[Mini] 6 Ways Your Body Makes You Think You Lack Willpower | Ep. 121

Our bodies often send signals that we misinterpret as a lack of discipline or willpower, when in fact they are important communications about hormonal needs and imbalances. In this episode, learn about what sugar cravings, desire to "overeat," a need to hit the snooze button, and doomscrolling could be telling you about your hormones. 

CONNECT WITH BRIDGET

LinkedIn | Instagram | Website | www.imhormonal.com/apply

Claim Your Free Strategy Call | Sign up for weekly tips via email

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Discipline vs. Body Signals
• 1:47 Blood Sugar Dysregulation and Cravings
• 3:58 Nutrition Needs and Luteal Phase Changes
• 7:19 Sleep Patterns and Cortisol Levels
• 9:52 Taking Action and Support Options
• 11:35 Episode Wrap-Up and Call to Action

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to episode number 121 of I'm Hormonal. I'm your host, bridget Walton, and today on the podcast, in this mini episode, we're gonna be talking more about discipline, about willpower, and about why that might not actually be the thing that you need, even though you may have been telling yourself for many, many moons by this point that that is the thing that you lack. This is something that I hear from my clients all the time, every single month. This is something that I felt myself for many, many years. Unfortunately, we're all kind of told by society that we need to work out more or we need to be more strict with our diet. We need to do this, we need to do that, we need to do more, more, more. Sometimes, though, that's really not what your hormones need, that's not what your period needs, that's not what your body needs to restore balance, to feel safe and to resume business as normal. You may have listened to this week's earlier episode, where I did a deep dive into this topic, and what I'll do in today's episode is walk you through a couple more of the specific ways, specific signs or signals that you could see in your body where you think gosh, I just don't have the self-control for this. But maybe now you'll say, oh well, is that my self-control or is this my body signaling something to me? How can I listen to that? How can I give my body what it needs? So that'll make more sense in just a second, because we're going to dive into it right now. If you are on a journey to restore hormone balance restore balance in your gut you're wanting to feel better.

Speaker 1: 1:55

One of the things that oftentimes comes along with a plan like that is to avoid certain sugary sweets, processed foods and probably alcohol. So let's talk about what can make things more difficult there. Now, one of the things that you'll be familiar with if you've been listening to I'm Hormonal for a second is about blood sugar dysregulation, and if you're somebody who has been eating some processed foods, eating sweet treats, maybe drinking sugary drinks for many years of your life, like I did growing up in the Midwest I don't think I drank water until I was like in high school. I don't know how I survived. Regardless, if you have dysregulated blood sugar levels, which is absolutely something that could impact the quality of your menstrual cycle, that dysregulation itself can result in cravings for sugar. So if you're somebody who is avoiding sugar and then your blood sugars are lower than normal because your body is trying to get things back on track. Well, that in and of itself can put your body in a situation where it's saying, hey, girl, we need more sugar here, get that apple, grab that bagel, grab that whatever lemon poppy seed muffin with the sweet icing on top, because we need some energy here. This is danger zone. So that's just one example of how you might be feeling. Like, damn, I just can't say no to that extra brownie at girls night. But it could be your body signaling to you that blood sugar levels are low and that your body should grab that. So it's this combination of signals from your blood sugar.

Speaker 1: 3:52

Or maybe, for example, number two, if you have some type of imbalance in your gut microbiome. On Tuesday's episode I talked about a candida overgrowth, so we'll stay on that train. But if you have an overgrowth of something, for example candida, which is a type of yeast, that yeast itself can be altering the signals that are sent to your brain and it's telling your brain that it needs more energy, that it needs more sweets, more sugar, because sugar, that is one of candida's main food groups. So that's how the yeast in your body. For some folks with overgrowth, that's how that yeast is helping to support its own life and why it's signaling to you. So it's not that you just can't control yourself around those little, tiny, cute muffins, those little bite-sized muffins. It's that there are things going on in your body telling you to grab those sweet treats.

Speaker 1: 4:53

Another thing I want to talk about here, also on the note of food, but just when it comes more generally to monitoring the way that you eat. Now, maybe you're just in a phase where you're like okay, let me become aware of what I'm eating. Maybe you're not changing anything yet. Or, phase two, maybe you've decided that you do want to alter the way that you are putting together your meals. Now, no matter what that looks like for you, if you're trying to restrict what you're eating, you're not going to.

Speaker 1: 5:26

There could be a signal from your body just saying, hey, you need more nutrients. And this is something again I've mentioned this before in the podcast. But with most of the clients that I work with I would say at least 75%, if I have to ballpark it, at least 75% of my one-on-one clients when we do their initial food journal, when we talk about it, they're like wow, I did not realize that I was under eating so drastically Under eating. A lot of us we think, oh, I'm probably overeating, so I'll just skip this, skip that. But maybe your body just needs more nutrients and that's why, even though you have these quote unquote good intentions, you are exceeding them. Your body just needs more.

Speaker 1: 6:15

On this same note fun fact for you for today during those two weeks, those 10 to 14 days before your period starts, this is the luteal phase of your cycle. For most menstruators, your body needs, or is asking for more nourishment during that time than the other half of the month. So for some folks, that might look like needing about 300 more calories each day during that time of the month. It's also worth mentioning that during that same phase, during the luteal phase, your body will be less sensitive to insulin, which means that it could have more erratic blood sugar patterns. So maybe you're like why do I always have this problem before my period, where I can't control myself and I eat so many sweets? Well, it could be again this signal from your body that blood sugar levels are low and you need to eat something.

Speaker 1: 7:19

Another thing that comes up a lot when I'm working with clients or when I talk to gals about what they have tried before and they talk about wanting to exercise more, wanting to get up in the morning, or maybe it's just a normal day. Exercise isn't a part of the equation, but they're like, I have to hit my snooze button like three times. There's just never a morning when I don't hit snooze. And again I would say, okay, let's pause and ask ourselves what is that saying? Like what is your body trying to signal to you? Because it well, it could just be a pattern. You press snooze every day, so you're going to keep on doing that because that's your subconscious or conscious pattern.

Speaker 1: 8:01

It also could be that when it's time for your alarm to go off, you're just not well rested yet and your body is trying to tell you that it needs more sleep. Well rested yet, and your body is trying to tell you that it needs more sleep. It's trying to tell you that, hey, the cortisol levels in the body are still lower than where you know your body kind of wants them to be to get up for the day. Let me take a step back to explain that, because what happens and especially really thinking of days when you wake up, naturally right, what happens before you wake up is your cortisol levels come up. Once they're at the appropriate level for you, your cute little eyes pop open. It's time to start the day. But this is all to say that. If that's not happening, then maybe is your cortisol a bit dysregulated. Are your patterns off, dysregulated? Are your patterns off? What can you do to help support normal cortisol awakening responses or normal cortisol patterns? Because it might not be a discipline thing. It might just be that you need to strategize on how to get your cortisol back in the normal groove of things so you can get up in the morning feeling really refreshed and starting your day.

Speaker 1: 9:13

The last thing I want to mention to you, still on the note of sleep, is related to social media, because this is something that happens to most of us. Well, just like the other things. But we have these phones in our hands. I'm scrolling on Instagram and I'm like, oh shoot, how have 45 minutes passed? I know this isn't like a new story, right, but this is also something going on hormonally, where your brain's response to that scrolling, to that like next cute cat video, is reinforcing your desire to continue scrolling.

Speaker 1: 9:52

Now the good news is that, while you cannot necessarily directly control these things. While you can't reach into your body and pull the cortisol levels or tell your brain not to get excited about a little baby elephant video, you can absolutely take radical responsibility for your actions that you can control. So that might look like learning how to manage these things yourself learning how to incorporate foods in a certain way that supports stable blood sugar levels. To incorporate foods or activities or movement that support your cortisol levels throughout the day. Maybe that looks like incorporating an app that's going to shut off Instagram or whatever social media you like the best at a certain time, because then you won't get in this scrolling trap right. Even though you can't control the specific details of what's happening in your body, you can control so much about how you respond to those changes and how you can plan for your future self. So you're doing a great job here now just learning about these things.

Speaker 1: 11:04

This is a great first step. You need to educate yourself on it. Another step that you can take that my clients take when they work with me one-on-one would be that step of hiring a coach to support you so that you don't have to spend all that time learning this stuff that I've already spent years learning and really catalyze your transformation. Because, again, you don't need more discipline, you probably just need a better way to understand your body's cues. You need someone on this journey to help you restore balance, and you need to feel better sooner, because that's what you deserve. And you need to feel better sooner because that's what you deserve Now. If that sounds like you, I would invite you to go over to imhormonalcom slash apply and we can talk about if one-on-one support is the right thing for you.

Speaker 1: 11:57

So thank you so much for listening to this episode. I hope this was insightful, for you to really reflect on what your body is telling you, or what you think it's telling you, and I hope it helps you be a little bit easier on yourself as you move forward. So thanks so much for listening and we'll see you on the next one. 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.