When I found this concept a few years ago I had been fighting with my hormones for over a decade with no luck. This just made so much sense.
4 seasons, one month.
Did you know your brain is different by 25% each week of your cycle.. so you are literally a different person throughout the month!
Winter phase (menstruation): in this phase, you are open to so much, and yet feeling more tired. As your progesterone and estrogen fall you will feel more tired.
If you are having a painful period of depression caused by your period that means there is some kind of imbalance in the weeks before. So this is something to pay attention to.
The Winter period is usually between day 25 and day 4.
Your hormone levels are lowering quickly.
This creates a great opportunity for the two sides of your brains to communicate!
The left: analytical
The right: the feelings
This phase is a great time to work through how you feel about certain situations in life that may have had you stumped.
Schedule some time this week to think through what you need to.
It's ok this week to turn INWARD.
You might feel like you want to push, as females, we are encouraged to do a million things at one time. Even though we are capable to do this, we need to honor the season, it WILL pass.
As we move out of our winter phase, we move into our spring phase (follicular), which is pre-ovulation.
So think of the actual spring, more fertile, life is happening, you see growth from the inward season of winter. Your energy is growing!
You're going to start to feel more social coming out of the winter, you will want to interact with others.
Focus on connecting with people that nourish + feed you.
Your creativity is HIGH this week!
Use this for your advantage, sit down and think BIG, schedule things out, and say YES to invitations that come your way in the coming weeks!
Your brain this week is in a place where it can be open to new ideas, beginnings + creative outlets.
The estrogen is starting to rise around day 4 or 5.
Remember this is not exact. The Lord created our bodies intimately and we are all unique. You can begin to observe the rise of energy in your body rising.
Your FSH hormone is increasing to help eggs mature. How cool is that?
All of your hormones are super low and will slowly be building back up this week.
Out of the spring phase, you are coming into summer, phase three, and ovulation.
You will reach the peak in your estrogen on day 14.
Spring is roughly day 5-12 and then summer takes over, day 13 for 7 days.
This is the phase when you are looking for a mate, you are most social, we are taking better care of ourselves, we also feel like we can do a million things and rock it.
This is perfect because if you have been rested in the winter season and planned carefully in your spring season that means when you get to the summer season you can go out into the world and DO.
Now we have to be careful because everyone else can feel it and will want a little more of you.
Collaboration is FLOWING this week!
Your communication skills are high this week.. so what do you need?
Once estrogen has peaked, we release an egg 12 hours later. This is when you are most fertile.
The rise in your FSH and LH encourages the follicle to release an egg. Your estrogen hormone rises and created a thickened uterine lining. Testosterone surges, and then quickly drops after you ovulate. ASK FOR IT!
So be careful to not put your energy into things that don’t serve your greater purpose and what you have planned in your winter phase. Stay focused and be compassionate. In this season don’t forget to start grounded in the Word and truth.
The verbal centers in your brain are on FIRE by these hormones this week.
Talk about what you want this week!
Schedule needed conversations and community this week!
Set aside 10-15 minutes to either walk or sit barefoot on the ground. This time alone and in communion with nature helps us balance our rising hormones naturally. This is a time to get away from the hubbub of our daily lives and allow our natural rhythms to lead us in the right direction.
Your brain chemistry is on FIRE this week for getting things done and checking off tasks on your TO-DO list!
Check back on any plans you made in the follicular week and see what needs accomplishing!
The autumn (luteal) phase is for reflection to slow your body back down after the busy summer season. This is your gentle reminder to listen to your body.
What do you need? If you start to ignore it you will notice the critique inside of you rising up. The judgment of the last month, of all the things you “should” have done.
This is the season to reflect.
Think about what happened over the last few weeks.
What happens is then we go into the winter phase.
You can then take all that reflection in the winter season, organize and then use it for the next month.
Estrogen, Progesterone + Testosterone have all peaked!
They then quickly fall right before the bleeding begins.
PMS sometimes happens this week but it is not needed.
Typically this means the estrogen is out of proportion to the progesterone.
Okay so today we are going to be talking about stress and cortisol, and they go hand in hand.
I want you ladies to understand what cortisol is and why that hormone matters in the whole scheme of things.
Here's the thing every hormone matters in some way and they all communicate and intertwine with each other. If one hormone is off it throws everything else off.
So it's not just “oh well I have high estrogen or I have low progesterone” -- it's a domino effect and stress and cortisol play a huge role in our hormones, our weight, our energy, our everything, and it took me way too many years to realize this.
I would honestly say within the last two to three years I started understanding the HUGE role that stress played within my body.
Beforehand I knew my cortisol was lopsided and completely out of whack but I didn't get that the daily choices I made affected and played a role in my cortisol levels and then everything else.
For me, weight issues have been a huge battle since my hormones decided to do their own thing 14 years ago due to 3 months of using Birth Control.
Cortisol matters.
When your body is already in a stressed state, and your body is not having that time to recharge and to heal you then go into that fight or flight mode.
So our body is either going to be in the parasympathetic mode which is the rest and digest or it's going to be in the fight-or-flight mode. Which it is just that, your body thinks it is going to be chased by a bear or it is going into famine and so why would we want to digest food when we don't know when we're going to be fed again?
I will say my body has come so far and so I am very passionate for women to understand that these small things you can do and tweak matter and add up with your hormone health
All right so we mentioned the parasympathetic mode, when your body is in the parasympathetic mode it is in the rest and digest mode. It is saying I am at rest, I am safe and I can digest this food because we are not going into “I don't know when my person is gonna feed me again” mode.
For me, the biggest thing that perpetuated my hormone/cortisol issues over the last 14 years is that I have overworked myself in the gym and then I withheld food with the latest diet.
The whole calories in calories out the whole mentality of is NOT true or good for overall health and sustainability.
I was determined to get this weight off that was desperately holding on to because of all the hormone imbalance that was going on inside my body.
I was fighting myself for years. I’m only two years into this new mindset of “it's okay to rest” and that sometimes can be more helpful than a workout.
I am a person that loves a good workout, I love a good sweat, I love lifting weights, and used to be the biggest gym rat.
I was in school to be a personal trainer, I wanted that life, I loved being in shape.
I still love muscle, feeling strong and capable. I have had to teach myself that it is okay to take a couple of days off and let my body heal and DO IT'S THING.
My body was like “okay I don't know what you're doing but this isn't working for us” and it
shut down on me completely.
All right so cortisol, what the heck is cortisol?
Cortisol is your like get up and go hormone.
When you wake up in the morning you should have your cortisol at the highest and then throughout the day, it should slowly decrease.
Then your melatonin hormone overtakes and that is what makes you sleepy and tired at night.
Cortisol plays a huge role and so overworking your body for a long period of time spikes your cortisol for way too long. A HITT workout can be helpful to move your body because it's a very short amount of time that you are pumping out cortisol and then it can re-regulate your cortisol.
I did the opposite for years and had no clue why I couldn’t lose weight.
If any of this resonates with you, I just ask that you heed what I say even a little bit because
I wish I had someone to say “hey maybe you should think about this”.
There are small simple things that you can do throughout your day.
Small tweaks in your day guys that you can do to start regulating your stress hormones and your cortisol and literally teaching it that it is safe.
In my signature hope and hormone course, we cover all of this and so much more!
This course EASILY TEACHES YOU THE DETAILS OF YOUR ENDOCRINE SYSTEM IN A SIMPLE, EASY TO LEARN WAY.
Then, we dig deeper + learn HOW to implement what you have learned.
I share my complete hormone toolbox with you.
TRUST ME, IT WILL BE WORTH IT.
If you're ready to dig in do it because it's everything packaged up that I wish I could tell the world, so I am.
Birth control and I have an unsavory history.
I was a few months out to my wedding- and what does every good Christian girl do?
She goes and gets on birth control. Duh. No biggie.
So I went in to a doctor, asked for it, she prescribed something and I went on my way.
No questions or concerns.
Within the month of getting on them I gained 10 pounds (I knew that might happen so I wasn't too concerned) and then I started feeling off. Like crawl out of my skin, off.
On our honeymoon I decided I was done. With each month after I got off of birth control I continued to gain about 10 pounds for almost a year. Um, not ok.
After a year of this battle I found out I was insulin resistant, estrogen dominant, too low in testosterone and progesterone and my cortisol and adrenal glands were completely whacked out.
On top of all that I was now battling depression, major anxiety and feeling like I was living in someone else's body with no answers on how to "fix it".
The doctor couldn't understand how I was sitting in her room upright after looking at my blood work.
Up until this point in my life I had never really struggled with weight. I was tall, skinny and loved to eat. I lived for food with no consequences. I loved going to the gym and working out and I was studying to be a physical trainer right before I met Adam. This threw me a huge curve ball I never wanted.
For me, I ended up getting off birth control cold turkey (having NO CLUE it mattered).
I was so young.. and hormone health was non-existent in my vocabulary.
With that, I have become an accidental hormone advocate and I want women to know what I DIDN'T know at the beginning.
If I could re-do getting off birth control this is what I would do:
Prepare your body 2-3 months before stopping.
You can stop taking the pill safely at any point in your cycle, though it can be helpful to finish a pack so you can predict your next ovulation or period if you’re looking to plan or prevent pregnancy.
An IUD, can also be removed at any point, though removing it during your period when the cervix is naturally softer could be a bit easier.
Quitting cold turkey (like I did) without any body preparation may make this much more difficult. The goal is to make this as smooth a process as possible so you can feel your best while your body finds the rhythm the Lord created it to have. This means there are steps to take before and after, in order to support and wake up your natural endocrine function. After all, your hormones have been asleep for however long youëe been on the pill or hormonal IUD! They need time to wake up, and your hormones may be very sleepy or lazy at first, which is totally normal. You may not even notice any symptoms until 3-6 months after stopping the pill when your hormones really come back to life. All of this is NORMAL.
ONE: NOURISH YOUR HORMONES!
Diet plays a HUGE part in this process. It sets the groundwork and foundation for healthy detoxification, digestion and well-being during this transition.
- Clean up your diet because none of these steps will work without a clean foundation.
- This means 2-3 months before stopping the pill, feed + nourish your cells with real, whole foods
- You want to stay away from anything processed and avoid inflammatory foods (gluten, dairy and refined/processed sugar) during this time to prime and optimize bodily functions.
- Think lots of leafy greens, all the fruits and veggies (and starchy veggies like squashes and sweet potatoes), plenty of healthy fats (avocado, nuts & seeds, and cold-pressed oils like avocado oil or coconut oil) and small amounts of gluten-free grains/legumes like quinoa, brown rice, beans and lentils.
- Keep it whole and keep it as fresh as possible.
- Use food to nourish and move things along more quickly.
- HYDRATE! Drink half of your body weight in ounces of water per day. **add SOLE to support your adrenals with lemon essential oil (young living)
TWO: REPLENISH NUTRIENT STORES WITH SUPPLEMENTATION
2-3 months before quitting, begin supplementing with all of the supplements.
Replenishing lost mineral stores is SO IMPORTANT (the pill depletes all of these).
Want to know my favorite bio-available supplements that have supported my body so much?
-start by loading up on-
- folate
- zinc
- B-complex
- magnesium glycinate
- iodine
- selenium
- vitamin D3
- iron
- a great probiotic
- and an algae-based DHA/EPA
All of these are essential and will make a world of difference in your post-pill life.
Continue taking them until your period is regular and you feel great, or until you get testing done to see where you’re nutrient stores and hormone levels are at.
THREE: SUPPORT YOUR LIVER
While implementing the above steps, go one step further with Porgessence Plus and Dragon time (this is a must and game changer!). If you feel really brave coffee enemas are AMAZING for liver detox and support. This will help a great deal with PMS while leveling out your estrogen in relation to progesterone and help bring them into ideal ratios throughout the month.
Yes, your liver can use the extra support because the liver is responsible for getting hormones ready to be moved out by way of elimination, the liver has extra work to do, ridding the synthetic estrogen. It’s no secret the pill and other synthetic forms of birth control take a toll on the liver, and this vital organ must be functioning at its best for happy hormones.
FOUR: PRIORITIZE GUT HEALTH
I already mentioned high-quality probiotics above but adding in fermented foods will help restore your microbiome too since the pill interferes with the healthy bacteria needed for a thriving gut. Including raw sauerkraut (my fave brand is Farmhouse Culture), kimchi, pickled veggies, unsweetened coconut yogurt, and coconut and raw milk kefir will bring a variety of good bacteria back to your gut.
L-glutamine also helps to repair your gut lining and feels very soothing in your tummy!
Also, in order to properly eliminate estrogen, you must be having daily bowel movements.
If you’re not pooping every day then you need to dig deeper and figure out why.
Are you:
drinking enough water?
eating enough leafy greens and cruciferous veggies?
taking digestive enzymes?
FIVE: PREPARE FOR POST-PILL SYMPTOMS
If you had problems with your cycle before going on the pill, chances are they may return because the pill temporarily masks any underlying menstrual issues. Consider this a chance to connect and take control of your health. You will want to prepare your mind and know that whatever happens is temporary.
Giving your body time to adjust is so important as well as enough rest and downtime.
Flooding your cells with as much nutritional support and love as possible will only help!
Mindset is a large part of the detox process too, so set positive affirmations that everything will work out, and your body is good to you.
possible post-pill symptoms:
-remember, these symptoms can be temporary until your body balances out-
SIX: START CHARTING AND GET YOUR HORMONES TESTED
I would start charting as soon as you stop taking the pill. Take notes and keep track of any and all symptoms in an app (like Clue or MyFLO tracker) or in a journal, as well as when bleeding starts and stops.
Do you feel cramping mid-cycle? That could mean you are ovulating which is a great sign that your body is working to get back into balance!
3 months after quitting the pill, it may be worth it to get your hormones tested if you are curious to know where your levels are at. It’s a great time to test nutrient levels too (you must ask for a FULL blood panel with iron, all the b vitamins, zinc, etc., otherwise they won’t test them.)
There are at-home hormone testing kits that make it super convenient and easy to see where you are at. This information will guide you in accessing steps to take depending on what imbalances you may have. I use the Women’s Health and Fertility Test from EverlyWell to see where at for peace of mind! You can then bring the results to your doctor or naturopath so they can help guide you in steps to take.
SEVEN: START LIVING IN HARMONY WITH YOUR HORMONAL RHYTHMS
Learn to lean into the beautiful rhythm of your hormonal fluctuations each month and get comfortable with knowing where you're at in your cycle on any given day!
