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Summary In this episode, Victoria discusses her personal journey with hormones and perimenopause. She shares her experience of feeling lost and overwhelmed when her hormones started changing and how she dove into research to understand what was happening. Victoria emphasizes the importance of listening to our bodies and flowing with our hormones instead of fighting against them. She provides three actionable steps to harmonize hormones: prioritize better sleep, reduce stress, and incorporate simple movements like walking. Victoria encourages listeners to take control of their hormonal health and offers resources for further support.
Victoria (00:00.975)
Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Victoria L Women's Holistic Health. I am your host Victoria, and I'm here today to talk about hormones because I want to continue to open this conversation and to share with you. And I had a really interesting conversation this weekend with a lady who came to my booth at the wellness fair that I was doing. And she explained to me how she's like super well past her cycle and
men's menstruation and everything, but that she was so grateful to see that people are talking about menopause. People are opening the conversation about hormones, but what's going on in their bodies that we as women are sharing with each other, what is going on? So that's what I wanted to do today. I wanted to continue this conversation. I wanted to keep the lines of communication open here. And I really wanted to just continue to build.
on this idea that we can share and we can talk and we can be all part of our Hormone staff together, right? We can do this.
So.
I'm hoping that by the end of this conversation today, that you will be able to take away a couple really easy steps that you can start to do to implement right away today that will start to harmonize your hormones. It'll start to make you know if you're struggling with the hormone balance, it'll start to make you feel better, right? And really help you come to a place of balance. So, here today, as you know, your friend,
Victoria (01:43.087)
I wanted to share with you that, you know, this has been a long road for me to get to this place of talking to you about my hormones, about periods, about all this stuff. I have literally been working in the health and wellness field for over 25 years. I worked as a personal trainer. I've done holistic wellness coaching, yoga instructor, meditation coach, holistic nutritionist.
manifestation and mindset coach and now you know what I wanted to do with these conversations is find a way to combine all of these things together all of these different educations so that I can come to you guys and offer a holistic health approach right because we are spirit beings we have a mind we have a body we have a soul there's so much more to us than just addressing what is physically happening with our hormones.
But why am I here today and talking more about hormones, right? What is the purpose of this? Well, one, I want to open the conversation, like I said, I want to continue to open this conversation so that we can keep it going, right? And I guess to fully understand how I got here, because a lot of people have been asking me, people, what is your background in hormones? Like, what are you some sort of chemist? Are you like a science -y person? How did you get here?
So I wanted to give you today a little bit of a background about myself and help you to understand why I'm here talking to you about hormones in this way, what happened to get me to this place. So yes, we really have to kind of backtrack three years, right? Hearing menopause hit me so hard. I've shared this with you guys before. The weight gain, all this stuff, I really had no idea at the time.
what was happening. I felt like my body was completely turning against me. You know, here I was, this well -educated health and wellness professional with 25 years in the industry and suddenly within the span of four weeks, I have gained 40 pounds. My body is so swollen. I am so uncomfortable. My cycle has gone berserk. It's completely irregular. It's all over the place. My
Victoria (04:04.655)
my emotions are all over the place. I am a jerk. All these things are like all of a sudden and within the span of four weeks it felt like and like I said it literally seemed to happen within one month. It was insane how hard it hit me and how fast. I really thought you know at the time before this hit me I'm like I'm doing all the right things. I
was doing everything according to what I had been taught, what I had learned. I was working out six days a week. I took my vitamins every single day, like religion. I sat down to have a healthy dinner every day. And really I stuck to the guidelines of what I had taught all those years as a healthy lifestyle. When I turned 40, I was determined that I was going to go into this next decade in the best shape of my life. Okay. So here I am.
A year into that, and all of a sudden when? Something I was doing seemed to be backfiring on me. I really didn't know, I kept thinking, why am I doing wrong? What is wrong with me? Right? One, the mindset was completely wrong. But that's another time. And so when this hit me, that's when I really started to look anywhere and everywhere for answers. I felt broken. I felt like I needed to be fixed.
which is also another thing that I'm going to touch on in another podcast. But this is how I was feeling in that moment in that like all of a sudden all this shit hit the fan. I had no idea what was happening. I knew in just from my history that it had to be some sort of hormonal connection. I had already found out through my natural practitioners that I had.
I had been diagnosed with extreme adrenal fatigue. They were like, your adrenals are not working. But I was still doing my thing, so it didn't matter. And then, honestly, by the time this hit me, I had already been diagnosed pretty much with every possible female issue under the sun by my doctor. So I had PCOS at 16, endometriosis at 17.
Victoria (06:22.735)
They told me that I was in menopause when I was 32. And then the only cure for that was an IUD to stop my cycle, which actually messed me up even more, which I am going to talk about again. That's another whole another episode, that one. But there was always all these complications that were coming up with my cycle related to my PCOS, related to what I went through with endometriosis. So naturally, when this all went awry, when I went from being like,
this super fit person to a swollen sausage, I leaned into, okay, what are my hormones doing? What is happening? I know that I have problems with my hormones. How can I fix this, right? And like I said, I knew about the adrenal fatigue. So that was something that I already knew I had to look into, but I had no idea how that, the adrenal fatigue coupled with
The intense stress I was under the PTSD I was suffering from and All of the other stress Things that were going on in my life how this was all Exacerbating what I would soon learn was gonna be a metaphors that was hitting me, right? And I'm not ashamed to admit that I honest to God I had no idea Before this hit me what peri -metaphors really actually was?
And it was actually this is how I learned about her metaphors guys I was actually like doing one of those doomsday scrolling you know where you're like you're super pissed off the world, so you put your face in your phone you scroll scroll scroll you don't care what. Right don't talk to me i'm on my phone that was me I was doing an angry school through instagram one day and. You know i'm just like done I was like a buried my face i'm like leave me alone okay and.
I know, I know, I'm not the only one that does this. So I know that you've done this too, so don't judge me. Then all of a sudden, this real pops up. It's some basic B -roll of this lady sipping her coffee in the morning, looking a hot mess, just like I do every single morning. And I instantly, I like relate to her instantly because I'm like, she looks like what I look like in the morning and I can relate to that. And then all of a sudden, a list of like 15 symptoms pop up on the screen. And I'm looking at them and it's like,
Victoria (08:45.487)
Check, check, check, check. my God, I have every single one of these symptoms. This is me. I'm related to this hot mess. What is happening? What is she going through? And then they all disappear. And then the caption says, Harry Metapos, me too. And I was like, wait, what? So I immediately head down, I click on the post, I read the caption, because I'm like, what?
on earth is she talking about? Right? So I read about what she's talking about. And then I had to Google and then I'm like, my freaking Lord. And I did a deep dive over the next week to learn everything I possibly could on perimenopause, on periods, on hormones, on hormones in midlife, in what happens to our body when estrogen is declining. Like,
Holy shit balls. I did the biggest, most deepest dive I could possibly do into hormone research. It was the hugest rabbit hole I have ever been lost in. And if you know me at all, you know I can get lost in some huge rabbit holes. Like I really think my nickname should be Alice in Wonderland because I can get stuck in these holes for days. ADHD, hyper attention, you got it.
that's what I got it goes in that's what I get into right so I'm doing this deep dive right because here I was in literally the best shape of my life I was the healthiest version I have ever been when I when I was in first term 40 okay I I worked so hard to be the healthiest version of myself and to do it all properly as much as I have known how to do really at that time.
I didn't understand what was about to come, but this was where, you know, this is where I was at in my 40s. And when I turned 40, I was like, I am, I am in the best shape of my life. If you've ever seen my reel, you can see how like the September video versus the November video, I don't even look like the same person. Right? So here I am in the best shape of my life at 40. And then literally a year later, I am a hot freaking mess.
Victoria (11:10.575)
a complete mess. And here I am a year later just learning that perimetropause was changing me, was making me a different person, right? And I didn't have anybody to talk to at the time. I didn't know who I could go to to say, like, are you, is this happening? Like I mentioned hot flashes to one of my friends and she was like, already, you're not old enough for that. And I'm like, I'm literally sweating so much.
Like it's disgusting. I'm swimming in it. It's so bad. So here I am. I feel alone. I don't know what to do. I get into the research and I just take a deep dive. Then as I'm researching, I learn about seed cycling. And I'm like, this is something I can implement super easy. It's apparently going to help support my estrogen, which is declining that I'm now learning that is a huge thing in perimenopause. Apparently perimenopause started when I was 32 and that time...
the doctor said I was a menopause, probably was a menopause, it was probably perimenopause, so it was just me preparing for the menopause, okay? All these things are like spiraling through my head, and so I'm like, okay, I am trying to figure all this out, but I need to do more research, but I know that I can start the seed cycling right away. I can add these little tiny little mortals of nuggets of num -nums into my day, and
I can just assume it happens. Okay, that's where it all started. That's where literally the 28 day strategy all started with the seed cycling that I was like desperate to figure out what the fuck was happening with my body. Okay. So I do the seed cycling in within four months, all of a sudden, month for my periods back on track. it feels less like it's trying to murder me and more like a normal period should feel.
I started to notice that I was feeling way better coming into my cycle and going out of my cycle. I started to notice that I was able to align my movement, how I was working out with my cycle, because now I knew where my cycle was, what it was doing. And I had become aware of the cycles and the phases and all the things that were happening.
Victoria (13:33.743)
So I was like, okay, I'm going to start to implement these little things. I implemented moving my body in alignment with my hormones as opposed to fighting them because before I was working out six days a week every single week of the year and it didn't matter if I was menstruating or not. I was pushing through. I was fatiguing myself beyond fatigue. Not a good thing, right? Because I wanted to do the weight training every single day. That's what I was doing. So then I'm learning about these things.
And I noticed, okay, I'm actually starting to feel better. My energy is coming back. I feel less like an overstepped substance every day. And I really started to learn how unique each hormone is and how, you know, they dance with each other, how they play off of each other, what each other needs. I also learned how unique each phase of our cycle is and how we can really
care for each phase instead of, like I said, fighting it. I was fighting it before so badly. So even as we enter this phase of perimetopause, where, you know, our cycles do change, they slow, they become different, I learned that if we can learn to listen and flow with our hormones,
and the signals our bodies are giving us, we can find more ease and grace into these transitional years. Now, obviously, I'm still in peri -menopause. I haven't quite hit the menopause yet. And that's coming, I'm sure. But I'm learning to flow with it, right? So let's talk a little bit more about this and how we can start to incorporate these practices that support our hormones and our peri -menopause. So...
We have four phases to our cycles guys. Does everyone know this yet? I feel like I've actually had so many conversations that people don't understand this. And I will be honest, I didn't fully understand the four phases of our cycles either. So no shame. Step up and learn, right? Let's learn together. So we have four phases. We have the menstruation marked by the bleed. Everyone seems to know that one. Follicular, ovulation, and lutea. Okay.
Victoria (15:51.791)
Like I said, menstruation is the easiest one to recognize. my gosh, I'm bleeding. Okay, menstruation is here. And our bodies at this time are asking for us to slow down. They are doing a big job here. So this is the time when we really should be enjoying the comfort foods, settling into that slow pace, not fighting our bodies, need for rest. Often this phase is referenced as the inner winter.
And I just love that. Think about that, right? Like it is that winter phase where we want to get cozy, we want to eat the stews, right? Like that is literally what's happening with our body. And so as our menstruation wanes with age, you know, it comes less and less. We often still do feel some of the things that come along with the bleed phase. Sometimes we still get the bloat, the cramps, the cravings, the other things that often come.
up for you at this time. So the more we can really know and understand each phase, the more ease and grace we can have as we move through them. You know, that's why in the 28 day strategy that that was how it was born. I was like, I need to, I need to talk more about each phase. We need to be okay with, you know, the menstruation phase is a time of rest for a lot of us.
And, you know, even if we are not fully menstruating anymore, there's still that need for calm and quiet and rest in menstruation. And it's so important to learn also to learn that during the ovulation phase, our, our energy can spike. We are feeling social. This is the best time to get out and do the things, book yourself, like a social event during the ovulation and go have some fun. Right.
So like I said at the beginning, I wanted to make sure that we talk a little bit more about hormones that we discuss what's happening with our hormones. But I also want you guys to start to be able to harmonize your hormones like right away, okay? It is important that we are given the tools. I'm not keeping them. I want you guys to know, I want you guys to feel amazing. I want you to have to have.
Victoria (18:09.839)
the ability, I want you to have the ability to be able to start to really dig into your hormones and see what's going on in your bodies and your cycles. So here are the top three, top three things you can do right freaking now to start to shift those hormones. Okay, one, better sleep. Seriously, this was a struggle for me because I have suffered with insomnia for a very long time.
And I mean, how cool is it that your body's like, I need more sleep to be able to harmonize your hormones for you. And at the same time, these hormone fluctuations cause insomnia. This is kind of a cool joke, but here's the thing. If you are able to, I highly recommend that you create a relaxing bedtime routine, okay? Set yourself up. You know, if you gotta put kids to bed, then
the kids are to bed instead of sitting on your phone or sitting watching tv for two three hours begin your bedtime routine right the aim is for seven to nine hours of quality sleep a night but start where you can and if you can start by getting yourself into a nice restful sleep
and having that routine, that's going to be crucial for helping your hormones regulate, like your left in hormones responsible for making sure your melatonin is in place and that your sleeping cycles in place. This is important, okay? Because sleep is really crucial for your hormone regulation and honestly, our overall health. If we're not sleeping enough, we feel shitty. So establish that bedtime schedule, stick to it. Go to bed.
wake up same time every day, even on weekends. Don't break that pattern. If you can keep a consistent schedule. I know this is hard because I know, you know, for me, when the boys were little, we would switch off Saturdays and Sundays, who would take, you know, the early morning hockey shifts, right, so that the other one could sleep in. So I understand that need for like, sometimes allowing that extra rest. That's, that's understandable. I totally get that.
Victoria (20:26.127)
But as I am in her meta -pause now, I do find that my body wants to be awake at the same time every day. My body wants to go to sleep at the same time every day. I can fight it as much as I try to. And sometimes it doesn't work. Sometimes I'm like literally sitting, having conversation with people and my eyes are closing and I'm like, holy shit, it is eight o 'clock at night and I need sleep. My bed time routine is starting now, right?
So creating a routine as much as you can, very important. Create a sleep -friendly environment, right? What does your body need for sleep? Your body needs a cool room, a dark room, quiet. Maybe you have some lavender for your pillow. Maybe you have a meditation that you like to listen to. Maybe you have a sleep sound, noisy machine thing. Set yourself up in a sleep -friendly environment for you.
Avoid screens, get off your screens at least one hour before you want to go to bed. Okay, because we all know there's enough research out there now that that blue light actually interferes with your sleep cycles. It actually changes them. So we want to get off of that, right? Incorporate those calming activities before bed. Maybe reading is a calming activity for you, a warm bath. Maybe you do some gentle yoga before you head up to your bed. You know,
Like I said, additionally, considering using those essential oils, I love lavender and chamomile together. They like knocking me up. I love them. Put them on the top of my head, right at the top of my head. And they just help me fall asleep. So if I'm having one of those nights where, you know, the meditation is not working or I just want, I just know I'm going to need some extra sleep support, my essential oils are my go -to. Number two.
Reduce the stress. Okay, I know this is okay. This is this comes with a preface. Life has stress and fully aware. Okay, I'm not saying like, lock yourself in a bubble so that you never experience stress ever again. And you can go through la la land and pretend like life is not stressful. No. But it's about learning. How do we cope with the stress when it comes up? Right?
Victoria (22:54.415)
How can we, instead of allowing ourselves to be in the ship storm of the stress, how can we take a step back, take a deep breath, really look at what's going on around us, right? How can we implement stress reducing practices into our daily routine? Maybe, you know, what is it that looked like to you? You know, because chronic stress is wreaking havoc on your hormone balance. So you need to find ways to manage and reduce stress without,
intervention. That is a key thing. Okay, like I don't, this is, this is the thing that I have been doing a lot of research on. You need to be like, you need to be able to manage your own stress. Okay, that's what that comes down to. Are you able, because sometimes, you know, all these extra little things are awesome, like, you know, the essential oils, maybe you
you know, the glass of wine or whatever it is that you do to reduce your stress. Those can help sometimes inadvertently, but what happens if you don't have access to them and you're in a stressful situation? Right? That's what this is. That's what I'm saying. How do you reduce your own stress? How do you be responsible for your own stress reduction without any sort of outside things? Right? So one,
Start by identifying your stress triggers. Find ways to minimize them if it's possible, right? If your kids are your stress trigger, that's enough. I'm sorry, you have to deal with that. You have to be present. How do you incorporate mindful practices into your day? Can you add some meditation, some deep breathing? Again, these are things that you can do that you can own in yourself. You don't need any externals.
to provide relaxation this way. These things can help to calm your mind, reduce your cortisol levels. Things like yoga and Tai Chi, they're excellent for combining both that physical movement to literally physically move the stress out of your body, but also to bring you into mindfulness. So making time for activities that you enjoy, that are calming, that are really letting you release and let go.
Victoria (25:14.927)
whether it's reading, gardening, spending time with loved ones, really just prioritizing your self care, setting your boundaries and ensuring that you are actually recharging. Right? It's one thing to set boundaries and say, well, I don't want this person in my life or I don't want this to happen or I don't want that to happen. Great. You put that out there. But once that boundary is there, when you're inside your boundary, are you doing the things to take care of yourself?
to nourish yourself fully. Are you actually reducing your stress, right? So, and if this is something that you're feeling overwhelmed with, you know what, seek out the support of a therapist or a counselor or a stress management coach, somebody that can help you because there's no shame in that, reach out for help. And then lastly, incorporate simple movements like walking. I have talked about this so many times.
Walking is an amazing way to decrease stress, to level out hormones, to move your body without impacting, like without high impact and stress on your joints and causing all kinds of pain and suffering that maybe you're not ready for, right? So incorporate gentle, regular exercises. I love walking. I think that's the best way. Get out in nature and walk. That's my thing.
Walking is a low impact activity that regulates the hormones, boosts your mood, it will improve your overall health. You know, you do want to aim for at least 30 minutes a day, but remember that the consistency is more important than that. The consistency is more important than the intensity or the duration. If you can commit, every day you're going to walk for five minutes and you get that commitment and the next thing you know you're going to want to walk a little bit longer.
a little bit longer and eventually you'll get to 30 minutes a day. But if you can commit to me, my time, five minute walk, that's not a long time, right? Walking outdoors can provide additional benefits as well. You know, you get that sun exposure, you get exposure to the natural light to help with your vitamin D regulation, helps you regulate your circadian rhythms.
Victoria (27:33.135)
so many great benefits to getting the sun on your skin and incorporating that into your day. Try incorporating walking into your daily routine. Maybe you take short walk breaks, you know? I always thought it was funny that, you know, when I was working in an environment where people go up for smokes and I'd be like, can I go for a walk? No. But they can go up for smoke. So, you know, that's kind of weird.
But see if you can do that. Incorporate a short walk instead of a five minute walk. Add that to your day. Opt for the stairs when you can and avoid the elevators. Do as much as you can to incorporate some extra steps into your day. Park further away from your destination, walk in, you know, or maybe even consider walking with a friend or joining a walking route. That's a great way to get to know people, to create social connection.
You know, whatever you can do that will really enhance your life, reduce your stress, why not go for it? So by focusing on better sleep, stress reduction, incorporating these simple movements, like walking in your daily routine, you can start to really harmonize those hormones and improve your overall wellbeing, right? These steps are simple. They're super simple. Anybody can do them. You don't need to buy any fancy equipment to do these things. Yet,
they actually have been shown to make such a profound difference in how you feel and how you function every day. So as I wrap up today, you know, I really, I really do appreciate that you guys come and you listen to this podcast and that you're willing to let me talk about hormones and you're willing to get out there and share about hormones on social media. I really appreciate that you're doing this for me. I hope that this talk and
this podcast today that you were able to find, you know, maybe the motivation you need or the reminder that you need to start to do things for you to feel empowered to take your hormonal health into your own hands. So if you'd like to, you know, really dig deeper into this journey, if you're ready to make more choices that are going to really affect how amazing you feel and really help you.
Victoria (29:57.839)
to move yourself forward in the hormonal journey here. You can connect with me on Instagram if you're not already. Instagram is at Victoria underscore health strategist. I share a lot of tips, resources, and I just try to be really inspirational on there on how holistic health and wellness can benefit you.
And if you're ready to take it even more in depth than that, I encourage you to head over to my website. I have blog posts there. I have resources. I share with you my latest offerings. The podcast is there as well. And connection to my course. You can learn about the course and all the books. So that's www .treepose .online. Don't forget, you know, that
you can always message me and reach out on the socials and we can discuss more. Like we can do, I do little house interviews to find out, you know, if we're a good match to work together. So thank you for being here today, guys. I really am grateful for this opportunity and let's continue to embrace this journey of formal health together.
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