I have a special episode of the podcast this week. I?m sharing an interview I did on holistic dentistry inside the Hormone Healing Membership* with Dr. Kelly Blodgett. 

Dr. Blodgett is a native Oregonian who attended grade school through high school in Southwest Portland. He earned his Bachelor?s degree in Psychology from the University of Oregon and completed his pre-doctoral sciences at Portland State University. Dr. Blodgett attended the OHSU School of Dentistry and graduated in June of 1999 where he earned the ?Going the Extra Mile? award from his own classmates. Throughout his career, he?s become a recognized leader in minimally-invasive dentistry, dental lasers, computerized dental technology, and holistic care. He has been featured in numerous dental journals, on television, and in magazines for the innovative care he provides. He is truly a modern pioneer in progressive dental care. Dr. Blodgett and his wife, Julie, have been married since 1994 and have two beautiful daughters: Sara, born in 2002, and Megan, born in 2005. They reside in Southwest Portland, just up the hill from his high school alma mater, Wilson High School. 

The reason Dr. Blodgett?s work is so appealing to me is because of how he truly takes the word holistic to heart. He wants to know everything he can about a patient and take the whole person, their mental/emotional/physical health history, and how they feel into consideration when advising. Advising is the keyword here. He wants his patients to decide what is best and fully respects each and every decision. That?s not easy to find, even in functional medicine. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!

*If you?re wondering what this membership is, it?s a special space on the internet for those that have gone through the Master Your Minerals course and want more support. It?s actually where I spend most of my time and is one of my favorite things I do. We have an online community in Circle, office hours twice a month, monthly meal plans, guest experts, regular lessons, and so much more! If you?re in the Master Your Minerals course, you can find more information about the membership and the link to sign up under the Welcome section of the course in a lesson titled ?Looking For More Support??.  

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In this episode, we are focusing on strength training and how it can help support healthy hormones. I?m joined by my friend and colleague, Adina Rubin. Adina is a Strength Coach and Nutritional Therapy Practitioner that specializes in helping women gain energy and get strong.  

After driving herself into the ground with years of under-eating, doing way too many HIIT classes and taking hormonal birth control, Adina realized that real food, strength training and stress management were the keys to vibrant and optimal health and she set out on a mission to share that with as many women as possible.  

Through her signature program Strength Training for Happy Hormones, Adina uses low rep kettlebell training with a major emphasis on pelvic floor health to make strength as accessible as possible no matter what stage of life you?re in or where you are on your healing journey.  

As a Certified Russian Kettlebell Instructor, Prenatal and Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist, Restorative Wellness Practitioner and Root Cause Protocol Consultant, Adina has shaped her unique framework to help women achieve optimal hormone and metabolic health. 

Adina began unlocking her own optimal physical and mental health when she trained competitively for powerlifting and she thinks all women need to learn what it feels like to lift heavy things.  She wants you to know, you?re stronger than you think you are. 

Links/Resources:

I have a fun episode for you today! I?m doing a third trimester pregnancy update. So many of you found the first and second trimester recap I did helpful, so I thought I would do a third trimester one and answer some of the questions submitted on Instagram. My first and second trimester were pretty smooth. I have honestly felt really good throughout this pregnancy. I will say after recording that update talking about how good I felt, one week later (when I officially entered the third trimester and hit 28 weeks) I woke up with eczema around my eyes and really bad pubic pain. Nine weeks later my eczema has pretty much cleared up and the pubic pain has reduced/I?ve learned to manage it, but wow, did I learn a lot the last couple of months. I?m extremely fortunate that as soon as I had an issue I easily found a resource to help me (it really helps working in the women?s health space). I?m hoping by sharing this information it helps those that don?t have as much access. 

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In this episode we are going to dive into what it means to have a brain based approach to healing with Alyssa Chang. Alyssa is a brain-based health coach for women seeking a different approach to health and healing, so you can learn how to live a life designed with listening, attuning and trusting your body's unique needs.
 
With the health industry currently saturating the market with "quick fix" and "cookie cutter" approaches, Alyssa aims to challenge these norms. With over 10 years studying neuroscience, she works with clients on improving their connection between their brain and body, so they can heal their metabolism, rewire their mindset and move pain free.
 
Through partnerships with her clients, Alyssa develops programs that create sustainable lifestyle shifts and interrupt seemingly never-ending searches for new solutions. She trusts you as the expert, and serves as your guide on this journey back home to your body.
 
Links/Resources:
Follow Alyssa on IG: https://www.instagram.com/coachalyssachang/

Visit Alyssa?s website: http://www.coachalyssachang.com

www.coachalyssachang.com/threat-bucket

Brain map post: https://www.instagram.com/p/CZLUTeDFTNh/

Nervous System Fawn response: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKnAWIksTzr/

Nervous System Freeze response: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKXop5SMj8P/

Nervous System Flight response: https://www.instagram.com/p/CKC-NtuskpI/

Nervous System Fight response: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJry22csTy8/

Are You Menstrual? ?
In this episode, I?m covering a highly requested topic: how to support your body when transitioning off of hormonal birth control. Coming off the birth control pill is what sparked my own hormone healing journey and there?s so much that I wish I knew back then that I will be sharing with you in this episode. We will be focusing on five main areas that you want to consider when rebalancing post birth control. These are what I find the most important to address with clients and my own experience. 

One quick thing I want to note is that you can apply pretty much all of these principles to support your body while continuing hormonal birth control as well. This is probably the top question I get when I talk about this, so I figured I?d address it right away. If you?re currently on hormonal birth control and plan on staying on, this episode is still for you. 

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Are You Menstrual? ?
In this episode, we are covering an important topic for the healing journey and that is the vagus nerve. I?m joined by Ami Brannon. Ami is a co-founder of Neuvana and was the company's Chief Executive Officer in its startup phase.  She currently serves as Chief Revenue Officer, focusing on marketing, sales, and the customer experience.  She is devoted to optimizing wellness and mental health through neuroscience to fight the devastating health effects of stress-induced illness.  Ami is a Registered Nurse with over 20 years? experience in hospital-based healthcare.  She served in both clinical and leadership roles in ICU and invasive procedural areas. Ami holds a BS in Nursing and a BS in Psychology from the University of Central Florida.

The goal of this episode is to give you an introduction of how the vagus nerve works and how you can support it on your healing journey.

Links/Resources:

Neuvana website: https://neuvanalife.com/

Check out Xen: https://neuvanalife.com/products/xen?...

Neuvana IG:  https://www.instagram.com/neuvanalife/

Coupon code for Xen: AMANDA10

IG post on pelvic floor:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CQY0KvdtBZP/ 

Free Training: Optimizing Hormone Health with Mineral Balance:
https://bit.ly/3iwRDMk

Mineral Imbalance Quiz:
https://bit.ly/3ycEn4h

Are You Menstrual?
In this episode, we are covering a topic I?ve been learning more and more about and has not stopped amazing me and that is the lymphatic system! I?m joined by Leah Levitan. 

Leah is a licensed massage therapist, educator, and certified lymphatic drainage specialist. In her Austin clinic, she supports and works with women on all sorts of unique healing journeys. From mold toxicity to gut health, and even post-operative care. She founded Lymph Love Club in 2020 and began sharing her lymph moving tips and tricks on social media as a resource for her clients to support their lymphatic health outside of the work they were doing 1:1. The response from women all over the world was overwhelming and she knew she had to get the word out. Now she's teaching online courses and in-person workshops on how easy it is to keep that healing river flowing, right from home! Her philosophy and approach is simple. Keep the good stuff circulating and get the bad stuff out. She says "In order to be in radiant health, we have to support and work with the body on every level. Our lymphatic system has an intimate relationship with every other system in our body and is designed to do just that."

The goal of this episode is to give you an introduction to the lymphatic system and some ways you can start supporting your lymph today. 

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Are You Menstrual? ?
In this episode, we are diving deeper into blood sugar balance and insulin resistance with PCOS expert and functional dietitian, Jillian Greaves. Jillian provides comprehensive nutrition and lifestyle counseling to women, with a special emphasis on PCOS, hormone balance, and digestive health. Jillian helps clients identify and address the root causes of their hormone and digestive symptoms naturally using advanced lab testing, personalized nutrition and supportive lifestyle therapies as the first line of intervention. Jillian runs a virtual private practice and is the creator of the Empowered PCOS Program. It's her mission to empower women to take back control of their health, reclaim their confidence, and experience life at its fullest potential.

The goal with this episode is to help you better understand how our blood sugar gets out of balance and how to support your body maintaining healthy blood sugars long term. 

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Are You Menstrual? ?
In this episode, we are taking a deep dive into what causes hair loss and how we can support healthy hair. As with most things related to women?s health, the topic of hair loss is complicated.  Rarely is there a sole reason for hair loss. For example, hypothyroidism and inadequate thyroid hormone levels are among the most common causes of hair loss. The underlying question then becomes what is causing the hypothyroidism?  More often than not, it is not merely one cause.  There are a few things to consider, such as the individual?s nutrition, lifestyle, and stress level.  Are they eating enough?  Are they consuming enough nutrient-dense foods?  Do they have a nutrient deficiency that isn?t being met by their current diet?  How stressed are they?  Cortisol, a stress hormone, directly blocks the conversion of thyroid hormone.  When it comes to supporting healthy hair and healing hair loss, we have to consider several different areas, which is what we are going to get into in this episode. 

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Are You Menstural? ?
In this episode, we are covering one of our most requested topics and that is gut health and its connection to our skin. To dig into this more, I?m joined by my friend and colleague Christa Biegler. Christa is an award-winning dietitian nutritionist, host of the Less Stressed Life podcast, and author of The Eczema Relief Diet & Cookbook. She helps health-savvy women beat bloat, burnout & eczema breakouts with her podcast, programs and private practice. She lives with her unicycling husband & kids in the Midwest. The Less Stressed Life Podcast & Nutrition mission is to educate and inspire women with science to take control of their health and heal their bodies, creating a positive domino effect on family health.

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Are You Menstrual ? ?
One of the most common questions we get is how to naturally increase progesterone. And to be honest, this is a loaded question. Often people are looking for a magical food or supplement to boost their progesterone levels, but in reality, there?s a lot more at play. 

There are 3 main areas we want to look at when supporting progesterone levels naturally that we will focus on in this episode:

Let?s dig into each of these areas and teach you how to support healthy progesterone levels. 

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Are You Menstrual? ?
In this episode, we will be focusing on the nuanced subject of anxiety and our failing healthcare system. I?m joined by my friend and colleague, Michelle Shapiro. Michelle is an Integrative/ Functional Registered Dietitian and Patient Advocate practicing virtually in New York City. In her one on one practice, Michelle helps executives heal from stress and digestive issues so they can lose weight and restore their energy, while experiencing a deeper connection with themselves and with life. 

Michelle created Wellness Map, a functional medicine patient advocacy membership to empower clients to become the boss of their own healthcare and teach them to navigate the healthcare system , all while getting access to discounted services. Michelle works to connect members with Naturopathic and Functional Medicine Practitioners to create sacred spaces for healing.

The goal of this episode is to shed light on the possible root causes of anxiety and break down how to get the health results you want in a healthcare system that can feel like it?s failing you. 

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Links & Resources:

Are You Menstrual? ?
I have a special solo episode for you all about my pregnancy journey so far. I?m currently 26 weeks pregnant as of the time I?m recording this, and I plan to cover some preconception topics and first and second trimester questions. I did a question box on Instagram and got a ton of great questions and topics you wanted to learn more about. I?m excited to share more about how we ended up conceiving, what my experience with pregnancy has been so far, testing I?ve done, nutrition, supplements, and so much more. 

Remember, this episode is my personal pregnancy experience and shouldn?t be taken as medical advice. 
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Are You Menstrual? ?
In this episode, I?m joined by Dana Monsees and we are diving into some challenging but important topics. A big one is around our relationship with food and how this can impact other areas of our health. We will also be talking about the problems with intuitive eating and how to use nutrition from a neutral, non-diet approach. Dana is a Dietitian-Nutritionist (MS, CNS, LDN) and Body Image Coach who specializes in helping women with gut issues and burnout from a HAES, non-diet approach. Her philosophy combines neutral nutrition, weight-inclusive care, and her training in integrative and functional nutrition to help women heal their relationship with food and their bodies as a root cause of chronic health conditions. Dana hosts the Whole-Hearted Eating podcast and has been running her recipe + nutrition blog, Real Food with Dana, since 2014. 

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Are You Menstrual? ?
In this episode of the Are You Menstrual? Podcast we are continuing our conversation around thyroid health and focusing specifically on supporting autoimmune thyroid disorders. I?ve invited my friend and colleague Nicole Fennell from @chewsfoodwisely on Instagram to discuss this topic. Nicole is a Registered and Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist certified in Integrative and Functional Medical Nutrition Therapy. After years of working as a clinical inpatient Dietitian, her personal journey with thyroid autoimmunity led her to eventually start a private practice that challenged the "status quo" of what it means to be healthy since following all the "diet rules" is what made her sick. Her work with those who have autoimmune thyroid disease is a root-cause approach, marrying a flexible food framework and personalized lab data to create sustainable and realistic lifelong changes. Nicole takes a nourishment over deprivation approach and helps women mend their metabolism, banish brain fog, enhance energy, and redefine their relationship with food and their bodies.

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Are You Menstrual? ?
In this episode, we are diving deeper into how the thyroid functions, what impacts it, and how you can support optimal thyroid health. To cover this topic, I am joined by Kaely McDevitt. Kaely is a Registered Dietitian specializing in women's health. She owns a virtual private practice where she and her team help their clients overcome hormone and digestive issues through personalized nutrition. Having experienced the pitfalls of a conventional approach to women's health first hand, Kaely is passionate about empowering women to take the driver's seat over their health and wellbeing.

You might remember Kaely since we had her on for episode 18 where we talked about stress and how to improve your body?s ability to handle stress. Definitely check that one out if you haven?t already!
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Are You Menstrual? ?
In this episode, we are discussing a heavily requested topic and that is nutrition for endometriosis with Cindy Dabrowska. Cindy is a registered dietitian, Master of Applied Nutrition, endowarrior and founder of "The Supportive Endo RD". Her passion comes from supporting endo warriors - who much like herself have said ?enough is enough? to debilitating, life-altering symptoms of endometriosis. She has been blessed to support countless women in her nutrition counseling practice through a functional medicine root cause approach to endometriosis. As a registered dietitian and endowarrior, Cindy prides herself on being an ally to, and a resource for, the endometriosis community.

The goal of this podcast is to help you better understand what endometriosis is and how our nutrition and lifestyle can impact it. 
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Are You Menstrual? ?
In this episode, we are diving deeper into a couple of aspects of the healing journey that many women struggle with: body image and food fear. After episode 19 aired, where Emily and I went in-depth on hormonal shifts that occur during healing and symptoms that can arise, we had a lot of you reaching out about body changes. I wanted to do this topic justice and discuss it in more detail, and there?s no one I?d rather have here to help me than my friend Fallon (@fallondanae on IG).

Fallon is a mom to three boys, wife to her college sweetheart, and a kitchen creative turned business owner out of Dallas, TX. She launched Fallon?s Table to help bridge the gap between nutrition, easy kitchen prep, and delicious food! She offers calorie specific meal plans and recipes on her website and loves to walk alongside and encourage women in their pursuit of making peace with their bodies. Fallon has a long history of restrictive dieting and food sensitivities, and has watched her own health journey go from being limited to seven foods, to finding vibrancy and food freedom!

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Are You Menstrual? ?
In this episode, we are talking about how to rewire your brain and support your body during the healing journey with Theresa Piela. Theresa is the founder of Living Roots Wellness. A Colon Hydrotherapist by training, she now works as an independent health researcher & brain rewiring coach.  Theresa holds space for 1:1, group coaching, and hosts a brain rewiring membership, emphasizing ?brain rewiring & EFT tapping? for those with complex histories of gut-brain-trauma disorders.  She focuses on supporting the most complicated cases of ?chronic illness? that may have lost hope & the ability to connect to joy as a result of their illnesses.  With pro-metabolic nutrition, learning to truly embody safety at the level of the nervous system, and release inherited & stored trauma, she empowers her clients with simple tools to reclaim their elegance, confidence, and strength and to ultimately, heal themselves.
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Are You Menstrual? ? 
In this episode, we are discussing pelvic floor health and how much of an impact this can have on fertility. I?m joined by Dr. Ryan Bailey. Ryan is a Women?s Pelvic Health Physical Therapist, mom of 2 and owner of Expecting Pelvic Health and has been helping women for over 12 years reconnect to their body, heal injury and restore function. Her philosophy is to use every moment in your day as a way to be mindful of your movement, posture, fitness, and overall health. Bringing this thinking into practice by nurturing a balance between efficiency and functionality in day to day tasks, exercise, body work and self care to promote long term pelvic health benefits. Dr. Bailey earned her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from the University of New England, becoming a Board Certified Women?s Health Physical Therapist and Prenatal and Postpartum Exercise Specialist with training in Pilates. Dr. Bailey?s passion is to help women harness their fullest pelvic health potential to achieve their motherhood dreams of conceiving, feeling amazing in pregnancy, having a positive birth experience and transitioning into motherhood feeling empowered and strong in your amazing body.

The goal with this episode is to raise awareness about the pelvic floor and hopefully help women gain a better understanding of how they can support their one pelvic floor health, especially for fertility.
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Links & Resources:

Are You Menstrual? ?
In this episode, we are discussing an important topic that applies to all women that want to feel their best and thrive--fertility. Fertility is often made a priority when we start thinking about having kids, but truthfully, optimizing your fertility means optimizing your hormones. And that is why I invited my friend Kiara here, who specializes in this in her nutrition practice to chat about it.

Kiara is a Functional Fertility Nutritionist who works closely with women to teach and create sustainable lifestyle + nutrition habits to cultivate a body and life that supports healthy hormones. She has attended the Nutritional Therapy Association, Institute of Functional Nutrition + the Root Cause Protocol Institute to further her education. Kiara offers 1:1 services + an online course, Period Restoration, to help guide you on your fertility journey.
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Are You Menstrual? ?
In this episode, we are diving into a fun and sometimes controversial topic--vaginal steaming! I?m joined by Kit Maloney, who has been in the world of women?s health and wellness for over twenty years. Over the past two decades, she?s been an academic, entrepreneur, victim advocate, and pleasure activist.  Kit earned a Masters degree in Gender and Social Policy from the London School of Economics and has been featured widely in the media, including Glamour, Self, and Bustle. Marie Claire named Kit an "Amazing Woman" for her work celebrating women's sexuality.

After experiencing for herself the tremendous healing benefits of vaginal steaming, Kit set out to help spread the word of yoni steam magic all over the world by launching her newest venture, Kitara.

 Kitara makes beautifully designed and hand crafted products for safe and easy in-home vaginal steaming and you can check it out at kitaralove.com.

The Kitara product line includes everything you need to steam!  From 1:1 consultations, to gorgeous steam seats, to custom organic herbs, to special hand dyed robes and blankets, Kitara makes it safe, easy and joyful to benefit from the ancient healing modality of vaginal steaming in the comfort of your home. 
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Links & Resources:

Are You Menstrual? ?
In this episode, we are discussing the postpartum journey and how you can support your body during this time with Kim Perez. Kim is a Functional Nutritionist (FNTP, RWP) supporting women through the transition into motherhood and beyond. Her own health journey, especially the struggles she experienced postpartum, have catalyzed her mission to help other mamas regain vibrant health after having babies and feel happy and at home in their bodies.

Through her signature method, Kim helps women uncover root causes of depletion and imbalance and learn to fully nourish and strengthen their bodies, especially in the face of the demands of motherhood. Through her 1:1 work, group programs, and online education, she carries out her mission of helping more moms feel good- because not only are we worthy of that, but we truly require it!

If you?re wanting to learn more about preconception and prenatal nutrition, please listen to the last two episodes where we covered these topics.
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Are You Menstrual? ?
In this episode, we are back for round two with Loren De La Cruz, or you may know her as @innatefunctionalnutrition on Instagram to expand on our last episode on preconception nutrition and dig more into nutrition for pregnancy. Loren is a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, Root Cause Protocol Consultant, and Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner that specializes in preconception nutrition. Her mission is to empower women with the tools and the knowledge they need to regulate their cycles, balance their hormones, heal their metabolism, optimize their fertility and have a thriving pregnancy.

There?s a lot of fear around nutrition and pregnancy.
It seems like a woman will take all of these steps to eat more nutrient-dense foods, including things like organ meats, shellfish, maybe raw dairy, and optimize their supplements, then they get pregnant, and everything goes out the window. My goal with this episode is to help remove the fear around nutrition during pregnancy, especially certain foods and supplements.
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Are You Menstrual? ?
In this episode, I am joined by Loren de la Cruz or you may know her as @innatefunctionalnutrition on Instagram to share knowledge on how to prepare your body for conception. Loren is a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, Root Cause Protocol Consultant, and Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner that specializes in preconception nutrition. Her mission is to empower women with the tools and the knowledge they need to regulate their cycles, balance their hormones, heal their metabolism, optimize their fertility, and have a thriving pregnancy.
Preparing for pregnancy is such an important time, but can also be confusing. Our goal today is to help you understand what is most important to focus on and dispel some common preconception myths.
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Links & Resources:

Are You Menstrual?
In this episode, we are discussing a topic I think most women can relate to and that is acne. I?m here with my friend and colleague, Robyn Johnson AKA @nutritionbyrobyn on IG. Robyn is a Functional Medicine Dietitian Nutritionist. Her passion of using food and lifestyle as medicine found her after a personal battle and triumph with psoriasis. She specializes in helping women optimize their hormones, gut and skin by finding the root cause to their symptoms. Robyn runs a virtual private practice and is the creator of The Clear Skin Lab. Robyn believes healthcare should be individualized and that starts with each person understanding how their body works and what their body needs to truly thrive!

We are going to dig into the different types of acne, possible root causes, face mapping, accutane, and so much more!
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Links:

Are You Menstrual? ?
In this episode, we cover a topic we get endless questions and DM?s about--the ups and downs of the healing journey and specifically what causes this--shifts in estrogen or what we like to call estrogen waves. Healing isn?t linear, but man, sometimes it is rough. We?ve been there. You see some improvements, then your next cycle hits you like a bag of bricks, you?re breaking out, and your clothes are getting tighter. When starting our healing journey, we often have a picture in our minds of what this will look like. Typically we are thinking of feeling better after a few weeks or a couple of months, and while this is the case for some people, sometimes it takes longer, and most women feel a little worse before they feel better. This is all a result of your body adjusting to its environment and rebalancing hormones and minerals.
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Are You Menstrual? ?
In this episode, I am joined by my friend and colleague, Kaely McDevitt, also known as KaelyRD on Instagram. Kaely is a Registered Dietitian specializing in women's health. She owns a virtual private practice where she and her team help their clients overcome hormone and digestive issues through personalized nutrition. Having experienced the pitfalls of a conventional approach to women's health first hand, Kaely is passionate about empowering women to take the driver's seat over their health and wellbeing. 

The goal of this podcast episode is to help you understand the body?s stress response and how to build resiliency. So often we are focusing all of our energy on eliminating stress, when in reality we are always going to deal with stress. We want to help you build your body?s resiliency to stress and respond to stress better. 

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Links/Resources:

Are You Menstrual? ?
In this episode, we are focusing on my favorite method of birth control: The Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) with a certified fertility awareness coach, Nina Boyce. Nina is a certified Fertility Awareness Educator and Reiki Practitioner based in Columbus, OH. Her coaching programs focus on FAM for optimized conception, and/or non-hormonal birth control, and she passionately believes that all women deserve to understand how their body functions. Nina takes a holistic approach, focusing on nutrition and mineral testing, cycle charting, and lifestyle modifications to help her clients achieve their desired fertility goals. She is also the host of the Healing Hormones Podcast, where she interviews leading women in the world of menstrual health.

While FAM is an amazing form of birth control and can also help you conceive, it?s so much more than that. FAM gives you an inside look into your hormones, stress, and overall health. I personally think it is an essential tool on your healing journey and can serve you through the many transitions of female life. If you?re wondering about hormonal birth control methods, we discussed those and their impact in our last episode.
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Are You Menstrual? ? 
So far on the podcast, we have discussed a wide variety of topics spanning women?s health and hormones, from mineral balance and metabolic health to PCOS and menopause. One area that we have yet to cover is birth control?which we realize is hugely important to most women in their childbearing years. A whopping 80% of women will take the pill at some point in their lifetime, and for that reason, we didn?t want to go any longer without speaking on it. In this episode, we?ll be covering what you need to know about hormonal birth control, including the different types, how HBC works to prevent pregnancy, and the specific impact each type can have on the female body.

Hormonal birth control (HBC) has been a big part of my health journey and morphed my career path, and is something that has impacted many of my clients' lives as well. I don't want any woman EVER to feel bad about taking hormonal birth control. I took it for seven years and then had a copper IUD, and I don't regret it. This allowed me to avoid pregnancy while finishing college and starting my career. I have since adopted and successfully used the Fertility Awareness Method, but we?ll go deeper into that in our next episode on non-hormonal birth control. Our goal today is to educate you on the effects of birth control so that you can make an informed decision for yourself going forward.
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SHOW NOTES:

Are You Menstrual?
In this episode, we are covering another foundational topic for hormone health: light exposure and circadian rhythm. We can?t talk about one without mentioning the other, and many women don?t realize that both things have a significant impact on hormone health. 
Our bodies take in everything in our environment as information, and light is a big part of that. The focus is often on reducing blue light exposure, but increasing sunlight is just as important, if not even more critical. Our light exposure can impact our circadian rhythm, which is our body?s internal clock. This then trickles down to impact digestion, hormones, sleep, energy, and more! 
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Show Notes:

Are You Menstrual? ?
We have a very special episode focusing on midlife women and peri/post menopause with Maria and Kristin from Wise and Well. Maria, an FDN practitioner, and Kristin, a Board-certified nutritionist, are plain spoken friends and practitioners who share a passion for women's health, especially women's health at midlife. As both are themselves menopausal, they've refined the art and science of thriving as a midlife woman based on both clinical and personal experience. They combine individualized nutrition and lifestyle changes tailored to midlife women's needs with mindset coaching, lab testing and hormone replacement therapy education to help women thrive so that they can stop or prevent their health from spinning out of control.
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Are You Menstrual ? ?
This episode is a tribute to one of our most hard-working organs: the LIVER. The liver is best known for detoxification, but most people forget that your liver has to be healthy and functioning optimally to detox. We will talk about exactly what that means and how popular detox programs and supplements are missing the mark.
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Are You Menstrual?
This is part 2 of our PCOS series. In our previous episode we broke down exactly what PCOS is and how it is diagnosed as well as the different root causes. We recommend listening to that episode first if you haven?t already. In this episode, we are digging into the biggest mistakes we see women with PCOS make when trying to heal and what to do instead.
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Are You Menstrual?
Today we?re covering a women?s health topic that is near and dear to my heart...and that is PCOS (or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). PCOS is the leading cause of infertility in the U.S., and it?s a problem that affects 1 in 10 women of childbearing age. That?s A LOT of us. But the worst part is that there is still so much confusion surrounding this modern syndrome and what causes it?even down to its name, which IMO is a complete misnomer (but we?ll get into that later).

Amanda and I have both dealt with the symptoms of PCOS at different points in our lives, and we both know many women who currently struggle with it?which is why we wanted to devote a whole two episodes to this particular hormonal health challenge. The truth is, there?s a ton to unpack when it comes to this common condition, but we?re going to do our best to clear the fog surrounding PCOS.
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Resources & Links:

Are You Menstrual?
In this episode, we are diving into a topic that many women can relate to--period pain. Period pain used to be considered purely psychological and a reason for women to get out of their responsibilities. Since it couldn?t be identified by a physical or gynecological exam or tested for, those who suffered were mislabeled and told to deal with it. No one could see it, so it didn?t seem real.

Now we know that period pain is very real and can present itself in many ways ranging from cramps, back pain, breast tenderness, headaches/migraines, joint/muscle pain. While we will talk about specific symptoms and get into the types of period pain in this episode, we want you to keep in mind that symptoms are communication from your body. It?s tempting to want to find a remedy for a symptom, but in reality, we need to understand why you have that symptom in the first place. This often comes back to metabolic health. If you haven?t listened to the first episode of the podcast, we recommend starting there!
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In our episode 8, we shed some light on the popular supplements that we choose to avoid and why, going into detail about how supplementing with things like iron, zinc, and even vitamin D can do more harm than good.

This doesn?t mean that we?re against all supplements, just that we believe that supplements are powerful and should not be taken lightly. We also encourage our clients to focus on FOOD FIRST when it comes to boosting your minerals and balancing your hormones. That said, we know that supplements can be a helpful and necessary part of a healing protocol, and today?s episode is all about which ones we love and take ourselves for optimal health.
Again, we encourage you to do your own research and always talk with your doctor or dietitian before you stop or start any supplement. We are nutrition professionals, but we are not YOUR nutrition professionals. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
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The last episode, we focused on how to replenish nutrients and specific minerals in the body. The main focus is food, but we know that there will be questions about supplements, and we do plan to share the top supplements that we can?t live without, but we wanted to first go through popular supplements that can actually cause more harm than good to your minerals first.

We know that many of these will surprise you. We encourage you to do your own research and always talk with your doctor or dietitian before you stop or start any supplement. We are nutrition professionals, but we are not YOUR nutrition professionals. This podcast is for informational purposes only.
This podcast episode isn?t about demonizing certain supplements. It?s about making you think and empowering you to learn more about your body and what you put inside of it.
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Today we?re diving into the nutrient-dense foods that will help you to replenish the minerals that stress depletes. Whether you?ve had the chance to test your minerals or not, the mineral-rich foods and beverages we?re going to cover in this episode are beneficial for everyone, regardless of mineral status. But remember, if you are interested in learning how to test and interpret your body?s mineral balance, our new online course Master Your Minerals is available now! Sign up now and get full access when it launches on June 21st.

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In today?s episode, we continue our mineral series to expand the conversation around two important minerals that are often misunderstood: copper and iron. The health and wellness community focuses so much on iron--recommending iron supplementation, multivitamins or prenatals with iron, and recommending ferritin levels 80-100 for things like hair growth. Iron deficiency is so much more complex than the health community presents it to be. Most of us already have iron accumulated in the body; adding more iron on top of this creates more inflammation and hormone problems. And then we are told that copper is toxic and that we need to get rid of it when in reality, it?s just not in the most available form. There?s a lot more to the copper and iron picture than the mainstream health community presents, and we can?t wait to share more with you in this episode. 

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We are continuing our minerals series and expanding on one particular part of the Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA)--metabolic type. Our metabolic type gives us insight into nervous system balance and the stage of stress our bodies are in. This is helpful information to know on a healing journey to better understand what nutrients you need more of and what stress management activities may be best for you.
In this episode, we discuss where metabolic typing came from, the difference between a fast and slow metabolic type, and what the different subtypes are.

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When it comes to nutrition for hormone health we absolutely need to focus on eating enough and balancing our meals, but one often overlooked area of nutrition is mineral content. In this episode, we are going to give you a crash course in minerals and explain the benefits of hair testing and how it differs from blood work and hormone testing.

Our minerals are like spark plugs--they kick off essential reactions in the body and get things moving. One example of this is an essential mineral that we will talk more about--copper. The body uses copper and oxygen to make ATP, which is our main energy source. The cells in our body require minerals to make energy and hormones, which is why we focus so much on them in our practice. We hope you enjoy nerding out with us!

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In this episode, we dive a little deeper into the nuances of good nutrition?and more specifically, the most common nutrition myths being perpetuated by the wellness industry. It seems as though there is an increasing number of foods being demonized by health coaches and doctors alike as of late, which makes us wonder what the heck we are supposed to be eating. Well, what we have to say about a few of those ?problematic? foods might just surprise and excite you.

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In this episode, we expand on metabolism and dive into the specifics of what your metabolism needs to properly function and support every other system in the body. But before we dive in, we have a challenge for you. We?re going to ask you to let go of everything you?ve learned in the past about how to eat?including how much you should eat, what foods you should (or should not) eat, and when you should eat. Throw out all of your rules on nutrition and listen to this episode (and remaining episodes) with a fresh perspective on nutrition and lifestyle.
It?s time to rewire your brain and rethink what it looks like to nourish your body.  Because, chances are, it?s not what you think.

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Are You Menstrual?
The first step we take with the women we work with to improve their hormones and overall health is unlearning. So many of us have been dieting from a young age and constantly hopping from one restrictive diet to the next. Leaving our bodies in a constant state of stress and depleting essential minerals that allow us to thrive. This leads to a slowing down of our metabolism. Most people hear the word metabolism and think of weight loss, but it?s actually so much more than that.

Our metabolism is the basic process our body goes through to convert food to energy. If this process slows down that means we have less energy, which means more hormone problems. In this episode, we walk you through the basics of our metabolism, how stress and dieting impact it, and signs that your metabolism needs support.

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