Balancing Hormones Naturally

If you’re already stressing about holiday shopping or you’re trying to find the perfect gift for the “non-toxic friend” in your life, this episode is for you. Whether you want thoughtful stocking stuffers, clean beauty upgrades, wellness splurges, or treats for yourself during Black Friday, this guide breaks down exactly what’s worth buying, and what’s not. No overwhelm. No scrolling for hours. Just curated, clean, non-toxic picks at every price point.

In this episode I’m sharing:

• Gifts under $25 that actually land: non-toxic deodorant, clean candles, coffee + collagen pairings, perfume samplers, and toxin-free teeth whitening
• Gifts under $50 that feel luxe without breaking the bank, like mini body oils, organic cotton basics, Paleo Valley meat sticks for snack lovers, and elevated stocking stuffers
• Gifts under $100 including clean makeup staples, Crunchi must-haves, RMS glow products, and my go-to wellness picks for friends, moms, and yourself
• Gifts under $300 like curated wellness baskets, full skincare routines, serums, and the perfect beauty + wellness combos
• Splurge-worthy items that are actually worth it: red light therapy, sauna gear, air purifiers, and home upgrades that make daily life healthier
• The brands with historically amazing Black Friday sales, and what to wait to buy
• The exact products I reorder year after year and which ones my husband loves too

Gifting doesn’t have to be stressful or wasteful. This episode gives you thoughtful, non-toxic gift ideas at every budget so you can shop intentionally, save money during the best sales of the year, and fill your home—and the homes of the people you love—with clean, high-quality products that make everyday life healthier.

Find all of my recommendations here: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/blog/non-toxic-gift-guide

Leah’s Favorite Things: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/favorites

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I’m Leah Brueggemann, a Functional Diagnostic Nutritional® Practitioner and Hormone Health Coach, helping you balance your hormones in effective and realistic ways so you can live a healthier, happier life.

Through the Balance Hormones Naturally podcast, you’ll discover why your cycle is so important to your everyday health and how you can use nutrition to help support the rise and fall of your hormones and finally feel truly amazing. We dig deep to understand and heal the root causes of your symptoms so you can achieve lasting results through manageable and realistic lifestyle changes, allowing you to live a healthy and balanced life without a life-long pharmaceutical prescription.

Let’s connect:

📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/balancinghormonesnaturally/

🙋🏻‍♀️ Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leah_brueg/

🌐 Website: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/

📧 Email: [email protected]

If you’ve been told that painful cramps, heavy bleeding, mood swings, or PMS are “just part of being a woman,” this episode is for you. Your period isn’t supposed to be miserable, it’s supposed to be painless, balanced, and predictable. In fact, your cycle is your monthly report card for overall health, giving you valuable clues about your hormones, thyroid, and metabolism.

In this episode I’m sharing:

• Why period cramps aren’t normal and what excess prostaglandins have to do with it
• The difference between primary and secondary dysmenorrhea (and when to suspect fibroids, endometriosis, or low progesterone)
• What your period’s color, length, and flow reveal about your estrogen and thyroid function
• How to spot the red flags: light pink flow, brown spotting, large clots, or super heavy bleeding
• Why your period headaches and low iron may point to gut issues or parasites
• A simple breakdown of your full menstrual cycle, from follicular phase to luteal phase and what each hormone is doing
• Why ovulation is the main event, not your period, and the key to strong progesterone and stable moods
• How birth control, stress, and endocrine disruptors interfere with your brain-ovary communication
• The hidden reason you feel worse before your period: low progesterone and inflammation
• How to naturally support hormone balance with nutrition, stress regulation, and gut healing

Your hormones aren’t out to get you, they’re your body’s messengers. This episode will help you understand what your cycle is really telling you, why your period is a vital sign, and how to finally create the painless, balanced cycle you deserve.

Leah’s Favorite Things: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/favorites

🙏Thank you to Eversio Wellness for sponsoring this episode!

👉 Go to https://www.eversiowellness.com/discount/LEAH or enter code LEAH at checkout for 15% off.

--

I’m Leah Brueggemann, a Functional Diagnostic Nutritional® Practitioner and Hormone Health Coach, helping you balance your hormones in effective and realistic ways so you can live a healthier, happier life.

Through the Balance Hormones Naturally podcast, you’ll discover why your cycle is so important to your everyday health and how you can use nutrition to help support the rise and fall of your hormones and finally feel truly amazing. We dig deep to understand and heal the root causes of your symptoms so you can achieve lasting results through manageable and realistic lifestyle changes, allowing you to live a healthy and balanced life without a life-long pharmaceutical prescription.

Let’s connect:

📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/balancinghormonesnaturally/

🙋🏻‍♀️ Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leah_brueg/

🌐 Website: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/

📧 Email: [email protected]

If you’ve been told to skip breakfast or fast until noon to lose weight, this episode is for you. Research actually shows the opposite. Women who eat breakfast have better blood sugar, lower inflammation, fewer cravings, and a reduced risk of metabolic syndrome. But here’s the catch: what you eat for breakfast will make or break your hormones, appetite, and weight loss results for the entire day.

In this episode I’m sharing:

• Why eating breakfast is one of the easiest ways to support weight loss and hormone balance
• The exact protein target you need to hit for stable energy, cravings, and metabolism
• My go-to breakfast proteins: eggs, chicken sausage, salmon, Greek yogurt, and more
• Why fiber is essential for blood sugar balance, and the best morning sources of fiber
• How to build a satiating breakfast bowl with reheated resistant-starch potatoes, veggies, and protein
• The low-glycemic carbs that keep cravings away
• Why smoothies often fail women, and how to build one that’s blood-sugar friendly and actually filling
• Whether you should drink coffee before breakfast
• How to create 2–3 easy breakfasts you can rotate without feeling bored or overwhelmed

The first meal of your day sets your metabolism, mood, and cravings in motion. This episode will show you how to build a breakfast that stabilizes blood sugar, supports hormones, and makes weight loss feel effortless, not punishing.

Leah’s Favorite Things: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/favorites

—

I’m Leah Brueggemann, a Functional Diagnostic Nutritional® Practitioner and Hormone Health Coach, helping you balance your hormones in effective and realistic ways so you can live a healthier, happier life.

Through the Balance Hormones Naturally podcast, you’ll discover why your cycle is so important to your everyday health and how you can use nutrition to help support the rise and fall of your hormones and finally feel truly amazing. We dig deep to understand and heal the root causes of your symptoms so you can achieve lasting results through manageable and realistic lifestyle changes, allowing you to live a healthy and balanced life without a life-long pharmaceutical prescription.

Let’s connect:

📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/balancinghormonesnaturally/

🙋🏻‍♀️ Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leah_brueg/

🌐 Website: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/

📧 Email: [email protected]

If you’re dealing with mood swings, hot flashes, weight gain around your midsection, worsening PMS, or feeling like your body is suddenly working against you, this episode is for you. You’re not losing your mind. You’re in perimenopause, a long transition (not a two-week phase) where your hormones are shifting, your metabolism is changing, and your body is asking for support, not punishment.

In this episode I’m sharing:

• Why perimenopause is a “second puberty” and what’s really behind the mood swings, cravings, and thicker waistline
• The labs every woman should run during this transition: a full thyroid panel, metabolic panel, fasting insulin, A1C, and more
• How dropping estrogen and progesterone create relative androgen excess, and why this changes your fat distribution and energy
• What your adrenals have to do with worsening PMS, exhaustion, irritability, and sleep
• The blood sugar strategies that stabilize hormones
• The supplements that actually help
• Why phytoestrogen foods (like flaxseed) can help, but only if your gut microbiome and detox pathways are supported
• The role of minerals like boron, sodium, and potassium in smoothing the transition
• How oxytocin improves insulin sensitivity, plus daily ways to build more joy, connection, and calm
• The workouts that support your metabolism now: heavy strength training + zone 2 walking, not more HIIT
• How to create a personalized, sustainable plan by supporting adrenals, thyroid, gut, minerals, and metabolic health

Remember: perimenopause isn’t something to fear, it’s a phase your body can thrive in when you give it targeted support. This episode will help you understand what’s changing, take control of your symptoms, and move through this transition with energy, confidence, and ease.

Leah’s Favorite Things: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/favorites

—

I’m Leah Brueggemann, a Functional Diagnostic Nutritional® Practitioner and Hormone Health Coach, helping you balance your hormones in effective and realistic ways so you can live a healthier, happier life.

Through the Balance Hormones Naturally podcast, you’ll discover why your cycle is so important to your everyday health and how you can use nutrition to help support the rise and fall of your hormones and finally feel truly amazing. We dig deep to understand and heal the root causes of your symptoms so you can achieve lasting results through manageable and realistic lifestyle changes, allowing you to live a healthy and balanced life without a life-long pharmaceutical prescription.

Let’s connect:

📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/balancinghormonesnaturally/

🙋🏻‍♀️ Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leah_brueg/

🌐 Website: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/

📧 Email: [email protected]

If you have a cabinet full of half-used supplements you bought with hope, but abandoned because they didn’t actually do anything, this episode is for you. The wellness industry has convinced women that there’s a pill for every problem. But most of what you’re taking is doing nothing for your hormones, and some of it may even be making things worse.

In this episode I’m sharing:

• The real reason multivitamins are a waste of money
• Why “hormone balance blends” with maca, Vitex, ashwagandha, and rhodiola often backfire
• How to identify low-quality supplements — hidden fillers, fake transparency, and lack of third-party testing
• The supplements that should always be heavy-metal tested, like magnesium and protein powder
• The truth about probiotics and why most refrigerated ones never survive your stomach acid
• Why detox kits and liver cleanses don’t work unless your drainage pathways are open
• The difference between detoxing and actually supporting your body’s ability to eliminate toxins
• Why testing, like HTMA, is cheaper in the long run than guessing and buying trendy supplements
• The one supplement that actually does work for most women
• How to read supplement labels like a pro and spot useless dosages instantly

Supplements should support your healing, not drain your wallet or overload your system. This episode will help you clear the clutter, stop wasting money, and choose only the products that actually move the needle for your hormones.

Leah’s Favorite Things: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/favorites

—

I’m Leah Brueggemann, a Functional Diagnostic Nutritional® Practitioner and Hormone Health Coach, helping you balance your hormones in effective and realistic ways so you can live a healthier, happier life.

Through the Balance Hormones Naturally podcast, you’ll discover why your cycle is so important to your everyday health and how you can use nutrition to help support the rise and fall of your hormones and finally feel truly amazing. We dig deep to understand and heal the root causes of your symptoms so you can achieve lasting results through manageable and realistic lifestyle changes, allowing you to live a healthy and balanced life without a life-long pharmaceutical prescription.

Let’s connect:

📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/balancinghormonesnaturally/

🙋🏻‍♀️ Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leah_brueg/

🌐 Website: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/

📧 Email: [email protected]

If you’ve ever felt burned out, ignored by the medical system, overwhelmed by symptoms, or terrified of menopause because of what everyone says about it, this episode is for you. Brandi Garden, co-founder of Eversio Wellness and author of Healing Your Body, Mind, and Soul, shares how she went from autoimmune disease, burnout, and skin cancer to sailing through perimenopause without a single symptom. She’s here to show you how to become the CEO of your own health.

In this episode we’re sharing:

• Why waiting for the perfect time to take care of your health keeps you stuck in the same cycle  
• How Brandi went from psoriatic arthritis, chronic inflammation, and emotional burnout to genuine joy, energy, and balance  
• The mindset shift that changed everything: moving from identifying with symptoms to seeing them as signals of imbalance
• Why women avoid running labs or making changes, and the surprising payoff of staying in the comfort zone
• How mushrooms like reishi, cordyceps, lion’s mane, tremella, and maitake help regulate stress, blood sugar, inflammation, and hormones
• How maitake supports ovulation, insulin sensitivity, immune function, and even A1C levels 
• Why balancing foundational hormones makes perimenopause and menopause easier 
• What it actually means to “co-regulate,” ask for help, build emotional resilience, and stop living in survival mode 
• The story behind Brandi’s new five-mushroom blend, and how to use it for perimenopause, energy, mood, and metabolic health 
• How her new book blends memoir, mindset, actionable exercises to help you create real change 

You’re not your diagnosis, your symptoms, or your past. This episode will help you trust your intuition, regulate stress, nourish your hormones, and take the small, courageous steps that create the future you actually want without waiting for rock bottom to force you there.

Leah’s Favorite Things: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/favorites

🙏Thank you to Eversio Wellness for sponsoring this episode!

👉 Go to https://www.eversiowellness.com/discount/LEAH or enter code LEAH at checkout for 15% off.

—

I’m Leah Brueggemann, a Functional Diagnostic Nutritional® Practitioner and Hormone Health Coach, helping you balance your hormones in effective and realistic ways so you can live a healthier, happier life.

Through the Balance Hormones Naturally podcast, you’ll discover why your cycle is so important to your everyday health and how you can use nutrition to help support the rise and fall of your hormones and finally feel truly amazing. We dig deep to understand and heal the root causes of your symptoms so you can achieve lasting results through manageable and realistic lifestyle changes, allowing you to live a healthy and balanced life without a life-long pharmaceutical prescription.

Let’s connect:

📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/balancinghormonesnaturally/

🙋🏻‍♀️ Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leah_brueg/

🌐 Website: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/

📧 Email: [email protected]

If you’ve spent years feeling exhausted, bloated, moody, or dismissed by doctors who keep telling you your labs are “normal,” this episode is for you. You’re not broken, your body is begging you to listen. Healing your hormones doesn’t start with perfection or another extreme detox. It starts with one simple thing: taking action before you feel ready.

In this episode I’m sharing:

• Why waiting for the “perfect time” keeps you stuck in the same cycle of frustration and burnout
• How to start healing your hormones without having it all figured out (and why messy action beats waiting every time)
• The truth about the “boring basics” that actually fix your hormones, like sleep, nourishment, minerals, and nervous system safety
• Why your body can’t heal if you keep jumping from cleanse to cleanse or diet to diet
• The power of consistency and joy in your healing process and how to stop treating it like punishment
• The orchestra analogy: how every part of your body works together and why restoring harmony starts with safety and nourishment
• How to use your symptoms as communication, not condemnation, and finally trust your body again
• My favorite first step for most women: balancing blood sugar with 30 grams of protein at breakfast

Healing doesn’t begin when everything’s perfect. It begins the moment you decide to start. This episode will help you stop waiting, stop doubting, and start taking the small, powerful steps that lead to real hormone balance and lasting change.

Leah’s Favorite Things: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/favorites

—

I’m Leah Brueggemann, a Functional Diagnostic Nutritional® Practitioner and Hormone Health Coach, helping you balance your hormones in effective and realistic ways so you can live a healthier, happier life.

Through the Balance Hormones Naturally podcast, you’ll discover why your cycle is so important to your everyday health and how you can use nutrition to help support the rise and fall of your hormones and finally feel truly amazing. We dig deep to understand and heal the root causes of your symptoms so you can achieve lasting results through manageable and realistic lifestyle changes, allowing you to live a healthy and balanced life without a life-long pharmaceutical prescription.

Let’s connect:

📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/balancinghormonesnaturally/

🙋🏻‍♀️ Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leah_brueg/

🌐 Website: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/

📧 Email: [email protected]

—

The recommendations presented in this podcast are not a substitute for medical advice from a qualified doctor. Before making any changes to your diet and lifestyle, please consult with your healthcare provider.

If you’ve ever stood in your kitchen staring at your fridge wondering what to eat for your hormones—or felt like every grocery trip ends in confusion—this episode is for you. You don’t need another restrictive meal plan or complicated recipe list. You need a pantry that works with your hormones, not against them. Whether you’re managing PCOS, insulin resistance, or just want to balance blood sugar and feel better, this episode breaks down exactly what to stock so every meal supports your energy, mood, and metabolism.

In this episode I’m sharing:

• The biggest PCOS myth about carbs (and why you shouldn’t cut them out completely)
• How to build your plate for stable blood sugar and balanced hormones—without restriction
• The best low-glycemic carbs to keep on hand: potatoes, berries, squashes, and resistant starches
• My go-to protein staples that make hitting 30g per meal easy (and fast!)
• The veggies and fibers that boost gut health and keep cravings under control
• Why batch cooking beats traditional meal prep (and how to make it simple)
• The mineral-rich foods that power your thyroid and adrenals
• How to stock hormone-supportive snacks, from homemade protein balls to clean meat sticks
• The seed cycling staples that help naturally regulate hormones and support ovulation
• Hidden sugar traps in sauces and dressings (and how to swap them for clean versions)

Eating for your hormones isn’t about perfection,it’s about preparation. When your pantry is stocked with real, nourishing staples, every meal becomes a step toward better energy, balanced blood sugar, and thriving with PCOS, not fighting against it.

Leah’s Favorite Things: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/favorites

🙏 Thank you to Paleovalley for sponsoring this episode!

👉 Go to https://paleovalley.com/leah and enter code LEAH at checkout for 15% off.

—

I’m Leah Brueggemann, a Functional Diagnostic Nutritional® Practitioner and Hormone Health Coach, helping you balance your hormones in effective and realistic ways so you can live a healthier, happier life.

Through the Balance Hormones Naturally podcast, you’ll discover why your cycle is so important to your everyday health and how you can use nutrition to help support the rise and fall of your hormones and finally feel truly amazing. We dig deep to understand and heal the root causes of your symptoms so you can achieve lasting results through manageable and realistic lifestyle changes, allowing you to live a healthy and balanced life without a life-long pharmaceutical prescription.

Let’s connect:

📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/balancinghormonesnaturally/

🙋🏻‍♀️ Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leah_brueg/

🌐 Website: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/

📧 Email: [email protected]

—

The recommendations presented in this podcast are not a substitute for medical advice from a qualified doctor. Before making any changes to your diet and lifestyle, please consult with your healthcare provider.

If you’re crashing by 10 a.m., starving a few hours after breakfast, or gaining weight no matter how little you eat, your breakfast is the problem. Most women unknowingly start their day with “healthy” breakfasts that spike blood sugar and keep insulin resistance, fatigue, and cravings locked in all day long.

In this episode I’m sharing:

• The top three breakfasts that help reverse insulin resistance (without crash diets or restriction)
• Why your body needs at least 30 grams of protein first thing in the morning, and how to actually hit it
• How to build a savory, blood-sugar-balanced breakfast that keeps you full and energized for hours
• My easy, no-egg breakfast ideas that are quick, simple, and satisfying
• How to use resistant starch potatoes to feed gut health and lower your glycemic response
• Why breakfast doesn’t have to be “breakfast food” and how leftovers can be your best blood sugar hack
• The secret to stabilizing blood sugar every time you eat
• How small swaps, like adding bone broth or collagen, can boost protein intake and steady energy levels

Remember: your morning meal sets the tone for your entire day. This episode will help you build breakfasts that balance your blood sugar, support your hormones, and finally end that mid-morning crash for good.

—

I’m Leah Brueggemann, a Functional Diagnostic Nutritional® Practitioner and Hormone Health Coach, helping you balance your hormones in effective and realistic ways so you can live a healthier, happier life.

Through the Balance Hormones Naturally podcast, you’ll discover why your cycle is so important to your everyday health and how you can use nutrition to help support the rise and fall of your hormones and finally feel truly amazing. We dig deep to understand and heal the root causes of your symptoms so you can achieve lasting results through manageable and realistic lifestyle changes, allowing you to live a healthy and balanced life without a life-long pharmaceutical prescription.

Let’s connect:

📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/balancinghormonesnaturally/

🙋🏻‍♀️ Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leah_brueg/

🌐 Website: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/

📧 Email: [email protected]

—

The recommendations presented in this podcast are not a substitute for medical advice from a qualified doctor. Before making any changes to your diet and lifestyle, please consult with your healthcare provider.

If you’ve ever wondered whether fasting is actually helping your hormones or secretly wrecking them, this episode is for you. Most fasting studies are done on men or postmenopausal women, which means if you’re cycling, you’re playing by a completely different hormonal rulebook.

In this episode I’m sharing:

• Why fasting impacts women’s hormones differently than men’s (and how stress, cortisol, and progesterone all tie in)
• The hidden ways fasting can lower your LH, disrupt ovulation, and tank your progesterone levels
• Symptoms that your fasting routine is backfiring, such as irritability, insomnia, thinning hair, and irregular cycles
• Why extreme fasting is often just a “fancy way of not eating enough” and how that triggers fight-or-flight mode
• How to know if your minerals, adrenals, or calorie intake make fasting unsafe for your body right now
• Circadian fasting and how to do it properly for hormone support
• Why it matters when you eat, not just what you eat, and how nighttime insulin resistance affects fat storage and sleep
• How to break your fast correctly to protect your blood sugar and adrenals
• My favorite way to adapt fasting to your cycle using short “follicular fasts” without stressing your hormones

Remember: fasting isn’t magic and it’s not evil either. It’s about using it with context, wisdom, and nourishment. This episode will help you understand when fasting helps, when it hurts, and how to align it with your body’s natural rhythm so you can finally feel balanced, energized, and in sync again.

🙏Thank you to Eversio Wellness for sponsoring this episode!

👉 Go to https://www.eversiowellness.com/discount/LEAH or enter code LEAH at checkout for 15% off.

—

I’m Leah Brueggemann, a Functional Diagnostic Nutritional® Practitioner and Hormone Health Coach, helping you balance your hormones in effective and realistic ways so you can live a healthier, happier life.

Through the Balance Hormones Naturally podcast, you’ll discover why your cycle is so important to your everyday health and how you can use nutrition to help support the rise and fall of your hormones and finally feel truly amazing. We dig deep to understand and heal the root causes of your symptoms so you can achieve lasting results through manageable and realistic lifestyle changes, allowing you to live a healthy and balanced life without a life-long pharmaceutical prescription.

Let’s connect:

📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/balancinghormonesnaturally/

🙋🏻‍♀️ Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leah_brueg/

🌐 Website: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/

📧 Email: [email protected]

—

The recommendations presented in this podcast are not a substitute for medical advice from a qualified doctor. Before making any changes to your diet and lifestyle, please consult with your healthcare provider.