Hormones are Your Check Engine Light (feat. Jillian Greaves)

Salad With A Side of Fries-Hormones are Your Check Engine Light (feat. Jillian Greaves)-Transcript

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[00:00:21] So we need to kinda look at the. Deeper dynamics at play that may be impacting our hormone production or our hormone clearance. Welcome to

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[00:00:45] Are you ready? I'm having salad with a side of fries. Hey friend. Welcome back to Salad with a side of fries. I'm Jen Tpic, your host and health coach here with you every week for wellness without the weirdness. And one of my objectives [00:01:00] since I started this podcast back in 2019 was to clear up. Confusion when it comes to health, nutrition, and truly wellness on every level and every aspect.

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[00:01:45] I. The confusion that it creates for people, right? I hear from women daily asking the question, trying to make sense of what they're experiencing, and whether it's PCOS or fibroid related or perimenopause menopause related, it's confusing. [00:02:00] And so today's guest says, hormones are your check engine light, and I cannot wait to dig deeper with her.

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[00:02:26] Her mission is not only to empower women to understand and treat the root causes of their health issues naturally. Also to guide them in breaking away from the pursuit of perfection. In doing so, it was early on in her career when she realized the potentially damaging consequences of the pill for every ill approach traditional medicine often takes.

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[00:03:02] Everything looks normal while her body was telling her otherwise, she decided to build her own private practice. Through the private nutrition practice coaching and courses, she helped thousands of women and counting heal their gut and hormone symptoms while breaking free from dieting extremes through personalized and sustainable programs.

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[00:03:35] Jillian Greaves: Wow. That was. An amazing introduction. Thank you so much.

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[00:03:43] Jenn Trepeck: Yes. I'm so excited. Thank you for being here. Last time we spoke you were 39 weeks pregnant. I was. I was. So I have to ask, how are you? How's your family? I.

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[00:04:00] So cute. And we, yeah, we are doing well. And um, yeah, feeling good. Nine months postpartum. Amazing.

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[00:04:20] I said it before, I'm gonna say it again. A new membership is coming and like next week. So price is going up. If you are a member before that happens, you are grandfathered into the old price. So I'm just saying I'm really excited for the updates and you might wanna jump in. So members, here's what you're getting this week.

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[00:05:03] So you know, if you want this recipe or to get in before the price increase. Be sure you are a member. You're gonna go to Glow fm slash salad with a side of fries. For the last chance. It is currently $10 a month for that. You get weekly recipes, a monthly article or tool, extra discounts from me and our partners, plus access to live q and a sessions.

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[00:05:48] Once you're there, you're gonna click support now. Then enter your email and payment info, click subscribe and you're all set. You're gonna get this week's recipe for the watermelon peach salad and lock in [00:06:00] that $10 cost. Okay, Jillian. So from introducing you, we know that you had your own. Health challenges where, you know, doctors either said, here, take birth control, or everything looks fine.

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[00:06:25] Jillian Greaves: Great question and in my own health journey, which spanned over truly many, many years and you know, involved a lot of unlearning and, you know, reconnecting with my body at the end of the day, I think.

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[00:07:04] I was studying to get my master's in nutrition. I was, you know, going on to get my training as a dietician. And still at that time, you know, when I thought I had it all figured out and all the, the knowledge and information, I was struggling. I was dealing with a lot of digestive symptoms, eczema, anxiety, hair thinning, you know, bloating, all the things.

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[00:07:48] Go on the birth control for, you know, the painful, heavy periods. You know, I really learned that I had to advocate for myself, which is something I always encourage, you know, women in our, our practice to do. [00:08:00] And yeah, I think those are some of the biggest takeaways for my journey. And it's really hard to kind of, I think, struggle with symptoms and to be told to, you know, just take something to suppress it.

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[00:08:29] So I think ultimately, you know, remembering that experiencing symptoms isn't your body rebelling against you, it's your, it's your body having your back and ultimately trying to communicate with you that it needs more support.

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[00:08:48] And when you talk about sort of losing that connection, I feel like, and I've said this many times before, I feel like it comes from all of the [00:09:00] years and the things that we've been told to do, right? Like in my space, it's. Eat less. Move more. Right. And then we sort of act like, you know, the toddler who's like, I can't hear you when our body is saying it's hungry.

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[00:09:27] Jillian Greaves: Yeah. In terms of the connection in general with our, our body? Yeah. I think understanding what it's telling us.

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[00:09:56] But at the end of the day, those are the exact reasons that [00:10:00] women often end up coming to work with us because, you know, the body can only, you know, kind of operate on limited resources and under that type of stress for so long. So I think it's a lot. And then we add birth control to the mix. Exactly. Yeah.

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[00:10:38] Right. So I think a lot of that contributes to just this disconnect from our, our body. I also think with, you know, social media and the online health space, there's a lot of, you know, great things that have come from that. But I also think it's led women even farther away from their bodies in terms of, you know, feeling like we need to rely on some.

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[00:11:19] So I agree with you. I think it's a combination of all of those things that have sort of led to where women are often now in terms of when they. Work with people like us. So, right.

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[00:11:44] I think of check engine light as you know, the alert system of something else going on. And in this space of. The symptoms versus the cause. So many of us, I think, have come to [00:12:00] learn or been told that you have these symptoms. The hormones are the cause. You are saying, if I'm understanding this correctly, that hormones are your check engine light.

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[00:12:14] Jillian Greaves: Hormones are rarely ever the problem themself. Ultimately, hormones are responding to other things in the body. To give you an example, if you know, we'll often have women come to us and mention that. You know, I think I have, you know, estrogen dominance, or I think I have, you know, have low progesterone or you know, this hormone is out of whack, or my thyroid is, you know, sluggish.

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[00:13:02] So we need to kind look at the. Deeper dynamics at play that may be impacting our hormone production or our hormone clearance. When I think about things from a thyroid perspective too, you know, oftentimes women will experience sluggishness with their thyroid. That will, you know, eventually progress. To possibly needing thyroid hormone, right?

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[00:13:46] Is it related to imbalanced blood sugar, disrupted circadian rhythms, nutrient deficiencies, low mineral status, ultra low carb diets, intermittent fasting? There's reasons why, [00:14:00] right? So I think in, I'll share too that on my own personal health journey, when I first kind of dove into the. You know, functional medicine world and the holistic health space, it was like, oh, you know, my, I have high estrogen, right?

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[00:14:31] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. I love this. Idea, because I always say the body is doing exactly what it's supposed to do. It's compensating. Right, right, right. So the question is, why does the body think we don't need this progesterone or why does it, you know, or whatever it is. So the other side of all these conversations is I often say like, working with your body instead of always trying to fight against it, and we hear it all the time, work with your [00:15:00] hormones.

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[00:15:23] So how do you do that when

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[00:15:48] From actually focusing on the needle movers. But to your point, if you are kind of in this phase of life where hormones are shifting, your cycle may be more irregular. It might look a little bit different each month. [00:16:00] This can feel really confusing and frustrating and you know, ultimately my recommendation if you are, you know, kind of in this phase of life would be first and foremost, track your cycle.

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[00:16:30] I will also say I am a, an advocate for testing and not. Guessing. So from a hormonal perspective, I think in particular, it's really important to actually assess our hormones and, you know, get a sense of what they're doing and to test our hormones at the right time. I emphasize that because, yeah, I was just gonna say that

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[00:16:52] So many times I see people get blood work or their doctor will say, okay, we're gonna do blood work. But there's never a question of where in their cycle they are, when we're gonna do that [00:17:00] blood work. So will you clear that up? When do we wanna do it or do we need to do it at a couple points?

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[00:17:05] And you know, it, it definitely depends on, you know, your age. Your symptoms, your goals, kind of what you're experiencing. But ultimately, if we are, I would say a great starting point, particularly for anyone that is in that perimenopausal, you know, kind of period of life would be to aim to test during that mid luteal phase.

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[00:17:47] You know, the reference range says I'm, you know, postmenopausal and you know, this is maybe a 30-year-old woman. And I'm like, well, you tested on, you know, day four of your cycle and. That's kind of, you know, kind of what we would expect for these, you know, ranges [00:18:00] in this time in your cycle. So I'd say starting off with that mid luteal assessment can be really valuable with shifts into perimenopause.

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[00:18:33] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. And I wanna keep going down this road and again, like keep peeling back the layers into tools and daily habits and things that we do wanna do that will move the needle compared to some of the things that make us think like we're doing something. So let's do that after I highlight our partner for this episode.

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[00:20:36] Standard text and data rates may apply. Okay, Jillian, tell us where we start in terms of either, like you mentioned, intermittent fasting before, of things that make us feel like we're doing something that are maybe wreaking havoc. Versus the things that really move the

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[00:20:56] And you know, I think ultimately where to start will, will definitely [00:21:00] depend on where someone is at currently, right? But in my mind, when it comes to hormonal health, starting with the foundations first and foremost, it's a don't pass go situation. So when I say foundations, I'm thinking about, you know, first and foremost.

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[00:21:36] So, you know, sleep itself in terms of our sleep schedule. Also circadian rhythm habits in terms of our, you know, light regulation, light dark exposure. And then I also think about, you know, our movement routine, nervous system support being a huge one, especially as we're, you know, entering, um, perimenopause.

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[00:22:14] So those are some of the big foundations, um, that I consider again, sort of a don't pass go situation. They're not the sexiest or the most exciting things to to talk about always. Right. And I think sometimes it's, you know, we get that shiny object syndrome where it's like, Ooh, that sounds, you know, like it could be really helpful or trendy or this or that.

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[00:22:44] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. So we talk all the time. Everything we talk about is nutrition choices for blood sugar balance. Movement plays a big piece of our conversations.

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[00:23:15] Jillian Greaves: system.

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[00:23:43] I think first and foremost, we wanna make sure that, you know, the body's well-nourished in terms of any type of, you know, movement that we're engaging in. But if we do see, you know, overall depleted hormones, low hormone production in a general sense, we might recommend focusing more so on. You know, [00:24:00] lower impact, strength focused movement, you know, lots of walking or kind of, you know, metabolic movement and, you know, movement essentially that can, you know, support benefits to blood sugar and insulin sensitivity.

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[00:24:36] So it's not, exercise is always healthy, it's exercise is healthy and beneficial in the appropriate context. So yeah, we often will recommend in those depleted cases to kind of peel back and adjust the types of movement focusing on walking lower impact strength, which can honestly often feel really uncomfortable for women if, you know, they're in that mindset of like, I gotta work out harder in order for there to be a benefit.

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[00:25:17] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. And then even this conversation of the types of movement and creating somewhat of, you know, nervous system dysregulation, you know, with our movement or other things.

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[00:25:39] Jillian Greaves: Yeah, so you know, when it comes to supporting the nervous system, I often recommend starting with our bookends.

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[00:26:07] So I think that's a great place to start. I also think exploring maybe like a midday outlet or strategy for supporting the nervous system can, you know, be really powerful based on the fact that just a lot of us are often operating in kind of a state of chronic fight or flight, um, or we're in, you know, sort of sympathetic overdrive.

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[00:26:45] Nervous system tools. The tools that you choose to utilize have to feel genuine for you. So do we have, you know, amazing data on the benefits of, you know, meditation and breath work? Yes, absolutely. If it feels amazing for you, I'm there to [00:27:00] support you in implementing those things. But if it doesn't feel good for you, then we gotta find something else, right?

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[00:27:30] And I think anything that can help us to sort of slow down and to like reconnect with our body can be really powerful. So I think those are some big ones that come to mind for me. You know, it could also be just like a pleasurable activity. Maybe it's like a walkout in nature where we're, you know, paying attention to what's around us.

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[00:28:02] Jenn Trepeck: And in all of this, there's sort of what everyone's hearing. Today, which what I'm hearing is like stop stepping over a hundred dollars bills to pick up pennies, which is the way I sort of talk about, you know, looking for the shiny object instead of relentless consistency in some of the basic things that seem silly and yet people hear about.

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[00:28:44] Jillian Greaves: I. Oh my gosh, where do I start? Right. There's a, a laundry list. But I, I do think for women in particular, I think some of the trends you mentioned, so a lot of prolonged fasting, which I think women have in interpreted and people in general have interpreted as skipping [00:29:00] breakfast and delaying breakfast, right?

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[00:29:24] When it comes to cold exposure, cold plunges, same thing. It's, it's a stressor. And in the right context it can be, you know, helpful and supportive and possibly, you know, improve our resilience and metabolic markers. But we have to think about our own unique context. So. I think those would be some big ones that come to mind for me.

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[00:30:06] But then we're also not eating breakfast and you know, we're eating 50% of the amount of protein that we ideally, you know, wanna include in a day. So I think we get overly fixated on, you know, these types of approaches and they just miss the mark. Something else I have to point out that I just think is so powerful is that, you know, we get really focused on the elimination diet, the fasting, you know, the trendy supplements and.

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[00:30:53] But we're also, you know, scrolling in bed on our phone all night, right? And exposed to a lot of artificial [00:31:00] light and blue light and something that we know has a significant impact on our metabolic health and, you know, our insulin sensitivity. So. I think it's really about going back to those foundations and not overlooking what's right in front of us.

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[00:31:18] Jenn Trepeck: So what's coming to my mind in this moment is, you know, we're doing all the things we're gonna fix. The foundational elements, you know, that we talked about, right? Blood sugar balance, circadian rhythm, nervous system support, contextually appropriate movement, right?

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[00:32:06] As we're getting to like that next

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[00:32:25] Absolutely, yes. There are lots of potential benefits, particularly for women, you know, going through perimenopause, going through menopause, where HRT can be a really powerful tool. But I wanna emphasize that I'm using the word tool right. So I think oftentimes we'll see that there's, you know, the pursuit of utilizing HRT with the thought that it's gonna eliminate all these symptoms we're experiencing.

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[00:33:14] But I think we can't have the expectation that it's gonna be the magic bullet. I also think too, there's. Lots of cases where we will work with individuals that have, you know, low levels of certain hormones and there's kind of the knee-jerk reaction to want to, you know, immediately replace. But oftentimes, and again, it depends on the case, we do have a lot of opportunity to potentially help the body self-regulate.

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[00:33:51] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah, it's important. I love, right, the idea of using it as a tool.

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[00:34:15] Absolutely.

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[00:34:17] Jenn Trepeck: not agree more. I. Okay. Cool. Final thoughts? Something to wrap this up. Did we miss anything that you feel

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[00:34:33] Exactly, yeah. Hormones in general, but definitely I feel like perimenopause is getting more attention, which is exciting because I feel like it's a time period that women are just, you know, drastically under supported. But I think it also just brings out a lot of, again, like mis misinformation, you know, in the online health space.

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[00:35:13] And yeah, so I think just wanted to highlight that.

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[00:35:33] Again, not that anything's really naughty, but you know, balance.

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[00:35:55] But I think that was the the best thing I did for my health this week. The worst thing I did for my [00:36:00] health this week was stay up on Sunday watching the NBA finals. My husband's a big basketball fan and. So stayed up late and I definitely regretted it on on Monday morning. I get

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[00:36:20] All right. If you weren't a functional medicine dietician and women's health specialist, what would you do? Oh, great question.

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[00:36:33] Jenn Trepeck: Favorite book on any topic other than your area of expertise? Or you could give us a fiction

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[00:36:42] I got really into pleasure reading this last year with like contact naps and, you know, all of that. So I've been big into fantasy series actually, and I would say Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Moss, probably my all time favorite fantasy series.

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[00:37:06] Jillian Greaves: Oh. That's a tough one. 'cause I want, I want to heal everything and, and everyone I think would have to be cancer for sure. If you were a superhero, what would be your superpower? Oof teleporting. Me too. What's your biggest pet peeve? Oof. My biggest pet peeve. This is a, a tough one for me. I don't know. I'm blanking on this.

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[00:37:48] Jenn Trepeck: I get

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[00:37:49] Jenn Trepeck: Alright, last one. In your opinion, what's the next frontier in wellness?

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[00:38:14] Jenn Trepeck: Yes,

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[00:38:16] Jenn Trepeck: Well, Jillian Greaves, thank you so much for being here. Tell everybody how to connect with you, where to learn more, find your podcast, all the things.

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[00:38:35] You can also find me over on Instagram. My handle is just Jillian Greaves Rd and you'll find me posting all sorts of things about food, nutrition, women's health over there.

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[00:39:00] Love that. So thank you. All right, friends. On Friday in this week's bite-sized bonus episode, nutrition Nugget, it's all about IQ mix. So this is an electrolyte mix from the same company as IQ bars, which we looked at in a nutrition nugget not too long ago. Then Jennifer s wrote in through our website asking for us to look at the IQ mix.

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[00:39:40] Connect with me on Instagram or all social media. I'm at Gen Tpic, J-E-N-N-T-R-E-P-E-C-K. Website is a salad with a side of fries.com. Pick your platform, send a message. I truly love hearing from you, your ideas, your questions, your takeaways. This is also the easiest way to learn more about working with me as your health coach [00:40:00] Jillian Grieves.

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[00:40:02] Jillian Greaves: Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. This was just an awesome conversation. I feel like I could chat with you for forever. I, we really could.

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[00:40:21] This shows your support for this podcast, this community, and your health. You'll get this week's recipe for the Watermelon Peach Salad, and I'm in a. Say it again. Join the membership now. You'll be grandfathered in at that $10 monthly price. It is going up. Alright friends. Until next week. Remember, as you're considering your next step, take a look at your Check Engine light.

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[00:40:59] Share us with a [00:41:00] friend and we'll be back next week. Always remember you deserve it and you are worth it. Happy, healthy.