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I'm Hormonal | Hormone balance, gut health & nutrition insights
Welcome to I’m Hormonal — the podcast where we make sense of your bloating, brutal PMS, and missing periods… without blaming it all on “just stress” or “being a woman.”
Hosted by Bridget Walton, Women’s Hormone Coach, this show is your no-BS guide to decoding your cycle, calming your gut, and actually balancing your hormones (not just crossing your fingers and hoping for the best).
Each week, we break down what no one taught you about hormones, nutrition, and gut health in your 30s — especially if you're tired of guessing what your body is trying to tell you.
Expect solo episodes packed with real talk and root-cause tools, plus the occasional expert guest to help you feel less confused and more in control.
Because you deserve better periods, better digestion, and a better shot at getting pregnant — without burning out trying to figure it all out alone.
I'm Hormonal | Hormone balance, gut health & nutrition insights
Stop Avoiding Fat If You Want Balanced Hormones | Ep. 118
Dietary fats are essential building blocks for hormone production and can help with issues like missing periods, low energy, and intense cravings. This misunderstood nutrient plays a crucial role in hormone balance, blood sugar regulation, and overall reproductive health.
• Healthy fats are literally the building blocks of your hormones
• Excellent sources of healthy fats include avocados, fatty fish, nuts, seeds, olive oil, and avocado oil
• Fat-rich breakfasts help maintain stable blood sugar and reduce cravings throughout the day
• Practical ways to incorporate more fats: use full-fat dairy, cook with quality oils, add seeds to meals
• A fat-forward diet helps with satiety and reduces the need for constant snacking
• Even simple changes like choosing full-fat yogurt or adding avocado to meals can make a difference
CONNECT WITH BRIDGET
Healthy. Fats are the building blocks of your hormones. If you've been struggling with low energy, missing periods maybe you've had more cravings than you used to. It could be time to take a look at what's on your plate, and today we're gonna talk about why fats are an essential part of your diet, how to pick the right ones and why they are the opposite of the enemy. Let's do it. 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? Hello, hello, welcome to episode 118 of I'm Hormonal. I'm your host, bridget Walton. I'm really excited that you're listening of I'm Hormonal. I'm your host, bridget Walton. I'm really excited that you're listening, especially for this episode that is about something that can be so confusing. I'm what? I'm 32 right now.
Speaker 1:Maybe you are in a similar age bracket, or maybe not, but perhaps you yourself went through a part of your life when you avoided fat like the plague. Maybe you're still doing it, maybe you saw your mom do it or other gals in your life. But here we are in 2025. We're working on getting our hormones back in balance. We're working on improving our stress, we're working on supporting our health for the long run, and fat is a huge, huge, huge, huge part of that conversation. If you're somebody who has missing periods she gone, she's MIA. Maybe you have low progesterone, which means your luteal phase is really quite short. Maybe you have had low libido recently, or just your stress levels are maxed out. For any of these reasons or more, this episode could be really perfect for you Because, again, we have to figure out what's the right way to get these healthy fats back into your diet, and I hear this all of the time from my clients that I work with one-on-one.
Speaker 1:I hear gals with this perception that you know I prefer to get low-fat yogurt or low-fat cheese, whatever it is, because I want to minimize my calorie intake. Or for another gal I worked with recently, she says I just always thought that more fat in my food meant more fat on my body. It's really unfortunate that we in the English language use this one word, one word, fat for actually several different things. Because the fat that you eat through your food is not the same, not exactly the same as the fat that is on your body. Or even when we think of the fat that is in or on our body, we have different types of fat, like around our organs, that visceral fat, versus what is on our arm and maybe keeps waving a little bit after we're done waving goodbye.
Speaker 1:I also want to mention here that adipose tissue, fat tissue. It is important, absolutely critical for hormone production. That fat, that cholesterol, is the building block for your hormones. But even beyond that, the adipose tissue in your body is used to help translate, convert testosterone into estrogen. So it's this back and forth of okay, you need fat in order to create your hormones. You also like fat from your diet to create those hormones. You also need some fat on your body in order to maintain hormone balance.
Speaker 1:So that's where I want to start, kind of setting the stage for what is the conversation been about it? And it's. This is confusing. There's a lot of information that was popular in maybe the late 1900s. I feel like I'm 200 years old when I say in the late 1900s, but some of the studies on this are evolving. Certainly more recognition that, again, fat is an important part of the diet. I'll probably say that five more times in this episode, but great, we're all on the same page here.
Speaker 1:So let's get into it a little bit more, because I really want to make it actionable and easy to comprehend for how you can incorporate some healthy fats into your diet. What do you want to steer towards and what might you want to steer away from? So let's look at some different sources of fats and as we jump into this part of the conversation, I also want to remind you about omega-3s and omega-6s. So omega-3 fatty acids, omega-6 fatty acids You've probably heard of omega-3s, because when you're checking out the options for trail mixes, you'll see that there's like a heart healthy omega-3 mix. Or you'll see right, maybe you've just taken fish oil supplements or know somebody who has and those are normally centered around omega-3s.
Speaker 1:Omega-6s are another type of acid. Our body needs both of them. We need both of these, omega-3s and omega-6s. But there is a certain balance that best supports our health and best supports our body between the two, namely more omega-3s than omega-6s. So we'll get into this in a second too, just so you can understand.
Speaker 1:Okay, where am I getting most of the 6s from, most of the 3s from? It's not something that you need to math out and keep specific track of, that's not my recommendation, but being aware that, oh, okay, yeah, omega-6s, when in excess, can create a bit more inflammation, that's something worth noting. So let's start with those omega-6s, because, while, yes, there are omega-6s in some of the items that I will recommend to you for healthy sources, they are also particularly high when you're consuming fried foods, when you're consuming processed foods, when you're consuming refined seed oils. Anything that has been overly processed probably has more omega-6s. If we're making a generalization and just trying to help paint the overall picture for you, so for Americans at least, on average, americans are getting much more exposure or taking in much more omega-6 fatty acids than we are omega-3s. So what I just mentioned when it comes to fried foods, refined seed oils, anything that's overly processed, if you can't picture the plant that it comes from when you read the word on the label, then that's overly processed. If you can't picture the plant that it comes from when you read the word on the label, then that's just something to think. Hmm, okay, is this one of these good sources that I want to keep in my diet on a regular basis? Now, on the other hand, let's look at some of these good sources that you do want to incorporate, right, because good sources of fats that I include in my diet that I would love for you to consider upping in yours potentially could be things like avocado, avocado yeah, new edition of avocados just dropped, called avocado. Okay, I even said it wrong the second time, but hopefully you guys felt me with that joke. Back to business Avocado, fish and especially fatty fish, chicken, or, if you eat other meat I'm not really, I don't really consume mammals, but if you do, then that's another source of fats. Also, walnuts, other nuts, seeds, extra virgin olive oil, olive oil, avocado oil. I'll mention all of these again in just a couple minutes here.
Speaker 1:I also use butter and ghee. Today. I'm not going to, you know, dive into this debate on is butter, is ghee, a good part of the diet? Coconut oil also falls into this. It's something that I choose to incorporate, but that is a deeper discussion for another day on those types of fats. Suffice it to say that balance is important and if you feel comfortable incorporating butter, then definitely looking for a grass-fed butter is a good way to go. Kerrygold is one of those brands that, for me at least, I trust. I trust the quality of the product. Ghee, if that's new to you, is basically butter, but with the dairy removed, so it's like cooked down a little bit more. And then coconut oil. You guys know coconut oil from well, from our coconut friends.
Speaker 1:Okay, so, taking a step back, you're like Bridget, you ran through that pretty quickly, yes, so let's come back to it and I'll walk you through just one example of what I might eat in an average day through the lens of making sure that I'm getting adequate fats in. I like to give the disclaimer that by no means do I think that what I eat in a day is perfect. It works well for me. It might not work well for you, and that's totally okay. This is just to give you an example of a couple of ways to incorporate these healthy fats. So take what works for you, leave the rest, try something out if it sounds like it would suit you. So here's what I love to eat in a day. This is my ideal.
Speaker 1:I don't know, today's a Monday as I record this my ideal Monday meal set of meals. So what I'm doing is, for breakfast, I'm eating eggs normally two eggs, and I put some goat cheese on that. Both of those have fat in them, of course. Sometimes, if I'm feeling a little bit crazy, I'll put half of an avocado on it. Avocados, really. They give you probably the most bang for your buck when it comes to how much fat you want to get out of your one item there. So sometimes I'll put a little bit of avocado on there as well. I also, for breakfast, will eat a little salad.
Speaker 1:I love to get some greens in first thing in the day. I normally put. I have spring mix, I put sprouts on it, I will put ground flax seed, I will put some hemp seed or other seeds, then I'll follow it up with extra virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar and tahini. So a lot of the things that I'm saying right now are some of these good fat sources. When we look at all of those different seeds, when we look at extra virgin olive oil and then also tahini right, tahini is sesame seed, like sesame seeds are to peanut butter, as how do you say that? Anyway, you know peanuts are to peanut butter, what sesame seeds are to tahini. So that's how I start my day.
Speaker 1:When I start my day with a breakfast that is more fat forward, more protein forward. That helps me to feel particularly satiated throughout the day and I'm not feeling hungry. I'm not looking for snacks. So I mentioned that because, of course, we started out or I started out the conversation by telling you how fat is important for building hormones, which, yes, it is. It's also important and really helpful for keeping your blood sugar levels stable and we know that is also helpful and supportive for your balanced hormones, namely insulin and your cortisol, your stress hormone cortisol because when you have more fat in your diet, that's going to help support more stable blood sugar levels. So I love to mention some blood sugar regulation. So cool, check that box for today's conversation, all right. So we looked at breakfast.
Speaker 1:Moving on to the rest of the day, I'll a lot of times have a protein smoothie midday. Sometimes, if I didn't have avocado earlier in the day, I'll put half of a frozen avocado in there, which makes your smoothie real creamy. I will also normally put in maybe two tablespoons of chia seeds and blend that up nice and good with it to have that additional source of fiber and fat. But I guess, yeah, relatively low fat lunch, especially if I'm like just having a smoothie Later in the day, or maybe as an alternative for lunch. I will oftentimes have um well, have a meat in my meal. For me, meat meaning either chicken or fish, or sometimes shrimp.
Speaker 1:When I make rice, I love to make rice with coconut milk, so most of the liquid is a can of full fat coconut milk. I'll add a little bit more water, but that's another way to make a super tasty rice. If you haven't tried it, I hope you love it. And a fat source in there too. Now, this might sound a little crazy. Like Bridget, why are you getting in a million fat sources? It also happens to be that this is just what helps me feel good and what I find to be tasty, so I love to give a disclaimer. There it is.
Speaker 1:What else do I want to mention here? No, maybe that's good. A couple of ideas. You can also. You know, maybe you're already eating yogurt and you just say, okay, hey, I'm going to opt for the full fat yogurt. I'm already eating whatever cheese, I'm going to opt for the full fat cheese, because fat is not our enemy here, especially when we are trying to get your hormones back in balance, get things in shape, and if you are having cravings, if you're having trouble not snacking in between meals, then it can be really supportive to bridge that gap, bridge that time, keep your blood sugar levels balanced in between meals. So let me give you one other quick suggestion, then we'll wrap it up for today. But if you are looking for something even more specific of like One other quick suggestion, then we'll wrap it up for today. But if you are looking for something even more specific of like wait, bridget, what do I actually do first, then here are what five things to think about.
Speaker 1:First, grab avocados when you're at the store next time. So incorporate an avocado into your day, depending on how your morning looks. For breakfast, maybe you are going to fry two eggs or maybe you're going to hard boil eggs ahead of time, so you can just grab and go Super easy. So avocado, eggs, fat source for in the morning when you go grocery shopping. Next, if you do eat meat or eat fish, just grab maybe one package of the fatty fish. My favorite fish is salmon. Another easy option if you don't have extra virgin olive oil in your house already. Go ahead, pick that up and then you can just drizzle that on any vegetables that you're having. Of course you can use it to cook with. Of course you can use it as dressing in salads, so that's another easy source. And then, last but not least, when you are trying to noodle through what is a good snack that you can have keeping your car, keeping your bag at work, keeping your bag for when you're traveling, find the omega-3 heart healthy trail mix that's going to be on the aisle at your local grocery store, just as another quick way, quick thing to go to that will be supportive and a good fat source. So I hope that's helpful for you.
Speaker 1:If you feel like you need a little bit more direction. You're not exactly sure how to tweak your diet to support easier, more consistent periods. Well, this is exactly what I support my one-on-one coaching clients with. So if you want that extra guidance and support to understand where to go, what to do next, you can go to imhormonalcom slash apply or go down and click the show notes link. You'll share a little bit of information with me about your health goals and then pick a time for us to get together for your free strategy. Call goals and then pick a time for us to get together for your free strategy call.
Speaker 1:So that is it for me today. If you have any questions for me, if you have any requests for topics that you want to hear me talk about next, you can always connect with me on Instagram at I'm underscore hormonal. I would love to connect with you over there, but that's it for today. We'll be back on Thursday for a mini version of this episode with you, and we'll see you on the next one.
Speaker 1:Thanks, if you loved today's episode and got something good out of it, make sure you subscribe so that these episodes show up automatically in your feed. No work needed on your side. Let's put it on autopilot. As always, I need to give you my reminder that the information I share with you here is for educational purposes only, and it should not be used as a replacement for medical advice or diagnosis. Now, if you are, on the other hand, in the market for some one-on-one support, then I would love for you to take me up on my offer for a free strategy call. You can find these links and more in the show notes. All right, we'll see you on the next one.