Shownotes
In this episode, host Phylicia Pough and guest Leisha Drews dive deep into the causes of hormonal imbalance in women and its impact on mom burnout and energy levels.
Leisha shares valuable insights on the side effects of hormone imbalances, emphasizing the correlation between hormone balance and productivity in business and motherhood. She also highlights natural remedies for hormone imbalance in females and provides a quiz to identify the top three imbalances affecting individuals.
Furthermore, she explains the importance of understanding the menstrual cycle and how it affects cognitive function and energy, offering tips for aligning activities with different cycle phases to improve productivity.
Listeners looking for natural remedies and practical strategies for managing hormone imbalance and combating mom burnout will find valuable insights in this informative and empowering episode.
About Leisha
Leisha Drews is mom of three, RN, FDN-P and Holistic Hormone Coach and host of the Happily Hormonal Podcast. She brings a unique understanding of how our body systems work together and how stress on the body and mind impact overall health.
She believes that as women we can have it ALL when it comes to health and motherhood, and helping women restore energy, balance hormones and feel good in their bodies again is her passion.
Hormone balance doesn't have to be overwhelming, and she is here to empower women to understand & trust their bodies again to create change for generations to come.
LINKS & MENTIONS
- Take Leisha's free hormone quiz
- Listen to the Happily Hormonal Podcast
- Visit Leisha's Website
- Connect with Leisha on Instagram
RESOURCES
- The Mom CEO Suite Masterclass Collection https://www.themomceosuite.com/masterclass
- CRM: Dubsado - Get 20% off your 1st month (if paying monthly) or 1st year (if paying annually)
- Livestreaming: Streamyard - Get a $10 credit
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Connect with Phylicia
FB: Phylicia Pough
IG: @phyliciapough
Connect with The Mom CEO Suite
Website: themomceosuite.com
Instagram: @themomceosuite
Join The Mom CEO Suite Email Community
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Transcripts
You are now tuned in to the mom CEO suite podcast.
Speaker:I'm your host, Felicia, wife, mom, and
Speaker:entrepreneur. In this podcast, I'll be sharing my mompreneur
Speaker:journey along with strategies that will help you build your online
Speaker:business operations in a sustainable way. The goal is
Speaker:to help you build a business that fits into your lifestyle as a mom who
Speaker:values putting family first. We will also hear the
Speaker:experiences and expertise of other moms with service
Speaker:based businesses. You'll get a peek into our journeys so you'll
Speaker:know that you aren't alone. Motherhood gets hard.
Speaker:Entrepreneurship gets hard. But together we can
Speaker:do hard things. Welcome to the suite.
Speaker:Hey friends, welcome to another episode. Thank you so much for being here. And
Speaker:we have another guest. I'm super excited for this episode, a little selfishly,
Speaker:because I am on, you know, my own wellness journey, and this is
Speaker:going to be super informational for me. And I know for you as well.
Speaker:So today our guest is Leisha Drews. She is a mama
Speaker:three and RN FDMP and holistic
Speaker:hormone coach and the host of the happily
Speaker:hormonal podcast. She brings a unique understanding of how
Speaker:our body systems work together and how stress on the
Speaker:body and mind impact overall health. She
Speaker:believes that as women, we can have it all when it comes to health and
Speaker:motherhood and helping women restore energy, balance hormones and
Speaker:feel good in their bodies again is her passion.
Speaker:Doesn't have to be overwhelming, and she is here to empower women to
Speaker:understand and trust their bodies again to create change
Speaker:for generations to come. This is going to
Speaker:be so amazing. Hi, Leisha. How are you? I'm so
Speaker:good. So good. So glad to be here. Yes, very,
Speaker:very excited. So, you know, we've read your bio, but tell us a little bit
Speaker:more about you, your business, and what is life like for
Speaker:you at this intersection of motherhood and entrepreneurship right
Speaker:now? Yeah, so, you know, you can
Speaker:write things down in a bio and kind of wrap it up in a pretty
Speaker:package, but. What life looks like is I do
Speaker:have three kiddos and a husband as well,
Speaker:of course. And, um, I am not only working with
Speaker:women on their hormones, which I love to do, but I also homeschool my kids
Speaker:and I like to be outside and I like to, you know, be the fun
Speaker:mom or recording this in the summer. So trying to do like all of those
Speaker:things is truly a lot of things. so it can get busy. But
Speaker:July, we're almost to July when we're recording this and July
Speaker:is my slowdown season this year. I'm really
Speaker:hoping anyway, it's my plan. So I'm really looking forward to,
Speaker:just time outside with my kids and not having too many things on the
Speaker:schedule. Hopefully we've got like, um, my daughter's in dance and we
Speaker:did soccer and, you know, just like those things are off the calendar. So that's
Speaker:kind of where we are right now in, um, Life and business, but
Speaker:there's always plenty to fill up the calendar for sure.
Speaker:There's always something to do when it comes to kids and family, right?
Speaker:And business too, but when you have it all, it's like, there's always something to
Speaker:do. Um, so let's dig in a little bit more into your
Speaker:story. talk to us a little bit about what life was like for
Speaker:you both prior to and after you
Speaker:became intentional with hormone health and functional
Speaker:nutrition. Yeah. So a little backstory on me
Speaker:is that I started my Kind of like health
Speaker:career in nursing. So right out of high school,
Speaker:I, um, went into like a pre nursing program kind of like
Speaker:right after my, my last year of high school, kind of tried that out. Wasn't
Speaker:sure if I would like it and just went all in. I was like, I
Speaker:do like this. This is what I want to do. Went to nursing school right
Speaker:away. And I really went into it because I
Speaker:wanted to help people and I wanted to help people with their health. And I
Speaker:wanted to help them when they're sick and when they're hurting and all of those
Speaker:things. And I spent between
Speaker:while I was in nursing school, I started working in the hospital and, um, through
Speaker:my years of working as a nurse, I spent about 10 years in the hospital.
Speaker:And In those 10 years, that was when
Speaker:I started having some hormone symptoms of my own or started to
Speaker:recognize that some of the symptoms I had were hormone symptoms, had my first
Speaker:baby, had my second baby, and really just started
Speaker:to notice that there was
Speaker:something different that I wanted to be able to
Speaker:help my patients with. And I saw the same patients coming back again
Speaker:and again. And I really was not able to help them like
Speaker:get better in the ways that I wanted to. And I didn't have time to
Speaker:really, you know, dig into like, what's going on in your lifestyle, what's going on
Speaker:with your food, um, those types of things that I knew would be able to
Speaker:help them. But that wasn't my role in the hospital.
Speaker:And I didn't have a lot of resources. And I also just really didn't have
Speaker:a lot of time with my patients besides like keeping them
Speaker:alive, generally happy. And like
Speaker:checking all the boxes that you have to check as a nurse. And so I
Speaker:really started to just think about like, what, like, what can I
Speaker:do that is going to be more nutrition focused, more,
Speaker:you know, preventative. And as I started to transition into that,
Speaker:I really learned that I love working with women. I love working
Speaker:with moms specifically because of, you know, that last line of my
Speaker:bio of like how we can change our health for generations. You can do that
Speaker:by working with moms. Like that automatically impacts at
Speaker:least one generation, or I mean, of course the mom and
Speaker:then their kids, and then it might even impact their parents. And it's
Speaker:definitely going to impact their grandkids. Like it just really
Speaker:goes out from the woman and the mom and the household.
Speaker:And so when you work with moms, you find that
Speaker:hormones are a big part of this. And I think that hormones are so
Speaker:just like under Underrated essentially,
Speaker:or like a lot of us just kind of think like, uh, hormones, like they're
Speaker:bad. They're annoying there, whatever, because it's like what we equate with
Speaker:symptoms that are kind of negative. But when we
Speaker:actually dig into hormones and what they do, like, hormones are what.
Speaker:Allows us to create new life. Like
Speaker:that's a mic drop right there. It's like, okay, like, why are we just like
Speaker:hormones when it's like, this is what allows us to have babies. This was, this
Speaker:is what allows humans to like, keep propagating in the
Speaker:world. And so. When I really dove into hormones, I started to
Speaker:understand that there was just so much that I hadn't even learned. And
Speaker:even in nursing school, like even going through all of these anatomy classes and physiology
Speaker:classes and like all the things that I did, I really still didn't even understand
Speaker:my own cycle. I had irregular cycles. I thought it was pregnant every
Speaker:single month. Like it was just a whole, whole mess. And so
Speaker:to kind of like wrap up that question, what has changed for
Speaker:me after Understanding hormones better
Speaker:and starting to, um, you know, align my
Speaker:life a little bit more with how my body was created and how my body
Speaker:changes throughout the month as a woman who is cycling. Um,
Speaker:it has given me so much more encouragement
Speaker:about who I am as a woman and why that is so special and
Speaker:why that, you know, Is a beautiful thing to be a woman and it's not
Speaker:something that needs to be either, you know, kind of like shut
Speaker:down or erased or just thought of
Speaker:as like, not as good, which sometimes does happen in our culture,
Speaker:but it's really something to celebrate and it's
Speaker:something that. We can really change
Speaker:the way we see ourselves when we understand how our bodies work. And we
Speaker:don't just expect essentially to show up the same way that a man would
Speaker:24, 7, because we're not the same. And that's a good thing.
Speaker:Yeah. So you said a lot of good things and I want to kind of
Speaker:go back a little bit because you didn't mention about how we have
Speaker:this, you know, misconception about hormones or we automatically
Speaker:think that they're negative. So can you give us like a high
Speaker:level? I guess explanation of
Speaker:hormones and how they work and then what does it mean for them
Speaker:to be balanced? Okay. Yes. So I love this question.
Speaker:So hormones essentially are just chemical
Speaker:messengers in the body. And so they're little signalers that
Speaker:say, Hey, this organ needs to do this thing,
Speaker:this cell needs to do this thing. Um, and there
Speaker:are many, many, many hormones in the body. Now, as
Speaker:women, we typically think most about our sex
Speaker:hormones. So estrogen and progesterone are ones that we
Speaker:maybe know about. And those are the ones that are going to cause
Speaker:our menstrual cycles to happen, cause us to ovulate, cause us to
Speaker:bleed, cause us to be able to get pregnant.
Speaker:Something that I think is really, really important to know, though, is
Speaker:those hormones aren't just like their own little system over here that's
Speaker:disconnected from everything else in the body. There are many
Speaker:other hormones that interact with those hormones. So some of those are
Speaker:going to be stress hormones from our adrenal glands. Some of those are going to
Speaker:be thyroid hormones. Some of those are going to be hormones like insulin,
Speaker:which relates to our blood sugar and our metabolism like hormones. All of those
Speaker:things are actually working together and talking to each other. So we could look at
Speaker:it like this is a room full of friends and these two
Speaker:besties over here are estrogen and progesterone. And these two other besties over
Speaker:here are like DHEA and cortisol, but like, they're all
Speaker:part of the same group. They all know each other and they're all talking all
Speaker:the time just because we like categorize them, that these two go
Speaker:together, like they're all still. Working
Speaker:together, essentially. And so when we're looking at hormones,
Speaker:I think that it's really important to understand that
Speaker:hormones are responding to what is happening in your
Speaker:life, whether that's nutrients, whether that's stress, whether that's
Speaker:environmental factors, whether that's you like having a baby or
Speaker:having a You know, a house fire, or like, there's so many different
Speaker:things that our hormones are responding to. And our brain is always telling
Speaker:our hormones what to do. And so hormones are a really big
Speaker:picture, but when we're talking about hormones in the context of women's health,
Speaker:we primarily are looking at those estrogen and progesterone
Speaker:hormones to kind of see what is normal and what is
Speaker:not normal within the cycle, which I'll go into in a minute. Um, And
Speaker:it really is helpful to note that just
Speaker:estrogen and progesterone are like not doing their own thing. And so,
Speaker:so much of the time when there are hormone symptoms, we get
Speaker:told, Oh, just take some birth control because that will
Speaker:balance. I'm using air quotes for those of you who can't see me, your estrogen
Speaker:and progesterone. But the thing is, birth control actually
Speaker:just gives you a very, very low dose, almost a menopausal dose
Speaker:of those hormones to keep your brain from telling your
Speaker:ovaries to ovulate. So essentially it kind of just shuts down that
Speaker:system. It doesn't balance anything. It just turns it off.
Speaker:But if you're having those hormone symptoms, there's something else in your
Speaker:body that's making you feel better. Telling your brain,
Speaker:it is not safe for you to ovulate well, or ovulate. It's not
Speaker:safe for you to have balanced hormones. It's not safe for you to have a
Speaker:baby right now. So I'm going to put up some red flags for
Speaker:you. And, but instead of, you know, asking what are these red flags mean
Speaker:so much of the time, we're just like, let's put the little red flags down
Speaker:and tape them up and like, not look at them. And that's what happens with
Speaker:breast control. So what I consider to be actually.
Speaker:Normal in a cycle versus not normal. I'll go through that. Um,
Speaker:so much of the time for women, we have hormone symptoms and just think
Speaker:it's a normal part of being a woman because your sister has them, your mom
Speaker:has them, your best friend has them. So that would be things like, um,
Speaker:PMS mood swings. So feeling like moody, irritable,
Speaker:anxious, depressed before your cycle, really any
Speaker:time during your cycle, if it is a cyclical thing. So a lot of women
Speaker:will have that like the week before their period. Sometimes it shows up around
Speaker:ovulation to some women have it for three days. Some women have it for 12
Speaker:days. Like that can be. a huge spectrum of symptoms
Speaker:with PMS. Um, painful periods, heavy periods,
Speaker:lots of cramping, fibroids, um, hormonal
Speaker:acne, breast tenderness. All of those things are
Speaker:symptoms and it's your body telling you something's going on here
Speaker:that isn't allowing me to either make or detox hormones well. So
Speaker:all of those things are very common, but I don't consider those to be normal.
Speaker:What I would actually consider to be normal is just kind of like a Really
Speaker:a little bit more of like a gentle shift throughout your cycle. And then you
Speaker:have a period that shows up kind of without any drama, like
Speaker:no mental drama, no physical drama. You can just keep living your life.
Speaker:Maybe you're like a little, like a little more tired or like, Hey, I think
Speaker:I'd like to take an app or I'd like to have a little time to
Speaker:myself. But other than that, like you're not debilitated by
Speaker:symptoms. That is so
Speaker:interesting. Okay, so you mentioned previously the
Speaker:red flags. So were all of those things that you just mentioned, those symptoms,
Speaker:are those what you would consider red flags? Yeah, those are definitely some
Speaker:of the most common ones. Okay, so now
Speaker:when we see those red flags or for people who might have those
Speaker:symptoms, right? I guess, how can
Speaker:they get rid of them? Like, since it's not considered, you know, I'm air
Speaker:quoting normal, how can they get rid of those?
Speaker:Yeah. So that is what I work on all the time. So
Speaker:I love this question and there's lots of different kind of
Speaker:more root causes of these symptoms. But the two that I focus on
Speaker:first in my programs are, are you making hormones? Well,
Speaker:And are you detoxing hormones? Well, so if you're making hormones, well,
Speaker:then you would be able to make enough estrogen that it's going to
Speaker:not be too much, but be the right amount to cause you to ovulate
Speaker:within the first, like 15, 16 days of your
Speaker:cycle. And then you ovulate and you create progesterone, which
Speaker:is your secondary Um, hormone in the menstrual cycle and you
Speaker:create enough progesterone to keep that as the dominant hormone
Speaker:for about another 14 days of your cycle. Numbers can vary a
Speaker:little bit for people, but I want to see a luteal phase, a secondary
Speaker:part of your cycle of about 14 days for optimal
Speaker:metabolic health, um, thyroid health, and even ability to get
Speaker:pregnant. So that would be like making hormones.
Speaker:Well, now if you're doing that, And your
Speaker:cycle looks pretty good and you still have symptoms, then a lot of times we
Speaker:need to look at detoxing hormones. Well, and
Speaker:detoxing hormones is something that a lot of us are not doing very well
Speaker:because our bodies can be pretty overburdened by all
Speaker:of the things in our world that are not entirely
Speaker:working for us. So that can be toxins in our environment that can
Speaker:be toxins in food. It can be just like. Really not eating a
Speaker:lot of nutrient dense foods, eating a lot of more just kind of like processed
Speaker:foods that don't have a lot of nutrients in them. Um, not having
Speaker:balanced blood sugar, that can be a really big one. And this is not just
Speaker:like diabetes level. It's like just, you know, having these
Speaker:crashes throughout the day. Um, but all of those things impair
Speaker:detoxification because the liver gets overburdened and that's one of the
Speaker:big factors for detoxification. So kind of, that's kind of the
Speaker:baseline of like, What I like to figure out first is, you know, where's
Speaker:the problem? Is it both of these places, which often it is? And if so,
Speaker:then I really focus on, are you getting the
Speaker:ingredients that you need to make hormones? Well, so that's going to be
Speaker:really good nourishment. It's going to be consistency with your
Speaker:food. Blood sugar balance, um,
Speaker:moving your body, getting sunshine, like some of those things that sound
Speaker:basic, but also like as a mom and a business owner, are you doing it?
Speaker:Like maybe not so much. Um, so that's, that's what I
Speaker:look at to make hormones well. And a lot of those things are going to
Speaker:be similar to detox hormones. Well, and then we kind of like get a little
Speaker:more in the weeds there, but really it does come down to
Speaker:those two things to start with. And if you're listening and you're like, okay.
Speaker:This is a lot. I do have a quiz that will help you
Speaker:just kind of like get through the weeds a little bit and figure out which
Speaker:of the top three hormone imbalances is likely affecting you most.
Speaker:And then I'll send you a private podcast playlist that
Speaker:will kind of like give you more information about that hormone imbalance. So you can
Speaker:be like, okay, like I'm, you know. Coming through the clouds a little bit. I
Speaker:kind of understand like a little more what I could do, that kind of thing.
Speaker:And that's why it's broken down into those three.
Speaker:Perfect. So we'll definitely link that quiz in the show description. So you
Speaker:guys can access that. Um, You said some of the
Speaker:things you mentioned sounded basic, right? And you know, it
Speaker:does. We hear it all the time. Go, go outside, get some sunshine, eat
Speaker:right. But like you said, are we really doing these things? and so you
Speaker:mentioned nourishment, right? And a lot of times when I'm
Speaker:scrolling in mom communities or just on social media, I'm
Speaker:always seeing that moms are burnt out, they're
Speaker:tired, they don't Um, but they want
Speaker:to have the energy, right? But then I also see, you know,
Speaker:not in a judgmental way, but you know, I, I see the coffees with
Speaker:the creamer and the sugar and maybe some things that are
Speaker:not healthy. So what are some
Speaker:easy nourishment shifts that moms can make?
Speaker:Um, just to have more energy and kind of move away from that state of
Speaker:being burned out. Yeah. So I always like to focus
Speaker:on first, like, what can we put in versus what can we take out?
Speaker:Because I think with diet culture and just like, as women, we're just
Speaker:so, we're just so easy to go to the, like,
Speaker:okay, I have to cut sugar, cut carbs, cut dairy, cut like whatever.
Speaker:And just like, right, cut it all out and then you're left with
Speaker:and you have this like time frame. You're like, I'm gonna do it 30 days.
Speaker:I'm gonna do it 90 days, whatever that is. And then you're left with like,
Speaker:okay, but then like, what do I eat? And then you're just eating like carrots
Speaker:and chicken and they get really tired of that really fast. And then you're like,
Speaker:nevermind. This is terrible. And I don't even feel better because. I'm
Speaker:starving, right? So what I actually see so much of the
Speaker:time, like, yes, maybe, maybe it is too much sugar. Maybe it is too much
Speaker:coffee. Um, maybe it's too much fried food, too much fast food,
Speaker:processed food. Like none of those things are great. And
Speaker:I like to focus on one thing at a time for us, busy mamas. And
Speaker:the first thing that I always like to look at is you. Are you eating
Speaker:breakfast within 30 to 60 minutes of waking up in the morning?
Speaker:Even if you don't have the appetite for this, if you don't have the appetite,
Speaker:it's likely because you've trained your body not to have the appetite for that.
Speaker:Um, and that is a sign of stress hormones in the body. It's a sign
Speaker:of probably like lower thyroid hormone. Um, and one of the ways you
Speaker:can get your appetite back, I'll just throw this in really quick. If you've been
Speaker:intermittent fasting or accidentally, just not really eating breakfast, cause it's
Speaker:easier. As soon as you wake up in the morning, don't look at your
Speaker:phone, don't put on your glasses or your contacts, walk
Speaker:outside and just look at wherever the area of the sun coming
Speaker:up would be. Whether it's past the time that the sun has come up,
Speaker:maybe it's just a little bit before if it's like pitch black, this, you just
Speaker:wait a minute till the light starts to happen. But just giving your brain
Speaker:that really slow burst of light versus like.
Speaker:Whoa, my phone like this is super bright. It's two o'clock in the afternoon that
Speaker:just sets off like panic alarms in your head because you're like, like, you
Speaker:know, it's not two in the afternoon in your brain, but like the subconscious does
Speaker:not know that to go outside, spend three minutes, five minutes,
Speaker:breathe for a second, take your baby outside. If they woke you up, whatever
Speaker:you need to do. Um, and just let your brain turn on
Speaker:with the outside light and you'll be amazed how fast your
Speaker:appetite comes back because it's a slow wake up.
Speaker:Um, with that being said, going back to breakfast within 30 to
Speaker:60 minutes of waking up in the morning is ideal because that will tell your
Speaker:body essentially. It is safe. There's food here.
Speaker:Everything's okay. Um, you don't have to run on stress
Speaker:hormones because essentially what I see a lot of, especially business women
Speaker:doing is you wake up, you've got all the things to do
Speaker:running around. You're going to drink some coffee to get yourself going.
Speaker:And that coffee stimulates stress hormones like cortisol. Just
Speaker:spikes. Those right up can decrease your appetite for a couple of
Speaker:hours. But all you're doing is running on these stress hormones to
Speaker:artificially keep your blood sugar propped up instead of giving your body something to
Speaker:actually go on. So I like to use the analogy that it's like getting in
Speaker:your car and just like hitting the gas, but your tank is empty and you're
Speaker:expecting like to be able to go and keep going. But if you put some
Speaker:gas in the tank, you're going to be able to go a lot further versus
Speaker:just like two minutes down the road and then you crash. So. that
Speaker:breakfast. I like to look at it and I want it to be real food.
Speaker:So real food doesn't look to me like a pop tart or a
Speaker:donut or something like that. Like, I think we all know that, but also.
Speaker:Sometimes it happens. Um, but something that has protein, I
Speaker:really love 25 plus grams of protein in a
Speaker:breakfast. Um, and some carbohydrates to match
Speaker:essentially. And so I love things like sweet
Speaker:potatoes, fruit. Potatoes,
Speaker:um, a whole grain, something like that for your carbs. And then for
Speaker:protein, like a real meat, a real egg,
Speaker:something like that. That's just like real food, basic. And
Speaker:if that means you need to prep boiled eggs at the beginning of the week,
Speaker:do that. Like it can still be easy. Um, it can be Greek
Speaker:yogurt. It can be something like that, but something with. A really
Speaker:solid start to your day and taking a few minutes to eat that.
Speaker:Hopefully not while you're running around in circles is just truly a game
Speaker:changer when it comes to energy, because you start your day off with
Speaker:something solid and then eating consistently throughout your day,
Speaker:about every three to four hours is usually pretty good for people. If your blood
Speaker:sugar is not super high. and balance and always eating carbs and protein
Speaker:together. I cannot tell you the difference that makes in your hormones because your blood
Speaker:sugar starts to be balanced. And with hormones, we're always
Speaker:looking for safety in the body because like
Speaker:your body is working for you at all times. And with sex
Speaker:hormones, especially. You're, you're essentially looking at
Speaker:like, does my body have the resources that it needs to make a
Speaker:baby? And if you're running around like crazy and you're stressed out all
Speaker:the time and you're not eating and you're drinking a ton of coffee, your body
Speaker:is going to be like red flags everywhere. No babies for you.
Speaker:Right. And I say that, like, I don't mean specifically, like you will not
Speaker:be able to have a baby. Sometimes that is the case, unfortunately,
Speaker:but it's like, let's, you know, let's try not to right now because it seems
Speaker:like this isn't safe. It seems like she doesn't have everything that she needs. And
Speaker:so to have balanced hormones, we want to just continually give our
Speaker:body signals of safety throughout the day. And that's where nourishment comes in.
Speaker:And nourishment isn't just food. There is so much more to it, but that's where
Speaker:I like to start. And then I also just want to throw in one other
Speaker:quick thing for moms, especially minerals are so
Speaker:important. Um, and minerals get
Speaker:depleted with stress. So hello to all of us. And then
Speaker:also with having babies. So when we have babies,
Speaker:we lose minerals because we're giving it to the babies,
Speaker:beautiful, you know, we need to do that. But we also need to make
Speaker:sure that those are being replenished. And so actually making sure that you're not
Speaker:just guzzling water that's plain all the time and that you're getting like some
Speaker:electrolytes or some minerals in it, or you're doing something like an adrenal
Speaker:cocktail. You can Google that and get a recipe. Those things can be really game
Speaker:changing for energy as well.
Speaker:Wow, this is so good. You've given us so much information. Like I know y'all
Speaker:are going to have to pause right now, go back, rewind, take some notes,
Speaker:decide what you need to do. What's your first step going to be? Um, now
Speaker:I know you work with women and moms, um, to do this one on
Speaker:one, but do you have like other resources if there's somebody that's kind of just
Speaker:starting this journey and they just want to like research and they want to dive
Speaker:into all of the things, do you have resources that you share as
Speaker:well? Yeah, absolutely. So on my podcast, I
Speaker:have, I think I'm at like 150 episodes, something like that, where I'm talking about
Speaker:this all the time. So that's a deep dive. That'll take you a minute. If
Speaker:you want to just go there, that's obviously free. Um, if you're like, I
Speaker:want a little more of a specific, like, just give me some real tips.
Speaker:Um, a couple of the things that I just said, I would definitely start with,
Speaker:but I have a mini course called the restored mini course
Speaker:that is on my website, but I'll make sure to give you the link for
Speaker:the show notes as well. And that is just a. Podcast
Speaker:mini course, where I will go through blood sugar balance with you even more in
Speaker:depth, blood sugar balance and minerals, which is always where I start. So that would
Speaker:be a super good resource. If you're like, I just want to like have it
Speaker:in one place. I want some bite sized things to start with. Um, that mini
Speaker:course would be really great. And then also, like I mentioned in the, in a
Speaker:little, a little while ago, the quiz will give you some resources to
Speaker:start with as well. So those are all.
Speaker:Um,
Speaker:and that is going to be, you know, kind of like the
Speaker:step by step so that you can really walk through and fix
Speaker:things like low energy, painful periods, PMS. Um,
Speaker:but like I said, that any of the other things are a great place to
Speaker:start 1st, awesome. And again, we are going to link all of
Speaker:that. I'm going to be clicking those links. I definitely want that.
Speaker:Private podcast. Um, so let's shift gears a little bit. We've talked
Speaker:about, you know, the nourishment piece a little bit.
Speaker:I feel like we could just keep talking about that, but I want to talk
Speaker:about cycle syncing a little bit So when we're talking about
Speaker:hormone balance, like how does that correlate to
Speaker:your capacity in business and motherhood? And just how can you use your
Speaker:cycle? Um, being aware of your cycle to be more just
Speaker:productive in general. Yeah, so I think number one,
Speaker:if you've been listening and you're like, okay, I do have hormone symptoms. I
Speaker:am feeling really exhausted. I'm feeling burnout. And I have, you know, some
Speaker:PMS or some bad periods or things like that. Just
Speaker:knowing that your capacity will
Speaker:be less if your body is in that, you know, stressed state,
Speaker:essentially, and doesn't have those signals of safety. One thing. You know, I
Speaker:talk about the basics essentially of like, let's
Speaker:make sure you've got your energy back and your periods aren't knocking you out. And
Speaker:you're not grumpy a whole week out of the month and just like, not yourself.
Speaker:Like those are life changing in and of themselves. But like, once those symptoms start
Speaker:to go away and you kind of are like, Oh, I remember who I was.
Speaker:It's really amazing how your capacity increases. And so that's
Speaker:really where like, You know, that's the real thing that I love helping women with
Speaker:is like, you know, feeling good enough that you're like, here I am
Speaker:again. And I remember what I love. And I remember the mom I want to
Speaker:be. And I remember how to like pour into my business or whatever else I'm
Speaker:passionate about. It's really amazing. So even just,
Speaker:you know, starting to nourish your body will increase your capacity, but
Speaker:kind of as a cherry on top, I, I love cycle sinking because I'm like
Speaker:a hormone nerd over here. But also I don't, um,
Speaker:I don't think that cycle syncing needs to be like the first step
Speaker:because it can feel a little, like a little bit of like a to
Speaker:do list of things to do. But I think that awareness of your cycle
Speaker:is very helpful. So I'm going to do a quick little overview of what
Speaker:happens in your cycle again with estrogen and progesterone and what that does to your
Speaker:brain. So you can kind of be thinking through like, Oh, I do notice this
Speaker:throughout my month. And like, I could change how I'm doing things a little bit
Speaker:to make this better. So when you start your period, the first day of your
Speaker:period is the first day of your cycle. And that is when estrogen and
Speaker:progesterone are at their lowest level. So they've dropped off just before this
Speaker:happens to create that bleed essentially. So it's almost like
Speaker:when those hormones drop off, your body says, okay, I can bleed. I can shed
Speaker:this lining. I don't need it anymore. There's no more progesterone. There's no
Speaker:baby. So during that first week of
Speaker:your cycle, essentially, estrogen and progesterone are low and you're
Speaker:bleeding and that causes more of a connection between the
Speaker:right and the left sides of your brain, which means that you are
Speaker:more equipped essentially to plan
Speaker:and to analyze so you might have a little bit lower social energy,
Speaker:lower physical energy, But your brain works really uniquely in
Speaker:that phase to be able to plan or analyze. So, you know, you can
Speaker:take it from there as far as like, what does that look like in your
Speaker:motherhood? What does that look like in your business? But we do a lot of
Speaker:planning and we do a lot of analyzing in whatever roles we're in. And so
Speaker:it could be meal planning. It could be content planning. It could be budgeting. Like
Speaker:any of those things, um, is a really great time to do that in the
Speaker:first few days of your cycle. And then as we move into week two
Speaker:of your cycle, that's called your follicular phase and estrogen
Speaker:starts to rise and it kind of rises gently for a few days. And then
Speaker:it really sharply rises because it triggers other hormones to make
Speaker:ovulation happen. And so when estrogen rises to its
Speaker:highest peak, um, those few days of high
Speaker:estrogen are your most fertile days of the month. And this is the time
Speaker:of your cycle where you are most magnetic and
Speaker:creative, often have really high social energy, um,
Speaker:might be kind of like more of your social butterfly era of your
Speaker:cycle. And this is where it's really great
Speaker:to do things like collaboration, just in your personal
Speaker:life, great time for date night. Great time for kids, birthday
Speaker:parties, like whatever that looks like where you're like, I really want to be on.
Speaker:I really want to enjoy this. Um, the follicular phase is
Speaker:really good for that. Um, it's also really great in your business for all the
Speaker:things, whether that's like collaboration or a launch or content
Speaker:creation. And you can't fit everything in this week of your month. And
Speaker:that is okay. But especially for something like a launch or like a
Speaker:lot of content creation, it might really help you to plan it in this phase.
Speaker:If you notice, Hey, sometimes I'm really good at this. And sometimes I just want
Speaker:to lay on the floor and never want to do it again. You might just
Speaker:check in with your cycle because it could have something to do with that. So
Speaker:once you do ovulate, you switch over into your
Speaker:luteal phase. And it's kind of like, I kind of like to split it into
Speaker:two separate weeks because the luteal phase is when progesterone
Speaker:is dominant and Usually feels a little bit
Speaker:different in the 1st week in the 2nd week. So that 1st week is
Speaker:usually a pretty stable week where you might still have pretty good social
Speaker:energy. A really good time for communication. Um,
Speaker:it's a really good time for again, like, collaboration. And I kind of think
Speaker:of it as like a. Just kind of stable, steady
Speaker:phase in your cycle where you can just check things off the list. So it
Speaker:might even be the phase where you're like most true to yourself at that
Speaker:point, or it's like, okay, this is just me, not super up high, just like
Speaker:regular me. This is where I can get things done. You can look back at
Speaker:what have you planned? What did you, you know, collaborate on in your follicular phase?
Speaker:And like, what do I need to check off the list this week? Typically physically,
Speaker:this is a pretty good week of the cycle. Yeah. Feel pretty good in general.
Speaker:This is probably the week with the least symptoms typically. Um,
Speaker:and then when we move into the last week of your cycle, progesterone is
Speaker:still supposed to be dominant as long as you're detoxing well.
Speaker:Um, but there is a little bit of a rise of estrogen and then both
Speaker:of the hormones drop off at the end of the week. And so for a
Speaker:lot of women, again, this isn't. Technically good and
Speaker:normal, but a lot of women are like, okay, my energy is not so great
Speaker:this week. My mood's not so great. Um, but even if that's not you and
Speaker:you're feeling pretty good, usually that social and mental energy
Speaker:will kind of taper at the very end of the week, the last couple of
Speaker:days. But this is a really great time in your cycle again, to be kind
Speaker:of like wrapping things up, almost like a nesting phase where it's like, okay, I
Speaker:want to clean the house. I want to clean out my business. Want to clean
Speaker:out the inbox. Want to like, you know, kind of just like wrap things up
Speaker:in my month. Um, this is also, I've talked to so many business
Speaker:owners who agree with this, but this is also a phase of your cycle where
Speaker:either like, um, comparison fatigue or like imposter syndrome can
Speaker:come in. And especially those last couple of days, I
Speaker:cannot tell you how many women I've talked to who are like, Well, this happens
Speaker:to me every month where I'm like, nevermind, nothing's working.
Speaker:I'm going to quit. Like, this is the worst thing I've ever done. And then
Speaker:like two days later, they're fine again. Um, and I've definitely experienced that
Speaker:myself. So just knowing, like, if that's you and you're thinking like, Oh man,
Speaker:that has happened to me. Maybe again, just check in with your cycle
Speaker:and notice where that's showing up. Because if it is your
Speaker:cycle, you can still listen and you can still think maybe there are
Speaker:things I want to change, but also like I know I'll feel better in a
Speaker:couple of days. So maybe I don't actually make the decision to like shut things
Speaker:down in this phase. So I really like to think of the cycle
Speaker:as more of like, kind of like a container where it's like,
Speaker:where am I best at things? And where can I fit those things in,
Speaker:you know, realistically, and then also not just, you know, a black and white of
Speaker:like, I can only create content one week of the month, or I can only
Speaker:plan one week of the month. That's not true. But you may be best at
Speaker:those things in certain weeks.
Speaker:That was such a good breakdown. And I know as I was listening
Speaker:before I, you know, became aware of the different phases in
Speaker:my cycle and all that I wouldn't notice that I just felt
Speaker:different throughout the month or, you know, a certain week I would be tired and
Speaker:I'm like, Oh, my period just came on. That's why I was tired. It was
Speaker:always like an afterthought and I never was proactive in understanding,
Speaker:you know, my body and all the things that was going on. And. I just
Speaker:think that was so funny though, which is not funny, but very interesting what you
Speaker:said about how during the last few days, when you're
Speaker:about to go into your cycle, you're feeling this imposter syndrome and
Speaker:like everything is over. And then next week you're like, Oh,
Speaker:everything is fine because I've definitely felt that as well. It's like, Oh, the
Speaker:world's not ending. It's, it's all okay. Sometimes you
Speaker:never really understand why you just think it's, uh, Part of life or
Speaker:whatever, but understanding that it's a part of your hormones and all of those
Speaker:things, it really helps you to be able to, just
Speaker:be better prepared and be more intentional
Speaker:about your actions. And I really love that. Um, and I love how, in the
Speaker:beginning, when you started this, you said that the work that you're doing.
Speaker:It's really when you're working with moms, it can affect
Speaker:generations. And I think that's so powerful because once you know
Speaker:it, of course, you're going to pass it down to your children. and then you
Speaker:just have more aware individuals. Um,
Speaker:there's a whole lot that can be said about this topic and, you know.
Speaker:The health of America and all those things, but I
Speaker:think having this positive, influence and
Speaker:encouragement and information about how our bodies work and how we
Speaker:can be our best selves. I just think it's super amazing. And
Speaker:so I want to thank you for coming on and sharing all of your
Speaker:knowledge and wisdom. And so I guess to wrap up, of course, let people
Speaker:know how they can reach you. But for somebody who is just
Speaker:starting this journey, we know that you have The resources and all
Speaker:that, but is there anything in terms of like mindset that
Speaker:you would give for somebody who was just starting this journey and wanting to be
Speaker:better with their hormone health? Yeah,
Speaker:absolutely. So two things, one would be the first
Speaker:one would be. Perfectionism is not going to work
Speaker:in this journey because it's just going to hold you back to be
Speaker:honest. And I think as women, like we have all been there, we're all
Speaker:there, you know, it's, it's hard to let that go when
Speaker:it's like, okay, I'm going to fix my hormones. I have to do every single
Speaker:thing that I possibly could do to make this work. And then
Speaker:we are like, Well, it's not working fast enough. I still had a
Speaker:symptom. I, you know, I'm burnt out on all of these
Speaker:things that I'm trying to do. So really, what I see is for my
Speaker:most successful clients and students is just
Speaker:commitment truly. And like, you know what? I'm going to work with my
Speaker:body. I'm not going to keep working against it. Um,
Speaker:and I'm just going to like really get consistent with this one thing until I'm
Speaker:really good at it. And then I'm going to move on to the next thing.
Speaker:That is what I find to be so helpful. And so I would really say,
Speaker:you know, some of the tips that I gave earlier about like breakfast and starting
Speaker:to just pay attention. Are you eating carbs and proteins together? And how many meals
Speaker:are you eating? Processed food that will make a huge difference. And you just
Speaker:need to, you know, Be honest with yourself about where you are
Speaker:and then just start making little changes without without that. Um,
Speaker:like, on and off the wagon mentality of, like, oh, well, I ate a French
Speaker:fry. So might as well eat 2 pizzas for dinner, right? Like, it's so easy
Speaker:to get there. But, like, where did we get that idea? Because apparently we
Speaker:all have it, but it's like. It doesn't even make sense, really, where
Speaker:it's like, okay, like, no, you ate one french fry. Cool. Like
Speaker:french fries are fine sometimes. And if then you eat
Speaker:two pizzas, like, then you've probably done, I was going to say done some damage,
Speaker:maybe not necessarily done some damage, but like, you're not moving in the direction you
Speaker:want to move necessarily. Um, and.
Speaker:Giving yourself that grace. And just truly, I think the second mindset
Speaker:thing would be just really understanding that your body is working for
Speaker:you and you're not working against your body. So even when you feel bad,
Speaker:even when you have these symptoms and you're like, I hear women say, like, my
Speaker:body hates me or, you know, like, I just have to like fight
Speaker:myself. Right. I have to like fight off this way or have to like restrict
Speaker:and like beat myself into submission. It's like, But is that
Speaker:working? Like, would we want, would we ever look at our daughters and
Speaker:say, like, talk to ourselves that way? Like, no, we wouldn't.
Speaker:And we would hide that from our daughters, to be honest, if we're talking to
Speaker:ourselves that way, because we would never want them to feel that way. And so
Speaker:really treating your body, like you would want to treat someone you love
Speaker:is a completely different concept, I think, than a lot of the times how we're
Speaker:treating our bodies. And it really allows for that grace where
Speaker:You don't necessarily have to be so black and white. So on or off the
Speaker:wagon. And I think so many of us are afraid to get there because
Speaker:we think we'll just go totally off the rails. And in my experience, it's really
Speaker:the opposite. When you give yourself that grace to trust what you're doing and to
Speaker:trust your body. Then it becomes this like slow and
Speaker:steady movement in the right direction. So I think those are the most important things
Speaker:for a mindset. That's so good and
Speaker:relatable. So I'm doing like, I'm detoxing from sugar
Speaker:out of my diet. And I definitely have had those moments where it's like,
Speaker:I can't eat a cookies. If I eat a cookie, I'm going to eat the
Speaker:whole pack of cookies or just stuff my face with the whole tub
Speaker:of ice cream. So it's definitely helpful
Speaker:to have that mindset encouragement to know that it's not like black and
Speaker:white. It's not. Like this all or nothing thing. and just being,
Speaker:being kind to yourself and your body, I think it's helpful as well.
Speaker:So Leisha, thank you so much for coming on and let people know how they
Speaker:can connect with you. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker:So my favorite place to hang out is my podcast, the happily hormonal
Speaker:podcast. So if you're a podcast listener listening to this podcast,
Speaker:That's the place for you to come. Hang out with me. You can find me
Speaker:on Instagram. I am less active there, but I do answer my
Speaker:idea. And so if you want to chat, that's a great place to chat. Um,
Speaker:it's at Leisha Drews. And then my website is leishadrews.
Speaker:com. And like I said, we'll link everything in the show notes, but if you
Speaker:go to my website, you'll or my Instagram, you'll find the quiz and that will
Speaker:lead you to the mini course and all of those other resources. So,
Speaker:um, you'll be able to find everything really easily there.
Speaker:Awesome. Awesome. And you know, like we've been saying, it will be linked in the
Speaker:show description. So go ahead, click those links, get the information and the
Speaker:resources that you need. Again, Leisha, thank you so much for coming
Speaker:on and we will see you all in the next episode.
Speaker:Thank you for listening to the Mom CEO Suite Podcast. If
Speaker:you enjoyed this episode, can you do us a favor? Leave a review on
Speaker:iTunes and share with other moms in business like you.
Speaker:Help us spread our message and empower others who are at this intersection
Speaker:of motherhood and entrepreneurship.
