August 5, 2025 • 27 mins
Hi, I'm Bridget! Women's Hormone Coach, Functional Hormone Specialist, and the host and founder of I'm Hormonal.
You're doing everything right - tracking macros, meal prepping, hitting the gym religiously. So why do you feel exhausted, bloated, and like your period has gone MIA? Here's the plot twist: the problem isn't what you're eating, it's how much you're NOT eating.
Most high-achieving women are unknowingly starving their hormone production. When you undereat, your body goes into survival mode - cortisol spikes, digestion shuts down, and period production gets put on the back burner. Your body literally can't afford to make a baby when it thinks you're in a famine.
In this episode, we're breaking down:
- Why your "clean" 1,200-calorie diet is actually sabotaging your hormones
- How undereating creates the perfect storm for PCOS symptoms and blood sugar chaos
- Why you need way more fat and protein than you think (and no, it won't make you gain weight)
- The simple 3-day tracking method I use with clients to uncover their eating patterns
- Real client stories of women who saw changes in their periods after just weeks of adjusting their nutrient intake
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Earlier this week, I was on a strategy call with a
new client and she says to meBridget, I'm really careful
about what I eat.
I eat super clean, I've beenexercising every day.
My health is so important to me, why do I still have crazy
periods?
And here's the thing A lot ofmy clients, this gal included,
(00:22):
make the same mistakeinadvertently, and it's that
they're under eating withouteven realizing it and that is
hurting their hormone balance.
So if you have missing periods,bloating, if you're feeling
exhausted all the time, thisepisode is for you.
We're going to talk about howunder eating can influence your
hormones and your period health.
(00:45):
Welcome to I'm Hormonal, yoursource of information about
women's hormone health and howto support your body naturally.
I'm your host, bridget Walton,and I'm a certified functional
hormone specialist and menstrualcycle coach.
I am on a mission to hold thesehormone conversations with as
many menstruators as possible,because you deserve easier
access to accurate informationabout what's up with your unruly
(01:08):
menstrual cycle and with yourfertility mysteries.
Don't you think it's time thatwe figure this out once and for
all?
Hello, my friend, welcome totoday's episode of I'm Hormonal.
I'm your host, bridget Walton,and I'm really grateful that you
are here listening.
Our topic for today is one thatwe can all be a little bit
(01:31):
surprised by.
That has certainly happened tome before.
That I think, oh, I'm doing agreat job.
I am feeling satiated after mymeals, I feel good after my
workouts.
But I'll do a spot check fromtime to time to see where I'm at
with my protein goals, whereI'm at generally with calories
and fat and carbs.
(01:52):
You know what's the mix lookinglike and I say, oh, okay, well,
I guess I need to really focuson adding a bit more to my diet
to make sure that I'm gettingeverything that I need.
And maybe this sounds a littlebit familiar to you as well,
because, if you are like a lotof my clients, if you're like a
(02:14):
lot of the other gals who arelistening to the podcast
alongside you right now, a lotof my clients are busy women who
are working hard.
I know that a lot of you aretraveling for work, like I used
to be as well.
Just an added complicatingfactor and we're in a rush,
(02:35):
we're stressed out.
We have these news sources thatare constantly telling us
what's going on, what's goinghaywire out there.
We have social media telling uswhat we should do or what we
shouldn't do.
All of these things and plentymore to accommodate on our
mental load.
And where on earth dowell-rounded meals fall within
(03:02):
that schedule?
Because usually meals fallwithin that schedule?
Because usually usually nowhere.
That's why girl dinner is aterm, right.
Girl dinner is a thing for areason, because that's what so
many of us are defaulting to.
(03:23):
For some folks out there, thatmight not be a problem, but I'm
going to go out on a limb andguess that if you are listening
to this podcast right now, youare looking to better understand
your hormones, understand howyou can support your hormones
and perhaps most likely,understand how you can restore
hormone balance, fix your period, how you can support your gut
health too.
So if you fall into thatcategory, my friend, then this
(03:47):
is going to be a really goodconversation for you to listen
to today.
Just a super quick intro.
I kind of like to add this forthose of you gals who are
listening for the first time.
But I just love to share withyou that I'm Hormonal is a
podcast, is a company designedto help support you on your
wellness journey to having yourbest period, to having your
(04:11):
easiest period, and I'm reallyall about sharing what I know,
sharing what other professionalsknow, so that you can
understand what to do, becauseisn't it crazy that the year is
2025 and we get so littleinformation about how our bodies
work?
Like, why are we not learningthis in school?
But anyway, okay, school is,you know, in session here today.
(04:37):
Thanks again for joining me.
And why don't we just go aheadand jump right in?
Let's talk a little bit aboutwhat happens in your body when
you are under eating, and weprobably need to define what
under eating is before we gointo that.
I'm going to give you a superloose description, because it
(04:57):
will be different for everybody.
It will be different even foryou, depending on, perhaps, what
time, what phase of your cycleyou're in, depending on how much
stress you have, depending onhow much you're moving your body
all of those things and more.
But generally, suffice it tosay that if you're under eating,
(05:17):
you're not getting all of thenutrients that you need.
I'm thinking of protein, carbs,fat.
I don't really love to think ofcalories overall, because I
think there's just like too muchdiet culture.
A lot of us have this historyof hyper fixating on calories,
so my main focus is okay, howmuch protein am I getting?
(05:39):
How much fat am I getting?
I'll talk about why for thosetwo more.
And generally, if I'm meetingwhat I need to feel good and
satiated and same for you, thenI'm probably meeting where I
need to be at for calories, sothat'll just naturally come with
it.
Now there's also a considerationright for certain vitamins or
(06:02):
minerals.
We won't focus on thosespecifics today, but it is worth
noting that your body needs avariety of foods.
If you've been here, you'veheard me blab about that detail
before.
I shouldn't even say blabbecause it's actually so
important and yet so easy toforget.
I'm going down a rabbit hole.
(06:24):
I'm reeling myself back in nowbecause let's talk about what
happens if you are kind ofundernourishing and you have a
lower fat intake than maybe yourbody would otherwise love to
have.
So what happens if you areunder resourcing for fat?
And this actually happened?
(06:44):
I have a client who she hadalways been focusing on a
low-fat diet, also kind of lowcalories, right, because she was
wanting to lose weight.
So this gal, she was getting inabout 1,500 calories a day.
That's what we found when wedid her food and mood journal.
This wasn't enough for her andwhat happened, or what was
(07:07):
influenced as a result of this,was that some of her sex
hormones were measuringrelatively low.
Now, why is that?
Well, fat contains cholesterol,and cholesterol is this most
basic building block for a bunchof your hormones.
So let's get more specific.
(07:27):
When I'm thinking about cortisol, estrogen, testosterone, when
I'm thinking of let me just saycortisol again, because it's so
important in our bodies, that'swhen you can see, okay, things
are a little bit off.
And when you aren't able to getthose basic building blocks in
(07:50):
your diet that you need, you're,for example, going to be
influencing the amount ofprogesterone that you make after
you ovulate.
So let's zoom in on this for asecond, and this is going to be
particularly important for thoseof you gals who are trying to
conceive, because if you want toconceive, if you're trying to
(08:13):
prepare for pregnancy, you'regoing to want to produce, you
know, kind of as muchprogesterone as your body can
during that time after youovulate.
So making sure that you haveadequate fat intake that basic
building block for your hormone,progesterone is going to be
really important.
(08:33):
If you, for a period of time,don't have adequate fat intake,
then that could eventually justsay your body says, okay, well,
fat is the basic building blockfor both cortisol and
progesterone, so we're going tolower progesterone, so we can
prioritize cortisol.
(08:54):
If you want to learn more abouthow fat can influence your
hormones and overall health,then check out an episode I did
two weeks ago where I reallyjust talked about fat the whole
episode.
You're gonna like it.
Let's move on to talk a littlebit about protein.
Now, if you are not getting inall the food that you need
throughout the day, that yourbody would love to have, you're
(09:16):
perhaps not getting in as muchprotein as you would like, and
this is really important forwell, two reasons that I want to
examine specifically.
The first one relates to bloodsugar.
The second one relates tomuscle.
Now, when we're thinking ofblood sugar stability, which
this is really important foryour overall hormone health
(09:39):
protein that you're eatingthrough your diet is going to be
blunting blood sugar spikesthat could result from the carbs
in your diet that you're eatingthrough your diet is going to
be blunting blood sugar spikesthat could result from the carbs
in your diet that you also need.
But eating these foods togethercan have a net positive
influence on you know how doesyour body respond?
How is it able to absorb thenutrition from those foods?
(10:01):
On the other hand, our bodiesare mostly protein right, and so
when we think of buildingmuscle I mean I know I'm not
about to say something super new.
We learned this in what?
Elementary school maybe?
But you know that protein isgoing to be really important for
building muscle and maintainingmuscle Now building and
(10:23):
maintaining muscles.
Maintaining muscle, nowbuilding and maintaining muscles
.
That's also really importantfor your sex hormones because it
keeps your blood sugar levelsin a good range, it prevents
insulin from going cray-cray,and those are all good things.
It all not all that's hyperbole, but it all comes back to blood
(10:43):
sugar regulation, no-transcript.
So both of these things that Imentioned kind of tie into
stress on the body.
So, separate from anyparticular macronutrient, if
you're not eating an adequateamount of food, that inherently
(11:05):
can become a form of stress.
Sometimes we think of stress asbeing a you know whatever acute
situation.
I got into an argument with acolleague and that is a source
of stress, yes, but also a lackof food, the scarcity, your
brain, your prehistoric brain,being like oh shoot, are we good
(11:27):
out here?
Is this a famine?
Right?
That is going to raise yourcortisol level, your stress
hormone level, and that is notgoing to do any favors for your
sex hormones, for the health ofyour period, nor will it do a
solid for your gut health at all.
I have two more categories thatwe're going to cruise through
(11:48):
just again, thinking of what isactually happening in my body
and to my hormones during timeswhen I overeat.
Now, this one is a bit more of ahabit-based one, but tell me,
like, raise your hand or nodyour head, whatever you're doing
, if this applies to you, butlet me tell you that, for me,
(12:09):
during times when life is reallybusy and I don't have the time
busy and I don't have the time,if it comes down to a time thing
, when I don't have the time toput together a nice,
well-rounded meal, when I don'thave the time to go to the
grocery store, the time to mealprep, however that looks for you
, that's probably when I'm goingto be opting for more processed
(12:32):
foods or opting for takeout,opting for something quick, and
you know that when you're optingfor those types of solutions,
there's probably going to be,they're going to be more
processed, which can lend itselfalso to some trouble with your
gut balance and really justmaking sure that the microbes,
(12:56):
everything that lives in yourdigestive system, has what it
needs to operate to like allthese good bacteria, these good
components of your gut.
So this isn't a direct one, butit's like, hey, if we're not.
You know I'm not eating justwhole foods during times when I
(13:20):
have a lot of my plate, so maybethat applies to you.
Maybe you also opt forprocessed foods, and really
taking a beat to put a plantogether for your food for a
week can be a huge game changerin, a, how you feel throughout
the week, but B also, how areyou supporting your digestive
(13:41):
microbiome?
How are you supporting yourhormones?
The last thing I want to mentionhere and I actually, now that
I'm looking at my notes, I guessI teased it a little bit, but
just really coming back towhat's going on with your
insulin, what's going on withyour blood sugar?
Because when you are, for manyof us, when we are not eating
(14:03):
full you know three meals a daythere can be more opportunity
for blood sugar to get quite low, which then results sometimes
in us really feeling like, okay,I am ravenous.
It is time to really figure outlike I'm going to eat as much
as I can because I'm so hungry Atotally normal response.
(14:25):
You're just putting yourself onthat roller coaster.
If you are a gal out there whohas PCOS polycystic ovary
syndrome then perhaps you'reaware that blood sugar or your
sensitivity to insulin can bereally strategic in helping you
to manage your symptoms and feelyour best, have periods that
(14:48):
are as regular as you can manage.
I want to share with you alittle bit about how this
conversation looks with myone-on-one coaching clients and
what we do to get a pulse onnutrition and overall intake.
And when I onboard a newcoaching client, we will almost
always start off now doing athree-day food and mood journal.
(15:12):
So we will take a look at whatare you eating, when are you
eating it?
Where are you eating it?
What is your mood like?
What does your digestive systemhave to say about what you're
eating?
All of these things to get thefull picture of not just carrots
, hummus, hard-boiled eggs.
But, man, I was starving when Istarted to eat this meal, or
(15:36):
when I was finally able to eatthis meal or maybe you know, I
ate this meal when I was runningfrom one meeting to the other
or maybe not literally.
But when I was driving fromclient meeting A to client
meeting B, I wasn't really ableto sit down and focus, because
what's more than just the foodthat you are eating, that you're
(15:57):
chewing up and swallowing, ishow you are eating it.
How is your body able to absorbthose nutrients or break down
those components of your foodand actually use them to create
hormones and everything elsethat they do?
I'll give you one more examplehere.
I have a client who, similarly,we noticed that she was under
(16:21):
eating.
We noticed that she wasn'tincorporating a whole lot of
healthy fats into her diet.
So we kind of honed in on that,incorporating them regularly.
Now, shortly thereafter, we gotback her gut testing panel.
So the GI map is the panel thatI use with my one-on-one
clients.
We get it back and there's amarker on the GI map for
(16:45):
elastase.
Now, elastase is the enzyme thathelps to break down fats in
your diet.
It's released by your pancreas.
It's released by your pancreasand ultimately, you know we need
our pancreas to release thisenzyme in adequate amounts so
(17:05):
that, yeah, so our colon, ourintestines, rather, can pull it
apart, pull that fat apart andthen let our body actually use
it to create hormones, etc.
Okay, so that's the background.
On elastase, anyway, we got herGI map results back and we saw
that her elastase levels were alittle bit on the lower side,
(17:30):
and so that is really importantto note, because homegirl can be
eating as much avocado to note,because homegirl can be eating
as much avocado, as much extravirgin olive oil, as many flax
seeds and salmon and all theother good sources of healthy
fats that she wants.
But if your body is notbreaking it down, then you're
naturally not going to absorball of that.
(17:51):
So I feel like I've really saidthis 18 times in 18 slightly
different ways.
I think you get where I'm goingwith this, but this is all to
say.
In addition to what you'reeating, how is your body
absorbing it, how is your bodyabsorbing it and how well are
you digesting the food?
That's all really important andcan help to paint the picture
(18:13):
of what is up with your periodand where is she?
I have a couple of questionsthat I want to leave with you
here to kind of noodle on,because you might be thinking
okay, well, how do I know if I'munder eating?
Let's come back to this.
And so the starting point thatI would give you is just take
(18:36):
three days.
It does not need to be everyday, but three days.
You can get kind of an averagefor how much protein, how much
fat am I eating overall?
How many calories am I eating?
Is it at least as much as Iestimate to be burning that my
body needs just to exist andsupport my brain function?
(18:57):
Because, remember, it's okay toeat as much as your body is
burning.
Despite being programmed, youknow what?
I'm not even going to go downthat rabbit hole.
Let me again reel myself backin.
Do a pulse check.
Just record your food for threedays, or at the end of each day
(19:17):
you can say, hey, chat, gpt, orhey, claude, or hey, whatever
tool you like the best.
Let me tell you what I atetoday and just give me a quick
estimate.
I think that's the easiest waybecause you don't have to search
for a million different inputs.
All right, so let's assume thatyou've done that.
(19:39):
The next step, or the nextsuggestion I would have for you,
is to set some way for you tohave these reminders throughout
your day, to really check inwith yourself on.
Am I hungry right now?
Do I feel full?
How do I feel after I eat?
Was it enough?
Do I have the energy levelsthat I want or that I need?
And that can be just kind ofyour starting point.
(19:59):
Now, asterisks here.
Big note here that for somefolks, like if your stress is
high, if those cortisol levelsare high, that could suppress
your appetite.
So you might be thinking well,I mean, bridget, maybe I'm kind
of under eating, I'm on the cuspthere because I just don't have
(20:20):
an appetite.
So I am listening to my bodyand I hear you.
I hear that with a lot of myone-on-one clients and so of
course I don't know you andwhat's going on in your body.
But just be thinking about okay, does this say something about
my stress levels?
And you know, is it right forme to say, okay, thanks so much
(20:43):
for the signal, cortisol or lackthereof.
But hey, I know that I needmore nutrients than what I'm
getting because I did thosethree days of estimating.
So I'm going to teach myself toeat breakfast in the morning.
And again I have gals who say,bridget, I don't feel like
(21:06):
eating in the morning, itdoesn't make me feel good.
But then for those who are opento incorporating it, they start
with something small, theystart with something savory.
I mean, I'm just doing likesome mental math here, but
usually after about two weekslet's call it.
Yeah, let's call it two weeksthey're starting to feel like
(21:27):
okay, now I'm in this goodrhythm of eating breakfast.
It doesn't feel icky now and Inoticed that I have better, more
consistent energy levelsthroughout the day.
So just a little inspo for you,if that was on your mind.
Now I want to emphasize thatthis is especially important for
you if your periods are missingaltogether, because you know
(21:51):
that's one of the first things Ithink of when periods are
missing altogether is hey, okay,how much are we eating?
Because that's a huge signal ofsafety to your body.
Also very relevant coming backto this idea of irregular
periods or maybe PCOS, becausewhen something suspicious is
(22:13):
happening I say that as a joke,don't take me too literally on
that gang when something weirdis happening with your blood
sugar, well, of course that'sgoing to be influenced by what
you're eating and how oftenyou're eating it.
So I think that's also a goodtime to investigate.
I have a client.
She just finished up herfour-month program in the last I
(22:34):
guess it was the end of Julyhere, regardless, when we
started working together, hercycles were coming about every
35 days, so a little bit on thelong side.
We like to see it closer to 28.
For her before, like in thelast couple of years, her normal
was more like 29 days.
(22:56):
I digress.
We started off working together.
She had 35-ish day cycles.
We were really focusing on foodwith her.
That was one of the main thingsthat we noticed, also
increasing protein.
We also worked together.
She did a great job actually ofreally spearheading like how
(23:19):
can she eliminate stressors inher life?
By the end of our four monthsworking together, her cycle
length was down to about 30 dayseach cycle.
As we get ready to wrap up onthis episode, I just want to
reiterate for you like this isactually pretty common.
I've been surprised, clientafter client after client, that
(23:44):
many of us are kind ofunknowingly under eating.
And again, this is somethingwhere I don't like to track my
food all the time Definitely not.
But maybe once a month I'lltrack for a couple of days, kind
of in the same way that Isuggested to you, and I'm like,
oh gosh, I really thought that Iwas like kind of hitting the
(24:05):
mark, but that's to say this iscommon.
If you are trying to fix yourhormones, if there's something
with your period that needsadjusting, I would really love
for you to examine this a bit.
I also want to acknowledge thatat this time in society, and
(24:27):
for a long time.
But you know, a lot of us arepraised for shrinking our bodies
, for becoming smaller,especially with this ozempic
wave, this GLP-1 wave that'sgoing on.
But remember and I say thiswith all of the love and all of
(24:47):
the nourishment remember thatyou need to give your body the
tools and these building blocksto support your health and you
also can absolutely eat tasty,nourishing food, all while
bringing your hormones and yourgut health back into balance.
(25:08):
You are what you eat.
It just takes a couple of slowtweaks, a little bit at a time,
to get you where you need to beand so that you can feel your
best, because you deserve tofeel your best.
I hope that this episode washelpful for you.
I hope that you learnedsomething.
If this was helpful for you,I'd love for you to rate and
(25:30):
review the episode.
Share it with a friend.
Also, if any of this resonateswith you, I would love to invite
you to set up a strategy.
Call with me if there'ssomething, you have irregular
periods or missing periodsaltogether, and you want a
little bit of guidance,one-on-one support.
Maybe you're interested inlearning more about the gut
(25:53):
panel or the hormone testingthat I use with my one-on-one
coaching clients, then I wouldlove for you to either click the
link in the show notes or go toimhormonalcom slash goals and
we can set up a time to talk.
So that is it for today, gang.
Thank you again for listeningAgain.
(26:15):
My name is Bridget Walton and Iwill see you all on the next
one.
If you loved today's episodeand got something good out of it
, make sure you subscribe sothat these episodes show up
automatically in your feed, nowork needed on your side.
Let's put it on autopilot.
As always, I need to give youmy reminder that the information
(26:36):
I share with you here is foreducational purposes only, and
it should not be used as areplacement for medical advice
or diagnosis.
Now, if you are, on the otherhand, in the market for some
one-on-one support, then I wouldlove for you to take me up on
my offer for a free strategycall.
You can find these links andmore in the show notes.
All right, we'll see you on thenext one.
Earlier this week, I was on a strategy call with a
new client and she says to meBridget, I'm really careful
about what I eat.
I eat super clean, I've beenexercising every day.
My health is so important to me, why do I still have crazy
periods?
And here's the thing A lot ofmy clients, this gal included,
(00:22):
make the same mistakeinadvertently, and it's that
they're under eating withouteven realizing it and that is
hurting their hormone balance.
So if you have missing periods,bloating, if you're feeling
exhausted all the time, thisepisode is for you.
We're going to talk about howunder eating can influence your
hormones and your period health.
(00:45):
Welcome to I'm Hormonal, yoursource of information about
women's hormone health and howto support your body naturally.
I'm your host, bridget Walton,and I'm a certified functional
hormone specialist and menstrualcycle coach.
I am on a mission to hold thesehormone conversations with as
many menstruators as possible,because you deserve easier
access to accurate informationabout what's up with your unruly
(01:08):
menstrual cycle and with yourfertility mysteries.
Don't you think it's time thatwe figure this out once and for
all?
Hello, my friend, welcome totoday's episode of I'm Hormonal.
I'm your host, bridget Walton,and I'm really grateful that you
are here listening.
Our topic for today is one thatwe can all be a little bit
(01:31):
surprised by.
That has certainly happened tome before.
That I think, oh, I'm doing agreat job.
I am feeling satiated after mymeals, I feel good after my
workouts.
But I'll do a spot check fromtime to time to see where I'm at
with my protein goals, whereI'm at generally with calories
and fat and carbs.
(01:52):
You know what's the mix lookinglike and I say, oh, okay, well,
I guess I need to really focuson adding a bit more to my diet
to make sure that I'm gettingeverything that I need.
And maybe this sounds a littlebit familiar to you as well,
because, if you are like a lotof my clients, if you're like a
(02:14):
lot of the other gals who arelistening to the podcast
alongside you right now, a lotof my clients are busy women who
are working hard.
I know that a lot of you aretraveling for work, like I used
to be as well.
Just an added complicatingfactor and we're in a rush,
(02:35):
we're stressed out.
We have these news sources thatare constantly telling us
what's going on, what's goinghaywire out there.
We have social media telling uswhat we should do or what we
shouldn't do.
All of these things and plentymore to accommodate on our
mental load.
And where on earth dowell-rounded meals fall within
(03:02):
that schedule?
Because usually meals fallwithin that schedule?
Because usually usually nowhere.
That's why girl dinner is aterm, right.
Girl dinner is a thing for areason, because that's what so
many of us are defaulting to.
(03:23):
For some folks out there, thatmight not be a problem, but I'm
going to go out on a limb andguess that if you are listening
to this podcast right now, youare looking to better understand
your hormones, understand howyou can support your hormones
and perhaps most likely,understand how you can restore
hormone balance, fix your period, how you can support your gut
health too.
So if you fall into thatcategory, my friend, then this
(03:47):
is going to be a really goodconversation for you to listen
to today.
Just a super quick intro.
I kind of like to add this forthose of you gals who are
listening for the first time.
But I just love to share withyou that I'm Hormonal is a
podcast, is a company designedto help support you on your
wellness journey to having yourbest period, to having your
(04:11):
easiest period, and I'm reallyall about sharing what I know,
sharing what other professionalsknow, so that you can
understand what to do, becauseisn't it crazy that the year is
2025 and we get so littleinformation about how our bodies
work?
Like, why are we not learningthis in school?
But anyway, okay, school is,you know, in session here today.
(04:37):
Thanks again for joining me.
And why don't we just go aheadand jump right in?
Let's talk a little bit aboutwhat happens in your body when
you are under eating, and weprobably need to define what
under eating is before we gointo that.
I'm going to give you a superloose description, because it
(04:57):
will be different for everybody.
It will be different even foryou, depending on, perhaps, what
time, what phase of your cycleyou're in, depending on how much
stress you have, depending onhow much you're moving your body
all of those things and more.
But generally, suffice it tosay that if you're under eating,
(05:17):
you're not getting all of thenutrients that you need.
I'm thinking of protein, carbs,fat.
I don't really love to think ofcalories overall, because I
think there's just like too muchdiet culture.
A lot of us have this historyof hyper fixating on calories,
so my main focus is okay, howmuch protein am I getting?
(05:39):
How much fat am I getting?
I'll talk about why for thosetwo more.
And generally, if I'm meetingwhat I need to feel good and
satiated and same for you, thenI'm probably meeting where I
need to be at for calories, sothat'll just naturally come with
it.
Now there's also a considerationright for certain vitamins or
(06:02):
minerals.
We won't focus on thosespecifics today, but it is worth
noting that your body needs avariety of foods.
If you've been here, you'veheard me blab about that detail
before.
I shouldn't even say blabbecause it's actually so
important and yet so easy toforget.
I'm going down a rabbit hole.
(06:24):
I'm reeling myself back in nowbecause let's talk about what
happens if you are kind ofundernourishing and you have a
lower fat intake than maybe yourbody would otherwise love to
have.
So what happens if you areunder resourcing for fat?
And this actually happened?
(06:44):
I have a client who she hadalways been focusing on a
low-fat diet, also kind of lowcalories, right, because she was
wanting to lose weight.
So this gal, she was getting inabout 1,500 calories a day.
That's what we found when wedid her food and mood journal.
This wasn't enough for her andwhat happened, or what was
(07:07):
influenced as a result of this,was that some of her sex
hormones were measuringrelatively low.
Now, why is that?
Well, fat contains cholesterol,and cholesterol is this most
basic building block for a bunchof your hormones.
So let's get more specific.
(07:27):
When I'm thinking about cortisol, estrogen, testosterone, when
I'm thinking of let me just saycortisol again, because it's so
important in our bodies, that'swhen you can see, okay, things
are a little bit off.
And when you aren't able to getthose basic building blocks in
(07:50):
your diet that you need, you're,for example, going to be
influencing the amount ofprogesterone that you make after
you ovulate.
So let's zoom in on this for asecond, and this is going to be
particularly important for thoseof you gals who are trying to
conceive, because if you want toconceive, if you're trying to
(08:13):
prepare for pregnancy, you'regoing to want to produce, you
know, kind of as muchprogesterone as your body can
during that time after youovulate.
So making sure that you haveadequate fat intake that basic
building block for your hormone,progesterone is going to be
really important.
(08:33):
If you, for a period of time,don't have adequate fat intake,
then that could eventually justsay your body says, okay, well,
fat is the basic building blockfor both cortisol and
progesterone, so we're going tolower progesterone, so we can
prioritize cortisol.
(08:54):
If you want to learn more abouthow fat can influence your
hormones and overall health,then check out an episode I did
two weeks ago where I reallyjust talked about fat the whole
episode.
You're gonna like it.
Let's move on to talk a littlebit about protein.
Now, if you are not getting inall the food that you need
throughout the day, that yourbody would love to have, you're
(09:16):
perhaps not getting in as muchprotein as you would like, and
this is really important forwell, two reasons that I want to
examine specifically.
The first one relates to bloodsugar.
The second one relates tomuscle.
Now, when we're thinking ofblood sugar stability, which
this is really important foryour overall hormone health
(09:39):
protein that you're eatingthrough your diet is going to be
blunting blood sugar spikesthat could result from the carbs
in your diet that you're eatingthrough your diet is going to
be blunting blood sugar spikesthat could result from the carbs
in your diet that you also need.
But eating these foods togethercan have a net positive
influence on you know how doesyour body respond?
How is it able to absorb thenutrition from those foods?
(10:01):
On the other hand, our bodiesare mostly protein right, and so
when we think of buildingmuscle I mean I know I'm not
about to say something super new.
We learned this in what?
Elementary school maybe?
But you know that protein isgoing to be really important for
building muscle and maintainingmuscle Now building and
(10:23):
maintaining muscles.
Maintaining muscle, nowbuilding and maintaining muscles
.
That's also really importantfor your sex hormones because it
keeps your blood sugar levelsin a good range, it prevents
insulin from going cray-cray,and those are all good things.
It all not all that's hyperbole, but it all comes back to blood
(10:43):
sugar regulation, no-transcript.
So both of these things that Imentioned kind of tie into
stress on the body.
So, separate from anyparticular macronutrient, if
you're not eating an adequateamount of food, that inherently
(11:05):
can become a form of stress.
Sometimes we think of stress asbeing a you know whatever acute
situation.
I got into an argument with acolleague and that is a source
of stress, yes, but also a lackof food, the scarcity, your
brain, your prehistoric brain,being like oh shoot, are we good
(11:27):
out here?
Is this a famine?
Right?
That is going to raise yourcortisol level, your stress
hormone level, and that is notgoing to do any favors for your
sex hormones, for the health ofyour period, nor will it do a
solid for your gut health at all.
I have two more categories thatwe're going to cruise through
(11:48):
just again, thinking of what isactually happening in my body
and to my hormones during timeswhen I overeat.
Now, this one is a bit more of ahabit-based one, but tell me,
like, raise your hand or nodyour head, whatever you're doing
, if this applies to you, butlet me tell you that, for me,
(12:09):
during times when life is reallybusy and I don't have the time
busy and I don't have the time,if it comes down to a time thing
, when I don't have the time toput together a nice,
well-rounded meal, when I don'thave the time to go to the
grocery store, the time to mealprep, however that looks for you
, that's probably when I'm goingto be opting for more processed
(12:32):
foods or opting for takeout,opting for something quick, and
you know that when you're optingfor those types of solutions,
there's probably going to be,they're going to be more
processed, which can lend itselfalso to some trouble with your
gut balance and really justmaking sure that the microbes,
(12:56):
everything that lives in yourdigestive system, has what it
needs to operate to like allthese good bacteria, these good
components of your gut.
So this isn't a direct one, butit's like, hey, if we're not.
You know I'm not eating justwhole foods during times when I
(13:20):
have a lot of my plate, so maybethat applies to you.
Maybe you also opt forprocessed foods, and really
taking a beat to put a plantogether for your food for a
week can be a huge game changerin, a, how you feel throughout
the week, but B also, how areyou supporting your digestive
(13:41):
microbiome?
How are you supporting yourhormones?
The last thing I want to mentionhere and I actually, now that
I'm looking at my notes, I guessI teased it a little bit, but
just really coming back towhat's going on with your
insulin, what's going on withyour blood sugar?
Because when you are, for manyof us, when we are not eating
(14:03):
full you know three meals a daythere can be more opportunity
for blood sugar to get quite low, which then results sometimes
in us really feeling like, okay,I am ravenous.
It is time to really figure outlike I'm going to eat as much
as I can because I'm so hungry Atotally normal response.
(14:25):
You're just putting yourself onthat roller coaster.
If you are a gal out there whohas PCOS polycystic ovary
syndrome then perhaps you'reaware that blood sugar or your
sensitivity to insulin can bereally strategic in helping you
to manage your symptoms and feelyour best, have periods that
(14:48):
are as regular as you can manage.
I want to share with you alittle bit about how this
conversation looks with myone-on-one coaching clients and
what we do to get a pulse onnutrition and overall intake.
And when I onboard a newcoaching client, we will almost
always start off now doing athree-day food and mood journal.
(15:12):
So we will take a look at whatare you eating, when are you
eating it?
Where are you eating it?
What is your mood like?
What does your digestive systemhave to say about what you're
eating?
All of these things to get thefull picture of not just carrots
, hummus, hard-boiled eggs.
But, man, I was starving when Istarted to eat this meal, or
(15:36):
when I was finally able to eatthis meal or maybe you know, I
ate this meal when I was runningfrom one meeting to the other
or maybe not literally.
But when I was driving fromclient meeting A to client
meeting B, I wasn't really ableto sit down and focus, because
what's more than just the foodthat you are eating, that you're
(15:57):
chewing up and swallowing, ishow you are eating it.
How is your body able to absorbthose nutrients or break down
those components of your foodand actually use them to create
hormones and everything elsethat they do?
I'll give you one more examplehere.
I have a client who, similarly,we noticed that she was under
(16:21):
eating.
We noticed that she wasn'tincorporating a whole lot of
healthy fats into her diet.
So we kind of honed in on that,incorporating them regularly.
Now, shortly thereafter, we gotback her gut testing panel.
So the GI map is the panel thatI use with my one-on-one
clients.
We get it back and there's amarker on the GI map for
(16:45):
elastase.
Now, elastase is the enzyme thathelps to break down fats in
your diet.
It's released by your pancreas.
It's released by your pancreasand ultimately, you know we need
our pancreas to release thisenzyme in adequate amounts so
(17:05):
that, yeah, so our colon, ourintestines, rather, can pull it
apart, pull that fat apart andthen let our body actually use
it to create hormones, etc.
Okay, so that's the background.
On elastase, anyway, we got herGI map results back and we saw
that her elastase levels were alittle bit on the lower side,
(17:30):
and so that is really importantto note, because homegirl can be
eating as much avocado to note,because homegirl can be eating
as much avocado, as much extravirgin olive oil, as many flax
seeds and salmon and all theother good sources of healthy
fats that she wants.
But if your body is notbreaking it down, then you're
naturally not going to absorball of that.
(17:51):
So I feel like I've really saidthis 18 times in 18 slightly
different ways.
I think you get where I'm goingwith this, but this is all to
say.
In addition to what you'reeating, how is your body
absorbing it, how is your bodyabsorbing it and how well are
you digesting the food?
That's all really important andcan help to paint the picture
(18:13):
of what is up with your periodand where is she?
I have a couple of questionsthat I want to leave with you
here to kind of noodle on,because you might be thinking
okay, well, how do I know if I'munder eating?
Let's come back to this.
And so the starting point thatI would give you is just take
(18:36):
three days.
It does not need to be everyday, but three days.
You can get kind of an averagefor how much protein, how much
fat am I eating overall?
How many calories am I eating?
Is it at least as much as Iestimate to be burning that my
body needs just to exist andsupport my brain function?
(18:57):
Because, remember, it's okay toeat as much as your body is
burning.
Despite being programmed, youknow what?
I'm not even going to go downthat rabbit hole.
Let me again reel myself backin.
Do a pulse check.
Just record your food for threedays, or at the end of each day
(19:17):
you can say, hey, chat, gpt, orhey, claude, or hey, whatever
tool you like the best.
Let me tell you what I atetoday and just give me a quick
estimate.
I think that's the easiest waybecause you don't have to search
for a million different inputs.
All right, so let's assume thatyou've done that.
(19:39):
The next step, or the nextsuggestion I would have for you,
is to set some way for you tohave these reminders throughout
your day, to really check inwith yourself on.
Am I hungry right now?
Do I feel full?
How do I feel after I eat?
Was it enough?
Do I have the energy levelsthat I want or that I need?
And that can be just kind ofyour starting point.
(19:59):
Now, asterisks here.
Big note here that for somefolks, like if your stress is
high, if those cortisol levelsare high, that could suppress
your appetite.
So you might be thinking well,I mean, bridget, maybe I'm kind
of under eating, I'm on the cuspthere because I just don't have
(20:20):
an appetite.
So I am listening to my bodyand I hear you.
I hear that with a lot of myone-on-one clients and so of
course I don't know you andwhat's going on in your body.
But just be thinking about okay, does this say something about
my stress levels?
And you know, is it right forme to say, okay, thanks so much
(20:43):
for the signal, cortisol or lackthereof.
But hey, I know that I needmore nutrients than what I'm
getting because I did thosethree days of estimating.
So I'm going to teach myself toeat breakfast in the morning.
And again I have gals who say,bridget, I don't feel like
(21:06):
eating in the morning, itdoesn't make me feel good.
But then for those who are opento incorporating it, they start
with something small, theystart with something savory.
I mean, I'm just doing likesome mental math here, but
usually after about two weekslet's call it.
Yeah, let's call it two weeksthey're starting to feel like
(21:27):
okay, now I'm in this goodrhythm of eating breakfast.
It doesn't feel icky now and Inoticed that I have better, more
consistent energy levelsthroughout the day.
So just a little inspo for you,if that was on your mind.
Now I want to emphasize thatthis is especially important for
you if your periods are missingaltogether, because you know
(21:51):
that's one of the first things Ithink of when periods are
missing altogether is hey, okay,how much are we eating?
Because that's a huge signal ofsafety to your body.
Also very relevant coming backto this idea of irregular
periods or maybe PCOS, becausewhen something suspicious is
(22:13):
happening I say that as a joke,don't take me too literally on
that gang when something weirdis happening with your blood
sugar, well, of course that'sgoing to be influenced by what
you're eating and how oftenyou're eating it.
So I think that's also a goodtime to investigate.
I have a client.
She just finished up herfour-month program in the last I
(22:34):
guess it was the end of Julyhere, regardless, when we
started working together, hercycles were coming about every
35 days, so a little bit on thelong side.
We like to see it closer to 28.
For her before, like in thelast couple of years, her normal
was more like 29 days.
(22:56):
I digress.
We started off working together.
She had 35-ish day cycles.
We were really focusing on foodwith her.
That was one of the main thingsthat we noticed, also
increasing protein.
We also worked together.
She did a great job actually ofreally spearheading like how
(23:19):
can she eliminate stressors inher life?
By the end of our four monthsworking together, her cycle
length was down to about 30 dayseach cycle.
As we get ready to wrap up onthis episode, I just want to
reiterate for you like this isactually pretty common.
I've been surprised, clientafter client after client, that
(23:44):
many of us are kind ofunknowingly under eating.
And again, this is somethingwhere I don't like to track my
food all the time Definitely not.
But maybe once a month I'lltrack for a couple of days, kind
of in the same way that Isuggested to you, and I'm like,
oh gosh, I really thought that Iwas like kind of hitting the
(24:05):
mark, but that's to say this iscommon.
If you are trying to fix yourhormones, if there's something
with your period that needsadjusting, I would really love
for you to examine this a bit.
I also want to acknowledge thatat this time in society, and
(24:27):
for a long time.
But you know, a lot of us arepraised for shrinking our bodies
, for becoming smaller,especially with this ozempic
wave, this GLP-1 wave that'sgoing on.
But remember and I say thiswith all of the love and all of
(24:47):
the nourishment remember thatyou need to give your body the
tools and these building blocksto support your health and you
also can absolutely eat tasty,nourishing food, all while
bringing your hormones and yourgut health back into balance.
(25:08):
You are what you eat.
It just takes a couple of slowtweaks, a little bit at a time,
to get you where you need to beand so that you can feel your
best, because you deserve tofeel your best.
I hope that this episode washelpful for you.
I hope that you learnedsomething.
If this was helpful for you,I'd love for you to rate and
(25:30):
review the episode.
Share it with a friend.
Also, if any of this resonateswith you, I would love to invite
you to set up a strategy.
Call with me if there'ssomething, you have irregular
periods or missing periodsaltogether, and you want a
little bit of guidance,one-on-one support.
Maybe you're interested inlearning more about the gut
(25:53):
panel or the hormone testingthat I use with my one-on-one
coaching clients, then I wouldlove for you to either click the
link in the show notes or go toimhormonalcom slash goals and
we can set up a time to talk.
So that is it for today, gang.
Thank you again for listeningAgain.
(26:15):
My name is Bridget Walton and Iwill see you all on the next
one.
If you loved today's episodeand got something good out of it
, make sure you subscribe sothat these episodes show up
automatically in your feed, nowork needed on your side.
Let's put it on autopilot.
As always, I need to give youmy reminder that the information
(26:36):
I share with you here is foreducational purposes only, and
it should not be used as areplacement for medical advice
or diagnosis.
Now, if you are, on the otherhand, in the market for some
one-on-one support, then I wouldlove for you to take me up on
my offer for a free strategycall.
You can find these links andmore in the show notes.
All right, we'll see you on thenext one.
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