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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
[Mini] Where to Start with Upping Healthy Fats | Ep. 119
Fat is an essential building block for hormone health that many women mistakenly avoid. Understanding how to incorporate healthy fats can reduce PMS symptoms, restore missing periods, and help balance hormones naturally. Not sure where to start? Listen for easy ideas you can incorporate today.
CONNECT WITH BRIDGET
Hey there and welcome to today's episode of I'm Hormonal. I'm your host, bridget Walton. I'm so excited that you're here for this episode where we are going to be talking about fats, because if you are somebody who is having missing periods right, your period hasn't showed up in a hot minute. Maybe you are really going through a stressful time right now, maybe you're having more PMS, low libido Just if there's something up with your hormones that you're trying to get under control, then it might be time for you to examine what your plate looks like when we're thinking about fat in your diet.
Speaker 1:Fat is an extremely important part of your diet. If you did not listen to Tuesday's longer form episode on this topic, check that out too. But today we're going to do this little mini episode, as we always do on Thursdays in recap, and to be really actionable, so you can have a clear idea of how you can incorporate fats into your diet and why is this important. So let's dive right in. Why is fat important to incorporate into your diet? There have been so many years and years and decades and decades of messaging that low fat is what's best for folks. But now it's 2025. Now the studies, researchers are finding that, hey, turns out that fat is really important. And why is it important? Especially when we think of our hormones? Because fat is one of the building blocks for your hormones. When we think of hormones like cortisol, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone and more, those hormones are all made from cholesterol, right? So from these fat sources. So, in order to have the appropriate amount of estrogen, fat is important. Now, it's also worth remembering that fat like when you look at a label or when you're thinking about the fat content of an avocado, whatever it is the fat that's in that food is not translating directly to fat along your waistline. We use this one singular word to mean multiple things, and I mentioned that because something I hear from clients from time to time that I heard from one of my clients last week is that, you know, she said to me I just always thought that more fat in my food meant that there would be more fat on my body. I just thought, like, okay, if I'm trying to lose weight, I should avoid fat, and if we're looking at this literally, that makes sense and that's what has been messaged to most of us for many years. But that's why I want to do this episode today, to remind you that fat is really important, especially if you want to get your hormones back in line, especially if you're trying to just figure out how you can feel better, and by better. One of those things is having fewer cravings, maybe having less hanger if a meal is delayed, having more consistent energy throughout your day, having easier periods, having less PMS the list kind of goes on. Important, important, important.
Speaker 1:What I want to walk through with you today is also what are some easy fat sources that you can incorporate? Because sometimes, or maybe five seconds ago, when you heard me say, hey, girl, you should incorporate more fat into your diet, we're like what does that? Where do I even start with that? Like, how much? Like, where can I? Where should I look for this? So what I think is important to look at before we say, okay, how much? What is the perfect amount of fat to have in my diet? Let's just start to dip our toes in and figure out what you A already have, what are you already eating? And B, where can you add a little bit more sources?
Speaker 1:All of these recommendations are going to be aligned with my usual rules of thumb, which are to prioritize a whole food diet right, avoiding processed foods, getting a variety in right Variety of food, variety of plant sources. So this won't be anything super rocket science-y, but, okay, blah, blah, blah, let's do it. So a couple of main sources of healthy fats. Here are going to be things you might already be eating, like eggs, fish, chicken or whatever other meat source. You eat nuts and seeds. Some kinds of oils are definitely better than others. What we want to look for would be extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil. Some of you might also be open to incorporating butter and ghee. That's something that I incorporate into my diet.
Speaker 1:We won't get deep into that conversation this week, but incorporating healthy fats from these sources can be really important. Did I start off by saying avocado? If I didn't, avocado, that's another great source too. So if you're thinking, okay, how can I tune up my meals this week? Right, maybe, as you're listening to this, you're going to open up the notes app that you probably have in your phone, where you're going to put your grocery list, so you can add something there and just think about it like hey, if you don't hate avocado, if you are open to incorporating avocado, that's one of the easiest ways to start.
Speaker 1:So, if you want to put some avocado on the eggs that you eat in the morning. If you have, I don't know, maybe you make a veggie and rice bowl that you can put it on. Maybe you love to get down with a little bit of guacamole. Maybe avocado toast is in your future. The way that I like to make avocado toast that's so easy is starting off with a piece of sourdough. Have whatever half an avocado, a whole avocado, depending on the size, and I love the everything but the bagel seasoning that I just sprinkle on top.
Speaker 1:It takes me I don't know 17 seconds to make, and one of the great things about incorporating these healthy fats into your diet, especially in the first part of the day, is that that's going to set your blood sugar levels up for success. What I mean by that is that when you start off with a meal that does not spike your insulin, or rather that does not spike your blood sugar, which means that your insulin is going to stay more level and stable too, you're less likely to have those cravings, feel that hanger before lunch, because it helps to support satiation. So I got my fingers crossed for you. You're going to love it Once you start making these changes too. I think it's a really great idea to jot down a couple notes, whether it's at the end of the day, whether I don't know. You take a lunchbox to work and you keep a little notebook in there so you can just reflect on your energy levels for that day and then you can actually see hey, I'm making these changes and I'm feeling a lot better. Great, let's stick with this. Let's take this to the next level.
Speaker 1:Okay, so we talked about avocado. Um, I also you know want to suggest that if you are somebody who you like to snack, maybe a snack for this upcoming week is going to be a nut trail mix. Let's avoid the ones that have super sugary, or rather like added sugar to the dried fruit in it, but get something with walnuts in it, get something with other nuts, whatever nuts you like. That's a great start. If you have smoothies at any point in your week, if you are eating yogurt at any point in your week and you want to add chia seeds to it or hemp seeds to it, that's a super easy idea. I think that seeds are great, because, I mean, I'm trying to think of the last time I bought seeds and I still have a ton left right. It's like you buy them once a quarter and then you've got them for so long and it's the easiest thing to incorporate into your meals because it's just a little sprinkle, sprinkle.
Speaker 1:Okay, the next thing I want to suggest for you is that if you are not currently using extra virgin olive oil, if that's not something you have in your home, I would definitely pick that up. We aren't going to talk a whole lot about the kind of bad oils, but suffice it to say that anything that's overly processed or refined, that's an oil or fat source that we want to minimize, right? So fats overall are good, yes, but if you're getting the majority of your fats through, like the fried Oreos at the fair or french fries or anything that is well fried or anything that is well fried I can't say it again, I guess fried, overly processed or some of these oils that are, just they're cooked at a temperature that is above kind of the recommended temperature for them and it makes those oils go rancid. Rancid sounds dramatic, but all of that means that those types of overly processed oils have a. They're more inflammatory, they have more omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3, and generally we're really aiming to incorporate those omega-3 fatty acids because we need more of them than omega-6.
Speaker 1:So, as we get ready to wrap up, I'll just run through a couple of quick options for you again, because maybe what you're going to do this week is go ahead and grab a full fat yogurt. You're going to put some chia seeds on it. Put some other seeds on it. That'll be a great way to a great thing to incorporate into your breakfast. Maybe you don't normally have salmon, but you love salmon. Great, let's get that on the menu for dinner this week. Maybe you're going to hard boil some eggs so that each morning you just super quick, instead of opting for your like processed protein bar, you can incorporate some of those eggs in easily. Maybe add avocado at that time too.
Speaker 1:And then, just coming back to one of these snack mixes, trail mixes whether you make it yourself, you buy it pre-done, it's such an easy way to avoid those more or potentially overly processed snacks and feel like, hey, I'm getting in my good fats. This is holding me over to my next meal because these fats are helping me to feel satiated. So that's what I've got for you today. I hope that was helpful. I hope that kind of got your gears turning. If you are still feeling like dang. I mean, that makes sense, bridget, but where do I start? How do I actually know if incorporating fats is the thing that could kind of move the needle here? I would invite you to go to imhormonalcom slash apply or click on the link in the show notes. Here you can share some information with me about your hormone health goals and then pick a time for us to have your free strategy call where we can talk more about what might work specifically for you and get you closer and closer and closer to where you want to be with your hormones.
Speaker 1:So thank you, my friend, for listening to this episode. Share it with a friend if this was helpful for you, and I will see you on Tuesday for a usual long form episode. All right, 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.