(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Welcome back to Sweet Insights with Ali and Amy. In our first episode, we shared why we're dedicating this season to hormonal health, an area that impacts every aspect of our lives. Today, we're diving deeper, giving you the foundational knowledge to understand what's really going on inside your body. Ever wonder why you suddenly feel like a stranger in your own body? Today, we're breaking it all down for you, which is going to be great, and Ali has some great information prepared for today. Before we jump in, I just want to do a quick disclaimer. Amy and I are not doctors, and the information we share comes from our own personal experience, research, and the work that we do with clients and friends. Always consult your healthcare professional before making any changes to your healthcare routine. Our goal is to empower you with knowledge so that you can confidently advocate for yourself, and we really think in this day and age, that is super duper important. So, how are you? I'm great, how are you? Good. You know, what's really funny is I felt way more prepared before we started today, so now I feel less prepared. So anyway, hi, I am like on board and ready to talk about our hormones today, and yeah, it's just nice that we are in season three, and we're in our second episode, even though the first episode hasn't aired yet because we had a little snag. I'm excited for everyone to hear, and for anybody just joining us as well, we have a new intro that's going to be available, so if you don't know what the season is about and you're just joining us for the first episode on episode two, you can go back and listen to our episode one and our intro. Awesome. And you know what I thought you were totally going to talk about? Because, you know, before we dived into a season, we would randomly talk about stuff, and I shared with Amy yesterday that I was going for a mole mapping. So, I'm blessed with some moles, and most recently the one on my neck got scratched by my little Cody dog, the black and white dog that I always talk about, and I got referred to a dermatologist who then referred me to getting mole mapping, where basically they go in and take pictures and videos of your moles to see changes of them over time. I actually had a boyfriend in college whose father passed away from melanoma, and he was quite young, and a lot of times if, you know, these changes happen on our skin and we don't notice them, the longer we let them sit, the more at risk we can become. So, if you've never heard of mole mapping, reach out to me, I can tell you where I went. However, when I messaged Amy yesterday to tell her I was leaving my dignity at the door, because you are buck naked when you have this done, she didn't understand what mole mapping was, and Amy, why don't you tell them where you thought I was? So, first can I just read exactly what you texted me so that people understand? You said basically get naked and take pictures of moles. So, what Amy thought was happening is some weird thing that Ally decided to do, which was you get naked and take pictures of moles, like as in rat moles, like mole rats. I was like, this is the weirdest experience. What? Why would you be naked with moles? First of all, if there were moles, to me they're like mice, I would be on the goddamn chair, like terrified. Well, you said you were leaving your dignity at the door, so I don't know. I thought that it was this weird experience that you were like signed up for, and I was like, I don't know. Ontario only, right? Ontario only. What do those Ontarians do? We don't do that in Nova Scotia. Nope, we sure don't do that in Nova Scotia. But now that I understand it, it makes sense. But even better, I was with, in my other business, doing real estate, and I was with a home inspector, and he assumed it must have been like where they draw nice pictures between your moles, and they play connect the dots and like create something. We were both wrong. Yeah, yeah, basically. So, do you know what the lesson in this whole thing is? Is that when you text Amy, be aware she might read your text to the home inspector, who really didn't need to know that I was naked. He doesn't know who it was about, and normally I wouldn't, I just said, what is mole mapping? And then the conversation happened. You're welcome. It was great, it's great content for the podcast, come on. Who knows what will happen by next week. All right, so let's dive in. Yeah, so basically, I think you should explain what hormones are and the role in the body for our listeners, because most people are aware, I'm sure, but maybe some people don't really know. Right, so like for example, yeah, if you introduce some like key hormones to us, like even if we're talking about perimenopause, of course, but like in general, like hormones, like maybe you talk a little bit about it. Yeah, so there, I mean, there's tons of hormones and you know, naturopathic doctors, medical doctors and all of that will go deeper into those kind of things. Oh, I think we're having an issue on my side, you're frozen. Sorry, I can't hear you. That's not good. And this is everyday life here. Am I still frozen? I'm just keeping it real on the podcast. Now you're frozen. Yeah, you're frozen on my side. Sorry, so maybe you're recording fine on your side, but I can't hear you or see you. Can you hear me now? I'm back? Yeah, sorry. So if you could start again, I'm so sorry. So, you know, there's lots of, you know, hormones and different things within the body, but there are four key players that are probably the most important to mention. And then keeping in mind that there are other hormones in your body. But the four kind of big ones that most people know about is number one is our estrogen. Right. And so our estrogen changes over time throughout our cycle. And in women, it's kind of the star of the show. Right. And so when it fluctuates throughout the month or it fluctuates because, you know, maybe you have a medical condition like PCOS or you're going through premenopause or menopause. Those fluctuations are going to affect your mood. So you'll see changes in our mood. Someone will talk about that when they go through PMS symptoms. It will affect our how energized or tired we are. So our fatigue is dramatically affected as well as with estrogen changes. We will notice disruptions in sleep. Very good. I mean, not that that's good, but everyone all like, you know, unless you're going through HRT or something. We have estrogen, so we're going to have to deal with it. Yeah. And so partway through your cycle, your estrogen levels will decrease and your progesterone levels will come up, which progesterone is the other kind of main hormone in the female body. And it's sort of our natural chill pill, if you will. So it can be calming. And so what a lot of people will feel or experience is that as they age, their estrogen, you know, their body becomes less likely to have a period. Your cycles become more irregular. And so when our progesterone levels come up, that will signal to our body that we're kind of in the later half of our cycle. And when those things don't go up the same amount as before, that is where we will notice a lot of shifts in our anxiety. And so women who are experiencing anxiety as can be a significant sign of perimenopause, you know, maybe you weren't an anxious person before. Maybe these feelings didn't pop up and they're showing up now later in life. That drop in progesterone can be a factor as well as insomnia. A lot of women will experience insomnia as well. Now, the other main player in our hormones is one that you talked really relevantly of last week, and that's cortisol. And so as we know, cortisol is our stress hormone. And the more elevated our cortisol level is, the more havoc that can play on our whole system. You know, you can create symptoms that weren't there before. You can have changes in energy. You mentioned weight. And then brain fog is our cortisol level will really affect that as well. And then the final player that, you know, most women don't really think of, I mean, not final player, but the kind of of the four is your testosterone. And so testosterone is typically a male hormone that we think of. But testosterone is super important because it affects our energy, our muscles and our libido. And so if women are experiencing, you know, a lower libido as they age in life, that could be the fluctuations of testosterone. Some women will experience too much testosterone and then we'll start to see things like facial hair and things like that. And we don't really want those either. So those, those balancing of those hormones is, you know, important to feel like our best self. Absolutely. And so symptoms of hormonal imbalance. So some of the symptoms that people may recognize or not know about, so it's good to be aware of. So some of them, and we talked about this, about these last week, some of them, I think. So hot flashes and night sweats because Ali, you were talking about that specifically. Mood swings and irritability. I mean, who doesn't have those, right? That's fine. Fatigue and brain fog been there, done it. It's not nice. I mean, everyone can experience fatigue in general, but the brain fog, I don't think people really understand what it is until you have it. And then you don't even notice it's really that until you're out of it. Almost like, I feel like you think you're tired or you think you just need coffee or like, you don't realize what is actually happening until you're in it for a bit or you're out of it. And then you're like, Oh my gosh, now I understand what brain fog feels like. So. You literally will go to talk and you forget a word and you're like, do I need to get tested for like, what is that thing? I'm trying to think of called amnesia. No. Is this your brain fog happening? We're like live on the show. Demonstrating just in case you didn't know, you know, like when people can't remember things anymore, you get, well then you have that really sad condition that I can't. Tip of my tongue. I was just talking about it the other day. Yep. See, and now I have the word and I don't have brain fog, but I can't spit it out. You all know what we're talking about. And everyone knows. It will come to me as soon as we go on. But yeah. So, and brain fog kind of feels like baby brain a little bit for people who've had babies. That's a little bit. Weight changes and cravings. Again, you don't have to be experiencing perimenopause or menopause to be having those symptoms. But. I will share that. I have always been a salty treat girl. Like if you gave me a choice between a chocolate bar and potato chips, I would always pick potato chips. When I was pregnant, I had a little bit more of a sweet tooth. So again, hormone changes. And I would say now I like the Christmas cookies this year, they were next level calling my name and I definitely ate more of them than I normally do. Oh, I hear that. Salty is my favorite also, but like sometimes I have a weakness for sweet and I will destroy all the chocolate in the house. And then sleep disturbances, which again, we know that these can happen all through your life, but specifically, if you're having more of them, I think, and it could be like, and maybe more than one of these symptoms, I'm sure like, which I'm sure we'll cover in another episode also. But we want to normalize this. You're not alone. Like these changes don't mean that you have to suffer. These changes don't mean that you're necessarily going through paramenopause or menopause. But I would say if you're checking all the boxes, you may want to get checked out and see if maybe that's something you're going through, but it's so normal to be having these symptoms. And I think when we talk about hot flashes too, like until you had a hot flash, like you just think the person is warm. It's not warm. I'm not warm when I'm having a hot flash, I'm like boiling from the inside out. And then like, you're like instantly drenched. And it's interesting because certain things will almost trigger them too. So like when you start to get stressed or something like it just comes and it comes so fast. And you know, I'd watched other women go through it and didn't really quite understand who I understand. And also you were thinking about Alzheimer's when we were talking about brain fog. Thank you. You said it would come back to you. I said it would come back. Okay. So maybe Ali, can you tell us like, what can we do now? Like, what is next kind of when you are experiencing some of these symptoms and you want to move on with life and carry on and not feel like you're going crazy? Yeah. You know, one of the first things that I think is super important is to look at your nutrition. So some food sensitivities will show up at different stages of your life. Again, whether it's post-pregnancy during a pregnancy. And then, then again, you know, in the changes in menopause, and we really want to look at our diet in menopause because, or perimenopause because so many changes are going on in our lives. And I was actually talking to my girlfriend yesterday and she was questioning me about what HRT I'm taking and so forth. And she actually sent me over her blood work and lo and behold, her cholesterol is high. And so her triglycerides and her cholesterol is high. And one of the things that a lot of people don't realize is that that can be a symptom of perimenopause. And so, you know, looking at our diet and how our body metabolizes things also changes because of these hormone fluctuations. So really, really focusing on really good sources of lean protein to help regulate our blood sugar levels, looking at leafy greens as being super important. And then we really want to look at healthy fats. Healthy fats are super important. And those would be things like avocado, nuts and seeds. And really making sure going back to that protein piece is that making sure you're having a good solid protein at every single meal. And then, you know what, I was actually, well, obviously in my journey with everything I've been going through, I've been reading on things that are, I'm going to call them super foods. There's so many different articles and programs and things, and they all have a different super food that they kind of relate to. A lot of times they cross over, but everyone has this one magic super food they talk about. But I know that some things that kind of come up time and time again are like flax seed, the avocado, like you mentioned, trying to think of what another one was. Obviously leafy greens, always like spinach. Those are great. I know you mentioned broccoli is also good with helping in this stage of life versus maybe perimenopause. I don't know. And we're not really there. So we don't really know how it's going to treat us. But there was something else I was trying to think of, but you kind of hit all the points of course. And I was just, it made me think of like, there's so many articles and things out there that you can be like, what are the top five foods? And they're going to like help you figure out some of those super foods to eat, I guess. And I think you're going to dive deeper into nutrition, maybe a little bit at some point in one of our episodes. Yeah, absolutely. So outside of nutrition, the other things that we want to look at, one would be movement. And I say movement and not exercise because I, that's just my own languaging that I like. Exercise doesn't have to be something that you hate. It can be some sort of movement that you love. And I think that's an important aspect to make it something that's more a regular part of your routine. Now, when we link our, our state of being to exercise, you know, as we age, our muscle mass decreases and our need for exercise is going to become that much more important, but our cortisol also plays a role. So depending on where you're at with your cortisol level and your hormone levels on what type of exercise you want to choose. So, you know, doing heavy weightlifting, doing HIIT exercises, it's not all created equal as we age. So making sure that you're doing things that your body is responding really nicely to, because, you know, really strenuous exercise is going to raise that cortisol level. So if it's already high, you don't necessarily want to make it higher. So picking that exercise that's going to be most appropriate for you is, is really important too. Yeah. And I, again, I've been through that with you and I know that for me, I was doing workouts and never losing weight and I just continued to gain weight and not muscle. And it was very evident. It was fast and not muscle, but like, and I was just going and doing like an hour workout in the morning and it wasn't working for me. And I know that there are special like low intensity, even though they're HIIT workouts. I know that there's some that are better for people trying to keep their cortisol down than others, but you can even be walking. And if you walk too much and too fast and at the right, right, or wrong pace, like you could raise your cortisol too. So everyone needs to find the balance for themselves. I agree. And so, you know, kind of the, the next kind of component is really that stress management is bringing down that cortisol level. What are you doing for that? And that's something that I'm really passionate about in my coaching programs. I offer many different coaching programs for clients. And stress management is something that I put a big focus on. I am not a meditator, so I don't teach meditation, but I like to do micro moments of calm. And so finding ways to be more present in your life, how to decrease your, your schedule. I was just writing an article on LinkedIn yesterday. I started a LinkedIn newsletter and I spoke specifically about our desire to glorify being busy, right? I was in a stage of my life five years ago where I glorified being busy, being busy was something I was proud of. And I was an accomplisher and I did all the things and that was running me into the ground. And that wasn't really the life that I wanted. And so I'm really passionate about helping bring that stress level down. And, you know, we don't have to do it all. We can delegate some tasks. We can give stuff to other people and we can just choose not to do some things and that's okay. We can learn to say no. So those things are super important. And then the other things we talked about, you know, kind of some sleep hygiene. So strategies to increase your sleep, get better sleep, you know, whether that's blue light glasses, limiting screens before bed, creating a calmness routine, maybe it involves essential oils or a bath time routine or, you know, and none of these things have to be big, long things like, you know, maybe it's that you put some, you know, what is that? What was that Paris show where, you know, the girl sprayed a room spray on her bed before she went to bed or herself signified the old factory system to like link her brain to sleep. And so suddenly, and to be honest, I swear, that's what my daughter does. She sprays her room before she goes to sleep and she sleeps great. We have one of those watches on her to monitoring her sleep and she's the best left thing in the world. So, you know, maybe, maybe that's the next step of something. Maybe you put some lotion on your feet before you go to bed, something really simple. And then ultimately, you know, kind of the final step in this process is to, and, and, I mean, these can be in any order is to, to really, you know, work with someone, whether that's down the road, you dive into one of my programs specifically on hormones. Maybe, you know, I get you a referral to some HRT, maybe you see your family doctor for HRT. But there are definitely, you know, professionals that you can work with to help you in, in this realm. And whether it's with all of these things or just the HRT component, or, you know, some people do birth control or different things, you know, there's pluses and minuses to all. And if you ever want either of our personal advice, you can kind of reach out to us directly, but yeah. So you just specifically were talking about HRT. So have you been finding that it's been helping with your sleep and reduce stress from your perspective doing HRT? So I would tell you before this episode that my brain fog is a lot better. And then I demonstrated my brain fog. So my brain fog still exists where like, I forget things sometimes and whatever, but I don't feel like it's as blurry as it was. Like I don't find that I walk into a room as much and I'm like, shit, why am I here? There's a little bit more of, you know, of that, whether that's because I decluttered my life more because that was really important to me to reduce my stress load was to declutter things in my life, which, which ultimately works out to me saying no to things and the declutter of my own space. Because if you look at your life and if you look at it in a cluttered state that affects our stress level too, right? Like if my counters are full and I'm trying to cook dinner, you know, I'm not as calm as I could be if my counters were empty. And so some strategies like that have been really, really helpful for me. After my first six months of being on HRT, they did, I did have a follow-up with my nurse practitioner and, you know, she wanted to see how the symptoms had subsided. And so I was drenched in sweat for the 10 days before my cycle. Now I'm about one or two days before my cycle. So she did offer that we could increase my dosages. And at this time I opted not to because one or two days of hot flashes to me is not really significant. I can manage that and it probably helps me to remember all the things that I want to incorporate into my life. But, you know, I'm probably down the road as things change, we'll probably consider increasing that, but for now it's taken the edge off. I feel so much better. I'm much more human. And yeah, it's, it's been really great for me. I know lots of women have looked into it and, you know, it's, it's interesting. You know, I, I think one of the naturopaths that I work for did a Instagram story today talking specifically about, you know, where some of these thoughts came from that hormone replacement therapy was causing cancers. And, you know, the research now is citing that progestin, I think that's how you say versus progesterone is more linked. And so she was referencing some of those scientific articles and stuff. And so that's where some of the information is misleading because some people are given medications that are progestin, not progesterone. And so then that's sometimes where the misinformation comes into play and so forth. So, you know, look into the differences, do your research. You know, that, that's always my argument is that you don't know what you don't know until you look into it. So empower yourself, do the research. Maybe it is for you, maybe it's not for you. And, you know, kind of go from there. And you were also talking about cortisol levels. So basically by reducing my cortisol levels, I was able to improve my energy specifically. I mean, it did so many things as we talked about in the last episode, but one of the things that like the main things was it was causing so many other symptoms or that it looked like symptoms of other things. And it was able like by reducing that I was able to get my hot flashes to go away. Like, and mine were like, I wasn't usually having them during the day or anything. Mine were when I was, when I was sleeping. And so specifically I was like, you know, I like wake up in a sweat and I'd be like boiling and I could not get the temperature cold enough. But by reducing my cortisol, it made a huge difference. And ways that I did that were, I worked on my stress with Ali and finding out what was causing my stress and how ways that I could alleviate it. You can't always fix your stress, but you can definitely try and find ways to cope with it. And so doing that and taking time to myself, like you said, sometimes for me it was like a hot bath and just shutting off from everybody else and just taking some time for me. Other times getting some fresh air definitely was nice, especially in the summertime and whatnot. That was always very helpful. And if we had summer right now, I would get some more fresh air, but it's cold and it's winter. We also did some supplementation with you, which is, is also great to add. So there are some supplements. So cortisol is kind of all encompassing, right? Like there are supplements that can help support your body and help bring your cortisol level down and then some life changes and choices and things like that too. And, and I think that's why it's really important to work with someone and you know, HRT isn't the first choice, right? Like that can be a choice when you've done a bunch of the other things. So, you know, lots of, and, and I think the important thing is it's not one thing that fixes it. It's all of the things. It's a lot. So, and I do take cortisol reducers. I take or stress reducer pills or gummies or whatnot. So there are different things I take. And when I say gummies, I don't mean those kinds of gummies. I just mean the actual like L-theanine and things that are, I don't know, not more, more natural packaged. You buy them at the pharmacy over the counter. But yeah, so I definitely take some of those and they help and they work and they don't necessarily work for everyone. And I find I take a lot less now than I used to. I felt like every day I needed them before and sometimes twice a day. And like now I feel like, and maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like I don't need them as much. But days that I do, like I'm certainly taking like, whether it's a powder, a gummy, a capsule, whatever it is, like I take it when I need it and it helps. And it's just one extra thing to help reduce that stress during that day. So I don't have to worry about it. I think it's too, it's important to point out that we all live in a society that is very accepting of stress. So, so many of my clients will tell me that they're not stressed because they don't have this like pending massive stress, right? Like somebody will tell me they're stressed if they've lost their job, if someone in their family is diagnosed with cancer, if there's like a big thing, but all of the little things, they'll be like, Oh no, I'm not stressed. That's just everyday life. But that's what we really want to identify because these little everyday life things are piling up to a mountain. And if we have all these little tiny stressors in our life, that's enough. And so we want to identify that we are stressed and that we're living stressed and that's our new normal. And so that's what we really need to break apart because so many of us will say, Oh, I'm not stressed. You know, when I was so proud of all of the, you know, busy, I was, I didn't think I was stressed. I thought that was normal. And it's it, maybe it's normal, but it's not very healthy. And so, you know, learning to identify that and learning to adjust it can have a big, big impact on things. No, I agree. And when I was super stressed, I didn't realize I was stressed either. And like my family would be like, you're stressed out. And I'm like, no, I'm not like, what are you talking about? Like, this is how I always am. I don't feel stressed, but I remember having a breakthrough with Ali during our, our coaching and there was something that had happened and my stress had been brought back down. And all of a sudden I got stressed out and I felt like a heat wave come over my body. And I was like, Oh my gosh. And I felt that stress. And I was like, I haven't felt that in so long because I was already here. And so coming up and down from here wasn't really changing because it was never really going down. So it was always here. So always just in this level of stress. And then the moment that I was actually down here and it spiked for a minute.