The Wellness Witch Podcast

Are you someone who experiences short menstrual cycles? So many women ask me how they can lengthen their menstrual cycle, specifically their luteal phase. In this episode, I talk about how a short luteal phase impacts women’s fertility and overall health, as well as the strategies that you can implement to make it longer.

You can find all the info and links about this episode at https://holisticwellness.ca/episode62

Topics Discussed in this Episode:

• What exactly is the luteal phase?
• What are the 4 phases of a woman’s menstrual cycle?
• How long should the luteal phase actually be?
• What causes a short luteal phase?
• How does a luteal phase defect impact fertility?
• Why is progesterone called “the fat cat hormone” and why is it important?
• What strategies can you implement to fix the problem of a short luteal phase?

Key Takeaways:

• The luteal phase is the third phase of a woman’s menstrual cycle. It’s basically the time between the day after ovulation occurs and the day before the start of your period. It is during this time when progesterone levels will rise in your cycle and when fertilization and implantation occurs.
• The luteal phase is the longest phase of your cycle. On average, it’s between 10 to 16 days long. If it’s consistently lower than 10 days, especially for more than three months in a row, you have what’s known as a short luteal phase or a luteal phase defect.
• Not only does a short luteal phase affect your menstrual cycle as a whole but it really impacts your overall health and your fertility. The good thing is that this can all be fixed with lifestyle strategies, supplementation strategies, and nutrition strategies.
• If you find that you are really moody and anxious and irritable pre-menstruation, this could mean that you have low progesterone levels.
• Having healthy progesterone levels is so important because it keeps your estrogen in check. If you have estrogen dominance, this can lead to heavier, longer periods, as well as shorter periods, and more PMS symptoms overall.

Action Steps:

Strategies to support your progesterone levels and lengthen your cycle

• Eat foods rich in vitamin C.
• Include green, leafy vegetables in your diet every single day.
• Make sure you’re getting your omega-3 fatty acids.
• Supplement with a vitamin B complex.
• Make sure you have adequate consumption of dietary cholesterol.
• Supplement with selenium.
• Supplement with phosphatidylserine.
• Chart your cycle. It will give you so much information about your period and your hormonal health.
• Try acupuncture. It’s great for hormonal imbalances, and many women report having more regulated cycles and increased fertility after doing weekly acupuncture sessions.
• Lower your cortisol levels by regularly hanging out with your girlfriends.

Samantha said:

“The only way we really support and manage stress is by how we show up in our lives. So it’s really, really essential that you work on that piece as well as including the supplements and the diet.”

“When your progesterone is in balance, you are going to feel like you are a rock star.”

Thanks for listening!

Important Announcements:

Join the Healthy Hormones for Women Online Program! Experience all kinds of incredible results just from supporting your hormones and eating and supplementing in the right way. At the end of the day, we just want you to have happy, healthy, thriving hormones and vibrant health.

Connect with me over on Instagram, @holisticwellnessfoodie! And it would mean so much if you would leave us a rating or a review over on iTunes or Spotify or Stitcher, or whichever platform you’re listening to us on. Take a screenshot of your review and email it over to us, and get our FREE 3-Day Hormone Balancing Meal Plan.

Links to things I talk about in the show:

• My Tahini Mocha Cookie Bars Recipe
• My Paleo Brownies Recipe

Recommended Products:

• Liposomal Vitamin C (Designs for Health)
• OmegAvail Hi-Po (Designs for Health)
• OmegAvail Smoothie (Designs for Health)
• B-Supreme (Designs for Health)

*Shop at the Holistic Wellness Shop. If you’re in Canada, you can order directly off of our shop page and use the coupon code save15 and get 15% off.

Where you can find me:

Samantha’s Facebook

Samantha’s Instagram

Samantha’s Website

Samantha’s Twitter

Healthy Hormones for Women Podcast Private Community on Facebook

How you can work with me:

• 6-Week Healthy Hormones for Women Intensive - Use the coupon code PODCAST at checkout to save 60%.
• Healing & Dealing with Hashi’s

Did you know that toxins can have a direct impact on your weight? Clinical nutritionist and functional medicine practitioner Josh Gitalis dives into this topic to tell us more about obesogens, toxins, and how we can detoxify to gain optimal health.

You can find all the info and links about this episode at https://holisticwellness.ca/episode61.

Topics Discussed in this Episode:

• What are obesogens
• The places where we can find these toxins
• Endocrine disruptors and its effects
• Strategies that we can utilize to detoxify
• The channels of elimination
• Where to start detoxifying your home
• Infrared sauna for detoxing and sweating
• Detox foods
• The benefits of using mushrooms in blends and teas
• The best strategies for supporting the immune system
• Juicing: Is it good or bad?
• How to avoid Alzheimer’s becoming your destiny when it runs in your family
• Gluten or dairy: Which is worse?
• Bloating problems and how to fix them

Key Takeaways:

• Obesogens are chemicals that increase the number of fat cells created in the body as well as the amount of fat stored by the body.
• One of the easiest ways for toxins to get into our body is by taking them orally.
• We can have thoughts that are toxic and really cause sickness in our body.
• When someone is overweight, the excess weight is not the problem, it’s just a symptom of the problem.
• The infrared sauna is one of the most well-researched ways to detox. It’s amazing for getting out all sorts of fat-soluble compounds and even water-soluble compounds.
• The only way to get rid of cadmium effectively is through sweat.
• Foods that are great for detoxifying include raspberries, flax seed, broccoli sprout, cilantro, and parsley.
• Mushrooms are amazing immunomodulators.
• The most important thing for the immune system is sleep. If you’re not getting enough sleep, you’re more prone to colds and infections.
• Sugar is a huge drain on our immune system. A couple of teaspoons of sugar can depress the immune system for up to 5 hours.

Action Steps:

Strategies to detoxify

• Get rid of any toxins that could be coming into your body before you try to detox it. Get rid of all plastic as much as possible.
• Make sure your food is as toxic-free and clean as possible.
• Optimize the five channels of elimination.
• Poo every day.
• Pee multiple times a day.
• Get rid of toxic thoughts.
• Help your two internal cleansing systems, the liver and the lymph, to do their job.
• Eat a diet with tons of color.
• Detoxify your home.
• Start with the bedroom. Open the window a little bit, have some indoor plants, get rid of the cell phones and the electric clocks, and get the blinds closed as much as possible. You can also get a natural mattress.

Josh said:

“I eat what’s right for me in that moment, at that time, based on what my body needs… I don’t subscribe to any one specific dogma. I don’t believe in labels when it comes to food because then people get bogged down by that label and it can prevent them from healing.”

“If you’re eating vegan or you’re eating paleo, you’re still eating and want to eat a ton of vegetables, which is really where all the power lies. And when in doubt, just eat broccoli.”

Thanks for listening!

Important Announcements:

Connect with me over on Instagram, @holisticwellnessfoodie! And it would mean so much if you would leave us a rating or a review over on iTunes or Spotify or Stitcher, or whichever platform you’re listening to us on. Take a screenshot of your review and email it over to us, and get our FREE 3-Day Hormone Balancing Meal Plan.

Links to things I talk about in the show:

• Learn More about Josh's Functional Nutrition Certification program.
• Sign up for Josh’s FREE Functional Medicine Masterclass
• The End of Alzheimer's: The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline by Dale Bredesen
• The GI-MAP Test

Where you can find Josh Gitalis:

Josh’s Website

Josh’s Instagram (@joshgitalis)

Josh’s Twitter (@JoshGitalis)

Josh’s Facebook

Where you can find me:

Samantha’s Facebook

Samantha’s Instagram

Samantha’s Website

Samantha’s Twitter

Healthy Hormones for Women Podcast Private Community on Facebook

How you can work with me:

• 6-Week Healthy Hormones for Women Intensive - Use the coupon code PODCAST at checkout to save 60%.
• Healing & Dealing with Hashi’s

Do you want to live the best life ever? Here are 12 strategies that can help you achieve that, through optimizing your energy and supporting your hormones.

You can find all the info and links about this episode at https://holisticwellness.ca/episode60

Topics Discussed in this Episode:

• 12 strategies for optimizing your energy, feeling your best, feeling balanced and whole, and supporting your hormones
• Tips that will support you on your health journey to feeling your best and looking your best
• Why goal setting or soul setting is important
• Intermittent fasting: when it’s good and when it’s bad
• The kinds of supplements you should consider getting
• The benefits of drinking lemon water
• Why you should cut out snacking
• Why you should mind your gut
• Healthy desserts
• What to do to “unplug”
• Moving past mistakes and forgiving yourself
• What self-love is really all about

Key Takeaways:

• When it comes to goal setting, what is it that you really want to achieve? Whatever it might be, it’s really important to get started with setting out a clear plan and having some real concrete goals in place.
• Having a timeline for achieving your goals can create the urgency that you need to accomplish them.
• Soul setting is asking yourself: What is it that your soul really desires? What is it that you need more of in your life? What is it that you need to let go of?
• Implementing intermittent fasting is a wonderful strategy especially if you really need to support weight or blood sugar issues and insulin resistance, but not if you’re dealing with a lot of stress and adrenal issues
• Supplements are never going to be the master-fixer of all things. They’re not going to work as well if you don’t have the right lifestyle in place.
• Lemon is not a miracle cure, but it’s definitely loaded with vitamin C, lots of phytonutrients, and citric acid. Drinking lemon water is a simple and basic way to support liver detoxification.
• Minding your gut health and cultivating a healthy microbiome helps to reduce your cravings and supports your digestive system overall.

Action Steps:

The 12 Strategies You Can Implement

1. Set goals and accomplish them. And set a timeline for achieving those goals.
2. Plan ahead and be ready. It’s really important that when you have a health goal to achieve, that you become strict with yourself, stick to your goals, and plan ahead. Spend time mapping out different restaurants and places in your area that serve fresh, healthy, delicious food.
3. Eat a healthy satiating breakfast. Make sure that it’s PFF-approved or that it’s the right blend of protein, fat, and fiber. And if you’re rushing in the morning, plan your breakfast the night before.
4. Get your supplements in. Consider supplementing with fish oil, probiotics, protein powders, vitamin D, and magnesium.
5. Drink lemon water.
6. Cut out snacking. The more you eat throughout the day, the more you spike your blood sugar. Instead, focus on eating three balanced meals a day and getting in lots of water in between meals.
7. Get your greens and salads for lunch.
8. Get your omega-3s. But make sure to avoid tuna.
9. Make sure you have a healthy gut.
10. Make sure the desserts you’re having are healthy desserts.
11. Unplug. Give your mind a break. Do things that truly feed your soul.
12. Move past mistakes. Don’t let your negative self-talk take over.

Samantha said:

“You have to forgive yourself for what you’ve done in the past. What you do now and what you do moving forward does not have to be a representation of what has happened in the past. So give yourself that clean break, that clean slate, and just move forward.”

“In any stage of a new, healthy lifestyle, there’s going to be obstacles; you’re going to mess up; you’re going to make mistakes. But that doesn’t mean that you have to give up. It’s a temporary thing, and the temporary mistake doesn’t have to be an ongoing mistake.”

Thanks for listening!

Important Announcements:

If you want to join the 14-Day Spring Detox Program, it’s the LAST DAY of registration, so make sure to click on the link before it’s too late!

Connect with me over on Instagram, @holisticwellnessfoodie! And it would mean so much if you would leave us a rating or a review over on iTunes or Spotify or Stitcher, or whichever platform you’re listening to us on. Take a screenshot of your review and email it over to us, and get our FREE 3-Day Hormone Balancing Meal Plan.

Links to things I talk about in the show:

• Paleo Brownies recipe

Where you can find me:

Samantha’s Facebook

Samantha’s Instagram

Samantha’s Website

Samantha’s Twitter

Healthy Hormones for Women Podcast Private Community on Facebook

How you can work with me:

• 6-Week Healthy Hormones for Women Intensive - Use the coupon code PODCAST at checkout to save 60%.
• Healing & Dealing with Hashi’s

Are you sacrificing sleep, nutrition, and exercise in order to really get to the top? Nutritionist and transformation coach Ciara Foy talks about the importance of these non-negotiables. She reminds us that self-care equals success and that prioritizing our internal life can help us become our happiest, healthiest, most efficacious selves.

You can find all the info and links about this episode at https://holisticwellness.ca/episode59

Topics Discussed in this Episode:

• Ciara’s holistic journey from Bay Street to where she is today
• The importance of having women in leadership roles
• Strategies that you can implement to start reclaiming your health
• Ciara’s three non-negotiables when it comes to health and well-being
• What you should do when you feel too exhausted to work out
• Self-care strategies that you can integrate into your daily life
• Intermittent fasting and why it’s not such a good idea for women
• Things to look forward to in Ciara’s upcoming book, Empowered by Food

Key Takeaways:

• More women need to get in leadership roles. As women, our nurturing quality can go a long way in business and leadership and helping people to overcome a lot of the pressures that are going on in the workplace.
• Women are especially great at building a sense of community in the workplace, and people want to go to work where they have that.
• Sleep is the cornerstone of your health. If you’re not sleeping properly, your body won’t be able to recuperate, it throws off your hormones, and it’s going to make you hungrier the next day.
• If you go to bed early and get up early, you’re working with your body’s natural circadian rhythm and you’re going to be that much more productive.
• Even if you have enough energy to do a workout, if you’re exhausted afterward and feel like you need to take a nap, then it’s the wrong workout for you. The right workout should be invigorating and make you feel great.
• Women have a higher resting level of stress hormones than men.
• Probably the biggest cause of stress for most women is what’s going on in their own mind all day long.
• Self-care doesn’t only mean bubble baths and massages. It’s really about prioritizing yourself. It’s about saying no to things when you don’t have the bandwidth and about making sure that you take the time and space for yourself.
• For most women, food is much more emotional than it is for men. And if you don’t have a great relationship with food, restricting and intermittent fasting is not going to make it better.

Action Steps:

• Prioritize sleep. Go to be earlier even if you still have work to do because you will be so much more efficient and on the ball if you go to bed earlier and get up earlier instead of pushing yourself.
• Treat yourself well. How you treat yourself gives other people permission to treat themselves that way as well. If you want to get the most out of your staff, out of your own life, and out of anybody, it’s all about setting an example.
• Manage and balance your blood sugar, especially if you’re stressed.
• When it comes to stress, learn to manage your own mind, practice meditation, and breathing techniques, and do journaling.

Ciara said:

“We can’t just pretend we’re men and hustle and work hard in order to make it to the top. We really have to consider how more sensitive we are with respect to hormones and stress and cortisol and all those things.”

“When you give up on your sleep and exercise and good nutrition and the foundations, then you throw yourself under the bus and you lose yourself because you can’t keep going like that.”

Thanks for listening!

Important Announcements:

Join the 14-Day Spring Detox Program! Registration opens on May 1st.

Connect with me over on Instagram, @holisticwellnessfoodie! And it would mean so much if you would leave us a rating or a review over on iTunes or Spotify or Stitcher, or whichever platform you’re listening to us on. Take a screenshot of your review and email it over to us, and get our FREE 3-Day Hormone Balancing Meal Plan.

Links to things we talk about in the show:

• Dr. Joe Dispenza
• Books by Dr. Joe Dispenza

Where you can Ciara Foy:

Ciara's Website

Ciara's Facebook

Ciara's Instagram (@ciarafoynutrition)

Where you can find me:

Samantha’s Facebook

Samantha’s Instagram

Samantha’s Website

Samantha’s Twitter

Healthy Hormones for Women Podcast Private Community on Facebook

How you can work with me:

• 6-Week Healthy Hormones for Women Intensive - Use the coupon code PODCAST at checkout to save 60%.
• Healing & Dealing with Hashi’s

How can we use essential oils to balance our hormones and support ourselves throughout the day? Dr. Mariza Snyder is back in the podcast and we talk all about essential oils and hormones as well as supporting thyroid health.

You can find all the info and links about this episode at https://holisticwellness.ca/episode58

Topics Discussed in this Episode:

• How Dr. Mariza started her research journey on essential oils
• What to look for in essential oils and what to pay attention to in essential oil companies and brands
• Essential oils to combat sugar, salt, and fat cravings
• Morning, daytime, and evening rituals to sustain your energy
• Essential oil blends for the thyroid and the liver
• Phototoxicity and photosensitivity with essential oils
• Essential oils for PMS support
• The uses and benefits of copaiba
• Essential oils for bloating and digestive support
• Essential oils as air fresheners

Key Takeaways:

• 98% of the essential oils in the market are synthetic to some degree or adulterated.
• It takes a lot of plant materials in order to create really therapeutic, beneficial, organic, and powerful plant essential oils.
• Peppermint is such a great appetite and craving suppressor.
• Dr. Mariza’s “Sugar Be Gone” blend contains 8 drops each of grapefruit, lemon, and peppermint. And her “Instant Energy” blend is a combination of peppermint and citrus (grapefruit or wild orange).
• Oils have a way of shifting your emotions and shifting your stress and shutting up that mental chatter.
• Dr. Mariza’s thyroid blend is 5 drops of frankincense, 5 drops of lemongrass, 5 drops of myrrh, 5 drops of clove, and 6 to 8 drops of lavender. For the liver, it’s turmeric and castor oil.
• Your go-to oils for PMS are clary sage and lavender. For the blend, use 10 drops of clary sage, 8 drops of lavender, 8 drops of geranium, 4 drops of bergamot, and 4 drops of ylang-ylang.
• For bloating, if it’s a duo, it would be 10 drops each of peppermint and ginger. If it’s a trio, it would be 7 to 8 drops each of peppermint, ginger, and phenol.

Action Steps:

• Do your research on essential oil brands and companies.
• Know your trigger points when it comes to cravings and always have your essential oil blend to combat them.
• If you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed, set a timer on your phone for every 90 minutes or every hour where you just take a moment, stand up, and reset.

Dr. Mariza said:

“The cool thing about essential oils… is that they’re anti-microbial, anti-viral, anti-bacterial… because these chemical constituents are secondary metabolites on plants and their job is mainly to protect the plant from environmental threats…”

“Self-care is really just giving yourself permission to pause.”

Thanks for listening!

Important Announcements:

Don’t forget to grab a copy of Dr. Mariza's book, The Essential Oil Hormone Solution here on Amazon! And make sure to sign up for our weekly newsletter! We will soon be opening the registration for our Spring Detox and we will be sharing all the details over there.

Connect with me over on Instagram, @holisticwellnessfoodie! And it would mean so much if you would leave us a rating or a review over on iTunes or Spotify or Stitcher, or whichever platform you’re listening to us on. Take a screenshot of your review and email it over to us, and get our FREE 3-Day Hormone Balancing Meal Plan.

Links to things I talk about in the show:

Books by Dr. Mariza Snyder:

The Essential Oil Hormone Solution by Dr. Mariza Snyder - Grab it here on Amazon!

The Smart Mom’s Guide to Essential Oils

Where you can Dr. Mariza Snyder:

Dr. Mariza’s Instagram (@drmariza)

Dr. Mariza's Website

Essentially You Podcast

Where you can find me:

Samantha’s Facebook

Samantha’s Instagram

Samantha’s Website

Samantha’s Twitter

Healthy Hormones for Women Podcast Private Community on Facebook

How you can work with me:

• 6-Week Healthy Hormones for Women Intensive - Use the coupon code PODCAST at checkout to save 60%.
• Healing & Dealing with Hashi’s

Are you having issues with terrible PMS, bloating, high thyroid antibodies or stress? Many of us have a lot of the same problems and issues, so listen in as I address some of your questions and provide you some really great strategies that you can implement to feel your most amazing self!

You can find all the info and links about this episode at https://holisticwellness.ca/episode57.

Topics Discussed in this Episode:

• Anti-bloat tips and suggestions
• Why you want you thyroid antibodies to be zero
• What it means when your antibodies are high
• Stress management strategies
• What you can do when you have terrible PMS

Key Takeaways:

• If you are eating a little bit too much sugar carbs, even grains, this can really impact the yeast and the bacteria in your gut and can cause a lot of bad bacteria to grow, which can often lead to bloating.
• Bloating can result from swallowing gas and air. So if you're drinking carbonated drinks or chewing a lot of gum, those can make you feel really bloated.
• The 6 things to look when to get to the root causes of terrible PMS and other period issues:

1. Sugar
2. Alcohol
3. Stress
4. Blood sugar imbalances
5. Excess weight
6. Inflammation

• Estrogen dominance leads to way more PMS issues.

Action Steps:

• To avoid bloating
• Minimize the sugar carbs and grains in your diet.
• Minimize drinking carbonated drinks.
• Avoid chewing gum.
• Try doing an elimination diet and check for any food intolerances you may have that cause bloating.
• Stay hydrated.
• Make sure that you're feeding the good bacteria in your gut.
• Bring your antibodies down.
• Manage stress by being present and staying in the moment.
• Eat PFF (protein, fat, and fiber) meals. Get in good quality sources of protein, make sure you're eating adequate amounts of fat and get in the fiber from starchy or non-starchy vegetables.

Samantha said:

“Having one autoimmune condition means... if you don’t adress it, it will lead to other autoimmune conditions, and then to kind of swing that pendulum back to really get healthy and to really get your body into homeostasis, it can mean that it’s going to be that much harder.”

“Your diet can have such a profound effect on your cycles and your hormones.”

Thanks for listening!

Important Announcements:

There’s still enough time for you to join our Instagram Influence Masterclass! We are going live at 7 PM Eastern Time tomorrow, April 17, and we are going to be diving into so much juicy content about your Instagram strategy!

Also, sign up for our weekly newsletter! And if you’re a health practitioner or an entrepreneur, be on the lookout for the Holistic Wellness Business Mentorship program that’s coming soon!

Connect with me over on Instagram, @holisticwellnessfoodie! And it would mean so much if you would leave us a rating or a review over on iTunes or Spotify or Stitcher, or whichever platform you’re listening to us on. Take a screenshot of your review and email it over to us, and get our FREE 3-Day Hormone Balancing Meal Plan.

Links to things I talk about in the show:

Holisticwellness Shop

Episode mentioned that you shouldn’t miss:

• Episode 55: Healing Your Adrenals + Managing Stress + Adaptogenic Herbs

Recommended Product:

• ZenGest Oil Blend from doTERRA

Where you can find me:

Samantha’s Facebook

Samantha’s Instagram

Samantha’s Website

Samantha’s Twitter

Healthy Hormones for Women Podcast Private Community on Facebook

How you can work with me:

• 6-Week Healthy Hormones for Women Intensive - Use the coupon code PODCAST at checkout to save 60%.
• Healing & Dealing with Hashi’s

What is your hormonal hierarchy and how can you modify, adjust, and strategize your nutrition and your workouts based on it? Naturopathic and functional medicine doctor, Dr. Brooke Kalanick talks all about hormonal hierarchy, PCOS and lifestyle strategies for optimizing hormonal health.

You can find all the info and links about this episode at https://holisticwellness.ca/episode56.

Topics Discussed in this Episode:

• PCOS
• Hormonal hierarchy
• Lifestyle and nutrition strategies for women with PCOS
• The role that histamine plays on female hormones
• The best workout approach that women can take for optimizing their hormonal health
• How kale isn’t going to be the fixer of all things

Key Takeaways:

• For the most part, if you’re showing up with irregular periods, cysts on your ovaries, insulin resistance or elevated androgens, those are all going to be signs that can help point you towards a PCOS diagnosis.
• Inflammation is an underlying root cause for PCOS, so all women with PCOS should really be looking to manage all sources of inflammation.
• If you’ve ramped up your training too much, one way to know that you’re overdoing it is if your ACES (appetite, cravings, energy, and sleep) are out of balance. If your appetite goes up, your cravings go up, your energy goes down or your sleep changes, you’re probably exacerbating cortisol with your training and you want to back that down.
• Some classic signs of overtraining can be represented by the acronym RAMP, which stands for reluctance to train, achiness or excessive soreness, moodiness, and puffiness.

Action Steps:

• Look into managing all your possible sources of inflammation.
• Figure out your unique carb tolerance.

Dr. Brooke said:

“It’s just unfortunate that women don’t understand how their hormones are talking to them. All day long we’re getting biofeedback from our hormones, especially insulin and cortisol… so it’s really important to tune in to their signals.”

“Exercise is powerful medicine and I really think we can use it for healing, but it is a very quick way to burn yourself out, to create a lot of inflammation or oxidative stress and make those delicate hormone issues worse.”

Thanks for listening!

Important Announcements:

Our intensive two-hour Instagram Influence Masterclass is coming up on Wednesday, April 17 at 7 PM Eastern Time. So if you feel that you need some Instagram help, and you want to know how to use those hashtags as well as learn the secret ways to hide them, and you really want to engage with your community and build your community, then come join us!

Also, sign up for our weekly newsletter! And if you’re a health practitioner or an entrepreneur, be on the lookout for the Holistic Wellness Business Mentorship program that’s coming soon!

Connect with me over on Instagram, @holisticwellnessfoodie! And it would mean so much if you would leave us a rating or a review over on iTunes or Spotify or Stitcher, or whichever platform you’re listening to us on. Take a screenshot of your review and email it over to us, and get our FREE 3-Day Hormone Balancing Meal Plan.

Links to things we talk about in the show:

The Sarah and Dr. Brooke Show

Hangry: 5 Simple Steps to Balance Your Hormones and Restore Your Joy by Sarah Fragoso and Dr. Brooke Kalanick

Lab Guide

Where you can find Dr. Brooke Kalanick:

Dr. Brooke’s Instagram (@betterbydrbrooke)

Dr. Brooke's Website

Dr. Brooke's Facebook

Sarah & Dr. Brooke Website

Where you can find me:

Samantha’s Facebook

Samantha’s Instagram

Samantha’s Website

Samantha’s Twitter

Healthy Hormones for Women Podcast Private Community on Facebook

How you can work with me:

• 6-Week Healthy Hormones for Women Intensive - Use the coupon code PODCAST at checkout to save 60%.
• Healing & Dealing with Hashi’s

What do we need to know about our adrenals? How can we tell if they’re burnt out, and how can we heal them? Find out as I share some insights from a chapter of my book that’s coming out soon!

You can find all the info and links about this episode at https://holisticwellness.ca/episode55.

Topics Discussed in this Episode:

• The adrenal glands and their function
• What cortisol does in our bodies
• 11 Signs and symptoms that your adrenals are burnt out
• The different stages of adrenal fatigue
• Healing your adrenal glands
• The benefits of infrared sauna
• Adaptogenic herbs to support your adrenals

Key Takeaways:

• Your adrenals control your stress response, your weight, your blood sugar, your blood pressure, and your immune system. In fact, they are our primary survival organs.
• Also, your adrenals can cause you to experience multiple symptoms, which we commonly refer to as adrenal fatigue.
• Adrenal fatigue actually refers to HPA axis dysfunction. Its symptoms include exhaustion, low thyroid function, weight gain, sleep disturbances, lack of focus and concentration, and sugar, salt, and fat cravings
• Your adrenals communicate with your brain and vice versa. And when you are exposed to certain triggers such as blood sugar highs and lows, environmental toxins or perceived stress -- poor quality of sleep, blue light pollution, circadian rhythm disruption, gut inflammation -- you can impair this communication between the brain and the adrenals.
• Hormonal balance is essential to good health and your adrenal glands are really at the center stage in relation to the body’s ability to regulate your hormones. In fact, roughly 70% to 80% of all doctor visits are for stress-related conditions for which doctors have little or no training and nothing to offer than some temporary relief care.
• 11 Signs and symptoms that your adrenals are burnt out:

1. You have difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or do not feel rested upon waking.
2. You’re craving fat, sugar, and salt.
3. Your memory and your focus are just lacking.
4. You’re experiencing digestive issues.
5. You feel irritable and anxious.
6. You get tired most afternoons, you are craving sugar and salt, and maybe you are even looking for a caffeine fix.
7. You’re gaining weight primarily around your waist.
8. Your hormones are a mess, so maybe you are dealing with PMS or you’re having issues with infertility, maybe even low libido.
9. You find that you’re getting sick more often. Not only that but you’re also having a really hard time recovering from a cold or flu.
10. You get angry quickly and you find yourself being snappy.
11. You have low thyroid function.

• All kinds of perceived stress begin this really nasty cycle of adrenal fatigue, which now starts to slow down and impair your thyroid, which now also slows down and impairs your gut health, which impacts your immune system. And now, this leads to leaky gut, which can be a trigger for autoimmune disease.

Action Steps:

• Test your adrenals with a salivary or a urine test to better understand how they’re functioning. The test that you really want to look for is something that looks at your cortisol over a 24-hour range so that you can really see the peaks and dips of your cortisol and how it occurs throughout the day.
• Support both your adrenals and your thyroid.
• Heal your adrenal glands:

1. Practice relaxation. Find the meditation that works for you. Look up Yoga Nidra apps or download a meditation app like Headspace.
2. Try infrared sauna therapy.
3. Have a hot bath.
4. Practice sleep hygiene and create healthy boundaries around sleep.
5. Implement herbs and supplements.

Samantha said:

“In nature, constant stress is rare. In our human world, however, we are dealing with all kinds of stressors and we are pushing our adrenals into overdrive, and we’re impairing this communication between the adrenals and the brain. This is what’s leading to burnout and exhaustion.”

“When it comes to healing your adrenal glands, you need to know that there is just no quick fix. You can’t just pop a pill and call it a day… It is the lifestyle shifts that have the biggest impact on your adrenal health.”

Thanks for listening!

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Links to things we talk about in the show:

DUTCH Test – Advanced Hormone Testing

Headspace App

HeartMath App

Recommended Herbs:

• Ashwagandha
• Rhodiola
• Holy Basil
• Shatavari
• Reishi mushroom

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• Healing & Dealing with Hashi’s