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I'm Bridget Walton, a Women's Hormone Coach helping ambitious women ages 25-40 naturally restore hormone balance, fix irregular periods, feel confident in their fertility, and resolve gut health issues without restrictive dieting.
If you struggle with missing periods, PCOS symptoms, bloating, or unpredictable cycles, this women's health podcast will teach you how to support your hormones through strategic nutrition and lifestyle changes that actually fit your busy life.
On I'm Hormonal, you'll discover natural solutions for period problems, learn how gut health impacts your hormones, and get practical hormone balance tips from a functional nutrition perspective - no more guessing what your body needs.
Listen to this episode so you can understand which three markers and data sets you can check in order to understand what's causing chaos with your hormones, PMS, and fertility goals. You're already doing a lot of these tests and tracking information; use this episode as a quick guide to make those efforts more impactful.
👉 DM us on Instagram @im_hormonal - we want to hear your biggest takeaway
Episode Transcript
Hey girl, welcome back to episode number 147 of
I'm Hormodal.
This is a little mini episodewhere we're gonna be talking
about three things that I wantyou to check if you are still
feeling frustrated about yourfertility because there's
nothing more frustrating thanbeing told, like, oh, everything
(00:21):
looks normal on your lab resultswhen clearly something is not
normal because your cycle isn'tregular or you're not getting
pregnant.
So that's what we're gonna focuson today in this mini episode.
If you haven't listened to thisweek's earlier episode, go back
and check that out after this,too, where I talk about three
red flags that your doctor mightnot be looking for, isn't
(00:43):
talking to you about.
The first thing that I want totalk about for today, I want you
to go back and check yourinsulin levels on your last lab
result.
I went into more detail in thelonger episode on this one
specifically, but I think it'simportant enough to reiterate
again here because insulin isgonna be a good marker for what
is your metabolic health like.
(01:05):
It's one of the markers thatwill help paint that picture.
It's also one that for which themedical system's standard or I
guess their threshold is muchhigher than what you want to be
looking for if you are trying tooptimize your health and
optimize your fertility.
So going back to see whatinsulin looks like will be
(01:27):
really a good quick first step.
I also want to give a quickshout-out because maybe you have
like tried a continuous glucosemonitor, a CGM.
It's something that maybe you'vegotten through your primary care
provider, or maybe you did itlike through, you know, a
website and they sent you thekit.
And one of the things that'sreally interesting that you can
(01:48):
learn, in addition to just whatis your blood sugar normally,
what is the range that you'renormally in?
But I have a client who has beenwearing a continuous glucose
monitor, and she's like, hey,Bridget, I realized that after
every time I eat bread, doesn'tmatter what else I had with it,
I see that my blood sugar spikesevery time, no matter what.
(02:11):
And interestingly enough, whenwe got her food sensitivity
panel back, she was sensitive toboth wheat and yeast.
So while that won't be the casefor every single person who has
a blood sugar spike after youconsume bread, what I want to
communicate is thatunderstanding how your blood
(02:33):
sugar's reacting to somethingcan also paint the picture of
how your digestive system, howyour immune system is
responding.
Because if you eat somethingthat's causing an inflammatory
response that causes your bloodsugar to spike, well, this is
one way to become aware of it.
So that is, I think, alesser-known fact, but really
(02:57):
important, really helpful.
And it's not something that youhave to then eliminate from your
diet forever, or it's notnecessarily the case that you
need to do that.
It might just be a matter ofsupporting the restore and
repair of your gut lining andthen eventually reintroducing it
once that immune response hassubsided.
(03:18):
So coming back to the main pointhere, go back and check out
insulin levels on your last labsand see where they fell.
Now, the next thing I want youto check is as it relates to
your basal body temperature.
If you are tracking your basalbody temperature, you will
already know that tracking yourtemperature in that way can be
(03:38):
helpful to confirm ovulationbecause after you ovulate, your
body temperature for the rest ofyour cycle goes up by just a
part of a degree.
Nothing crazy.
But it can be really helpful,obviously, if you want to
conceive.
Also very helpful if you wouldlike to avoid conception,
because naturally knowingwhether or not you've ovulated
(03:59):
will help you to forecast forfuture cycles, which day of your
cycle you normally ovulate, orobviously avoid having
intercourse uh in your fertilewindow so that you can avoid
conception.
So go back to take a look atyour basal body temperature.
And in addition to just seeing,okay, is there a spike?
(04:21):
Can you confirm ovulation?
I want you to also take a lookat how big the spike is.
Is it more of a gradual increaseor is it a very prominent, like
marked increase?
Because understanding if yourprogesterone maybe goes up a
little bit more slowly, or doesit go up right away, as
(04:46):
demonstrated by your temperaturechanges on that graph, that can
be helpful for you to understandwhat is going on with your
progesterone level withouthaving to even go get a lab test
or have your blood drawn or youknow pee on a stick or whatever
it looks like for you.
So first, insulin, second, basalbody temperature.
(05:08):
The third thing that I want youto check is your gut health.
If you are somebody, this isgoing to be applicable to you,
if you are somebody who hasconstant bloating, if you have a
lot of digestive discomfort, ifdespite all of your best
efforts, you have constipationor you have diarrhea, you have
extreme urgency, if there'ssomething that, and especially
(05:30):
if you've normalized it, becauseI know, I know, I see you, girl,
sometimes you have thoseexperiences for years and you
think this is normal.
But let me tell you, if you haveanything that I just mentioned
that despite your best efforts,you can't figure out how to get
it to go away, unfortunately, orno, not unfortunately, it's
(05:51):
fortunate that you can do astool test to see exactly what's
going on in your gut and get avery clear, clear, clear picture
of what you need to do movingforward.
Supporting your digestion,supporting your, you know,
stomach acid levels by relaxingwhile you eat and getting
adequate zinc and hydrating, allof those good things, yes, are
(06:12):
helpful.
But if you are somebody who hasa specific overgrowth or
imbalance in your gutmicrobiome, it might take
something more targeted, morepointed in order for you to see
the transformation that you needto see.
And a lot of the times, what Isee with my clients and what
(06:33):
I've seen with myself as Iimproved and worked on my own
gut health.
But when I work with my clientsand we really focus on their gut
health, that's what leads to thechange with their hormone
health, with their PMS, withtheir acne.
So it is so important.
We can't say it enough.
(06:53):
Now, that is really all I've gotfor you in this mini episode.
As always, everything I sharewith you here is for educational
purposes only and not areplacement for medical advice
or diagnosis.
If what we covered todayresonated with you and you feel
like you've tried everything toget your hormones back in shape,
but you are still stuck, I'vecreated a free guide
(07:14):
specifically for you.
You can head over toI'mhormonal.com slash guide to
grab it.
Or if you have any requests,anything you want to hear me
talk about on the podcast, sendme a message on Instagram at I'm
underscore hormonal.
All right, my friend.
Thanks for listening.
I'm Bridget Walton, and I willsee you on the next one.
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