Episode 10 - Nicole Jardim: Your Period Deserves Attention

Nicole Jardim is a Certified Women’s Health Coach and Author of “Fix Your Period: 6 Weeks to Banish Bloating, Conquer Cramps, Manage Moodiness, and Ignite Lasting Hormone Balance” a life-changing step-by-step natural protocol to ignite lasting hormone balance and improve everything from PMS, period pain, and heavy periods to irregular and missing periods. She has developed education and offerings that empower women to reclaim their hormone health using a method that combines evidence-based information with simplicity and sass.

Her work has impacted the lives of tens of thousands of people around the world by addressing the root cause of what’s really going on in their bodies and minds rather than treating just their symptoms. She passionately believes that the fundamentals to healing any hormone imbalance lie in an approach that addresses the unique physiology of every woman. This is essential to reclaiming and maintaining optimal health and vitality at any age.

Nicole is the creator of the “Fix Your Period Collective”, a first-of-its-kind membership experience that will give you a clear roadmap to achieving better periods. The Fix Your Period Collective is an interactive and dynamic membership platform that starts with you taking “The Period Quiz.” From there you'll receive an easy to implement plan to support your hormones and overhaul your menstrual cycle.

As a member, you'll receive tailored insights and metrics based on your specific symptoms, access to Nicole’s signature course to help you steadily improve your menstrual and hormonal health, step-by-step guides addressing specific health concerns such as heavy periods, ovarian cysts, and perimenopause, and so much more.

Nicole is the founder of the “Institute for Menstrual Health”, which offers training programs, mentorship and resources for an international community of women's health practitioners and coaches. Through its signature program the “Women’s Hormone Health Certification”, Nicole teaches other health practitioners and coaches the fundamentals of hormones, menstrual cycles and fertility.

AND, Nicole is the host of “The Period Party”, a top-rated podcast on Apple Podcasts, the co-author of “The Happy Balance”, a recipe book filled with over 80 hormone-balancing recipes, and has been called on as a women’s health expert for sites such as The Guardian, Well+Good, mindbodygreen and Healthline.

https://nicolejardim.com/
https://www.instagram.com/nicolemjardim/
Fix Your Period Book

Transcript

Welcome To Hip Talks

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hello everyone and welcome to Hip Talks. I'm your host, Catherine H. I'm a certified hypnotherapist, NLP practitioner, and Chair of a Senior Certified Professional in Human Resources. After spending a decade working in the music industry, my path led me into the world of the healing art, where science, energy, mindset, and transformation all meet. Each week, I sit down with a different healing practitioner to explore the many powerful modalities available to support our growth, well-being, and personal evolution. So come with me on this journey of discovery and learn about all the opportunities for healing and transformation that are available to all of us.

Meet Nicole Jardim And Her Work

SPEAKER_02 1:25

We have Nicole Jardim. And Nicole is a certified women's health coach and author of Fix Your Period: Six Weeks to Banish Bloating, Conquer Cramps, Manage Moodiness, and Ignite Lasting Hormone Balz, a life-changing step-by-step natural protocol to ignite lasting hormone balance and improve everything from PMS, period pain, and heavy periods to irregular and missing periods. She has developed education and offerings that empower women to reclaim their hormone health using a method that combines evidence-based information with simplicity and SAS. Her work has impacted the lives of tens of thousands of people around the world by addressing the root cause of what's really going on in their bodies and minds rather than treating just their symptoms. She passionately believes that the fundamentals to healing any hormone imbalance lie in an approach that addresses the unique physiology of every woman. This is essential to reclaiming and maintaining optimal health and vitality at any age. Nicole is the creator of Fix Your Period Collective, a first of its kind membership experience that will give you a clear roadmap to achieving better periods. The Fix Your Period Collective is an interactive and dynamic membership platform that starts with you taking the period quiz. From there, you'll receive an easy-to-implement plan to support your hormones and overhaul your menstrual cycle. And as a member, you'll receive tailored insights and metrics based on your specific symptoms. Access to Nicole's signature course to help you steadily improve your menstrual and hormonal health, step-by-step guides addressing specific health concerns such as heavy periods, ovarian cysts, and perimenopause, and so much more. Nicole is the founder of the Institute for Menstrual Health, which offers training programs, mentorship, and resources for an international community of women's health practitioners and coaches. Through its signature program, the Women's Hormone Health Certification, Nicole teaches other health practitioners and coaches the fundamentals of hormones, menstrual cycles, and fertility. And Nicole is the host of The Period Party, a top-righted podcast on Apple Podcasts and co-author of The Happy Balance, a recipe book filled with over 80 hormone balancing recipes, and has been called on as a women's health expert for sites such as The Guardian, Well Plus Good, Mind Body Green, and Health Nine. Hello,

From Film Production To Health

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Nicole, and welcome. So happy to be here. This is such an important episode for women and men who know women to listen to.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

Thank you so much for having me. I should have probably given you my pared down bio. No, I mean a lot.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

You've done a lot. You've done a lot. And in full disclosure, y'all, we knew each other in our previous incarnations as working independent film and production world. And now both doing this healing stuff.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

So so excited to still can't get over that. We're talking people like over 20 years ago. So it's been a long time. I actually just found an email from 2005 where I was telling my mom that I really wanted to come to New York to work on this film. And that's where I met you. And because I couldn't justify it for some reason. I was like, this is crazy. What am I doing? And she was like, you need to go, you need to go. And so it was just a whole back and forth email that I randomly found. And then we were having this conversation. So it was just amazing. All very serendipitous.

SPEAKER_02 5:16

Yes. I'm glad you came.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

I am too. I know. Save. Look at that. Because here we are 20 years later.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

Not doing film production.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

No, thankfully. I know that I was thinking as you said it, wow, we survived it. We survived film production. I have the skin of our teeth.

SPEAKER_02 5:35

So

Pill Promises And Hidden Side Effects

SPEAKER_02 5:36

before we get started, I'd love to just have you talk a bit about like the that progression from film production to what you're doing now, working with women's health.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Yes, it was quite a progression. As we were saying before we started recording, I did not grow up thinking that I was gonna be helping with the period problems, but like Vince said, we're here now doing this thing. It was one of those things where your my circumstances really decided it for me, honestly. My dad died when I was really young, when I was 11, in an accident, and it just completely turned our lives upside down, obviously. And I remember getting my period and not really having any problems or anything like that. But life continued to get harder because as grief and all of the emotions that come with it are just layered and complicated. And so our lives just started to get more complicated. And I remember my health problems starting to develop as I became more into my teen years and I was becoming more and more stressed. And like my relationship with my mom and my family was becoming more and more challenging. And I remember my period being fine and then suddenly starting to get heavier and then more painful. And then it was deciding to not show up at all. And then every like three or four months, I get a period and I had like crazy moods, and it was just generally a mess. I felt like I was a bit of a poster child for very different period problems. And I kind of just stuck it out because my mom was like, I had these problems too, and I think this is normal. And so I finally saw her gynecologist. I was probably like 18 at that point, and she said to me, Well, I think I should just put you on the pill. And she wrote a prescription right there, and I was thrilled because obviously everybody wanted was on the pill and I wanted to be on the pill too. I felt like I joined the cool kids club. So I went on the pill and with about everything, I've honestly felt like I found my silver bullet because everything stabilized. I no longer had irregular cycles. My period came every 28 days. I had I was very stable. There was no bleeding through clothing or my school uniform, which was, you know, as you know, it's mortifying to have to go through that. And so for me, I was sad. I thought, okay, well, I'm just gonna be on this pill forever. Of course, my body had different ideas. I ended up having a lot of side effects associated with being on it. And I didn't know what they were, and nobody ever pointed it out. So I went to see a lot of different doctors. I was in and out of my gynecologist's office because I had chronic UTIs and yeast infections. I had gut health issues. So I went to a gastroenterologist multiple times. I did colonoscopy. I did all kinds of stuff. I was going to a dermatologist because I developed melasma all over my face. And the dermatologist kept saying, Well, this is the only, I only see this during pregnancy. I don't know what's going on with you. So there was just a lot of cooks in the kitchen and I had no idea what to do. And so finally I ended up having an allergic reaction to a UTI medication and ended up in the ER, bright red like a tomato, 102 degree temperature. And I decided then and there that something had to give. I just could not live like this anymore. Cause this is now four years into starting the pill, four or five years. So a friend of mine who had been bantering me to see her acupuncturist said, Are you finally going to see the acupuncturist now? So I did. And he was the first person to say this the pill might be part of your problem. Like no one had ever even pointed that out. So that was really, I think, the catalyst for the journey that I've been on, the literal odyssey for the last 20-something years. And so that propelled me into just research mode and trying to understand what all of this meant and what was wrong with my body. And the acupuncturist was the person who was there for those first couple of years. Then that that got me really interested in changing careers and not doing TV and film production anymore. And so that that led to this.

SPEAKER_02 9:39

So here I am. And that's interesting because I think your story about the pill is not unique by any means. Like I remember the same thing. I was put on the pill, but I had like neurological effects to it. It was really bizarre. And so I was really on it for just a very short period of time before realizing can't do this.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

But I know so many people. Yes. I have a lot of thoughts about why you had that experience. But yes, carry on.

unknown 10:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

I'm just saying it's amazing, you know. And I think there's still this attitude of fix it with going on the pill, which is, I'm sure you have a lot to say about that too. I do.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

Yes, I do indeed. Yeah, I know. Because I've seen over the last 20 years what happens and um not only in the short term, but in the long term too. And I think that we are as a society are just so focused on the pill to fix the ill, particularly the female ill. And as a result, we are not first of all, we're not educated. We do not generally take the pill with a fully informed consent, which is understanding the pros and the cons. And then ultimately being able to make I consider to be a fully informed decision about taking these very potent, very powerful medications. Yeah, sure. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

Talk to me a little bit, like what first and foremost, like what would you say is the number one misnomer that women or people have about their hormone health?

The Biggest Hormone Health Misbelief

SPEAKER_01 11:12

I would say that there is so much confusion. And women often say to me, like just ask my doctor to test my hormones. And I'll say, Well, what hormones did you have tested? Oh, you know, just my hormones because I'm having symptoms. And so it just always feels very vague and a little opaque to me when I hear these things, because what it tells me is that we haven't got a clue about what is actually happening in our bodies, particularly as it relates to our sex hormones that drive our menstrual cycle that ultimately end up resulting in symptoms that we're having. And what I always remind women of is the fact that your sex hormones, your period are not the problem. They're just telling you that there's a problem. There's a deeper rooted issue happening that is just showing up as menstrual cycle-related symptoms. We talk about the menstrual cycle as being the quote-unquote fifth vital sign. And it has been named that because, like your other vital signs, like breathing rate, heart rate, things like that, it tells us information about the state of our bodies. And we are never told that. We've never been educated, generally speaking. Some lucky ones of us have, but for the most part, we haven't. And what I hear most often is a 42-year-old woman saying to me, What are you telling me right now? I've never heard any of this in my life. How did I not? How did I get to 40 years old and not know this? And I think that is almost by design. It's not great. But if we had this information, I just think about what we could do with it and where we would be in our lives and how powerful we would be without having this information because it is so important to our overall health and well-being, like I said, in the short term and the long term. And so coming back to the hormone conversation, what I find more than anything is that women just don't realize that everything is interconnected, right? Your period is not just your period. It's not just this random thing that's happening every month. Your ovarian hormones at estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, they are highly connected to your cortisol, your insulin, your thyroid hormones, all of these other hormones that are produced by glands in the endocrine system that are all talking to each other at all times. And so when I say things like, you need adequate T3, which is your thyroid hormone that is active in the body, in order for your ovaries to produce adequate progesterone, people are like, What? And so women have never correlated that their thyroid problems could result in period problems. They just have really heavy periods and periods that are all over the place, or their periods disappeared completely. And they're taking thyroid medication, but they had no idea that there was this connection. So that's why I say to women, yeah, okay, you got your hormones tested, but which hormones did you test? And when in your cycle did you test them? And what is your ultimate goal that you're looking for to achieve with this testing that you've done? And are you testing with someone who knows when and when to test and what to test and what to do with those test results? So I feel like generally coming back to the big misconception or the misunderstanding is that we need to see our whole body as a system that is working together rather than this siloed version of our body that we tend to see in mainstream medicine. Because we go, like I did, we go to a different doctor for every different body part and none of them are communicating. So it's really up to us, I feel like, to understand this knowledge. And I always say, if I can do it, I promise you can too. That's like the big misconception, I feel like.

SPEAKER_02 15:03

Thank you. So I actually relate to that very hard. I don't think I have near the knowledge that you're teaching in terms of hormone health that I remember when I was going through trying to get pregnant when I was in my late 30s and learning so much just about your body at that point that I thought, this is awful that I never knew any of this and it's not taught in schools. And I think that vaguely remember seeing that you had something for girls to educate them and as a leader in this world, what are your thoughts about

Teaching Teens Period Literacy Early

SPEAKER_02 15:37

that? And is there hope for the future?

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Oh man, I have so many thoughts about this. Yes, we're I hopefully this happens. We are I've been in talks with a publishing house and we're waiting on a contract right now for a book for tweens and teens. And I'll be co-writing it with someone else and an illustrator as well, because we feel so strongly that this is where we have to start. This is where all the problems begin. And when you think about just the fact that puberty and monarchy, which is your first period, are starting earlier than ever before. We need resources that not only explain to girls what is happening, but also what to do about it. So there really isn't anything out there that exists right now that is really teaching girls what like natural solutions they can implement to address period problems. For the most part, girls are being offered the birth control pill or a long-acting reversible contraceptive device, which is like an IUD or an implant in their arm. And for me personally, that what I think is so damaging about that is that we're ignoring generally, I don't think everyone is doing this, but this is what I hear most often, is that we're ignoring, say, if a teenager has endometriosis, which is a chronic, almost autoimmune-like inflammatory disease. It's a full body disease. It's not like a gynecological issue only. And as a result, we are potentially ignoring that because we're just saying, well, if you have heavy bleeding or you have really painful periods, here, take this pill, and you can just take that, and that'll solve your problems instead of digging deeper. And that's been my biggest beef with conventional mainstream medicine is that we're not asking the right questions. You know, I take a lot of heat on social media for this because I really push this. Like I really push the envelope with this because I feel so strongly about the fact that we're just not getting answers. It doesn't matter how old we are. That's the thing that's so frustrating is that you could be 12 years old, you could be 45 years old. The birth control pill is literally the solution for pretty much everything. As I said, every female ill. That's really what's being pushed for the most part. I have women in perimenopause at 46, 47, 48 years old telling me we've just been put on the pill. I'm like, we want hormone replenishment, not hormone depletion. And so it's just like this ongoing saga. So coming back to the teens and tweens, I believe really strongly in as parents, and I'm not a parent, so I know that this is probably a lot harder to do than actually to say. But I feel so strongly about putting our own baggage and our own issues with our periods aside so that we can have open, honest conversations with our children, boys and girls, because the boys need to know about this stuff too. And, you know, a lot of my friends have really modeled this, and I love to see it in this generation, where they're just very casual about it all and they're not bringing all their stuff around their menstrual cycle and their shame and whatever else, where, you know, like they'll show their daughters what a menstrual cup is or tampons or pads, and they'll be in the bathroom with them, whatever. And like one of my friends said once her daughter came in and she was like, Oh my god, it's mommy's volcano, monthly volcano, or something like that. And another friend said yesterday to me that her daughter, she just received like an order from online of like pads and tampons, and her daughter had shouted out that her vagina diapers were hair and I just died laughing because it's just amazing to me. Like we never had these conversations 25, 30 years ago when we were kids. So now, like, you really see a big shift. And I also feel like, too, with social media, girls know so much more than we knew. It is so cool. I'm like, wow, these 12-year-olds are really tuned in. I've had 10, 11, 12-year-olds email my support inbox and say, I've just got my first period, I'm freaking out. Do you have any resources? So I feel like we're the kids are actually doing okay. So it's pretty exciting to see how much has shifted in the culture because we now just talk so much more about periods.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

And to your point about girls getting periods earlier, I had a friend whose daughter got her period at nine years old. And I think that is shocking, but I understand that's not that unusual. And then if you have a nine-year-old put on the pill, like they don't have agency to say, no, don't do this to my body. So it's so important that all of the generations really learn about what is happening and what what the causes are. And speaking to that, why the root cause of why it's happening. I

Early Puberty And Modern Exposures

SPEAKER_02 20:40

know there are a lot of different theories about that, but what's something that you think that is just some kind of everyday something that parents can do to protect their girls from these hormone disruptors or things that would make them get their periods so much earlier? And is that an issue for later in life? Do you think?

SPEAKER_01 21:04

It is. Oh, yeah, there's research now that shows that we are predisposed to a higher risk of various cancers and other long-term health challenges with earlier puberty. So there are long-term risks in getting your period earlier. Not to say I don't want to freak anybody out. It's not to say that's gonna absolutely happen, but that's what the research is showing. And so I think that it's really important for us to be mindful of all of that. I think it's so hard though when you're just in it and you've got kids and life is a lot, and we're just going 100 miles an hour. And so I get that nobody is thinking about 40 years from now or even 15 years from now, because you're just in the moment, especially with children. I feel like you're really in the moment. But there really are a lot of things to consider. I would say some of the things that have changed so dramatically are. The consumption of really highly processed foods or ultra-processed foods as they're known, UPFs. We have an acronym for everything in America. But yeah, the ultra-processed foods are really problematic, I think, because and not only that, the environmental toxins as well. So the exposure to plastics, the amount of plastic that we live with in our environment now is just it's unprecedented. And as a result, when you think about the chemicals or the toxins that are in plastics, they are estrogen mimickers, meaning that they're they're known as xenoestrogens and they can mimic estrogen in the body, and they can actually have a more potent effect than our endogenous or our own estrogen. So as a result, we're we're we find ourselves in this situation where our estrogen receptors or these xenoestrogens are latching onto our estrogen receptors and having this more pronounced effect, meaning that our uterine lining builds thicker, we it creates heavier periods, or we get, we have these fake estrogens that are not invited to the party but are there anyway, crashing it. And they are potentially turning on those estrogen receptors at a younger age. The research is kind of there, but it's also to me, it makes sense that this is what's happening. So we have that. So environmental chemicals, environmental toxins, do whatever you possibly can to reduce the plastic exposure, as well as the ultra-processed foods as well. All of this, not only that, like the ultra-processed foods, the refined carbohydrates, the sugar, that is driving insulin dysregulation. We're seeing children with type 2 diabetes. This is not, this is not some pie in the sky thing that I'm saying here. This is legitimately happening. So insulin plays a huge role in puberty. And so when we think about the fact that we're now, we have small children with such dysregulated insulin, it makes sense that we're now seeing these mechanisms play out at younger and younger ages. So there is that too. And not to mention the psychological component of it as well. You're eight years old, you get a period, you don't know what, you don't know what to do with that. Even at 12, it's jarring, to say the least. So an eight-year-old and a 12-year-old are very different humans. And so I just feel really strongly that if we can push our daughter's periods out as late as possible, we should. And that includes a multitude of things, but I feel like the food and the environmental chemicals would be the number one and two places I would start.

SPEAKER_02 24:45

So it's interesting that you say that, as most of my listeners know by now, I'm a breast cancer survivor. I had the hormone-positive breast type of breast cancer. And wow, there are so many things that could be the root cause of that that nobody will ever really know. But I do know that there were indicators of I started my period when I was 11, so having a period before the age of 12, and I had my first child after the age of 35. And those were two indicators. Also, I used some of those hormones to get pregnant when I was going through fertility treatments. And I remember having to sign something when they provided clonate for me that I it's a breast cancer risk. And then I was also a survivor for 9-11 on that day. And they are now saying that was a huge hormone disruptor cause of breast cancer. So there's just so many things out there. Thankfully, it's the kind of thing where you know it's an epidemic, and they've really put so much research into treating it and catching it early, which is great. So it's no longer a death sentence for most people. But frankly, we live in in a world where it's everywhere. Unless you and it's and you probably can't even really get off the grid. But just to do the, I guess, to do the best you can do with all of that. But it is sort of frightening.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

I know, I agree. The yeah, the level of endocrine disruption that's happening in our society is pretty crazy. And I feel like we have to be so proactive and we're already all so stretched thin. So I recognize that it's quite difficult and maybe seemingly impossible for some people, but I think that we have to decide that we're gonna take control of our lives and our children's lives and decide what makes sense for us. And I feel like for the sake of your children's long-term health, it would it make sense to try your best to reduce exposure as much as possible. But you're right, Kat, like what you said about 9-11, and and there's so many people who are exposed to environmental disasters. So there are there are definitely a lot of contributing factors for sure. Like you said, it is a bit of a perfect storm. I feel like such a Debbie Downer. But at the same time, like I said, I think for a lot of us do have control over many aspects of our lives and how we decide that we're gonna be exposed to something or not. So there is hope. Our bodies are in healers, right?

SPEAKER_02 27:27

So yes, if we treat them right, they will help us heal and be well. So that's great.

Stress Hormones Versus Reproductive Hormones

unknown 27:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 27:36

So to switch gears a little bit, I wanted to ask you as a hypnotherapist, because uh this is fascinating to me how the mind works and how it influences everything and the whole body keeps the score book and all of these things. I would love to know your thoughts about how your and your mindset influence your hormone health.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

Oh yeah. Oh my goodness. I think it's it's similar to what I was talking about earlier with the thyroid hormone and the ovaries needing thyroid hormone to make progesterone. I feel like our HPA axis, which is the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis. So your hypothalamus, your pituitary reside in your brain. And then your adrenals are these two little tiny endocrine glands. If you press the back of your the middle of your back with your thumbs, you'd probably feel exactly where they are located. And they sit on top of the kidneys and they basically drive everything, your circadian rhythm, your stress response, all of it. But they're also they're responsible for that fight or flight response, everything and the rest and digest, all of it. But they basically are like the queen bees. And so I talk about cortisol and epinephrine and norepinephrine, these stress releases are the stress hormones that are released when our body senses stress or when we stress sense stress of some kind or a stressor. You know, like I said, I call them the queen bees because they determine everything that happens throughout our bodies for the most part. They're gonna always take precedent because they're the life and death hormones. Whereas your ovaries making their little estrogen and progesterone for your fertility are not life and death. So I feel like the adrenals always get take precedence over every other endocrine gland and hormone that's produced in the body. And so when we, when the body senses something potentially threatening to us, and I think everyone should keep in mind too that our bodies never have not evolved as fast as our world has, obviously. And so we're still, our bodies at least are still living in those prehistoric times where if we sensed danger, whether that was something that was like an animal that was potentially stalking us or had seen us out on the field or in the forest or whatever, we would immediately go into that quote unquote fight or flight. And so cortisol and other stress hormones are released, and those basically raises insulin, sorry, raises blood sugar and that feeds your muscles, it feeds your brain to think really clearly and fast, uh, it feeds your muscles to run away or to fight. And we are still having that response in the modern world. So if our boss is being a jerk to us, if we're stuck in traffic, if we witness something like really horrify horrific, like a car accident or something like that, all of these things are constantly or causing these constant stress response. And so I feel like for the most part, we're stuck in that loop, that stress response loop for the most part. And that I think has been so damaging to our reproductive function, in that basically cortisol, what it does is it has this dampening effect from basically like the very top of your ovarian function, because remember, your ovarian function and your period generally starts in your brain, just like everything does. And so it'll have this dampening effect on something known as GNRH that comes from the hypothalamus. And then GNRH is responsible for making FSH and LH, those two hormones, stimulate ovarian function and stimulate your ovaries to produce an egg every month to ovulate. And so what's crazy is that from the very top of the chain, you've got this stress response taking precedence over your reproductive function. It's kind of an incredible evolutionary treat. Unfortunately, in modern times, it's really challenging because we've lived like this, we've normalized this for so long, we don't realize it's impacting us in such a profound way. And if you think back to what I was saying about really understanding your menstrual cycle, if women really understood their menstrual cycles, they would likely catch this when it's in its infancy, in its beginning stages, because it causes you to skip periods or miss ovulation. And so your period might be irregular or it might disappear completely, or you might not be ovulating and you might just be bleeding really heavily all the time. There's lots of different symptoms that show up, but because we've normalized all these period symptoms for decades, we don't see this. And so there's this whole cascade of effects that happen that impact your ovarian function and ultimately your fertility, and then in your perimenopause window, like in your 40s, it'll impact you there too. It just creates a lot more symptoms. And I just feel like this is the challenge that we have to overcome as women, is to realize that, like I said, this is an evolutionary protective mechanism. And so if we didn't have this back then, we might get pregnant in a time of famine or a time of war or something like that. Whereas our bodies sensed this, and from your brain down, it would just shut the whole system down essentially. And as a result, you wouldn't ovulate, and then you wouldn't necessarily be able to get pregnant. So it made sense from that perspective. Nowadays, not so much, and women just feel like their bodies are completely broken and that they're no longer working because they're not ovulating consistently, or you know, they're having all of these symptoms that are causing them to either not be able to get pregnant or to have miscarriages, things along those lines. So it's a whole thing, but I feel like when it comes to the brain's impact on our menstrual cycles, I can't stress enough, not pun intended, that this is something that we really need to focus on. That this should be really where I think we bring our attention to if we are struggling with our menstrual cycles.

SPEAKER_02 34:07

So as a hypnotherapist, I work with women often with women who are going through fertility treatments and struggling with fertility. And even before working with women, before I was a hypnotherapist, everyone knows the story of the friend that had the number of IVF cycles and treatments that didn't work. And then the moment that they decided to give up and just live their life, boom, they get pregnant naturally. Or similar stories to that sense, they end up adopting and then get pregnant, right? So that is very much about the regulating the nervous system and getting that fight-flight out and done, and working with the subconscious mind to eliminate any of those limiting beliefs about it. And there's so many, everything from I'm not in the right time and right place, or perhaps not going to be a good mother, whatever it could be, really affect, I think, all of that, right? That fight-flight response that you're talking about.

unknown 35:09

Okay.

Nervous System Support And Food Basics

SPEAKER_02 35:10

So what do you help your clients with in terms of regulating their thoughts and their nervous system, their endocrine adrenals?

SPEAKER_01 35:22

Oh, I mean, I know, right? So many things. I feel like this really, it really starts with first of all, I think getting clear on what it is that we're dealing with, because for some women, it is that mental and emotional stress. And for others, it's something else. Like they have endometriosis, and that is causing so much internal stress. Because for anyone who doesn't know what endometriosis is, it is a condition where tissue that is somewhat similar to the endometrium, that uterine lining, grows outside of the uterus. So on the ovaries, the fallopian tubes, even on the bowel, it can grow on the lungs. This is why it's considered a full-body inflammatory condition. So when you think about that, and what when you think about what it actually does, there's so much inflammation associated with that endometrial endometrial tissue that your body is just in this constant state of fight or flight. It's constantly trying to repair that tissue or you know, it sends these little white blood cells, macrophages to that area to try and clean up the inflammation and the mess that's created there. So you're just in this constant cycle and your body just feels stressed. You feel stressed. And so it's like you can get it from external sources, internal sources, like if you have a gut infection, that also triggers a stress response. It triggers cortisol, it triggers this HPA axis dysfunction. I think it's so important for us to again be asking questions. The work that I do is really we're the period detectives. That's essentially my work. And so we're wanting to find out what exactly is driving all of this. Like, where is this coming from? But yeah, I still like the nervous system regulation through all kinds of things. We start with food usually, because again, like I said, internal stuff. If you're eating, living on sugar, for instance, that's gonna trigger your blood sugar, which raises your cortisol. So that's a symbiotic relationship. Cortisol raises blood sugars for you to fight or flight, and blood sugar will also raise cortisol. So it's very similar. And I feel like it's important for us to again like start with food as a foundation, because that is going to give us the nutrients to exist in the world in a more energized and light way. And so we start there, we start with balancing your blood sugar. When we stabilize that, we reduce that level of inflammation, which is again keeping us stuck in that chronic fight or flight situation. And then from there, we work on addressing gut health issues, if those exist, any kind of detoxification problems that may happen be happening with your liver and your gallbladder, because what people don't realize typically too is that all of your hormones that you use that your body uses, then go past through your liver and into your gut to be released in either your urine or your bowel movements. So there it's a whole system. And so that's where we start. Obviously, there is the whole mind-body connection as well, and there's a nervous system support that we integrate too. But generally, I try to start with things that are applicable to the person in front of me. So for some people, it's definitely food, and then for others, they just need to stabilize their nervous system. So we do a lot more practices around associated with food. What how do you eat your food? That's the thing I hear most. Oh my gosh. I feel like as a New Yorker, you can appreciate this because I remember years and years ago, I'm on the train, forgot to eat. This happens to the best of us, and I'm like scarfing down this yogurt parfait. And there's this older woman sitting across from me staring at me. And she's like, Oh, you young people, you just eat on the train. You don't eat at home. And she was mortified by me. And I was, of course, in turn, completely mortified by her. But man, she called me out. And it was like one of those good learning lessons where you're like, okay, I think that I should probably slow my ass down. Yeah, so it's a lot of that, like mindfully eating, chewing your food, like really savoring your meals, all of these kinds of things go hand in hand, obviously, with the nutrient-dense food that you're actually eating. So it's a combination for the most part with my it's so funny that you said that.

SPEAKER_02 39:38

And I remember years ago when I first moved to New York City and I went to the it's not there anymore, unfortunately, the New York Open Center. And I took this Ayurveda class. It's gone. I think for a while during the pandemic, they were online, but I don't think they are anymore. But they were this, there was this great place. I took this class in Ayurveda, and I remember the thing that stuck with me the most was how you eat is even more important than what you eat. And not eating over the sink or walking around, but to actually focus on your food and sit down and eat mindfully. So that has always stuck with me. So I have so many questions, and I know we're getting we're running out of time a little bit before we go.

GLP-1 Meds And Hormone Tradeoffs

SPEAKER_02 40:21

I I do have to ask your thoughts about, because we've talked a lot about hormones and insulin. What are your thoughts about this whole new GLP1 carease and how is that affecting people's hormones? Is it a is it the new answer to everything, or is it actually no, this is what people don't actually know about it?

SPEAKER_01 40:40

Oh my gosh, this is such a good question. It's funny you brought this up because it's just something I talked about last week, actually. I will say that first of all, this is where the nuance comes in that I think is often so missed in when we're doing the broad brush strokes of people's health in general. I have now had so many conversations with women, some of whom had PCOS or have PCOS, which is polycystic ovary syndrome. And really it's characterized by dysregulated insulin, blood sugar, and insulin, as well as dysregulated androgens, which are those male sex hormones like testosterone, DHEA, androstenidione. And that's what causes the weight gain, in addition to the insulin, it causes hair growth on the face, like hair loss on the head, hair growth on the rest of the body. It's not a fun condition to have, obviously. It's driven by a lot of lifestyle factors. In fact, the from an evolutionary perspective, what is known about it or what's understood is that it was protectionist back in the day when there was a famine. If you held on to body fat longer, you'd survive. In modern times, it doesn't work that way. It's not so great because we have such an abundance of food. Regardless of that, my point with PCOS, for instance, is that there's like a trend. There's like PCOS babies from Ozempic. There, this is a big thing now where women are losing weight, they're losing that inflammation, their ovaries are now stabilizing and functioning better and releasing eggs more consistently. Ovulation is happening, and these women are getting pregnant. So there's that whole subsection of women. And then there are women who now I've talked to as well, who are noticing that ovulation is becoming a little disrupted and their sex hormones are dropping. And so these, I think these are more women along the lines who tend to have lower levels of sex hormones, generally speaking. We're all different, our baselines are different, and they're noticing that it's impacting ovulation and their sex hormone production. So I find that fascinating too. So I will say from our personal experience, I have experimented with a low dose of both semaglutide and terzepatide. And I literally, as I said, just talked about this last week on social media. And I was like, I'm so scared to even put this out there because there's obviously a heated debate about feels. Yeah, I know. People have a lot of opinions and very strong ones. And so for me, I did a lot of research. I'm working with a friend of mine who is a hormone specialist. I use HRT through her, and then we have had extensive discussions about peptides and which ones to potentially try. But the reason I did is because what I noticed in my 40s was this level of hunger and just this constant food noise that I never had before that is literally causing me to put on weight. And I just I feel like it's it has felt so uncontrollable. And, you know, people have lots of opinions about it. I know, like willpower and all these other things, and I should do better, blah, blah, blah. But whatever. Anyway, I've never been one of these purist people, but I think people thought I was, which is interesting. So I feel like I'm not a Opposed to pharmaceuticals. I just believe in that fully informed consent, like we talked about. So I did a lot of research, worked with someone, and so did this low dose of both the semaglutide and the terzepatide just to see my experience with each of them. I lost weight, which is really nice, but like it really just tamped down this constant, insatiable desire for food and like sugar and things like that. So it has been a really interesting experience. It also really lowered my inflammation as well. Like I can see clearly through testing as well what has been going on. I've cycled on and off of them, so I don't consider it to be this thing that I think you should just be on forevermore. Obviously, that's a conversation for you and your doctor. But the struggle here is that there are women who are really thin already who are going on these things. And so it's it's you know, but I feel like that's gonna happen with anything. We've had this, this tale as old as time, where people are inappropriately using drugs for needs that don't necessarily even exist. I don't know. What are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_02 45:01

Because I feel like it's a whole mix. No, I agree, I agree. And I was really so I just read, I got an email from BCRF, Breast Cancer Research Foundation. And the last email talked about how there's new research that GLP1s can be pre preventative for recurring breast cancer for women who've had it to have it come back. As somebody who's had breast cancer, that's ding ding ding. Yes, any reassurances that it's been able to never come back. But then I've also heard in the health world some not so great things about it. I actually haven't done the research, so I don't know for myself, but I know that you are a very incredible researcher and detail-oriented in this. So I thought it would be helpful for everyone to hear your thoughts on it, which is great.

SPEAKER_01 45:48

So interesting about the breast cancer thing, by the way. And I think it makes so much sense when you consider the mechanism of action. Again, like when we think about cancer, and again, I'm not going to say this for everyone, but just generally speaking, metabolic dysfunction is a huge component of cancer development. And so many of us are metabolically unsound. We don't even realize it because there's really no preventative help for that. No one is really being slapped with a CGM on their arms, you know, as a preventative. We are now, I feel like that's becoming popular. But generally that isn't happening. And I really wish it would, so that we could see what our diet and our lifestyle is doing to our blood sugar on a regular basis and then make changes from there. Because most of us, when we see the proof, we want to make change. I feel like we're incentivized to make changes. So when we have that, I think that's amazing. And so I think that there is potentially a time and a place for these medications for people. I just feel like it's we've got what, like something like 200 million Americans now who are doing something with GLP ones. I feel like it's what I read yesterday, some crazy number. It was, I it's not 200 million. That's a total exaggeration, but it's a lot of people. It's definitely multiple millions. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:08

There are a lot of people who have severe health issues based on yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:14

On obesity. And so that's where it just has been tremendously helpful. And we've seen that. I've seen so many conversations of people saying, I have tried everything in my whole life and nothing has worked, and it has been so hard. And so if we can just, I say this with a pill too, because I feel like for someone with endometriosis who's in so much pain, someone who's obese, who is just in so much pain as well, mental, emotional generally, but also physical, if there's some little bridge that we can give to somebody to just give them a leg up, like why wouldn't we do that? And so that's the whole point, the research in the modern medicine that we have. So yeah, yeah, so complicated.

SPEAKER_02 47:56

Information is so powerful. And I I think that this is

The First Habit: Track Your Cycle

SPEAKER_02 48:02

great. And okay, so before we go, I wanted to have you talk a little bit for our listeners about what is when you have members join with your coaching, what's something off the bat that you have them start doing as a regular sort of habit or change or something that you can let us know about.

SPEAKER_01 48:23

This is comes back to what we were talking about earlier with this idea that women don't know what the heck is going on in their bodies. And I believe very strongly that we should look under the hood and see what's going on underneath there. And so that's really what informs so much of my work is that I want to empower my clients to understand their menstrual cycles, uh, no matter their age. You could be 13, you could be 33, you could be 43. The point is that you know your baseline, you know you're normal because no one else is gonna know that for you. And we have this tendency to outsource our health, which I totally get. I did that for a long time. And it's because from the time we're young, we're told you just go to the doctor and the doctor's gonna fix you, kind of thing. And so I get that mindset. So, what I do is I have women completely slip the lid on that and they start to research or they start to track their cycle. So I'll start with the basics if someone is completely overwhelmed. So we just start with what day does your period start? Like how long did it last for? What did it look like? Basics like that, so that I can understand what might be going on because every aspect of your cycle, how long it is, what it looks like, how heavy you're bleeding or how light it is, the symptoms associated with it, pain, mental and emotional changes, all of these kinds of things tell us a lot. They give us a whole picture of what's going on with your health overall. And so we'll do that. And then for others, we track more intentionally. Like we'll do temperature tracking. So your basal body temperature, which is your temperature first thing upon awakening. That changes after ovulation because progesterone gets produced after you ovulate. That is a thermogenic hormone. It actually increases your body temperature and your metabolism. So you'll see a huge shift on a chart if you're charting these temperatures to know that ovulation has occurred. We also look at cervical fluid changes because that is really changes massively throughout your cycle, depending on estrogen being high in the first half of your cycle and then progesterone taking over. So we'll look at all of these kinds of things. And now what's amazing is that there's so many devices. We've got like the temp drop, which you wear on your arm, and that takes your temperature and it also tracks your sleep. We've got the aura ring, which I use. You can use a regular oral thermometer. There's lots of options. Apple Watch now is doing that. So I feel like women have a lot of different ways to track their cycle and track their symptoms so that they can become more cycle literate. And that to me is like one of the biggest things because again, like if you know what's going on, then you can see your dietary changes, your stress management changes will all be reflected in the symptomology that you're recording with your cycle. So there's there's just so much. Like you can now test your hormones at home. There's a wonderful device I use with my clients called a Mira that is like a urine test. It tests four of your hormones. So you can see very clearly like what they're doing throughout your cycle and when you ovulate or if you're ovulating. So yeah, it just there's so much we can do. And I get very excited about it because again, we have these this information at our fingertips now, whereas before we just didn't have all of these tools. And so that's that's one of my big beginning practices with my clients.

SPEAKER_02 51:49

That's amazing. And I have to be honest, when I finish school, I want to join your next Institute for Menstrual Health course and get the certification because I just there's just so much information to learn. And for everybody getting started, the Fix Your Period book, right? Is a nice place to start. And then tell people where they can find you.

Where To Start And How To Connect

SPEAKER_01 52:14

Yes, of course. So you can find me at my website, it's Nicole Jarden.com. I feel like that's that'll take you in all the different directions, depending on what you want to do, whether you're interested in the consumer side of things with fix your period or as a practitioner of the Institute for Menstrual Health. And like you said, I've got a book. It's called Fix Your Period. Trying to keep it straight to the point. And so that has all pretty much everything we've been talking about. The Fix Your Period Collective is my membership. And that has that honestly feels like my book brought to life. Got video lessons, protocols, all kinds of things in there. And then the Institute for Menstrual Health for anyone who is interested in learning more about women's hormone health as a practitioner or in a more professional setting. You got options. And then I'm also on Instagram. I I share a lot on there. Actually, this month I'm talking about teen and tween periods. So there you go.

SPEAKER_02 53:08

Okay, great. And your Instagram handle is we'll put all this in the show notes.

SPEAKER_01 53:12

Yes, yeah, it's at Nicole M. Madeleine Jardim.

SPEAKER_02 53:16

All right. Thank you so much, Nicole. This was so I mean, I I still have a million questions. I maybe have time to go back.

SPEAKER_01 53:25

Oh my gosh, we'll definitely do a part two. I would love that. I know there's so much to learn. And I feel like women deserve to know this information.

SPEAKER_02 53:34

And hopefully that it'll be so accessible. It'll be part of my son just started ninth grade this year in a health class for a semester.

SPEAKER_01 53:42

And I don't think they learn any of this stuff. Oh girl, I can guarantee they're not learning any of this stuff. I know one of my big pipe dreams is somehow doing something in the school systems. I don't know what or how, but it just feels like it needs to happen. We are right for a change with regard to that. Because I've seen what some of my friends' kids learn in health class, and it's atrocious. It is atrocious.

SPEAKER_02 54:04

Yeah. Yes. So I you're the person to do it for sure. I'd like to believe that.

SPEAKER_01 54:09

I know it really needs a change, but we're getting there. The fact that, like I said before, we know so many girls know so much now about their bodies that we just did not know is very exciting to me.

SPEAKER_02 54:22

Again, thank you so much, Nicole Jardim. This one's awesome. And we'll have a part two. And uh thank you. Thank you, Kat. Thank you for having me. This was so great.

Final Thanks And Listener Call To Action

SPEAKER_02 54:31

You've been listening to Hip Talks, original music by Tracy Moore and the Jazzy Fat Nasties, Podcast Editing and Sound Engineering by Zachary Trainer. If you like what you heard, please like and share and follow us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And if you make a comment, I promise I will respond.

SPEAKER_00 54:55

Give for love to live, you give to give.