Hey, guys. Welcome to today's episode and we have Dr. Anna Cabeca, and she's actually known as the girlfriend doctor. She's actually a triple board certified doctor. She's a trained OBGYN and she's going to be talking today about her personal experience. And we're going to be talking about Kitto. We're going to be talking about hormones. We're talking about pre menopause and menopause and so much more. So. Dr. Anna Cabeca, welcome.
Oh, my gosh. It's great to be here with you. I love our time together Chantel, thanks for having me!
So we're getting so many questions and I'll dive into this in just a bit. But I want you to talk a little bit about what you feel is kind of the best plan for someone who's going in to talk about what happens with with people when they go into perimenopause and menopause and some of the things that can really help them.
Yeah, definitely. And it's because our hormones are changing not just our reproductive hormones, but they're actually 13 weight control hormones. And because of these natural changes, like puberty is natural. So is menopause. Right. And the thing is, this period of hormonal change is actually thirty five to fifty five and beyond. So we can be starting really early. So the quicker we understand what's happening and shift our physiology to be empowered through nutrition lifestyle, that really makes a difference. And so what I found in working through my own personal metabolism journey and and tens of thousands of my clients, is that what I call the keto green way or one way of eating and living? And this is with, of course, intermittent fasting, minimum 13 to 16 hours between dinner and breakfast. No more snacking, cut off the sugars, the artificial sweeteners, the sweet drinks, all of those things have to go and really focus on the low carb colonizing plant foods that are really designed to help with hormone balance detoxification. And that's often missed, especially when we're doing a Kyoto type of plan. But that's really essential for empowering our metabolism.
So you have a really great best selling, you got two best selling books, you've got the hormone fix and then your other one is, is it safe to say that one again?
Category three.
Sixteen, yes. So as far as let's talk a little bit about the process of the brain, using glucose for fuel is a very estrogen dependent process because I want to talk to people about how when they can truly get sugar out of their diet, how that affects their estrogen levels.
Yeah, yeah. Well, definitely what's happening, you know, as our hormones are shifting, as we're aging, our progesterone starts to decline in our mid to late 30s. And so that's just with natural ovarian function, decline of ovarian function. And it happens to all of us. Right. And so our ovaries are responsible for a major amount of our progesterone and also our DHEA. Both are precursors to estrogen and testosterone hormones that are definitely you hear a lot about. Right. Reproductive hormones, but they are getting considerably minor compared to progesterone and DHEA. Well, when progesterone is this hormone of neuroprotection. So what happens during this time as our hormones are shifting, women often come in, like come into my office with mood swings, PMS, irritability, you know, the gynecologic symptoms can come into heavier than normal periods, break through bleeding, irregular cycles, painful breast or ovarian cysts, fibroids become symptomatic. All of these symptoms are gynecologic, but at the same time, there are neurologic symptoms. So that anxiety, that insomnia, that irritability, the mood swings, all of that's coming in. And that's that's a function of this decline in our reproductive hormones, our major neuroprotective hormone progesterone. And with that estrogen and as you said, Chantel. Yes, estrogen is critical for glucan eugenicist brain. So as we start to get these dips, our brains are actually starving. And I experienced that myself. I did not study this right. I have come to figure this out because I had to understand why when I was forty eight, I'm almost fifty five now. But why when I was forty eight, I started to have exactly every single one of those symptoms I just described to you, you know, brain fog, memory loss. I was struggling with that. I certainly felt like I was living in a very stormy cloud and irritability, mood swings. And as you know, as a single mom to teenage girls know, that is not really good, you know, really good environment to have in the house. So and I needed to understand why. And and that took me on this journey in really balancing and shifting from using glucose as a primary brain source to using ketones.
And and it came honestly, if this discovery process I do write about it in my books a little bit, but it's really fascinating. So this discovery process came out. Yes, I had the brain fog. Yes, I had the memory loss, anxiety, PMS. But that weight gain overnight, like gaining twenty pounds without doing anything different, that was terrifying.
And I thought for sure I'll be three hundred pounds before I, you know, this stops because where is this coming from. Because I literally may think different and that took me to really restrict carbs like I do for my candidate patients or my neurologic patients going into a more ketogenic diet. But I didn't feel good. And so that's when I just started like, OK, well, why are you feeling good? Why am I feeling irritable? Why is this all all this research done on men and what happens with us in perimenopause, menopause and what's happening here?
So that led me to my whole alkaline discovery that I recognized when I checked my urine. I was as acidic as the paper read. It was stress. It was a very acidic diet. And that led me to feel inflamed. Even though I've got the quito's going, I still wasn't balanced. And that helped me add in this balkanizing factor.
So I started using the micro greens and the kale, the big greens, you know, Swiss chard and broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, all of these. Christophers also to help with hormonal deet. OK, we've got to really empower our system and decrease inflammation and help with estrogen metabolism. So that was all in this process of discovery. And not only did I lose those twenty pounds very quickly, but I had this brain clarity like I could. I felt like the cloud has lifted, as so many of my patients have said, the cloud has lifted. And it wasn't until a while later that I came across the research showing. That is that glucose utilization of the brain is estrogen dependent, but Kito, you know, using ketones for fuel in the brain is not hormonally dependent. So that was another huge. Aha. Understanding what what was manifesting at that time.
So I will say glucose is to gasoline as ketones are to jet fuel, but in an alkaline environment with making sure we're getting those, there's microwaves on board.
All right. Well, let's jump in some questions. This first one's from General in Hope Springs. I love your podcast. And let's listen to an episode with a guest talking about taking progesterone cream. I am forty nine years old and I bought some and I did take some. And sometimes when I take it, it makes me less. And then sometimes I take it when it's when I take it, I'm more hungry. I just bought some progesterone cream from Amazon and I felt like I was less hungry. But then I got some real progesterone cream from a doctor, from the real compounding pharmacy. And then I felt like I was more hungry. I went to the doctor and he said I needed to take my blood, I think on day twenty one to get the best test results. Can you help with this?
Oh my gosh. This is a great, great question. I want to thank our writer for bringing this up. And there's so much more that I would ask as a as a clinician. Remember that I cannot give medical advice here, but I can dig deeper and help you kind of understand what's going on. Really does depend on the kind of progesterone. Was it an oral progesterone that you got from the compounding pharmacy or a cream? So it seems like a pretty la cream. Yeah, OK, so I mean, we can look at it both ways. Oral progesterone, but 90 percent, we get metabolized into our pregnant alone and other derivatives of progesterone that can make a sleepier. So when I need the patient to get a good night's sleep, whether it's for postpartum depression, whether it's for, you know, insomnia and just this time period of perimenopause or menopause, I will give them oral progesterone, one hundred or two hundred milligrams at bedtime, typically two hundred milligrams at bedtime, depending on their cycle, usually a few days off a month. Now, progesterone cream. We have to look at the dosage now. There's a few time, a few reasons why some progesterone creams won't work. And I know this because I've investigated so many progesterone creams and I finally created my own, which is my pure balanced PCR cream. And so we want to look at number one, if if we always have to understand the source.
So I would say ideal. It's going to a compounding pharmacy. Why is it making you hungry? It really may depend on the dosage that you're getting. Typically, a twenty milligram transdermal progesterone is equivalent to a two hundred milligrams oral progesterone. So sometimes you may be getting 40, 60 or 100 milligrams in a transdermal unless it's going to be too much. And that can definitely cause a more of a progesterone dominant. It can cause some weight gain. It can cause some it can even affect irregular cycles. So we want to be careful. We're not doing too much progesterone. And then on the flip side, if we're not getting the absorption from the cream, often we have to dig into digestion.
Because I always say if you don't have healthy skin as a reflection of a healthy gut. So my clients that didn't do well with a topical usually had sebo small intestinal bowel overgrowth, had digestive issues, IBS, celiac disease. So we had to do something different either. Ideally going to a vaginal absorption because of a giant has so much good vascular.
Absorption, it is really an ideal way to kind of bypass issues with otherwise transdermal absorption.
So, yeah, a lot a lot into that question.
All right, this next one is from Sally from Houston, Texas. I did a 30 day keto diet and lost weight. I felt great. But one thing is that I was eating a massive amount of fats and probably a little bit more because I felt deprived from not eating as many carbs. I did add a ton of dairy, which I don't normally eat a lot of dairy. So could that be it then? I did a three day juice fast and then lost three pounds right away, but the juices did have national fruits in it, which has sugar thoughts.
Oh, yeah, for sure, there's a food sensitivity in there somewhere, and dairy is a big food sensitivity. I mean, I can be and that's something really important to realize. So in my Keiter Green plans, there is no dairy, no grains, because we really want to eliminate the high allergen foods. And so we just avoid them altogether. So I met them all together. There's a little dairy like maybe a teaspoon of Parmesan and something. I'll be three pounds heavier the next day. So I get this food sensitivity experience really firsthand. So it could be a food sensitivity. The second thing is, like I would have heard and recommend you don't have a calculator that looks at how what does Akito what does Akito Green look like in a day for you? And so I'll give you that link Chantel. I mean, it is Dr. Anna AdCom. Com that slash cow ACLC. And everyone can take that Ketel calculator and just look at what a day in the life of being Katerine Green looks like. Based on your height, it's only for women. Men are different. So this is designed for women. It's based on your height, your activity level and whether you want to lose weight. So I think that then you can kind of get a perspective, a visual perspective of what a healthy category plan looks like for you. And often, yeah, too much too much fat or too much protein. That could be another reason. And a food sensitivity will block your success.
OK, this next one.
This next question before I do that, I want you to talk about a little bit about your lifestyle. So let's give like a day in the life of what you kind of what is a day in life like for you as far as your eating, your exercise and what do you do?
Oh, my gosh. Well, let me tell you, it's been a little bit chaotic since quarantine. And we've moved to Texas and there's been a lot of my youngest is in the rodeo. So we're doing a lot of on the road stuff, which is really been a challenge kicking my butt. Let me tell you. So in my healthy routine, like, for example, yesterday, my day went like this. Six thirty, I'm up. I do my meditation before I get out of bed and have a hot cup of tea and a shot of my mighty mocha plus with a little bit of apple cider vinegar to help my body detox and alkaline right away. Then seven thirty to eight thirty is my workout and then I do my writing production and then I break fast, usually with a key to green shake somewhere between 10 and 11 am.
And I may or may not eat again until last night, for example, a dinner at six p.m. and it was guacamole and some chicken and a side of other vegetables. So healthy, fat, lots of greens and good quality protein. And that makes that's kind of a key for me to two meals a day is really ideal. But I have to break fast by six, by 10 to 11 and definitely try to eat by six p.m. and that's it. Hydrate in between my meals, not with my meals, and then bedtime after after dinner, try to drink very little so my digestion will be complete. I don't want to dilute my digestive juices, nor do I want to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. So after dinner I drink very little, but usually like a hot tea or maybe another type of usually a warm drink or a glass of water.
Uh.
OK, this next one is from Meredith in Ohio, she says, How do I do without not eating grain or dairy? Almost every recipe out there seems to have tons of cheese and tons of dairy in it. I'm not losing the last 15 pounds that I want, and I'm always craving fruit. And I'm not so sure that not eating fruit is a good idea, especially with covid. I feel like you really need some of those great nutrients from fruit. I also remember you talking a little bit about Fleck's like kind of keto. Do you think that I should try that?
Oh, my gosh. Well, first of all, we want to look at your food sensitivities, so knowing food sensitivities is key. You do that with a modified elimination diet and gradually introduce food back. So all my plans are grain free, dairy free. So I would just say, you know, definitely check out KG 16 and look at that. And there's great visuals in there to what a healthy Kaido plan looks like. And I like a feast day, so let your feast have some healthy fruit. So maybe there's like even just like for that compliance, listening to your body, there's times of stress. Maybe it's Saturdays, you you'll have some sweet potato, you'll have some blueberries, you'll have strawberries, you'll have some, you know, some fruits and you can use a little bit of these fruits to these. Lyrically, it's on a regular basis and key to Green 16. We use a little bit of pineapple and a little bit of mango because those are digestive fruits.
The enzymes in them are very good for digestion and that can help. And that can also using it in the evening help you create more tryptophan and get a better night's sleep. And so there's kind of like there's a method to the madness in this based on our physiology, especially as our hormones are changing. And I think that that looking looking at those things in general, dairy is a little bit goes a long way. And a lot of our dairy in our country, in America is quite high and antibiotics and endocrine disruptors. And we really don't want to introduce any other hormones into our body as much as possible. And I think dairy is a really big culprit there as well as it's one of the number one food sensitivity. So I really do recommend eliminating that. And if you don't have an issue like a little bit of cheese, feta cheese or goat cheese, periodic fermented cheeses on a periodic basis, that's that's OK to incorporate in.
But you don't have to have dairy to be keto.
All right, this next one is from Jamie Singer. She says, I am in perimenopause and I feel like I've gained 10 pounds and I'm doing nothing different than I was before. I literally the same thing. And every day and every week I'm now forty four years old and I have no food sensitivities. I was eating in a six hour eating window, then I brought it down to four years and still I'm not making a difference. Any thoughts?
Yeah. For me, I'd do better with a six to eight hour eating window than I do so. So a lot of times in my next book will be writing about changing some things up. It's called menopause. So a spin off. I'm still with keto green concepts, but a little spin off will have some carb up days and things like that. But one of the things is that we really want to kind of look and see what if we just had dinner for breakfast for what if we ate our big meal in the middle of the day and just had a smoothie in the evening? Sometimes shifting that even for a week, can be enough to kick start your metabolism, change things up and and support your support your body. So often when I hear, OK, I'm in this plateau. Michael, what about what about we do dinner for breakfast and just a very light, you know, tea or broth or soup or salad in the evening and just switch that up so your heavy meals earlier. And that can make all the difference for some women, especially during this metabolic shift. The other thing is really watching those carbs again, want to get your body into ketosis, but with an alkaline emphasis. So test of gas and have clients use paper and check urine and ketones and really make sure you're getting into ketosis with this, because sometimes you can be fasting all day and still not get into ketosis. Our bodies can be that metabolically stalled. And so tests don't gas and that can help you guide you and more personalize your program.
So let's talk about how somebody kind of knows it, like, OK, I'm in perimenopause or am I how much longer do I have? Like, are there any signs for that?
Well, oh, my gosh. I would say, you know, I've been menopausal three times. I think I'm finally an a puzzle. But I have to wait till this may. I mean, I was almost like 12 months without a period. And then I had a period when everyone moved back home in quarantine. All my big girls move back home. And I was like, you know, it's like a dormitory phenomenon. Everyone gets on the same cycle, menstrual cycle. However that happens. I'm like, OK, no more periods. I'm good. Fifty three. You're saying you're saying your daughters moved back in with you and you got a period I did like. OK, so funny.
It's true. I don't care what anyone says because me and my daughter were on the exact same cycle like it's just and if I hung out with if she was gone for a couple of weeks and I'd hang out with someone else.
Exactly. Exactly. And it's amazing how that happens. That's because our energy, our outreaches, our physical body. Right. Our energetic body, they are hormones are pheromones. It's our way of communicating outside of talking. And so it's so cool. But it's so it was so true. I was like, oh my gosh. And I've got to wait till this may just say if I'm menopausal, but like, that's why menopause is such a terrible word.
Puberty, puberty, too, for some for some girls, their period start in the regular and for others it's maybe one. And then three, four months later they have another one. And so there's a difference, too, in the perimenopause and menopause. We have to look at those things that are causing some estrogen dominant. And it is really important to clear this up. So it is not uncommon for women who have been doing my Keiter Green plan and you see this in my category and community on Facebook, they'll be like, man, I didn't have a period for two years. Then I started Dr. A. Keiter Green and now I'm having periods. I'm like, consider that a blessing, right. That's natural anti aging. And plus, we oftentimes what happens is we don't have enough progesterone to oppose the estrogen that's circulating in our system on our uterus. And so that can lead to, you know, falsely not having a period because we don't have enough progesterone to make a period. Come on.
And that can over time create a buildup of within the endometrium and a we call it endometrial hyperplasia could lead to cancer. So having like getting your body's hormones in balance is is critical. This Keiter green lifestyle does that so. It can happen, I mean, five, 10, 15 years. I can expand that, the biggest thing is that we do it as healthy as possible.
OK, this one says that she said this is from DJ and Melody in Jacksonville, Florida. I am always constipated.
What role does gut health play on our ability to manage stress? And I feel like my body is always inflamed. My knees are always seeming like they are getting fluid in them. So I'm assuming that that's inflammation.
But I also want to know about estrogen dominance and if my gut is the problem.
Yeah, it's always a problem. And constipation, you have to heal the gut and when you're constipated, you're actually absorbing toxic estrogens and that can create other problems down the line as well. And so what I say is there's often a food sensitivity when I see lines who are constipated. There's absolutely a long term. There is a food sensitivity. We don't have to live that way very again, a big culprit. This is coming up a lot today. So I want everyone to hear this. But dairy is a big culprit. Eliminating dairy can really help the gut. Whatever other food sensitivities that you may have in increasing probiotics, doing extended intermittent fasting, really trying to awaken your digestive track again. So you're having daily bowel movements. It is not normal to skip a day with bowel movements. You must have daily bowel movements. That is how our body detoxifies. Now, I say this from a place of understanding, as with working with my patients as well as personally. I mean, it wouldn't be uncommon to ask my client, say, you know, I'd ask so like, hey, hey, Laura, how are you?
The patent should be like, no, I'm like, how many bowel movements do you have a day? Not a day. I maybe have one or two a week. I'm like, that's kind. And we really need to understand that anything other than having a bowel movement a day is an issue. And that's a red flag for hormonal issues or it's creating a hormonal issues as well.
So for me, eliminating dairy helped reawaken my digestive tract because I used to be that same person, one to maybe bowel movements a week. And that was then. And when you do that, you feel so much better. And after patients started reawakening their digestive track, they come in and say, oh, my God, I never realized how much having a bowel movement just makes me feel better. You know, just the chef just having regular bowel movements just is a tremendous, tremendous health gain in a health win because you're you're eliminating the toxins versus re absorbing the toxins. And then you're not dealing with, you know, that terrible constipation, painful bowel movements, all of that.
Hey, guys, I want to tell you, I'm offering a free weight loss. Our actual Bible study now is the perfect time to focus on understanding true hunger and fullness and learn what the Bible has to say about it. All you have to do is go to Chantel Ray dot com slash Bible study. After you sign up, you'll receive a six week Bible study, video that you can watch on your own, or you can get a small group of people and do it together. That's Chantel Ray dot com slash Bible study for your free six week Bible study course.
OK, this next one is from Jennifer and it's on.
I don't she doesn't have a city says I love, love, love your podcast. When I heard one of your podcast talking about demn as a supplement to get rid of estrogen dominance, I took it for a while and I liked it. But then I just started taking some other stuff and I didn't know if I should take that. And this other I started taking the condoms, which I can get out of control with. I like them so much that I end up taking too much and have diarrhea. I did start taking your waste away digestive aid that has the HDL and digestive enzymes and I love that if I end up eating too much. But I wanted to find out how to balance all of these supplements, like, should I keep taking Midem? How much magnesium should I take? Like, if I look at the gummies, how much of that should I take? I know I'm taking too much because then I get diarrhea. Jennifer Oh, my gosh.
These are great questions. Well, Jennifer, I think that everyone should take these digestive enzymes. We all need those digestive enzymes. So your waste away products, Chantel story we want to really improve.
I like the one the one that I have actually has S.L and digestive enzymes. So it has both because most of the products either has H SEAL or they have digestive enzymes. And so I like the fact that mine has both.
And so it really does make a difference if I'm, you know, especially if I'm eating something that I definitely shouldn't be eating. It makes a world of difference.
Oh, yeah. And that will help eliminate constipation helps. I mean, again, healthy complexion starts with healthy digestion. So as I like to say, beauty from the inside out and and especially. As we get older, our natural enzymes start to decline, so pretty much almost all of us need to incorporate some digestive enzymes into our healthy vitamin protocol. And I write about vitamins and Keiter Green 16, because I got a lot of questions, especially with my first book, The Hormone Fix, like what are the best vitamins for us to take what you know, for both men and women. And and so it really does bring up some questions. If you're able to test test don't gas.
That's the key thing. Looking at nutritional panels and looking at your urinary metabolites and these organic acids, these give us an idea of what we need for our body. Right. What we need for our body. How are we doing and what where could we optimize?
With that said, ethically, all of us, like my core supplements, are a multivitamin and mineral that has chelated minerals. So they're easy to, you know, absorb and also methylated that have methylated B vitamins. We want to look at a really high quality multivitamin and mineral. And then the second thing is mighty Mocca sorry, is omega 3s. Omega 3s are fish oils. A healthy, high quality, heavy, metal tested source of fish oils is is part of life. And we need that for beautiful hair, beautiful skin. And every cell membrane is composed of fatty acids. So we got to keep that optimize as we get older. I typically put people in my my Markopoulos because it's 30 over 30 superfoods combined to help with inflammation, digestion, detoxification, alkalinity. And just helps we get so many great response with energy and decreasing appetite and eliminating hot flashes, all of those good things. So that's kind of core, I would say, if there were two things I would send people home on. It's the mighty Mockett and Omega three, while add in the multivitamin, add in digestive enzymes because you can be eating a perfect diet. And if you're not getting that HCO and digestive enzymes, you're not going to be absorbing the maximum nutrition that you could. And then a probiotic.
So those are those are key key supplements. And what I'm doing now, adding on during this time, vitamin D, optimizing vitamin D, adding in some carnitine for mitochondrial energy, a pure form of carnitine. And those are just an extra vitamin C, so those are some extra things that I'm doing. Oh, yeah. And zinc, another 60 milligrams of zinc in times of stress can get that stress related hair loss and zinc helps with that.
So let's go back to our question, though, because she's talking about demn for estrogen dominant, do you feel like she should still be taking that down? And again, we don't know how old she is and anything from that, but in general, do you like taking them for estrogen dominance?
I think, again, looking at that and see what the issues are know, is it a progesterone insufficiency? So we need to boost the adrenals so that your body's naturally producing more progesterone. I loved him. I love sulfuric Bane's.
But again, if you depending on her age, right.
Like anything on our age and what she's dealing with and what does does it make her feel. And are we looking at estrogen metabolites to say, OK, we need to add this on.
So good.
Yeah. So those are like, you know, that's the fine tuning we're testing. Not guessing really.
How so? As far as the calm gummies that she's eating, too many of them, it says, I want to find out how much magnesium you should take. I actually I take some of those gummies too. I, I, I brought them here that I can put in here and I'm looking right here.
For one Gumee, the nice thing is there's it's less than one gram of sugar per one of these, but it does have organic cane sugar in them. So if you're trying to watch your sugars, even though each one has less than one gram inside, it looks like four gummies has three grams of sugar. So you want to be careful with that. And each and each one of these has eighty three grams of magnesium. So her question is, how much magnesium should she be taking in a day, maybe three milligrams and.
Eighty three milligrams and one gummy. I mean, typically you can take two hundred and fifty milligrams of magnesium a day. Is that a magnesium citrate or a magnesium carbonate? Kind of magnesium. Is that it says magnesium citrate.
So that's why the diarrhea. So when you get up and that magnesium citrate versus a magnesium glycine, you're more likely to have diarrhea. So I think like probably definitely not more than eight a day. Definitely not more than a two day with that.
And was it for how many each one, as it says on there, it says that for gummies are for ages 13 and above. So and for gummies is three hundred and thirty milligrams.
Yeah. So you're probably really even if they're doing over three hundred and thirty of magnesium citrate, certainly when you get over five hundred milligrams of magnesium citrate you can have some diarrhea in the sugar on top of that. And I think, you know, listen to your body, to your body on that.
But certainly we're testing it and saying, OK, I too. Am I still having diarrhea? Yeah, OK. This next one is from Unknown. I want to ask about hormones. I've heard from different podcasts. Some people say just to take a saliva test. Then the next guy says take a blood test, blood test. One guy said, don't take a blood test. That that's pointless. I feel like I don't know who to believe. I've also taken a bunch of tests and I feel like I know better than I was before. One guy says you should only take it on this day. One guy says you should only take it on the twenty first day. This is getting very confusing and I feel like I'm spending a lot of money on all these different tests and I'm no better than I was before. I saw a friend of mine that had literally lost 20 pounds. She was really muscular. And the thing that she said that she did different is taking testosterone thoughts.
Oh, my gosh. OK, there's so many thoughts around this, and I always tell my clients that when you come to my practice, we're going to test all your body fluids at one time or another, urine hormones. So salivary hormones, blood hormones, they all tell us a little different picture.
And I've always been split, split testing. Do them all at one time. What all does it show you? And and it can you know, you can have some inconsistency. So here it comes down to treat the patient, not the labs. Work with a really good physician. And we really want to optimize we do want to optimize our hormones from the inside out through, you know, these therapeutic lifestyle changes when we're stressed. It doesn't matter how much testosterone or progesterone or whatever else we're doing that's going to affect us adversely. Right. So we have to really control our stress. First and foremost, I am a big believer in using bioidentical progesterone and even pregnant alone, especially in the perimenopause menopause, to help with that good night's sleep, that brain fog, you know, helping with gynecologic issues and you know, and well put into postmenopausal, a little bit of bioidentical progesterone can really help. And then using DHEA, of course, because it created Jolbon has DHEA in it for the vulva and that can really be beneficial. And we get into using testosterone and we really need to fine tune that. We can do too much more easily. And physiology affects our behavior. So too much testosterone can lead to novelty seeking behaviors in both men and women. So we really want you to be very conscious that physiology affects behavior, but and understand where that testosterone is converting because testosterone will convert to estrogen. So overall, I feel comfortable with, you know, low levels of androgen, physiologic doses, but each individual is different. You need to work with a physician. I always say check with your compounding pharmacist who is doing hormones. Well, I mean, we don't want, you know, like we don't want to be super physiologic. We don't have these really high levels of testosterone. And then we're angry and irritable and our relationships are falling apart. I mean, that's not healthy either. And I've certainly seen that in my medical practice and working with clients from, you know, consulting with clients from around the country. So we want to optimize our hormones. So I am a big fan of bioidentical hormones in physiologic doses while keeping our detox pathways open. Right. While getting, you know, keto green while doing a meditative and physical active practice. These are all part of a healthy, healthy life, and that's what we want.
Hey, guys, I want to talk to you about something that can lead to chronic disease. Yes, it's sugar. Over 70 percent of Americans are eating more sugar than they need to.
And I was one of them. And I kept saying, you know this my last time. I'm going to cut back. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. And I didn't I saw all the negative health effects. It was weakening my immune system and I just couldn't say no. And that's until I discovered some really practical steps to just eliminating sugar from my life for good. And I want to teach you that as well. So everything I've learned to break my sugar addiction in my thirty day kick sugar challenge, you're going to get exclusive access to a private Facebook group. You're going to have four weekly calls. You're going to get an accountability partner. I'm going to be personally walking you through these next thirty days. The most important thing you're going to learn, though, in these thirty days is the mindset you need to kick the sugar to take your intermittent fasting to the next level. So just go to Chantel Ray Wacom Kick Sugar to learn more. The best part is it's only thirty dollars right now. That's a dollar a day investing in you for thirty days. It officially doesn't start until January 4th, but if you join now you're going to get free access to the group and we're going to give you practical tips to not overindulge through the holidays on December 15th. The price is going to go up. So click the link in the description and you'll get to go to Chantel Ray dot com slash KCS sugar and you can join the group for just thirty dollars.
Yeah. And I think the biggest thing on the day is, from what I understand, is that if you're checking your engeström levels, that progesterone can be kind of deliberately measured on day twenty one in the middle of the second half, like your luteal phase to see if ovulation has occurred, is that right?
Yeah. And also, you know, and I write about this on my site to when to test day nineteen to twenty one for peak progesterone levels. And you can look at. Testosterone during that time, estrogen during that time, you know, any other women during that time as well. You want to look at baseline hormone A two to three, so. Right. While you're bleeding day two to three of your cycle, and that's age LH and estradiol. And then we can we can look at we can look at that there. We're not going to see progesterone or testosterone. And so if you're cycling, we use that rhythm. If your periods are irregular, we try to get peak hormones like day nineteen to twenty one after your last know from your first day of bleeding. And if you're in the post menopause, just like maybe when you test retest at the same time, the same conditions in the same environment, for example, retest at 10 a.m. after taking your six hours, after taking hormones if you're on them and before exercise if you are taking and the next time you get it tested, the same situation, same time of the month, same time of the day, and same conditions regarding supplementation or any medications you're on.
That helps us get a better idea of what's happening over time, and that's why some of the studies, like twenty four hour urinary hormones, is helpful or like, you know, throughout the day measuring for urinary hormone levels or salivary hormone levels. That takes into consideration what's happening throughout a normal day. But again, one of the things that people don't realize, like after a strenuous exercise routine, your testosterone is going to be up, your day is going to be OK, and that can falsely guide management. And so one of the things another thing that I tell clients, you know, again, comes to that treat the patient recollapse.
Last question, this question is from Nancy in Montreal, I get massive headaches right before my period starts and right before it's about to hit. And I know you won't believe this, but I've never taken Tylenol or Advil in my whole life. I only use natural methods.
Sometimes I use progesterone cream. But is there any other natural methods that I can use that when I get a headache? I do not have to use Tylenol or Advil.
I will say this. This is really awesome to hear and I barely ever, ever, ever like it. I can't say that I've never taken time, but I can say this. I can count on one hand how much I take it in the last two years. So this is really exciting that, you know, she's saying, yes, but go ahead. I just on that.
We shouldn't need to write. These are antiinflammatory. So how do we remove information from our system now? Menstrual migraines or menstrual headaches are a little bit different. That's from that tip. And so you really want to optimize your hormones by optimizing your adrenals. Here's where my Mocha Plus can come in. Other adrenal adaptations can come in to help with that, with supporting your body's natural progesterone, natural hormone production and detoxification. No, to look for food sensitivities that could be affecting you. And number three, magnesium and biotin. Those are two supplements that can really help with reducing those menstrual migraines. And I typically use a magnesium, any supplement or magnesium glistening.
So what's going on? Look, let's just get to the root of the problem for what is happening, that the headache is coming on. Why or why is the headache coming right before and right after what's actually happening there that is causing premenstrual migraines are due to that dip in progesterone.
So having that progesterone cream would help? Would help, absolutely. And then the migraine before her period starts can also be from low estrogen. Oh, that's we're looking at other making sure that we're optimizing also vitamin D, because in order for our hormones to work well, we have to have healthy levels of vitamin D at the receptors, also iodine for hormonal receptors and then again, avoiding food sensitivities and looking at that and saying, could there be any other culprits there? Russell, as you say, estrogen patch, when people have hormonal migraines, will slap on an estrogen patch during those fat that week just to kind of elevate the baseline, and that can help to ask.
We'll tell listeners where they can find you and where they can follow you and if you have any promotions going on right now.
Yeah, thank you. Well, easy to find a doctor and a dotcom. So Dré and a dotcom. And I encourage everyone to check out my show, the girlfriend doctor show. It's on my homepage and you'll see a tab for the show. It's also on YouTube. And we're posting a lot at the girlfriend doctor on Instagram. So definitely connect with me in social and be sure to join my to green community. We always have something going on in our store. We have free trials of job free trials, mighty mocha. So if you haven't if you haven't tried those, I encourage you to try them. I know that they are just life changing for so many individuals.
So why would you want to talk about your your dollar creams? So just talk about that real quick before we end. Yeah, definitely.
I have some here. So Jobb is my antiaging cream for the bowl that has DHEA. It has plant stem cells from the Alpine rose. It has some coconut oil, shea butter and in the oil to help with absorption and really keep the tissue healthy. I say clitoris to anus is the most important real estate of our body. And as we get older, the changes, just like menopause, is not mandatory. These hormonal changes really affect our pelvic floor, and that creates a lot of suffering for us in our old age.
And this is in all of us. As we get older, the veg thin out. And what happens is there's dryness, lots of pleasure, decreased orgasm. But the number one reason that caregivers put their loved one into nursing home is incontinence. So those accidental bladder leaking and I get it, I've had four big babies. This was part of my own natural way to help keep those muscles strong. Between jobb and pelvic floor exercises, we see a huge improvement, if not complete resolution and completely complete resolution and symptoms. So, yeah, so it's been this beautiful. We have thousands of testimonials on our website and just stories. And it is again, I designed it from my own journey and working with patients and I decided to work. That really does work beautifully and it's all natural. No parabens, no synthetic, no preservatives. And yeah, it works really good. Plus I give one hundred percent money back guarantee, so I want you to try it. And this is too much.
A little bit goes a long way. You're not having to put a lot of cream on it. Messy, you don't have to insert it, you know, and it works just from topical application and it smells good, you know, it's nice.
So look how much it's always fun talking to you.
Thank you, Chantel. Thanks for having me.
And you guys stay tuned. We'll have another episode coming up in just a bye bye for now.