00:00:00
Welcome back. Today we're going to be talking all things menstrual cycle and hormones because obviously they go hand in hand. I am super excited to have today's guests on because I have had a lot of people write in and ask me, can you do an episode on our menstrual cycle and the different phases, what that means for eating foods, what that means for workouts, how it's balancing our hormones, or how to know if there's a problem. And Dr. Cassandra Wild is going to give you all the answers today.
00:00:32
I absolutely loved interviewing her. I felt like she gave the best tips, things that I could add in right away, things I could be aware of in my nutrition, things I could be aware of in my habits. And to me, that is the best thing I can be given. Because, as you know, we change things little steps at a time and there is going to be so many nuggets of things for you to add to your tool belt to improve your menstrual cycle, make it a little bit easier on you, because we know it's a pain. And also your hormones to kind of be aware of some things.
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Dr. Cassandra Wild is a naturopathic doctor and a hormone expert for women. She helps women get to the root of their hormone and menstrual symptoms with her programs and functional lab testing. She is also the host of the Cyclical podcast. I actually love her podcast as well.
00:01:26
I feel like it is full of even more information, so don't forget to check it out. And again, like many episodes, you're going to want to grab a little notepad and write down some of the stuff she talks about. And I will also be linking some of it in the show notes as well because she does give some great suggestions. And if you're like me, I easily forget. So it's going to be easy for me to go back to a link to know what she is talking about.
00:01:49
So get excited because today we are going to break down the menstrual cycle, the phases of it, what to do with foods, what to do with workouts, what things to be aware of in our minerals, and so much more. And if you find this episode helpful, do not forget to share it with your friends. Share it on social media. Let's spread the word. The more people can learn, the better.
00:02:11
And don't forget to tag me because I love to see those. It really brightens my day and it just helps the show grow when you share or when you write a review, wherever you listen on Spotify, on Apple or wherever it may be. Today, I want to give a little shout out to review EKC. So much good information. I love this podcast and the variety of information that you share here.
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Thank you for breaking down the information to make it understandable and useful. Women need this knowledge. Thank you for sharing. No, thank you EKC for the review. I appreciate it so much, and that is truly my number one goal here, is to give you pieces of information that you can digest that make sense for you to make your life better.
00:02:54
And today's episode with Dr. Cassandra Wild is going to be no different. And before we get into today's episode, I do want to point out that, you know, I am a big fan of sleep. It makes such a huge difference in so many aspects of your life. And I know it's really complicated to get as a mother and truly even just an adult in general.
00:03:12
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00:03:38
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00:04:21
Let's get into it and learn all about our menstrual cycle and our hormones and what we can do to help and balance them. My name is Andrea Allen , and I am a mother of four girls under seven, a wifey to a mountain man, a personal trainer, and a nutrition coach. I love all things in women's health and fitness, but let's face it, the fitness industry is complicated, and it's not built for the everyday mom. There's so much conflicting information, and you're busy and you don't have time to figure it out. I hate feeling confused and overwhelmed, so I have made it my mission to simplify health and fitness while creating a welcoming, realistic, and empowering home for like minded women.
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I'm happy you're here, and I hope you stay awhile.
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Okay. Dr. Cassandra Wild, I'm super excited to have you on. Thank you so much for being here. Thanks for inviting me.
00:05:12
I'm excited to chat about hormones and. Our cycles, all the things that we love. So give us a little bit about your background and how you got into this field. Yeah, it was kind of out of necessity. When I was a teenager, I had really irregular cycles, so I wouldn't get a period for three, six, up to nine months at a time.
00:05:32
And so when I was 18, I finally decided to see a doctor. And I don't know why, but I built up in my mind that this was going to be like a really life changing appointment. I thought they were going to give me a thorough questionnaire and that we were really going to investigate what's going on. And I don't again, know where I got this idea that that's what an appointment with a gynecologist was going to be like, but needless to say, spoiler. I went and it was maybe five minutes long, and they didn't really ask me anything, and I just left with a prescription for birth control.
00:06:04
And that was like the first moment that I realized, wow, as women were really not given the space to be supported, we're really not getting any answers. And then as I did my undergrad in health and nutrition, I kind of felt the same thing over and over. It was always about how do you manage symptoms? How to get someone to feel better, but never how to fix the underlying root cause. And so when I went to Naturopathic school, I finally felt like I met my people.
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People that thought the same way that I did, that were not so concerned with symptom management, but instead, how do we fix what's driving this in the first place? And that was just like the most incredible time. I love that because I do feel like our society is getting to a point where I think before it was always like, how can we just take pills and just manage what we have? And now we're getting to a point I feel like with a lot of interviews I'd had and a lot of people I talked to now were, what can we actually do prevent, how can we actually change our lifestyle? What can we do to manage before we're taking pills, before we're having extreme issues where we even need that?
00:07:07
So I love your field. I think it's definitely under talked about. I think people feel confused about it. I know I do. I feel like every female I talk to feels the same way.
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So I'm so thankful for doctors like you. Thank you. Yeah. It's an area that I feel like is finally getting some attention because so many people are feeling like they have been passed along from specialist to specialist and never getting any answers, and they're ready for someone to investigate deeper with them. So can you break down our cycles?
00:07:38
Because I know that's a big thing for you is the mental cycle. Can you break down the phases and what an imbalance would look like and what it's actually supposed to look like. Because I know for me, sometimes if I'm going through the same thing over and over again, I'm like, oh, yeah, this is normal, and you have no idea what's actually normal and what's actually not normal. Exactly. I always say common.
00:07:56
It doesn't mean normal, but we normalize. A lot of these intense symptoms like, oh, everybody feels like they're dying for three days of their period, and like, no, you're not supposed to feel that way. So with this cycle, we often just think of our period. But our menstrual cycle as a whole are the four phases that we move through throughout a month. So it's way more than just when you're actually bleeding.
00:08:18
Your period, of course, is when we're actually bleeding. Our uterine lining is sloughing off, and our hormones are at their lowest when we're actually bleeding. So that's why we tend to feel a little more tired, maybe more introverted. We're not going to conquer the world, likely, on our period, but as soon as our period ends, we move into our follicular phase. And this is when estrogen and testosterone start to rise.
00:08:43
We're going to feel more energy, we'll feel more productive. We'll start to see cervical mucus or discharge as our body prepares for the act of ovulation. And ovulation is the whole point of why we have a menstrual cycle. So if you have an ovulatory cycle, your ovary will release a follicle. That follicle has an egg inside of it.
00:09:06
It's kind of a miraculous thing how it all works. But after that egg leaves the follicle, the follicle transforms into the corpus luteum, which is a temporary endocrine gland. And so that is what will make progesterone through the rest of your cycle. So this is why when I talk about the menstrual cycle, I always have to add the disclaimer if you ovulated, because not everyone is ovulating. Even if you get a period, you're not always ovulating.
00:09:34
Not necessarily. Okay, yeah, I know that's an issue a lot of times for fertility because people don't realize they're not because they're getting a period, and then yeah, exactly. Yeah. So that's a whole thing. But if you don't ovulate, you don't make that hormone progesterone or estradiol through the rest of your cycle.
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And so when we move into our luteal phase, which is the phase after ovulation, but before our period, that really matters here. The luteal phase is ten to 14 days long. So it's the longest phase of our cycle. And if we didn't ovulate, we didn't make progesterone. This can be a really difficult phase.
00:10:08
So we'll see PMS, breast tenderness, food cravings. We might be super emotional and angry and irritable. It can be truly a phase that takes away from quality of life. And one of the best protective tools to support the luteal phase is to ensure that you're making progesterone so what. Percentage of people don't?
00:10:28
Because now I'm curious what percentage don't ovulate? Because now I'm curious if we're all getting periods, assuming we are, what percentage isn't? And then we're having all these intense symptoms, and we're like, oh, it's just because I'm getting my period and I'm Ovulating. But you're saying it actually may be because your progesterone is low because you didn't Ovulate. Correct.
00:10:47
Correct. Yeah. Okay. I mean, if you're getting a pretty on the dot period every month in that it's very consistent, there's a pretty likely chance you are ovulating. But especially when you have someone that's like, oh, I don't know.
00:10:59
Last month it was 28 days. This month it was 37 days is always very irregular. There is a chance you're not ovulating. And even in my practice, before I work with anyone, I require them to track their basal body temperature every day for a month because that's how we confirm ovulation. So that's, like, out the gate.
00:11:18
One of the first things I want to know, because yeah. If their primary concerns are acne and PMS and severe breast tenderness, first thing I need to know is, are you ovulating? And if not, then we'll start there. Okay. So how do we track that then?
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If someone's at home now curious, oh, my gosh, maybe all my issues, because I'm not ovulating? Let's go there first. How do we do that at home? So when we do show up to a doctor, we're like, I'm on point. I already know.
00:11:45
Totally. Well, the easiest thing is to track your basal body temperature or your BBT, and that is the temperature of your body first thing in the morning when you wake up, but you have not gotten out of bed. You haven't gone up and gone pee or anything like that. So it's your resting metabolic rate. So you can do that with an oral temperature.
00:12:04
Or I tend to really like this tool called Temp Drop. It's an armband you wear at night, and it tracks while you sleep, and then you sync it to your phone in the morning. So that's kind of like if you want to nerd out on this, that's like the next level. But yeah. And then with your temperatures, you can plug that into an app, like the Temp Drop app, and it will chart it for you.
00:12:23
So depending on how your temperatures ebb and flow throughout the month can determine if you're ovulating. So when you ovulate, progesterone is produced, and progesterone is a warming hormone. And so you'll see your temperature spike significantly after ovulation, and that's how you would confirm that you ovulated. How many days does it spike for? Like, two to four.
00:12:45
So the day of Ovulation, it's actually low. The day after, it will spike, and then that temperature will remain elevated until your period. Is that what the ovulation kits check for as well? Because you know how you can buy those kits when you're trying to have a baby, usually they will check for that. Right.
00:13:04
I'm wondering now because I'm like, I'm imagining the label in my head, and I'm like, is that what that was tracking? Usually they're tracking LH or luteinizing hormones. Okay. But there are some really fancy devices now that kind of track it all. They track LH and estrogen and maybe temperatures, but it's such a valuable tool because yeah, then you can at least rule out, is this part of the problem?
00:13:24
And then if you're not Ovulating, that just tells us there's something deeper going on in the body. So they would need to get in to see a doctor. Yeah, I mean, I'll be honest, too. A lot of general doctors may not do a whole lot for that. I've had clients say that in the past had irregular periods, and rather than investigating Ovulation, they're just put back on birth control and say, like, the pill works by turning off Ovulation.
00:13:51
And so it's just kind of a maddening cycle when you realize everyone's just kind of like, here, Band Aid, bye, see you later. Yeah, it's not fixing the underlying problem. Exactly. Okay, so let's figure that out. So whether someone is Ovulating or not Ovulating, I assume they can still have issues with PMS and irritability.
00:14:09
So if they know they're not Ovulating, would they go a different route than someone who is Ovulating but still having extreme PMSing or food cravings or irritability? Or is the route different? I mean, if someone's not Ovulating, that tells me there's something deeper going on. Our body, as a female body, is always assessing safety. And so if your body doesn't feel safe, whether that's because of stress, undereating, over exercising, low minerals, nutrient deficiencies, the body is very primal in that it works by simply turning off the ability to reproduce, because it says there's maybe a famine, there's maybe a war going on.
00:14:46
I don't know what's going on. This is not a safe environment to have a baby. So in that way, that tells me there's something more long term probably, that's been going on. But like you said, someone can have an Ovulatory cycle and still be miserable half the month or have severely painful periods or acne or whatever, and then that's where we have to go a little bit deeper into those specific causes. And even timing, when they're the worst.
00:15:11
Like, so say someone has acne, do they get it at the beginning of their cycle or the end of their cycle? That, again, can help us pinpoint hormonally what could be driving it. Okay, so what can we do if we are getting those symptoms that are intense the PMSing, the irritability, acne, food cravings what can we do to improve those systems? Not systems, symptoms, naturally. Yeah.
00:15:36
Well, I always say start with the foundations. People are so quick to want to find a supplement to fix everything. It's like a pill for every ill. And Western medicine primes us for that, right? To think there's a pill that'll fix anything.
00:15:48
And unfortunately, even in naturopathic medicine, we can get caught up in the same thing. Like, oh, if you're depressed, you need this magical supplement. And it doesn't really work that way, right? No supplement can fix your lifestyle. So when anyone's having symptoms, like you said, PMS is such a big one.
00:16:07
One of the first things I look at is nutrition. So PMS especially is a great sign to look at blood sugar balance. I have to say. When you feel PMSy and you feel hangry, they're almost the same thing, right? Where you feel like, irrational and super mad.
00:16:22
I've never experienced that in my life. No, I'm so glad. I mean, my husband might have a very different story. And back away slowly. He's like throwing a piece of bread in the bedroom.
00:16:38
Yeah. And so, for example, in the luteal phase, you need up to 250 more calories per day in that phase because your metabolism is faster than other times of your cycle. And so this is also why we tend to crave heartier foods. Like, we might be like, I need a steak, I need some sweet potato, I want a hash. We naturally want kind of carby things, and this is all intentional, and if we are aware of that, we can support that.
00:17:04
So maybe rather than grabbing a smoothie or a salad or something that's not going to sustain us, that's going to cause us to feel more overwhelmed and irritable. Get that big sweet potato, get some ground beef, get some good quality protein in there. I did not know that about the 250 extra calories. Because it makes sense because you have that mild craving and so many people are like, I got to suppress it, I don't need food. And I'm of the opinion that your body is telling you something, even when someone is trying to track macros or do something.
00:17:34
I'm like, if you're hungry on a regular basis, that's a problem. That means you need more food. That's your body giving you a signal that something is off. You need more food. So I love that you pointed that out, because it's not that complicated to just say, add an extra snack, add something that has a little bit more complex carbs, add a sweet potato, add something that's just going to give you a little bit of umph.
00:17:57
And then you're not going to be fighting that avoidance all day or beating yourself up for like, oh, no, I lost it with my food cravings, when you could have just been like, oh, no, that's my body saying I need something else. I love that. I never knew that. That's the thing I find so often with hormone health. It really is simple, like innate stuff.
00:18:16
But I don't know if it's diet culture. I don't know what it is exactly, but so many of us myself included, struggle to just listen to those basic cues. Like you said, I'm hungry, I'm going to have more food today. Why is that so hard? I think we try to tell our bodies what to do and we forget our bodies actually are telling us what to do.
00:18:35
It's like a fight between the mind and what your body actually needs. And you're always trying to outwin it and you're like, your body actually knows what it needs, yet we're always fighting that. So that's actually fascinating to know that and I think good for all women to realize that that craving is normal. Have something that's a little bit more complex, like you said, has more starchy, a little bit more filling. Yeah.
00:18:58
And notice how it affects your mood. Yeah. Sometimes just that can be enough to really change your symptoms. I mean, another thing that I always recommend doing is getting hormone testing done. But yeah, I usually start with nutrition like we just did because sometimes that's enough to see big changes.
00:19:13
But if you're finding nutrition isn't getting you results, then that's where testing is nice so we can actually see what's going on and then target our support a little bit further. Any other ideas for ways to manage them besides nutrition? Like, is there anything mentally or any I know that we said we want to go through nutrition first, but any natural supplements that would help or things we could be aware of adding in our diet, maybe? I don't know, any type of minerals or anything like that, that would be helpful. Totally.
00:19:43
I know. I'm trying to stay broad because normally I'm so specific on symptoms. How do you address everything under the sun? Well, we can break down a couple of them. Like if you have cravings?
00:19:55
Yeah, the different ones. And what you would suggest for that, let's go there because that will be easier. Because if anyone is like me, I'm like the more detail the better than I'll do it. Okay. So, yeah, let's break them down by symptoms.
00:20:07
And then what you would suggest. Sure. So one of the most common ones, right, is period pain. That's one that I see a lot. So when I'm working with someone with period pain, usually this is driven by the hormones prostaglandins and prostaglandins are what cause your uterus to contract.
00:20:25
So we need some prostaglandins, but when they're excessively high, they can feel like labor like contractions. So extremely debilitating. And I should add, if we've ruled out the endometriosis is not the cause of the period pain, this is more the route we'd go. Prostaglandins go high due to inflammation. And so with that in mind, then if I'm working with a client, I'm trying to assess why is their body inflamed?
00:20:51
So part of that could be nutrition. So I want to know what kind of oils they're cooking with. Right. Are they cooking with canola oil and vegetable oil? And I always say, if you can buy it in a gallon for like, $5, it's garbage.
00:21:01
So stop. Just stop. It's true. I say the same thing about protein powder, about all kinds of things. If you can get at a gas station, if you can get it for $0.99 or something like, don't put it in your body.
00:21:13
No, not good. Right? So we want to see them switch to coconut oil, butter, ghee, avocado oil, olive oil, quality fats. And if they're eating out a lot or going to fast food restaurants, everything in a fryer at most restaurants is going to be soybean oil, canola oil, vegetable oil. Not good stuff.
00:21:34
Gut imbalances and chronic stress also can really play into something like excess prostaglandins. So I know it's always, like, somewhat ironic to talk about chronic stress because literally everyone is stressed, but what little things are we doing to manage that? So, for example, if someone is sitting down to eat dinner and they're watching YouTube on their phone, that directly causes us to produce less stomach acid and less enzymes. And so we're not going to digest that food as well, because we're distracted and we're probably hopefully not watching something super stressful, but maybe we are. So that activates our body.
00:22:12
We're not going to digest that well. We're not going to get the nutrients we need out of that. And that keeps us stuck in that chronic stress loop. So it's really tiny things like that. Well, even with the stress loop, something I'm working on lately is you're right in that we can't stop the stress, but what we can do is think about how to cope with it.
00:22:28
And for me, a big one is to be present in the moment. So if you're eating, then eat. Don't watch a show. Don't do something else. Just eat your food and think about, like, this tastes really good.
00:22:41
I'm chewing it thoroughly. Wow, this flavor is amazing. A, you'll be better able to tell when your society, not society saturation cues set in or if you're still hungry. And I think that's with everything, I think we try to do too many things at once. And so in general, if you're feeling stressed, do one thing, the one thing you're doing at a time and just do that.
00:23:06
Be present there, whether it's eating or with your kids or at work. And just try to focus on what you're seeing, what you're tasting, what you're smelling, what you're feeling, the texture of the food, those things, and it can help calm everything down. Exactly. That's such a great tip. So, I mean, that's tip of the iceberg for something like period pain.
00:23:27
What's another symptom you want to throw out there? Irritability. Yeah, maybe it's because I'm very irritable.
00:23:39
I've been married 14 years almost, and my husband always knows the day before I get my period, and he's like, oh, flow is coming tomorrow, isn't she? You're so friendly today.
00:23:51
So let's call it like it is. I'm going to throw myself under the bus. Irritability. Yeah. Okay, that's great.
00:23:57
And I think sometimes we'd categorize that under the umbrella of PMS, but really, that could be its own thing as well. Blood sugar, like I said, is probably the biggest thing that I start with. That the other thing. When you think about PMS, that stands for Premenstrual syndrome. But I find I like to change the acronym to Prioritize Myself, because usually when we are PMSy or Irritable, it is because we feel frustrated and overwhelmed, like we don't have help, we're not taking care of ourselves.
00:24:30
So usually I think if we're honest with ourselves, those days we feel like dragons and we're super mad and annoyed about everything. It's because we feel like we're doing everything for everyone else. And we have been bottom of the priority list and we've done nothing to take care of ourselves. And if we can catch that in the moment, like, okay, yeah, I'm feeling a little PMSy, I'm feeling a little irritable. Can I prioritize myself right now?
00:24:54
That can change everything. Even if it's just taking ten minutes to go breathe outside and reset. Because we caught it in the moment. We caught that probably habit. We're putting ourselves last.
00:25:07
That's a big one. What about food cravings? Or like we talked about, the breast tenderness? Yeah, breast tenderness is often an imbalance between progesterone and estrogen. They like to live kind of on a seesaw together.
00:25:20
So if progesterone is low, like, say you're not ovulating, estrogen likes to go up. And so suddenly we see heavy periods, we see breast tenderness, we see Bloat, weight gain, migraines. Excess estrogen is not fun. When we're seeing excess estrogen, first and foremost, we have to see if we're ovulating. Because if you don't make progesterone, estrogen will never come down.
00:25:42
If you are ovulating and estrogen is still high, then we look to why is estrogen high? So I usually do a Dutch test, which is a dried urine test of comprehensive hormones. And I like it because we can see where issues are starting with estrogen. Is too much coming into the body, or are we having a hard time metabolizing it and getting it out of the body? So you can think of like a bathtub?
00:26:06
Is there too much water coming in or are the drains plugged? Yeah, it could be one or the other. Okay, exactly. And sometimes it's all of it. Sometimes it's like the faucets out of control, the drains are a mess, the pipes are so bad, everything yeah, we're just marinating in estrogen.
00:26:23
But one of the best things with nutrition is to address that excess estrogen, to increase things like raw carrots and then things like broccoli and cruciferous vegetables so those can help bind to estrogen in the gut and help them get out. So is that alone maybe the only fix? Probably not. It's a great first step. Though.
00:26:43
That's what people always think. That won't do it, but I'm like, it's a step in the right direction. Just take the step. Exactly. So most of my clients end up doing a raw carrot salad every day where they just ribbon one or two carrots and add a little coconut oil and apple cider vinegar and salt.
00:26:59
It's delicious. And they eat that every day. And most of them, within a month, say that their breast tenderness is far reduced, that their Bloat is improved, their digestion is better. Okay, do you have an actual recipe for this so we can link? Is it anywhere?
00:27:13
Yeah, I actually just posted it on my Instagram. Perfect. Then I'll get the link and we're all going to be eating raw carrots. And they're so good. Save our Bloating and make our periods lighter.
00:27:22
Yes, that's awesome. That's a great suggestion. I love that. Okay, what about Bloating? Because that's one that I feel like makes females feel so uncomfortable and almost crazy in your period because you're like, what is happening?
00:27:36
Why am I so bloated? What can we do about that and where is it coming from? Yeah, it's one of those symptoms that's really, really common, partly because of hormones, progesterone and estrogen. Estrogen does increase before our period, and it causes us to retain salt. So we do naturally get a little more puffy.
00:27:54
But I think if there's a hormone imbalance also, all of this is exacerbated, right? Where we may feel like we have like, pants for the first half of our cycle and then pants that fit us in the second half of the cycle because it's so everyone's like, I. Feel fluffy, and you're like, I don't even know why. And it's so common. So if it's cyclical like that, meaning it's not all month long, it's just before your period, one of the best things you can do is increase your potassium rich foods and increase your foods that are like natural diuretics.
00:28:27
So things like spinach and watermelon and cucumber, things that will help flush the body and help keep your body at bay. I also find just hydrating in general is helpful. So adding quality things like lemon or strawberry or something to your water so your cells have more to absorb, or a good multimineral drop kind of thing, that can be really helpful. But if you're feeling like you're Bloated all cycle long, that is a whole different thing. And that's going to require probably a stool test to investigate what could be contributing to that, whether it's yeast or overgrowth of bacteria or parasites, for me.
00:29:10
I seem to notice it around when I'm ovulating and then just like a day or two before I get my period. Is there a more common window? Is that normal? Or for some people, it might be during their period or before. Does that just vary by person?
00:29:23
Yeah, generally, though, I almost always see it, like you said, around ovulation and then into your luteal phase as you approach your period. And that's because estrogen is high at both of those points. But when you start your period, I should say even the day before your period, your hormones start to plummet really significantly. So usually you don't see it as much while you're bleeding. Though I do like to remind women your uterus does expand in size slightly when you're actually bleeding.
00:29:51
So if you feel like you've got a little pooch down there, it makes sense. It's nice to just be extra compassionate, right, and be like, that could just. Be nice to know it's actually just your uterus, right? It's not fat or anything like that. Yeah.
00:30:04
So potassium, some more diuretics and stay hydrated. That's going to be the best option. For that bloating yeah, especially in that luteal phase, because a lot of it is somewhat normal with the hormone shifts. But like I said, if it's feeling really significant, it could be because, say, estrogen is overly high and that's causing your body to really retain fluid. So that could be investigated.
00:30:27
If you feel like, this is beyond like, oh, it's just a normal occurrence. If you're like, this is literally super intense. And like I said, you have different pants even that you have to wear, then I would look at excess estrogen. Oh, okay. So they would want to do a hormone test at that point.
00:30:41
Yeah. Okay, that makes sense. Would there be any way they would tell through stool, like, anything else to be aware? Because I've had some people say, oh, my stool is even different just before my period. Yeah, we call that period poops, especially when you have diarrhea or really loose stools and that's connected back to those prostaglandins.
00:31:01
So those are causing those contractions in your uterus, and when, again, there's too many of them that can even affect your intestines. And in severe cases, we call it, quote, the period flu. When you have diarrhea, nausea, you feel shaky, you literally feel ill while you're bleeding. And that all comes back to prostaglandids and inflammation. What can we do about those period poops?
00:31:25
Any foods we could add in? More fiber definitely always helps. More vegetables. But really, if you're looking at it from a root cause perspective, we have to pull down that inflammation and see what's causing that. So removing those refined oils, looking at your diet in general, where can we add in more simple holistic foods?
00:31:44
And then if you do say, like a stool test, again, that can also show some shocking things. Sometimes people have really simple symptoms like heartburn or constipation or diarrhea or anything like that. And then you do a stool test and it's like, whoa, there's the answer right there. Like significant overgrowths or H Pylori or things that are really significant that need to be addressed. So the key to what you're saying is the more we're aware, the more we track, the more we're noticing.
00:32:18
Is it extreme? Are we bloated all month pain? Is it so intense when it's like that? It's normally a sign that we might have something bigger going on. It's not just a regular period issue that we continue to blame on it, but there could be more.
00:32:32
Exactly. And like you said, tracking is so key because that's the first thing, especially maybe more of an integrative doctor like me would ask, we want to know how many days a month are you experiencing this? Is it every month? Is it different month to month? And so if you're not tracking, those questions are really hard to answer.
00:32:48
So the more data you can collect now, if you're already tracking your cycle in an app or something, super easy to add this data in. What about workouts? What can we do for workouts during our cycle? Because if we're going through these different phases, I'm sure that our workouts are going to possibly promote that phase or make that phase more difficult based on what style of workout we're trying to do. So what would you suggest that way that we could kind of almost make them partners, cooperate together, our workouts and our phases of our cycle.
00:33:22
Exactly. It's really fun, actually, to pair your workouts with your menstrual cycle because it gives you opportunity for a variety. And people like me, I can't do the same workout every day. It's, like, boring to me. So it's great for people like me, I guess, that have, like, a squirrel brain with workouts.
00:33:39
So when you look at your menstrual cycle, if we come back to that Follicular phase right. So that phase after your period. Okay, so the first few days after yes. Okay. The first five to seven days, because estrogen and testosterone is already higher.
00:33:54
This is probably the best time of the cycle if you like high intensity exercises. So this would be a good time, if you feel somewhat balanced, to run, go to a hit class cardio, if you're into that kind of stuff. That and into ovulation would be the time to utilize that hormonal surge or like a long day hike or something like that. You just have a little more endurance, a little bit more energy on those. Exactly.
00:34:21
And your stress hormones are naturally lower in that phase, and your blood sugar is more stable in general, so you can, quote, get away with more sometimes in that phase. When you move into your luteal phase, though, stress hormones are naturally higher, blood sugar is naturally more erratic. And so the worst thing we could do is continue that high intensity. And when you talk to someone who's really in tune with their body I used to be really obsessed with spin classes. I'd go every single day.
00:34:49
It was a whole thing. And I did find at some parts of my cycle I felt invigorated after that. In other parts of my cycle, I felt like a train hit me. Yeah, right. What is the day for that phase?
00:35:00
Just so people are following along well. So let's pretend you have a 30 day cycle and you ovulate around like day 16. That would be like day 17 through 28. That's the long cycle. So about halfway through the beginning, the intensity is up.
00:35:15
About halfway through, it's like, OOH, let's pump those brakes a little. Exactly. So we want to shift to things more like strength training. Strength training you could do all month long, or yoga, Pilates, things that are difficult in a different way. And then as you move into your period, it's really up to you.
00:35:31
Some people will take a full three or four day of rest and other people will just focus on again, like stretching, foam, rolling light, yoga. So it's really fun. And again, I think that feels innate when you think about your energy levels day to day. Sometimes you're going to want to go harder and sometimes you're going to want to be more gentle. For the person who's like my avid runners, and they're like, oh no, half the month I'm not going to not run.
00:35:55
You know what I mean? They're like, that's fun. But what about for them? Would you say instead of doing your long runs during that phase or instead of focusing on your speed, would that be helpful just when you're in that phase to maybe do a slower run or like a casual jog or speed walk? Could even changing up the intensity of that cardio based workout be helpful?
00:36:20
For those who are like, no, I love this. My mental health won't survive if I stop running. It saves me, you know what I mean? Could they do it that way? Would that still be helpful or no?
00:36:29
I think so, totally. Yeah. Maybe no sprints when you're in your luteal phase or something like that. I'm not a runner, but I imagine there's other exercises and stuff that should be done to balance that out. And so maybe in your luteal phase you could do more of those and less running days in those weeks.
00:36:47
Yeah, I'm not a runner either, but I know that with anyone when they have a workout they love, they don't want to abandon it, you know what I mean? It doesn't matter what it is, whether it's CrossFit or running or whatever. And so even if you're like, I'm not going to cycle through yoga and then cardio, you're still saying, yeah, but you could cycle through the intensity that you're putting into that workout. And honestly, if you have more energy in that earlier phase, you could easily focus on building muscle in that phase by pushing harder, more weights, more intensity, whatever it is, and then the other ones, if you slow a little bit, it's not going to hurt your muscle. It probably will help you bump it up when you then go harder again, a week or two later and listen to your body.
00:37:28
Like I said with the spin class, if you're finding that in some phases of your cycle, you feel exhausted, shaky at the end of a workout, that's a clear sign that you pushed yourself too hard and that you've probably just added a lot more stress unnecessarily. So also listen to those cues. Yeah. And again, like you said, it's listening to your body and being okay that some days it's also okay to say, I'm just going to take a rest day. That's something I will often tell myself if I do ten minutes and after ten minutes I'm still not feeling it, then I'm going to be okay with that and I'm going to move on with my life and do something else.
00:38:03
And I found that that ten minutes either gets me going and I feel great, or if I don't, then I move on. And that's okay. That's okay to listen to your body and move on. Sometimes I think we think we need permission to do that and it's like no one's looking in your windows or at the gym making sure you're getting that workout in. It is okay to say, not today, I don't feel great, or I'm just off and walk away.
00:38:26
And honestly, your workout the next day or the next day will be so much better anyway for taking that little break. Okay, so during these phases, what different foods besides what we talked about for obviously the PMS symptoms, and some of those are there different foods that are helpful in the different phases of the first one to seven days or the luteal phase or during our period, that can be useful. Yeah. So in general, if we think about our Follicular and ovulation phase, like I said, the raw carrots, cruciferous vegetables, raw vegetables, salads smoothies, all of that can feel more nourishing. Those same foods later on in the cycle are not going to give us substance.
00:39:07
But yeah, if you're struggling with the excess estrogen symptoms, I would focus on lots of good leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables and carrots and then to help your body ovulate. So if you feel like often you're not ovulating, or say you're trying to conceive and you're suddenly like, oh, I'm really wondering now if I am ovulating or is there something I could do to support egg quality. You can do that. What you do now affects your egg quality in 90 days. Wow.
00:39:34
So pretty cool. Yeah. Shows you that you have a lot of power to support your body. I would look to things like eggs for quality choline, if you like fish eggs or row, they are incredible for supporting egg quality. So just go eat some sushi.
00:39:50
Yeah, I was going to say that's my favorite food, so that works out really well for me. Yeah, go to sushi once a month and then also things like Brazil nuts for quality selenium, oysters, for quality zinc. I mean, these are all just little things you can add in to really boost the nutrients and the minerals that you're getting in. And then in our luteal phase, we tend to crave more complex carbs, protein, and fat. So I often think you want to make a crock pot roast or yes, a fancy sweet potato egg hash in the morning for breakfast.
00:40:26
So you're looking for these heartier meals. Protein, I think, really is understated in general for women. I mean, I'm sure you say that. Yeah, I was going to say you're on the right podcast for that. You are on the right podcast for that.
00:40:39
It breaks my heart when people don't understand how useful it is for bones, for muscles, for everything, for staying full, for all the things. Yeah, I know. And that's what I look at so many food journals from people, and so many people are eating, like, 40 grams of protein a day, and you're like, whoa, we got to triple that, actually. Yeah, that's the hardest thing for the clients that I work with, is, I would say 85%. I'm like, you're actually undereating protein for the amount you're working out, for how active you are, for your goals, for your hormones, for feeling full, like all the things.
00:41:16
I know it's hard. It's like fat and carbs are so easy to get, but protein is harder. It's so easy. I know. I really encourage my clients and my students to really enjoy all the red meat and steak, ground beef, make tacos, whatever, most days throughout the luteal phase in the period, just so you can get adequate iron and support your energy levels in general by increasing those calories just a little bit.
00:41:43
Those are the general guidelines that I give people. Do you happen to have, like, a chart that shows any of these ideas or anything that I could link in the show notes? I do. I'll have to make it like a public thing people can see, but it is on my website. Okay.
00:41:58
Because I'm like, that would be really great for people to kind of have an idea of, okay, let me make sure I'm spacing these out. That would be awesome. Okay. We'll link that in the show notes as well. So for hormones, because we've talked about how they can be off, we've talked about your workouts foods you can have the different phases in the cycle, maybe how to prevent some of the issues or at least decrease some of those symptoms.
00:42:21
Why do you think so many people are, in general, dealing with hormone issues? I feel like it's everywhere. We have clients coming in, and we have some hormone specialists on my staff to help us with our clients, but it is everywhere. It is everywhere. Why do you think that is?
00:42:38
You know, it's rampant. I can't go anywhere and say what I do for a living without everybody. I think you have strongs of people following you. My grandma, my sister, they need you. Yeah.
00:42:49
It seems like almost everyone, I mean, statistically, it's up to 90% of women are dealing with some sort of a menstrual cycle related symptom, and up to 50% of women have a hormone imbalance. That's the statistic. I think it's far more than that. But still one of even that high to me. That's even high to me.
00:43:07
But you're saying in your experience it's even more than that. I think so, because, again, so many symptoms are normalized. So it's like, oh, my hair is falling out, so I'm going to go get extensions. It's not like, but why is my hair falling out? What does that mean?
00:43:19
Oh, is my thyroid health suffering? We're always going to just whatever the fix is. And especially with beauty things, it's always covered. We don't actually investigate. So I think it's kind of a gamut of a lot of things.
00:43:33
It's the chronic stress that we're all under, especially as women, where it's like a lot of us are moms, but also business owners. And also this and this and this and this. More pressure and more stress in general that we're under. It's also nutrient deficiencies. I talk so much about minerals in my practice because I talk a lot about hormones.
00:43:54
But what causes hormone imbalances? Nutrient deficiencies and mineral imbalances are a common root cause. So investigating that and what depletes our minerals and our nutrients stress the foods we eat. The soil is depleted in these nutrients. Or the lack of foods that we're eating as well, literally.
00:44:16
So we're not even getting the basic nutrition that maybe would have been more readily available to someone 100 years ago. Yeah, I mean, those are the two big ones. And then also things that affect our hormones, like endocrine disruptors. That's a whole other thing. That could be a whole other podcast, really.
00:44:31
But we did have someone we had just ingredients on two weeks ago, so if you haven't listened to that one, you guys, she talks a ton about lotions and all kinds of things that are disrupting our hormones. Go back to that episode. I'll link it in the show notes. But I'm so glad you brought that up, because even since having her on, I've looked at things in my house that I'm like, you are, you throwing stuff out left and right. I know.
00:44:58
And I get to where if I hug someone and they're wearing perfume, I'm like but you know, my hormones, I. Think even just that thought of eating and being aware my daughter recently we've been talking about what's healthy. And I'm very careful the way I teach my girls, because I haven't loved the way society has taught girls, especially. And so when we talk about food, we only talk about what makes us strong, what makes us feel good, what this gives you the ability to do this and that and this. And one of the things I have taught them recently, which makes me smile, that you kind of brought up even the minerals and stuff is the foods is I said the best foods are actually the ones that don't have labels.
00:45:38
They're actually the ones that don't if you pick up a food and for an eight year old, she can see that. I said, pick up the food and look at how much is in the back. If you're listing all kinds of things, sweetie, that you can't pronounce, then you need to have less of that. And if you pick up something where you're like, oh, it's an orange, there's no label on it, then you need to have more of that. So it's so much easier to teach a child that that you don't need to teach them.
00:46:02
This is bad. This is just say, like, look for the ones that don't have labels or have very little on the back under ingredients and that's going to be better for you. So I laughed because on Mother's Day, you know how they do those things where they ask your kids what they like? They said, what's your mom's favorite food? And she wrote the ones without labels.
00:46:23
And I was like, that's right. But I think that's a simple thing that we can all think about. If we're trying to increase our whole foods, our minerals, our vitamins, look for foods without labels and add more of those. I mean, chicken. What's in chicken?
00:46:39
It should just be chicken. There shouldn't be a ton of other things in there, right? Exactly. I say that in my programs as well. Really?
00:46:46
Just to think about what did your grandma grow up eating? Yeah, because yeah, same thing. There weren't doritos when Grandma was growing up. There were eggs, meat, dairy, vegetables, simple, beautiful things. Right.
00:46:58
And there's not a ton of ingredients in those. And that's fine to have those. Like, I'm a believer in 80 20, but just being aware of that, I think, makes a huge difference. And you're pointing out that that's probably why a big deal that our hormones are off and combined with stress. Exactly.
00:47:14
They both are just depleting. And then it creates this vicious cycle of having these imbalances. So when I do mineral testing with people, I mean, it's usually pretty staggering to see how their body's been compensating and what their mineral status really is. And myself included. I did it on myself, like six months ago when I was six weeks postpartum.
00:47:35
Okay, anyone's going to look really depleted after a baby and then giving birth? Your body, where they all go? They're in that little bundle of joy sitting in your arms. But I was like, how am I alive? Right.
00:47:50
So let's talk about that. With the minerals, what are the most common ones that you see off and how do they affect our hormone health? Like, what are the ones that we need to be most aware of. Yeah. So in mineral testing or HtMa hair tissue mineral analysis, we look a lot at single minerals, but also the ratios.
00:48:07
The ratios are really interesting. So, for example, when you look at, say, your sodium and your potassium, these are your two electrolytes super important. And in most people, they're extremely low, so we're extremely deficient in them. And when we look at the ratio between sodium and potassium, the more deficient or imbalance that is, the more we have to look at chronic stress and their adrenals so we can get insights into the fact that this person's really burnt out. This person has been burning the candle at both ends.
00:48:38
And really the worst thing someone could do when they're that depleted is go sauna and go sweat excessively and deplete their body further by sweating out these minerals. So this would be someone that we need to build and build and build to really get them back to a healthy place and support their adrenals. What can they have food wise that would help with that balance between sodium and potassium? Yeah, liberally salt, everything. And ideally with a good salt.
00:49:04
So I like redmond's real salt. Or you could do Celtic salt, you could do pink Himalayan salt, liberally salt, everything. It's not going to affect your blood pressure. Okay. And then look at naturally salty foods.
00:49:18
So eggs naturally have sodium, fermented foods or naturally salty seaweed. Potassium is a harder one. It's over 95% of the population is said to be deficient in potassium. Yeah. So some of the best things for that are things like coconut water and coconut milk, nettle leaf, leafy greens, acorn squash.
00:49:42
So you can see they're kind of things that most people are not eating every day. But I really like encouraging people to make what's called an adrenal cocktail, where it's just 4oz of coconut water, 4oz of orange juice, and a quarter teaspoon of quality salt. It's delicious, as you can imagine, but that is going to give you a ton of potassium, sodium, and real food, vitamin C. So especially if you're a stress case and you're feeling depleted and you're feeling like something's off, that's a great thing to add in every day after a meal. Okay, that's good to know.
00:50:14
Just after a meal, or is it better, like, in the morning, in the evening, does it matter? Or just after a meal, I would. Do it after you've had some protein because it is just a lot of carbs. So to not spike your blood sugar, or you could add some collagen powder to it as well. What other minerals would be useful to kind of be aware of or that are most often off, I should say.
00:50:33
Yeah. The other two that are common to see imbalance are calcium and magnesium. A lot of women have very high calcium, and that can be because of multivitamins and things. That's the problem. You quickly find when you start diving into minerals is just taking a multivitamin every day generally causes more issues for people because it's giving you a lot of everything.
00:50:54
And minerals are synergistic. So for example, if you are taking a lot of vitamin D, your calcium is naturally going to go higher. So now we're going to have issues with calcium being pulled out of our bones and our teeth and going into our soft tissues. Now we have joint pain. Now we have teeth issues and receding gum lines and cavities.
00:51:15
So that's the problem, is everyone's told to take vitamin D. Everyone's told to take calcium once they hit like 40. It's why they have the upper and lower limit. And we love to overdo things as a society. So it's either like we do nothing or we do everything.
00:51:29
All of it. And that's the truth in everything. I mean, even with when people sometimes have opinions that are so black and white, and I'm like, we're actually in the gray. The truth is actually in the gray. But if you talk to people so you're saying it's the same thing with vitamins and minerals.
00:51:45
Don't overdo it, but don't underdo it. Exactly. And that's where testing is nice, just so you can know what's going on. So, for example, a lot of women have very high calcium. We call it a calcium shell, where your cell walls actually can be calcified.
00:52:00
And that's problematic because when your cells have that calcification, it's difficult for hormones to get into the cell. So for example, say thyroid hormone, maybe you're making it so you look good on a test, even though you are fatigued and you keep gaining weight and your hair is brittle and your eyebrows are falling out, but your doctor tells you your levels are normal. Maybe you're making it, but it's not getting into your cell. Your cell is not taking in the thyroid hormone to use it. It's almost like blocking it.
00:52:30
Exactly. So it's where we can start to kind of have these AHA, moments of like, oh, calcium is high and sodium and potassium are low. And then maybe magnesium is high or low, depending on what we've been supplementing with. And it just quickly becomes really, really interesting to customize how we're approaching it. Magnesium is a tricky one to me because I know there's different kinds and I feel like it's a buzzword.
00:52:57
So everyone talks about it. And then when everyone talks about it, I'm going to be honest, that's why I started this podcast. I was like, oh my gosh, there's too much, there's too much. We need to simplify it and simplify it for me too, as a host. So for magnesium, what do we do about that?
00:53:11
What do you think? Because that's one where I feel like everyone's yelling magnesium. But then there's different options, different kinds, different totally. It's overwhelming at first, for sure. It is one that most people would benefit from supplementing with because.
00:53:25
It is stripped from chronic stress. So if you're stressed, you probably need some magnesium. But not all forms of magnesium are created. Eat that. That's what I wanted.
00:53:32
For example, something like magnesium oxide is in a lot of supplements, but it's cheap. It's not going to do you a whole lot of good. Magnesium citrate is maybe a little bit better, but that's usually more so, something we go to when someone is constipated. So it has like a releasing action on the bowels. So if you're not constipated that, you're probably not going to like that magnesium too much.
00:53:54
So the ones that I like the best are magnesium malate. That's the best one to help replenish magnesium store levels. It's not going to give you a relaxative effect, and it will not make you sleepy. So it's a great one to take during the day, and then I do a magnesium glycenate at night that will make you tired. My favorite brand for all that is called Jigsaw.
00:54:16
They're based out of Phoenix. Will you send me over a link? And I'll put that in the show notes as well because I'm going to be like, check in cart. Yes. And you'll start looking if you take magnesium or you take a multivitamin, now you're going to turn it over and be like, it's magnesium oxide, or something like sneaky.
00:54:33
It's the crappy form. Yeah, and that's true because it sells cheaply and people if they're not paying attention the sad thing is, if you aren't paying attention, people will sell you whatever they can. And it breaks my heart that it's that way, but it's true. So you do have to kind of be aware. That's the thing.
00:54:49
As a consumer, unfortunately, you have to be informed. You can't wait for the brands to inform you. No. And it is really sad. Okay, so we have those ones.
00:54:58
Any other additional ones? Our calcium to potassium ratio is actually our thyroid ratio. So it gives us insight into the health of the thyroid. That's always a really interesting ratio. And it's usually very high for most people that I test because their calcium is very high and their potassium is really low.
00:55:16
So remember, calcium, when it's high, can block thyroid hormone from getting into the cell. And potassium sensitizes your cells to take in thyroid hormone. So when that's low and calcium is. High and it's blocking it, so it's sensing and then it's blocking it, and then you're like, having a really good time on the merry go round. Exactly.
00:55:37
So that's another interesting ratio. But yeah, that test is one of the most inexpensive tests that I do with people, and it can sometimes show more interesting information than just a hormone test. Hormone testing is great. I do it often, but sometimes it leaves people with more questions than answers, right. Because they're like, okay, cool.
00:55:55
My testosterone is high, my estrogen is low. So now what do I do with that. What does that mean? Yeah, exactly. So this can kind of start to answer maybe why things are imbalanced to start with.
00:56:05
When would you suggest someone get testing or how often? Because I know some people listening are going to feel like, I do feel like I don't feel great. I do feel like it's common, but not normal. How often should people get tested? Where can they go?
00:56:20
Because I know that's another one. Some listeners are in somewhere where they're in a rural part of town and they're not necessarily in a city where they can find someone. So what can people do when that's their scenario? Well, ideally, getting blood testing done once a year would be awesome to check your thyroid and check your general hormones. Unfortunately, even a lot of people that have doctors, it's very difficult to get their doctors to run the hormones that they want to run.
00:56:44
Right. They'll want to test their thyroid, and their doctor will say, Cool, we'll test TSH, which makes people like me want to smack my head against the wall, because that tells us almost nothing. That's not a thyroid panel. This is where functional medicine, or integrative medicine really is in terms of hormone health preferred, because typically we're more root cause centered. So you can Google functional medicine doctor or a Naturopathic doctor like me, and if there isn't anyone near you, there are practitioners like me that work online, so I can put in lab testing for them at, like, a lab core or something anywhere in the US.
00:57:17
So they can go in and get that, and then we get the results and go through them together. So what I would say more than anything is see if there's someone local to you. If they're not helpful or if they're refusing to test for you, fire them and find someone better. If your doctor is playing like, God complex with you, it's just time to find a new doctor. Yeah.
00:57:36
And then don't discount working online with doctors as well, because we can put in lab orders anywhere in the US. I mean, some of the best conversations I've had with doctors are strangers online, where I'm like, even with some issues with my hip, I was in a form with a PT, and she's like, Your pain is not from this, it's from this. And I was like, what? I've seen five Pts in person. No one's told me that.
00:58:02
So, yeah, don't be scared to reach out to someone online. It's worth it. And you might even have to shop around online to find the right doctor. I know you do it. So that would be amazing.
00:58:12
All right, where can we find you? I feel like we got so much great information. Where can we find you online? Your Instagram shares so much information, you're going to go down a black hole when you go to Cassandra's Page of so much information that's very usefully put together. Yeah.
00:58:30
Thank you. I do love Instagram, and it's at Dr. Cassandra, and then my website is Cassandra.com, and on there, I have different freebies. I have a quiz you can take where you plug in your symptoms and it'll tell you what hormone imbalance is probably contributing to it, and then give you personalized recommendations. Oh, I love that.
00:58:50
We'll add that link to the show. I worked very hard on it. That's impressive. We're definitely going to add that. Yeah.
00:58:56
And then I do have a podcast as well called The Cyclical Podcast. Okay, awesome. Thank you so much for being here and for all the helpful information. I know I walked away learning a couple of new things that I'm going to add to my life. Thank you so much for having me.
00:59:10
Okay. Wasn't Dr. Cassandra Wild amazing? I don't know about you, but I learned so much from that episode. I will be adding all the links that she mentioned in the show notes, and also, if you follow the podcast, Instagram handle Make It Simple podcast again, it's Make It Simplepodcast.
00:59:31
There will also be a swipe there where we'll review some of the information that she talked about and also give some visuals to help you remember it and be able to save it easily. For reference, I think that we could all write down two or three things and walk away and make our lives better with those tiny adjustments, with those tiny things to be aware of. I know I'm going to be a little bit more aware during my period of making sure I'm doing restorative things if I'm feeling off or making sure that I'm fueling my body with the foods that are useful and just being aware of that mineral balance. And if you are worried that you have a hormone imbalance, that you have very severe symptoms during your menstrual cycle, please don't be scared to reach out to a naturopathic doctor or get your hormones tested. It really can make all the difference that, along with being aware of our nutrition, our us, our sleep, and even honestly being positive with yourself, because, you know, I believe it with all my heart.
01:00:32
You are doing so much better than you think you are. All right, that's it for this week. We'll chat next week.