February 6, 2024 • 51 mins
Embark on a transformative journey to understand the delicate dance between alcohol and women's hormonal health with our guest, Leah Brueggemann, a functional diagnostic nutritional practitioner. Her personal journey from hormonal havoc to health expert unveils the truth behind alcohol as a neurotoxin and its disruption to our nervous and endocrine systems. As we dissect the nuances of detoxification and its pivotal role in women's well-being, Leah's expertise challenges popular health myths and empowers listeners with tailored strategies that honor the body's intricate hormonal cycles.
Navigate the complex terrain of fertility and overall health as we confront alcohol's deceptive influences. Our discussion illuminates how alcohol prioritizes itself in the body's metabolism, often masquerading as a harmless nightly ritual while silently undermining our well-being. From sleep patterns to reproductive signals, we reveal healthier alternatives that foster balance and vitality, steering clear from the enticing yet misleading narratives of certain health trends and additives in alcoholic beverages.
This episode isn't just about sobering statistics or health lectures; it's a heartfelt invitation to discover what is holding you back from feeling truly well.
You can find out more about Leah on her website: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/
Be sure to check out her podcast: The Balancing Hormones Naturally Podcast
I'm here for you. I'm praying for you. You are NOT alone!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Catholic Subriety Podcast, the
go-to resource for women seekingto have a deeper understanding
of the role alcohol plays intheir lives, women who are
looking to drink less or not atall for any reason.
I am your host, christy Walker.
I'm a wife, mom and a JoyfieldCatholic, and I am the Catholic
(00:23):
Subriety Coach, and I am so gladyou're here.
As women, hormones aresomething that we deal with for
pretty much all of our lives andas women who are looking to
drink less or not at all, youmight be wondering what hormones
(00:44):
have to do with, or whatalcohol has to do with your
hormones, how it affects yourhormones, and that is why I have
my guest today, leah Bruggeman.
She is a functional diagnosticnutritional practitioner.
She specializes in hormonalbalance for women.
(01:05):
She combines functional labtesting with nutrition and
lifestyle shifts to help womenfinally get to the root of their
issue.
Leah has helped over 400 womenpersonally get painless periods,
stabilize their moods, getpregnant and lose weight.
Leah also started a podcastBalancing Hormones.
(01:29):
Naturally.
She started it two years ago tohelp give women actual,
actionable steps that they cantake every day to improve their
health and hormones.
And when Leah isn't chattingabout hormones, you will
probably find her hanging outwith her two sons and husband in
the outdoors or reading a goodbook.
(01:51):
Welcome Leah, I'm so excited tohave you here today.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Thank you for having me on.
When I hear other people sayfunctional diagnostic,
nutritional practitioner, I'mlike holy moly, that's a
mouthful it is.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
I'm like, I have to say it very slowly.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, she was.
When is it so long?
Speaker 1 (02:14):
But I mean, how else do you describe it?
So I think, that's true.
That's great, okay.
So, leah, why don't we just goahead and start off with you
telling my audience a little bitabout what you do and maybe how
you even got interested inhelping women learn how to
balance their hormones?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah, so I like to think about myself as a health
detective, because you'veprobably I don't know I feel
like a lot of people have heardabout functional medicine at
this point and getting to theroot cause is such a buzzword.
We all want to do that, but Ireally like puzzles and that's
what I think about when it comesto health, because it's never
(02:55):
one thing, and I'll have a lotof women come to me and they're
like I have got issues, but thenover here I have all these food
sensitivities, but then overhere I have painful periods and
then over here I deal withanxiety, and it's just all of
these different things, all ofthese different symptoms, when
in reality, then my job is okay.
How are they connected?
(03:16):
Because they're all connectedand typically, if you have an
issue here, you're going to havean issue in another area
because of how your body worksas a unit and you want to think
about it as an orchestra.
So if the violins start playingout of tune, and then the
cellos try and follow, and thenthe violas, and then we have
utter chaos, right, but youcan't listen to that orchestra
(03:39):
and go.
Yep, violins, you were theproblem.
Let's fix that.
You know it's hard because noweverything is out of tune.
So you can't just focus on oneinstrument or one modality, like
you can't just look at hormones, you can't just look at the gut
.
You have to build up your bodyas a whole because by the time
you're experiencing symptoms, somany things have gone wrong
(04:02):
upstream.
And that's why I really thinkabout myself as a detective and
I really like puzzles, becauseyou have to look at those
symptoms and labs and you haveto go farther upstream, like
okay, where did things startgoing wrong first and how can we
build up from there?
So that's kind of what I do.
(04:23):
And I got started because I hada hormonal issues, surprise,
surprise.
I feel like that's why we allget started in what we do,
because we went through theringer and we just think, wow,
nobody else should ever have togo through that.
I was diagnosed withfibreratinomas, which are benign
breast tumors and breast cancergallops in my family Like it
(04:47):
doesn't even run, it justgallops, and so that was a
really big scare.
I had a fight.
One of my fibreratinomas wasbigger than a golf ball, it was
really big, and so that's whatkind of got me started in the
route of functional medicine, istrying to get rid of my
fibreratinomas, and I went to somany different practitioners
(05:09):
and so many doctors and it wasjust oh, I can get rid of your
fibreratinomas.
And they would just target myfibreratinomas.
And I, no one ever asked mewhat my cycles were like, or I
would have told them that myperiods were horrific and I was
throwing up on my period, andthey were so irregular I never
knew when my next one was goingto come.
And I just I never knew thatcycles were supposed to be
(05:32):
regular, where you couldactually expect when your next
period was going to come.
Mine were just insane.
I was tired all the time, andso I tried all of the things and
everything was just so targetedon one issue that, even though
I would see some improvement, Inever, never saw a difference in
my fibreratinomas, didn't see adifference in my periods.
(05:54):
So anyway, flash, flash forward.
I was able to regulate my cycles, get rid of my fibreratinomas,
raise my progesterone.
So I was able to have I havetwo, two healthy little boys,
two healthy pregnancies, whichwas really big, because back
then my progesterone was sochronically low that I wouldn't
(06:14):
have been able to carry apregnancy.
And so then I went back toschool.
I actually graduated collegewith my degree in music.
I was a full-time musicdirector and I performed, and
then I just pivoted, went backto school.
Pivoted, went back for healthbecause when I was diagnosed
with fibreratinomas I had toGoogle them.
(06:34):
I didn't know what they were andwhen I would talk about period
cramps because there'sabsolutely zero TMI with me I
found out there's a lot of otherwomen with period cramps and I
thought I was the only one.
I thought I was the abnormalitybecause nobody talked about
them.
Nobody wants to talk aboutperiods, nobody wants to talk
about ovulation or your cycles,and thankfully I think that that
(06:56):
taboo is going away.
But I was like I'm gonna talkabout it because I had one older
sister who is seven years olderthan me, but I had a house full
of brothers I had six brothers.
So like if you wanted to getout of anything, it was just I
have cramps and they'd be likeno, so I just think that it
(07:18):
needs to be talked about more.
And so that's when I got intothis and I started helping women
and I've been able to helphundreds and hundreds of women
and it's just, it's trulylife-changing.
I don't have any favoritetestimonials, because I try and
pick one.
I'm like, oh, when they tell methey're finally pregnant after
(07:38):
years of trying.
But then it's also the womenwho haven't been able to like
leave their house on theirperiod because it's so heavy now
are hiking on their period.
It's like I can't pick afavorite one.
They're all good.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah, that's amazing.
I just, first of all, I'm kindof a detective too, like I love
just getting to the root.
I say, like my superpower isresearch, I like to research,
and so I think that that is soimportant when you are trying to
better your health, whatever itis, is just to do a lot of
(08:13):
research and really be adetective about it, because
there can be so many things,like you pointed out, with
hormones.
There can be so many thingsgoing on that you don't realize
are actually impacting yourhormones.
It's same with, like sobriety,right With women who are
drinking.
A lot of times they don'trealize the alcohol might be
(08:34):
causing a lot of the things thatare happening within their
bodies.
They just think, oh, you know,it's this, it's this, it's this
and try all these things, whichis great, try all the things,
but then you know, make surethat you're pulling it out Like
an elimination diet almost,where it's like was it this, is
it this?
Yeah, and I think it's soimportant and we have, we are so
(08:56):
blessed because we have accessto so many more resources than,
like, our moms and our grandmashad access to, and so we can
really get kind of a fullpicture to be able to know that.
It is like you don't have tolive with those super painful
periods.
You don't have to live withthose, with the things that are
(09:21):
going on.
There are ways that you canmoderate, that alleviated, I
should say and live a healthy,full life, like you were saying,
like going hiking and doing allthe things that you want to do.
And I also love how you equatedit to an orchestra.
So the fact that you have amusic background at first I was
like that is so lovely, that'sso beautiful, I love that.
(09:45):
And then, having a musicbackground, I just was like, oh,
of course, but yeah, I lovethat.
I have to talk it all together,yes, but I mean, it makes so
much sense.
It makes so much sense.
I think that's a perfectanalogy for that.
So, because most of the womenlistening to my podcast are
struggling, maybe they don'thave an alcohol use disorder.
(10:07):
Most of them are just realizinglike alcohol is kind of
becoming a problem for them.
It's causing a little bit ofchaos in their lives and maybe
they are starting to feel someof those things that you
mentioned and they might bewondering is alcohol triggering
some of this?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
So could you explain how alcohol does impact our
hormones through those differentphases of life, such as just
getting our menstrual cycle,fertility, perimenopause, which
that's where I'm at right nowmenopause and then even like
post-menopause yeah, so I think,to set this up, we should know
(10:47):
that when you have alcohol toget it out of your system I know
some people are like, oh, it'snot the alcohol, because I only
drink on the weekends and Istill have these issues during
the week.
Or I gave it up for a week andI still have all of these same
issues.
And when you're thinking aboutalcohol and it's infected on the
(11:08):
body, you are gonna have togive it a minimum of three
months away from it to really go.
Do I notice a benefit being offof it Three months?
So that means you know noalcohol during that time.
So if you're someone that'slike, yeah, I see what you're
saying, but like I gave it upfor a month and I didn't feel
(11:31):
any different, that's really notlong enough because alcohol
affects every aspect pretty muchof your body and we'll get into
it, you know scientifically.
But I think some things to kindof remember is that you know
this is you for your educationand for you to make an informed
(11:53):
choice.
And I do have a lot of peoplethat are like, okay, I'm working
on XYZ right now and I'm gonnaremove alcohol while I'm doing
this, because obviously when I'mon this protocol.
Alcohol isn't helping it.
So I wanna, you know, do put mymoney where my mouth is and
support, cause I don't wannawaste my money.
And then they finish theirprotocol and they're like well,
I actually don't miss alcohol,you know, actually feel a lot
(12:16):
better off of it, and so youknow, they don't even do.
Really, the occasional drink oroccasional drink is so different
for everybody.
Occasional drink for people canbe like once a week, once a
night, once a couple times aweek.
You know, it's so different.
But when we think about alcoholyou would have to think about
(12:36):
it literally is a neurotoxin,like that's the best way to say
it, like it is literally a toxinand it affects pretty much
everything in our body, becauseour neurons affect everything in
our body and touch everything.
So when you think about yournervous system and your
(12:59):
endocrine system, which is yourhormones, they basically they're
like these little messengersand they communicate between all
of the organs of the body tomaintain like homeostasis, okay,
and so then every organ, everycell is then impacted by our
endocrine system and ourhormones control our metabolism,
(13:21):
electrolyte balance, energy,growth and development,
reproduction.
They basically enable our bodyto be able to handle, you know,
outside things from theenvironment.
So, like you know, think aboutyour immune system or healing
from injuries and stress andchronic alcohol exposure even if
(13:46):
chronic alcohol exposure foryou is once a week actually
impacts your hormone levels.
So it's going to have adecrease in testosterone and
progesterone and an increase inestrogen and FSH.
So, to put that intoperspective, you're decreasing
(14:06):
testosterone and progesterone.
So testosterone I feel like weoften think about that in terms
of men, but like women havetestosterone, we need
testosterone.
Think about that as a libidodrive, as in like your actual
will drive, like to get thingsdone.
Progesterone that's like yourrest.
Think about your rest anddigest hormone.
(14:29):
If you have a ton of hormonalissues right before your period,
they're most likely linked tonot having enough progesterone.
We are just so chronicallystressed as a society that a lot
of people have issues withprogesterone, an increase in FSH
and estrogen.
So estrogen if we aren'tmetabolizing that really really
well, you can be having a lot ofsymptoms like tender breast
(14:52):
before your period.
You can be getting a ton of PMSsymptoms.
You can be having really heavyperiods.
You can be getting reallycranky before your period or
really cranky your own ovulationFSH actually goes up as you get
closer to menopause.
So the higher the FSH, thecloser you are to menopause.
So it's kind of creepy how likechronic alcohol starts creeping
(15:16):
up that FSH right.
So when we have all thisdysregulation, and it's alcohol
induced, this is affecting everyaspect of your body now, and
then we start havingreproductive issues, body growth
issues, thyroid issues, immunedysfunction, big, big, big
(15:38):
issues with stress, and it maynot start just with the alcohol,
but we have realized thatalcohol affects all of these
different aspects.
And you wanna think about yourtoxicity bucket.
So, oh, I was gonna use a cup,but I was like they can't see me
.
So imagine a cup, right, andthat's you and you pour in a
(15:59):
little water from your waterglass and that's like toxins
from the outside environment.
And then another water glass islike hormone disruptors and
those are in your personal careproducts.
And then another one is maybeyou don't sleep really great all
the time, so your body's notgetting able to rest and heal.
There's some more water, andthen we have alcohol over here.
It's a little bit more water,and then, oh, there's stress
(16:19):
from your job.
There's more water.
Oh, my goodness, your cup'soverflowing.
And it's not necessarily onething, but it's like if we have
all of these other issues andthen you bring in alcohol over
here, that's affecting all ofthese things in your body and
how your body can actuallyhandle the other things, it's
really easy to just be the thingthat overflows the bucket.
(16:42):
But I also know that one of thebig, big, big things that people
feel like they get from alcoholis anxiety and so.
But if you only have it withalcohol, but you're using
alcohol because you wanna havemore fun at a party, you're like
, but you know, like the sideeffects, like I don't know, you
(17:02):
kinda have to.
Sometimes you just have to getto a point where you're like,
wow, I just really don't likehow I feel and I literally have
to decide and make a plan forhow I'm not going to have that
anymore, which you help peoplewith.
Because if you go in without aplan and you've relied on
(17:25):
alcohol for so many differentreasons, it's really really hard
to come off of because of howit affects your dopamine,
because so when you first drinkalcohol it brings up your
dopamine, but you have, whenit's like you're, I feel amazing
, I feel great, I feel relaxed,and then you have chronic
(17:46):
alcohol.
I keep saying chronic, likepeople are like these massive
drinkers, chronic by chronic.
I mean, like you regularly havealcohol, like once a week.
Like that's chronic, as in youhave it regularly and basically,
if you think about dopamine andalcohol, it's kind of I just
(18:06):
whenever I say this, I'm like,wow, I hope this really hits
home.
When you regularly are havingalcohol, your neurotransmitters
respond by producing lessdopamine.
So this is why, like when youhave alcohol and it increases
that your body's linking it to,I don't want to stop after a few
(18:26):
drinks Because, like that ishow your body is now getting
dopamine is through alcohol,because overall it's not
producing as much anymore anddopamine acts on areas of the
brain to give you feelings ofpleasure, satisfaction,
motivation.
So of course you're like I feelbetter when I drink it.
But it also has a role to playin controlling your memory, your
(18:49):
mood, sleep, learning,concentration, movement and
digestion.
You've got microbiome and it'sgonna take at least three months
three months for your body toget back to like a homeostasis
of producing its levels ofdopamine.
(19:10):
And so that's why I say, if youjust give it up for a short
amount of time and be like, well, it definitely wasn't the
alcohol, because I don't noticea difference.
You didn't give it long enough,because your body has not even
come back to its normal levelsof creating dopamine yet.
And low dopamine I mean, it'snot just, it just happens with
(19:33):
alcohol.
It's not like maybe it doesn'tor maybe it does it, just it
happens Like that is, that isthe side effect of it, and
alcohol can modify the functionof your dopamine neurons more
directly by literally enteringyour brain as well.
And what I think is reallyinteresting is that, as women,
(19:54):
we actually process alcoholdifferently than men, and women
basically absorb more alcoholinto our bloodstream, increasing
intoxication.
So you know, age actuallyinfluences the impact of alcohol
detoxification in women due toestrogen levels.
(20:15):
So, like, as you get closer tomenopause and maybe you have
lower estrogen levels, you'reactually going to have more
issues with alcohol consumption.
You're going to be morevulnerable to it because you
can't detox it as well.
So it's interesting.
A lot of times, you know, peopleare like oh, I'm just getting
old, I can't handle it, but yourtoxicity level is getting
(20:38):
bigger and bigger and if yourestrogen levels are getting
lower and lower and liverfunction isn't keeping up,
you're going to have a lot ofissues there, right?
So I mean, that's just a littlebit on how it affects, like
your dopamine and your mood andyour energy and your hormones.
But because it affects everysingle one of those things, then
(21:01):
you're going to be noticing,maybe, heavier periods, maybe
you're going to be noticing moremood swings, maybe you're going
to be noticing more anxiety,tender breasts before your
period, and then that, just youknow that continues.
And then the next layer ismaybe you're heading towards and
maybe I'm being extreme herebut when we constantly have this
blood sugar roller coasterbecause of alcohol, that's a
(21:25):
great way to set yourself up fortype two diabetes.
You know, it's because of thatblood sugar roller coaster and
sometimes I think we don't thinkabout it because we're like,
well, we're not drinking asugary drink, I'm just drinking
alcohol.
But alcohol does bring up yourglucose and you'll often see I
have people who wear CGMs, whichis a continuous glucose monitor
(21:49):
, and your body recognizesalcohol as a toxin and so when
they first drink the alcohol,especially if it's on an empty
stomach, you'll actually seeglucose go down in their body
because their body's trying toclear it, like the liver's like
get this out of me, and thenlater you'll see this massive
(22:10):
glucose spike and then we'll seethat effect on blood sugar for
days, days after they have thatalcohol drink and you know your
fasting glucose is a little bithigher.
Your, your body's just not beingas stable as it needs to be and
when you constantly are on thisblood sugar roller coaster,
that's causing inflammation inyour body and we have all this
(22:32):
inflammation Obstruction isgoing to be affecting you know,
all these other aspects and whenwe constantly are on a blood
sugar roller coaster, that ishow we set ourselves up to be
pre-diabetic and we're like Idon't know how I got here, you
know, but it's just those littlechoices that compound over time
(22:52):
.
You know you have alcohol and itbrings up your blood sugar and
then it comes crashing down andyour body wants something to
bring it back up.
So it's going to crave likecarbs, because your body's smart
and it knows that carbs aregoing to bring the blood sugar
up really fast, simple carbs,like bread I was going to say
blood and I don't know why thatcame out Bread and pastries and
(23:18):
that just goes right intoglucose.
And then you're on this rollercoaster and we wonder why our
sleep isn't that good and wewonder why we can't lose weight
and we wonder why we feel puffyall the time.
And it's not just one thing,it's kind of like the cascade of
things that happens from thealcohol.
And I'm not saying that youcan't ever have a drink every
(23:38):
now and then and not have theseissues, because I think that
when, like I said, it's yourtoxicity bucket.
So if you have emptied yourtoxicity bucket and your
cellular vitality is good,having a drink now and then
isn't going to be that big of adeal, right.
But I would say if you areregularly consuming alcohol,
your toxicity bucket probablyisn't that great, which means
(24:00):
that it cascades into all ofthese other things.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Oh, my goodness, that is so, so much good and helpful
information.
I was taking notes like crazy,but I've said these things and
you can read them, you canresearch them.
But to hear it from someonelike you who works with women
day in and day out on thesehormone levels, we just don't
(24:28):
think about that, like I had noidea.
I will say about, like all theways, like you were saying, the
depletion of estrogen, thedepletion of testosterone, the
increase in the, is it FSH?
Yeah, yeah, and then you'realready increased because as you
age, and I mean, that's juststuff that people are not
(24:51):
talking about.
And I feel like so many of myclients are doing all the right
things, like they're exercising,they're maybe intermittent
fasting, they've doneelimination diets, they're
drinking green juices, they'redoing all these things and I've
heard it, I've heard otherpeople, other sobriety people,
(25:12):
say it's they get in this detoxto re-talks loop.
So they're detoxing during theday, like trying to detox with,
like sweating it out and doingall this and drinking the green
juices and that, but then fiveo'clock, six o'clock, eight
o'clock rolls around and they'rereaching for that nightly glass
(25:33):
of wine or whatever alcohol itis.
And it's just that that viciouscycle, and I also loved because
we hear so often, for somereason, and I don't really know
why, it takes 28 days to changea habit, and so I think a lot of
times people come to methinking well, in 30 days I'll
you know, if I stopped drinkingfor 30 days or I cut back for 30
(25:54):
days, then I'm going to be good.
But I'm really glad that youbrought up that.
To truly detox your body out ofit, you have to give it three
months that way, and if I'm andplease correct me if I'm wrong
are you saying that if you dothat for three months, then that
will kind of level out yourhormones as well, providing that
(26:18):
everything else is going, ordoes that take even longer?
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Yeah, so that's strictly with dopamine, with
your body's ability to kind ofregulate its dopamine again,
because you aren't constantlystimulating it there.
But also, I mean, that's notkeeping into account like the
dopamine hits we get from socialmedia and there's just so many
(26:43):
things and factors.
It does take about 90 days toreset your hormones because of
that's how long the folliclejourney is.
From when you have the follicleto when it releases that mature
egg is about 90 days indevelopment.
No-transcript.
It can take that long, I wouldsay, though a lot of people it's
(27:07):
like I cut out alcohol and allof a sudden my period's got
better and I didn't have to endup breast before my period
anymore.
It can be that simple For somewomen.
Depending on how long this hasbeen going on, you may need a
lot more support than simplyjust not.
You know, because I will have alot of women that come to me
with elevated liver enzymes andnot necessarily because of
(27:31):
alcohol, like maybe they're.
Like I have one once a week,but it's just elevated liver
enzymes, non-alcoholic fattyliver diseases, 100% on the rise
because of blood chagrinbalances, and so it just it kind
of is all connected and Itotally, you know, go a little
(27:52):
bit against the grain here, butI want to touch on, like the,
you said the detox to retox, andyou're giving some examples.
The other reason why I see alot of women cut out alcohol and
not see a difference is becausethey are following a lot of
mainstream bad diets, which Ifeel like people get so
(28:13):
triggered when I say thatthey're like I'm not following a
bad diet, but so I'm so sorry.
I hope you hear this with anopen mind.
But like juicing is like theworst thing that you can do for
your liver, because one thingthat your liver needs is a
protein for phase two liverdetox and there is absolutely no
protein in juicing.
(28:34):
And a lot of times people arelike, oh, I'm having a juice and
I'm like, yeah, if you wereliterally just having like
juiced kale, that would be sodisgusting.
But they put apples, you know,and they put all this other
fruit in there and then we havethis great cocktail to spike our
blood sugar with no fiber.
Like I love vegetables and Ilove fruit, let's just eat them
(28:57):
in their actual form so you canhave all that amazing fiber and
get all those nutrients and notjust spike our blood sugar.
So that's another reason whyyou may feel like you're doing
all of the things and notnoticing the differences.
You might not be doing thethings that are optimal for a
woman.
So a lot of times we have allof these diets out there that
(29:19):
are studied on men because menrespond the same.
Men respond differentlydepending on which phase of
their cycle they're in.
So whether you're in men'sfollicular, ovulatory or luteal,
you're going to responddifferently because of the
fluctuation of hormones.
So what do they say?
Like, instead of doing thisstudy four different times
(29:40):
because that's expensive,they'll study it on men and
post-menopausal women and thengo oh, this applies to all women
and it's like no, it does not.
So we are sorelyunderrepresented in the studies,
and so that's why I'll see alot of women try intermittent
fasting or they'll try coldplunging or they try whatever,
(30:01):
and they don't actually see abenefit.
They actually see the opposite,right, because they are not
working with their hormones,they're working against them,
and so it's just constantly thisuphill battle.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Yeah, that's interesting that you say that,
because I do like to dointermittent fasting and I get
very regimented.
I think it's partially mybackground of being in recovery.
It's kind of all or nothing forme sometimes.
And so when I was doingintermittent fasting, it has to
be this 16, 8, every day, 16, 8,every day.
(30:37):
And then I was doing researchbecause that's what I do and
that's what I love, and theywere like this woman was like no
, you need to take intoconsideration your cycles.
There are times when you shouldnot be fasting and there are
times when you need to vary yourfast.
(30:57):
So here I am thinking I'm doingthis so good and doing this
great things, but then I couldhave been messing up what my
hormones levels are and all ofthose other things, and then I'm
like well, why do I feel likethis?
Or why am I so tired?
So I'm so glad that youmentioned that because, again, I
(31:20):
think what I was doing wasprobably based on what men do,
or even those longer fast.
And she's like no, no, no, youneed to vary it and you need to
figure that out as well.
So I'm so glad that you saidthat and you're right.
We just don't hear a lot aboutit, I mean, when I was growing
(31:41):
up and I'm old, and so it's likeyou get your period and then
you're of the age when you canhave kids, and then you're going
to have menopause and thenyou're going to be done, and
it's not like that.
We're learning so much, andthat's why I'm so glad that
you're here to just enlightenall of us on this.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah, I talk about fasting a lot mostly because I
just get a lot of women thatcome in having tried fasting or
feel like that's the only way,and I think it's really, really
hard and you have to walk thisvery fine line, when it comes to
(32:22):
women's health, of there's somany benefits to fasting in
terms of insulin and recoveryand inflammation and all of
these kinds of things.
But then there's also this sideeffect.
Okay, if you're a menstruatingwoman and you start messing with
cortisol too much, then you'rereally affecting your
progesterone production and thenyou have all these other issues
(32:45):
of your body feeding off of theadrenaline and the cortisol.
So it's like you have to walkthis really fine line of how can
I optimize my inflammation butnot mess with my sex hormones?
Right, because fertility is notjust about having babies.
Fertility is your fifth vitalsign.
It is a sign of your health,and so it's your period and how
(33:09):
the quality of your period is soimportant.
So I get it.
I'm not disengaging the factthat it's just confusing as heck
.
If you don't, you're justwalking in and you're like
somebody says this and somebodysays that.
I don't know what to do.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
I get it, yeah yeah.
And that's why I just keepresearching and finding those
reputable sources is soimportant, because if you just
take it like I did at first andbe like, okay, well, this is how
you do it and it's so good andI actually did not have my
period for a long time and I'mpretty regular and I was like,
(33:44):
oh no, what's going on in mymenopause now?
And then when I came across herand then I was like, oh, okay,
so I need to be more carefulabout when I do it and when I
don't do it.
And then everything went backto normal and I was like, oh, so
that was just like light bulb,like, oh, so that's not good for
me.
(34:04):
Yeah, exactly so yeah, so thankyou for talking about that too,
and then so you touched on alittle bit.
Well, you did talk quite a bitabout liver health, but with
alcohol consumption, like yousaid, the first thing our body
wants to do when we take it inis get rid of it.
(34:24):
So do I understand correctlythat, like before anything, like
before we digest food, beforeanything else happens in our
body, it's working to get rid ofthat?
And then if and most of usdrink, like at night, like
that's like our nightly winddownroutine, so can you talk a
little bit about how alcoholconsumption affects our liver in
(34:49):
like that, yeah, so it's kindof like think about when your
body is trying to get rid of thealcohol first.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
It's like order of priority.
Your body, your body is notdumb, right?
So when you think about it interms of like the timing of when
you are drinking though.
So something I incorporate alot of with my clients is what I
call brain rewiring for health,because you can take all of the
(35:22):
right supplements, you can dothe right protocols, but if,
literally, the neuro connectionis not there, you just have like
really expensive pee and reallyexpensive poop because you
aren't utilizing those things.
Like.
We have to actually make thatconnection, and the reason why I
say that is when we start offwith having alcohol as our
nightly winddown, my firstinstinct is actually not, let's
(35:46):
not talk about the healthimplications of it.
Let's figure out why we need tohave alcohol for our nightly
winddown, because there'sprobably something else going on
in your day or in your lifewhere a need is not being met
right, because we don't dothings because they're bad for
(36:06):
us.
We do things because they arein some way serving us.
It's a second think about it aslike a secondary goal, so that
alcohol is serving you, like itis literally serving a purpose.
So when we can figure that outand then, you know, trace
backwards to where can that needbe met in a way that maybe is
not harming my health?
(36:29):
That is where you can start,because I really don't think you
can, for a lot of people, justsaying all the negative side
effects is not enough for them,because I feel like everybody
knows that alcohol isn't likehealthy for you, or maybe they
don't, I don't know, but I thinkthat's, you know, very
important to kind of realize.
And then, secondly, the timewhen your body detoxes and heals
(36:54):
and regenerates and rests inyour brain heals is when you're
sleeping.
So I mean, if you're drinkingalcohol, which is a neurotoxin,
your brain's supposed to behealing at nighttime in that
deep sleep.
If you in any way track, likewith an Apple Watch or an Aura
(37:16):
Ring or Ringcon or anything, Ican 100% guarantee you you will
see a difference in your REM andyour deep sleep, like your
recovery, like I can guaranteeyou will see that because it is
affecting your rest and recovery.
So I don't think there's anyideal time to have alcohol, but
I feel like before bed's,probably high up there with the
(37:38):
worst priority.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Yeah well, and you know, when we are trying to like
lose weight or like manage ourweight, a lot of times we hear
like don't eat after like thesun goes down, or after 8 pm, or
you know, whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Yet so many people like follow that.
But yet they'll drink, have aglass of wine or two or you know
however many like right beforebed and it's like no yeah.
Yeah so the other thing.
So I just want to bring this up, because you talked about
health and I feel like we'vegotten some bad messaging like
red wine is good for you, likeit's good for your heart or it's
(38:16):
good for this natural yes, yeah, and it's like no, you can get
that from other things.
And like antioxidants, like,like you were saying, just have
like a handful of grapes.
Like you don't need to have thegrape juice, the fermented
grape juice, but alcohol in it.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Well, yeah, red wine doesn't even have it.
So the resveratrol, the benefiteveryone is, it's not even
resveratrol, it's transresveratrol, so it has to be
converted already.
So wine isn't even transresveratrol, it's just
resveratrol, and you would needa lot higher amounts than you're
getting in the wine to actuallysee any benefits.
(39:01):
So I don't think there's reallyany benefits there.
Alcohol I mean alcohol is a lotof issues, but some other
issues that are in alcoholicdrinks have nothing to do with
alcohol.
It's the fact that you'llnotice on your wine labels
there's no nutrition label.
That's because, like, lobbyistshave worked really, really,
really hard because they don'twant to tell you what's in that
wine.
(39:21):
And there's a reason why, like,a lot of wines are not vegan
actually, because they have likethings like egg whites in them
and if that astounds you, likeyou don't want to know the other
things that are in there.
Right, there's so many thingsand they have so many pesticides
, so many toxins, so manychemicals outside of like the
(39:42):
toxin of actual alcohol.
So I know that there is a lotof alcoholic brands out there.
Well, actually there's not alot, but I do know of one, off
the top of my head, dry farmwine, which is much, much, much
lower alcohol content and theyactually have like screenings
like they'll tell you what'sactually in their wine.
(40:03):
So it doesn't have all of thoseissues.
But I mean the best option isreally still no alcohol.
But I there's just so manyother things in the wine like
there's a reason why there's nonutrition label on there.
I think you know that I didn'teven realize that till I heard
someone educating on that and Isaid there's no nutrition label
(40:24):
on wine.
That's so weird.
I went to go grab a wine bottle.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
I'm like let me see, yeah, I had no idea about that
either at all.
Well, because I don't have winein the house, but I do every
once in a while I'll get like anon-alcoholic wine, because they
do have those now.
But I mean, just from whatyou're saying, it's still had,
probably has all that stuff init.
It just doesn't have the, thealcohol in it, the ethanol, yeah
(40:51):
, is.
So that brings me to like I'veseen it comes up in my feed.
Sometimes I'm like, do you evenknow your audience?
Because I don't drink at all,but it's still fun.
So, like these healthy wines,like when a paltrow like has
this wine line that's likeorganic and no sugar or low
sugar or you know whatever it is.
(41:13):
And so they'll say like I feelso good about having this
because it's organic and it'slike low sugar.
But is that still?
Speaker 2 (41:24):
I mean, is I guess it's a better alternative to
regular, but it's still notgonna be great free right it's
like one of those thingsmarketing is just so fun because
people will say I feel so goodabout you know, drinking XYZ and
it's like I mean lots of thingscan be organic and still be bad
(41:47):
for you.
You know like it doesn'tnecessarily.
I did have someone one timethat had said I, everything's
organic, everything that I eatis organic and I'm like okay,
but if you have celiac disease,eating organic bread isn't gonna
make it any better for you.
You know it's like, and I'llhave people will bring in
(42:10):
different types of foods andthey're like well, it's organic,
so it's good for me, and I'mlike well, you are removing a
lot of pesticides, which is nice, so you're removing some
chemicals, which is nice.
But just because it's organicdoesn't inherently make it good
for you.
So I think that's somethingthat's kind of important to kind
of realize.
(42:30):
I definitely think it's abetter option if you're someone
that's like I'm going to likeslowly ween off or maybe I will
get something like dry farmswine.
I don't actually drink.
I think alcohols gross.
I'm a weird person.
I totally acknowledge that fact.
I just think it's gross.
But that's why I got for familymembers, for for presence,
(42:56):
because, like they love wine.
I was like here is a betteroption for you.
You can have this.
So I do think that maybestepping in that direction is
definitely better, but I wouldsay the best option is just, you
know, having a magnesium tartcherry mocktail.
So that's the first one thatcomes to my mind.
(43:17):
It will help you sleep yes,that's so good.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
So actually I do have a question about that too,
because the other thing thatkeeps coming up in my feed are
all these because it's driedJanuary right now as we're
recording, okay, and all thesethings keep coming up in my feed
of like calming, like have thisinstead of wine and have that
like substance, this, and it'llhave like things in it that I've
(43:44):
seen that are like supposedlike supplements that are good
to take, like to promote sleep.
Yeah, one of them is like Kavaor something which I really yeah
, yeah so yeah if someone wantsto still get that relaxation,
because we know, like you weresaying, alcohol is terrible for
(44:06):
sleep, it disrupts it.
But a lot of women well, peoplein general will drink it just
so that to help them fall asleepquicker, which it does.
Do that because it's sedatingyou, basically right, and so it
helps you fall asleep butdoesn't help your sleep.
But this alternative, thesealternatives and I know you
can't speak to them specifically, but if you can find a
(44:27):
reputable one do you feel likethat is a good alternative or is
it best just to let yournatural so I can speak to Kava.
Speaker 2 (44:38):
Kava is actually an herb that, for some people, does
give them that kind of highthat alcohol gives them without
the alcohol.
I'm just gonna put out reallybig warning like you cannot
consume Kava at the same timethat you're having alcohol.
(44:58):
Like you couldn't do Kava.
Next day alcohol Kava.
Like you are murdering yourliver.
Do not do that.
But I don't think I would useKava in this instance.
But I would say that usingthings that actually help your
body produce melatonin wouldactually probably be quite
(45:19):
useful as you are learning youryour new diurnal pattern of
sleep.
If you've really struggled withsleep, do realize that like
you're gonna have to make aritual with your sleep because
you know, if you've relied onI've, you know past clients who
use THC, and so then starting tolearn to sleep without that was
(45:40):
it's like it's hard and I'm notI'm not disowning that like
it's very, very hard.
Um, so, really having aregimented, you get up at the
same time and you go to bed atthe same time like literally
like clockwork, even if you'relike I'm gonna go to bed and I'm
not going to sleep for fivehours, you still have to be on
(46:02):
top of that and also againreframing that like literally
visualize a very positive sleepexperience and falling asleep.
You know at least you'reresting and relaxing.
But then I would incorporate.
I do like magnesium.
Magnesium is one of my favoritesupplements.
Is your rest and relax mineral.
And then tart cherry juiceactually helps your body produce
(46:24):
melatonin.
You know, be careful of yoursugar content there.
So just pure tart cherry juice,like two tablespoons.
Maybe you're mixing that withsome sparkling water and that's
what you have, maybe with yourmagnesium.
So I sometimes really likemagnesium with alfionine because
that's helpful and relaxing andcan really set you up for a
(46:50):
wonderful sleep.
But yeah, I definitely wouldincorporate those if you need to
.
Speaker 1 (46:56):
That's great, yeah, and put it in a pretty glass,
like, put it in a beautifulglass and just make it a fun
ritual.
I think that I think a lot oftimes it is just that ritual of
like our bodies saying, okay,I'm winding down, now this is my
relaxed time, especially if youhad, like, a really hectic day.
(47:16):
So I think that that would helpso much.
And I love that you gave thatrecommendation, because I think
that that would be so helpfulfor many people and actually I'm
gonna try it, cause I think,cause then I can recommend it.
I don't really have troublefalling asleep, but I think it's
nice to.
I mean, sometimes when I'm alittle bit jazzed up from the
(47:39):
day or whatever, it is nice tohave something like that.
And you know, I always say as Itell clients, I'm like, as soon
as you, when you stop drinking,you're gonna notice that you
get so much better sleep.
But, as you noted, it doesn'thappen overnight because we are
still.
It takes time to get in thathabit.
So having something like this,or like you were saying
(48:02):
something to promote melatonin,will be so helpful in being able
to get your body used to goingto bed and waking up at the same
time every day, and sleep is soimportant for us in general
that I think a lot of times weback burner it, especially if
we're coming out of that stageof where our kids, you know,
(48:23):
we've had to be getting up withkids and stuff like that and we
don't, and then we don't have toas much, but we, our bodies,
are still kind of in that likestage of it and then we think
that we can't.
So I love all of that.
I could talk to you for hours,seriously, but I know you don't
have time and you're a busy lady, but I would love it if you
(48:46):
could just let people know, like, where they can get ahold of
you, if you have anything thatyou're promoting now, and
definitely to check out yourpodcast as well.
Speaker 2 (48:59):
Yeah, we do have weekly episodes on the podcast
Bouncing Hormones.
Naturally you can find me onInstagram or TikTok or pretty
much any social media with LeahL-E-A-H underscore B-R-U-E-G.
I am semi-active now.
I mean we're pretty active onthem as much as our time allows
(49:19):
and all of that.
I do have a group program, thehormone reset program, which we
do enrollments for once a month,so as long as we have space.
But so we, if you are needinghelp in that area, you can, you
know, definitely reach out.
But I would say 100% check outthe podcast.
We have free trainings on thereand lots of good episodes.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
Great.
Oh, thank you so much.
I am definitely gonna bechecking it out because, like I
said, I'm getting into adifferent stage of my hormonal
journey and so I think thathaving all the information that
you can get is great, and I willleave links to where you can
find Leah in the show notes.
So thank you so much for beinghere and for sharing so much
(50:10):
great information.
Like people need this awarenessbecause it's just not out there
.
You don't see it in thecommercials, you don't see it on
a catchy meme or a T-shirtabout your hormones.
So you have to go looking forthis information and don't let
it scare you, let it empower you100% Thanks for having me on.
Well, that does it for thisepisode of the Catholic sobriety
(50:33):
podcast.
I hope you enjoyed this episodeand I would invite you to share
it with a friend who might alsoget value from it as well, and
make sure you subscribe so youdon't miss a thing.
I am the Catholic sobrietycoach, and if you would like to
learn how to work with me orlearn more about the coaching
(50:55):
that I offer, visit my website,thecatholicsobrietycoachcom.
Follow me on Instagram atthecatholicsobrietycoach.
I look forward to speaking toyou next time and remember I am
here for you.
I am praying for you.
You are not alone.
(51:17):
Okay.
Welcome to the Catholic Subriety Podcast, the
go-to resource for women seekingto have a deeper understanding
of the role alcohol plays intheir lives, women who are
looking to drink less or not atall for any reason.
I am your host, christy Walker.
I'm a wife, mom and a JoyfieldCatholic, and I am the Catholic
(00:23):
Subriety Coach, and I am so gladyou're here.
As women, hormones aresomething that we deal with for
pretty much all of our lives andas women who are looking to
drink less or not at all, youmight be wondering what hormones
(00:44):
have to do with, or whatalcohol has to do with your
hormones, how it affects yourhormones, and that is why I have
my guest today, leah Bruggeman.
She is a functional diagnosticnutritional practitioner.
She specializes in hormonalbalance for women.
(01:05):
She combines functional labtesting with nutrition and
lifestyle shifts to help womenfinally get to the root of their
issue.
Leah has helped over 400 womenpersonally get painless periods,
stabilize their moods, getpregnant and lose weight.
Leah also started a podcastBalancing Hormones.
(01:29):
Naturally.
She started it two years ago tohelp give women actual,
actionable steps that they cantake every day to improve their
health and hormones.
And when Leah isn't chattingabout hormones, you will
probably find her hanging outwith her two sons and husband in
the outdoors or reading a goodbook.
(01:51):
Welcome Leah, I'm so excited tohave you here today.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Thank you for having me on.
When I hear other people sayfunctional diagnostic,
nutritional practitioner, I'mlike holy moly, that's a
mouthful it is.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
I'm like, I have to say it very slowly.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, she was.
When is it so long?
Speaker 1 (02:14):
But I mean, how else do you describe it?
So I think, that's true.
That's great, okay.
So, leah, why don't we just goahead and start off with you
telling my audience a little bitabout what you do and maybe how
you even got interested inhelping women learn how to
balance their hormones?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah, so I like to think about myself as a health
detective, because you'veprobably I don't know I feel
like a lot of people have heardabout functional medicine at
this point and getting to theroot cause is such a buzzword.
We all want to do that, but Ireally like puzzles and that's
what I think about when it comesto health, because it's never
(02:55):
one thing, and I'll have a lotof women come to me and they're
like I have got issues, but thenover here I have all these food
sensitivities, but then overhere I have painful periods and
then over here I deal withanxiety, and it's just all of
these different things, all ofthese different symptoms, when
in reality, then my job is okay.
How are they connected?
(03:16):
Because they're all connectedand typically, if you have an
issue here, you're going to havean issue in another area
because of how your body worksas a unit and you want to think
about it as an orchestra.
So if the violins start playingout of tune, and then the
cellos try and follow, and thenthe violas, and then we have
utter chaos, right, but youcan't listen to that orchestra
(03:39):
and go.
Yep, violins, you were theproblem.
Let's fix that.
You know it's hard because noweverything is out of tune.
So you can't just focus on oneinstrument or one modality, like
you can't just look at hormones, you can't just look at the gut
.
You have to build up your bodyas a whole because by the time
you're experiencing symptoms, somany things have gone wrong
(04:02):
upstream.
And that's why I really thinkabout myself as a detective and
I really like puzzles, becauseyou have to look at those
symptoms and labs and you haveto go farther upstream, like
okay, where did things startgoing wrong first and how can we
build up from there?
So that's kind of what I do.
(04:23):
And I got started because I hada hormonal issues, surprise,
surprise.
I feel like that's why we allget started in what we do,
because we went through theringer and we just think, wow,
nobody else should ever have togo through that.
I was diagnosed withfibreratinomas, which are benign
breast tumors and breast cancergallops in my family Like it
(04:47):
doesn't even run, it justgallops, and so that was a
really big scare.
I had a fight.
One of my fibreratinomas wasbigger than a golf ball, it was
really big, and so that's whatkind of got me started in the
route of functional medicine, istrying to get rid of my
fibreratinomas, and I went to somany different practitioners
(05:09):
and so many doctors and it wasjust oh, I can get rid of your
fibreratinomas.
And they would just target myfibreratinomas.
And I, no one ever asked mewhat my cycles were like, or I
would have told them that myperiods were horrific and I was
throwing up on my period, andthey were so irregular I never
knew when my next one was goingto come.
And I just I never knew thatcycles were supposed to be
(05:32):
regular, where you couldactually expect when your next
period was going to come.
Mine were just insane.
I was tired all the time, andso I tried all of the things and
everything was just so targetedon one issue that, even though
I would see some improvement, Inever, never saw a difference in
my fibreratinomas, didn't see adifference in my periods.
(05:54):
So anyway, flash, flash forward.
I was able to regulate my cycles, get rid of my fibreratinomas,
raise my progesterone.
So I was able to have I havetwo, two healthy little boys,
two healthy pregnancies, whichwas really big, because back
then my progesterone was sochronically low that I wouldn't
(06:14):
have been able to carry apregnancy.
And so then I went back toschool.
I actually graduated collegewith my degree in music.
I was a full-time musicdirector and I performed, and
then I just pivoted, went backto school.
Pivoted, went back for healthbecause when I was diagnosed
with fibreratinomas I had toGoogle them.
(06:34):
I didn't know what they were andwhen I would talk about period
cramps because there'sabsolutely zero TMI with me I
found out there's a lot of otherwomen with period cramps and I
thought I was the only one.
I thought I was the abnormalitybecause nobody talked about
them.
Nobody wants to talk aboutperiods, nobody wants to talk
about ovulation or your cycles,and thankfully I think that that
(06:56):
taboo is going away.
But I was like I'm gonna talkabout it because I had one older
sister who is seven years olderthan me, but I had a house full
of brothers I had six brothers.
So like if you wanted to getout of anything, it was just I
have cramps and they'd be likeno, so I just think that it
(07:18):
needs to be talked about more.
And so that's when I got intothis and I started helping women
and I've been able to helphundreds and hundreds of women
and it's just, it's trulylife-changing.
I don't have any favoritetestimonials, because I try and
pick one.
I'm like, oh, when they tell methey're finally pregnant after
(07:38):
years of trying.
But then it's also the womenwho haven't been able to like
leave their house on theirperiod because it's so heavy now
are hiking on their period.
It's like I can't pick afavorite one.
They're all good.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Yeah, that's amazing.
I just, first of all, I'm kindof a detective too, like I love
just getting to the root.
I say, like my superpower isresearch, I like to research,
and so I think that that is soimportant when you are trying to
better your health, whatever itis, is just to do a lot of
(08:13):
research and really be adetective about it, because
there can be so many things,like you pointed out, with
hormones.
There can be so many thingsgoing on that you don't realize
are actually impacting yourhormones.
It's same with, like sobriety,right With women who are
drinking.
A lot of times they don'trealize the alcohol might be
(08:34):
causing a lot of the things thatare happening within their
bodies.
They just think, oh, you know,it's this, it's this, it's this
and try all these things, whichis great, try all the things,
but then you know, make surethat you're pulling it out Like
an elimination diet almost,where it's like was it this, is
it this?
Yeah, and I think it's soimportant and we have, we are so
(08:56):
blessed because we have accessto so many more resources than,
like, our moms and our grandmashad access to, and so we can
really get kind of a fullpicture to be able to know that.
It is like you don't have tolive with those super painful
periods.
You don't have to live withthose, with the things that are
(09:21):
going on.
There are ways that you canmoderate, that alleviated, I
should say and live a healthy,full life, like you were saying,
like going hiking and doing allthe things that you want to do.
And I also love how you equatedit to an orchestra.
So the fact that you have amusic background at first I was
like that is so lovely, that'sso beautiful, I love that.
(09:45):
And then, having a musicbackground, I just was like, oh,
of course, but yeah, I lovethat.
I have to talk it all together,yes, but I mean, it makes so
much sense.
It makes so much sense.
I think that's a perfectanalogy for that.
So, because most of the womenlistening to my podcast are
struggling, maybe they don'thave an alcohol use disorder.
(10:07):
Most of them are just realizinglike alcohol is kind of
becoming a problem for them.
It's causing a little bit ofchaos in their lives and maybe
they are starting to feel someof those things that you
mentioned and they might bewondering is alcohol triggering
some of this?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
So could you explain how alcohol does impact our
hormones through those differentphases of life, such as just
getting our menstrual cycle,fertility, perimenopause, which
that's where I'm at right nowmenopause and then even like
post-menopause yeah, so I think,to set this up, we should know
(10:47):
that when you have alcohol toget it out of your system I know
some people are like, oh, it'snot the alcohol, because I only
drink on the weekends and Istill have these issues during
the week.
Or I gave it up for a week andI still have all of these same
issues.
And when you're thinking aboutalcohol and it's infected on the
(11:08):
body, you are gonna have togive it a minimum of three
months away from it to really go.
Do I notice a benefit being offof it Three months?
So that means you know noalcohol during that time.
So if you're someone that'slike, yeah, I see what you're
saying, but like I gave it upfor a month and I didn't feel
(11:31):
any different, that's really notlong enough because alcohol
affects every aspect pretty muchof your body and we'll get into
it, you know scientifically.
But I think some things to kindof remember is that you know
this is you for your educationand for you to make an informed
(11:53):
choice.
And I do have a lot of peoplethat are like, okay, I'm working
on XYZ right now and I'm gonnaremove alcohol while I'm doing
this, because obviously when I'mon this protocol.
Alcohol isn't helping it.
So I wanna, you know, do put mymoney where my mouth is and
support, cause I don't wannawaste my money.
And then they finish theirprotocol and they're like well,
I actually don't miss alcohol,you know, actually feel a lot
(12:16):
better off of it, and so youknow, they don't even do.
Really, the occasional drink oroccasional drink is so different
for everybody.
Occasional drink for people canbe like once a week, once a
night, once a couple times aweek.
You know, it's so different.
But when we think about alcoholyou would have to think about
(12:36):
it literally is a neurotoxin,like that's the best way to say
it, like it is literally a toxinand it affects pretty much
everything in our body, becauseour neurons affect everything in
our body and touch everything.
So when you think about yournervous system and your
(12:59):
endocrine system, which is yourhormones, they basically they're
like these little messengersand they communicate between all
of the organs of the body tomaintain like homeostasis, okay,
and so then every organ, everycell is then impacted by our
endocrine system and ourhormones control our metabolism,
(13:21):
electrolyte balance, energy,growth and development,
reproduction.
They basically enable our bodyto be able to handle, you know,
outside things from theenvironment.
So, like you know, think aboutyour immune system or healing
from injuries and stress andchronic alcohol exposure even if
(13:46):
chronic alcohol exposure foryou is once a week actually
impacts your hormone levels.
So it's going to have adecrease in testosterone and
progesterone and an increase inestrogen and FSH.
So, to put that intoperspective, you're decreasing
(14:06):
testosterone and progesterone.
So testosterone I feel like weoften think about that in terms
of men, but like women havetestosterone, we need
testosterone.
Think about that as a libidodrive, as in like your actual
will drive, like to get thingsdone.
Progesterone that's like yourrest.
Think about your rest anddigest hormone.
(14:29):
If you have a ton of hormonalissues right before your period,
they're most likely linked tonot having enough progesterone.
We are just so chronicallystressed as a society that a lot
of people have issues withprogesterone, an increase in FSH
and estrogen.
So estrogen if we aren'tmetabolizing that really really
well, you can be having a lot ofsymptoms like tender breast
(14:52):
before your period.
You can be getting a ton of PMSsymptoms.
You can be having really heavyperiods.
You can be getting reallycranky before your period or
really cranky your own ovulationFSH actually goes up as you get
closer to menopause.
So the higher the FSH, thecloser you are to menopause.
So it's kind of creepy how likechronic alcohol starts creeping
(15:16):
up that FSH right.
So when we have all thisdysregulation, and it's alcohol
induced, this is affecting everyaspect of your body now, and
then we start havingreproductive issues, body growth
issues, thyroid issues, immunedysfunction, big, big, big
(15:38):
issues with stress, and it maynot start just with the alcohol,
but we have realized thatalcohol affects all of these
different aspects.
And you wanna think about yourtoxicity bucket.
So, oh, I was gonna use a cup,but I was like they can't see me
.
So imagine a cup, right, andthat's you and you pour in a
(15:59):
little water from your waterglass and that's like toxins
from the outside environment.
And then another water glass islike hormone disruptors and
those are in your personal careproducts.
And then another one is maybeyou don't sleep really great all
the time, so your body's notgetting able to rest and heal.
There's some more water, andthen we have alcohol over here.
It's a little bit more water,and then, oh, there's stress
(16:19):
from your job.
There's more water.
Oh, my goodness, your cup'soverflowing.
And it's not necessarily onething, but it's like if we have
all of these other issues andthen you bring in alcohol over
here, that's affecting all ofthese things in your body and
how your body can actuallyhandle the other things, it's
really easy to just be the thingthat overflows the bucket.
(16:42):
But I also know that one of thebig, big, big things that people
feel like they get from alcoholis anxiety and so.
But if you only have it withalcohol, but you're using
alcohol because you wanna havemore fun at a party, you're like
, but you know, like the sideeffects, like I don't know, you
(17:02):
kinda have to.
Sometimes you just have to getto a point where you're like,
wow, I just really don't likehow I feel and I literally have
to decide and make a plan forhow I'm not going to have that
anymore, which you help peoplewith.
Because if you go in without aplan and you've relied on
(17:25):
alcohol for so many differentreasons, it's really really hard
to come off of because of howit affects your dopamine,
because so when you first drinkalcohol it brings up your
dopamine, but you have, whenit's like you're, I feel amazing
, I feel great, I feel relaxed,and then you have chronic
(17:46):
alcohol.
I keep saying chronic, likepeople are like these massive
drinkers, chronic by chronic.
I mean, like you regularly havealcohol, like once a week.
Like that's chronic, as in youhave it regularly and basically,
if you think about dopamine andalcohol, it's kind of I just
(18:06):
whenever I say this, I'm like,wow, I hope this really hits
home.
When you regularly are havingalcohol, your neurotransmitters
respond by producing lessdopamine.
So this is why, like when youhave alcohol and it increases
that your body's linking it to,I don't want to stop after a few
(18:26):
drinks Because, like that ishow your body is now getting
dopamine is through alcohol,because overall it's not
producing as much anymore anddopamine acts on areas of the
brain to give you feelings ofpleasure, satisfaction,
motivation.
So of course you're like I feelbetter when I drink it.
But it also has a role to playin controlling your memory, your
(18:49):
mood, sleep, learning,concentration, movement and
digestion.
You've got microbiome and it'sgonna take at least three months
three months for your body toget back to like a homeostasis
of producing its levels ofdopamine.
(19:10):
And so that's why I say, if youjust give it up for a short
amount of time and be like, well, it definitely wasn't the
alcohol, because I don't noticea difference.
You didn't give it long enough,because your body has not even
come back to its normal levelsof creating dopamine yet.
And low dopamine I mean, it'snot just, it just happens with
(19:33):
alcohol.
It's not like maybe it doesn'tor maybe it does it, just it
happens Like that is, that isthe side effect of it, and
alcohol can modify the functionof your dopamine neurons more
directly by literally enteringyour brain as well.
And what I think is reallyinteresting is that, as women,
(19:54):
we actually process alcoholdifferently than men, and women
basically absorb more alcoholinto our bloodstream, increasing
intoxication.
So you know, age actuallyinfluences the impact of alcohol
detoxification in women due toestrogen levels.
(20:15):
So, like, as you get closer tomenopause and maybe you have
lower estrogen levels, you'reactually going to have more
issues with alcohol consumption.
You're going to be morevulnerable to it because you
can't detox it as well.
So it's interesting.
A lot of times, you know, peopleare like oh, I'm just getting
old, I can't handle it, but yourtoxicity level is getting
(20:38):
bigger and bigger and if yourestrogen levels are getting
lower and lower and liverfunction isn't keeping up,
you're going to have a lot ofissues there, right?
So I mean, that's just a littlebit on how it affects, like
your dopamine and your mood andyour energy and your hormones.
But because it affects everysingle one of those things, then
(21:01):
you're going to be noticing,maybe, heavier periods, maybe
you're going to be noticing moremood swings, maybe you're going
to be noticing more anxiety,tender breasts before your
period, and then that, just youknow that continues.
And then the next layer ismaybe you're heading towards and
maybe I'm being extreme herebut when we constantly have this
blood sugar roller coasterbecause of alcohol, that's a
(21:25):
great way to set yourself up fortype two diabetes.
You know, it's because of thatblood sugar roller coaster and
sometimes I think we don't thinkabout it because we're like,
well, we're not drinking asugary drink, I'm just drinking
alcohol.
But alcohol does bring up yourglucose and you'll often see I
have people who wear CGMs, whichis a continuous glucose monitor
(21:49):
, and your body recognizesalcohol as a toxin and so when
they first drink the alcohol,especially if it's on an empty
stomach, you'll actually seeglucose go down in their body
because their body's trying toclear it, like the liver's like
get this out of me, and thenlater you'll see this massive
(22:10):
glucose spike and then we'll seethat effect on blood sugar for
days, days after they have thatalcohol drink and you know your
fasting glucose is a little bithigher.
Your, your body's just not beingas stable as it needs to be and
when you constantly are on thisblood sugar roller coaster,
that's causing inflammation inyour body and we have all this
(22:32):
inflammation Obstruction isgoing to be affecting you know,
all these other aspects and whenwe constantly are on a blood
sugar roller coaster, that ishow we set ourselves up to be
pre-diabetic and we're like Idon't know how I got here, you
know, but it's just those littlechoices that compound over time
(22:52):
.
You know you have alcohol and itbrings up your blood sugar and
then it comes crashing down andyour body wants something to
bring it back up.
So it's going to crave likecarbs, because your body's smart
and it knows that carbs aregoing to bring the blood sugar
up really fast, simple carbs,like bread I was going to say
blood and I don't know why thatcame out Bread and pastries and
(23:18):
that just goes right intoglucose.
And then you're on this rollercoaster and we wonder why our
sleep isn't that good and wewonder why we can't lose weight
and we wonder why we feel puffyall the time.
And it's not just one thing,it's kind of like the cascade of
things that happens from thealcohol.
And I'm not saying that youcan't ever have a drink every
(23:38):
now and then and not have theseissues, because I think that
when, like I said, it's yourtoxicity bucket.
So if you have emptied yourtoxicity bucket and your
cellular vitality is good,having a drink now and then
isn't going to be that big of adeal, right.
But I would say if you areregularly consuming alcohol,
your toxicity bucket probablyisn't that great, which means
(24:00):
that it cascades into all ofthese other things.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Oh, my goodness, that is so, so much good and helpful
information.
I was taking notes like crazy,but I've said these things and
you can read them, you canresearch them.
But to hear it from someonelike you who works with women
day in and day out on thesehormone levels, we just don't
(24:28):
think about that, like I had noidea.
I will say about, like all theways, like you were saying, the
depletion of estrogen, thedepletion of testosterone, the
increase in the, is it FSH?
Yeah, yeah, and then you'realready increased because as you
age, and I mean, that's juststuff that people are not
(24:51):
talking about.
And I feel like so many of myclients are doing all the right
things, like they're exercising,they're maybe intermittent
fasting, they've doneelimination diets, they're
drinking green juices, they'redoing all these things and I've
heard it, I've heard otherpeople, other sobriety people,
(25:12):
say it's they get in this detoxto re-talks loop.
So they're detoxing during theday, like trying to detox with,
like sweating it out and doingall this and drinking the green
juices and that, but then fiveo'clock, six o'clock, eight
o'clock rolls around and they'rereaching for that nightly glass
(25:33):
of wine or whatever alcohol itis.
And it's just that that viciouscycle, and I also loved because
we hear so often, for somereason, and I don't really know
why, it takes 28 days to changea habit, and so I think a lot of
times people come to methinking well, in 30 days I'll
you know, if I stopped drinkingfor 30 days or I cut back for 30
(25:54):
days, then I'm going to be good.
But I'm really glad that youbrought up that.
To truly detox your body out ofit, you have to give it three
months that way, and if I'm andplease correct me if I'm wrong
are you saying that if you dothat for three months, then that
will kind of level out yourhormones as well, providing that
(26:18):
everything else is going, ordoes that take even longer?
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Yeah, so that's strictly with dopamine, with
your body's ability to kind ofregulate its dopamine again,
because you aren't constantlystimulating it there.
But also, I mean, that's notkeeping into account like the
dopamine hits we get from socialmedia and there's just so many
(26:43):
things and factors.
It does take about 90 days toreset your hormones because of
that's how long the folliclejourney is.
From when you have the follicleto when it releases that mature
egg is about 90 days indevelopment.
No-transcript.
It can take that long, I wouldsay, though a lot of people it's
(27:07):
like I cut out alcohol and allof a sudden my period's got
better and I didn't have to endup breast before my period
anymore.
It can be that simple For somewomen.
Depending on how long this hasbeen going on, you may need a
lot more support than simplyjust not.
You know, because I will have alot of women that come to me
with elevated liver enzymes andnot necessarily because of
(27:31):
alcohol, like maybe they're.
Like I have one once a week,but it's just elevated liver
enzymes, non-alcoholic fattyliver diseases, 100% on the rise
because of blood chagrinbalances, and so it just it kind
of is all connected and Itotally, you know, go a little
(27:52):
bit against the grain here, butI want to touch on, like the,
you said the detox to retox, andyou're giving some examples.
The other reason why I see alot of women cut out alcohol and
not see a difference is becausethey are following a lot of
mainstream bad diets, which Ifeel like people get so
(28:13):
triggered when I say thatthey're like I'm not following a
bad diet, but so I'm so sorry.
I hope you hear this with anopen mind.
But like juicing is like theworst thing that you can do for
your liver, because one thingthat your liver needs is a
protein for phase two liverdetox and there is absolutely no
protein in juicing.
(28:34):
And a lot of times people arelike, oh, I'm having a juice and
I'm like, yeah, if you wereliterally just having like
juiced kale, that would be sodisgusting.
But they put apples, you know,and they put all this other
fruit in there and then we havethis great cocktail to spike our
blood sugar with no fiber.
Like I love vegetables and Ilove fruit, let's just eat them
(28:57):
in their actual form so you canhave all that amazing fiber and
get all those nutrients and notjust spike our blood sugar.
So that's another reason whyyou may feel like you're doing
all of the things and notnoticing the differences.
You might not be doing thethings that are optimal for a
woman.
So a lot of times we have allof these diets out there that
(29:19):
are studied on men because menrespond the same.
Men respond differentlydepending on which phase of
their cycle they're in.
So whether you're in men'sfollicular, ovulatory or luteal,
you're going to responddifferently because of the
fluctuation of hormones.
So what do they say?
Like, instead of doing thisstudy four different times
(29:40):
because that's expensive,they'll study it on men and
post-menopausal women and thengo oh, this applies to all women
and it's like no, it does not.
So we are sorelyunderrepresented in the studies,
and so that's why I'll see alot of women try intermittent
fasting or they'll try coldplunging or they try whatever,
(30:01):
and they don't actually see abenefit.
They actually see the opposite,right, because they are not
working with their hormones,they're working against them,
and so it's just constantly thisuphill battle.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Yeah, that's interesting that you say that,
because I do like to dointermittent fasting and I get
very regimented.
I think it's partially mybackground of being in recovery.
It's kind of all or nothing forme sometimes.
And so when I was doingintermittent fasting, it has to
be this 16, 8, every day, 16, 8,every day.
(30:37):
And then I was doing researchbecause that's what I do and
that's what I love, and theywere like this woman was like no
, you need to take intoconsideration your cycles.
There are times when you shouldnot be fasting and there are
times when you need to vary yourfast.
(30:57):
So here I am thinking I'm doingthis so good and doing this
great things, but then I couldhave been messing up what my
hormones levels are and all ofthose other things, and then I'm
like well, why do I feel likethis?
Or why am I so tired?
So I'm so glad that youmentioned that because, again, I
(31:20):
think what I was doing wasprobably based on what men do,
or even those longer fast.
And she's like no, no, no, youneed to vary it and you need to
figure that out as well.
So I'm so glad that you saidthat and you're right.
We just don't hear a lot aboutit, I mean, when I was growing
(31:41):
up and I'm old, and so it's likeyou get your period and then
you're of the age when you canhave kids, and then you're going
to have menopause and thenyou're going to be done, and
it's not like that.
We're learning so much, andthat's why I'm so glad that
you're here to just enlightenall of us on this.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah, I talk about fasting a lot mostly because I
just get a lot of women thatcome in having tried fasting or
feel like that's the only way,and I think it's really, really
hard and you have to walk thisvery fine line, when it comes to
(32:22):
women's health, of there's somany benefits to fasting in
terms of insulin and recoveryand inflammation and all of
these kinds of things.
But then there's also this sideeffect.
Okay, if you're a menstruatingwoman and you start messing with
cortisol too much, then you'rereally affecting your
progesterone production and thenyou have all these other issues
(32:45):
of your body feeding off of theadrenaline and the cortisol.
So it's like you have to walkthis really fine line of how can
I optimize my inflammation butnot mess with my sex hormones?
Right, because fertility is notjust about having babies.
Fertility is your fifth vitalsign.
It is a sign of your health,and so it's your period and how
(33:09):
the quality of your period is soimportant.
So I get it.
I'm not disengaging the factthat it's just confusing as heck
.
If you don't, you're justwalking in and you're like
somebody says this and somebodysays that.
I don't know what to do.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
I get it, yeah yeah.
And that's why I just keepresearching and finding those
reputable sources is soimportant, because if you just
take it like I did at first andbe like, okay, well, this is how
you do it and it's so good andI actually did not have my
period for a long time and I'mpretty regular and I was like,
(33:44):
oh no, what's going on in mymenopause now?
And then when I came across herand then I was like, oh, okay,
so I need to be more carefulabout when I do it and when I
don't do it.
And then everything went backto normal and I was like, oh, so
that was just like light bulb,like, oh, so that's not good for
me.
(34:04):
Yeah, exactly so yeah, so thankyou for talking about that too,
and then so you touched on alittle bit.
Well, you did talk quite a bitabout liver health, but with
alcohol consumption, like yousaid, the first thing our body
wants to do when we take it inis get rid of it.
(34:24):
So do I understand correctlythat, like before anything, like
before we digest food, beforeanything else happens in our
body, it's working to get rid ofthat?
And then if and most of usdrink, like at night, like
that's like our nightly winddownroutine, so can you talk a
little bit about how alcoholconsumption affects our liver in
(34:49):
like that, yeah, so it's kindof like think about when your
body is trying to get rid of thealcohol first.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
It's like order of priority.
Your body, your body is notdumb, right?
So when you think about it interms of like the timing of when
you are drinking though.
So something I incorporate alot of with my clients is what I
call brain rewiring for health,because you can take all of the
(35:22):
right supplements, you can dothe right protocols, but if,
literally, the neuro connectionis not there, you just have like
really expensive pee and reallyexpensive poop because you
aren't utilizing those things.
Like.
We have to actually make thatconnection, and the reason why I
say that is when we start offwith having alcohol as our
nightly winddown, my firstinstinct is actually not, let's
(35:46):
not talk about the healthimplications of it.
Let's figure out why we need tohave alcohol for our nightly
winddown, because there'sprobably something else going on
in your day or in your lifewhere a need is not being met
right, because we don't dothings because they're bad for
(36:06):
us.
We do things because they arein some way serving us.
It's a second think about it aslike a secondary goal, so that
alcohol is serving you, like itis literally serving a purpose.
So when we can figure that outand then, you know, trace
backwards to where can that needbe met in a way that maybe is
not harming my health?
(36:29):
That is where you can start,because I really don't think you
can, for a lot of people, justsaying all the negative side
effects is not enough for them,because I feel like everybody
knows that alcohol isn't likehealthy for you, or maybe they
don't, I don't know, but I thinkthat's, you know, very
important to kind of realize.
And then, secondly, the timewhen your body detoxes and heals
(36:54):
and regenerates and rests inyour brain heals is when you're
sleeping.
So I mean, if you're drinkingalcohol, which is a neurotoxin,
your brain's supposed to behealing at nighttime in that
deep sleep.
If you in any way track, likewith an Apple Watch or an Aura
(37:16):
Ring or Ringcon or anything, Ican 100% guarantee you you will
see a difference in your REM andyour deep sleep, like your
recovery, like I can guaranteeyou will see that because it is
affecting your rest and recovery.
So I don't think there's anyideal time to have alcohol, but
I feel like before bed's,probably high up there with the
(37:38):
worst priority.
Speaker 1 (37:40):
Yeah well, and you know, when we are trying to like
lose weight or like manage ourweight, a lot of times we hear
like don't eat after like thesun goes down, or after 8 pm, or
you know, whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:53):
Yet so many people like follow that.
But yet they'll drink, have aglass of wine or two or you know
however many like right beforebed and it's like no yeah.
Yeah so the other thing.
So I just want to bring this up, because you talked about
health and I feel like we'vegotten some bad messaging like
red wine is good for you, likeit's good for your heart or it's
(38:16):
good for this natural yes, yeah, and it's like no, you can get
that from other things.
And like antioxidants, like,like you were saying, just have
like a handful of grapes.
Like you don't need to have thegrape juice, the fermented
grape juice, but alcohol in it.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Well, yeah, red wine doesn't even have it.
So the resveratrol, the benefiteveryone is, it's not even
resveratrol, it's transresveratrol, so it has to be
converted already.
So wine isn't even transresveratrol, it's just
resveratrol, and you would needa lot higher amounts than you're
getting in the wine to actuallysee any benefits.
(39:01):
So I don't think there's reallyany benefits there.
Alcohol I mean alcohol is a lotof issues, but some other
issues that are in alcoholicdrinks have nothing to do with
alcohol.
It's the fact that you'llnotice on your wine labels
there's no nutrition label.
That's because, like, lobbyistshave worked really, really,
really hard because they don'twant to tell you what's in that
wine.
(39:21):
And there's a reason why, like,a lot of wines are not vegan
actually, because they have likethings like egg whites in them
and if that astounds you, likeyou don't want to know the other
things that are in there.
Right, there's so many thingsand they have so many pesticides
, so many toxins, so manychemicals outside of like the
(39:42):
toxin of actual alcohol.
So I know that there is a lotof alcoholic brands out there.
Well, actually there's not alot, but I do know of one, off
the top of my head, dry farmwine, which is much, much, much
lower alcohol content and theyactually have like screenings
like they'll tell you what'sactually in their wine.
(40:03):
So it doesn't have all of thoseissues.
But I mean the best option isreally still no alcohol.
But I there's just so manyother things in the wine like
there's a reason why there's nonutrition label on there.
I think you know that I didn'teven realize that till I heard
someone educating on that and Isaid there's no nutrition label
(40:24):
on wine.
That's so weird.
I went to go grab a wine bottle.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
I'm like let me see, yeah, I had no idea about that
either at all.
Well, because I don't have winein the house, but I do every
once in a while I'll get like anon-alcoholic wine, because they
do have those now.
But I mean, just from whatyou're saying, it's still had,
probably has all that stuff init.
It just doesn't have the, thealcohol in it, the ethanol, yeah
(40:51):
, is.
So that brings me to like I'veseen it comes up in my feed.
Sometimes I'm like, do you evenknow your audience?
Because I don't drink at all,but it's still fun.
So, like these healthy wines,like when a paltrow like has
this wine line that's likeorganic and no sugar or low
sugar or you know whatever it is.
(41:13):
And so they'll say like I feelso good about having this
because it's organic and it'slike low sugar.
But is that still?
Speaker 2 (41:24):
I mean, is I guess it's a better alternative to
regular, but it's still notgonna be great free right it's
like one of those thingsmarketing is just so fun because
people will say I feel so goodabout you know, drinking XYZ and
it's like I mean lots of thingscan be organic and still be bad
(41:47):
for you.
You know like it doesn'tnecessarily.
I did have someone one timethat had said I, everything's
organic, everything that I eatis organic and I'm like okay,
but if you have celiac disease,eating organic bread isn't gonna
make it any better for you.
You know it's like, and I'llhave people will bring in
(42:10):
different types of foods andthey're like well, it's organic,
so it's good for me, and I'mlike well, you are removing a
lot of pesticides, which is nice, so you're removing some
chemicals, which is nice.
But just because it's organicdoesn't inherently make it good
for you.
So I think that's somethingthat's kind of important to kind
of realize.
(42:30):
I definitely think it's abetter option if you're someone
that's like I'm going to likeslowly ween off or maybe I will
get something like dry farmswine.
I don't actually drink.
I think alcohols gross.
I'm a weird person.
I totally acknowledge that fact.
I just think it's gross.
But that's why I got for familymembers, for for presence,
(42:56):
because, like they love wine.
I was like here is a betteroption for you.
You can have this.
So I do think that maybestepping in that direction is
definitely better, but I wouldsay the best option is just, you
know, having a magnesium tartcherry mocktail.
So that's the first one thatcomes to my mind.
(43:17):
It will help you sleep yes,that's so good.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
So actually I do have a question about that too,
because the other thing thatkeeps coming up in my feed are
all these because it's driedJanuary right now as we're
recording, okay, and all thesethings keep coming up in my feed
of like calming, like have thisinstead of wine and have that
like substance, this, and it'llhave like things in it that I've
(43:44):
seen that are like supposedlike supplements that are good
to take, like to promote sleep.
Yeah, one of them is like Kavaor something which I really yeah
, yeah so yeah if someone wantsto still get that relaxation,
because we know, like you weresaying, alcohol is terrible for
(44:06):
sleep, it disrupts it.
But a lot of women well, peoplein general will drink it just
so that to help them fall asleepquicker, which it does.
Do that because it's sedatingyou, basically right, and so it
helps you fall asleep butdoesn't help your sleep.
But this alternative, thesealternatives and I know you
can't speak to them specifically, but if you can find a
(44:27):
reputable one do you feel likethat is a good alternative or is
it best just to let yournatural so I can speak to Kava.
Speaker 2 (44:38):
Kava is actually an herb that, for some people, does
give them that kind of highthat alcohol gives them without
the alcohol.
I'm just gonna put out reallybig warning like you cannot
consume Kava at the same timethat you're having alcohol.
(44:58):
Like you couldn't do Kava.
Next day alcohol Kava.
Like you are murdering yourliver.
Do not do that.
But I don't think I would useKava in this instance.
But I would say that usingthings that actually help your
body produce melatonin wouldactually probably be quite
(45:19):
useful as you are learning youryour new diurnal pattern of
sleep.
If you've really struggled withsleep, do realize that like
you're gonna have to make aritual with your sleep because
you know, if you've relied onI've, you know past clients who
use THC, and so then starting tolearn to sleep without that was
(45:40):
it's like it's hard and I'm notI'm not disowning that like
it's very, very hard.
Um, so, really having aregimented, you get up at the
same time and you go to bed atthe same time like literally
like clockwork, even if you'relike I'm gonna go to bed and I'm
not going to sleep for fivehours, you still have to be on
(46:02):
top of that and also againreframing that like literally
visualize a very positive sleepexperience and falling asleep.
You know at least you'reresting and relaxing.
But then I would incorporate.
I do like magnesium.
Magnesium is one of my favoritesupplements.
Is your rest and relax mineral.
And then tart cherry juiceactually helps your body produce
(46:24):
melatonin.
You know, be careful of yoursugar content there.
So just pure tart cherry juice,like two tablespoons.
Maybe you're mixing that withsome sparkling water and that's
what you have, maybe with yourmagnesium.
So I sometimes really likemagnesium with alfionine because
that's helpful and relaxing andcan really set you up for a
(46:50):
wonderful sleep.
But yeah, I definitely wouldincorporate those if you need to
.
Speaker 1 (46:56):
That's great, yeah, and put it in a pretty glass,
like, put it in a beautifulglass and just make it a fun
ritual.
I think that I think a lot oftimes it is just that ritual of
like our bodies saying, okay,I'm winding down, now this is my
relaxed time, especially if youhad, like, a really hectic day.
(47:16):
So I think that that would helpso much.
And I love that you gave thatrecommendation, because I think
that that would be so helpfulfor many people and actually I'm
gonna try it, cause I think,cause then I can recommend it.
I don't really have troublefalling asleep, but I think it's
nice to.
I mean, sometimes when I'm alittle bit jazzed up from the
(47:39):
day or whatever, it is nice tohave something like that.
And you know, I always say as Itell clients, I'm like, as soon
as you, when you stop drinking,you're gonna notice that you
get so much better sleep.
But, as you noted, it doesn'thappen overnight because we are
still.
It takes time to get in thathabit.
So having something like this,or like you were saying
(48:02):
something to promote melatonin,will be so helpful in being able
to get your body used to goingto bed and waking up at the same
time every day, and sleep is soimportant for us in general
that I think a lot of times weback burner it, especially if
we're coming out of that stageof where our kids, you know,
(48:23):
we've had to be getting up withkids and stuff like that and we
don't, and then we don't have toas much, but we, our bodies,
are still kind of in that likestage of it and then we think
that we can't.
So I love all of that.
I could talk to you for hours,seriously, but I know you don't
have time and you're a busy lady, but I would love it if you
(48:46):
could just let people know, like, where they can get ahold of
you, if you have anything thatyou're promoting now, and
definitely to check out yourpodcast as well.
Speaker 2 (48:59):
Yeah, we do have weekly episodes on the podcast
Bouncing Hormones.
Naturally you can find me onInstagram or TikTok or pretty
much any social media with LeahL-E-A-H underscore B-R-U-E-G.
I am semi-active now.
I mean we're pretty active onthem as much as our time allows
(49:19):
and all of that.
I do have a group program, thehormone reset program, which we
do enrollments for once a month,so as long as we have space.
But so we, if you are needinghelp in that area, you can, you
know, definitely reach out.
But I would say 100% check outthe podcast.
We have free trainings on thereand lots of good episodes.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
Great.
Oh, thank you so much.
I am definitely gonna bechecking it out because, like I
said, I'm getting into adifferent stage of my hormonal
journey and so I think thathaving all the information that
you can get is great, and I willleave links to where you can
find Leah in the show notes.
So thank you so much for beinghere and for sharing so much
(50:10):
great information.
Like people need this awarenessbecause it's just not out there
.
You don't see it in thecommercials, you don't see it on
a catchy meme or a T-shirtabout your hormones.
So you have to go looking forthis information and don't let
it scare you, let it empower you100% Thanks for having me on.
Well, that does it for thisepisode of the Catholic sobriety
(50:33):
podcast.
I hope you enjoyed this episodeand I would invite you to share
it with a friend who might alsoget value from it as well, and
make sure you subscribe so youdon't miss a thing.
I am the Catholic sobrietycoach, and if you would like to
learn how to work with me orlearn more about the coaching
(50:55):
that I offer, visit my website,thecatholicsobrietycoachcom.
Follow me on Instagram atthecatholicsobrietycoach.
I look forward to speaking toyou next time and remember I am
here for you.
I am praying for you.
You are not alone.
(51:17):
Okay.
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