Hormone Ep
===
[00:00:00] Hello, welcome back to the podcast. I am so glad that you are here. This is a [00:00:05] solo episode today. I am finally releasing the hormone episode that I [00:00:10] have been talking about in the last several episodes. So thank you for holding [00:00:15] tight with me here. I really wanted to put this in the place that I felt like people [00:00:20] could really understand what we are trying to explain and how we are [00:00:25] getting you to look at hormones, not just as singular [00:00:30] messengers, as what they are in the body, but as a whole interconnected system.
And [00:00:35] I acknowledge and realize that a lot of people, when they think about it that way, just makes [00:00:40] it complex, and I completely get it. We don't have to get into the intricacies [00:00:45] of medical physiology here. That's not what we're talking about. The important thing to take away from [00:00:50] today is to understand that our hormones are intimately connected together, [00:00:55] they influence each other greatly, and that the body has priorities for our [00:01:00] hormones.
So certain hormones are not seen as a priority for the body. Other [00:01:05] hormones are absolutely a priority, and that's what we're gonna talk about today. So [00:01:10] let's maybe review and remind you that I released a nervous [00:01:15] system episode and a gut series episode, three episodes I should say [00:01:20] recently, that really are the foundation prior to this hormones [00:01:25] episode.
So if you're landing here for the very first time, I would highly suggest you also go back and [00:01:30] listen to the gut series and the nervous system episode. Those really are the [00:01:35] foundational principles for everything that I teach and helping us understand how [00:01:40] to harness our health. That's the whole goal.
What influence can you have with the things that you [00:01:45] do every day that adjunct your healthcare? So this [00:01:50] really is the premise of this whole podcast, is that you have a lot of control. [00:01:55] And yes, going to your doctor or practitioner matters a lot, and you often need their [00:02:00] guidance, but these things that I'm teaching you here are the foundational things that you can do [00:02:05] without consulting with anyone.
You can literally start these processes and [00:02:10] thinking in this way to have a better handle on your health and [00:02:15] really influence your health to a great degree. So that is what [00:02:20] I'm really hoping to share with you overall with all of these episodes. [00:02:25] So let's start with a question. Have you ever been prescribed a thyroid [00:02:30] medicine, or maybe it's hormone replacement therapy, and you just didn't get the outcome [00:02:35] from those drugs that you were hoping? You may have seen an adjustment, quote, unquote, [00:02:40] in your labs, or your labs came to the levels that your doctor was hoping for, [00:02:45] but you didn't really notice a difference in how you felt.
This is so common, and this is [00:02:50] really the premise for how I want you to think about this episode, is that the reason for that [00:02:55] is because hormone replacement therapy is estrogen, progesterone, [00:03:00] testosterone, right? And thyroid medication, it doesn't really matter what medication you're taking, [00:03:05] those things are downstream from the priorities in your body.
And [00:03:10] so the body won't prioritize those if it doesn't have its other needs met. So that's really [00:03:15] the premise of what we're gonna talk about today. So hormones, as I [00:03:20] mentioned, are one complete system. They're not isolated dials. We [00:03:25] can approach it that way, and often we do in medicine or really [00:03:30] in functional medicine does this also.
If your estrogen is low, they prescribe a [00:03:35] patch. If your progesterone is low, you get prescribed progesterone. I'll just tell you personally that [00:03:40] I've been on hormone replacement therapy over the last six or seven years in different [00:03:45] forms based on how I'm feeling, based on my labs, but no one has [00:03:50] really addressed in me the higher priority hormones.
It was really my own discovery [00:03:55] of this just through my own education, reading, helping students trying to [00:04:00] help myself, that I realized that there are things that have a much higher influence [00:04:05] on my sex hormones than just using a [00:04:10] medicine to impact them. Now, some people do get relief [00:04:15] from using hormones or from using thyroid medication.
I'm not saying that everyone [00:04:20] has this situation where they take a medicine for a hormone and they don't notice [00:04:25] anything. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that if you don't have a [00:04:30] better outcome from taking the medication that was prescribed to you, the hormone medication, [00:04:35] this is the episode for you to think about this And think about what could be [00:04:40] influencing those hormones and why that medicine isn't working.[00:04:45]
'Cause if the medicine isn't working, it's probably not that hormone, right? [00:04:50] Okay, so this interconnected system, and I mentioned this priority [00:04:55] order some hormones are just non-negotiable. They are literally responsible for our [00:05:00] survival. Your body will protect them no matter what, and other things are conditional.
[00:05:05] So that's why sex hormones are conditional. We don't have to procreate . Obviously, our [00:05:10] body wants us to, and that's how we're biologically set up. But at the end of the day, [00:05:15] that is not the priority. The priority is to keep us alive. And I'm [00:05:20] not going to make this podcast into an episode of listing all the hormones and what [00:05:25] they do.
That's definitely not what I'm doing here. I'm really trying to get you to think about this [00:05:30] conceptually, and we are gonna talk about some specific hormones. But just [00:05:35] stay with me and think about this big interplay, the bird, bird's-eye view, [00:05:40] if you will, of how your hormones are functioning together So let's think about, [00:05:45] first of all, before we talk about individual hormones, let's think about how they are [00:05:50] connected.
I'm gonna give you some scenarios, okay? So when we view morning [00:05:55] sunlight within an hour or so of waking, our cortisol should be high already. [00:06:00] This is called the cortisol awakening response. It literally is the rise [00:06:05] of that hormone to help get us up and out of bed. If you feel groggy in the morning [00:06:10] or like it's hard to get out of bed, go outside.
That's like the perfect thing for your cortisol. [00:06:15] The light going through to your eyes tells your brain it's time to wake up. [00:06:20] That triggers an entire cascade of hormones, often which is [00:06:25] cortisol. Now, if your cortisol is already high because you have an appropriate cortisol awakening [00:06:30] response, your cortisol is not gonna get even higher just from going outside.
[00:06:35] Going outside and viewing sunlight is just gonna reinforce that and make [00:06:40] sure that those other hormones like digestive hormones, appetite hormones, metabolic [00:06:45] hormones, are going to also be poised to work the way that they're supposed to. [00:06:50] So this is just the cascade that happens when you view morning light.
The nervous [00:06:55] system sets the tone for cortisol. A nervous system that's chronically reading [00:07:00] unsafe keeps our cortisol elevated and erratic throughout the day. Our cortisol levels [00:07:05] should gradually decline as the day goes on. So if you look at this on a [00:07:10] graph, the cortisol, as I mentioned earlier, should be high when you wake up in the morning, and [00:07:15] it should gradually go down as the day goes on.
That is appropriate. [00:07:20] When cortisol is chronically elevated, this impairs your thyroid hormone [00:07:25] conversion. So we have several different types of thyroid hormones. The inactive form [00:07:30] is T4. It doesn't convert to the active form, which is T3, as [00:07:35] well if you have high cortisol. So you can have quote [00:07:40] unquote, normal TSH and T4 labs that might be drawn by your [00:07:45] doctor, and no one is looking at the other thyroid labs and seeing that you [00:07:50] don't have adequate T3, or maybe you have too high of reverse T3.
And [00:07:55] we're not gonna go into those different hormones today 'cause that's not the purpose of this episode. I'll [00:08:00] have a follow-up thyroid hormone episode. But this is a [00:08:05] problem, 'cause if your cortisol is chronically elevated, then you're not converting [00:08:10] thyroid hormone. It doesn't matter how much hormone you take, your body literally can't use [00:08:15] it Insulin is so foundational.
It is one of the highest priority [00:08:20] hormones, just like cortisol. It literally keeps you alive by managing your blood [00:08:25] sugar. If your blood sugar is too high, then insulin comes in to lower it. It [00:08:30] is literally toxic to have high blood sugar, so your body regulates that very [00:08:35] much, and it really doesn't prioritize anything else other than [00:08:40] cortisol.
I would say cortisol and insulin are definitely equal on the [00:08:45] prioritization but definitely much higher than sex hormones or even thyroid hormones. So [00:08:50] when insulin comes in to manage blood sugar, if blood sugar is out of balance [00:08:55] or it's very dysregulated, meaning that your blood sugar is chronically being spiked [00:09:00] throughout the day or it's high throughout the day, then this affects how [00:09:05] much of your estrogen and testosterone is actually available for your cells to use.
[00:09:10] So you literally don't have the ability to manage and use [00:09:15] those sex hormones when you have this chronic high insulin. And [00:09:20] a lot of people will see this. They'll notice a difference in their libido. [00:09:25] Women will notice a difference in their cycles. Men may have low testosterone.
This [00:09:30] does not happen overnight. This often takes months and years to [00:09:35] develop, and so it's just something to think about. If I have [00:09:40] very dysregulated Blood sugar, if my doctor has told me that I'm insulin [00:09:45] resistant, I am close to being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, think about [00:09:50] how this is affecting things downstream from that.
How is your energy? How is your [00:09:55] metabolism? How is your sex drive? How is your ability to get pregnant? If you're [00:10:00] a female and your female hormones aren't functioning adequately to have a proper cycle, you're [00:10:05] likely not going to get pregnant.
Now we have to talk about the liver when we talk about this. Your [00:10:10] liver metabolizes hormones and in reference to things like cortisol and [00:10:15] estrogen, if your liver is struggling due to lack of nutrients that [00:10:20] enable it to function well, or let's say you have a heavy toxic burden, those [00:10:25] hormones can recirculate instead of leaving your body.
And we don't want that. We don't want [00:10:30] excess hormones. We don't want too low hormones. We want hormones to do their [00:10:35] job, move out of the body and for our body to be able to use them when we need [00:10:40] them. That's the important thing. The other connection here, and we talked about this in the gut series [00:10:45] and also my special microbiome episode that I released recently, is that your gut [00:10:50] microbiome plays a really direct role in metabolizing and recirculating [00:10:55] estrogen, but also other sex hormones like testosterone.
If your gut microbiome [00:11:00] is overgrown and not really in balance, likely your strobilome is [00:11:05] affected, and this will affect your connection [00:11:10] with your hormones.
If you have a digestive complaint, I would definitely go back to the gut [00:11:15] series. So let's talk about the nervous system a little bit more. A few [00:11:20] episodes back, I talked about how your nervous system's number one job is checking for safety. [00:11:25] Everything else you do, all the meditation, the breathwork, the cold plunge, the [00:11:30] supplements, the wonderful things that adjunct your, practice to regulate your nervous [00:11:35] system, those are great, but under that, your nervous system is literally just asking if [00:11:40] it's safe.
And so cortisol is the hormone output of that question. When [00:11:45] your nervous system feels safe, cortisol follows a healthy rhythm, high in the morning, [00:11:50] tapering throughout the day. And do you know what makes your body feel unsafe? [00:11:55] Think about it for a second. Maybe think about your own day in, day out, just [00:12:00] based on everything you've learned.
Dysregulated or inadequate nutrition, [00:12:05] irregular circadian rhythms, lack of movement, eating late at [00:12:10] night, fasting when you're already stressed and dysregulated. These are some of the [00:12:15] things that make your nervous system feel unsafe. Maybe these are surprising to you, [00:12:20] but these are normal practices that people have throughout their day, and I'm [00:12:25] not talking about trauma.
I'm not talking about stressful relationships. I'm not talking about things [00:12:30] like that, right? I'm talking about physiology, and those things are incredibly stressful to the [00:12:35] body, and those are things that you can greatly influence. So think about it like [00:12:40] that So cortisol, as I mentioned before, sits ahead of your [00:12:45] thyroid and reproductive hormones in priority by the body.
so when it's [00:12:50] chronically elevated, the T4/T3 conversion is inadequate. [00:12:55] We don't have enough thyroid for our cells, thyroid hormone for our cells, [00:13:00] and we likely have downstream symptoms from that. This is why someone can have [00:13:05] thyroid labs that come back normal or even get put on thyroid medication and they don't feel [00:13:10] better.
Their lab is looking at the hormone. It's not looking at what your body is able to [00:13:15] do with it So remember, too, that we're talking about priority of [00:13:20] hormones in this episode, but you can also think of it as a priorities for your body. [00:13:25] So your body, above all things, prioritizes your nervous system, [00:13:30] and it prioritizes insulin, cortisol, obviously both very [00:13:35] connected to your nervous system.
And so if you don't think about any other priority, just think [00:13:40] about how my nervous system is running and let's say you don't [00:13:45] have extreme stressors in your life, think about your physiology and some of the things [00:13:50] that I mentioned earlier that affect your nervous system stress. If you can [00:13:55] influence and improve those to help down regulate any stress in your nervous [00:14:00] system, that's gonna help everything in your body.
It literally is [00:14:05] connected to every system, definitely your hormonal system. And if you do have [00:14:10] stress and trauma, then I would say you need to double down on that even [00:14:15] more. So think about it that way for yourself. Insulin, as I mentioned, is [00:14:20] one of the biggest priorities that your body has.
Most people only think about it in regards of [00:14:25] weight or like diabetes risk, but insulin has such an important [00:14:30] job in our body. It has many jobs, but it really does help regulate our blood sugar, and [00:14:35] as I mentioned earlier, it is toxic to your body to have unregulated blood [00:14:40] sugar. That is also incredibly stressful for your nervous system.
[00:14:45] So when your blood sugar is dysregulated and you have spiking insulin all [00:14:50] throughout the day, even if it's, let's say you just ate three times a day, but the [00:14:55] insulin spike because the blood sugar spike is great, the insulin spike is [00:15:00] great, even if that happened three times a day, eventually that would lead to [00:15:05] insulin resistance and a stressed physiology.
[00:15:10] So that in itself is stressing your nervous system. I think a lot of people [00:15:15] when they do have situational stress in their personal lives or even if it's work [00:15:20] stress, and we're always thinking about the different modalities and things we can do to [00:15:25] influence our nervous system, we don't often think about our physiology.
[00:15:30] And having the rhythm set with your cortisol so you have healthy cortisol response in the [00:15:35] morning, and you also have, moderate insulin response throughout [00:15:40] the day, so not too often that you're spiking your blood sugar [00:15:45] and not too extreme, those things are going to impact your nervous [00:15:50] system just as much as anything else, if not more So [00:15:55] remember I mentioned, I think already, but when your insulin is dysregulated [00:16:00] because of your blood sugar, then your other hormones lower than that are gonna be [00:16:05] dysregulated.
You're not gonna have adequate sex hormone production. Your [00:16:10] insulin and your adrenals have a very intimate connection also, and your [00:16:15] adrenals and your sex organs, if you are in reproductive time of your life, [00:16:20] are what are making your sex hormones, and those processes [00:16:25] literally will be downregulated if you have dysregulated insulin.
[00:16:30] So just another way to think about it
So your liver. I'm not gonna talk a ton about [00:16:35] your liver today, but I feel like we can't talk about this without talking about your liver. I already [00:16:40] mentioned it earlier, but your liver is responsible for metabolizing and [00:16:45] clearing the hormones that we're talking about. It has lots of other jobs, but [00:16:50] that is, a big part of its work that it does every day.
If this [00:16:55] process isn't working, then the hormones don't just disappear when your body is done with [00:17:00] them. They recirculate. And so this is why sometimes [00:17:05] taking excess hormone actually becomes a bad thing, because if [00:17:10] your labs show that your estrogen is low, you went on the patch, [00:17:15] your estrogen went up to an appropriate lab level, but [00:17:20] now your liver is not clearing things very well.
That is super stressful to the [00:17:25] body. It can't really handle that excess estrogen. The step one that [00:17:30] should happen before the medication is to focus on improving your liver [00:17:35] function . And really, for me, the starting place with this is nutrition, [00:17:40] and a lot of people don't really understand how your nutrition can influence your [00:17:45] liver.
But essentially, you have three phases of detoxification, which [00:17:50] is a major job of your liver, and there are just specific nutrients [00:17:55] that are involved in each of those different phases. And so by making sure we [00:18:00] have those nutrients in our diet, it greatly influences our [00:18:05] liver's job. So we'll dive into this in future episodes, but this is just [00:18:10] something I felt like I really needed to bring up here So we have to also [00:18:15] mention the gut again.
If you have any digestive symptoms, then you [00:18:20] likely will also have other symptoms of [00:18:25] anything else, because your gut literally affects everything else. And so if [00:18:30] you have any digestive symptoms, if you have any systemic symptoms [00:18:35] like brain mood brain fog, skin symptoms, [00:18:40] along with hormone symptoms, this is a message to you [00:18:45] to go back to your gut.
Because the nervous system still really is the priority, [00:18:50] but remember that the nervous system and the gut are intimately connected, and we also have to [00:18:55] look at our gut, our digestion, our barrier, is it [00:19:00] strong, and our microbiome. So I would highly suggest you revisit those [00:19:05] episodes to come up with an action plan for what you can do and how you can [00:19:10] look at your own situation.
And remember that this is not like a laundry list of [00:19:15] 20 things that you need to do. My goal for you in listening to this episode or any [00:19:20] episode would be to take the actionable things out of it and really understand [00:19:25] what you could use to influence your own health, your own [00:19:30] physiology. And so you don't have to start 20 things at once.
I would actually [00:19:35] highly suggest that you don't do that 'cause most people can't stick with that. [00:19:40] Really, what you should do is find one thing, or maybe you list- have a list of five things. [00:19:45] You're like, "These five things sound really important to me, and I feel could help me." Just [00:19:50] start with one. Start with one.
Focus on the priorities, circadian [00:19:55] rhythm, nervous system regulation. Ensure those things are in line. Next, [00:20:00] move to cortisol if you need more help with your cortisol. I find that a lot of [00:20:05] people, when they get a circadian rhythm routine in place, they don't need [00:20:10] help with their cortisol. If they are eating adequately throughout the day, and I mean with [00:20:15] timing and with amount of food that you're eating and nutritious food, most of [00:20:20] cortisol comes into place.
We don't need to have this [00:20:25] heavy-hitting arm with cortisol, like, all the cortisol-decreasing supplements [00:20:30] or the cortisol-raising supplements. Circadian rhythm should be the very first place that you start with [00:20:35] cortisol But remember, too, that your blood sugar dysregulation highly [00:20:40] dysregulates your nervous system.
So those two go hand in hand. So [00:20:45] circadian rhythm balance along with blood sugar regulation, and I'm not saying you can't eat [00:20:50] sugar. I'm not telling you what to eat. If you notice, I haven't talk, gone, even [00:20:55] gone into nutrition at all in this podcast, and I'm doing that for a reason. I'm [00:21:00] doing that because I want you to realize that you have such a heavy influence over [00:21:05] your physiology without even talking about nutrition.
We've barely even talked about [00:21:10] it, right? And we're gonna get into it, because there's so much to cover, but if I [00:21:15] started with that, I would lose a lot of people because a lot of people have the mindset [00:21:20] that they don't wanna give up certain foods, or they have to eat a certain way, or they're gonna have to [00:21:25] cut calories, and all of that nutrition dogma, and that's why I didn't even want [00:21:30] that in the middle of any of these initial episodes.
We've released 20 episodes so [00:21:35] far and have barely talked about nutrition. So think about that and why [00:21:40] I'm putting that out to you that way. It's not because it's not important. It's [00:21:45] just because you have a lot of influence without even affecting how you eat And [00:21:50] many people do need to make some changes to the way they eat, but there are a [00:21:55] lot of great ways to do that, to make it enjoyable, to make it [00:22:00] actually fun, to feel better without changing and making [00:22:05] like 180 degree different way of eating.
So we'll get into that in the [00:22:10] future. So let's just wrap this up. I feel like I have [00:22:15] explained it so that you can understand it, but really this is the bird's-eye view [00:22:20] of what is a priority in your body. So we know that nervous system is a priority. We [00:22:25] know that the nervous system is intimately connected with our hormonal system, which [00:22:30] is, I think, almost 100 hormones, right?
But that [00:22:35] insulin and cortisol are priorities, and not to play Whac-A-Mole with [00:22:40] each, but to think about how those hormones are being influenced in our own [00:22:45] life. How is our daily rhythms and the things that we have going on in our [00:22:50] life affecting those two hormones? Because those hormones are upstream [00:22:55] from your thyroid, from your sex hormones, and if you're having any sort of a [00:23:00] symptom related to thyroid, related to sex hormones, you need to first look at your [00:23:05] insulin and your cortisol.
So thank you for being here. Please [00:23:10] rate and review this show. Please share it with other people. I would love to have you [00:23:15] subscribe to my show and get the episodes as soon as they come out every [00:23:20] week. It would mean a lot to me. We put a lot of thought and energy [00:23:25] into what people want. I'm listening to all the messages I've been getting from people [00:23:30] and trying to put out that information.
So it really means a lot to me if [00:23:35] you would subscribe, rate the show, leave a comment if you [00:23:40] wish and share it with others. Spread the word. Have a great day
The [00:23:45] information shared on this podcast is for educational and informational purposes [00:23:50] only and should not be considered medical advice. I am not a medical doctor, and this [00:23:55] content is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any [00:24:00] disease. Please consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any decisions [00:24:05] related to your health, especially if you have a medical condition or are taking [00:24:10] medications
