I'm Hormonal | functional hormone insight + advice

Daily Habits to Boost Hormone Health and Balance Your Cycle | Ep. 48

• Bridget Walton, Functional Hormone Specialist & Menstrual Cycle Coach • Episode 48

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Even simple daily (good) habits can have a drastic impact on your hormone balance! Join me, Bridget Walton, your certified functional hormone specialist and menstrual cycle coach, as I share the top three game-changing daily practices that I use to support hormone health. Find out how incorporating leafy greens for essential nutrients, taking a refreshing morning walk to set the tone for the day, and prioritizing quality sleep can stabilize your energy levels and enhance your menstrual health. Plus, get practical tips on how to easily integrate sulforaphane-rich foods like broccoli and kale into your diet with simple yet nutritious meals.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to I'm Hormonal, your source of information about women's hormone health and how to support your body. Naturally, I'm your host, bridget Walton, and I'm a certified functional hormone specialist and menstrual cycle coach. I am on a mission to hold these hormone conversations with as many menstruators as possible, because you deserve easier access to accurate information about what's up with your unruly menstrual cycle and with your fertility mysteries. Don't you think it's time that we figure this out once and for all? Hey out there, welcome to this week's episode of I'm Hormonal. I'm your girl, bridget Walton, and today I wanted to share with you just three things that I do every single day to support my hormone health, and also three things that I avoid doing every single day to support my hormone health. There are a million things that are floating out there, like in the ether right, a million different ideas of what you can do to support your health, what you can do to feel your best. There are so many right combinations, also a lot of wrong combinations, but anyway, today I just wanted to share with you what are the top three things that come to mind for me to do and to avoid in order to help my cycle do its thing and, hopefully help your cycle do its thing, help your energy levels be nice, stable and level. So we will get into that here shortly. As always, I want to say a big warm welcome. If you are listening for the first time, I'm really glad that you found me here. If you want to see more about me, learn more about me, then you can always check me out on Instagram at Bridget Walton. Honestly, I love interacting with you listeners over on Instagram so that would make my heart smile with you listeners over on Instagram, so that would make my heart smile. If you have come back, then, thank you so much. You guys have so many options out there, so I love creating these episodes for you, I love seeing your feedback, and so thank you so much for coming back.

Speaker 1:

I started this podcast last year because I want to share the things that I know about how to support my body, how you can support your body, and so if you're somebody who wants to learn how to understand your body signals, how to understand your cycle signals and, in some cases, what to do about them, then you are in good company and you're in the right place, as always. I like to remind you that the information I share with you is for educational purposes only. It should not be used as a replacement for any sort of one-on-one support from a certified practitioner. Shouldn't be used as a replacement for any sort of medical diagnosis or other medical advice. On that note, though, if you are looking for one-on-one support from a certified practitioner, like myself, then go ahead and check out the link in the show notes. You can set up a free consult call with me to really share what's going on with you. I can understand what your goals are, what you're shooting for, and see if we're a good match in getting you to where you want to be. So if you're somebody with irregular cycles, no cycles, challenges that relate to your fertility or perimenopause, then check me out and I would love to be a part of your hormone journey.

Speaker 1:

Alrighty, my friend, let's get into it. I'm not going to overcomplicate things today, one of the so real quick. Here are the top three things that I've got on my list. One consumption of leafy greens. Two a morning walk. Three prioritize sleep. It's not rocket science, we don't need PhDs for this. But coming back to leafy greens, leafy greens and just vegetables in general are so important for well making sure that we get the vitamins and minerals that we need for our cells to perform their actions, but also some of the components sulforaphane, if that's familiar to you, which is really common in broccoli, kale, cauliflower sprouts, right, uh, saltforaphane is really good at supporting estrogen detoxification and a zillion other uh functions that our cells perform. So, eating leafy greens that's on my to-do list every day. I'm like waking up, looking for my spinach, looking to add some kale to a smoothie. Um, I think that you know. If you are somebody and you're like damn, last time I went to the grocery store, yeah, not a single green vegetable in sight, then I would just make a little note to self, or make a very clear note Find your planner that you put your grocery list in, whatever it is, and get some dang broccoli or whatever it is that you like.

Speaker 1:

What I actually eat for breakfast I'm obsessed with this right now. I don't know how long it'll last, but I'd be willing to do an over-under bet on Instagram one of these days. Anyway, for breakfast I love to eat. Like, first thing in the morning I'll make a little salad with whatever mixed greens, spinach, kale, I'll like just switch it up based on, honestly, what's on sale, but I have leafy greens, I will add some sprouts to it so, like broccoli sprouts or kale sprouts, actually grow them at home. It seems to be a bit cheaper and I can feel like a I don't know farmer gardener, making my own sprouts. Actually, my boyfriend said that to me the other day after I harvested them. He's like do you feel like a farmer? I'm like no, I don't know. Coming back to this salad recipe, you can't even call it a recipe because it's so easy to assemble. Actually, it's like not even cooking, you're just assembling. So leafy greens sprouts.

Speaker 1:

I will put on whatever seeds that correlate with the part of my cycle I'm in. So if you're familiar with seed cycling, I'll have either well, I have tahini on it all the time, but sesame seeds and sunflower seeds if I'm in the second half of my cycle, or for the first half would be flax seeds and pumpkin seeds. Then I put tahini on it and then I put apple cider vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Mix it on up while my eggs are cooking. So good, don't knock it till you try it. Like, send me your pictures, tag me on Instagram. If you adopt this for your next breakfast, I'll list that out in the show notes too, so you can just refer back to that really easily.

Speaker 1:

The second thing that's on my list that I do every day. If I don't do it I'm like off for the day, go on a morning walk. So I think this is so good because one you are getting out and about moving your body. Good for blood sugar regulation. Honestly, just for me, mentally starting out the day by going for a walk, getting out and about my neighborhood, like seeing a couple of neighbors and saying hello, hopefully petting a dog, you know that is just good for me to start the trajectory for my day. Also right if you're getting that good morning sunlight. If you've been here for a minute, you've heard me talk about this before, for sure, but getting morning sunlight is really good for supporting your overall cortisol awakening response and therefore your cortisol levels throughout the day.

Speaker 1:

Cortisol is your stress hormone. It helps us wake up in the morning, which is great. It can be really high. If we're stressed, it could be really low. If're stressed, it could be really low. If I don't know, you've been through a period of chronic stress, but I was saying that to say, having or supporting normal cortisol levels throughout your day, aided by exposure to sunlight. That can also help you sleep at night.

Speaker 1:

And that leads me to my third thing that I do, which is really prioritizing sleep. I don't like to do fun things so honestly, it's not hard for me to prioritize my sleep. I'm not staying up late and like going out to bars or I don't know whatever else people do at midnight, but I really prioritize and protect my sleep. I used to be a gal who I would wake up man I haven't talked about this a lot, but I used to actually be in the military and me and my girl Caitlin, we would wake up at 4.45, maybe not every weekday, but a lot of them and work out so early. I can't believe I did that. But these days I am just saying, okay, how can I prioritize and protect my sleep? I'll exercise at a different time by not or on nights, when you don't get as much sleep as you, you know, hoped for or you just didn't properly plan. That can have follow-on impacts on your blood sugar, on your stress levels and also I just don't like to feel bad, right, so I keep. I set my hormones up for success by getting generally at least eight hours moving my body and eating food that is going to support me from a vitamin and mineral perspective, as well as just keeping my digestive system in good shape and just moving and grooving. Let's move on to the three things that I avoid in order to also support my hormone balance.

Speaker 1:

So, numero uno avoid alcohol. I know you've probably heard this before. You're probably like eh, I think I'll choose to ignore it. I did it for a while too. I think it's something you know. I, I probably have a glass of wine, let's call it once a month. So I think that's you know. Zero is certainly the optimal amount of alcohol to put into your body, but we're humans and it's okay to do the things that you want to do. The reason why alcohol can be, you know, such a negative impact, or one of the many reasons why it can be a negative impact for your hormones, is because your liver is what is helping not helping but it's doing a lot of the detoxification of our hormones. It's not like, oh, I'm going to do a detox. It's the kind of detox that your body is doing all the time, continuously. But if I'm introducing alcohol into my system migraines being puffy, I don't know about you, but those things are not on my to-do list.

Speaker 1:

So generally I avoid alcohol, especially if I am in my luteal phase or on my period. Then I opt for a nice mocktail. That kind of is a good segue to the second thing that I like to avoid, which are skincare products, beauty products, cleaning products, anything that isn't a clean product. So what does this actually look like for me a clean product. So what does this actually look like for me? When I'm at the store and I'm buying new shampoo or I'm buying sunscreen or laundry detergent, anything that my skin comes into contact with, I use an app that can scan it and basically tell me, okay, this is per the it. And basically tell me, okay, this is per the known hazardous chemicals and what they're linked to. Right, okay, this shampoo is good to go. This meets the environmental working group standards, or this one it gets 70 out of a hundred. Still has a green mark. I say, okay, let's go.

Speaker 1:

I think that's a really easy tool. It's free, or maybe some of them you pay $4. They're not going to break the bank, but that's a really good way to say okay, the deodorant that I'm putting on my skin every day. What impact is that having on my body. I actually just make my own deodorant. It's really quite easy. I think I make deodorant probably once every six months easy, I think I make dinner probably once every six months. Is it the best? No, does it totally work? Yes, so I know I didn't really sell it in that sentence there, but just think about it. If you do it again, let me know how it goes.

Speaker 1:

What are some other honorable mentions to think of here? What do I avoid? Avoiding things like dryer sheets, avoiding things like plastic water bottles I know I'm getting really off topic because I originally was going to just say avoiding dirty beauty products, but overall it's like understanding. What am I coming into contact with and how are those endocrine disrupting chemicals? How are those EDCs impacting? Xenoestrogens and the TLDR on that is these chemicals? They mimic estrogens and so it's more or less confusing. Your cycle could be confusing your symptoms or your experience at different times in your cycle as well.

Speaker 1:

Last but not least, certainly not least, the third thing that I avoid doing each day is consuming anything sugary before I have something savory right. Why do I do this? Why is this important for hormone health? Because I am trying to do my bestest to keep my blood sugar levels in check, and one way to do that is by keeping dessert as dessert, overall certainly minimizing my consumption of whatever type of added sugar, or even not added sugar, just sugar. In general, when I make a smoothie, I will include a lot of berries that are low in sugar. I'm not like eating a mango and pineapple smoothie. That's another good tool.

Speaker 1:

But overall, the message here for me with avoiding sugary food before I have something like protein and fat forward is to support stable blood sugar levels and avoid spikes in glucose, which oftentimes result in spikes in insulin. So insulin to just kind of wrap it all up. When insulin levels are high, that can certainly have an impact on the menstrual cycle. It can also have an impact on how much or how many androgens you're producing, which impacts your cycle, impacts different symptoms like acne, oily skin, oily hair. So, really getting your blood sugar levels under control, getting your blood sugar levels under control, understanding how your insulin levels impact your health as a whole, I think it cannot be understated. If you want more information on that specifically, I've got an episode that I'm going to do here soon to dive deeper. But man, there are so many really thorough, really good episodes out there already and books out there that you can check out and that will really be informational for you. So I hope that you guys liked this kind of casual conversation.

Speaker 1:

Just the three things that I do each day focus on incorporating leafy greens for sure, go for my morning walk. And three, really prioritizing my quality of sleep Would recommend the things that I try to avoid doing at all costs. Avoid like dirty beauty products I'm doing air quotes over here, dirty and also avoid sugary foods before savory and just overall, minimize my sugar consumption. With all of that being said, I just want to say thank you again for listening and if you found these tips to be helpful, you might've sent it over to your sister or to a friend you think might appreciate it. Then I would so appreciate you helping me to grow the I'm Hormonal community. So thank you in advance. Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review the podcast if you feel called to do so. And again, my name is Bridget Walton, I'm a women's hormone health coach and I'm so grateful for you listening and I can't wait to see you here again in the next episode.