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I'm Hormonal | Hormone balance, gut health & nutrition insights
Welcome to I’m Hormonal — the podcast where we make sense of your bloating, brutal PMS, and missing periods… without blaming it all on “just stress” or “being a woman.”
Hosted by Bridget Walton, Women’s Hormone Coach, this show is your no-BS guide to decoding your cycle, calming your gut, and actually balancing your hormones (not just crossing your fingers and hoping for the best).
Each week, we break down what no one taught you about hormones, nutrition, and gut health in your 30s — especially if you're tired of guessing what your body is trying to tell you.
Expect solo episodes packed with real talk and root-cause tools, plus the occasional expert guest to help you feel less confused and more in control.
Because you deserve better periods, better digestion, and a better shot at getting pregnant — without burning out trying to figure it all out alone.
I'm Hormonal | Hormone balance, gut health & nutrition insights
Stop Saying You Don't Have Time to Fix Your Hormones | Ep. 130
👉 Ready to fix your hormones for good? Set up your free strategy call with Bridget at imhormonal.com/goals
I'm Bridget Walton, a Women's Hormone Coach helping ambitious women ages 25-40 naturally restore hormone balance, fix irregular periods, feel confident in their fertility, and resolve gut health issues without restrictive dieting.
If you struggle with missing periods, PCOS symptoms, bloating, or unpredictable cycles, this women's health podcast will teach you how to support your hormones through strategic nutrition and lifestyle changes that actually fit your busy life.
On I'm Hormonal, you'll discover natural solutions for period problems, learn how gut health impacts your hormones, and get practical hormone balance tips from a functional nutrition perspective - no more guessing what your body needs.
This episode tackles the biggest excuse keeping women stuck with hormone problems: "I don't have time." Learn how to reallocate just 60 minutes from social media scrolling into hormone-healing activities, plus 4 zero-time changes that support irregular periods, energy crashes, and gut health without adding anything to your schedule.
👉 DM us on Instagram @im_hormonal - we want to hear your biggest takeaway
👉 See real client transformations and results at www.imhormonal.com
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Let's do a quick show of hands out here. Raise your hand. If you are somebody who has listened to a billion podcasts about hormone health by now, but you haven't actually made any changes yet. Or are you somebody who feels like you don't actually have the time to improve your hormone health, but you want to happen, so you're just listening as a way to make yourself feel like you're doing something? Well, if that is you, then you, my girl, are in the right spot, because today we are going to make yourself feel like you're doing something. Well, if that is you, then you, my girl, are in the right spot, because today we are going to make some change. Today you are going to take action, and I'm going to tell you why. It is going to take way less time and less energy than you think. Let's do it. Welcome to.
Speaker 1:I'm Hormonal, your source of information about women's hormone health and how to support your body. Naturally, I'm your host, bridget Walton, and I'm a certified functional hormone specialist and menstrual cycle coach. I am on a mission to hold these hormone conversations with as many menstruators as possible, because you deserve easier access to accurate information about what's up with your unruly menstrual cycle and with your fertility mysteries. Don't you think it's time that we figure this out once and for all? Hello, hello. You are listening to episode number 130 of I'm Hormonal. I'm your host, bridget Walton. I'm really glad that you're here with me today, because something that I hear all too often, that surely I myself have uttered as well, is that I don't really have the time to do this thing that I want to do or that I need to do, like, oh my gosh, I used to say this all the time about replacing my windows and my patio door. Okay, we're going to go into quick story time. I dated this guy and I apparently had mentioned to him that I really wanted to get new windows and doors. Then we stopped dating. I think like six months later we saw each other again, apparently, I mentioned it and he says oh yeah, you were like, you mentioned that, you know last year. And I was like oh shit, am I somebody who just talks about doing something and I don't actually do it? And let me tell you, I don't know if it was that day, but certainly that week I was like we're taking action, we're figuring out windows and doors and we are making a change here, because I can't just be stagnant. The temperature of my home is at risk here.
Speaker 1:So, when it comes to our hormone health, when it comes to your gut health whether you have unpredictable periods or you have crazy period pain or you have constant bloating you're probably listening to this podcast because you want to see a change there. And it is so easy. It is all too human to want to listen to a bunch of podcasts, read a bunch of books, get a bunch of whoever's recommendations on what to do, get a bunch of whoever's you know recommendations on what to do and then, once you finally have all of the information, then you're going to take action. But that's just how it sounds in our heads. In real life. You gotta start taking action. So I think you see where I'm going with this.
Speaker 1:I obviously am feeling a little bit passionate about this today. I don't know what my mood is like, but I had a whole other plan for a different topic. I went to go start recording and I was like, no, no, no, no. This is not. You know, what we need to talk about is this idea where we think we don't have enough time, because a lot of the time, it's not even about time. It's more so about energy and about what we want to put our energy into, whether that's like you know hey, this is where I want to put my effort and my focus or like, literally, I'm tired. I'm tired because I've been stressed, because I'm underslept, because my hormones, my cortisol, is on the fritz and it is making me feel sleepy like a little baby.
Speaker 1:I'm being a little bit dramatic here, but I would even ask you the question. Then I would say well, do you have the energy not to impact your hormones and to improve what's going on with your hormones? Because once you start to make those changes, you're going to feel better. You're going to see your time multiplying, right. Isn't that what you want? It can be so difficult to take that first step right. Change is hard. If you've been here before, you've heard me say that, and actually let me even stop myself, because I really just got right into this, but I always like to stop and say hello and a special welcome to those of you who are listening to the podcast for the first time today. I'm really glad that you found me.
Speaker 1:What I started the podcast for is to help educate you, educate all the gals out there about what's going on with your body, how you can understand what's going on and how you can feel better sooner, because you deserve to have easy periods. You deserve to have confidence in your fertility or in your reproductive health. You deserve to feel good after you eat a tasty treat and not bloated like you know, trying to do whack-a-mole and figure out what's causing your bloating. All of that, and more, is some of what we touch on here at touch on here at on in the podcast. So I just like to say thanks for listening.
Speaker 1:Again, my name is Bridget Walton, and okay, now let me get back to. I'm stepping back up onto my soapbox here about timing, because, as I was saying, we think, okay, I don't have the time to do that, but it's really something else. This is really something else. And you know another thing I'll say here, kind of at the start too, is that, of course, part of my job? My job as a hormone coach is to inspire and motivate my clients to take action, to make changes that will help them get closer to their health goals, and that's what I'm doing here too. It's in a little bit of a different form than normal, because it's not about how to support estrogen detoxification so you can enjoy less PMS. There's another episode for that, but today, what I really want to motivate you to do, what I want you to walk away from this episode with, is the inspiration not even just inspiration like take action right. If you have not yet made a change, an actual change, on how you're going to better support your period, your gut health, then today is the day to do it. Make this promise to me, this promise to yourself, and do it.
Speaker 1:Okay, you know, one thing that I thought was pretty interesting, because right along the same lines of you know whether it's me making this excuse for something else, or when I'm talking with a client on a console call and she says to me I just don't think I have the time right now, work is going to be getting busy or whatever it is that comes up. I just also like to reiterate that my coaching program is designed for busy women who are just like you, and that's because I used to be you. I used to work in a corporate environment, I used to be traveling two or three weeks out of the month. Like we all are pressed for time, and that's why my one-on-one coaching program is structured in a way that makes it make sense for busy people who are on the go. So just one quick note there.
Speaker 1:While I was thinking about how much time do we have or do we lack, I did a little goog and I was well first surprised to see that the average woman in America spends two hours and 23 minutes a day on social media. Right, we think we don't have time, but we're getting stuck in these scroll holes. Now, sub note. I was further shocked when I checked my own screen time and I was like not far behind that average usage, prefer social media each day, immediately, immediately. I went and put a what's it called like a time limit on my Instagram app. Go ahead and do that if you feel like you are creeping up, getting close to that average as well.
Speaker 1:Well, I took this two hours and 23 minutes and I said okay, let me make a couple suggestions for you about what you can reallocate that time for, except let's make it more realistic. Let's just say that you even spend 60 fewer minutes each day on social media. Like what would I do to break up that time? That's what I'll go through next year, and then I'm going to actually run you through a couple of suggestions that I have for you that literally do not take more time. That will give you more time back in your day, potentially, and will also keep you on a good track towards supporting your hormone and gut health.
Speaker 1:Coming back to these 60 minutes, I thought to myself okay, how would I break up this hour if I wanted to have a better hormone balance? So, again, this is for you if I'm thinking about you who has unpredictable periods, if your period is totally MIA, if you have really heavy periods, if you have super light periods. The through line on all of those things that I just mentioned is ovulation right. Are you ovulating regularly? Is that like a quality ovulation? And the things I'll mention in just a moment here are all adjustments that will take you zero extra minutes basically to implement. So the first thing that I allocated 20 minutes to is sleep.
Speaker 1:All of us here, if you are listening to me and you are not yet getting a consistent eight hours of sleep, maybe seven hours at the very minimum the first thing that I would love for you to do with your extra hour each day, when you forgo that hour of social media scrolling, would be to sleep for a couple extra minutes. Sleeping is so good. I mean, it sounds so dumb to say sometimes like sleeping is good for you. Yes, everybody knows that. But let's break this down for just one hot second about why is sleeping good for your hormone health? Maybe it's actually easier to explain why it's not good for your hormone health.
Speaker 1:If you lack sleep and that's in part because one your stress hormone, cortisol, is going to go up. If you've been here before, you know that when your cortisol levels are higher, that's also going to drive up your blood sugar and your insulin. That can be a bit inflammatory. That can cause you to be on an energy roller coaster the next day. Also, when cortisol and insulin are higher, that is your body like yelling to your ovaries. Hey girl, shut that factory down. It's a little bit stressful out here. We don't need to be ovulating, right? It's coming back to that through line of. You know, are you ovulating? Is it a quality ovulation? So that's all to say. Spend 20 extra minutes that you just got back in your day on sleep.
Speaker 1:Now the second thing that I'm also allocating 20 minutes to is spending a little bit more time making dinner and the reason why I thought this was so important to allocate a third of this imaginary new hour in your day is because when you are getting in nutrient-dense foods, when you're eating enough because a lot of the gals that I work with are, and even myself, sometimes everybody well, you tell me A lot of folks out there are not eating enough they realize through doing a food and mood journal or doing something along those lines, they're like oh shoot, I've really been underestimating how much I've been taking in. Let's change that. Let's get you those building blocks, those nutrients, those vitamins and minerals that your body needs in order to build and produce an appropriate amount of hormones, as well as all the other cofactors that your body needs to process those hormones and the gazillion I think that's the technical number gazillion functions that your body performs each day. So we're spending a little bit more time sleeping, a little bit more time being intentional about our meals. You don't need to be a chef, you need to just get some variety.
Speaker 1:We've got 20 minutes left that we've gained from our imaginary hour, and the first 10 minutes I would recommend spending walking in nature, getting outside, getting the sunshine into your eyeballs, into your brain, telling your brain what time of day it is, moving your body a little bit. You're going to get a bonus point if you take this 10 minute walk after your most carb forward meal of the day. That'll support your blood sugar. But get out in nature Also. Right, hearing bird songs, like being in green spaces, especially being by the ocean. Or I'm trying to think of a study. I read it like a year ago, but it referenced being by you know huge blue the ocean or no. No, what's the sentence I want? When you're looking out into the distance and a large portion of your view is blue, that seems to be good for your nervous system Also. Guys, thanks for sticking with me. I'm doing this episode today unedited and I feel like my sentences aren't flowing as smooth as they normally do, so appreciate you.
Speaker 1:Okay, stick with me for this next and final 10 minute chunk of this hour. I would spend that 10 minutes either meditating or laughing. Now this is what I want you to spend the last 10 extra minutes on, because it's really important what's going on in your nervous system. It's really important for how well you can digest your food, how well your whole digestive process is functioning. Conversation about stress Laughter is so good, connecting with other humans so good, and so what we can do to lower stress like lower inflammation is going to be golden, okay, so if you haven't already gone into your phone and checked what your screen time has been like for social media, maybe take a little look at that now. Set a goal for yourself to avoid or spend 60 fewer minutes on social media each day, and how can you maybe allocate that in the proportions that I recommended or in another way that better suits you than just doom scrolling and not being able to remember what you actually just looked at? Okay, let me share with you a couple of other timeless needle movers here.
Speaker 1:The first thing that I want to mention here is how big of a difference it can make to start taking the right supplements. A lot of my clients, when they come to me, they're already taking supplements. You, my friend, are probably taking some type of supplement, but are you taking the right ones? This is something I work on closely with my one-on-one clients. Looking at A, what is the quality of the supplement that you are already taking? Does that meet the level or the quality level that you want to see? But next to that, like, what are the foundations that we need to support? Because if you have a stress level at 10 out of 10, you know, is your zinc supplement going to really make the difference that you need it to? That's just one random example, but you see where I'm coming from when we're thinking of, okay, if you're taking supplements anyway, what you can do even better for zero extra minutes, is making sure that you are taking the right supplements to support your overall progress.
Speaker 1:Another thing that I want to suggest to you and one of my recent clients had a huge success with this because figuring out what is, a the right type of workout for you and, b what is the right timing of that workout, my friend, your whole day can be changed by this. So this is again something. You don't have to necessarily spend more time exercising, but for some people perhaps you, when you work out in the morning, you feel smoked the whole rest of the day, and vice versa. For some people who work out in the evening, it negatively impacts their sleep and then they're starting off on the wrong foot the following morning. So all of that is to say what time of day is best for you to work out, given your current hormonal situation.
Speaker 1:A lot of the recommendations out there are, for you know. Hey, if you are in perfect, excellent health. You should work out in the morning, for example. But if you've got something a little bit off balance, is that the best for you? So that's my second recommendation. And just thinking about you know, do you need to be doing a HIIT workout or would you be better off doing some weight lifting, weight training, maybe even going for a walk, instead of, like training for your ultra marathon? You go, girl, but sometimes these healthy events like, let's even say, a half marathon, sometimes that can be a stressor on your body too, right, all right.
Speaker 1:Recommendation number three that I have here that can take you almost no extra time in your day is increasing the number of plants that you're consuming. Now you might think, well, bridget, that sure as heck sounds like it's going to take some more time. But I promise you that you spend, okay, let's say, an extra 30 seconds while you're at the grocery store to pick up a few extra or new, like seeds or herbs or spices. Maybe you grab a sauerkraut or some olives, some real easy, quick veggies. Spend those 30 seconds while you're at the store. Then, obviously, once they're in your house they're so easy to just sprinkle on to eat a couple bites of that yogurt or kimchi, that's going to be really supportive of your digestive system too. So I say that because a lot of people, or a lot of my clients, they kind of dread me. They know I'm going to say, hey, we should maybe up the diversity of what you're eating. Let's get a couple more plants in here. But they are almost always surprised at how easy it was to incorporate a wider variety and how much better they felt when they started to switch it up a little bit. So that's recommendation number three.
Speaker 1:Fourth and finally, I want to remind you that, even though you're not currently let me even revise my sentence so far you may not be meal prepping on the weekends, and by that I don't mean prepping every single meal, but I just mean, like, making something ahead of time. And you're still going to be making up that time, though, in the middle of the week, when you run to Chipotle or when you run to the grocery store or when you you know what's the cost of not having a meal and then feeling like, but you know. So I say that to say it really makes a difference to spend let's even say, tops 60 minutes on a Sunday preparing a meal that will save you time throughout the week, because you don't have to do these last minute scrambles. You don't have to do a last minute like how do I feel? You don't have to spend four hours being not super productive at your work because you're hungry and your blood sugar is a little bit cray-cray. Really, I promise you, spending a couple of minutes on the weekend is going to save you so much time when it comes to figuring out what you can eat, what you want to eat and what's going to help keep you fueled and feeling really good. Can eat what you want to eat and what's going to help keep you fueled and feeling really good.
Speaker 1:All of this is to say that, if you're somebody who you're like gosh, I got to wait until the perfect time to make a change to what I'm eating. I have to wait for the perfect time to be ready to fix my hormones and feel better Like girl. Please, please, please, take this message. Listen to this episode again if you need to, but you have everything that you need to make a change. You've got it. You can do this, and oftentimes it's about doing less, not doing more.
Speaker 1:Remember that, because you know that, in and of itself, is going to save you some time. You get to decide what's important to you. You get to decide when you are ready to move forward, when you are ready to make a change, when you are ready to feel better. So if you keep choosing to make an excuse to wait until a later time to fix your period, you know what is it that's really holding you back. That's what I would encourage you to inspect. But, if nothing else, from this conversation, you know that time-wise fixing your hormones is going to be a lot easier than you thought it was, and you can start retelling, like rewriting, this story for yourself Because, again, you deserve to feel really good in your body, you deserve to know how to support your body and you deserve like to prioritize, or rather spend your time on something other than figuring out your hormone health and your gut health.
Speaker 1:So let me help you out with that. Figuring out your hormone health and your gut health, so let me help you out with that. That is literally what I'm here for. If you are ready for any type of one-on-one support, check out the link in the show notes. I would love to talk with you on a strategy call, about what your goals are and how my coaching could be a good match for you. In the meantime, check your screen time. What is it that you're going to do instead of spending some of that screen time on social media? So thank you guys for listening Again.
Speaker 1:I know this has been a little bit of a different episode than my normal ones, but I hope this was helpful and I hope this motivated you to make some change. I'm going to leave it on that. Make some change. If you loved today's episode and got something good out of it, make sure you subscribe so that these episodes show up automatically in your feed, no work needed on your side. Let's put it on autopilot. As always, I need to give you my reminder that the information I share with you here is for educational purposes only, and it should not be used as a replacement for medical advice or diagnosis. Now, if you are, on the other hand, in the market for some one-on-one support, then I would love for you to take me up on my offer for a free strategy call. You can find these links and more in the show notes. All right, we'll see you on the next one.