14:36:36 I'm going to hit record.
14:36:44 Hey there, friends. Welcome back to Concierge Weight Loss. Today, we're diving into a topic that affects so many of us.
14:36:51 But doesn't always get the attention it deserves. Hormones, menopause, perimenopause.
14:36:57 If you've ever felt like your body is working against you, gaining weight even when you're doing everything right or just feeling off.
14:37:04 And not sure why. This episode is for you. I am joined by Chelsea Hohenberger, a family nurse practitioner and owner of Salt and Light Holistic Wellness and IV Therapy in Greenfield, Indiana.
14:37:17 She specializes in functional and holistic medicine, helping women balance their hormones, feel better.
14:37:23 And take control of their health, along with many other things.
14:37:27 We'll talk about the early signs of perimenopause, why weight gain happens during menopause, even if your habits haven't changed, and why you can do what you can do.
14:37:36 To support your hormones, whether it's through lifestyle shifts, supplements, or bioidentical hormone therapy.
14:37:42 So if you've been feeling stuck, frustrated, or just plain exhausted from trying to figure this all out on your own.
14:37:49 Stay tuned. Let's get into it. Hey, Chelsea, thank you for coming.
14:37:53 Hello. Yeah, thanks for having me.
14:37:53 I'm excited. Yeah. So we were talking before I hit record and you have a booming business here with functional medicine. So that's why I added in all kinds of other things besides women's health.
14:38:08 Yes, yes. It's definitely been great. We've been open for about a year and a half now and just steadily gaining clients and uh really feel like kind of once word of mouth hit, then it just kind of all exploded from there. So it's been great.
14:38:26 So I was nosing around on your website And you, in your bio, your About Me page, you mentioned that you had had some health issues.
14:38:37 And so is that what brought you into all of this?
14:38:36 Yes. Yes. Probably. I feel like when I turned 30, I just started falling apart and um You know, I'd never had any health problems before. It always felt pretty good, pretty good energy, you know, no issues there. And then all of a sudden I was just exhausted all the time. I was having
14:38:57 Daily migraines and gaining weight even when I hadn't changed anything and always been very active in the gym, doing a lot of classes, things as well.
14:39:09 And so I went to my primary care doctor who prescribed me a muscle relaxer.
14:39:17 A band-aid.
14:39:15 And which, you know, I had three young children at the time. And, you know, who can… function with muscle relaxers when you're a busy mom, three kids and working as a nurse as well So I was really frustrated. I want to know why I was experiencing these things. And I went to several other doctors and no one
14:39:38 Even seem to be interested in looking into why I was having these Until I did get to one amazing primary care doctor.
14:39:48 Who kind of started to lead me down this path, more of a functional medicine path.
14:39:53 And we discovered a lot of things kind of triggering and causing my migraines and a reason for my weight gain and fatigue.
14:40:00 And once I started kind of learning those things and making a lot of diet and lifestyle changes for myself and I just kind of feel like I couldn't stop learning about it. It just really took me down this path.
14:40:12 I was also working as a case manager at the time.
14:40:20 Mm-hmm.
14:40:16 For the Medicaid population, which is very underserved population who a lot of times doesn't have a lot of great resources at their fingertips for resources to buy and do things to promote their health.
14:40:30 And I started just really educating them on a lot of like the diet and lifestyle things that I was changing in my life. And I saw a lot of my patients that were, you know, their blood sugars were becoming better managed. They weren't, you know, they were able to lower their insulin.
14:40:46 They were just happier. They had, you know, were more full of life, had better energy And so then I decided to go back to get my NP and kind of always had this dream of having just this little crunchy holistic wellness clinic.
14:41:02 And so, yeah, I tried to, I worked in family medicine for a couple of years And just my heart and my love is just kind of more in a different direction than standard.
14:41:14 Medical practice and I just wasn't happy. So I kind of took a big leap of faith and opened up my wellness clinic and I'm So glad that I did.
14:41:24 Oh, that is exciting. So many of the things that you were talking about mirror my experience.
14:41:30 Mm-hmm.
14:41:30 With autoimmune stuff and then hormone things and my weight And so I was 230 pounds and then i was all this autoimmune stuff and they couldn't figure out what it was. They tried all these really harsh medicines, hair falling out.
14:41:45 Couldn't keep my memory straight. And like, it just felt like symptoms just kept adding up.
14:41:51 To more and more things, which made it less explainable for the doctors.
14:41:52 Mm-hmm.
14:41:57 And so I was like, okay, I'm done with their medicines and I just got to get myself, I got to know that I'm doing everything I can do from my side and Same kind of thing where I was like, I've got to find something. And so changing my lifestyle habits and my
14:42:12 Food and my, you know, like getting better sleep and water, like all these things just, I thought I'm going to be like a finicky houseplant and learn how to take the best care of myself.
14:42:21 Sure.
14:42:21 And I mean, I'm still figuring some things out. I'm 46 so like I am loving that you were excited to come on here and talk to me about hormones because I'm pretty sure this is where I'm at right now. So let's jump in.
14:42:34 Sure, absolutely.
14:42:36 All right. So what would be some first signs that someone might recognized before, like when they're starting to enter that perimenopause or menopause time.
14:42:46 Yeah, I would say some of the first signs, I mean, it can differ woman to woman for sure.
14:42:52 I always say kind of we're all just very unique individual creatures for sure, but definitely um I hear of like a lot of mood changes, either, you know, increased anxiety or just feeling very irritable.
14:43:07 Your cycles might you might become longer and heavier or very short and light.
14:43:14 Fatigue, definitely sometimes even a little sleep disturbances or beginning to kind of wake up those wee hours of the morning as well too.
14:43:23 Decrease in libido for sure. And then sometimes to even, you know.
14:43:28 Gaining some weight, especially around the midsection for sure.
14:43:32 Okay. As we were, I was trying to prep for our interview today, I was reading a book called The New Menopause.
14:43:41 And there's like hundreds of signs that you might be entering perimenopause and how much it all connects to everything.
14:43:45 Yes. Oh, yes.
14:43:50 What ages do you think that like people are going to start thinking like this could be some perimenopause versus it's something else.
14:44:02 Okay.
14:43:58 It can start as early as in your 30s. For sure. I feel like for many years it was something that was thought of that, you know, you maybe didn't enter perimenopause until, you know.
14:44:11 Later 40s or so, but it can definitely start into your 30s as well.
14:44:15 So what is it? So like, I mean, is it just this collection of symptoms or like what's going on in our body that's making those symptoms happen? How would you explain that?
14:44:25 Yeah. Well, it can be a little bit of our, you know, just our ovary function beginning to change, kind of getting out of that.
14:44:35 Phase of producing life for sure. That can definitely start to begin to cause some hormone shifts. I think it's also, you know, it is kind of a natural part of aging for sure for the female.
14:44:52 But a lot of it too just kind of comes with us. Our reproductive organs have done their job, you know, for many years and um they're just kind of transitioning into, you know, more of a a time of not worrying about trying to produce an egg.
14:45:11 Yeah. So as I was trying to understand, it was explaining to me that how many of these hormones that are responsible for like the female hormones uh what was it? Estrogen, progesterone. I think they called them androgens, which is like where the testosterone is.
14:45:30 Okay. Yeah.
14:45:30 They affect a lot of things like a lot of things a lot. And so they were mentioning how like the history of menopause used to be like It's almost like welcome into womanhood. It's like, oh, you're released from womanhood. Now you get to relax finally and you don't have to have periods anymore.
14:45:51 And that I guess some of the original medications and things for anything menopause related were only for hot flashes.
14:46:00 So.
14:46:12 Mm-hmm.
14:45:59 Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And, you know, those hormones are important for us. And even though we're entering menopause, it doesn't mean that those hormones aren't still good or beneficial for our bodies. There's a lot of benefits, you know, even from just You know, brain health, healthy cognition
14:46:18 Heart health, cardiovascular health as well too and kind of helping with metabolic function as to as we age of keeping those hormones at a nice, healthy, optimal level too, even into menopause.
14:46:30 So my podcast is definitely helping women who want to lose weight.
14:46:35 Mm-hmm.
14:46:34 We're not focusing big into specific eat this, don't eat this, or like how many calories to have. I practice more mindfulness with them and tackling emotional eating.
14:46:47 So this will be like perfect for them. But why do you think that there's weight gain?
14:46:52 Like, where's that coming from?
14:46:55 Well, definitely when you have a shift in hormones too, you know, insulin is also a hormone too. It's just usually thought with more of like blood sugar and diabetes, but it is a hormone in our body. And so anytime where you're seeing a shift in your sex hormones or, you know, cortisol, that stress hormone as well, it can start to cause a shift And insulin, which can start to you know
14:47:17 Dysregulate your metabolic, your blood sugar balance as well too. So a lot of times when we see weight gain.
14:47:26 Into menopause, you know, it can be a little bit to do with just the fact that, you know, you might not have that much estrogen or progesterone or your testosterone is waning, but it also has a lot to do with insulin and becoming a little bit insulin resistant as well into menopause.
14:47:41 Is an important part of managing weight gain in menopause.
14:47:45 So that is a hot button buzzword. Can you give me like the the quickie version of what insulin resistance means.
14:47:57 So your pancreas will dump out insulin in response to helping keep your blood sugar at a healthy optimal level and sometimes I always kind of like to say the pancreas kind of gets a little overactive for sure and If it feels like it's having trouble regulating your blood sugar, we'll dump out more insulin. And then we get this free floating insulin building up in the bloodstream.
14:48:25 Which dirty trick that our body plays is that that will actually signal the body to save body fat, store body fat.
14:48:33 As well too. It also causes our fat cells that start to accumulate in those areas, especially around the midsection, to kind of swell Which makes the weight gain, the inflammation from the weight gain explode in a way as well too.
14:48:52 So is that so like, I think everybody who hears insulin, we're used to diabetics and things like that and Is this only because of our hormones or only because of what items were like how much or what we're choosing to eat
14:49:08 What is creating some of this insulin resistance?
14:49:13 It can be from many things. It can be from hormone imbalances for sure. Definitely our diet and lifestyle. You know, I say too, you know, we… and we do get as women get kind of stuck on, you know, the fact that I'm gaining this weight and I haven't changed anything, you know, I've
14:49:28 Eaten this way and I've done these exercises for, you know, 10, 20 years and all of a sudden I'm having these problems. But as our bodies change too, I feel like we have to adapt our lifestyle and even our exercise routines as well too. And I think sometimes too that that is forgotten as well too. And that kind of helps, you know.
14:49:47 Insulin resistance will kind of creep in the door a little bit you know um A lot of times women feel really great from doing cardio workouts or more aerobic workouts, HIIT training, things like that.
14:49:59 And as we age, sometimes those cyber workouts are a little bit more stressful for our body and will actually increase cortisol.
14:50:07 Mm-hmm.
14:50:07 Which will then can, you know, kind of dysregulate your blood sugar and insulin as well too so It really is an issue that just has so many connecting parts as well too and moving parts that you can't just look at one area of the body when you're treating someone.
14:50:24 Into menopause.
14:50:26 Oh, I love that. How I help people is like we talk about like how their lifestyle habits are affecting them. And it's not a list of do this or don't do this because it is so personalized to each person.
14:50:40 And so like their entire genetic makeup or like all of their other things that are in their life and And so I love that like nobody wants to be told to work out more and more and more, especially when we find out that like it could just be too much and building up cortisol.
14:50:58 Absolutely. Absolutely.
14:51:02 How do we determine if someone has a hormone imbalance? Are there like specific tests they should ask their doctor for?
14:51:09 Yeah, I typically go by symptoms. And then I also always like to check a hormone panel.
14:51:17 Which can be done with just a simple blood draw to look at your progesterone, estradiol.
14:51:24 Testosterone levels as well too. Also some other important markers, your LH, FSH.
14:51:32 And sex hormone binding globulin to give you kind of a full at least sex hormone panel there.
14:51:39 I prefer actually to do expanded panels kind of even out from that as well too, to kind of get the big picture. We always look at adrenal hormones as well, of course, an insulin total.
14:51:48 I checked some vitamins to look for any vitamin deficiencies as well.
14:51:54 And definitely a full thyroid panel as well. Typically in conventional medicine, you may get one or two thyroid markers where to get a good, you know.
14:52:05 Full view of your thyroid as well too, having, you know, at least five markers checked is best.
14:52:10 I think if you don't mind, before we jump off, I'll have you give me that list and I'll put that in the show notes because I'm sure that would be a great takeaway for someone who's got an appointment to talk to their doctor.
14:52:18 Okay.
14:52:23 Sure.
14:52:24 And so we kind of talked about how diet and lifestyle can regulate it.
14:52:28 Does everybody need to have like… hormone replacement therapy or How do you determine that?
14:52:35 Not everyone. Studies are showing more though that kind of getting on top of any hormone imbalances prior to heading into menopause too can actually cause better outcomes for women as they head into menopause and the first few years into menopause as well too. And I don't think that
14:52:57 Even, you know, I have women that are into menopause and you know some we are managing their symptoms and they have nice healthy levels, even with just some diet changes, lifestyle changes. I also do a lot of herbals as well too.
14:53:13 Okay. When we were talking before when we were scheduling this you said I only prescribe bioidentical hormones and I had no idea that there were multiple types of hormones. So what would be the other type of hormone?
14:53:28 Yeah. So the difference between bioidentical and then basically a synthetic hormone would be that bioidentical hormones are closer in their molecular structure to your own body's hormones. So your body's going to recognize those and use those a lot more appropriately than they would a synthetic hormone. Also, a lot of the testing that shows higher like breast cancer risk with estrogen use.
14:53:56 Or, you know, even progestin, which is the synthetic hormone for progesterone. Those synthetic hormones do pose more of a cancer risk.
14:54:06 So I avoid those at all costs.
14:54:10 And then… I don't know how I want to ask this because I didn't tell you about this.
14:54:16 I think that I've heard a lot of people very afraid to even try anything with hormone replacement therapy because they're afraid it causes breast cancer.
14:54:25 So what do we know about that now?
14:54:26 Yeah. Yeah, well, we are learning that that large study that was released years ago pertaining to women's hormones and hormone therapy into menopause that, you know, kind of caused all the breast cancer scare with hormone use.
14:54:41 It's very flawed and not really a good study at all. Also was largely with synthetic hormones as well too.
14:54:51 I think that it is something that you want to be with a practitioner who has experience with, you know, is well-rounded in hormone therapy.
14:55:00 And you also want to do your due diligence yourself to, you know, just watch for any warning signs just to be extra cautious with hormone therapy. I always recommend, you know, make sure you're doing your monthly self breast exams.
14:55:15 Have some sort of breast cancer screening, whether that be a mammogram or thermography or a breast ultrasound too to stay on top of that. And then making sure that you are getting your hormones checked after you start a hormone. Time and time again, I will have women come to me who they were started on hormone therapy with another provider and they were started on these hormones and their hormones were never checked again.
14:55:40 I always recommend having your hormone levels checked at least six to eight weeks after you started a hormone too so that those levels can be monitored and make sure that you stay in a safe optimal range for your hormones.
14:55:53 Okay. Does it matter? If you don't have to having a menstrual cycle to start the hormone therapy, right?
14:56:00 Oh, no, absolutely not.
14:56:02 So would like where you're at in your monthly cycle, would that change what your hormones, your blood test might read?
14:56:09 Yes, yes. So optimally it's, you know. In a perfect world, it's great to get your hormones checked around day 19 to 21. If you're having a regular cycle.
14:56:19 But many people, their cycles are irregular or, you know, short or long. So it's kind of hard to pinpoint that.
14:56:30 Yeah.
14:56:26 So I usually try to just say, don't stress out about it too much. Try to get it done kind of mid-cycle. Just definitely don't have them drawn when you're on your menstrual cycle or, you know, like the day or two right after you've stopped your cycle.
14:56:38 Okay, that is really good to know. Thank you. What about some people who still are just kind of hesitant? Are there natural ways to support the hormone balance?
14:56:49 Yeah, there are some really great herbals out there. I would say one that's definitely exploded in popularity over the last couple years would be wild yam.
14:56:59 So that is kind of a bioidentical progesterone in a way. Wild yam has the same molecular structure as our own body's progesterone. And you can use that has an over-the-counter topical cream.
14:57:14 You also could consume wild yam root Which is also great. And progesterone is kind of our happy calming hormone for sure. It can help with sleep. It can help with hot flashes most of the time. Sometimes you still need some estradiol, but it's also a great balancer between your estradiol and your testosterone as well too. So progesterone is great for if your estradiol is too high.
14:57:40 It can help lower it. If it's too low, it can help raise it a little bit.
14:57:45 That's kind of always my starting point too with hormone therapy. I don't just jump to you know an estrogen or testosterone. I usually try a little bit of progesterone first for most women.
14:57:57 But definitely, I still always recommend sometimes I do, you can get now, you know, hormone creams shipped to you through all these online hormone therapy.
14:58:16 Mm-hmm.
14:58:11 I guess you would call them like a virtual clinic And I've had some clients who had order from there and based on their symptoms, they were told they needed this cream that had, you know, progesterone and estradiol in it. And then they come to me because they're still having these symptoms and we check their labs.
14:58:31 Which were never checked in the first place. And you know, their estradiol is through the roof. You did not need any estradiol.
14:58:38 Yeah.
14:58:39 So even though you can get some of these things kind of over the counter or very easily I still recommend getting a good base hormone panel first.
14:58:49 Yeah. What about birth control? Like I know that um Mirena has progesterone in it.
14:58:57 Is that going to be on the same like dosage as what you're talking about in replacement or?
14:59:03 No, not typically. No. Because, you know, those are kind of definitely more geared towards, of course, you know.
14:59:14 Mm-hmm.
14:59:10 More as a birth control use A lot of times I would say, you know, the Mirenaire most commonly would be utilized later into Paramount and pause for that woman who's having very heavy long cycles, which it can be very effective for that and helpful. But as far as for helping with other hormonal symptoms, that's usually not effective.
14:59:33 So not enough. Birth control pills or Mirenas or whatever are just not enough.
14:59:40 There was something on your website, peptide therapy, and I don't know much about that. Is that something that was related to the hormones or was that something else that I was reading about?
14:59:50 Not typically, I wouldn't say so to, you know, related with hormones, but peptides are basically chains of amino acids.
14:59:54 Okay.
14:59:57 Which amino acids are great for protein and lean muscle production in the body, which is also very important for the perimenopausal menopausal woman for sure.
15:00:09 Having a higher level of lean muscle mass, they're actually showing that as better predictors of health for many different areas.
15:00:22 As you age, even in, you know, like your brain health, cognition, you know, protection against dementia As well as then just surrounding those bones and helping protect and keep healthy bone structure as well too since you know osteoporosis is such a huge concern for the menopausal female.
15:00:40 So peptides can be useful for some of those senses, also increasing muscle mass.
15:00:45 Can be great too if you are working on any weight loss because the more muscle mass we have.
15:00:51 Mm-hmm.
15:00:51 You know, our calorie expenditure is going to be a little bit different and it can kind of help stimulate some fat burning as well too.
15:01:00 I have quite a few clients who use the semoclutide, trizepatides, the weight loss injections.
15:01:08 Is that something that could be paired up with that?
15:01:12 Oh, yes. Yeah, absolutely.
15:01:13 The peptide therapy. What about with the hormone replacement therapy? Are those okay to do together, the injectables with the weight loss injections with hormone replacement therapy?
15:01:26 Oh, nice.
15:01:25 Yes, absolutely. I was just kind of my big concern with the, you know, GLP-1 injections and I do prescribe them, but I am very cautious and I dose mine a little bit differently. I kind of do more of a micro dosing
15:01:43 Because…
15:01:44 What does micro dosing mean? Because I've heard that explained a couple different ways to me and I don't know if I just didn't understand it or If everybody's doing it a little different.
15:01:52 Yeah. Right. I mean, well, you know, the GOP ones, there's many benefits from them and we are just I feel like we're just kind of on the tip of the iceberg of really all the great things that they can do in the body and you know
15:02:02 Mm-hmm.
15:02:07 They're not only great for weight loss and managing diabetes, but now it's also showing to decrease inflammation in the body which is helping protect your cardiovascular health.
15:02:19 Also for, you know, pain, achiness in the body, a lot of people with rheumatoid arthritis.
15:02:26 And kind of more chronic pain, inflammatory conditions as well to feel a lot of relief from the GLP-1 injections.
15:02:36 I personally feel that when you see people with the terrible side effects.
15:02:43 And kind of getting that Ozempic face. They're on too high of a dose.
15:02:46 Mm-hmm. Hmm.
15:02:48 I think that there is an art at doing them in a safe way, I'm going to start coughing.
15:02:55 The air is so dry. Give me just a second.
15:02:57 You're good.
15:03:08 Used it as a water break for myself.
15:03:17 I'm always, my eyes and sinuses get so dry through the winter. And so yesterday I had a ton of new clients And I'm just talking all day and i'm just talking all day So today I brought in a humidifier in my office to try to
15:03:32 Voice in the air. Yes. Yeah.
15:03:32 We got to do whatever we can. So microdosing would be if you have The Ozempic face or if you have too many like if you have if you have those extreme side effects from the medicines, then you'd be interested in microdosing.
15:03:49 Yes. I mean, I think microdosing is the way to go anyways because We are now also hearing kind of some, you know, kind of more worrisome, scarier results from the GLP ones you know about younger women, you know, going into osteoporosis
15:04:09 After rapid weight loss. I'm sorry.
15:04:20 So not directly from the medicine, just from rapid weight loss which
15:04:27 Mm-hmm.
15:04:23 Yes, the rapid weight loss, because a lot of times you're on the larger doses If you're on a larger dose and you aren't, you know, your appetite is so suppressed that you are not intaking the nutrition that your body needs.
15:04:37 Mm-hmm. Yeah.
15:04:41 And the rapid muscle loss.
15:04:37 That's not healthy. That is not healthy weight loss. Yes, you lose tons of muscle mass, which is not healthy. And then that's when we see these people who then get off the GLP-1s, they rebound the weight and now they have a higher body fat percentage than before. Well.
15:04:55 Because they lost all muscle. They didn't lose that much fat.
15:04:58 And I want to make sure anyone who's listening to this, she is not saying that GLP-1s are directly causing, it's excessive weight loss fast.
15:05:07 Yes. Yes.
15:05:07 And so even people who do those strict calorie cuttings they will lose hair and they will lose muscle mass and they will have all these same things.
15:05:12 Yes.
15:05:17 That are risk problems by fast quick weight loss.
15:05:19 Yes. Yes. Like I always tell people, you know, that I, I, you know, when I'm prescribing the GLP ones, I want you to be on just the lowest effective dose to where it is, you know.
15:05:51 Mm-hmm.
15:05:34 Curbing your appetite a little bit. It's kind of stimulating some weight loss, but you are still intaking enough nutrition. I always tell people, you know, another thing too is that Your body, if you aren't giving it the nutrition it needs, it's going to look for a source for fuel. And it only takes three minutes to liquefy muscle for fuel. It takes hours to liquefy fast.
15:06:02 Yeah.
15:05:58 So that's where we see that rapid muscle loss from. So I'm always telling my clients, you have to prioritize your protein. Even if you aren't super hungry.
15:06:08 I was saying if you sit down to dinner and you've got your protein and some sides, eat your protein first. So that way, if you fill up quickly, at least you got your protein in for sure.
15:06:18 Yeah, I think what I've heard a lot, and I know we were going to talk about menopause and we jumped right into these.
15:06:23 Yeah. Yeah.
15:06:24 Glp-1s. But I think what I've heard a lot of clients say is.
15:06:29 Like they're getting it from some, it's almost like some other pharmacy who's also prescribing it too.
15:06:36 Yes.
15:06:35 Or even a medical doctor who doesn't have a lot of experience with how quite to utilize that as a tool. So the drug companies were saying to just up the dose every single month. And so they would follow that and then they would have way more symptoms and
15:06:56 Yeah.
15:06:53 Kind of that too high a fat loss And so one of the things I kept thinking as I was hearing this is every other medication that doctors ever prescribe, it's the lowest beneficial dose.
15:07:06 Yeah.
15:07:06 And so we don't give people cholesterol or blood pressure meds at the highest dose. They always start at the smallest or depression meds, anything.
15:07:14 The smallest that works. And then you always have somewhere to go from there. So if you just jump right up.
15:07:20 That's just giving you more side effects than you really have to deal with at once.
15:07:22 Yes, absolutely. Yes, yeah.
15:07:25 So, yeah. Yeah.
15:07:28 Yeah, I just think I, you know, I I love the GOP ones. I think they're fantastic. But I do just feel like there's an art to using them in a healthy way.
15:07:40 Yeah, I agree. I agree. Back to our menopause talk, what do you think stress and sleep play in like what kind of role do they play in the menopause and weight gain kind of cycles?
15:07:58 Yeah, definitely, you know, if we aren't sleeping well, if we're not getting into that deep REM sleep then um it's going to drive hormone disruption for sure.
15:08:08 I'm sorry.
15:08:20 A lot of times when we're sleeping you know that's our body's time to kind of rest and restore So if we're not getting to that point.
15:08:26 Mm-hmm.
15:08:28 It's definitely going to block hormone production as well. Stress, I am huge on that with my clients as well too.
15:08:35 Chronic stress over time will lead to physical inflammation of the body and that is basically the root of all disease, honestly.
15:08:44 So, you know, when you're stressed, you're creating inflammation in your body that's causing hormone shifts that's going to cause weight gain. That's going to cause, you know.
15:08:54 Metabolic bottle and blood sugar dysregulation it's just kind of a ball of chain of events So stress management.
15:09:04 And kind of prioritizing a good sleep routine is key for sure.
15:09:08 I think I heard a quote that disease cannot live in a relaxed state or something like that.
15:09:14 And so that whole stress hormone cortisol thing, it kind of plays into that. I think like it's And I'm sure there's things against that but like the lower you can get your stress, it's going to affect all kinds of good things in your body.
15:09:30 Absolutely.
15:09:33 We talked about vitamins and supplements. Are there like routine ones that you think most people should be on to help with hormone balance or weight loss or any of that kind of thing?
15:09:46 I definitely always recommend a good methylated multivitamin. So it's going to have all, especially those B vitamins already in the methylated form so that your body is able to just kind of pick them up and use them.
15:09:59 I don't know what methylated means. Is there something like if you went to the drugstore or Walmart that it's going to say methylated on it?
15:10:03 So…
15:10:10 Okay?
15:10:08 Not often. So, you know, over 60% of the population has at least one gene mutation that affects methylation in the body and that process happens many areas in the body, but most commonly it affects a lot of like vitamins such as B vitamins.
15:10:24 It's basically the body's way of kind of converting a vitamin or an enzyme into the usable form for the body.
15:10:32 And so sometimes we have gene mutations that disrupts that hormone cycle and we're not able to convert those things.
15:10:40 So I always recommend a good methylated multivitamin that they're already in that form so your body is able to utilize them.
15:10:49 One easy way to look for that is when you look at the label.
15:10:53 I always, you know, go to the b12 on the label. And if it says cyanocobalamin, it is not methylated. You want it to say methylcobalamin.
15:11:04 Okay.
15:11:03 On there is one form of it. But a lot of them you'll see You'll see, you know, like the B vitamin then in parentheses, you know, along label there. And a lot of times you'll see methyl in it somewhere to kind of give you some clues that it's methylated.
15:11:19 Okay. Is that the only vitamin or a supplement that you
15:11:23 I love that. Vitamin D3 is very important. You know, it's not only important just for our immune system, it's great for mood, energy, metabolism. It's also building blocks of all of the hormones. When you kind of look at the hormone cascade, how hormones are created in the body.
15:11:42 Vitamin D is at the top. So that one's very important, you know, especially I always recommend getting vitamin D level checked at least once a year as well too, just to kind of make sure an optimal levels there.
15:11:53 And supplementing if you need to. Also too, even if we are eating the best food that we can get our hands on. Unfortunately, our soil is depleted and sometimes our food is not as nutrient dense as we would like it to be.
15:12:11 So I usually recommend also kind of mineralizing yourself daily and that can easily be done with some Celtic sea salt.
15:12:20 So that's kind of the purest form of salt, one of the most purest forms, but also has all those great trace minerals in it as well too.
15:12:28 You can simply take a couple grains and put it under your tongue and let it melt once a day or sprinkle it in a glass of water and drink it.
15:12:35 It's quick and easy. You can get a bag of Celtic sea salt for $6 to $8 and they'll last you.
15:12:42 Months.
15:12:43 Wow. Nice. So where would women start?
15:12:48 If they thought their hormones might be out of balance, but they just don't know where to start, where would they start at?
15:12:55 I definitely think too, you know, kind of cleaning up your diet for sure too.
15:13:00 Working on stress, kind of, you know, prioritizing, you know, good sleep, trying to at least get, you know.
15:13:06 Seven plus hours of sleep a night. Is great in general.
15:13:14 Like I had something written down on my paper too that I wanted to mention about that as well.
15:13:21 Also looking at our self-care products. We say environmental toxins, I mean, it's difficult to escape them were surrounded by them. But it's important to look what we're putting on our skin. Your skin absorbs a lot more than what you realize.
15:13:38 I always say your skin is like a big mouth. It's the largest organ of the body.
15:13:44 Mm-hmm.
15:13:44 It will just, you know, it really is affected by what it comes into contact to and what we're slathering all over ourselves on a daily basis. So I always recommend, you know, there are several great good apps out there like yoga or going to environmental working group
15:14:01 To check your self-care products because unfortunately in this country they allow some terrible chemicals into our self-care products that are labeled as endocrine disruptors.
15:14:12 So they are great for disrupting our hormones as well as kind of some cancer causing effects as well too.
15:14:23 I've heard about the deodorant and like trying to, you know.
15:14:20 So trying to reduce some of those as well.
15:14:27 Do some differences with that, but I had not, I didn't know there was an app for that. So we'll put that in the show notes too for sure.
15:14:32 Yes. Yes. Absolutely.
15:14:35 So what do they do if they're like, okay, I'm doing everything I can do, which feels like that's our journey, right? We were like, let's get it all in order, what we can do. But like, unfortunately, even some of the best providers, they're just They're not skilled in this. And so they might tell you one of those
15:14:50 Sure.
15:14:53 Things like, oh, I'll give you an antidepressant or, you know, you don't have problems till you're having hot flashes or there's nothing that can be done for you, you know?
15:15:01 Like, sorry about you. This is welcome to the next half of your life kind of thing.
15:15:02 Yeah.
15:15:06 Sure.
15:15:06 So what should they do if they're feeling like their healthcare provider unfortunately is dismissing some of their symptoms?
15:15:13 I definitely say, you know, look for someone who is, you know, practicing in more of a holistic or functional medicine way.
15:15:23 Near you. I think you know i think standard medicine and you know conventional medicine, unfortunately, you know.
15:15:31 Doctors and other nurse practitioners were not taught this type of care in school. And so by no fault of their own you know a lot of, you know, other practitioners just don't don't know or, you know, don't know how to, you know, treat someone.
15:15:49 In that way. It's just not something that they're taught. And so I definitely say seek out someone who is Who will kind of take the time or is able to give you the time to listen to your symptoms and get a good set of labs.
15:16:06 For sure. And someone then who is experienced and knowledgeable and you know kind of leading you through any deficiencies or imbalances that they find in your labs.
15:16:17 Is there a list or a website they could go to to like reference maybe someone in their area?
15:16:23 Yeah. So Institute for Functional Medicine, it's one of the national organizations For functional medicine, they actually have a provider database on there. That's one great place to look.
15:16:37 Now, not every provider in your area will be on there because to be on their list, you have to be a member or working towards a certification with them.
15:16:47 But that's one great place you can look. For sure. Or even just, you know.
15:16:51 Okay.
15:16:52 I mean, with as much um you know technology and AI that you get when you just type in Google, even if you're just typing a holistic or functional medicine practitioner near me.
15:17:05 Okay.
15:17:05 It's definitely becoming a more popular thing for sure.
15:17:11 What's one thing you wish more women knew about menopause and weight loss?
15:17:17 Um. Definitely with menopause, you know, you don't have to suffer It's you know it's Some people, you know, it's almost kind of seen as well, you know, even though they kind of say, oh, well, you're free from, you know, having menstrual cycles and things like that. But, you know, you don't have to suffer with
15:17:35 Hot flashes and fatigue and just feeling awful and bloated and puffy all the time.
15:17:41 You know, it's not, I believe that we weren't meant to live that way.
15:17:46 And so I definitely say, you know, if you are having those symptoms or you aren't feeling well, definitely seek out someone to help you and kind of guide you in that for sure.
15:17:58 I think one of the things that really struck me as I was preparing for our call today was that it's not just about taking care of all of these side effects and symptoms that we have. It's actually about preserving our body's tissues
15:18:13 So all of the things that all the hormone replacement therapy and all of the the different lifestyle changes that we've talked about, those healthy habits.
15:18:29 Yeah.
15:18:21 It really, like you said, it preserves the bones and the muscles in the heart and the brain and the cognition and So this isn't just about whether or not you can get through menopause and like tough it out until it goes away. Like we really want to save as much
15:18:40 Right. Yeah. Yeah.
15:18:39 As our bodies function and tissue. I was amazed at how high the risk for women and cardiovascular disease is and how related it is to menopause hormone type things.
15:18:52 Absolutely. Absolutely.
15:18:55 So yeah, that one was big for me. I was reading about benefit versus risk ratios and how when that study that you said was badly, the bad research one that kind of gave everyone the bad name about hormone replacement therapy and thinking it was going to make everyone have breast cancer.
15:19:13 That like how low the percentage of people that would have that is and still how exponentially high the cardiovascular risk still was.
15:19:23 And so they weren't taking that benefit benefit risk ratio into effect at all.
15:19:28 Yep.
15:19:30 Is there anything else you want to talk about today? I know you have all kinds of great services at your practice. If anyone's listening locally.
15:19:40 What do you think?
15:19:40 Yeah, I definitely, I also do the vitamin IV therapy and I do a lot of vitamin injections as well too. The vitamin IV therapy, it can be great because we're just able to put those vitamins and minerals directly into the bloodstream.
15:19:56 So you don't have to depend on, you know, taking them orally and then, you know, depending on your gut to absorb them and utilize them appropriately.
15:20:06 That's. That takes about an hour and a half to do that if you come in. Or I have a lot of women that love just the quick pop in for a vitamin injection appointment. I've got some different injections that also kind of help with boosting
15:20:24 Metabolism and energy as well too kind of in a natural way that I have a lot of women just really find is helpful on their weight loss journey as well too, even just to kind of keep them energized and motivated for sure.
15:20:37 I also recently started adding on red light therapy. So red light therapy it's really a therapy that has almost endless benefits.
15:20:50 The one that we have, it's full body and it is a light that emits seven different wavelengths that either just penetrate lightly into the skin, which can be great for anti-aging, collagen boosting But then some deeper ones that reach more down to the cellular level, tissue, organ, which can be great for muscle ligament repair, recovery from workouts.
15:21:15 Decreasing the inflammation in the body and even kind of stimulating the mitochondria in the cell, which is the powerhouse of the cell. And if your cells are able to operate and do things appropriately, then it kind of just helps everything else in the body.
15:21:29 Is that different from infrared?
15:21:28 Start heading the right direction. So yeah, so the infrared are kind of the rays that are going to reach deeper So it does have some infrared.
15:21:40 Okay. So the red light therapy reaches deeper or the infrared does?
15:21:40 And as well too.
15:21:45 Well, infrared are the rays that reach deeper. Yeah.
15:21:50 Okay. I know I had a mat. And I don't really know what it was supposed to do because it has these crystals and all these things. And it was called an infrared, I can't near infrared or… I don't know.
15:22:02 Yes. Yeah. You can have them.
15:22:07 Mm-hmm.
15:22:04 But it is the best napping mat in the world. And so I will lay that out and like set the timer for 20 minutes. And it is the deepest relaxation I've ever had.
15:22:12 And a lot of this, you said you were a crunchy nurse practitioner and i I understand because I have no idea why that mat gives me the best nap in the world, but like.
15:22:22 Yep.
15:22:24 Whether it's just all woo woo in my head or not, but I absolutely feel better after a nap.
15:22:29 Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Yep. I also have a grounding mat on our table too when you come in for your red light therapy. So, you know, grounding kind of helps as well too with just detox and decreasing inflammation in the body as well.
15:22:43 And then we also do ionic foot detoxes as well, which can be a nice way to just kind of help promote detox in the body, you know.
15:22:53 Detoxing also has multiple symptoms, which sometimes too, I would say probably can be confused a little bit with possibly some hormone imbalances or even autoimmune type conditions as well too. A lot of times you'll kind of have a higher toxic burden.
15:23:08 So through the foot detoxes, you come in, it's a 30 minute soak There's an ionizing machine in the water that actually kind of stimulates detoxing in the body through the soles of your feet.
15:23:19 And then as areas of your body begin to detox, the oils that are secreted through the soles of your feet our change. And so how that interacts with the ions and the water you'll see a color change in the water or sometimes you'll kind of see some flecks
15:23:36 In the water or even like some foam beginning to brew on the top of the water. And we have a chart that can kind of guide you as to where, you know, okay, well, you might be detoxing heavily from your liver or, you know, when you see some dark black flecks, that might be a little bit more like
15:23:57 Hmm.
15:23:54 Heavy metal toxicity. As well. So that's really been a great service to add on and we have packages for that. So we have women and a couple men have come in to do it too but um coming in, you know, once a week for four weeks. And it's interesting to see
15:24:13 Their water at the end of the first session to their water at the end of the fourth session. So we're definitely seeing, you know.
15:24:19 Huh.
15:24:21 The water isn't as dark and thick and murky or a lot of foam on top there after you've done it for a few weeks too.
15:24:26 Yeah. Do they report feeling different?
15:24:32 Yes. Yeah. I've had a lot of people kind of report just better energy, not feeling as achy.
15:24:39 Better brain, you know, less brain fog
15:24:48 Yeah.
15:24:44 Yeah. Oh, this has been so much fun. Chelsea, where can listeners find you if they want to learn more about hormone health, holistic wellness, just anything about your services.
15:24:54 Yeah, I have a website that kind of tells a little bit about the clinic and the services we offer. That's saltandlightHolistic.com. And then I also, I always try to post a lot of educational content as well on my social media platforms.
15:25:11 On Facebook and Instagram. So if you just search in Salt and Light Holistic Wellness.
15:25:17 You should be able to find us on Facebook and on Instagram at Salt Light Holistic.
15:25:26 Yeah, I always welcome anyone. So even, you know, I say, send me a DM on any of the social medias if you have any questions or give us a call at the office and we'd love to answer any questions you might have.
15:25:39 Yes, yes, yeah.
15:25:36 Oh, so you're the one answering those. You guys heard it. She said that you could ask her questions. You might regret that.
15:25:47 All right.
15:25:46 Yeah. As I've gotten busier, it's definitely an area that I think at some point might have to hand this off to somebody.
15:25:54 Well, ask your questions before she has to. All right. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
15:26:01 Thank you.
15:26:01 I have loved hearing all about this. Wow, that was an insightful conversation with Chelsea. I hope this episode gave you some clarity and more importantly, hope that you can take charge of your hormones and feel better in your body.
15:26:17 If you want to learn more about the services Chelsea offers, you can check her out And I will have all of those links in the show notes.
15:26:24 If today's episode hit home for you, send me a DM or a comment. Send Chelsea one. She invited you to do it. I'd love to hear what resonated most with you.
15:26:33 And of course, if you are looking for personalized support on your weight loss journey, I'm here to help. Head over to coachingara.com forward slash free call and book a free personalized solutions call. Let's figure out what's been keeping you stuck and create a plan that actually works for your body.
15:26:50 That's all for today, friends. Until next time, take care and keep showing up for yourself. You deserve it.
