Transcript:
So chances are, if you are listening to me right now, that you are female, in your 30s and have recently started experiencing some interesting things in terms of your body.
Some people explain it as losing control of their body, or it being unpredictable or some even said to me that they feel their bodies hate them.
About 5 years ago I started experiencing the same thing…
For me it was increased allergies, really bad inflammation that presented as joint pain and inflammation in my face with painful lips and puffy eyes.
Weight increase despite an excellent diet and doing crossfit at least 4 times a week
And then those afternoon slumps.
Man, I remember coming home after a full day of work and just falling down on my bed for about 45 minutes just to regain some energy for the second half of the day.
And then the irritability! I remember getting really impatient and irritated with my kids and then thinking afterwards, what just happened?
I definitely was NOT the mum that I wanted to be but it never occurred to me that there was something other than self control that was not in order.
And then, like so many other women, I visited my gp numerous times to try and get to the bottom of my health issues, including acne, eczema and the incredibly painful lips and eyes, but I ended up on prescription drugs for my skin and the only other recommendation was that I stop exercising or go on oral contraception.
And with my medical training, I knew the risks and side effects of oral contraception so that was never an option.
Next week we’ll talk about everything you need to know about hormonal contraception, but for now. I can talk about this topic for hours and feel women are incredibly misinformed and under-educated on it! But let me not get side tracked…
So I believe through God’s divine intervention, a whole world was broken open to me about a year ago.
I discovered hormones! And how they form the absolute foundation of our health and wellness.
Now when I say hormones, I’m not just talking about progesterone, estrogen and testosterone! We have well over 300 hormones in our body and they affect every single little function within your body.
And when I discovered this, my life literally changed.
Let me tell you how.
When I started paying attention to the working of my hormones and implemented things that supported them, including that I stopped doing crossfit (or high intensity exercise) and started walking every day of the week, here’s what happened:
I lost 7kg (or 15 pounds) in 7 weeks literally without trying! My whole foundation of weightloss was blown out of the water cause during my university training as a dietitian, I was taught that weight was a simple equation of energy in vs energy out. If you eat more than you burn, you’ll pick up weight and if you burn more than what you eat, you’ll lose weight. But here I was, burning less energy than before, and losing weight at an unbelievable rate. I was definitely NOT restricting my intake! This literally blew my mind and made me dig deeper into how all of these pieces fit together!
Secondly, every single inflammatory response in my face and joint pain resolved for the first time in 5 years (and it’s still gone by the way). I can not explain to you the relief that this has brought to my every day life.
I remember waiting for it to come back for weeks on end. Thinking this is most probably going to return!
But then over time, I also realised other things which were not immediately noticeable, like I never experienced the intense irritability and PMS anymore.
My energy levels were sustainable and I didn’t experience the slumps any longer.
My libido increased.
Previously, I lost determination and drive and battled to get out of bed in the morning. NOW, I woke up refreshed and determined to take on the day.
My eczema cleared and asthma improved noticeably.
And then the most amazing thing, I started to understand my body in a way that I’ve never experienced before.
I haven’t had a period in 10 years and even without this significant indication of where I would be in my cycle, I started to notice how my body behaved during different phases, to such an extent that I now know exactly where I am in my cycle without having a period.
And this has been an absolute game changer for me!
So today I want to share with you the things that I’ve implemented to get to these results.
But please know my friend, that it is not a plug and play system. It is not a quick fix or a short-term solution.
It is something that takes commitment and dedication, but once you put in the hard work, the fruit you’ll reap will be so well worth your efforts.
And here’s the thing, not only will you benefit from a commitment to self-love and self-care, but your family will experience an incredible shift is dynamics and the joy of everybody in your household will increase exponentially.
You need to understand that if it goes well with YOU, it will be well with your family.
If you don’t commit the time and effort to care for yourself, not only will you pay the price, but so will your family.
But these benefits will stretch way beyond your home.
You’ll also experience the benefits in your friendships and in your career or business
So here’s what I did that changed my life:
I adjusted my exercise to suit my body and my cycle. I stopped killing myself every single day with workouts that demanded every single bit of energy and push from me.
Instead, I started giving my hormonal cycles some thought and started adjusting my exercise accordingly. This lead to more controlled levels of cortisol, which is our stress hormone, which meant my body moved into a state of calm. When cortisol is chronically elevated, you are always in the fight of flight mode. I won’t go into the physiological details of that, but it definitely is not good! Cortisol is meant to manage stress and when we have it at high levels all of the time, it has a HUGE impact on our life and body functions and systems.
Secondly, I adjusted my diet slightly to increase foods that support hormone balance and avoid foods (most of the time) that interrupts hormonal cycles and production of hormones or that will contribute to hormonal imbalance.
I think food as the foundation of our health does not get enough credit! Food is literally the medicine that will bring healing to your body.
But unfortunately we’ve come to think of food as something social or comforting or we use it to fill the gap of something that is missing for us.
Although I think it is important to eat WITH other people, we need to change our relationship to food to see it as medicine and fuel, and nothing else.
And when you don’t eat the foods that your body needs, it will start to give you messages to let you know.
But unfortunately, we were never taught to understand these messages. Instead, we silence it with medication.
These messages include issues with cholesterol or high blood pressure, and what I see so commonly these days are endometriosis and PCOS or heavy and painful periods, or irregular periods, or acne, pms with feelings of depression and anxiety.
This is not even to mention the poor sleep quality that women write off as normal, or the chronic fatigue. We think because we have children, it’s normal to always feel tired! Or the irritability. I don’t think many women realise that it doesn’t have to be this way!
And adjusting your food and understanding the needs of your body will go a very long way towards getting you out of that frustrating place.
And then lastly, something that I implemented that have literally blown my mind in terms of the results I not only got for my own health, but for various things for my family, was the use of essential oils and eliminating things in my environment that stuffs up my hormones.
Firstly, did you know that every single thing in your home that has fragrance in it, disrupts your hormone production? And also that of our young daughters and boys? We think that the manufacturers of these products carries our best interest, but here’s the deal my friend. Your money is way more important to them than your health.
As long as they can produce products at the lowest possible cost, they will not think twice!
And secondly, when we use high quality, pure essential oils, the healing that can come within our bodies is mindblowing and I’ve experienced it first hand.
I also started to do extensive investigations into the research and was shocked to find the volume of research on the topic. How is it that there is so much evidence but people don’t know about it? Same reason my friend, money.
The pharmaceutical industry will do everything in their power to keep you dependant on their drugs.
You can literally be the doctor in your own home!
And you too can experience the life changing healing that can come.
So, be inspired today my friend.
You don’t have to live with the things that make you unhappy and turns you into the person you don’t want to be.
If you would be interested to learn a little bit more about this, I’m hosting a free masterclass! There are 3 dates for you to choose from and I can wait to share with you the 3 secrets to balanced moods and hormones.
You would not want to miss this opportunity to dig deeper into this topic!
So make sure you head over to vandghie.com/3secrets to register for the session that will work for you.
And if you attend the training live with me, I’ll be giving away a free guide to further support you on this journey of self-discovery.
Ok my friend, thanx for joining me again today. And if you think this episode can help a friend or family member, please share this with them.
I’ll see you next week