[Mini] Your Avoid-At-All-Costs Dietary Preferences | Ep. 143

👉 Ready to dive in? Book your introductory session where we will make a personalized plan for you.
👉 Have some questions? Not sure if we're a good fit yet? Book a free 15-minute chat at imhormonal.com/goals

I'm Bridget Walton, a Women's Hormone Coach helping ambitious women ages 25-40 naturally restore hormone balance, fix irregular periods, feel confident in their fertility, and resolve gut health issues without restrictive dieting.

If you struggle with missing periods, PCOS symptoms, bloating, or unpredictable cycles, this women's health podcast will teach you how to support your hormones through strategic nutrition and lifestyle changes that actually fit your busy life.

On I'm Hormonal, you'll discover natural solutions for period problems, learn how gut health impacts your hormones, and get practical hormone balance tips from a functional nutrition perspective - no more guessing what your body needs.

Bridget recaps the results that you all shared with her in a recent Instagram poll regarding what types of dietary changes you would like to avoid at all costs. She shares her thoughts on plant-based, gluten-free, omnivore, and sugar-free diets and explains how each one could catalyze or impede your hormone and gut rebalancing.

👉 DM us on Instagram @im_hormonal - we want to hear your biggest takeaway

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Episode Setup
• 1:52 Who I Help And How I Work
• 3:33 The Instagram Poll And Options
• 4:55 Why Vegan Was Least Appealing
• 8:17 Gluten-Free: Sensitivity, Testing, Reality
• 13:07 Cutting Sugar And Candida Plans

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hello, and thanks for listening to I'm Hormonal. I'm your host, Bridget Walton, and on this week's earlier episode, we talked a little bit about where to go next. If you have already really dialed in your clean eating and you're like, dude, I'm we're at a plateau. Where do we go from here? In this mini episode, I thought it would be fun to walk through with you where you all told me you would not want to go. You said as a last resort, if only as a last resort, I would try these couple of diet types. So I thought this would be fun. I'll walk you through this poll that I did on Instagram recently, and I'll also give you my thoughts about each of these options. So if you are somebody who wants to fix your period, if there's something going on with your gut health, take this as a little bit of food for thought. And if you disagree with me on any of these things, I would love to hear your perspective. You can DM me on Instagram at I'm underscore hormonal. If you are new to the podcast, again, my name is Bridget Walton. I'm a women's hormone coach and I work one-on-one with busy gals, perhaps just like you, by offering personalized coaching using holistic nutrition and functional lab testing. So whether you're listening here or you work with me one-on-one, my goal is the same, which is to help you stop guessing about your hormone health and start seeing really, really quick progress. I've been there too. I have been annoyed and frustrated by what the heck is happening with my hormones. And that stuff is lame, and I don't want that for you. So if you ever have a request for an episode or topic that you want to hear me speak on, I would love to hear your request. I would love to talk about it. And again, you can connect with me on Instagram at I'm underscore hormonal and let me know what is on your mind. All right, let's talk about these poll results. And just as a recap, in case you didn't like happen to see my Instagram story, what I did was I posted a story and I said, Hey, if you tried everything, if you made a ton of dietary changes to help fix your period, help to rebalance your hormones, what is the absolute last thing that you would ever want to try? And the options that I put there were one, going vegan, two, going gluten-free, three, cutting out all sugar, or four, if you are already vegan, then reincorporating animal products back into your diet. So think for a second, what is the one of those that you would avoid at all costs, going vegan, gluten-free, cutting out sugar, or reincorporating animal products? And now let's dive into what you gals thought. More than half of you, like 55% of you, um, said that going vegan is the absolute last thing that you would do as far as dietary changes go. And let me tell you, girl, I support you actually. If you really want to rebalance your gut health or your hormone health, right, they go hand in hand, including animal products in your diet will absolutely get you there fastest and easiest. You may have heard this before, but certain hormones, like I don't know, most of your sex hormones are actually made from cholesterol, which is found in far greater abundance in animal products. And so that's just one of like 85,000 reasons I can think of, but making sure that you are prioritizing high-quality animal products that, you know, are nutrient dense, because if you're getting the organic, you know, pasture-raised eggs, they will be more nutrient dense than the factory farm eggs, right? So let me be clear in saying that when you opt for the quality animal products, they will really do a great job of serving you on this path to rebalancing your hormones and getting your period back on track. So for the 55% of you that said you do not want to go vegan, um, I think that, yeah, I think that's probably a good call if you want to rebalance your hormones. Last thought here, I was vegan for a couple years, probably, I don't know, was that four years ago now? And I did it for about two years. I was not a good vegan. I was eating way more processed, you know, plant-based foods than I should have been. I was not doing as good of a job of prioritizing whole, um, you know, whole foods. And so I would say it's an easy trap to fall into if you are plant-based. Like you really have to, you really have to focus on making sure that you're getting all of the nutrients that you need. You might, you probably do need to supplement um with some vitamins. And so, okay, yeah, that's what I've got on that. The next option, uh, second least popular for that you all said was going gluten-free. About 30% of you were like, Hell no, I will only go gluten-free as a last resort. My thoughts on this are that I think statistically, about one in 10 women like legit cannot have gluten, like have a gluten intolerance. If that's you, you should probably be really careful to avoid gluten. That will best serve you. Now, for the rest of us, there are about six in ten who have some type of gluten sensitivity. So, not an allergy necessarily, not celiac's disease, but gluten itself is inflammatory, right? It's um these days, at least in these United States of America, um, genetically modified all the time, like processed. I know that I hear from a lot of friends or a lot of clients that they go on a trip to Italy and they're able to eat gluten and feel really good. And I that's great. But for those of you who are here in the US, it's just different. And that's not the dream, that's the reality. If you find that gluten irritates you, it will absolutely best serve you to remove it. I hope that's not the case. But if you are thinking, okay, well, Bridget, isn't sourdough a better option, even though it, you know, has gluten in it? And I would say yes, it is a better option, still could be a little bit inflammatory. My last thought on this one is that, you know, it's worth noting sensitivities or I guess reactions to ingredients or foods that you are sensitive to can show up up to about 72 hours after you consume that ingredient or that food. So if you are somebody who is trying to figure out if you are sensitive to gluten, maybe you are one of those 30% who really does not want to go gluten-free and you're doing a little investigative work, just know that sometimes you can eat something with gluten and you'll feel good for a little bit. And it makes it a lot harder to figure out what is off, what's going wrong. This is one place where doing some testing, like a food sensitivity test, can be helpful, can reveal if you have a sensitivity to wheat, or on the GI map, which is a stool panel, uh gut panel that I use with clients, there's a marker. It's the anti-gliadin marker, which will reveal if you have a sensitivity to gluten. So, you know, sometimes it's hard when you actually see whether or not you're sensitive to it. If you were hoping not to be, if you're one of this 30%. But if you are really serious about getting your gut health back on track and getting your hormones back on track and feeling really good, then it can be invaluable information to you. Okay, moving on, about 10% of you said that, okay, no, as a last resort, I would cut out all sugar. And um, you know, I feel you on this too. I will be reporting back soon. I'm sure I'll do an episode, at least one episode on it, because I am getting ready to start a candida diet, which means no sugar for me until at least the springtime. Um, candida is a type of yeast. Maybe you've heard of it, but I just um am one of those lucky, lucky folks who has a candida overgrowth right now that I found out through doing a GI map. I'm glad to know that so I can address it. But yeah, cutting out sugar can be a big, um, a big undertaking at first. It can be pretty impactful on like what's going on socially, or if you're somebody who hosts a lot, or if you're the friend in the group who is known for your absolutely amazing, delicious, tasty baked goods, then it doesn't seem particularly appealing. But rest assured, it's 2025. There are at least a handful of websites out there that can direct you to some really tasty options for sweet treats or for alternatives that will still serve your overall health and wellness and your goals while also giving you a little bit of um, you know, the flavors and the food or treat experience that you are looking for. So more to come from me on that. But yeah, cutting out all sugars can really be a big undertaking because they everywhere. Okay, fourth and final on this poll. Um, about 5% of you said that you your last option, your last preference would be to re-incorporate animal products into your diet. So those of you who respond with this answer are presumably vegan at this point. And I'll just say again, I felt like this too back in the day. Um, you you'll be in for more of a challenge. Um, it'll take a little bit more work. It doesn't mean that it's impossible. Um, it can be done, but it just will take more. Uh, what's the word that I want? Not scrutiny, but it'll take a little bit more effort to just make sure again that you're getting in all of the nutrients that you need to support that repair of your intestinal lining, of you know, you have all those building blocks that your hormones need to be created. So, you know, I found that it was helpful for me, in all transparency. I'm sorry to say it, to go from a plant-based diet to, you know, being an omnivore, I guess, again. Um, but obviously, if you are in it for moral or ethical or religious reasons, then please make no mistake. I'm not trying to change your mind, and I'm wishing you all the best. I have one other honorable mention because this is actually my personal last resort. I didn't think to put this on the poll option, but I think for me, I my last resort would probably be doing a carnivore diet. I think that yes, it can work for some people or it can really alleviate other um, you know, unsavory digestive experiences or symptoms, I should say. But ultimately, your body needs fiber, your microbiome needs fiber. Um, also sounds pretty boring and socially difficult. So that's my fifth honorable mention because I would not want to take on a carnivore diet. All right, gang. That is most of the meat and potatoes for what I've got for this episode today. But I do want to do a quick recap as we wrap up of what were the main takeaways from this week's earlier episode, because if you haven't listened yet, go back and check it out. But I really talked about how, yes, transitioning your diet to be more clean, whatever version that means for you, that's a great first step. That is very important and will be strategic in helping you get to the next step. But the things that people often overlook, or rather, what I would love for you to focus on next, if you feel like you've really got your diet dialed in, is one, focus on blood sugar stability. If that's not on your radar yet, go back and check out episode number 86 because that's going to be helpful for you. Blood sugar stability is so important for most of the functions of your body. So don't sleep on that. Number two, if you're already eating clean, but you're not taking any real actions to actually fix or repair the lining of your gut, that could be the missing piece that you need. This is something that I see unfortunately, you know, more often than I would like to with gals or with friends, people who I meet, where they say, Hey, I eliminated all of these different foods, but then when I tried to reintegrate them, it was even worse than it was before. And I say, Ah, yes, because your gut lining itself still needs some support. So that when you do reintroduce those foods, you're feeling good, you're moving ahead. The third thing that I wanted to remind you of you're you're eating clean, you're feeling good, but maybe you're not actually registering the stressors that are in your life because no matter how well you're eating, if you have a large stress load, then that's going to be getting in the way of you correcting or balancing out your hormones and balancing out your gut health. So I will leave you with that. As always, the information that I share with you on this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a replacement for medical advice. But I will look forward to seeing you on the next one. I'm Bridget Walton, a women's hormone coach, and I'll see you soon.