing on nourishing your body
, resting, because you're usinga lot of energy to menstruate.
You're nourishing with ironrich foods, dark leafy greens,
(09:24):
grass fed meat, lots of healthynourishing like root vegetables,
and then you're also, you know,walking Pilates yoga.
You're not doing a lot of highenergy workouts because your
hormones are really low at that.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
So don't do a Barry's boot camp class.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
No, do not do boot camp Do not Exactly so.
Then as we go into, then yourperiod stops.
Then you move into the secondhalf, so your follicular phase,
where we are held by estrogen.
So this first half of our cycle, our estrogen is going up and
our progesterone is stayingpretty low and we are.
This is our inner spring.
So we're starting to get alittle bit more social.
(09:59):
Yeah, you're creative here,you're productive, you're
starting to like kind of comeout of your shell in that way.
You're nourishing withdifferent foods and you're
starting to get more energy.
So this is like strengthtraining starts to get more and
more intense as you reachovulation.
Then, when you ovulate, that'swhen the best time for a Barry's
bootcamp exactly hit workouts,high intensity strength training
, maybe more cardio, and you'refocusing on, like, water rich
(10:22):
foods.
Some women tend to bloat duringtheir ovulation, so more, more
water rich foods can be helpful.
Foods high in antioxidants,foods high in foods that are
good for the liver.
And then this is our innersummer.
So we're feeling super socialhere.
This is when you want to book aphoto shoot or a party, or you
also like your libido is thehighest because, technically,
like your wedding, exactly yourwedding.
(10:45):
Exactly.
That's the best time, yeah,best time, if you can plan that
far in advance, exactly, andthat's most ideal because you're
feeling the most like yourself,you feel the sexiest.
This is when your body wants tomake a baby.
So like you're going to be likethe horniest ever and you're
going to be like the hungriestever, like great couple of days
here corniest ever and you'regoing to be like the hungriest
(11:06):
ever, like great couple of dayshere.
Sex and food, amazing, exactly,exactly.
And then the next phase, whichis the last phase, is the luteal
phase, which is like our innerfall, and here we're focusing on
also being productive.
And in terms of workouts,they're going to be higher
intensity, like moving down tolower intensity the closer that
we get to our period, if thatmakes sense, yeah, so starting
off with like more intense, justlike ovulation, and then you're
(11:28):
kind of getting over towardsyour period.
And this, this second half ofthe cycle, is driven by
progesterone, because yourprogesterone that you created
after ovulation is going tocarry the rest of the cycle
through.
So here you're going to befocusing on making sure you're
not stressed here, making surethat you're doing lots of liver
support to try to like moveestrogen out and more like iron
(11:48):
rich foods, magnesium rich foods, again to like, build up to
your period and then it startsall over again.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Why do?
Speaker 2 (11:52):
you want to move the estrogen out.
So basically, part of hormonebalance is making sure that your
body is detoxifying theestrogen that we're creating at
an optimal rate.
So that can mean the endogenousestrogen that we create in our
body and it can also mean theexogenous estrogens that we get
from our environment.
So we get a lot ofxenoestrogens, which are
(12:14):
chemically they're man-madeestrogens, but they act very
similar.
They're basically very similarin structure in our body as
natural estrogen.
So from plastics, tap water,all of these different things
that we take in daily from ourenvironment can act as estrogen
and this can bog down the liverand it can create an estrogen
(12:35):
imbalance in the body.
So we want to make sure thatwe're doing tons of liver
support all the time, to makesure that we're doing tons of
liver support all the time andmaking sure that we're moving
that estrogen through to makesure that we have a healthy
estrogen and progesterone ratio.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
So if you're, on birth control.
Are you still going throughthese cycles?
Are they muted?
What's going on?
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Yes, good question.
So you're not going throughthese cycle phases at all.
It's basically one long phase,like if you see a chart of all
the ups and downs of all thehormones, versus when you're on
the pill.
It's basically a flat linebecause you're not ovulating,
right?
That's how the pill works,right To keep us from getting
(13:14):
pregnant.
So you're not creating thatnatural progesterone, you're not
having the fluctuations andyou're pretty much missing out
on a lot of health benefits bybeing on the pill.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yes, If you've been on it for a prolonged amount of
time, you've been at thatflatline state for a very long
time too.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yes, exactly.
So that's a lot of what I helpwomen do is recreate that
connection, that brain ovaryconnection, because if you
haven't ovulated for years andmost women are in this situation
, I was definitely it takes alittle bit of time to
reestablish those systems.
So you need to be replenishing.
(13:52):
There's tons of nutrients thathormonal birth control depletes
while you're on it and those arevery similar to the very
nutrients that we need in orderto have hormone balance in
general.
And then there's also othersystems too, so it's really hard
on your drainage anddetoxification systems.
It's really hard on your gut andall of these pillars of health
that you need to be sorted outbefore you can reach hormone
(14:14):
balance, because your bodydoesn't care too much doesn't
care as much about ovulating asit does about all these other
things, like it's not going toovulate and create a baby if it
thinks that you're in anemergency state.
So if you're really stressedout or you've got tons of gut
issues that are creating lots ofinflammation, why would it let
you create a baby if it doesn'tthink that it's a safe
(14:34):
environment to create a baby?
So there's so many things thatyou need to be preparing your
body either before the pill, or,ideally, before or after, to
help your body reestablish allof these systems that it needs
to work optimally in order toovulate again.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
So can you start that transition while you're like on
the pill and like wanting toget off?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Yes, ideally, you would be preparing to get off of
the pill and re-nourishing allthese systems three months
before going off of it.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
I do so, like you're not doomed like you can start?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yes, of course, and you can even start after, but
the sooner that you startpreparing your body, the less
chance of you getting anypost-pill syndrome symptoms, and
the less severe they're goingto be the more you prepare ahead
of time.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
I mean that sounds like a very good thing, because
it feels like all these systemsare kind of delicate but also
like workable.
We just have to learn.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Yeah, exactly.
And the thing about the pill,too, that we don't learn is that
it's really hard on your gutmicrobiome.
So a lot of women who get offthe pill, or especially the pill
but it can be the IUD as well,because it is still synthetic
hormones but especially the pillwith the gut specifically, is
that it causes dysbiosis, whichis like more bad gut bacteria
than good gut bacteria strains,which allows pathogens to
(15:51):
overgrow because there isn'tenough good bacteria to keep
them at bay.
So I see a lot of women who'vegot hormonal acne that's
stemming from a gut issue, thatis, from a pathogen overgrowth
like candida or parasites, justbecause the pill has helped
create this environment wherethings that we don't want in
excess are able to proliferate.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Well, you said the buzzword hormonal acne.
Let's talk about it.
Let's talk about it so you canstill get it.
If you're on birth control, youcannot get it.
You could actually be growingthese things in your gut to
start debunking hormonal acnefor us.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Okay.
So the thing with hormonal acneis that it's a sign, it's a
symptom.
It's not the actual problem.
It's just the sign of theproblem and I know I dealt with
it for so long.
I know it feels like the issue,but it really is just a red
flag telling you there'ssomething going on, and usually
that is a gut issue.
Or it's high estrogen, usuallypaired with a low progesterone
(16:50):
because they're not ovulating,or it's high testosterone, high
androgens.
So those are usually the threeroot causes behind hormonal acne
and it's very rarely just one.
So a lot of women who aredealing with hormonal acne have
a little bit of estrogendominance.
Their drainage anddetoxification pathways aren't
clearing it properly or they'retaking in a lot from their
environment and they're alsodealing with a gut issue which
(17:13):
is causing a lot of inflammationin the body and giving them
acne as well.
So it's very rarely just one.
But those are usually the threeroot causes behind hormonal
acne the high androgens, highestrogen and a gut issue.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Why do we put the bandaid of like a medication on
top of it, and isn't that goingto just make it worse?
Speaker 2 (17:31):
It does make it worse in the long run, but it feels
like short-term solution.
And that's the thing with birthcontrol is that basically, what
it does is it lowers yourtestosterone, which lowers sebum
production.
So in the moment you're notcreating this oil and then
you're creating less acne.
That's how surge in it and thenyou end up having the same
amount of acne, or if not more,afterwards, and a lot of women
(18:04):
even get hormonal acne on thepill.
So it feels like the solutionand if you don't know that
there's natural solutionsinstead, you're going to go for
it.
It's exactly what I did.
I was young and my doctor saidthis is a solution and I said,
okay, like no idea.
That's the thing about.
You know, I'm not anti birthcontrol by any means, but like
it's important to have educatedconsent, you know you need to
(18:27):
know exactly what you're doingto your body.
When you're going on amedication and it is a bandaid
method, like you will have todeal with the repercussions of
being on a pharmaceutical for along time, whether that's the
acne again or if it said it wasjust really hard on your gut, it
was really hard on your liver,and now you're having to do a
bunch of kind of cleaning upafter the fact.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
And will that lead to hormone imbalances or hormone
imbalances like genetic?
How do we get a hormoneimbalance?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
So I think with a lot of health issues, you know
genetics is the gun but, likelifestyle pulls the trigger.
So you can be predisposed to ahealth issue, but the way that
you live your life is going todecipher whether you actually
deal with that issue or not.
So with hormone issues, likebeing on the pill for a long
period of time can cause hormoneimbalances.
(19:11):
Living a lifestyle where you'renot eating a lot of whole foods
and you're eating a lot ofprocessed, inflammatory foods
Stress is a huge factor when itcomes to hormone issues, because
if someone is stressed out,either mentally and emotionally
like we think of how stress isor physically, with lots of
inflammation or a thyroid issueor a gut issue, that can cause
(19:31):
us to not ovulate, which thencreates a hormone imbalance.
Low detoxification so peoplewho are not working on their
drainage pathways, people whoaren't going to the bathroom
every single day, who aren'tworking on their liver, who
don't do lymphatic support, likethat can all contribute to
hormonal acne and hormoneimbalances.
Using lots of products, likethere's so many just chemicals
(19:52):
in our environment, so beingvery aware of what you're taking
in, what you're using in yourhome as cleaning products, what
you're putting on your body likeall of these things basically
add up to its compound effectand that can create a hormone
imbalance long-term.
The other thing is, too, for alot of women who deal with high
testosterone and high androgens,which is one of the hallmarks
(20:12):
of PCOS.
So when I was diagnosed withthis, I had high testosterone.
That's what was causing my acne, along with estrogen dominance
as well, which we can also talkabout too, because it's really
common in a lot of women when itcomes to high androgens or high
testosterone.
Blood sugar dysregulation is ahuge part of that.
Cortisol dysregulation is ahuge part of that.
So stress making sure thatyou're balancing your blood
(20:33):
sugar as much as possible.
There are so many differentkind of pillars of health that
go into a hormone imbalance andthat's why it can be so kind of
complicated because it's usuallyso different for everybody, so
very common.
A lot of women deal with highestrogen because, again, we're
so exposed to so many chemicallymade estrogens and in our
environment and this can kind ofcause an imbalance in our body
(20:57):
and also, if our liver isn'tworking through estrogen at the
optimal rate that we want, thatcan cause an estrogen dominance.
Having gut dysbiosis helpscreate an estrogen dominance
picture as well, and what thisusually looks like is really
heavy, painful periods, acne,weight gain, specifically around
like the top of the thighs andthe butt area just in that one
(21:20):
area mood swings and really badPMS.
So if you're the type of personwho is completely out for a
week before their period reallytender breasts, really bad mood
swings really tend to leantowards anxiety before their
period All of this is reallycommon symptoms of having a lot
of estrogen, either in generalor in relation to progesterone,
(21:42):
because you're not ovulating, oryou're not creating a lot of
progesterone during yourovulation because you're not
having a strong ovulation.
So you can have a lot ofestrogen relative to your low
progesterone.
And this is really common.
Just because so many exposed toso many chemicals in our
environment and we don't learn alot about how to support the
liver, how important gut healthand digestion is, like we need
(22:03):
to be going to the bathroom twoto three times a day.
No one learns about that, howto do that.
Or if you are you knowchronically constipated.
Why are you chronicallyconstipated?
How do you fix it?
All of these things are whatadd up to hormone imbalance and
they're all very common.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
So if you go to a doctor and you're experiencing
some of those symptoms,no-transcript.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
I would say the recommendation is usually birth
control, because anytime in myexperience anyways that you go
to a doctor and you say I've gotreally heavy painful periods,
it's debilitating or they'reirregular, they're going to say,
okay, well, here's the pill,this is going to regulate you
out.
And it doesn't regulateanything, it just like slaps a
bandaid over it.
What I would recommend isfinding somebody who will do
(22:50):
hormone testing.
But before you even do that,like let's like go back to
basics.
Like you want to work onregulating your blood sugar.
So eating a meal that's basedaround protein, good quality fat
and carbs, so blood sugarbalancing meals, eating
frequently, not having coffee onan empty stomach, eating
breakfast every day, likethere's so many things that you
can do to help with this processinstead of just going on a pill
(23:13):
that is marketed as a cure allbut isn't really helping you
long-term.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
It might help for that month, that year.
In the long-term, there's goingto be so much at the end of it,
that you have to weigh out theoptions, which is something so
undiscussed.
It's a lot and like what areyour tips for you know, starting
to heal or manage, Like, arethere certain foods, there's
certain supplements you like tosee people taking?
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Yeah, absolutely.
So the first thing that youwant to start is you want to
balance your blood sugar.
So protein, fat and carb atevery single meal, because what
that's going to do is that'sgoing to make sure that you're
not getting like blood sugarspikes and dips throughout the
day, and that can totally throwoff your cortisol and it can
totally throw off your hormones,as your sex hormones as well.
So being very conscientious,eating high quality protein and
(23:58):
then creating a meal around that, getting high quality fat that
is absolutely key.
Drinking water with minerals init so adding in either mineral
drops, electrolyte drops, rocksalt and lemon is great too.
Making sure that you're gettinglots of minerals we're taught
you need to drink tons of water,but drinking tons of plain
water can actually flush a lotof your minerals out.
(24:19):
So making sure that you'reremineralizing your water that
is absolutely key, and becauseminerals are very important for
hormone balance in general.
The next thing that I wouldrecommend doing is working on
your detoxification.
So our drainage pathways workin a funnel and if the bottom of
the funnel is backed up, therest are backed up.
So the first part of that isyour GI and you need to be going
(24:43):
to the bathroom at least twicea day and if you're not, that
means your liver, your lymphaticsystem, kidney, skin, lungs all
that stuff is going to bebacked up because we actually
poop out a lot of our used uphormones and a lot of the toxins
that our liver has workedthrough.
Our liver puts it in the bileand then we excrete it through
our stool.
So if it's sitting in your GI,your body's actually reabsorbing
(25:05):
those hormones that your liverjust works so hard to get rid of
, as well as any toxins from ourenvironment, from our skincare,
from our tap water, all thisstuff.
So going to the bathroomregularly and then also working
on your liver.
So this can be done throughwhole foods with lots of
sulfuric compounds, socruciferous veggies, brussels
sprouts, kale, collard greens,cauliflower, broccoli, all those
(25:26):
dark, leafy, bitter greens.
Those have sulfuric compoundsthat help run the liver pathways
and run a lot of thoseestrogens out of your body as
well as the toxins out of yourbody.
So you can do all of thisthrough food.
The only thing that I wouldrecommend that is absolutely
imperative for everybody to takeand I would recommend it to
everybody even if I wasn'tseeing them is magnesium.
(25:47):
Magnesium is one of the mostimportant minerals.
It's involved in over five or600 functions in the body and we
just do not get it from oursoil anymore.
Our soil is completely depletedof it.
So it's extremely importantmineral for hormone balance and
for so many other things in thebody.
So I recommend taking magnesiumevery single day.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
And you said something on Instagram that I
thought was super interesting.
Not the ones just at Target.
They have to be professionalgrade.
How do you know they'reprofessional grade?
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Okay, this is a great question.
So the thing with supplementsis that it's not a regulated
industry, which there's nothingwrong with that, but it's
important to buy.
It really is You're gettingwhat you pay for when it comes
to supplements.
So if you look on the back of amagnesium supplement that you
get at a drugstore versus theback of a magnesium supplement
(26:37):
that you get from a professionalgrade dispensary, there's going
to be so many additives, colors, fillers in the cheaper one
from the drugstore, Whereas theone from a reputable company is
going to have just the medicinalingredient and just the capsule
.
There was actually a study donethat looked at a lot of cheaper
brands I think it was at, yeah,maybe Costco or Shoppers Drug
(27:00):
Mart and in a lot of thesupplements the medicinal
ingredient that said that it wassupposed to be on the front
weren't even in supplement.
It was really bad.
It was like 5% or lower of theactual.
Let's say it said magnesium,but there was actually like 5%
or lower of the actual.
Let's say it said magnesium,but there was actually like 5%
or less magnesium in it, whichis very scary, because what are
you ingesting every single day?
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Also just like what a waste of money.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Waste of money and waste of just resources, just a
waste all around.
And so how you know it's aprofessional company is I have
basically a trusted practitioner, but also there's professional
grade dispensaries, so I haveaccounts with full script, which
is both in the U?
S and in Canada, and they onlycarry professional grade
supplements.
So that's something that'simportant too is making sure
(27:43):
that you're getting high qualitysupplements, because it's
actually hindering you more thanhelping if you're just
ingesting, you know, die numberfive every, every single day, as
opposed to what you actuallywant to be taking.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
Great Love that.
Also on your Instagram, youtalk a lot about parasites.
I'm very curious to learn howwe could have parasites.
How do you handle a parasite?
How do you know if you have aparasite?
Questions are endless.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Absolutely yes.
Parasites are way more commonthan people think.
I honestly think that if youhave a pulse, you have parasites
.
It's just a matter of the typethat you have, the amount that
you have and the health of yourimmune system in order to keep
them kind of at a healthy rangeand your gut health, you know
you can have them and it's okay.
Yeah, you can have them and it'sokay.
(28:28):
But you want ideally, everybodywould do a parasite cleanse
once a year In my ideal world,if that's what people would do.
But when it gets to the pointwhere you're dealing with gut
issues, like if you'reconstantly bloating, that's not
normal and I love this trend ofpeople saying this is my body in
the morning, this is my body atnight.
Like you know, it changes andthat's totally normal.
I think that's great.
But at the end of the day, froma health perspective, bloating
(28:50):
all the time is not normal.
There's a reason why you'rebloating all the time.
So if you're feeling like nomatter what you eat, you're
bloating, or you can't digestfats properly, or you're always
kind of burping, if you have anylike urgency or these are just
like the most common symptoms ofparasites in my experience, if
you're dealing with constantfluctuation between, like, hard
(29:11):
stools and diarrhea, that's areally big indication.
If you've got any anal itching,especially at night, that's
pretty much tell all.
If you've ever had foodpoisoning, if you've ever gone
away on a trip and your guthealth has not felt the same
after, like, the thing withparasites is that the symptoms
are different for everybody andthere's so many different types.
So a lot of women that I seethat have hormonal acne or acne
(29:32):
on their shoulders and back.
That's a huge indication too.
Or if you're dealing with ahealth issue and you just cannot
figure out what the heck ishappening.
You've tried all these things.
Some weeks you feel great, someweeks you feel really bad.
Usually that indicates that youshould be doing a parasite
cleanse, and what that entailsis a herbal parasite cleanse.
I don't recommend going to thedoctor and getting kind of the
(29:56):
antibiotics because they don'tlead to a gut issue.
Yeah, it's hard on your gutthat you don't take them for
long enough to kill them becausethey all have different like
life cycles too.
So you want to kill themmedicine, like herbally, so
you're killing them, you'retaking something to kill them,
you're taking something to mopthem up and you're taking
something to excrete them, andyou do that a series of times
and then you have tore-inoculate your gut bacteria
afterwards.
It's a whole process, but I'vedone it a couple of times and
(30:19):
every single one of my clientsthat I've done it with has felt
amazing after.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
This is so much, but in a great way, like it's so
much and like it can maybe seemoverwhelming.
You know, I myself am like, ohmy gosh, I need to get this
together.
What's the best or easiestplace you think we can get
started on our hormone health?
Speaker 2 (30:37):
Yes, okay.
So best, easiest place isstarting to work out in the
morning, not at night.
So if we're hitting all thedifferent kind of like pillars,
so cortisol regulation, let'swork out in the morning because
ideally that's when yourcortisol is highest.
When you wake up in the morning, put your face in the natural
light, in your full spectrumlight.
You don't need to fully gooutside.
Ideally you'd have youreyeballs in the sun for a good
(31:02):
you know five minutes.
That resets your circadianrhythm, so that's a perfect
place to start Eating within 30to 60 minutes of waking up in
the morning.
Really important.
So you don't want to be runningon stress hormones all morning,
and if you're the type ofperson who isn't hungry in the
morning, that's most likely whatyou're doing.
You're running on stresshormones in the morning.
And if you force yourself thisis the only time that I would
ever say to force yourself toeat or to do something, because
(31:22):
it's not intuitive Forceyourself to eat breakfast every
day for two weeks and you willbecome more hungry in the
morning and that's a sign of ahealthy metabolism.
So that's an amazing place tostart too.
Do not drink coffee on an emptystomach.
If there's anything that youtake from this podcast.
It is that.
So that is really important aswell.
That completely messes up yourstress hormones as well.
(31:43):
And have your coffee with yourfood or after your food and
focus on high quality protein.
So grass fed meat, wild fish,chicken, thighs, stuff with lots
of minerals in it.
Get some more mineral heavyfoods, oysters, shellfish.
Make sure that you're basingyour food, your meals, around
protein.
A lot of women don't get enoughprotein and this is a huge
(32:05):
reason for blood sugardysregulation, and your hormones
will not be balanced withoutbalanced blood sugar.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Wow, Maddie.
Oh, you are just dropping somuch knowledge.
I could listen to you talkabout this stuff all day.
I'm fascinated.
You speak so eloquently.
You're clearly so passionateabout it.
Can you tell everybody abouthow they can work with you,
where they can find you and allthat good jazz.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Yeah, absolutely.
So you can find me at balancewith Maddie on Instagram and
TikTok.
My website is naturalbalancenutritioncom and I work with
women in a group program that'salso personalized.
I also do one-on-ones and Ihave an ebook on detoxification
and drainage pathways alone, andI'm also coming out with a
(32:48):
smaller offering soon that isgoing to be about just
transitioning off of birthcontrol and how to do that in
the healthiest way possible, andyeah, Maddie, thank you so much
for joining us.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
It's been so nice.
Guys, that was like such acrash course in hormones.
I cannot wait to work withMaddie myself.
I've been dealing with hormonalacne and she is clearly so
passionate and so intelligentabout hormones and hormonal acne
.
So, guys, make sure to checkher out.
Guys, if you liked this episode, please make sure to share it
with a friend, and I am beggingyou, begging you rate and
(33:20):
subscribe to the show, but alsoplease leave us reviews.
We love reviews.
I don't know why I said it likethat, but, guys, thank you so
much for listening and we'll seeyou next Tuesday.
You so much for listening andwe'll see you next Tuesday.
Hi guys, and welcome back toConfessions of a Wannabe it Girl
(33:41):
.
I am still buzzing aroundEurope, so I hope you are
enjoying these replay episodes.
Unfortunately, my acne hasstarted to come back a little
bit and it has got me thinking alot about hormones and hormones
health.
So I'm taking a look back atthis episode with Balance with
Maddie, to talk all aboutunderstanding body chemistry and
Hormones 101.
Let's dive in.
Thank you.
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