# S3E06 – HOW TO FIX YOUR PERIOD – ways to support your hormones, improve your period symptoms, and feel better overall with “Period Girl” Nicole Jardim

Published July 19, 2022

Hi, pod fam! 

Let’s talk about periods, ovulation, birth control, hormones, and how these all impact your overall health. Hint: It’s A LOT. And—because this season is all about easy lifestyle changes to support your health—we’ve got some good tips for healthy hormones at the end!  

This week’s guest is Nicole Jardim (aka “Period Girl”). She’s a Certified Women’s Health Coach, author of the book Fix Your Period, and host of The Period Party podcast. We’re going over how and why to track your periods, what they don’t tell you about birth control, why ovulation is important for overall health, and tangible ways to support your hormones. This ep is essential listening for anyone with a period—PERIOD. 

BTW—By no means is this ep here to convince you not to take birth control if you feel that’s the best option for you. But for transparency, hormonal birth control is notttt it for me. It just covered up a whole bunch of underlying issues and f—ed with my body, creating even more issues. But I totally get how personal of a decision it is, so please do (or don’t do) whatever feels like the right option for you. I’m just here to share what I’ve learned so that you can make informed decisions about your health. 

With that being said, Nicole has SO much great info in store. Let’s get juiiiicy!

The Problem With Hormonal Birth Control + Why Ovulation Matters

We have GOT TO stop passing out birth control as a fix-all solution. I could go on a whole rant about this, but what it comes down to is that we don’t have true, informed consent when it comes to the pill (and other hormonal birth control options). How many of us actually read the package inserts that come with medications? Yeah, not many of us. Now, a 15 or 16 year old whose doctor just told her this is the only thing that will help with her cramps and heavy bleeding and mood swings? Do we really think she’s reading that packet? Not likely.

So the problem with not knowing what we’re putting into our bodies is that we’re not always aware of the risks and what those mean for our health. Birth control can cause a whole bunch of issues like blood clots, gut health imbalances, vaginal microbiome imbalances, chronic infections (yeast infections, UTIs, and the like). Not great.

Nicole points out another really important issue in this ep: ovulation. Most hormonal birth controls manipulate your body’s natural hormones and processes to stop ovulation altogether, which means that the “period” you’re having isn’t a true period. And—as annoying as they can be—periods can tell us A LOT about our hormones and overall health. Everything from color, clots, pain, and other related symptoms can indicate that something is off balance. This is why Nicole usually starts with period tracking when working with a new client. But with hormonal birth control, you’re losing out on those important cues. 

Other Things That Can Impact Your Hormones

When we’re talking about hormones, we’re not talking just about reproductive hormones. Your adrenals, thyroid, cortisol, insulin/blood sugar—it’s all connected. Honestly, that’s one of the coolest things about the human body, am I right? How everything kind of balances each other out and works together. With that being said, here are some thighs that can impact your hormones, which might show up as period symptoms, among other concerns.

• Internal Stressors
  • Artificial stimulants (caffeine) 
  • Blood sugar dysregulation
  • Mold toxicity 
  • Gut infections
  • Autoimmune disease
  • Illness 
• External Stressors
  • Work stress
  • Taking care of sick parent/child/relative 
  • Marital/relationship stress
  • Lack of social connection/friendship (isolation)
  • Current events/pandemic/political stress, etc.

Ways to Support Your Hormonal Health

This season of What’s the Juice is all about getting back to basics. Feeling better doesn’t have to be complicated or out of reach. Of course, avoiding some of those stressors above is a good start, but here are some other hormone-supporting habits we can all try.

1. Get Better Sleep

Nicole usually has her clients track their sleep using something like a Fitbit, Apple Watch because your sleep quality can have a big effect on your overall health. Let’s be real, though—most of us are probably not sleeping as well as we should be. So we could all probably use these tips to help improve our sleep quality: 

• Cut out blue light at night (that means no TikTok scrolling in bed!)
• Hang up blackout curtains to block out excess light (eye masks work, too)
• Diffuse lavender or vetiver essential oil for calmness before bed or as you’re falling asleep

2. Drink Enough Water

Basically, we’re all dehydrated AF. And when that happens, our bodies kind of just downregulate everything, so even if you’re feeling fine, you might not be feeling your best. A couple tips: 1) Drink water frequently, even when you don’t feel thirsty (your body probably is). 2) Nicole recommends adding salt to your water to help replenish electrolytes/minerals. Just a pinch, though. We’re not talking ocean water here! 

3. Get Outdoors

Just 10 minutes in the sun can be literally life-changing. You don’t even need to do anything—just sit in the sunshine and soak up some fresh air, get some earth between your toes if possible, and chill out. Bonus points for making your daily outdoors time a walk (crazy benefits from this), but not necessary.

4. Eat Better

K this is vague and looks different for everyone, so I’ll just share a couple tips from Nicole that generally work for all of us:

• Eat breakfast – it’s in the name; you’re literally “breaking the fast” from not eating while you sleep. You should be hungry when you wake up. Listen to that hunger! 
• Eat more protein – especially at breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day because it sets the tone for your energy and blood sugar and hormone health for the rest of the day. Nicole’s ideal breakfast looks something like this: 2 eggs, 2–3 breakfast sausages, steamed/sauteed broccoli or cabbage, and maybe a little sweet potato.

Psst: Check out our ep with Glucose Goddess for more tips on regulating your blood sugar (which directly impacts hormones) through food.

As always, tune into the episode for allll the juicy goodness in this ep! Be sure to share your thoughts with me on IG: @shoporganicolivia.

xoxo,

Olivia

Connect with Nicole Jardim:

Follow @nicolemjardim on IG

Visit her website

Buy her book, Fix Your Period