The Holistic Path to Hormonal Health w/ Audrey Gerber

In today's episode, I sit down with the insightful herbalist and integrative health coach, Audrey Gerber, to explore the body's natural rhythms and the powerful role of herbs in supporting hormonal balance. 

Audrey brings to light her own journey and shares invaluable knowledge that could redefine your relationship with your well-being. Prepare to be inspired and enlightened as we peel back the layers of hormonal health with care, expertise, and a touch of nature's best.

In this episode, you'll hear:

- Deep insights into the role of herbs, including promoting liver and nervous system health

- A discussion about bio-individuality and the importance of tailoring herbal and dietary protocols to the individual.

- Common symptoms of hormonal imbalance such as mood swings, cramping, acne, and how addressing these issues at the root can lead to a healthier lifestyle.

- The relationship between gut health, endometriosis, and hormones.

- Perspectives on the education gap surrounding menstrual cycles and how empowering knowledge can prevent delays in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions like endometriosis.

- The far-reaching effects of a dysregulated nervous system, underlining the need for creating a regulated and safe environment for it to function optimally.

- How reattuning to one's body signals and intuition can lead to better stress management and enhance overall well-being.

This conversation is a treasure trove of wisdom for anyone experiencing hormonal imbalances or simply seeking to understand their body better.

Tune in, take notes, and embrace the empowering journey towards a balanced and healthful life.


Connect with Audrey:
Website: https://www.spotlessgirl.com/
Membership: https://www.spotlessgirl.com/no-stress-pms
Instagram: @audreygerber_

Resources:
Watch the free bonus interview with Alyssa Chavez and Audrey Gerber where we discuss the connection between hormones, gut health, adrenals, and more! 

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Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only. This may not be the best fit for you and your personal situation. It shall not be construed as medical advice. The information and education provided here is not intended or implied to supplement or replace professional medical treatment, advice, and/or diagnosis. Always check with your own physician or medical professional before trying or implementing any information read here.

Transcript

Alyssa Chavez [00:00:00]:
Hello, and welcome back to the Endobelly Girl podcast. I have a special guest for you all today. Her name is Audrey Gerber, and she is an herbalist as well as an integrative health coach. And she particularly helps women who are struggling with hormonal and menstrual chaos, as many of us go through to balance their hormones naturally and holistically. Now, one of the major things that Audrey talks about that I really love, and you guys are going to hear a lot about today, is that she really talks a lot about reconnecting with our bodies and finding that intuition that we all have about what's going on in our bodies. But maybe forget how to listen to, because we hear so much from society. We have these certain expectations and ideas about what is going on in our bodies or what should be going on in our bodies. So I will let her talk more about that today.

Alyssa Chavez [00:01:01]:
But that's the one thing that I really love about this conversation and about her ideologies and what she has to say. She does also have a membership and works one on one with women, particularly struggling with PMS type symptoms and just hormone imbalance and all kinds of different things. So I'll let her tell you more about that. But I know that, for me, part of my journey was learning to really understand my menstrual cycle and understand what all of the symptoms that I was experiencing and the imbalances that I was feeling, what that really meant, right. Because there's so much that is just kind of glossed over in our society these days that we just aren't really taught to tune into. So that's really why I wanted to have Audrey here on the show today, so we could have a wonderful conversation about that. I hope you all enjoy. And without further ado, I will let her take it away.

Alyssa Chavez [00:02:09]:
All right. Hello, and welcome to the show. Audrey. I'm so excited to have you on here today.

Audrey Gerber [00:02:14]:
Thank you so much for having me. I'm very excited for this.

Alyssa Chavez [00:02:17]:
Of course, now, Audrey is joining us from very far away. I'm located in sunny southern California, and we were just having a conversation, because for me, as we're recording this, it's right at the beginning of the day, but for Audrey, she's actually just wrapping up her day. So where are you joining us from, Audrey?

Audrey Gerber [00:02:35]:
I'm currently in Denmark. So, yeah, the sun has set, everything's done. The day is finished.

Alyssa Chavez [00:02:42]:
Love it. Which I think is so cool. That's one of the beautiful things about technology, is that we can still have conversations from halfway around the world. I think that's pretty awesome. It's amazing. All right, Audrey. Audrey has so much to share with us. She has such a wonderful background in herbalism and health coaching and all kinds of different things, which we're going to dive into a lot of that today.

Alyssa Chavez [00:03:05]:
But I was wondering, Audrey, if you can start off by just sharing a little bit about your story, your journey, where you came from, where you started, why you've gotten to where you are today. Because I know we'd all love to hear a little bit more about you.

Audrey Gerber [00:03:19]:
Yeah, of course. So I think, like many people who do the work that you and I do, it started with our own story. So when I started menstruating, I didn't menstruate well at all. I was bleeding more than I wasn't bleeding. So I would bleed for nine days and then stop bleeding for seven days, but then immediately start bleeding again for nine days. So I would faint all the time, and I was exhausted, and I was just a teeny, twelve year old little girl. I had no idea what was happening in my body. And the doctor, obviously, immediately put me on the pill, but I never really knew why what was happening.

Audrey Gerber [00:03:58]:
I felt pretty traumatized. I was like, oh, that's not a nice. My period is not a nice thing. And under the pill, it seemed like things were fine with my period, but the rest of my health was going completely bonkers. And all the symptoms, fatigue, headaches, acne, I had weight fluctuations that I had no control over. And I was a young woman, and everybody kept on saying, like, oh, you shouldn't have die. You're so young. And then I hit depression by the age of 17.

Audrey Gerber [00:04:32]:
And I went to a therapist, and it didn't do anything. And I was very questioning why everything was so wrong with me. Why was I so broken, and why couldn't a therapist fix this? And what was happening? And I remember one day going down to the kitchen, and I was about to pop my pill and take it, and I felt like this gagging reflex when I held the pill in my hand, and I felt like my entire body was saying, if you put one of those more in my body, I will throw this up. And it felt so visceral, it felt so intense, and it felt super scary, because I knew that if I told this to my doctor or my parents, everybody would be like, well, let's just change the pill then. But I knew deep inside, it was like, no, I need to stop taking this. So, in secret, I stopped taking the pill. And three months later, my depression had disappeared and all the symptoms were completely different. And I was like, oh, hold on, I'm onto something here.

Audrey Gerber [00:05:39]:
But then obviously, I still had no understanding of what my body was going through. And I had never had a normal cycle because I had been on the pill my entire cyclical life. So my body was really struggling and I had no resources for that. And it took me a long time to learn what was actually happening. And when I did, it was like night and day, and it was so quick. And I thought I had missed this information since I was twelve years old, and I have suffered because I didn't have this information, and I can't let that be a thing for everyone else. So that's what got me into this work.

Alyssa Chavez [00:06:13]:
Nice. I love that. And it's so true that so many of us end up getting into this because we realized how many people need to know this information, how many people are struggling just like we were. Because I know your story is, I mean, of course your story is unique to you, but many aspects of the story are so very common. And definitely the pieces of being put on birth control very young, not really understanding why or what's happening in your body, what even is going on when you have your cycle. I mean, I hear that time and time again from so many people, and you end up just having to go back and get to know your body all over again when you actually start having a natural cycle that's not controlled by medication. And it's just so interesting. But I really love also what you were talking about when you came off of birth control.

Alyssa Chavez [00:07:08]:
I love the way that you said that just your whole body knew that this is not the thing for you. And I think it's such a thing that we are almost taught not to do these days. Yes, we are listening to our body's intuition, because so often our bodies do know. I know that's happened to me before, even if I have a certain food sitting in front of me and I'm looking at it, and just every cell in my body just doesn't want to put that in my mouth for whatever reason. Couldn't tell you why. But our bodies know, our bodies are much more intuitive than we think they are. Especially because we're taught to be very cerebral beings in a way, we're taught to use our brains, and this is what we're told to do. So just tell.

Alyssa Chavez [00:07:52]:
The doctor is the expert. So do what the doctor says.

Audrey Gerber [00:07:55]:
Yes. And if it doesn't make sense, you can't go with that, because it doesn't make sense. Right. But in reality, it makes all the sense when you know.

Alyssa Chavez [00:08:04]:
Exactly. It makes perfect sense to your body.

Audrey Gerber [00:08:06]:
Yeah, it does. And I keep saying something I love to say is my body knows more than my brain does about what it needs and how it works. I mean, my body knows perfectly fine what every cell in my body does, but my brain doesn't know that. So who's the expert here?

Alyssa Chavez [00:08:24]:
We like to think our brains are the expert, but no, I can tell.

Audrey Gerber [00:08:30]:
You my brain is not the expert.

Alyssa Chavez [00:08:34]:
All right. Now, since you have had such a journey, learning about your periods, figuring out what is really happening within your cycle, you've had quite a journey, even since you came off birth control and kind of figuring things out along the way. So I was wondering if you can start by just sharing a little bit about both, what is quote unquote normal for a woman's cycle? Because we know that that can be variable even within the realm of normal. And if you find yourself kind of falling outside of that realm of a normal, healthy menstrual cycle, what are some of the things that you could start with to help to support your body in a natural way?

Audrey Gerber [00:09:17]:
Yeah, absolutely. This is such a great question because I feel like we have to start with the idea that your body comes with normal functions and that it's something that we seem to have forgotten in modern medicinemodern times, that you don't come as a woman in a broken body, and your body isn't meant to have all of these symptoms that we have normalized and made so common. And, well, that's what it is to be a woman nowadays.

Alyssa Chavez [00:09:46]:
Yes.

Audrey Gerber [00:09:48]:
And if we don't come back to revisit the fact that if something is off, that's not natural to you, that's the alien, that's the abnormality. And therefore, there is a way to go back to your blueprints, the way that your body operates normally. And for women, what is normal is an asymptomatic cycle. Right, to call it. So it's the idea that, you know, your period is coming because it's regular, and you might be feeling some changes in your body, but they're not uncomfortable. So you might be feeling like, oh, I'm a little bit more cold because my inner temperature is a little bit lower, or I'm feeling, like, eating more dense, nutritive dense foods than two weeks ago, or I'm feeling a little bit less social. And you can feel those things, but they're not uncomfortable. They're just there.

Audrey Gerber [00:10:51]:
And anything that is causing discomfort. That's a sign that something is off. It's kind of like the signal on the dashboard of the car that you're driving. It's like gas needed. It lights up and it says something's off with the engine. Can you check what it is? And so, basically, a normal cycle is a cycle that you're in tuned with so you can feel the changes, but it never feels uncomfortable. Even when the bleeding starts, it doesn't feel uncomfortable. It doesn't feel painful.

Audrey Gerber [00:11:22]:
It doesn't feel like, oh, I feel all yucky, or I feeling like the Niger falls are falling down there, right? It feels a little bit warm, and it's a constant warmth. That's kind of it. And then when the bleeding is off, you're like, okay, moving on to the next part of the cycle. And obviously, the ways that your cycle shows up is different for every woman. But what is normal is no symptoms, no discomfort, which is revolutionary on its own, because we're never taught that. I mean, as soon as you start your period, people are like, oh, sorry to hear that. It's like, well, now, here's some tampons, and here's a few pills, because you're going to need those, which is a horrible thing. So if you find yourself outside of the realm of the normal, so if you find yourself in a discomfortable position, if you're like, I don't like having my period, this doesn't feel great, then I think the very first step is to go back to the idea that your body knows how to function, and you want to figure out what went wrong and where and why.

Audrey Gerber [00:12:37]:
So I think the first step is to reconnect with how our bodies are supposed to be functioning. And I would go deeper than just knowing what nutrients you need, because your body operates as a whole. So it's more complex than just eat this food and do this exercise, and everything will be fixed. It's like, if we go back to the analogy of the car, do you know how the car functions? And you don't need to know every little intricate detail. But can you read if anything comes up, can you read the manual at least? Can you understand what is happening? Do you know where the motor is? Do you know what it needs to be functioning? Do you know where the oil. So the different system of the body, just knowing what they need to function properly, I think, would be the most impactful and necessary first step, because without it, you're still going to be dependent on someone to tell you what to do, and therefore you're going to keep on falling out of balance, and you're going to still need to go out and seek someone and experience something new, fall out of balance, go back to see someone. And it's this cycle that's not empowering at all. So that's what I would say is the first step.

Alyssa Chavez [00:13:57]:
Yeah, I think that's perfect. It comes back to that. What we're just talking about, learning to listen to your body's intuition and really understanding, because I know this is very true for me growing up, and I'm sure that it's true for a lot of others as well. Where, yeah, I was taught about my menstrual cycle in school and as I was growing up, but very little at the end of the day compared to what there actually is to know about it. I mean, I remember in school we were learning, okay, this is what your menstrual cycle is. This is what happens. Learning that ovulation happens and then learning that there's menstruation at the end of that, if you don't get pregnant, that's basically what you learn.

Audrey Gerber [00:14:42]:
Yes. There's no thinking back to it. I'm thinking, was there anything true from that class I got at school in the menstrual cycle?

Alyssa Chavez [00:14:52]:
Right.

Audrey Gerber [00:14:53]:
Well, your body wants to get pregnant, and it might be 21 days or it might be 28 days. Those are the two types of cycles. And it's like, wait, what?

Alyssa Chavez [00:15:04]:
Right?

Audrey Gerber [00:15:05]:
That's not how it works.

Alyssa Chavez [00:15:06]:
Right.

Audrey Gerber [00:15:07]:
None of that is accurate anymore.

Alyssa Chavez [00:15:09]:
Yeah. And at the end of the day, I feel like it was a very surface layer education, too. And when it comes to something as important as our bodies, that we only get one of these right, and we have it for a lifetime. And as far as menstruation goes, I mean, you're going to be menstruating for most of your life, really, or a good portion of it. I mean, there's a good from age between probably eleven to 14 ish, when you're starting all the way into somewhere around 50 years old, when you go through menopause, that's a long period of time. And if you're going through that period of time not really knowing what's happening and not really understanding the ins and outs of what's happening within your menstrual cycle and what your body's telling you along the way, even things like your cervical fluid, for example, I think is something so many women aren't taught about. Actually, maybe you could touch base on that for a second so that people can understand what we're talking about here.

Audrey Gerber [00:16:03]:
Yeah. I didn't know what it was. Just before I jump into that, I do want to reiterate. We are bleeding for a long time, and in history, never has woman been bleeding that long in the whole of history. So the more the reason to know about it, we are bleeding longer, so we must know more. But, yeah, cervical mucus. I mean, that's a great way to track your ovulation, and it's a great way to track the levels of estrogens you have in your body. So knowing that it's this beautiful liquid, that is an indication of the levels of estrogens that your body is currently creating.

Audrey Gerber [00:16:46]:
And then when you ovulate, something shifts, so it'll change the consistency, it'll change the color, and then when you've ovulated, the body does not need to be producing estrogens anymore. And so you get into a dry phase, and then you can see, oh, well, I'm still very wet after my ovulation. My body still thinks I have to be producing estrogens. What's happening? Why am I still producing estrogens? Does my body feel unsafe, or am I working out too intensely? Is something going on? Is my body fighting a sickness? What is happening? Why is my body not operating the way that it wants to operate normally? Or knowing that, hey, I'm very wet, I'm about to ovulate, and that's normal. It's not gross, it's not bad. It's very normal, and I can use that to pay attention to how my body's doing.

Alyssa Chavez [00:17:38]:
Yeah, that's one of those things that I know growing up, I noticed it. I noticed that I had differences in the stuff coming out, but I didn't really know what it meant. I would just see, oh, it's kind of sticky right now. And later on, it would be kind of more watery and, oh, my gosh, there's a lot today. What's happening here. I thought there was something wrong, and it turns out probably I was just ovulating and had no idea. So it's one of those things, the cervical fluid that keeps your vagina lubricated, but also. And clean.

Alyssa Chavez [00:18:14]:
Absolutely. But also helps to prepare your body for getting pregnant, if that's something that's a goal, or you'll definitely see changes around ovulation. Right. So we menstruate at the beginning of our cycle, and then you'll sometimes have a little period where things are just kind of dry down there, maybe feel even a little uncomfortable sometimes because it can feel just very dry. And then it might get into kind of more sticky, it might turn into more of a lotiony consistency. And then as we near ovulation, usually for a few days leading up to ovulation, you're going to get a much thicker cervical mucus that a lot of people will equate to like an egg white like quality, or sometimes just a very slippery, wet feeling. And then once that ovulation is over, then things kind of dry up again, because like you said, you don't really need that cervical fluid so much after you've ovulated. Now your body's preparing for menstruation again during that or pregnancy, if that happened, there are those changes which can actually be helpful with tracking fertility as well.

Alyssa Chavez [00:19:20]:
If you're somebody who's looking at, for example, doing a fertility awareness method of birth control, whether you're trying to get pregnant or trying to avoid pregnancy, you can actually do that either way. But cervical mucus is actually one of those things that can be a wonderful sign for helping to know when your body's ovulating. That again, I don't know about the rest of you, but I wasn't taught that in school.

Audrey Gerber [00:19:42]:
Me neither. And now it's the most accurate way you have. That is the most accurate way we have of knowing. Oh, I've ovulated because let's say that something changed in your cycle, you got sick or something, and your ovulation changed. Well, how do I know? I just look at my cervical liquid and it tells me so accurately, month after month. It's so good to know.

Alyssa Chavez [00:20:11]:
Well, just speaking about knowing our menstrual cycles in general, because this is, of course, a podcast primarily about endometriosis. That's one thing that's very common, is that it takes a very long time for women with endometriosis to receive a diagnosis. And I fully believe that a lot of that is just a lack of education. I first, for example, started showing symptoms. My early periods were actually very easy. I started having periods relatively late. I think I was about 14 when I started, which is on the older side. My first couple of years there were so easy.

Alyssa Chavez [00:20:46]:
I was thinking, what's the big deal? What's everybody whining about all the time? Which I know isn't the story for everybody. But it wasn't until my late teen years that all of a sudden now I started to get some really intense period pain and irregular cycles and some weird things happening. Didn't really know what was going on in my body. But I was like, oh, it was, to me, almost more like, oh, this is what everybody thinks is normal, or this is what is normal to my brain at the time. And so, of course, like so many others, like you as well, I ended up just going on birth control, because that's what you do if you're having period pain or you're having hormonal symptoms, you go on birth control. And I did that for years and years. And so that's why it took about ten years before, actually, when I went back off birth control, that I actually ended up receiving a diagnosis. And it's very common to go seven to ten years.

Audrey Gerber [00:21:38]:
Yes.

Alyssa Chavez [00:21:38]:
That's the average for women with epiosis, which is crazy. And I think these type of conversations right here can be so helpful to help to prevent that in the future. I think it's one of those things. The more you know, the earlier you can get support for yourself. So maybe things don't progress quite as much as they would have if you waited a decade. And not that it's anybody's fault. If you didn't know, you don't know. But if you're aware and you can get support, awesome.

Audrey Gerber [00:22:09]:
Yeah. And that's our hope, right? That more and more people, it'll become a knowledge. It'll just become a knowledge that's like, oh, you have pain.

Alyssa Chavez [00:22:17]:
Oh, sweetie.

Audrey Gerber [00:22:18]:
Let's explore that. Why? Absolutely normal, rather than saying, oh, I'm sorry. Here's a pill.

Alyssa Chavez [00:22:24]:
Here's a pill. Yes.

Audrey Gerber [00:22:26]:
No, thank you.

Alyssa Chavez [00:22:29]:
All right. I would really love to focus for a moment on PMS, because a, I know that that's something that a lot of women experience, both with endometriosis, but I think just with women cycling women in general, which that refers to premenstrual syndrome, and you could talk to us a little bit more about just what that is and what symptoms might come along with that. And also, just, again, what's kind of a holistic approach that you can take to those PMS symptoms. So can you touch base a little bit on that for us?

Audrey Gerber [00:23:03]:
Absolutely. So I think one of the sad thing about PMS is that we call it the premenstrual syndrome when I think it's a pre diagnosis syndrome, because really what PMS is, is the first alarm signal that your body sends you when anything is off. So most likely, if your symptoms had been caught early on, maybe it wouldn't have developed into endometriosis because somebody would have been able to say, like, oh, your progesterone levels are dangerously low. Let's not make that into a thing. Or like, hey, hold up a minute. Your gut health is having struggles, and it's like, oh, something is happening here. And PMS is that. It's the bell, it's the tip of the iceberg.

Audrey Gerber [00:23:50]:
It's the signal that says hormones are off. And I'm going to tell you loud and clear that you need to do something about it. And usually, PMS symptoms are fairly common in the sense that if you have pain, it's most likely linked to your estrogens. If you have fatigue, it's most likely linked to your progesterone. They're fairly basic because they're just the precursors. Once you get into deeper imbalances, then the symptoms start to be different for every woman. And then connecting to your body becomes way more vital and important. But in the beginning, it's this very like, what are the symptoms? And can you give me a list of symptoms? Because that'll tell me, what is it that your body is asking for? So, common symptoms are headaches, bloating, fatigue, acne, pain, breast tenderness.

Audrey Gerber [00:24:47]:
Which ones do I hear of all the time? I can't remember. Yeah, okay.

Alyssa Chavez [00:24:55]:
Bunch of those, you know, symptoms are mood swings, and things are definitely crying.

Audrey Gerber [00:25:00]:
Spells, feeling depressive, all of these. And I think because of what they are, they're just the warning signals. Then the holistic thing to do is about listening and paying attention to what they're saying and addressing what they're saying. So, heavy, extreme mood swings. Oh, that's a good sign that your nervous system is having a really hard time, which probably means that your progesterone is fairly low. Your progesterone, that's a hormone that's produced during your ovulation, but it's also produced by your adrenal glands that are in charge of your stress hormones. So, mood swings. Oh, have you been stressed lately? Because it seems that your body's having a hard time handling it right now, or are you cramping or do you have acne? It seems like your body's having a hard time detoxifying from your estrogens.

Audrey Gerber [00:25:54]:
It has too many estrogens, and your liver is struggling to keep up with that. Okay, why are your estrogens, are you feeling unsafe? Do you have too much toxins in your environment? So the holistic thing, I think, goes back to what we were talking about from the very beginning, is can you connect to your body and can you learn about what your body's telling you, and then can you act accordingly? And I'm going to underline, again, the idea of going deeper than just what nutrient are you missing? But go deeper than that. What is it that your body is specifically going through that needs your attention?

Alyssa Chavez [00:26:36]:
Yeah. And it goes back to that conversation. This is something that I talk about again and again is that most of the time, if your body has some sort of imbalance, if there's hormones that are not at the level they should be, or something is going on in there, it's pretty much never just one thing.

Audrey Gerber [00:26:54]:
Never. Oh, never.

Alyssa Chavez [00:26:57]:
It's never just one thing. Right. We want it to be simple. And I think it goes back to the culture of like, here's a pill for that, right? A lot of us, or I hear so much conversation around this where people just want to have a natural solution that still take this pill. Like, oh, if I supplement with magnesium, I will never be in pain again. And yeah, it could be true that maybe you need more magnesium in your life, and that can be helpful if you're experiencing cramping, for example. But more likely than not, you need deeper levels of support than just adding that one nutrient into your body. Maybe we're looking at just your overall nutrition or your toxicity, like you said.

Alyssa Chavez [00:27:39]:
Are you being exposed to chemicals that can affect things? How is your stress levels? How is your nervous system handling life right at the moment? Because there's so many things that can impact that, and especially when it comes to your hormones, which can be a very delicate balance sometimes it's a multifactorial thing that we have to think about.

Audrey Gerber [00:28:01]:
Yes. And I see that there's some huge trends around the natural woman's health. For example, one of the trendy herbs is Vitex or Chase berry. It's like, oh, it's so good for your period. And it makes me laugh because it is a herb that has been prescribed for hundreds of years for women. But you didn't get into the trouble you're in because of a lack of vitex, right? That's not what happened. So can we go deeper and find out? Why is it that you might maybe be needing Vitex? And the truth is, a lot of these women don't need it. They need something different.

Audrey Gerber [00:28:38]:
They need something deeper. They need something, like you said, more complex and more whole than just getting the splunks that will replace the pill.

Alyssa Chavez [00:28:49]:
Just a different type of pill at that point.

Audrey Gerber [00:28:51]:
Exactly. It's one with less side effects.

Alyssa Chavez [00:28:55]:
Right, exactly. And for example, in my practice when I work with clients, I use supplements. It's certainly something that we use. But most of the supplements that we use are going to be in the short term. It's like, okay, for example, we're going through a gut healing protocol, so we're going to be taking some eradication agents because there's an overgrowth of bacteria in there, for example. But you're not going to be just relying on that then for the rest of your life. We're going through a process in the moment to help to balance things out. So we're using supplement as a supplement.

Alyssa Chavez [00:29:28]:
Right. In the short term, and then we're tweaking things as we go along. And the goal is, at the end of the day, to not have to take 25 pills a day to feel your best. Right. You want to be able to figure out how to bring things into balance without having to just rely on like, oh, my gosh, I need to have this supplement or I'm not going to get through the day.

Audrey Gerber [00:29:52]:
Yeah. Truly, you want your body to be your best ally, not the stuff you give your body, for sure.

Alyssa Chavez [00:29:58]:
Yeah. And once upon a time, supplements didn't exist. Not to say that there were certainly some different health things. If you look way back in the past, there is a lack of awareness around germs and bacteria and things that we're aware of now. So there's a difference, certainly in the way that we approach health, just because we have a lot more knowledge. But I think that's something that we can continue to take a step further on, continuing to expand our knowledge and awareness of how our bodies work and how we can support things. And really thinking of supplements as that. As supplements and not the end all, be all of supporting your body.

Audrey Gerber [00:30:40]:
Yes, truly.

Alyssa Chavez [00:30:43]:
Now, you mentioned Vitex, and that is something that I hear come up a lot in conversation for many women, is suggested to help to support healthy progesterone levels, which it certainly can have impact on that. Absolutely. But like you said, if your progesterone levels are low, it doesn't mean that it's not because your body is deficient in Vitex. Right. It's an herb that can be supportive, but again, we want to figure out why that's happening in the first place.

Audrey Gerber [00:31:16]:
Right.

Alyssa Chavez [00:31:16]:
Instead of just relying on that. But I do know that herbalism can be really beneficial. At the same time, there's a lot that can be done. And I know, of course, it's very individual. This is one of those things I think is really important. I know you're not going to sit here and tell us, okay, if you're experiencing these symptoms. You should take this herb because it is very different for everybody. We are looking at the body as a whole, and I know that you work very much that way as well.

Alyssa Chavez [00:31:42]:
But I was just. Because I think that it's something that a lot of people are not as familiar with. Most people may not have immediate experience with herbs and their benefits. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about that and just maybe some of the common ones that you use and why, what the benefits are. Just give us a little picture of that.

Audrey Gerber [00:32:04]:
Yeah, absolutely. So you're right. It's obviously, it's different for every woman, because herbs are living creatures, and we are ourselves living creatures. So we don't isolate chemical reactions to act on a system. We're really using a living thing to operate on a living thing. And so the symbiosis that happens is deep and it's complex and it's beautiful, and you have to really know the person and to really know the plant in order to find the right match. But the beauty of that is when you find out that nature works in cycles also, and so are we. And, and nature has a beautiful way of just infusing certain types of nutrients and certain types of actions in a plant at a certain time and moment in the cycle, and your body functions the same way, too.

Audrey Gerber [00:33:00]:
So a lot of the reasons why those plants are so powerful and potent is because you're basically using them to say, hey, my body currently is trying to do that, and it's having a hard time. And I know that's what you do. So can you help me do that for that time? For that period of time? What's beautiful about nature is that it doesn't do it for you. It helps your body to do it. It's the supportive thing. It's very different from the chemical component, which, the chemical component that we have in modern medicine comes from the plant where people were like, that thing. This is helping you combat depression, but we need so much more of that so they can do it for you. But the plant, in its original form, it doesn't fight the depression for you.

Audrey Gerber [00:33:49]:
It helps the body to fight the depression the way that it's supposed to fight the depression. So mainly what I really encourage and love to see in herbalism regarding woman's health is herbs that are promoting liver health, because liver is one of those organs that helps to detoxify and regulate hormones a lot. So if you can get your liver in order, you've probably checked off a quarter of the symptoms that you might ever have and then herbs that support the nervous system. Just as important, because your nervous system is such a huge part. I mean, it's part of the endocrine system, part of the hormonal system, and then when we're talking about specifically woman's hormones. So if we're talking about the menstrual cycle or endometriosis, then we have some common herbs that come back. Vitex is definitely one of them. Chateauvari is one of them.

Audrey Gerber [00:34:48]:
Vitex is more for estrogen dominant people. So we tend to give that to women who are bleeding a lot or who have a lot of cramping. We also suggest raspberry leaf, so powerful for much more, gentle, but also powerful for the same reason, because it really promotes healthy deductification and a regulation of the hormones. Shativari is way, it's a root, and it's way more focused on progesterone. So if your estrogens might be fine, but you're ovulating, and when you ovulate, your body's just not producing the progesterone it needs for, a, your egg to be healthy and ready for life, and b, to stay until you have your period. So you might have shorter cycles, and you might have a little bit less blood, but more mood swings and fatigue, and you just don't feel full of life. Then chattavari or lavender or holy basil would be plants that you would take instead. I like to keep things very simple.

Audrey Gerber [00:35:57]:
And as a general rule of, well, first of all, of sustainability, but also of efficiency and accuracy for your body, I tend to say the herbs that are closest to you are most likely going to be the most beneficial to you because you breathe the same air that they do, and you have the same temperatures that they do. The dendal lions that grow in your garden, they have gone through the same environmental changes that you have. And so what they've developed in themselves to survive is probably what you also need to adapt to the changes that you need. Notice what nature is building around you and notice how much of that, because that might be the most beneficial for you. So I used dandelion. I almost always recommend dandelion because that's one of those herbs that's everywhere and super helpful for the liver. And I lived in Canada for a while, and now I'm in Denmark, where pine trees are everywhere, and pine trees are excellent for the nervous system. And so I would say to nordic woman, I'd say, like, maybe you should pay attention a little bit to the trees and see how you can support your nervous system.

Alyssa Chavez [00:37:10]:
Yeah, that's so interesting. I hadn't actually heard the part before about focusing on the herbs and plants that grow in your region, but that makes a lot of sense because you're going to be in a way more connected with that. And it's like you said, breathing the same air and kind of in that same environment. And it's very different than just ordering herbs that came from halfway around the world or something like that. That's super interesting.

Audrey Gerber [00:37:37]:
And it actually has a huge difference, because if I give you a plant that comes from South Africa, which is a country that is so far from you and that has nutrition realities so different from you and environmental, it's not going to have the same effect on you. And this is why trendy herbs can be so dangerous for the planet, first of all, because then everybody wants them, right? Who's producing those? The earth is, but also because, oh, well, I think that's why sometimes herbs get a bad rep, because it's like, oh, I've tried it and it doesn't work. Well, yeah, of course, if you've gotten this really expensive berry that grows into a rare field in China, that's probably not going to be helpful for you. But guess what? If you're chinese, or if you have chinese descend, that might make a huge difference for you because your body is like, oh, I know this response to a need I have. It's actually a pretty big part of holistic herbalism.

Alyssa Chavez [00:38:38]:
Yeah, it comes back to that bio individuality. And that's something that I talk a lot about on the podcast here. Certainly something I talk about a lot in my one on one practice with my clients. For me, it's all about bio individuality. I know I don't have a specific, I mean, I have a general process that I'll follow with clients, but it's very different for each person. Nobody's going to have the exact same supplements or the same dietary protocol. I mean, it's just going to be unique for each individual. And I think that that is true of anything that you're going to approach.

Alyssa Chavez [00:39:13]:
And that's something that I hear people struggling with all the time, too, is, oh, especially now with so much access on the Internet. Right? You hear, oh, so and so. I heard somebody on the Internet talk about how this herb is really beneficial or this supplement is really beneficial. I think I'll try it and then, oh, they don't have the same result. Well, that just doesn't work. Well, it may just not be what your unique body needs. And that's where it can be a very dangerous rabbit hole to go down when you're just reading what everybody else is doing and assuming that it's going to work the same in your body, but you don't have the same body, you don't have the same needs, you don't have the same blueprint going on, and that makes a huge impact on how things are going to interact.

Audrey Gerber [00:39:54]:
Yeah. And it's a beautiful sentiment because, yeah, we want to be more natural, we want to be more sustainable, but we go back to the problem. We don't know how our bodies work. So that's why it's always the first step. You have to know how your body works. And I mean, yeah, also educate yourself in the herbs that you're taking, if you are taking them, but if you don't know your body, it's not going to matter.

Alyssa Chavez [00:40:20]:
Yeah. Now, you had talked a little bit before about your nervous system. I know that's something you've touched on a couple of times today, and you've been talking about how herbs can impact your nervous system. But I was wondering if you can talk a little bit more just about why your nervous system is so important. You've mentioned that a little bit, how it can impact your hormones and things like that. But why is it such an important thing for us to think about? Because I think when you're struggling with endometriosis or just weird wacky cycles or whatever's happening in your body, you're more focused on those immediate symptoms. Like, I just want to get rid of this pain. I just want to not have this fatigue.

Alyssa Chavez [00:41:00]:
But at the end of the day, like you said earlier, we're a whole body. We're a whole being. Right. And so there is no looking at individual symptoms. We have to look at the body as a whole. So just speaking about that nervous system in particular, how does that really impact us? Why does that matter? If you're experiencing pain and fatigue and hormone imbalance and all of these symptoms that come along with it, what's really the importance of that?

Audrey Gerber [00:41:27]:
Yeah, and this is such a powerful question because the nervous system is one of those systems that does get the veto on your body. So the nervous system takes information from the body and from the brain. And so any information the nervous system takes, it analyzes it. And from that information, it decides how the rest of the body is going to function. And it has a specific set of reactions that it's going to trigger for different analysis of what the information. So if the nervous system feels like, okay, the thoughts that I'm having are all negative, and the body's telling me that I'm in pain. Clearly something is off, and clearly we're in danger. And I don't think we have time to put some shine in the hair and the skin or boost digestion.

Audrey Gerber [00:42:28]:
We need to start figuring out what is wrong, and we need to do it now. And basically, it takes control over the entirety of your body. And when that is activated, no level of symptom management will do anything because your body is locked to that. It's close to that. It says, sorry, I cannot be bothered handling your tummy ache. This is a life or death situation. Your body's certain that something is deeply off, and your body's main purpose is to make sure that you're okay. And when your body sends signals, like, I have pain, but I think I'm okay, and when the brain sends signals, like, I'm safe, I'm at peace, I'm bothered by this pain, then the body's like, oh, so we're not in danger, all right.

Audrey Gerber [00:43:22]:
And then it opens up and the nervous system sort of just opens up all the pathways and all of the endocrine pathways, and suddenly all the cells open up and they're willing to receive signals that they wouldn't be willing to receive if you were activated in your stress response. And then in that moment, symptom management starts to have an effect, and then your body starts to unlearn the things that it has to unlearn. But if you don't have your nervous system in a position to change, that's not going to be happening. And the other thing that comes with that is that many of the symptoms we have are a direct result of our nervous system being drained and burned out. And so when you are closed for that long, there's some basic systems, basic functions that don't get the time and energy and effort that they need to have to be functioning well. And so they just kind of go like, well, I'm going to stop. I can't. I don't have what I need.

Audrey Gerber [00:44:18]:
You're refusing to give me what I need, and that creates more symptoms. So not only can we not manage symptoms when we're not there, but if the nervous system is not in a safe place, you're going to create more symptoms down the road.

Alyssa Chavez [00:44:31]:
Yeah.

Audrey Gerber [00:44:32]:
So I think nervous system is one of the main things to look at. I mean, there are many things to look at. As you said, it's every. But it's one of those things where you're like, I want to make sure that your body is able to regulate itself before we do any of the work. And that's something I notice in my clients all the time. We can't do much work unless we've explored the nervous system. We have to establish some safety in the body, and it's super important. And as women, we deserve that because a lot of us are deeply traumatized by period stories, by things that have happened.

Audrey Gerber [00:45:09]:
We collectively have trauma, and that has an impact on our bodies. And if we're wanting to unlock our natural radiance, if we're wanting to go and rebalance our hormones and really live a healthy, happy, energized life, we're going to have to work through that. So we need to create a safe space for that.

Alyssa Chavez [00:45:29]:
Yeah, I agree with that 1000%. And that's something that I definitely approach in my practice as well. Because even just looking at digestive health, for example, because that's something that I start with, with many of my clients, because it's had such huge impact on your body. You're not going to have a healthy digestive function if your nervous system is going crazy. Because like you said, your body's not going to prioritize digesting when it thinks that it's in a life or death situation, which your body just doesn't know the difference between there's a lion chasing you or you're stressed about work, right? Or there's internal stress happening in your body, your body doesn't really know the difference. It just knows that there's stress. And that's the number one priority. And without learning to manage that, and of course, we're never just going to remove stress entirely from our lives.

Alyssa Chavez [00:46:27]:
That sounds lovely, but if you live in modern society and you have relationships with other people and you function in life, more likely than not you're going to have stress come up in your life. It's more about learning to work with that, learning to keep that regulated, learning even the signals that your body is showing you. When maybe it becomes a bit too much, you need to take a step back and take some deep breaths and use those tools and strategies to help to re regulate your nervous system. I don't know how you think about this. To me, it's almost more like a cycle in and of itself, right? Because we're going to go through periods of higher stress and things going on, but then we just learn to kind of rebalance that in between and calm things back down. So that way we're ready when the next emergency comes up. Right?

Audrey Gerber [00:47:21]:
Yeah. And I think it's also an opportunity to explore the conditioning, because if your body doesn't know the difference between a tiger and you feeling not pretty enough, that means your body, you weren't never supposed to be stressed about not being pretty enough. Your body thinks the only thing you should be stressed about are things like famine and war and tigers.

Alyssa Chavez [00:47:47]:
Right.

Audrey Gerber [00:47:47]:
And the body's convinced that your boss judging you is not a cause for stress. And I think it's such a good opportunity for us to reevaluate. Like, why is this thing causing me to stress? Because the body's confused. But like we said in the beginning, the body's the expert here.

Alyssa Chavez [00:48:06]:
Yeah.

Audrey Gerber [00:48:07]:
So maybe the body isn't meant to be really stressed about that pimple on your forehead. And maybe the body always thought, well, if you're having pimple, that's not a problem. I'm okay with that. But we've made it into something that maybe is causing extra distress. Obviously, there are things that are here that are stress causes. Like you said, that they are going to be here. They're going to be here, and that's how it is. And there is no avoiding it.

Audrey Gerber [00:48:38]:
But it's a good opportunity to build this resilience and to be like, I'm okay being stressed because I got my back, and my body has got my back because I know how my nervous system works and I can regulate it and we can move on to the next cycle. It's beautifully said.

Alyssa Chavez [00:48:57]:
Yeah, that's perfect. Well, Audrey, I think that has been so much wonderful information for people. There's a lot to digest in this episode. I feel like this is one that may be beneficial to go back to listen and relisten just to really absorb all of the awesome little nuggets that have popped up in the episode today. Is there anything else that you feel like we have missed that you'd like to share? Anything else you'd like to touch base on before we wrap up today?

Audrey Gerber [00:49:28]:
I think you're right. That's a lot of information. I'm sorry I went overboard a little bit.

Alyssa Chavez [00:49:33]:
That's okay. I love it.

Audrey Gerber [00:49:34]:
I think I would just reiterate, start with reconnecting to your body, because there will always be an information that you don't have. But if you look at connection with your body, your body will send you signals before they make sense. And those signals can make a huge difference for you.

Alyssa Chavez [00:49:53]:
Yeah, I think that's so true. It's like rebuilding that trust in ourselves and that listening, like, just going back to what you're talking about at the very beginning, listening when your body's saying, I don't want that in my body, or this is off in my body, and learning to listen to that over, say what society tells you and what the media tells you about what you should know about your body, I think that's beautiful. All right, Audrey. Now, I'm sure people are going to want to connect with you, hang out with you, learn more about you. Can you tell us a little bit about where we can find you, what type of work that you do with people, how people can jump into your programs and things like that? Where can we find you?

Audrey Gerber [00:50:37]:
Absolutely. So I think that's the easiest to remember. And where you'll find the most information is on my website, spotlessgirl.com. It's fairly easy. Spotlessgirl.com. And in there, currently, I have a couple of offers, and I've been revamping the membership. So I do have a membership for women who are very interested in being educated in a holistic way. So I want to understand how my body works.

Audrey Gerber [00:51:05]:
But I also don't want this to be like a modern medicine kind of approach. I also want to have the material and the resources to balance my nervous system and to reconnect with the wisdom of my body. And I want to know how I can make my own herbal remedies. But I also want to know, why am I have this symptom and what does that mean about my body? So it's kind of like my library of resources, and I've been working on that, revamping that a lot. So that's the main work that I'm doing at the moment. But I do have intensives. If someone is needing more personal one on one approach, I do work one on one with clients, and I sometimes run group programs for specific things. So you can go there, sign up on the newsletter, and you'll be updated on how and when.

Audrey Gerber [00:51:51]:
But yes, get all the free stuff that's in there. And I think the membership might be the best option at the moment.

Alyssa Chavez [00:51:59]:
Perfect. And I will link to that in the show notes as well. So if you're driving, don't worry about trying to write that down. You can go and find those links there. I say that because I know I'm always doing something else while I'm listening to a podcast, I'm driving, or I'm taking a walk, or I'm cooking dinner or something. So that's where I think the show notes are a beautiful place, and I will link to all of that. All right, Audrey. Well, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing so much with us.

Alyssa Chavez [00:52:27]:
I love talking to other people who are super passionate about what they do and about helping to educate the world about tuning into our bodies and understanding how things work so much more. So thank you so much for sharing all of that today.

Audrey Gerber [00:52:42]:
Thank you so much for having me, and I so appreciate the work that you do. I just love that we're offering this to the world. It's so beautiful and it's so amazing.

Alyssa Chavez [00:52:51]:
Love it, love it. Well, thank you to all of us for joining me today, and we will talk soon. Much love.

Audrey Gerber [00:52:59]:
Take care.

Alyssa Chavez [00:53:02]:
My friend. If you loved this episode and this conversation with Audrey, then I have a special bonus just for you. So just a couple of days after Audrey and I sat down and recorded this episode, she actually invited me to come and speak and do a live talk for her audience. So we got together and had a whole conversation, kind of taking what we talked about here, but even going a little bit deeper, we talked about the connection between your gut and your hormones and your periods, and how all of those things are even related to each other and why one thing connects to the other and affects each other and all of the things. So definitely a very relevant conversation for women with endometriosis. And I know all of you will enjoy it. So what I did is I asked Audrey after we were finished with that, if I could have a copy of that recording. And so I now have that in hand, and I wanted to offer that as a little bonus to this episode.

Alyssa Chavez [00:54:03]:
So if you would like to see that recording, I have a video of that. Then go ahead and head into the show notes, and there is a link there where you can download the full recording of that live talk as a little bonus for today for free. No cost for that. Just wanted to share that so that you can all enjoy. So with that, I hope you enjoy and have a wonderful day.