4 Zero-Time Swaps That Will Balance Your Hormones | Ep. 131

 👉 Ready to fix your hormones for good? Start 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 mini episode gives you 4 simple swaps that require zero extra time but can dramatically improve irregular periods and gut health: the right supplements for your body, optimal workout timing, plant diversity hacks, and strategic meal prep. Perfect for busy women who want hormone balance without sacrificing their packed schedules.

👉 DM us on Instagram @im_hormonal - we want to hear your biggest takeaway
 👉 See real client transformations and results at imhormonal.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction: The Time Myth
• 2:42 Smart Supplement Swaps
• 4:34 Optimizing Your Workout Timing
• 6:22 Increasing Plant Variety Easily
• 7:43 Efficient Meal Prep Strategies
• 9:32 Overcoming Mental Blocks & Closing

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi and thanks for listening to episode number 131 of I'm Hormonal. I'm your host, bridget Walton, and today we're going to be talking more about this idea that we think we don't have time to work on our hormone health, to work on our gut health. If you are listening to this, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you are a gal who's working a career, who has a busy life. You have a packed social calendar, you are ambitious, you're going after the things that are on your to-do list and don't get me wrong, I love that for you. I also want you to have easier periods, more consistent periods, greater confidence in your fertility, and I know that you can do this at the same time, like while you keep on going for all the things that you have in your career, while you keep on keeping on with everything that you love to do, and I know that it's possible to do these things. I know that it's possible to balance your hormones and fix your gut health while you're working in one of these busy environments, because I did it myself as well. So in today's episode, really, what I want you to take away from this is the motivation to make some change.

Speaker 1: 1:22

I went on at great length about this on the previous episode, number 130. If you haven't listened to it yet, go check it out. But this is all to say that I hear quite often from gals during consult calls or you know, I'm talking to a friend. We were watching football the other day and I hear folks saying, yeah, I just don't have the time for that right now. And I think, girl, when it comes to your health, I mean A we're going to talk about some ways that you I mean you do have time for it. Let me show you that in just a minute here. But B like that's how you get more time, you support your health, you have more energy, you have more confidence. You then free up that mental space where before you were like being stressed or trying to research different doctors, or maybe this hormone coach named Bridget who you heard of, and you started listening to our podcast, whatever it is for you.

Speaker 1: 2:28

But let me get off that soapbox. Actually, what I want to do in this episode is walk you through a couple of things that you can make swaps for now. That will add basically no time or will ultimately take away time that you were previously spending, because it doesn't have to be complex, it doesn't have to be challenging to incorporate better habits and better practices to support your hormone health. In a lot of cases, it's about doing less, not doing more. So stick with me. Let me know if any of these suggestions resonate with you. If they do, if you implement it, would love for you to share your thoughts with me. You can connect with me on Instagram at I'm underscore hormonal. We love to hear from you over there.

Speaker 1: 3:17

So let's look at topic number one, and so one thing that you can do right away that's going to add zero minutes to your daily routine is swapping to begin taking the supplements that are actually right for you. Take a second to think about the supplements you're taking right now. How did you find them? What do you think about the quality of the supplements? Like, how do you know that they have in them whatever you hope that they have in them? This is something I work on with my clients all the time. Right, we're taking a look at what were they already taking? What is the quality of that supplement? But, larger than that, what is the thing that's going to actually move the needle for you, like, why are you taking? You know, insert whatever random supplement it is, whatever, maybe multi-mineral, let's just say like is that something that's actually going to help to support the foundations of your health that you need in order to see easier periods, more consistent periods, or is that not something that's super foundational and we don't need to spend the time or energy with those yet? So, anyway, you see where I'm going with that, but first things first. If you're going to be taking supplements, take the right supplements so that they actually make an impact and help you reach better health.

Speaker 1: 4:47

The second suggestion that I have for you that will not add any time, could even take away time from your schedule is figuring out what is the right type of workout for you and what is the right time of day to do that workout, because, depending on what your stress levels are like, what your sleep is like, you know, doing your workout in the morning versus in the evening can have a huge difference. Sometimes it's not about powering through your workout, because that's what you know really. Strong looking people on Instagram said they do. You've got to listen to your body. Strong looking people on Instagram said they do. You've got to listen to your body. You've got to understand how your stress hormone, cortisol, which also governs your sleep wake cycles. You know what's going on with cortisol and how can you work with it instead of against it, as you try to, you know, nudge your body back into its normal rhythm, that circadian rhythm that's going to have you feeling more energized throughout the day and support healthier, happier menstrual cycles as well. So that's suggestion number two.

Speaker 1: 5:55

Figure out, is your workout that you're doing the right type for you, meaning, do you need to be doing sprints? Would a walk maybe better suit you? Do you need to be doing sprints? Would a walk maybe better suit you? How do you feel about weightlifting versus HIIT or Pilates versus a boxing class? None of these are inherently bad. Right, but what's best for you and your body in this moment?

Speaker 1: 6:22

The next suggestion that I have for you this is something that a lot of folks can just feel overwhelmed by, but it's actually not that hard and that's increasing the variety of plants that you have in your diet. This is something that can be really helpful because I mean A let's get a variety of vitamins and minerals, but also because this is going to support your digestive health, your bacteria, your whole gut microbiome when you have a diverse array of foods. It can seem overwhelming, but a couple of quick pro tips. When you grab a couple of different seeds from the store, seeds are really easy to sprinkle. Sprinkle here, sprinkle sprinkle there. When you stock up on a couple of more kind of herbs and spices that you learn to cook with, that's an easy way to get in different plants. And then, final honor I'll mention this is probably my favorite like rotating through different fermented foods is going to be super easy because you can just grab a couple bites of sauerkraut, grab a couple bites of kimchi, grab a couple spoonfuls of yogurt, whatever it is that tickles your fancy, and it's not going to add that much time to your day at all.

Speaker 1: 7:38

Now, my final suggestion here is related to meal prep. And, of course, on the one hand, sure, if you were so inclined, you could spend an entire day meal prepping food for a week, but you don't have to spend that long. When you spend 60 minutes on the weekend preparing a side or preparing a couple of meals, you're going to save at least 60 minutes throughout the week, right? Because even though you're not cooking your, you know, in and out burger and fries, or you're not cooking the salad that you got at Sweetgreen. You still need to go there and go home and wait in line and all those things, that which I mean you don't need me to tell you that that time adds up to. But those are just four starting points that I think are really solid ways to start making changes and tweaks to your time so that you can see, hey, this doesn't take that much time. You know, I can see that I feel better. I see different results than I had before. You know, I can see that I feel better, I see different results than I had before. And I'm not sacrificing a bunch of time On this note too.

Speaker 1: 8:50

I'm just thinking about, like, if you are somebody who's telling yourself I just don't have that much time right now, just ask yourself, like, what is a layer deeper than that, right? Is it that you know? Like, what happens if you were to make the change? Maybe that's the question to ask yourself If I did make this change and I started eating three meals a day, what impact would that have on my relationships or on my work or on whatever else that comes to mind for you and that can help you to uncover what else is there for you? Because, again, a lot of the times when I'm on a consult call with somebody and she says I don't have the time. It's not about time, it's about something else. So I hope this inspires you to make some change, to take your health, grab it by the horns right, you can do this, you've got this. You're obviously somebody who is invested in learning about how you can support your body.

Speaker 1: 10:00

People who don't want to improve themselves they don't listen to podcasts, so you're already a step ahead of the rest. If you are at a point where you're like, okay, I've actually tried these things, like this all sounds familiar because I've done it, I've done this and more, yet you're still not seeing the improvements or changes in your period or in your gut health that you want to click on the link in the show notes. I would love to set up a time to talk with you about your goals, share with you about how my program is designed for women who are just like you, who are busy and on the go, and how we can work together to make some of these changes that are really going to move the needle. Because, again, you deserve to feel better, you deserve to have easy periods and have easy digestion and it's closer than you think and you're already on your way. So thank you so much for listening to this mini episode.

Speaker 1: 11:00

We'll be back next week kicking off with another kind of normal long form episode. If you have been listening for a minute, then I want to say thank you, a special thank you to you, because this month is actually I'm Hormonal's two year anniversary, or second birthday, kind of like birthday better. So I just wanted to shout that out again because I really appreciate those of you who've been listening for a hot minute, who've been sharing with your friends and helping to expand the I'm Hormonal community. I appreciate you so much. 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.

Speaker 1: 11:42

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.