Nutrition for Hormone Health with Amanda Montalvo

On today's episode, I chat with Amanda Montalvo about nutrition and hormone health. She also answers the questions that you submitted on Instagram. I'm Natalie and you're listening to the Resource Doula Podcast, a place where we provide information to help you make informed healthcare decisions for yourself and your family. Amanda Montalvo is a women's health dietician that helps women get to the root cause of hormone imbalances and to have healthy menstrual cycles. Amanda started off her education in nutrition with the traditional route, but after dealing with her own health problems, after getting off hormonal birth control, she quickly realized the value of functional medicine After healing her acne, balancing her hormones, and learning the value of her menstrual cycle, Amanda found her purpose to help women create a body imbalance and not settle for anything less. Amanda, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for being here today. Thanks for having me, Natalie. I'm excited. Of course, of course. I know all of my friends, my clients, I have sent them your way and they have more questions for you. So thank you so much for being here and, and taking time to answer the questions, I'm excited to dig in. I'm like, we're gonna have to like rapid fire to get through everything. Yes, definitely. So I wanted you to just start out talking about what led you down this path of women's health in general, but then specifically hormone health through nutrition. Yeah, so I was originally going to school to be a dietician. I was like focusing on sports nutrition. I was an athlete and then, but I was like, in my personal life I was getting very interested in just like a more holistic, natural way of living. I had found CrossFit and that led me to the paleo diet., I'm sure many people are familiar with that. Eating like our ancestors. And it made me just start looking at things like, it made me start looking at, like, I, I had really bad acting growing up and I was using a prescription cream on my skin. Still wasn't helping. So I was kind of like, this isn't even helping and like this, these are harmful ingredients. So like I'm gonna switch this out for something else. And I kept doing it and doing it and eventually I was like, so that's birth control that I'm taking. Like, you know, what is it doing to my body? Sometimes I'm like, it sounds ridiculous that I didn't know, but honestly, I don't think a lot of people know what the pill's actually doing to them. I was on, um, it was a mixed, like a synthetic estrogen and progestin pill. And I do have a family history of breast cancer. So that was kinda my first thing where I'm like, I probably shouldn't be taking this. I was gonna switch to a progestin only one. And then I was like, oh, that one still prevents ovulation, so I'm just not making any of my hormones. And I had been on it for at least seven years at that time, and I'm like, I just, I had this, like, something in my gut was like, this is not right for me anymore. And so I decided to come off the pill and I even asked my doctor, like, I thought I was being proactive. I'm like, okay. Like I, I wanna come off the pill immediately. They're like, well, you're gonna get pregnant, so get, I hope you're ready to have a kid's. Just so rude. Just so rude. Um, and I ignored them and was like, okay, I, I plan on getting the copper id, which I know someone has a question about. We can get into that. Um, so I was like, I'm getting this in anyway, so like, thanks for even asking. And so I come off, they say, just stop taking it once you finish this pack. Um, he said, I could have stopped like right then, but I was like, I think I'll finish the pack. I think that'd be smart. And then my period never came. I'm like waiting, waiting. You know, my period didn't come. My skin after about it was like three, four months. My skin started to get even worse with acne. And it was painful. Like it was really, really painful. Cause I'd always had acne, but it wasn't that bad. And then, um, I was, I just was in shock. So I would go back to the gynecologist. I'm like, okay, what's going on? Like, I still haven't got my periods. They're like, well, until it's been a year, you know, that's considered normal. And I'm like, I have to deal with this for a year. And then he is like, well go back on your cream and for the like prescription meds. He's like, go talk to your dermatologist. Go back on the cream. Like, I don't wanna go back on the cream. I can't go out in the sun when I use the cream. You know, like, no, none of it. None of it were answers that I wanted. And at the time I was frustrated, but now I think back and I'm like, well, they were conventional doctors. Like I was, I was asking them for non-conventional remedies, which wasn't really fair. So I was basically in this place where I didn't feel like myself. My skin was terrible. Then I started to get really fatigued after like the six month mark, and I'm like, this is like, something's not right. So I went to my regular primary, she did blood work and she was like, you have hypothyroidism? And I'm like, there's no way. Like I've never had hypothyroidism. What do you mean? And my hair. But I was, she's like, are you having a lot of hair loss? Are you feeling cold? Like all this stuff? I'm like, well, yeah, but I just thought it was cuz I came off the pill. So I'm, now I'm getting, I'm like a healthy 20 year old now. I'm getting diagnosed with all these things. I'm like, okay. The doctor's, like maybe you have P C O S. Cuz I did get my period at a very young age, and it wasn't, I wasn't always super regular, but I mean, I was very young, so that's technically normal. So I'm like, well, I don't know. And then everyone's solution was like, well if you go back on the pill, take this cream, take these antibiotics for your acne, then that'll solve all your issues, you know? And I was just like, I don't want this. I don't wanna already be on more than like one prescription and I'm only 20 and every outside of this, I'm like, healthy. So, um, I started doing more research and dug into everything. This was like way before Instagram was like used for health information. I mean, this is like almost 13 years ago. Um, so now I'm like, man, I would've been totally fine. Right? A billion resources out there. Uh, I have a whole podcast episode on how to transition off the pill, so, It just wasn't like that. So I was doing my own research, trying like reading books, reading like articles. I was like in PubMed to look at research like every day. And then I, that's when I was really like, I don't wanna do sports nutrition anymore. Like, I wanna focus on this. Cuz as I was having these issues and I'm talking to my friends and they're like, oh yeah, I like, I've been taking the pill for this long cuz every time I come off this happens or I can't tolerate this, this and that or everything. I'm like, why are we settling ? Like why are we settling for this and why do we think this is normal? Um, and that's really what just like lit a fire under me to be like, okay, I have to transition what my focus is. Um, I still did do sports nutrition, but I focused on female athletes. Uh, and then eventually I was just like, I just wanna work with regular people because it's just so rewarding to help people, especially if you weren't really focusing on nutrition in the first place or if you're doing like, more extreme dieting and stuff to come back to this place to look at it like how can I support my female physiology through food? Um, so that's how I got here. That's amazing. What a story Yeah, like, it's unfortunate. I feel like a lot of us have gone through kind of a not so optimal story to get to where we are, but that's what has made us who we are now and how much more impactful we are with, with resources and information for other people. So, um, yeah. Super. Um, okay. So , we'll go ahead and get started with the Instagram questions and we'll just kind of work, work our way through the list. Um, the first one was super interesting. I live in Alaska. A lot of my people live in Alaska. Um, is it your recommendation to still not supplement with vitamin D in a place like this where we get like five hours of daylight during the darkest parts of winter? so. I would say none of these are recommendations, right? I'm a dietician, but I'm not your dietician, so please talk with your doctor. There's so many things to consider, right? Even like when I'm going through these questions, I'm like, well, I have 90 questions for this person, you know, to like really answer it. And with vitamin D, it's not that I don't ever think people should supplement with it, and I think I do say that in my podcast episode on it. It is more just that it's one of those supplements that we're so blindly told, like just, we're just taking it in very high doses because it's considered safe by the majority of society, right? When, and the reason why I'm like we need to take a step back mainly is cuz I do a lot of hair testing with my clients and that's when you're looking at your mineral status via a hair sample. And one of the things I very commonly see are people on really high doses of vitamin D. So I'm talking like five to 10,000 I use plus on a daily basis and. they have really high calcium. They're coppers through the roof. They're dealing with like thyroid issues. And a lot of that is being driven by this excess vitamin D. Um, it also depletes other minerals. So it's not like, do I never supplement with vitamin D? It's more of like, well, what's your situation? So for I, if I'm thinking about like, someone that lives in Alaska doesn't get a lot of sunlight, um, only like certain times of year though in the winter, right? we're about like seven and a half hours of daylight right now. Okay. Um, and then it's like all daylight, right? Yes. Ugh. So cr I can't even imagine. I just like, I can't, I have so many military friends that like, they get stationed there in the Air Force and I'm just like, how do you live? Um, so I would say of life, for sure. I mean, I'm sure you just adjust, but it's like, imagine not living there and then going there and then you're just like, this is doesn't feel right. Um, my circadian rhythm, rhythm is so off. I would say like one. How, what is that person's like circumstance? Like are they, do they have a hair test? Do they know what their calcium and copper are? And one, the one thing that I think it, you can actually do that's tangible that, I mean pretty much anyone can do is get a magnesium rbc. It's like a blood measurement. Your Dr. May not order it. Um, they'll order a serum magnesium always, uh, but serum magnesium doesn't tell you anything cuz most of the magnesium is inside the cell. So if you get the RBC version, the red blood cell version, then you'll be able to get a really good look at how your magnesium is. And if it is below like five to 5.5, ideally it's closer to six, 6.5. And when it's lower than that, then it's like you really, I would say try to optimize magnesium first before you add in vitamin D. Because in order to use it, it's like when we think of vitamin D I feel like people assume that taking a supplement is like the same thing as getting it from the sun and it's just so not, um, when you're taking it. In a supplement form, you have to convert it and it has to go through all these pathways in order to work properly and you're getting this big dose. Whereas like when we're getting it from the sun, it's like typically in smaller increments. Um, kind of depending on how much time you're spending outside and like direct sunlight and stuff. And when we're taking that supplement form, we need magnesium to convert it. We also need it to be val balanced with things like vitamin A. Like I know a lot of people will take vitamin D that has vitamin K in it and I'm like, do we don't? We're forgetting about vitamin A. Like one of the most important, I think one of the most important vitamins, especially for female health. And so it's like you really wanna think about yourself like are you eating a lot of vitamin A rich foods? Uh, or maybe even like, do you include beef liver? Because all those things are things I would wanna consider if someone were like, Hey, I think I really need vitamin D. Here's my living situation. Here's like how much sun I'm able to get.. I would also ask like do you notice a difference when you take it? You know like if you take maybe like one to 2000 IUs a day and you're also eating beef liver and maybe you're taking some magnesium or doing Epsom salt baths. Those are things where I'd say like, yeah, you're probably utilizing it like pretty well, especially if you notice a difference. Um, but unfortunately now we're often told that a small amount like that won't make a difference, which drives me crazy. Um, and they're only looking at someone's vitamin D levels, but it's like you have to keep it in context. Cuz if you have a low vitamin D and typically they're looking at a measurement called 25 oh and that is the storage form of vitamin D, you don't necessarily wanna see that high. So if it's is high, that's like a huge red flag that there's probably some inflammation going on Yeah. And then if, if it's low, then you wanna think about, okay, well what is my other, my active vitamin D? Cause 1 25, oh that's our active form in the blood and that, I can't tell you how many people, they have a low 25, oh the storage form and then their 1 25, the active is high, which is a sign of inflammation. And we have plenty of research telling us that it's not a good thing. So it's, this is why it's like could you take vitamin D if you live in Alaska and get five hours a daylight? Probably. But if I, if it were me and I were thinking like how can I optimize this so that I'm actually gonna use this vitamin D and it's not gonna deplete other minerals. I think a conservative amount, like one to 2000 I use, if you have darker skin and you live in Alaska, I would say probably closer to three or four. And then I would make sure you're eating beef, liver or cod liver oil, vitamin a rich foods, egg yolks, dairy, that sort of thing. Um, and then make sure you're getting magnesium cuz you will. deplete some magnesium and potassium. When you're supplementing, you're, you're taking in a lot at once, right? It's kind of hard not to, but it doesn't, that also doesn't mean that like you can't eat some more potassium rich foods, have a little extra coconut water or something, and like kind of balance that out. I think there can always be a balance. And then I always, like, we had a few supplement questions and they're like, well, if I'm doing this, this, and this, should I switch this, this, and this? And I'm like, well, why are you taking this, this, and this in the first place? So the, that's always the question. It's like, well, why do you want the vitamin D? Do you notice a difference? Do you really need it? Um, but I don't think it's harmful to take it in smaller amounts if you are gonna be balancing it with the other vitamins and minerals. Okay. That makes a lot of sense. I will tell you, it was a recommendation for a lot of years of my life, and I am almost ashamed to tell you this, but I took 50,000 IU per week for a very long time, But if you break that up into seven days, it's not like, you know, not a crazy obscene dose. but I can tell you that I was not doing any of the other things to balance it out or use it. So, um, yeah. I just wonder, it's just so much at, I mean like, it's like, are you even using that? And it really does act like a hormone in the body. So that's why like a lot of practitioners will call it hormone D and it does not act like a vitamin at all. And that's why it's like we have to approach it with caution cuz I think we, you know, we're just taking it cuz we think it's healthy and we're like, oh it's just a vitamin. It's like, well it's, it's a fat soluble vitamin. It competes with other vitamins and minerals and when we take too much of one thing, it's gonna push something else out of balance. But I get it, I used to take like five to 10,000 I use every day cuz I, my doctor, I had low levels and my doc, I was seeing a naturopathic doctor and they were like, yeah, well that's like a huge part of like your gut issues and your acne. And I was like, I don't think it is, but. Oh man. Okay. So next, kind of shifting more into period questions, um, what would you say is the best natural solution for when you are experiencing cramps? So if it's something like right in the moment, um, I'll talk about things you could do like kinda leading up to your period. But for like right in the moment, I really like tens units. Have you ever used one of those? Yeah, actually. So I find that, um, I don't really have painful periods anymore, even postpartum, which I'm like, thank God. Um, but for a long time I did. And even when I was like, you know, really living a healthy lifestyle, I, I, I th I think I have like, I haven't had the laparoscopic exploratory surgery, but I think I have some history with endo endometriosis cuz a lot of my family members do. Um, and it took us a while to conceive and I was like, I'm gonna do the surgery, like if we don't get pregnant soon. But then I, we ended up getting pregnant. I didn't do it, but very similar, like all lower back, the big bloated belly, like all that kind of stuff. And the TENS units really, really helped me. But I had to use them before it got too painful. Like for me personally, and that's something I always tell people, cause I think sometimes we wait, you know, like we're like, oh, I don't wanna do anything till it's like really that bad. But I'm like, if you have a TENS unit and like O IRA is a company, O V I R A, that makes one that is like., you can like clip it into your pants and you can't see it at all. So it's super discreet. So if you like, ha if you like work in an office, I feel like now everyone works at home and you know, from their computer. So it may not matter. But, uh, when I used to work at a hospital, I would use that at the hospital and you couldn't even tell. But if I used it too late, it just like didn't do much, um, or made it worse. So tens units are amazing for like, in the moment, like care. Um, as far as, I do think vitamin E works really well too. Like kind of depends on the person. For myself, it works well for my siblings, it works really well, um, and quite a few of my clients. But if you take. Like, you know, a typical vitamin E capsules, about 400 IUs. So if you take two to three of those, I wouldn't do this every day, but like when you, as soon as you feel cramping, take it. And I've seen because it, it helps with prostaglandins, which those are the inflammatory proteins that build up and cause cramps in the first place. So it's really helpful. Um, so that could be another one in the moment, or you could just take. A day throughout your whole cycle. And that has been shown to reduce not only cramping, but also hormonal headaches and migraines. Um, so that's a really good one. And then kind of like, you know, ginger is great. Um, that one works would kind of work for me, hit or miss, but I would actually chop up ginger root and make like tea out of it. Uh, it can work pretty quickly again, like trying to do it before it's too bad. Um, and then taking magnesium on a daily basis, especially during your lal phase that has shown to decrease period cramping and it's usually between 400 to 500 milligrams. Um, but I would say like vitamin E and the TENS unit are probably like my top two that I use with people Awesome. I have a 10 scene yet I haven't even thought to bring it out in a while, so you should try that out. So you mentioned the copper i u D. There was a question about birth con birth control options for teenagers. So specifically this one was a 16 year old girl who's not currently sexually active, but her parents are interested in putting her on something. Would you recommend ? Not that you can recommend, but what would, if it was your daughter, I guess I should I know I think about this already. Isn't that crazy? Yes. I mean, I mean, It's a big decision. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, and this person I know, like, they had been like educating themselves on hormonal birth control, so they're kind of like torn, right? They're like, is like, is it worth the risk? Blah, blah, blah. What's like, what are my options? Basically? Um, the thing with the pill, honestly, and I th I think about this, like I never took it correctly.. I mean, I never, I never took it the same exact time every day. I would miss days. I mean, I don't even know how it worked, honestly. Um, so I just think like that's something to keep in mind with teenagers. I, I just can't imagine that they're gonna be super diligent with that. And if they are, then I would say, . I mean I plan on teaching my daughter fertility awareness method. Um, because as soon as she gets her period, cuz it's so much more than birth control, right? It's not just birth control, but obviously you can use it cuz you identify your fertile signs. Uh, and I want her to know all that stuff. Like I just don't want her to have to guess and like wonder like, oh, how come I'm feeling this way? Like, not have any idea where she is in her cycle. Like I live that way for way too long. Um, so that's personally what I plan on choosing to do. But I don't know what she's gonna want. And I think that's a really important conversation to have, is to talk with your daughter and on, get on the same page and try to understand like one explaining right, every doctor is supposed to do this informed consent, explain how each type of birth control works. So I plan on explaining to her here's how they all work. Um, and then I think it's important to keep their health history of mind. Like so for example, with the copper i u d, if they already have really painful periods, please do not give her copper i u d cuz that they're. Extremely painful periods from that. So I would keep that. And mine, same thing with really heavy periods. Like I would've been a terrible candidate as a young, like teenager. I definitely would not have done well with it. Um, I got it in my twenties and my periods weren't quite as bad then. So still it was not a great fit, but I, I thought it was my only option. Right. Similar to like, probably how these people feel. So, um, thinking about that, her health history and then talking with her and then if you're nervous, like say you ha see she's had her cycle for a while. She doesn't, she doesn't get the whole fertility awareness thing. She's like, I don't wanna take my basil body temperature. Or she forgets some days, or she doesn't understand the cervical mucus thing. It takes time to learn these things. So maybe you talk about using an I u D as a i, I don't think I would do the pill at all. I think I'd probably use the marina i u d if, um, my daughter was like, The copper, it was just like wreaked so much havoc on my body. I'm just like, ugh, marina you, after the first year, you ovulate like 80% of the time on average. So you do get some ovulation. Uh, and then I, regardless, I really plan to teach her about condoms, and I feel like I talk about this on every podcast, but I'm like, condoms are still really important guys. Um, and they work and I, I feel like we live in this world where people act like they're not a feasible form of birth control. Um, but I do think that they are, obviously with a teenager you're like, do I wanna roll the ice with that? Maybe you don't, but she still needs to know the importance, even if she does have an i u D to protect herself from other things. Um, but yeah, that's, that's probably how I'd go about it, Yeah. Yeah. There are so many options and I think like, just how you said it, empowering her to make her own decision as well, or get prepared to make her own decisions is so important because you can't force your kid to go on birth control. I mean, right. Yeah. you know? Yes. Yeah. She is still a minor at that point, but yeah, it's a, it's a tricky subject, so, um, okay. What about P M D D with Nutrition Minerals? What's the deal with, with that? Are they connected? How would you approach that? It's very, it's very tied to estrogen and progesterone. Um, and this is something I've see with clients a lot. It's like, at least the women that I've worked with, it's typically the strongest around, uh, right when their period ends for many. And then ovulation, that's, that's like the biggest times, I feel like everyone assumes it's moodal phase before your period. But I, I actually don't always see that in practice. Like they may notice a change in their mood, but they're like, it's the worst, like right in the middle of my cycle, like, what's going on? And it's usually because we have a really big shift in estrogen and luteinizing hormone. And if you have excess levels, they drop and it looks like a really, really big drop to your body, um, because they drop right before you ovulate. And that's one where I typically find like vitamin E magnesium, so, so helpful. Um, vitamin E can help to oppose estrogen if you have too much. Acts very similarly to progesterone. I, I've seen progesterone therapy being very hit or miss with this population. Like sometimes it helps them so much and they'll take it like right around that time where they start to feel they're getting those symptoms around ovulation and it changes their life. And it's amazing. And I've seen some people where they're like, no. No, like this, is this making it worse? Like so it's, it's one of those things where like, I don't think there's any one perfect fit, but I think understanding your mineral status, like I tend to see a lot of those clients with really big copper imbalances, which makes sense cuz copper and estrogen definitely have an affinity for each other. And typically when we see estrogen levels go up, we'll see copper levels go up and vice versa. Um, so it's one of those things where it's like, okay, does this person have an a bun too much copper? Do they have too much unavailable copper? Meaning like, your body can't use it because copper is so important. I mean it's, it's incredibly important for making energy for our metabolism, for our health overall. And like converting thyroid hormones, so many different things. But if we have it out of balance and it's not in this usable form, then it can create more oxidative stress, inflammation, excess estrogen, that sort of thing. So usually I'm focusing on like howser copper and zinc balance. Um, have we looked at their hormone levels? I like to get the hormone tested if we can. Uh, and then looking at, okay, typically a lot of these things are going up and down with stress. Um, and so it's like how can we use nutrition to like minimize your stress? So usually blood sugar is like, the first thing we'll talk about is like balancing your meals. Like how do you feel after eating different kinds of meals? Like so often we're like, oh yeah, I'm bouncing my meals and I'm eating like what I should be, and I'm like, okay. Like what you should. I mean, there's no perfect prescription of food. You know, even when I share stuff online in my podcast, I'm like, but experiment, please, please experiment. Because one recommendation, it definitely doesn't work for all my clients. I mean, we're, we're tweaking everything for everyone. So I think just paying attention to your mood, digestion, energy, all those things after your meals, that can be a really great way to tune in and be like, is this working for me? Is this really supporting my blood sugar? Oh, I ate this balanced meal, but then I noticed a huge crash like an hour later. You know, it's, it doesn't, sometimes I feel like we've, we have to fit our food. It's like, no, your food has to fit you. Um, so those are like the big areas I really like to focus on with people. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's something that we don't pay attention to very often. We might think about how we're feeling when we're eating specifically, but then like an hour later that's already like out of my mind, Yeah. And so yeah, just symptom tracking and, and paying more attention, which is beneficial for everything. Right? More mindfulness about our bodies. Um, okay, this question was from someone who's over a year postpartum and they're feeling some exercise intolerance is what they said, um, despite supporting with nutrients and minerals. So how, their question was how do you know Indigently push yourself and what's a sign? Or some signs that you're not ready for that? Yeah, so I'm, I'm assuming they're feeling like really fatigued after exercise cuz that's like one of my go-tos is I'm like, if you don't feel better after you're exercising, then that's typically a pretty big red flag that it's not a good fit for you. Um, and so I typically it, like if that's the case, I would really look at is this person actually eating enough, you know, just does support supporting nutrients and minerals. I'm like, that could mean anything. Um, so I would that my first thing, are they eating enough? I would also consider getting thyroid blood work done. That's a really common imbalance postpartum. Your thyroid works so hard during pregnancy. We lose a lot of minerals during pregnancy and postpartum. It's just a stressful season. Um, so I think looking deeper at like, are they doing adrenal cocktails? How frequently are they eating? Are they getting enough protein? Um, I often will see that people are not eating enough protein and that can have a big impact on your blood sugar balance, but also like your resiliency and everything too. So it just, it sounds like, it almost sounds like when I hear exercise and intolerance, it's like you're living a lifestyle that is not, your metabolism in your body cannot keep up with, that's not always the case, but that's kind of like, those are the big things. But I have like 5,000 questions for this person just like, yeah, The Instagram bo question box is so small. There's not many details included. But I do think that a year postpartum like that is a timeframe where you should be. Feeling ideally, like if your health is in a good place, thyroid, all that stuff. Hormones, I don't know if they're cycling yet. They may not be. Um, that is a time more like, I think it's very appropriate that they are looking towards exercising regularly. You know, if it were earlier on I would say like, don't even like question it, you know, your body's communicating with you. But at this point I do think it would be a good time to do a little more digging. Okay. Okay. And just to add on to that, like my own personal question, is there like maybe a couple recommendations you could give for supporting your thyroid throughout pregnancy so it doesn't get hit so hard during the postpartum season? Yeah. So there, there are two like major deficiencies that are gonna impact your thyroid the most during pregnancy. One is gonna be iodine. So a lot of women go into pregnancy pretty deficient in iodine. So that's one where um, people are always like shocked that I'm like, okay, let's get you on iodine before. Cuz especially if they just conceived and they're early on. I'm like, okay, we have to like address this now.. I do think it's very helpful. Uh, and it helps you build your resiliency throughout, cuz if you're deficient in iodine, that's how we make thyroid hormone. So it's like, it's kind of like, okay, maybe your thyroid levels tank when you're pregnant, but it's like, and you're taking, maybe you get prescribed a thyroid hormone, which I have nothing against thyroid medication. I took it for many years and I think it works for a lot of people, . But my question is, if you are, if you need thyroid medication, it makes me think your body is depleted and stressed out and it can't keep up. And then when you add something like thyroid medication in, it's increasing your metabolism, but you probably don't have the resources to back that up. Um, so that's where I think about like iodine. Whereas if, if that's the reason that you are hypothyroid right now or part of it, then I'd rather replenish that.. And then vitamin A is another one that women are very commonly deficient in going into pregnancy, and that is really important for utilizing thyroid hormone and thyroid hormone receptors, um, amongst many, many other things like keeping iron and balance, keeping copper and balance like very important things for pregnancy and postpartum. Uh, so those are the two areas that I like to look at. Um, and then utilizing like iodine and thyroid and uh, vitamin A rich foods, I do typically supplement with iodine for people cuz it's hard to get enough from food to fix a deficiency, but it just kind of depends on the person. And like eating breakfast right away when you wake up. So helpful for your thyroid, it's helpful for your stress levels and that has a huge impact on thyroid hormone production. Uh, and then just eating regularly, making it predictable, as predictable as you can, you know, especially like postpartum for your thyroid. Um, I think your body will love that routine and it helps. with your stress levels, which can really help with your active thyroid hormone levels. I think that's something that personally I've experienced, I've, since listening to you, I've started eating breakfast again, and it's been, it's been a game changer. I'm hungry in the mornings. I feel better. Um, and that was, that was diff. Only after I got off of my thyroid hormone. Um, but overall, definitely feeling better. So yeah, I can attest to that Eat breakfast Yes, , it's like, uh, it was sitting in front of us all these years. Right? I know. um, okay, so adrenal cocktails, you mentioned that there's a question about adrenal cocktails and should you add protein to them or not? Should you add protein daily to them? Should it be collagen? And why or not why or Yeah. So I would say all my answers are, it depends. I know it's annoying, but it's like one of those things where., it really depends on that person, their scenario. So I'll give you a few scenarios, um, and then again, like keep this in context to you, to whoever asks the question. So, , I would think like if you're having it soon after a meal, like maybe you're having it 30 to 60 minutes after you eat breakfast. I would, you don't have to add protein if you were, I have some clients where they, because of their schedules or lifestyles, they have it first thing in the morning. and then like drink it, like while they're working out or getting the kids ready or whatever, and then they eat like a real meal. Um, in that case, I would say add protein because you don't wanna just get, especially if you're using like orange juice, um, I would say like coconut water in lime version or lemon, that's. not gonna make your blood sugar crazy. I wouldn't really worry about that one. I don't think you ever really have to add protein to that for most people. Um, I find most people tolerate that really well cuz there's so much potassium in the coconut water too that like typically that really helps with blood sugar balance. But if someone were having on an empty stomach, like first thing in the morning or between meals, like if it's been a while since you've eaten, then add a little bit of collagen to it. Um, but otherwise, like if you're having it with a snack or near a meal near a snack, you don't necessarily have to, but again, like see how you feel. Cuz you might notice like, so I had that orange juice like an hour after mixed with coconut water and I just like, felt kind of fatigue. Later I had some brain fog or maybe your energy dip, whatever it is. Cravings that day, whatever. Then maybe you're like, okay, I'm tomorrow. I'm gonna try adding a little bit of protein to it and see if I notice the difference. Or doing more coconut water, less juice. See if I notice the difference. I think we get very caught up in like the exact adrenal cocktail recipe and I'm like, guys, as long as you're getting sodium, potassium and vitamin C, like it doesn't matter. Well, you're it, you're still gonna get all the benefits from it. that's encouraging to hear. And um, is morning time the best time to consume your adrenal cocktail? I, I find a lot of people like mornings or afternoon, like afternoon-ish, um, usually like between lunch and dinner, I personally do two a day, but I also have like a baby and a business and a busy life. Um, Sometimes I'll have more. Mine are like giant. I'm having one right now, . Um, but , it's, so, I think it just kind of depends on what works for you. I have plenty of people, they have one every day. They ha I, most of my people, I would say like, probably do it like mid-morning. Um, and then if someone is more fatigued in the afternoon time, I'm like, one you need, probably need a snack. Um, and then maybe you have an adrenal cocktail with that snack. Okay. Okay, great. So this next question is someone who's taking currently a lot of supplements, um, all of the supplements that are typically recommended by their naturopath, um, and then some they included. So what's the best way to start titrating that down so that the system isn't totally shocked by a sudden change? Or is there like a priority list of like, you should take out this one first or this one first? All So with Supple, I love supplements and I, cuz sometimes I talk about them and I'm like, people think I probably don't take any supplements. I do. I love supplements. I think that they can be a true lifesaver, like postpartum. I don't think I would've survived without. Copious amounts of certain supplements. Um, but a lot of times when people are like, I'm taking this, this, and this, it was recommended. I'm always like, why are you taking it though? And do you still need to be taking it so often? Especially working with like, I think this person was working with a naturopath. There are a lot of them are not meant to be long term and it's not your fault. Maybe they did not make it clear enough to you like that hey, take this for X amount of months and then you can stop. Um, but I'm just gonna go through some of the ones that she had said she was taking to kind of bring some context to it. So for example, like a multivitamin she's taking, I don't, I I think that one's probably meant to be long-term. So my question would be maybe we can do a more whole food base, like an organ supplement or a beef liver. I love that as like a type of multivitamin. Um, most multivitamins don't even make sense because a lot of the vitamins and mineral. Are they antagonize each other, so you won't absorb that much anyway. Um, so if you do like a whole food, you're much more likely to absorb things from it. So multivitamin, that's like what I would consider, um, vitamin D, again, very generally recommended supplement. So I would say, do you need it? Do you know your vitamin D levels? Do you get outside in the sun? Uh, like, is this truly appropriate for you? And do you notice a difference when you take it and have you taken a break from it? Or even same with any supplement. Honestly, if you haven't taken a break in a while from supplements, take a break because our bodies really need that. Um, and sometimes people may notice like, I stopped taking this and I felt terrible. That's okay. Start taking it again. But it is a good idea to take a break. So vitamin D I think there needs to be like way more context of like, do you actually need it? Um, you might. And then vitamin C, so like, I think they said they're taking.. A lot of vitamin C. Tons of vitamin C. So again, why, why are we taking it? What's it for? You shouldn't have to take tons of vitamin C forever. Um, it makes me wonder, like, and I'm like, what's their copper like, because vitamin C can mess with copper absorption. Uh, it can also help with, you know, copper. So it's not like a, a complete antagonizer, but that's what I think about. Like, why do you need that much vitamin C? Mm-hmm. You know, maybe this person has like a health history with something like mold or something that's really taking up all the antioxidants in their body and they need more then okay. I would say that's probably appropriate. Um, but again, like you have to think to yourself like, do I need to be taking this, the enzyme, the digestive enzyme. My question is like, you should not need a digestive enzyme forever. So why are you taking it? Is there a timeframe? Does it help you? And have you tried anything that's gonna, instead of replace your own digestive enzymes, um, stimulate your digestion more. And I think we have a whole question on enzymes, so I'll get into that in that question. Uh, using like bitter foods and stuff like that, the curcumin that they're taking, again, it sounds like they have a lot of inflammation since they're taking a lot of vitamin C. So maybe they do need it, but maybe they don't. Uh, dim You should never take dim long term. I have no issue saying that. Um, I know that's like a bold statement, but. It's one of those things where it's like, are you testing your estrogen levels? Do you still need it? You know, um, maybe someone need, they do wanna take it for like a certain amount of time. If they have a history of like breast cancer or even like endometriosis or adenomyosis and they notice a really big difference, that's totally different. But if you're just like at your typical person that has like period pain or estrogen dominance concerns and you have to take dim all the time or you don't feel good, that means that we're not getting to the root. So I would really look through your supplements and not necessarily think you have to stop them all, but like, do I really need them? And then, is this covering up a symptom? Am I chasing a symptom with this? You know, how can I focus on getting to the root more? Okay. Yeah, and I, this person did expound on the vitamin C as well. Um, and she said she can't get enough from food due to histamine issues. So is there something better than the current form she's been on Uh, I mean, I, she's, she's taking like a liposomal vitamin C I mean, I don't, again, like that's probably why she's taking the curcumin too. Um, so I would ask, are you working on, maybe she's working on other things for the histamine thing. Like again, like I don't think it's terrible to take ascorbic acid in higher doses short term, but you do wanna consider, like, you know, if someone has histamine issues, my question is, well what's your copper? Cuz we need copper and vitamin A to have for the DA O enzyme that breaks down histamines. I'm, I'm assuming there's an estrogen component cause she's taking dim, which can also feed into that histamine loop. Um, and then probably a gut component cuz she's on probiotics and enzyme, so it's like, It's just like co it's just covering things up and instead of figuring out like where is the dysfunction? You know? And so I get that it can be so hard to do that on your own. Um, and, and even sometimes hard with like a functional practitioner, cuz a lot of people, it's just like conventional medicine, but with supplements, like, they're like, oh, you have high estrogen, let's take dim. It's not like, why is your estrogen high? You know, which is like my first question. So I think that it sounds like she's doing the best that she can, um, but that she probably needs to look more a little bit deeper. I have a histamine podcast episode that goes through all the different root causes. It's very detailed. This's one of my most popular episodes. Um, so I would listen to that if you have it already, Yeah. I'm like halfway through it because I need to listen to it again. and take notes. Probably Yeah, I definitely have some histamine issues going on right now too. So, um, yeah. This is all all helpful for this, this question asker and So, and for her, so I wouldn't do the beef liver. Now that I know she has histamine issues cuz a lot of people don't tolerate it. But beef kidney amazing for histamine. Interesting. Okay. Okay. I'll have to try that out too. Cuz I have been doing beef liver, I wonder. Hmm. I A lot of people don't tolerate beef liver when they have histamine issues. How about chicken, liver or Just liver in general. And I wonder if it's like the vitamin A content, but beef kidney is really helpful. It has a ton of selenium, which is interesting. But that's the one that I'll typically have someone switch to if they have histamine problems. Okay. Good to know. Hmm. And do you have a brand that you recommend? Just I like, supplement yeah, I like ancestral supplements for beef kid did they just have every organ. So it's, that's one where I tend to use a lot if I'm recommending like a specific organ. But there are, I'm sure there's other companies out there that are reputable. Okay. Okay, cool. What about the probiotic question? Is there like a pro metabolic stance on probiotics? Um, this person was saying they've done research and they feel like they can't find It's so funny cuz I'm like, am I promotable? I know that I'm in the pro metabolic world, but I would say like a lot of things I recommend are not pro metabolic. And I do love the principles of supporting your metabolism. I, I think that Ray Pete's work is so ahead of his time, right? That's why it's like now very popular. And he like recently passed away and it's like, and he's so, he's always been so generous with sharing information for free. Um, but I think a lot of people take it outta context. They like, don't fully understand what, because to eat your, to support your metabolism, it's gonna look different for everyone, right? So, but I do think the general principles of like, you know, eating foods that are easier to digest, not taxing or digestion. I, I think that's where like a lot of the probiotic and prebiotic questions come from in the pro metabolic world. Um, so I don't know if there's a pro metabolic stance on it, but I can share like a functional nutrition, like my perspective, um, being a part of that. And I, I just see a lot of people that fall pro metabolic eating like to a tea and they have very low beneficial bacteria. And it's one of those things like on their stool test, I use a GI map typically, and that's one thing where I'm like, we gotta get more good fibers in there. And I understand that a lot of people are, their metabolism is so, and typically their thyroid and like their digestion so compromised that they don't tolerate those foods and they feel better when they remove them. But I think that we shouldn't remove them forever. You know, it's kind of like, it's like, Initial, like making food easier to digest. It's like that should be more like looked at as like a therapeutic thing that you're not gonna do forever. And then it, because the goal should be that your digestion should then improve and your metabolism and your thyroid should then improve and your resiliency distress, and you should be able to break down those fibers. Now, I'm not recommending that people eat a ton of raw veggies. I don't think that that's really great for anyone . Um, I don't think it's bad to have salads and stuff, but it's like if you're eating raw veggies all day, like it's probably not gonna be amazing for your digestion. Uh, and you know, it's like how, I just think about the bioavailability of minerals, of course from those vegetables and it's a lot easier to absorb them if they're cooked. So, uh, I like to have people to include like prebiotic rich foods, liked cooked veggies, and on a regular basis if they can, I think most people can tolerate it, um, depending on the veggie. And then like resistant star rich foods. A lot of people do potatoes., right? They eat promo ball. It's all about the potatoes, potato, starch if you cook them and cool them and you can heat them up again. But just the process of cooking and cooling increases the amount of resistant starch, and that is so good for feeding your good bacteria. Same thing with rice. Um, I love green plantains. I'm like obsessed with them and that's my favorite way to get my resistant starch in. They're another green bananas, but I don't, I don't eat green bananas. Um, Green plantains are great because they, they're just like starchy. A lot of people like the sweet ones, but those are not as high in resistant starch cuz it's all broken down. Um, but their green ones are so that's like a great option. Beans if you can tolerate beans. I just did a reel on Instagram last week about how to properly prepare your beans. You, you just soak 'em. It's not anything crazy with some apple cider vinegar I had. So like people like commenting, like if it's, if it's this many steps to make your beans, like maybe we shouldn't make them. I'm like, or maybe we shouldn't eat, be eating them. And I'm like, all you're doing is soaking 'em. Lady, I don't know why you're so upset right now., she act like it's like 20 steps. I was like, I just showed you how to cook 'em in a pressure cooker. But recently I was reading research and it's still beneficial to soak and then pressure cook. But pressure cooking. If someone cannot soak, I would. Get a pressure cooker if you don't have one, like an instant pot, cuz that will, it's almost as good as soaking them if you're gonna soak and boil. Yeah. So, but like beans are so good for us and women that have estrogen issues, I'm like, like beans help. We know that they help the fibers in them, they feed your good bacteria, but they also help bind a bile, which that's how we get rid of extra estrogen. So there's like plenty of foods that are not considered pro metabolic that I love and I think are therapeutic in healing. Um, but I think it just depends on like, where you're at in your journey. But while I think probiotics, supplements can be helpful for some, like a lot of those people that are taking them are not eating foods, like the fibers that are gonna then feed those good bacteria, um, to help them thrive. So that's why I usually focus on the prebiotics and the resistant starch. I love it. I, okay, this might be a dumb question., canned beans, are they technically already soaked? They're, they, you wouldn't soak them because they would just be like super mushy. Right? They're. But they, they are not like, they don't have the benefits of soaking and, and they're not like easier to break down. So a lot of people ca they'll eat cann beans and they're like, I have like so much bloating and gas. And then they like soak their beans and cook 'em in instant pot, some sort of pressure cooker or even boil. But if you soak 'em first, a lot of people notice a difference. Okay. Okay. if you have histamine issues, I would just, some people do great, they do fine with the soaking and then pressure cooking. But if you, if you have histamine issues and you soak and you notice that you don't tolerate the beans, I would try not soaking them and just using the pressure cooker cuz that that works for a lot of people with histamine problems. Okay. Histamine issues are just like a whole thing. Okay. So the next question was on pfas and specifically avoiding them in snacky type foods. Like where can, where can someone go to find snacky? Purchased snacks rather Okay. Like soybean oils and stuff, like canole oil and that, like already in the food. Yeah. I feel like they're in everything that's like pre-packaged now, so that can make it really difficult. I mean, I, I guess it just like de it depends on like the snacky type food that someone prefers. Um, so like de I mean these are, these are just my preferences, so like, don't feel like you have to take all this on, but. Chips, like I love plantain chips and you can get plantain chips with like coconut oil, like Bar banana is a good brand. Um, but a lot of them, they make 'em with coconut oil. Uh, so it already are palm oil, which I know some people don't like. I don't see any issues with it, um, other than like environmental ones. But, uh, I think if you're in a pinch and that's like your option, that that would be a great one. And then like if you're, cuz if you're like pairing that with something else, like I'm, I mostly make my snacks like little like mini types of meals. I just notice for myself personally, like that's how my blood sugar stays balanced the best and I feel the best. So I do a lot of like Greek yogurt and fruit. Um, so obviously like in like B pollen, n like that's a really easy one to like not have a lot of poofs in. Um, but I think prepackaged things, it's like, it's hard to not have any in there. And it's usually that's when you're shelling out a lot of money for the brands that do not use them and are usually like, three times the cost, sometimes more. So it's kind of like you have to, I would weigh that out because a lot of people are like, I can't afford that on a consistent basis, so I'm just going to eat this. Instead, you have to weigh out the pros and cons. Like if there's, I especially think of people with like kids, like if there's a certain food that everyone really likes, you know they're gonna eat it. It's easy to have with you on the go, and if you don't have that, then they're not eating. I mean, I look at the tiny percentage that is of compared to everything else that they're eating.. So I, it's like, I think you have to weigh it out for yourself. Uh, but I, I think there's so many convenient snacks that are also like more whole food based, like yogurt and fruit is an easy one. Um, or like a lot of my friends will do like cheese sticks and fruit for their kids. I love beef sticks personally, like Paleo Valley makes the best beef sticks. They have all different flavors. I don't like a lot of beef sticks. I'm like very picky. Cause I feel like they're all just like dry and like not good. But Paleo valleys, it's almost like a little like sausage. Like it's so. High quality and like satisfying. Um, and they have beef and Turkey. I get the jalapeno ones. They're the best. Um, but those are really great options. Sometimes when I'm traveling I'll have like a few of them and have that as like a protein replacement in a meal. So they, they are an investment. They're more expensive, but they have a, I'm like on their subscribing save, so you can get a good discount off if you reorder them every month. So if that's something that you're like, you know, my family, like, we really like these, I wanna get a discount on it. Cause I know I'm gonna buy 'em consistently. You can do that. Um, but stuff like that, I would try to make the switch if you can, but I, I don't know, I just feel like there's so much pressure to like, eat perfectly, never have any pfas. I'm like, If you're taking vitamin E, I just wouldn't, if you eat more poofs that day, take a extra vitamin E to balance it out. I, I just wouldn't necessarily like stress yourself out about it. And you have to keep it in relation to everything else. And I know so many people are like the opposite of, they're like, never eat pfas. Like, it's so inflammatory. I mean, if you're stressing about it, that's not good for you either. And I, I, I hate when people make food stressful for themselves. Like it's just like the saddest thing. I'm like, we should enjoy this. Um, so I think it's really finding a balance. Like CTE Foods is a great brand. They are very expensive though, so it's like, can you do that? You know, I, I tend to go for the plantain chips as an option. Um, and bars, it's like really hard to find a good bar without poofs in it. And that is one where, , like if I'm traveling, I do, I have RX bars. I actually don't love them, but they're like convenient and they have pretty decent ingredients.. So like that's my go-to bar. Um, does it have some poofs in it? Yes, it's like three nuts. Like if you pull out the bar, there's like three almonds in, you know, so it's like, I don't worry about that. Um, but maybe someone has like your super severe health issue and they're like, I don't do good with any, like, I would just try to keep it in context, but I, there's a lot of fear around pfas and I just think when we start doing that with food, we go down a really bad path. Um, but I think like our bars are fine if we're looking for a bar, perfect foods, bars, like they can be pretty decent again, like they're usually peanut butter, some sort of nut base, but it's like, it's a tiny percentage of what you're eating. Um, so I wouldn't let that be the thing that like has to be perfect. Okay. That's a, that's a really good, balanced and practical approach to it, so thank you for saying that. of course. Okay. To wrap up the Instagram questions, what would you say for kind of like the general population of people who are interested in bettering their nutrition for their hormones, what are like one or two actionable things that are kind of like low-hanging fruit that someone could, could do today? Maybe even for free Yeah, so we already, I know we already talked about this, but I wanna like reiterate it a little bit more. Eating breakfast. I know it sounds silly, but like, that's like I, I have a podcast interview coming up and he sent me all the questions and he's like, what are like, you know, it's like biohacking type things. And I'm like, eating breakfast is my biohack. Because if you think about it, you're waking up and your cortisol, your stress hormones are higher. Totally normal, right? That's how it's supposed to be. You haven't eaten all night. So we're all doing intermittent fasting no matter what anyone says. Um, and so it's like, If you wanna help regulate those stress hormones and reduce that so that you can have balanced blood sugar and less stress and more resiliency throughout the day, eating a good nourishing meal is a great way to do that. And I think every person that's, if you're like, not even close to eating breakfast right now, like if you're like, ma'am, I eat at 12:00 PM like, I'm not hungry in the morning. Maybe you feel nauseous in the morning or something. You were just like, have food aversion. Start with something really small within an hour. Don't put pressure on yourself and slowly build. Like I have these, um, gelatin gummies that a lot of people really like to start with. Like I have a lot of clients that will have like coffee with collagen cream and then gelatin gummies. Is it amazing?. I mean, they love it, but it's like, it's not technically perfect, but it's like, it's something and you're giving your body something first thing. Uh, and then you can build on that. And hopefully, like, I personally really like starting the day with like a big breakfast. Uh, that's cuz I think it depends on your lifestyle too. Like, I'm very busy, like I just recently hired a nanny, so when she gets here it's like I have to get as much done as I can during that time before she leaves. Uh, and so I, I'm not eating like super, super frequently. Like I eat like four times a day, which for me, I mean I was eating a lot more frequently before, um, when I was nursing more too. So it's like that has worked really well for me. But it, like, we're gonna go through different seasons of life where things are gonna work differently. Like when my daughter was really little, I had these like nursing muffins first thing in the morning. It wasn't a big breakfast and then I would eat a Remi real meal cuz that's what worked with our routine. So, , I'm just sharing all this because I think it's really easy to say like eat breakfast, but then everyone has their own circumstance and it's, I think it's also really easy to take in information and be like, that doesn't work for me. I'm not gonna even consider it because I'm in this x, y, Z situation. Um, but I think that you can make things work. It's just kind of feeling out like, does this feel good to me? Do I wanna experiment with this? Um, and I would just wanna reiterate like eating enough protein, that's probably like my second thing. Um, a lot of women do not eat enough protein and especially like when they're starting their day, I see a lot of food journals, a lot of them say two eggs. And it's so funny cuz one of my nutritionist like, will joke like, two eggs isn't breakfast, you know? Um, only cuz it's like, that's like their big main meal in the morning. So we're like, all right, we gotta get more protein in there. Uh, so I think like prioritizing, not being afraid of protein rich foods. I know that in the pro metabolic space, it's like, Very welcoming with carbohydrates. I 100% agree with that, but I feel like protein then gets put in the back burner, , and then people are like starving every couple hours because their blood sugar is not balanced. So that's when I'd say like, you probably need a little bit more protein than those meals. Like for most people, like 30 to 40 grams is around the sweet spot. Um, everyone's gonna be different, but yeah, per meal. Yeah. So just to keep that blood sugar in a good place. Um, but I think those are two things that you're gonna be eating anyway, so they're not gonna cost you any additional money. It's just food strategy. Like if you can experiment and like track your food and write down how you're feeling, I mean, it can show you so much. And then you're just like, oh, I think I might try more protein in my breakfast. And then like the next day you're like, wow, I wasn't hungry until noon and I had like, you know, really good brain function and I wasn't like cranky later in the day. So little things like that I think can go a long way if we just. Slow down a little bit, which can be very hard. I 100% understand that. Um, but that's why I think people want, like what's, what lab test should I do? What submit should I take? And a lot of times I'm like, we have to look at how we are living and fueling ourselves and making tweaks there first so that when you start to add more advanced layers on top of that, they're actually effective. Awesome. Awesome. Okay. So if somebody is starting out on this journey of nutritional health, um, what are your favorite resources to recommend Instagram accounts, websites, books, your own podcasts, all of that. I know, I'm like, well, I made a lot of free resources, so I am gonna share all of my own. It's gonna be a hormone healing RD plug. Um, but , so that's why I made my podcast. So I have an Instagram at Hormone Healing Rd. I have a ton of information there, but Instagram, like, you post it and then it's just gone. It's so hard to find things, right? So that's when I was like, I am gonna have a podcast. Cuz I loved, I had one a long time ago. I did it with a friend. I loved it. And now I, I was like, okay, I'm gonna make this resource. So it's like all the questions we get, like, where do I start all this stuff, like the first 10 episodes of my podcast, listen to them in order and they build on each other. And that's how you get started. Um, so that's what I would recommend if you are brand new to this, I mentioned a ton of further resources in there. And then if you're someone that like really connected with both of us in the thyroid thing, I have a free thyroid training that's like, it's long. It is long, but. I mean, it's pretty much everything you need to know to get started, how to interpret blood work, hair, thyroid, in your hair, test, nutrition, so many places to get started. Um, that I, that I recommend it on a regular basis to anyone that's like, I don't know what to focus on. I, I have this thyroid health concern, um, that's probably my other favorite one other than my podcast that I have. Amazing. I will link all of those in the show notes. I'll put a whole list of. Of your, your favorite resources. Um, okay. So two questions that I ask every single guest. The first one is, if you were to give one piece of advice to the audience, what do you want everyone to know? What would that piece of advice be? we already talked about like some tangible things that you can start doing. I think that there's just so much information out there today. I mean, I can't even go online and I'm a health perf. I go on Instagram and I'm like, Nope, I'm shutting my phone off. Cuz it's just it. It's so much and everyone is so loud and it can be really easy to wanna like hand over your health to someone online, right? You're like, I respect this person. They're knowledgeable, I love, they inspire me. Maybe you like something about how they live their life. But then I just think about like so often we do that and then we take that power away from ourselves. So even with the information I share, if something doesn't feel right, do not do it. Like no one knows your body better than you do. And I think so often we forget that. So that would just be my piece of advice is like try to. all the information you're taking in, in context to yourself. Does this make sense for me and my health history and my main concerns? Cuz most often, like sometimes I'll do a post and then someone gets all offended and I'm like, well you're, you're on birth control so you can't track your cycle. You know, something like that, like, would never make any sense. I'm like, not every post online is for you. And I would just keep that in mind. Um, and just don't outsource your health because although we are not all medical experts, you are an expert on yourself. And even when I work one-on-one with people, it's, I mean, we, it's such a team effort. I'm like, well what do you think about this? Like, how does, how does that feel? Like, how does it sound to you? Um, does it feel overwhelming? You know, like it's just so important. Cuz I think we all want that next perfect thing that's gonna solve all our problems, but typically, like we already know, at least have an idea of what that is. Yeah. Thank you so much for saying that. I, that makes me very happy. I feel like almost every single guest I've had on has said some version of that, like, you are the expert on your own body. And, um, yeah. So it just, it goes along really well with my theme. Um, I love it. Eventually the listener's just gonna be like, yes, I, I know it , like it'll click. Um, so can you talk a little bit about your course, um, what that entails and how someone would book with you or work with you? Yeah. So I have in my Master of Minerals course, it teaches you, it gives you access to hair testing depending on what country you live in. Um, and it teaches you how to read your hair test cuz that's something that we use with all of our clients. And I really, I think it's really important to make this type of information accessible to people. That's a huge part of why I make all the free content that I make. Um, and so I would say that's a great way to get started, especially if you're like, I've tried a lot of things, it's not working. I don't know what to do next. If you feel like you're guessing, and I mean, I've seen people like shell out hundreds of dollars on supplements and I'm like, please, no, please, just let's do some testing first and see what you really need, you know? Um, and that's a great way to get started. You can do it at your own pace, take it any time. And then I do work one-on-one with clients. I have Amy nutritionist, she's a c n s Erin that works with me. And then, uh, N t p Emily. And we do results reviews for the people and for different labs for people inside our course. And then we also can work one-on-one. And you don't go through the course at all. You can just work with us. Um, I can send you all the links for those, but yeah, those are like the two best ways to get started. Amazing. And you provide so, so much information in your podcast and online. And so I will link all of your, all of your resources as well. Um, but I just wanna say thank you so, so much for being here today and answering these questions and spending your time and energy with me. Thank you for having me, Natalie. It was really fun talking. Of course. My top takeaway from my conversation with Amanda was just the individuality of what nutrition can look like, and also that stressing about your food is not worth the effects it has on your body. I really appreciate her holistic approach to food and how she encourages you to take responsibility for your own nutrition. I've linked all of the resources she mentioned, as well as her sites and social pages for you to follow in the show notes for this. Please remember that what you hear on this podcast is not medical advice, but remember to always do your own research and talk to your healthcare team before making important decisions about your wellness. If you found this podcast helpful, the best compliment is sharing it with a friend. Thanks so much for listening. I'll catch you next time.