Hormone Imbalance and Tips for Improved Overall Health with Candace Burch [Episode #605]

I am so excited to have my very special guest, Candace Burch, who is a hormone health educator, women’s health advocate, and the founder of Your Hormone Balance. Listen in as Candace discusses the impact stress brings on your hormones, lifestyle habits do’s and don’ts, and how to rebalance your hormones for optimum health and wellness.

[BULLETS]

• The impact of stress on our hormones…
• Working out and the effects on your hormones…
• Signs of not ovulating…
• Can we rebalance our hormones from lifestyle alone or do we need pharmaceutical aids?…
• Your lifestyle and how your hormones could be affected…
• Men, steroids and rebalancing your hormones…
• Candace shares her take on melatonin for sleep…

[FEATURED GUESTS]

About Candace Burch 

Candace Burch is an internationally recognized Hormone Health Educator and media personality with over 25 years of experience in the field. Through her at-home testing and consulting practice, Your Hormone Balance, she helps people of all ages detect, and naturally correct hormone imbalances. Candace continues to raise awareness about hormone health and disease prevention through her work as a writer, speaker and podcaster.

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Candace Burch’s Interview

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Transcript:

Note: The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate. This is due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.

Kimberly: Hi Beauties. And welcome back to our Monday interview podcast. We have a very special guest for you today. Her name is Candice Birch. She is a hormone health educator. She’s 25 years of experience in evaluating and assessing people’s hormones. She’s a women’s health advocate and the founder of your hormone balance. I loved our conversation today. Our interview and Candice is a wealth of so much information hormone-related and as we all know, hormones profoundly impact our lives day in and day out. So there’s some really fantastic information in our interview today that can really help your life.

Fan of the Week

Kimberly: And I cannot wait to get into it, but before we do, I want to give a quick shout out to our fan of the week. Her name is AllieBabe28, and she writes so glad I found this podcast. The best way to describe your show is a breath of fresh air. I enjoy listening to it when I go on long hikes or drives for business. Thank you for sharing all of your wellness tips and answering life questions so beautifully. Well, AllieBabe28. Thank you so much. My love for being part of our community for your wonderful review for just being connected to us all, it means the world. And I really take that into my heart.

Leave a Review on iTunes

Kimberly: So thank you again so much and Beauties for your chance to be shouted out as our fan of the week. Please just take a moment or two out of your day, leave us a review on iTunes. Now, if you screenshot your review and send it to us@reviewsatmyselena.com, we will also send you our seven self-love affirmation mini course, which is a wonderful way to start reappropriate. We programming your brain and your belief systems. This is the form of affirmations that really resonates with me. It’s inspired by my group, Paramatta yoga Nanda. So it’s incorporates ancient yoga science. It’s very powerful. You will get it for free. Again, just email us@reviewsatmysoluna.com with your screenshot. And while you’re over there, please be sure to subscribe to our show and that way you don’t miss out on any of these interview podcasts, which air on Mondays or our Thursday, Q&A community show. Okay? All that being said, let’s get into our amazing interview today with Candace.

Interview with Candace Burch

Kimberly: Hi Candice. Thank you so much for joining us here today.

Candace: Well, thank you for having me join you Kimberly. I’m excited to talk to you. Talk hormones, talk hormones.

In simple words, what hormones really are

Kimberly: You know, when I got your bio, I thought, oh my gosh, we get so many questions about hormones. And it’s one of those things that, you know, those phrases words, get, it gets tossed around a lot hormones. We blame our moods on hormones, but let’s just start Candace. First of all, I’m interested in why you are interested in hormones, but very first thing I just would love for you to explain in a very simplistic way, as simple as possible, what really our hormones, because it’s not as tangible. When we think about our bones or we think about muscles, it’s a little bit more esoteric.

Candace: That’s true. And as Candace, what are all these hormones we’re always talking about? I know it is. It is something that I don’t think women still understand completely because it’s chemistry, you know, it’s biochemistry. So hormones, the word hormone actually means to put a force in motion, it’s derived from the Latin. So it is a chemical messenger that actually, if you think about hormones as these little messengers, that jump into, uh, the target tissues into the cells of the body and they hit on a receptor site, sometimes the analogy is the key and the lock. The hormone is the key and it opens the door to a cell, which is the receptor site. And every cell has receptor sites for specific hormones. And that hormone, let’s say, you’re working out and you’re increasing your lean muscle mass. There’s a message that’s sent to your brain that says, Hey, she’s working out.

Candace: We need a little more testosterone here to support the, you know, the lean muscle. And so then the hormone will be released, become Unbound from its carrier protein. Cause most hormones are carried in the bloodstream. There’s only like two to 3%. That’s actually active at the, in the target tissues at the cellular level. So when you’re doing things, you know, if you’re having a stressful incident, if you’re working out, if, when you’re, when you’re having sex, whatever it is, these hormones are signaled and they’re triggered. And then they travel through the bloodstream to a receptor site and they make an action happen. They put a force in motion. So they’re basically chemicals, but you know, I always say hormones really rule. They, they really do govern our, our emotional, physical and mental lives. I mean, we can’t live without them. We can’t, we can’t function.

Kimberly: Oh, Kansas. I love the language when you’re like they rule. And you said it in such a calm way. And before you were like working out, having sex, it effects everything. Wait,

Candace: That’s the same thing. Actually having sex is like a workout. Isn’t it? That’s right. That’s the same thing,

Kimberly: Candice. I never thought about it. So, Granularly, but you know, chemical messengers going through the blood. So we’re not able to actually see the hormones. Are they just microscopic?

Candace: Yes. And it’s like water in a trough. They’re always moving through the bloodstream, but they have to be triggered. There’s this whole hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis. There’s a hypothalamus pituitary, ovarian axis, you know, all these different feedback loops that trigger our hormones as, and when needed. And they’re always needed. They’re always in action. So how long

How long hormones are active for

Kimberly: Does, um, like a drop or I’m not sure the actual measurement unit, how long does it actually last, you know, there’s a life lifespan to our blood cells, to our skin cells. How long are hormones actually active for?

Candace: Uh, wow. That’s a really good question. I mean, they’re, they’re active for the time duration that they’re needed. You know, if you’re, they usually are supercharged and hi, let’s like, as I was using the example of, of strength training, let’s say, you know, during that time you’re going to be having a higher input, a higher, um, release of testosterone and DHA, let’s say the anabolic hormones that support bone and muscle building, uh, for the amount of time that you’re working out and then they’ll subside, you know, or they’re at higher levels during different parts of your menstrual cycle. You know, when you’re in the follicular stage of your menstrual cycle, estrogen is, is higher and it’s lasting for days it’s higher for days. So, you know, it depends on, on what, what aspect of, of need we’re talking about here.

Cortisol levels and cortisol awakening response

Kimberly: So they’re constantly fluctuating going up and down like the, um, you know, the natural circadian rhythms of nature in our body. I think I, uh, who was telling it, it could have been someone else on this podcast, Candice was saying, cortisol levels are meant to be higher when you wake up in the morning or, you know, just different times of day, certain hormones to peak.

Candace: eah. When we test hormone levels, um, we, we send it to home collection kit and there are four tubes in the kit because adrenal hormones need to be tested morning, noon, evening, and bedtime to measure the full, uh, the cortisol that is regulating the adrenal response or the adrenals are producing cortisol to regulate many things, but that there’s something called the cortisol awakening response. And that is that you should wake up in the morning with the highest level of cortisol, right. You know, get up and go ready to bounding out of bed, ready for your day. And then the levels should gradually, gradually drop off throughout the day to the lowest point in the evening. And at night is the lowest point early in the am. When, um, you know, you need cortisol should calm down along with you, calming down and getting ready for sleep.

Candace: But I often see and cortisol patterns, uh, low levels in the morning, they should be high. And that’s the person that’s telling me. And I always say to them, so are you waking up feeling rested in the morning? No, really hard to get out of bed. That’s, you know, people that have low cortisol and yet sometimes they’re the tired, but wired variety where now their cortisol is high in the evening and at bedtime and they can’t sleep, they can’t calm down and they can’t sleep. And there are different reasons for that in different ways to counteract that. But yeah, you’re absolutely right that that’s, you know, there’s a rhythm to all of these things and the adrenal cortisol diurnal curve is really more, it’s actually mapped in a, in a test result. You actually have occurred that you can see in an image and you can follow.

The impact for instance of stress on our hormones

Kimberly: So Candice, I have an interesting question for you when you talked about hormones being the route, what’d you say they rule as a king and queen they’re the king and queen, and they’re sending all the message messages out from my lineage part of my lineage, Candice, I come from the [inaudible] side, the yoga background where the great yoga gurus always talk primarily about our nervous system, our nervous systems taking in sensory messages and processing them. And of course it, you know, our nervous system regulates stress and it regulates our ability to stay calm. So can you relate for me the relationship between our nervous system in the yoga philosophy with hormones?

Candace: Hmm. You’re asking some tough questions here. Your,

Kimberly: Your nervous system is, you know, central nervous system, peripheral nervous system. So it’s really the way that we take it. So I guess the, um, you know, a, a simple, more simplistic question is the impact for instance of stress on our hormones. You know, we’re seeing so much out here that’s really jarring us, um, you know, bright

Candace: Triggering. Oh, I see. Okay. You know,

Kimberly: Everything out here on our nervous system is, is really our connection between the inner state and the external world. So if you think about it that way, Ken is, it’s probably easier way for you to answer that question.

Candace: Well, I was thinking about the yoga and the, and the nervous. Yeah. But I think maybe the best example to use in trying to answer that question in a, in an informed way would be to look at cortisol levels because yes, when you, when you think about actually this gets into that whole conversation about stress, when people talk about being stressed out, you would imagine that they’re nervous, they’re anxious, they’re wired. Um, you know, they’re, they’re in a hyper vigilant state or they’re hyper awake or hyper aware. And that block, you know, would imply that your nervous system is on high alert sort of thing. And that actually can be what’s happening when stimulus is coming in all the time in a chronic sense that may be overload, um, that you know, that because the nervous system is interacting with these horns, you know, the glandular system and these hormones are part of the glandular system.

Candace: And there, this whole feedback loop is, you know, signaling. So if there’s a stress response, let’s say you have to do some public speaking, which is, I think one of the most anxiety provoking requirements people ever have to deal with. So your stress levels go up and you will feel, you know, let’s take it from that point. Your stress levels are going up because you’re getting into a hypervigilant, hyper prepared state. And now you’re feeling nervous and wired and anxious because in your cortisol levels are assisting you in that because they’re rising and there’s, and they may be high at, you know, and they may stay high. You know, that curve, I talked about where levels should be highest in the morning and then drop gradually when people are always in a high state of alert or nervous and dealing with, you know, too much on their plate, in a chronic sort of way, whether it’s good stress or bad stress, you know, stress can be, we shouldn’t be quite stressed with being negative.

Candace: Good stress is great career success and babies. Then, you know, having a one-year-old and traveling to Hawaii and writing a book and, you know, being just busy all the time and, and, uh, birthdays, Christmas, that’s all it’s stress. Nevertheless, whether it’s good or bad, it is still evoking, a nervous system response and a follow-up with the cortisol levels, trying to manage the incoming stimuli, whether it’s all in your head, if you’re living from the neck up and you’re imagining things and stressing yourself out, you know, monkey mind, or if you’re actually dealing with the stressor. And I don’t mean like, if it’s, if you’re running from a forest fire, then we’re talking about adrenaline and we’re on, you know, high’s central nervous system and heart rate is, is working and the heart rates going up and all of that is happening. We’re sweating. And, and, and we’re having an acute reaction, but when we’re just dealing with stress on an everyday level, it’s cortisol levels that we hope are in balance, so that we don’t get into a state of, you know, nervousness or anxiety or tension. And that that’s, you know, that we’re just hanging onto our attention for dear life. And that’s how we get through life.

Kimberly: Well, you know, I think that life is always going to throw things our way. Obviously we live in this world where,

Candace: You know, it’s, there’s more stressors. Yeah. An abundance of stress and

Hormones and just how delicate they really are

Kimberly: Instead of stress, Candice, but, you know, I think about, you know, people always compare our world today to the cave men or times of earlier, um, you know, ancient times when there was different kinds of stress, there was animals and a lot more, you know, physical things that we couldn’t necessarily contend with. Although today we still have different physical things. But anyways, the point is, there’s always, you know, our bodies are designed for a certain level of stress and we hear this a lot chronic, um, long-term and it creates a lot of imbalance. So I guess my question for you, Candice, is how delicate really are hormones. How much does it take to get them off track and how easy is it to get them back on track? Because, you know, it’s a little bit confusing and we think like, oh, you know, life goes up and down. So does it mean my, my hormones immediately get thrown off if I have a bad week? Or is it longer than that? Do you know what I’m saying? Like how delicate is the whole system?

Candace: Well, you know, there’s something called resilience and we, we, we should with hormones and, um, their response to things should be resilient. If we have a stressful day that shouldn’t throw our entire adrenal system off, off balance, we should be able to cope with that. Our adrenals level should work for us and they should, the idea is that they should meet the demand and, and keep us, keep us going with a certain modicum of energy and calm so that we don’t have a meltdown because someone looked at us wrong or cut us off in traffic, you know, that we should be able to bounce back and not become, uh, you know, get into a state of chronic, uh, adrenal stress, where actually we now have sleep problems. We have allergies, we have weight gain around the waist. We have sugar cravings, we are moody and, you know, have no libido, um, with stress issues.

Candace: It’s when they become chronic. So it’s easy. I mean, I shouldn’t say easy, but you know, if you’re healthy and you’re doing a certain, uh, you know, a fairly reasonable amount of exercise every day and you’re eating well, and you’re practicing things like yoga, you’re balancing your exercise program with, with things that are less high impact because people who overtrain and are always doing high intensity. Yeah. Their nervous system is on hyper alert and they are in a state of constant demand upon the adrenals to be producing constant levels of cortisol. And after, while the adrenals don’t exactly keep up. If this is a chronic thing, and I’ve talked to many women who are desperate to lose that belly fat, and they’re working out every single day, six days a week, they’re doing spinning, they’re running. They’re, they’re doing high intensity all the time, and they’re not balancing it with, you know, low intensity, um, as in the yoga or the deep breathing or Pilates or swimming, you know, they’re just always working out. And in fact, in that sense, the body tends to hang onto the very fat you’re trying to lose because it’s a survival response. It’s like, this is a major stressor day after day after day or people who recently, oh, sorry.

Working out and the effects on your hormones

Kimberly:  Are you saying that working out in and of itself can throw off your hormones or working out in a high intensity way if the rest of your lifestyle is also high stress?

Candace: Yeah. That’s a good point, I think, but, but I, I do see often in test results, people who, who work out constantly or too much, let’s say they overtrain, um, are generally their cortisol stress. Hormone levels are not high. They’re low because what has happened is over time, they probably, they were, you know, the adrenals will work their little hearts out for you. They’re like little bellows sitting on top of the kidneys and they will come and pump and pump for you. And they should on a normal day, a normal, you know, a normal episode of exercise, they should, you know, meet the demand levels, will rise. And then they’ll fall right back down into the normal pattern once exercise over. But if we’re talking about a constant amount of this and over over-training, then after a while, they can’t meet the demand and people will say to me, wow, I, you know, I work all the time.

Candace: I work out all the time. I have kids, I’ve got a job I’m so busy. I thought my cortisol levels would be through the roof. And I’m shocked that they’re low. And, and that’s really a good example of if, if you’re managing, if other parts of your life are balanced and your exercise is balanced, if you’re not restricting your proteins and your good fats, if you’re not, if you’re getting enough sleep, if you know, if your routines are balanced and you’re handling things pretty well, you’re going to bounce back. You’re going to be fine. You’re not going to be beset by allergies and belly fat. You’re going to be managing. But if you have a chronic over overload, Alyse static load, they call it a heavy stress load that goes on and on and on it accumulates, it tends to accumulate and pile on. And then you start to get into a state of having low energy and not, you know, the adrenals are not, it’s like beating the dead horse, you know, and often people that are overstimulated all the time, maybe drinking too much caffeine, you know, doing, doing things that overstimulate and make the situation worse.

Candace: They’re often people that are on their computer, in their laptop late at night. And we know that that disruption of melatonin from the blue light off of our electronic gizmos actually suppresses, um, you know, suppresses melatonin and causes cortisol to rise relatively speaking, because it’s cortisol and melatonin that, that regulate the sleep wake cycle. So now you’re not sleeping, right?

Cortisol and what a healthy range looks like

Kimberly: So we want to have cortisol higher in the morning. There is a benefit to cortisol to be clear, cause we’ve talked a lot about that hormone, but in excess, it contributes to belly fat. But we do want, when you say some people have high levels, low levels, we want to have a good balance level of cortisol. You

Candace: Want to have a nice high level in the morning. You know, there’s a range, that’s a normal range. Um, it’s uh, but some people are, you know, actually I have to say most people that I have tested and we’re talking well over, you know, a couple of few thousand people, and I’ve seen thousands of test results also in my work as a director of education at a big hormone testing lab. And most of the it’s surprising how few people I find really have chronically high cortisol levels. How many people do have high? Okay. I’m saying fewer people have high levels than have that in my experience. And I think it’s because by the time they get around to testing their hormones, it’s because they are exhausted. It’s because they’re battling, they’re battling belly fat and they can’t get rid of it no matter what they do.

Candace: You know, they’re saying I work out all the time. I eat right. Everything I do, nothing helps I can’t get rid of this. So I think the issue is that by the, I see people and they decide to test their hormones, they do it because they’re seeking relief from issues that have come about over many years of an abundance of stress. And I always ask people what’s been going on with you in your life for the last two years up until now. Because even just looking back over a two year period can be a really good clue to what’s going on. You know, the intensity of the stimuli that the body has to respond to constantly. And you know, when I asked that question, it’s amazing. The answers I’ll get people that were in an accident. Somebody whose husband was killed, it can be acute stress, or it can be, well, my parents are, are sick. I’m taking care of them. I have young children, I have a full-time job, just the everyday everyday stuff. But at the same time, we’re not taking care of ourselves because you know, women are notorious for taking care of everybody, but themselves. And sometimes it just comes down to that.

Kimberly: I think that, you know, when I was asking you about workouts, I think that, you know, here we talk a lot about everything being completely holistic. Everything’s connected. The way we do one thing is how we do everything, which is why we talk a lot about our four cornerstone philosophy, which is food body, emotional wellbeing and spiritual growth. Because I started out Candace, you know, as a nutritionist, really talking about food. And what I was seeing in my clients was people were able to eat well and balance their diet, but they weren’t really well. They weren’t taking care of their mental health. They weren’t connecting inside. They weren’t connecting with their body. And I said, you know, food is part of the pathway, but it’s not the whole way. So for me, candidates, when I look back and I was pounding my body, this is, you know, over 10 years ago. Now when I, before I started, my first book came out 10 years ago. Now I can’t believe it. But,

Candace: You know, thank

Kimberly: You. But that, um, that pounding on the treadmill, right? That like beating myself up that staring at the number of how many calories I was burning. That energy was also in other parts of my life. My perfectionism was up here looking at everything, obsessing about it. So the workouts were indicative of that deeper energy inside of me that was, you know, coming out in this more frantic, pushing everything. So it’s interesting when you, you know, when we talk about that, because I think the way we move our bodies, he says a lot, you know, it means a lot. And if we feel like we have to be pushing all the time, so now since then, Candace, I used to think if I don’t run every day, I’m going to get fat, no over time. A lot of healing, a lot of self work. Now I hike in nature. I walk, um, I’m in a period now where I’m not doing a lot of yoga asanas. My practice is my breath and, um, meditation, but I’m walking and I’m able to maintain my body, but I don’t have that stress. And I don’t have the belly fat. I don’t have the pushing. So I think it’s, you. It’s, it’s like when we look at one of our life, it can give us clues, but it’s often not just that one part, it runs through everything the stress can run through.

Candace: Yeah. And I think, I think one of the, probably the main, the main reasons that women become imbalanced in their hormones, uh, when we see imbalances of hormones, it’s generally, especially in women who are in the shank of their reproductive years, it’s usually because they are not op you know, their oblation is disrupted because you see, you see levels of progesterone that are low that’s the hormone that’s made upon ovulation and is so crucial to, uh, taking a pregnancy to term and is also crucial to balancing estrogen that there are so many things. So, so the question is why when you’re 28 or 32 is your progesterone low, you should be obviating every cycle, you know, but what’s, so that is an immediate segue into what’s going on in your life. You know, what, how much, how much are you, how much pressure are you under? Because extreme stress, overexercise lack of, uh, you know, restricting foods to extremely, um, you know, not getting out in nature enough, not doing the things that relax you and bring you joy will disrupt your ovulation.

Kimberly: No, I mean, you know, if we’re not, if you’re getting your period, Candace, are you all ovulating?

Candace: You can have a period and not ovulate. You know, you can, you can, you can have a cycle. You can have, I think many women have cycles where they have periods and don’t ovulate. How do you then, how do you

Signs of not ovulating

Kimberly: Know if you’re not ovulating? What are some of the signs?

Candace: Well, when the signs of not obviating are really the symptoms that, that we start to have. So if you’re, or you may be not ovulating, one cycle ovulating, the next cycle, there’s something called luteal insufficiency when you have obviated, but you actually didn’t form the Corpus luteum, which is actually the work and that produces progesterone. And so oblation is kind of a two stage rocket. That egg has to be grown by the estrogen. And then it has to pop travel on down the fallopian tube, in search of the friendly sperm. And in the meantime, that ruptured follicle that the egg came out of actually every cycle magically transforms itself into this whole new organ called the Corpus luteum. And it makes progesterone, but that part of the site of the F the phase two, uh, development of the Corpus luteum can go wonky and that we don’t have enough, uh, progesterone production.

Candace: That’s called luteal insufficiency at that stage. And that can be tested. You know, you can get into the weeds and test LH and FSH and different things around ovulation. You can use these trackers, et cetera. But from my point of view, if I’m looking at a test result and I see progesterone, and I see high estrogen, so estrogen dominance, I see adrenal glands that are taxed, or, you know, underperforming. And the symptoms that go with that are the different things we’ve been mentioning, like heavy, painful periods or short periods, or missed periods, irregular periods, PMs, um, tender breasts. Those are all things that have to do with the lack of progesterone. So then you have to go back to, okay, why are we not ovulating and making enough progesterone? It makes sense if you’re in menopause or in your, in your late forties, moving into your fifties.

Progesterone levels and what’s the cause

Candace: And you’re in that perimenopause transition, your, your ovaries are packing their bags. You know, there’s sort of a transition there, and it takes them eight to 10 years to wane before. You’re, they’re literally not making any progesterone at all, but progesterone is such an important hormone. It’s the first one to plummet. And it’s the first question I asked when that’s really low apart from birth control, which we can expect it to be low because birth control is, is, you know, shutting down oblation. But apart from that, if people have low levels, it’s a pretty good, pretty big clue that we’re not ovulating properly. And then it starts to get into these questions. Are you intermittent fasting for 14, 16 hours a day? Are you a VA? Have you been a vegan for so long that, you know, some vegan peop some people who are vegans will tell me I’ve been a vegan for 25 years. I know how to combine proteins properly. And usually their hormones are pretty good, but people who will say, well, I’ve been a vegan and it’s really hard. I just might go to as kind of simple carbs, I eat a lot of carbs. Cause that’s easier. Those are the people that we’ll have we’ll have issues, but it’s, yeah, I would say about

Kimberly: That, Candice, um, because the body does combine proteins over a certain amount of time. It recycles proteins as someone who’s been plant-based for over 13 years and our community is mostly plant-based. I would say that it’s just as easy to be a very unhealthy plant-based person as a very unhealthy omnivore. Right. So I think across the board, it’s about focusing on whole foods, not necessarily demonizing a certain way of eating.

Candace: Yeah, absolutely. I just think that there are nutrients that are, you know, in terms of hormonal health, the building blocks of hormones, actually all hormones are derived from cholesterol and they need, they require good fats and protein to actually form. So it’s just as long as we’re getting those foods and then fiber of course, which is, is so helpful to helping to manage blood sugar, which you know, foods. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, so there’s so many great ways to combine plant foods. And I don’t want to, I got into trouble one time saying something about vegan eating habits, and I was not meaning to put them down at all. I think we all need that this climate change I’m sitting in Oregon with 104 degrees today. I think we all need to get to the plant-based way of life. I think that’s going to be the way of the future that we need to do it. You know, we need to do it properly because there’s no nutrient that should be left out, except the things that aren’t don’t count as nutrients of course, and we know what those are.

Can we rebalance our hormones from lifestyle alone or do we need pharmaceutical aids?

Kimberly: Any diet needs to be, you know, thought through intelligently and done with mindfulness. Um, so thank you for that, Candice. And I love that you’re talking about, you know, happiness and joy, eating a whole, you know, uh, a natural diet. Would you say Candice, because you know, sometimes you get into that science head. So I want to ask you something directly here. Can we change our hormones? Can we rebalance our hormones from lifestyle alone in your opinion, or sometimes if it’s really far gone, do we need pharmaceutical aids?

Candace: I think younger women absolutely can rebalance their hormones naturally, you know, women that are in, in their reproductive years, which is really, you know, the key years where these hormones are really powerful and potent and circulating are really from, you know, your Monarch until your first menstrual period, all the way up until about your mid forties. I do, I do see a lot of women going into perimenopause in their late thirties and usually that there, so their hormones start to shift and fluctuate and they’re getting all these roller symptoms and it’s really tough. And they’re usually the ones that don’t have, you know, don’t have things they’re not coping well with all the signs. They haven’t found the balance. They haven’t found that place where they can put, you know, what you’re talking about together, their, their way of, of eating their way of exercising, their way of enjoying nature.

Candace: I’ll sometimes ask people, make a list of the 10 things you love to do most in all the world. That’s easy to do. It’s when you go back through that list and check off. When is the last time I went camping or went for a weekend by myself or had a massage, or, you know, if it can be a real wake up call, how often I remember meeting a woman who told me she hadn’t smiled in a couple of years because she just wasn’t doing any of the things she loves to do. So, but really in our rebalancing guide, when we test, we send a rebalancing guide and sometimes if someone’s a younger person like yourself, is let’s say someone who’s been on birth control and wants to get off and has just gotten off. I may suggest a natural progesterone, a plant-based progesterone derived from wild yam and just a little, a little Goldilocks dose, uh, especially for people who aren’t sleeping or who’ve been suffering with horrible, heavy, painful periods and PMs.

Candace: That can be a world of good. But if it’s just that you’re overexercising and your not eating properly and your life is toxic. And you know, some people have quit their job after we’ve talked, people have gotten up birth control. Some people have changed their diet, definitely balanced their exercise programs so that it’s not all, you know, pump, pump, pump, pump, pump. Some people have said, I realized that I’m exhausted. I’m being exhausted by this, but I didn’t know what else to do. So there, you know, and there are remedies, there are adapted gyms, herbal adaptogens that support the adrenals that are beautiful. We’ve all heard of Rhodiola. And Jim’s saying, and ashwagandha and their lovely blends of those adaptogenic herbs that help the adrenals adapt to stress, keeping your blood sugar balanced. So that means not going without Neil’s for too long and, and not bingeing on certain foods or caffeine.

Effects on hormones from intermittent fasting with women

Kimberly: Candice, have you seen some pretty detrimental effects on hormones from intermittent fasting with women?

Candace: You know, intermittent fasting is a bit tricky because it is known to, it can help with insulin sensitivity. And that’s important because we certainly need blood sugar and insulin to be balanced in order for the adrenals to do their job properly. Um, and for us to feel balanced. But if you go, what I find is if people have really low cortisol levels and you know, we see it on the chart, their levels are low in the morning. Instead of high, they tell me they can’t get out of bed and they do not feel rested. They have to push through their day. They’re drinking caffeine, they’re skipping meals because they’re rushing all the time. Like the woman I was just talking to this morning, she said, I always felt like I had to rush. I had to rush to work. And then I was late to work.

Candace: And then I stayed too late at work. And then I couldn’t get my kids on time. Those people who have really fractured adrenal levels probably don’t do that well with intermittent fasting, right? As, as an approach to rebalancing, that’s something they can do at a certain point later, but the, that the emphasis has to be on. Let’s make sure we keep these blood sugars balanced so that we’re not, we’re not throwing them off with energy drinks or too much caffeine, or, you know, having sugar cravings. We help people with that so that they can not be at the victim victimized by that. Nope.

Kimberly: Thank you, Candace. You, you brought up a big point, which has had, I feel like a lot of the people and there’s different ways of intermittent fasting, right? Some people eat for a day or they skip a day. Some people eat seven hours a day. I feel like a lot of the people that I meet doing intermittent fasting are having insane levels of caffeine because they’re using coffee to get them through and also to suppress their appetite when they’re not, they’re not in the eating period. So I talked to these people, it’s insane how much coffee they’re having or whatever, you know, caffeine aids. So I’m, I feel concerned about that. It doesn’t feel, um, it doesn’t feel, you know, always so balanced to me when people are doing some of those programs.

Candace: That’s interesting to hear that you’ve that you have heard that because I have to. And a lot of people, it’s almost like an admission and well, I have to get through the day, you know, I have to get through my day and there’s a whole, you know, the whole thing that has started with the Bulletproof coffees, which I suppose it’s better to put a, some, I don’t know what your view is about putting coconut oil in a coffee, but it’s still coffee. It’s still caffeine. Yeah. Is that the best way to get your fats? I’m not sure. Yeah. And I’m, I’m more,

How quickly you can get back on track with ovulation and fertility

Kimberly: I’m an advocate Candice of whole foods. Eat avocados feeds. Yeah. There’s so many questions I have for you. Candace, go, go, let’s go back to the progesterone thing for a moment. If any of our listeners are listening to this and a lot of them are in their reproductive years, we’ve had a lot of questions coming out about, um, fertility. We actually have a whole fertility and pregnancy course coming out in a few months, which I’m really excited about, but, um, let’s say you were working and I love, by the way, I love your approach, Candice, which is really about finding things you love to do, because sometimes we hear like, oh, it’s red Metairie, or, you know, you have to take all these medications. When I think I agree with you. I think it goes back to basics. How are we treating ourselves every day? What’s the energy we’re putting into our, you know, into our work, into our tasks, into our life. Is it for netic and tight and constricted? Or are we feeling that flow? Cause that’s gonna indicate what’s going on on the inside of you. But let’s say with the progesterone thing, if someone is feeling like, oh crap, maybe I am low. Maybe I’m not ovulating. Um, you mentioned some suggestions, making sure we’re having five or doing the things we love, you know, relaxing. How quickly could someone get back on track with ovulation, with fertility and you see it in your work?

Candace: Um, you know, and I should mention there foods, you know, some, some people are really down on eating too many carbs, but my daughters were reminding me, my daughter, Jess, is a health coach. And she was saying, don’t, don’t forget to mention that whole grains and certain, you know, certain whole grains carbohydrates can be full of nutrients and be sweet. There’s so important. You know, we don’t want to restrict foods like that. For instance, a sweet potato is, is, is loaded with B6. B6 is a vitamin and nutrient that helps the Corpus luteum produce progesterone. So there are many, there are foods and there are nutrients that actually help, you know, trigger the production of progesterone that actually help with, um, oblation, uh, help, help women to ovulate. So we, we want to make sure that, you know, we’re getting those things and, and really oblation and project production of progesterone.

Candace: When we’re talking about fertility is essential because progesterone Progest station, it is really the pregnancy hormone and women that are low in progesterone are at risk of, you know, when you’re thinking about planning a family, and if you’re low in progesterone, you are at risk. And I forgot to mention, to answer your question. I would say that most of the people that I have dealt with that I am basically, I’m an educator and I am just sending people. I’m helping them understand their test results and then sending them a rebalancing guide that is full of natural over the counter, you know, herbs and supplements that they can use to rebalance. And the, you know, I talk to women all the time. Usually I’ll talk to women in about three months within three cycles, you asked how quickly and we rebalanced within three cycles. You can hear amazing things like, wow, I feel, I feel so much better.

Candace: My, okay, what was it? The gal told me yesterday for the first time in her life, her period is regular. I will hear, I will hear things like yeah, if 30 in a three-month period. So give it three cycles of consistently. You know, a lot of people will say, I’m really inconsistent. I forget to take this. I usually don’t do that. I don’t eat breakfast. You know, they, people have all kinds of different schedules, but if you can work with people to get them to embrace what, what they think, you know, there’s a, there’s a sense of what’s going to help you. And there are different things that people can embrace and say, I can do that. So I try to give people a lot of different choices about things that they can do. But within three months, another woman told me she, first time she didn’t have to leave work.

Candace: This was pre COVID because your period pains were so bad. Uh, another, I remember a woman who was married to a producer in LA and was talking about how stressful her life was. And then she had Jekyll and Hyde mood swings, gone, hot flashes, gone my own, my own story. When I was 48, I had two kids. I started late. Like many of the millennials are now, but when I was young, I just wanted to travel. And I was a selfish person and I didn’t want, I just wasn’t into having kids. And then at a certain point, I, I think I was around 37. I started feeling what they call broody and Britain. And so I ended up being right around menopause or perimenopause with a three-year-old and a six-year-old. And I was having these mood swings and a hot flash in between like every 20 minutes. I was drinking a ton of caffeine. I’m a journalist. So I was constantly on my computer working, pulling all nighters cause I had kids. So I was pulling all nighters to do meet

Kimberly: That’s exactly how my life

Candace: And my kids were like, mommy, you know, I just wonder, I looked at Ryan and she’s looking at me or eyes. Her big blue eyes are filled with tears because she’s scared of me. And I was, I, you know, I just realized, okay, you’re a health educator, Candace. Now is the time to realize you have a hormonal issue. You need to start focusing on. And within, I would say within the first week of using the progesterone cream, which I needed, and I think women in peri-menopause do tend to need a little bit of hormone, not talking about women in their twenties and thirties, because you should be operating properly. But when we get into that wonky area to perimenopause, that is a transition when the ovaries are waning and the hormones will be unreliable and unpredictable. And that’s when a little bit of hormone can help someone like I was at 48 and it was like night and day.

Candace: So a lot of people, you know, whether it’s that they use a little bit of bio-identical hormone, which is made to be exact and structure and function that the hormones, your own body’s make and is plant-based and you’re using a Goldilocks amount. Or if it’s just that you cut back on your, on your manic exercise program and you stopped drinking so much coffee, people can do these things and sometimes you have the conversation and they’re over on the other end of the phone saying, yeah, yeah, I know, I know. I know. I just needed to hear it from somebody else. I needed to hear it because I know I’ve needed to make these changes. Um, you know

Your lifestyle and how your hormones could be affected

Kimberly: What, Candace, I feel like, you know, and this is something we haven’t talked about yet, but there’s all these hormone disruptors and mimickers in products and household products and shampoo and stuff. And sometimes I feel like, you know, and I don’t know if you’ve had this experience where that’s like, oh, the physical stuff, it’s easy to do that. I can, I can change my shampoo. Oh, look at what’s in my laundry detergent. Like we can go into that Dewar mode and clean up. But then the lifestyle stuff is a little more sticky for people. Isn’t it? When you’re like, oh, you don’t have to look at the way you rush around and look at all the perfectionism and the pressure. So that’s like the stuff we hold closer, but of course the products have an impact too on hormones, don’t they?

Candace:  Yeah. well, I mean, th that’s an important point about, uh, talk about disruption of ovulation, which is where it all begins. When hormone imbalances start, the disruption of ovulation can also be caused by these estrogen mimickers, these, these, um, Xeno estrogens that act, you know, they’re like imposters. Um, and they, they get into the cell, they get into that target tissue and they, it’s sort of like they, they depots the naturally occurring hormone and kind of take over and overstimulate the cell and create all kinds of imbalances. And some people are not as hip to that information as others, some people don’t realize they need to read labels. You know, the biggest offender is the hormone injected meat and dairy products that we have in this country that are loaded. They’re loaded with hormones. You know, you’re, you’re shooting up, you’re shooting up your cattle with estrogen to make them grow fat.

Candace: Faster. Estrogen is a hormone is a growth hormone. It’s a very potent growth hormone. So it grew all of our female organs, right? So if we want to make a cow produce more or put more fat on its bones quick, then that’s going to, and we eat that product that is going to go into our bodies and make us fat faster and disrupt our hormone balance. And it’s also, that’s probably the biggest offender, but microwaving in plastic, heating your foods and you know, the polycarbonate and plastic heat up and become estrogens in the body, imposter estrogens. Um, and there are a lot of people

Kimberly: Don’t forget about the fish. There’s so much microplastic in the ocean now, unfortunately, eating fish is like eating a credit card.

Candace: No, that’s a good way to put it. You know, you were saying, people say, well, I can just get rid of my shampoo and that’s true. But, but other people are very, you know, it’s like, don’t, don’t buy a shampoo that has laureth sulfates in it, or any words you, can’t it. If you look at a product that has words you can’t pronounce, don’t buy it. Shouldn’t have more than five ingredients, but a lot of people are reluctant to give up their, their favorite eyeshadow or their favorite moisturizing cream. You know, there are placental there’s placenta tissue in some anti-aging moisturizer creams. And the cosmetic safety act has not been updated in 80 years. So 1938 was the law. We don’t have the FDA approving anything in our cosmetics or our personal care products. They can go on the market if there’s an adverse event and it’s reported to the company that makes it, they don’t have to report it to the rest of us. So that’s where we have to become diligent about, Hey, there’s lead in lipstick, there’s carbon and eye shadow. These are all hormone, hormone disruptors. And that’s huge.

Kimberly:The, the placenta in skincare products, which by the way, makes me want to throw up. I know, um, that amount going topically has the ability to contribute to hormone disruption.

Candace: I see it in test results. I will see for instance, uh, yeah, I will see these levels that are sky high and it’s sort of like what, then we have to have the conversation. What are you using? What are you putting on your skin? What are you, um, you know, are you using an inhaler or, you know, it gets into all kinds of things. Some, some retinol skin prob uh, skin products are causing, um, an uptick and estrogens. I see high estrogen levels in women that are using retinol. So, you know, and there aren’t steady. It’s hard. There’s a lack of evidence. And people will say, well, there aren’t any studies on this. Well, you know, the, the absence of studies is not an absence of reality that these things are actually affecting us. So, you know, it is, it’s all about awareness.

Kimberly: t’s about awareness. And I was going to say, Candice, it’s about attunement for me. You know, when I was a teenager and I had really bad acne, the dermatologist that my mom took me to gave me some Tazzy racks and, you know, retinol stuff. And then as I older, I was like, what is this stuff? And I never felt good about putting it on. So I’m really happy to say ours is so Luna. We have high-performance non-toxic skincare to Candice that’s part of our brand. And we found a retinol, a botanical retinol alternative it’s called [inaudible]. And it does the same thing, increases cell communication and turnover, but it comes from a natural plant. So a little an announcement here, guys, if you want your skin to look good, check out this Solluna Skincare,

Candace: Your skin looks beautiful. I can’t believe you had acne. I mean, that, that’s another thing we see really high androgen levels in women with acne and, and, you know, and that, that goes back again to disruption of ovulation, where there’s low progesterone and estrogen may be low. And then androgens can predominate. This is, you know, these hormones are like synchronized swimmers. If, if one is swimming off to the other end of the pool and one’s diving down, there’s another that’s splashing around and taking over the whole act or, you know, th they always compare hormones to a symphony where if one, one instrument is playing out of tune, the whole melody is off. So yeah, it’s easy to get to that place from one simple, simple stimulus, right?

Men, steroids and rebalancing your hormones

Kimberly: Well, Candace, um, man, that’s exciting. I love the news that in three cycles we do these lifestyle shifts. We take a real deep look. It is possible to make shifts. Let’s talk about, um, let’s talk about men for a moment. So testosterone, a lot of men now supplement testosterone, and I’ve heard, you know what, you know, this is a simplistic saying, but what you take, you don’t make. So what if someone starts to take steroids or, you know, the bodybuilders are the people that football, you know, not even, it’s just a test, the athletes, but people take all this stuff and they imbalanced themselves. They take growth, hormone, testosterone, and then a certain point they’re like, I’m really imbalanced. And then they stopped taking the extra hormones. How long does it take for them to their body to figure out that they’re trying to rebalance?

Candace: You know that, oh, that’s a whole big conversation. I, with men, I think men go directly to, if their libido gets lower, if they don’t have the same drive, you know, certain low levels of androgens, testosterone and DHA will cause muscle soreness. You won’t feel as strong in yourself. You don’t have the strength and stamina because they’re anabolic hormones. They build that. They build drive, you know, they’re, they’re the sex drive, the competitive drive they’re even related to cognition. How well you process information, focus, concentrate, and even your enthusiasm for life. You know, your zest for living is really tied up with the androgens. So when man, you know, we think of androgens as something that is unique to the male species because when they’re high, when these levels are high in women, that’s when you start to see, you know, excess facial hair and muscles get really thick and you feel kind of edgy and maybe you’re, you know, they’re, they’re just all acne is a big problem.

Candace: Um, especially around the chin, you know, where the beard area is. So women, you know, women experienced these male symptoms of androgen is hyperandrogenism, but men, when they start to suffer anything that smacks of low testosterone, they’re immediately going for the testosterone supplementation. And what’s really important for men to actually do is measure their hormones and find out what, you know, what their estrogen levels are in relation to their testosterone because estrogen, um, estrogen can actually inhibit testosterone production. There is the more estrogen in the body. Let’s say a guy. I remember testing a guy who was turned out. He was, he was, uh, his wife said he’s a milk, a milk aholic. He drank milk all day. And he was, he wasn’t, he wasn’t cognizant about the, you know, checking for the label that says our cows are happy, cows, no artificial hormones. So he was getting a ton of estrogen in this dairy that he was eating.

Candace: His estrogen was really high. And when estrogen is high, it, it, um, lowers testosterone because there’s an enzyme that actually converts testosterone into estrogen. Men that are using testosterone is a supplement, even pellets. They’ll put a big bolus in of a pellet under the skin or a big amount of cream it, as it happens, testosterone converts into estrogen. Anyway, that’s the process it’s DHA to testosterone, to estrogen. So when men use too much testosterone, if there or even, you know, if they really don’t need it, because the problem was really that their estrogen was too high. Um, then they’re making, they’re doing themselves, no favors. They’re actually may be creating a lack of bioavailable testosterone because it’s being converted into estrogen. And that’s where you see men with the moobs. You know, a man that is really, especially in overweight men, they’re really is a real problem because fat cells have that enzyme aromatase in them that converts testosterone readily into estrogen.

Candace: So don’t, you know, I would say to men, don’t just run and get testosterone shots or pellets or whatever it is without testing your hormones. In fact, no one should use any kind of hormone, whether it’s bio identical or not before testing their levels. And of course the best way to boost your testosterone level is with strength training. Um, people can use a little bit of DHA, which is the precursor of testosterone. That’s one way to begin so that you can jog your body, you know, message it to say, you know, here’s a little DHA to help you produce your own testosterone in the body will preferentially convert to what is needed. There’s always that messaging, you know, that, that inner messaging system that’s tell our bodies know what they need and they will recognize what they need and know how to use it.

How quickly can men bounce back from hormone imbalance?

Kimberly: Any men are listening to this and they think, oh, I’ve gotten off track too. Similarly to what you said with women about the three cycles the three months, do you think men can also bounce back in a few months too? I mean, given the average healthy, resilient body.

Candace: Yeah, absolutely. If they, if they are the average healthy, resilient body, and they’re not, you know, they’re not beating themselves to death and not under, you know, a lot of men are under a lot of stress, um, for different reasons. They may be in high-performing careers and feeling, especially frustrated during COVID. Um, some, some men also overexercise, some men are big on bicycling and that can lower testosterone levels, um, can actually, you know, the, the pressure on that area of the body can be a problem. So yeah, I think with making sure that there is no, you know, there isn’t an excess of estrogens coming in that you’re not overstressed and, uh, you know, overworked and overbooked and over committed and all of that. And, and using some natural vitamins and some supplements, men can use a little bit of progesterone too, because progesterone actually blocks the conversion of testosterone to a more toxic form of testosterone called dihydro testosterone, DHT, which is linked to prostate enlargement and, um, lots of scalp hair, et cetera.

Candace: So it’s important for, you know, for men to do this. Right. And I think it begins with testing, being aware of the symptoms is, you know, of high estrogen would mean, you know, you’re noticing that you’re moody. You’re, you’re a man and you’re feeling like crying at commercials. You want to go shopping with your wife and carry her purse now. I mean, I don’t mean to, but you know, or you might, or you might have, you know, you might notice that you’ve got breast tissue growth in breast tissue around, or you’ve got belly fat or you’re gaining weight in the estrogen dominant pattern, which is hips, thighs bottom. When men start to notice these things, they should be alerted to the fact that they may have a hormone imbalance, of course, in sync with lack of energy, lack of stamina, getting worn out after exercise, having no libido. And, you know, I’ve noticed so many young people now, younger people, what I call you younguns have very low libido. And, and they’re shocked by that. You know, it’s like, I love my partner. I’m still attracted to him, her, but I just am not in the mood. I’d rather delete emails. Or I know,

Kimberly: I hate to say I never experienced that. I don’t know what that would be like. [inaudible]

Candace:  For some people. Yeah. I mean, that’s,

Kimberly: That’s an interesting one. I haven’t, I haven’t heard that one so much Candice, and I think maybe people are embarrassed to talk about

Candace: It. And that’s where people, you know, especially young, I I’ve talked to so many women and men that are they’re engaged. They’re about to get married. They, yeah. Marriage is a good stressor, right. You know, planning for a wedding that the stress can just absolutely knock out their libido. But at the same time, if you have a lot of stress and it’s, you know, it’s piling on your cortisol levels are going up and your testosterone levels are going down, by the way, those two hormones are inversely proportional. So the higher, the cortisol levels, the lower the testosterone levels. So that’s a big connection, um, to, you know, why you may be feeling this way. It’s not, the answer is not to just go and run and get a testosterone shot, but that happens to be the, the big approach for men. It’s pretty much show, you know, just shoot up with testosterone and you’ll be fine. The only problem is when you feel like a million bucks, when you, when it first goes in and that is it dissipates and wears off you, you hit bottom, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

Candace shares her take on melatonin for sleep

Kimberly: You’ve imbalanced your body even more. Right. So Candace, I could pick your brain forever. Um, I have one more question for you talking about this theme of what you take you don’t make. And it has to do with melatonin because a lot of people out there are struggling with insomnia and sleep issues, and I’ve always heard that you should take melatonin only sporadically if you really need it. Um, but then there’s people out there taking it all the time as a sleep aid. What is your take on it?

Candace: Well, if people are taking melatonin, it’s because they’re not sleeping or they can’t get to sleep, they can’t, or they’re waking up in the night. And then again, you’ve got to look at, so what, you know, sleeplessness is not necessarily a melatonin deficiency.

Kimberly: They’re taking it just to like cover up the issue, I guess, or, you know, a bandaid on it. Cause it’s not the root.

Candace: Yeah. It’s not the root of the problem. It’s like, I often say Ambien is not, you know, your insomnia is not because of an ambient deficiency. The thing is to look at that, to look at the causes again of sleeplessness half the time I asked people who can’t sleep or you on your computer or your cell phone at night and half the time they are, they’re playing words with friends in bed, they’re reading on either a laptop or a, you know, an iPad that is very common people that work up into the late hours of night, they are going to deplete their melatonin and then they’re going to need to replace it with the supplement. But again, if they replace it, their body’s not going to make it that’s right there. You know, the more you supplement, well, that’s one of the reasons for not supplementing huge amounts of melatonin because that it, you know, if you use a small amount, one to three milligrams maximum, your body may still be able to make some melatonin, especially if you get up in the morning and expose yourself to early morning light, which is when melatonin starts to build and as darkness comes on, it kicks in.

Candace: Um, especially if you know, your hormones are balanced so that you’re making enough serotonin, one of the neuro hormones that actually breaks down to melatonin. Um, you know, there’s so many things that you have to look at first before you decide that you have to have melatonin. If you’re disrupting and depleting your melatonin levels, why wouldn’t you want to stop those habits and, and just get your own back so that you don’t have to supplement and melatonin after a while stops working. It does concern me that there are very high levels out there on sale, over the counter. There’s five milligram, 10 milligram gummies of melatonin. That’s a hell of a lot of melatonin. So yeah, your body’s not going to need to make it if you’re taking that much. That, so, so the issue is, are you, are you watching television? Are you on your laptop?

Candace: Are you eating sweet things before bed? Are you exercising late at night? Do you, are you on your laptop all day wear blue blockers? You know, there, there are some that simplifies the issue. Yeah. I love that. So there’s so many things that, you know, simple little things for everything from wearing blue blockers to, you know, to, to using your bed only for sleep and sex now, you know, not eating in bed and watching television in bed and, and all of that. Uh, and then, you know, I love how you talk about sex so much. Do I?

Kimberly:  I should, I, I don’t know why I’m just teasing you. I like how you inserted. Um, just Kiva talking.

Candace:  I think it’s, oh, you just used the right word insert. But I,

Kimberly: I, I personally, personally

Candace: In my seventies, it’s not my main, my main, um, exercise anymore.

Kimberly:  Well, Candice it’s, you know, talking to you, what I, what I love is, um, on, you know, the, the author T Colin Campbell who wrote a whole, he’s an amazing doctor. And he talks about, you know, just stick to whole foods to whole plant foods and your body won’t do the math,

Candace: Right? Cause we can get to the complexities

Kimberly:  In nutrition and most people just throw their hands up and say, this is just too complex hormones, very complex, right? We can talk about the balance and this and this and this. And you know, you have all that information, Candice, but under, you know, under neath that like behind everything is the message you’re saying, which is live this life, slow down, relax, do the things live closer to nature. When the lights go down, when the sun sets, you don’t need to be on your computer for hours doing this and then your fingers out. Yeah. The body, the body is so intelligent. The body will start to rebalance all these imbalances. Largely like you said, largely for the vast majority of healthy resilient people. So even though there’s this complexity, there’s the simplicity as well at the heart of it living a natural lifestyle

Candace: And you there’s something called outdoor deprivation. We don’t get enough. W you know, we don’t get outside in nature enough. We don’t get enough sunlight. All of the, you know, vitamin D is actually a hormone. And if we’re deficient in vitamin D that affects other levels of production of hormones as well. There are just, you know, there are, I would say it is, it does mainly boil down to how, how we live our lives, how we, you know, w we’re terribly out of sync, circadian, rhythm wise, you know, we’ve got electric lights and computers, but if we can try to, you know, talking back to the melatonin issue, that’s sleep problems. And they’re huge, huge sleep problems everybody’s got, it seems like everyone is not sleeping well. And I think it’s gotten worse over, you know, as we’ve, as we’ve picked up on all of these, you know, just we’re constantly online.

Candace: So knowing to turn it off, you know, turn, turn it off, just, you know, even at night, turn the cell phone off. It is, it is such a feeling of liberation. When you go on a walk, don’t take the phone with you. A lot of people take it to listen to podcasts. Okay, well, maybe we don’t want to say that because we want them listening to the podcasts, but, but you know, it’s nice to go on a walk and do your exercise and listen to the sound of the birds and the wind and whatever it is, just kind of try to connect with nature and, and just calm, calm down, and slow down as you were saying, and, you know, that’s half, half the battle eat the foods that appeal to you, but not in huge amounts. And, and at the right, you know, at the right times, blood sugar balance is absolutely essential to keep our wits about us and our, and our hormones balanced as well.

Candace: So, you know, it’s, it’s all, it is a balancing act. But I think what you started to say in the beginning was important. The question you asked about shouldn’t we be able to come back, you know, shouldn’t we be able to bounce back and yes, we should. It, it’s not like, oh, you know, your levels are showing, this is low. This is high. This is a permanent situation. It’s not a permanent situation. It is a, it is a, it is a picture of what’s going on now. And often people will say, wow, that’s the story of my life. That’s what’s going on with me now. And I can see that if I use these as an early wake up call to make some changes, if you know, that’s the whole point of, you know, you came here because you had symptoms that were bugging you, that you don’t feel right. You don’t feel like yourself, or you’ve become your symptoms. And you’ve decided that because your mother had this issue and because your sister has it, that you have it too, and it’s going to be forever. No, no, no, no. We just need to be aware of the symptoms and start to take action. Awareness has to turn into action. And there’s an attunement, as you said, I liked that attunement word too. Yeah.

Kimberly: Teen men to self awareness. Talk about spiritual growth here. It’s really about more awareness awaking up. So Candace, thank you so much. I could pick your brain all day. Um, I really enjoyed our conversation, all your information. So share with us a little bit. We’re going to link Beauties in the show notes to Candace’s work and where you can find out more about her. But I know you mentioned you’re testing kids, Candice. So where can we, um, do you want to quickly mention where we can access them and, um, a little discount code you wanted to

Candace: Offer our beans? Why not? So we have on our website, your hormone balance.com. Uh, we have three different packages right now, and there’s a wonderful to use a great test kit that is home collection, right? If it, you know, you collect at the optimal time of the day during, if you’re having cycles, you collect certain days of your cycle. You collect four times throughout the day because we’re measuring that adrenal function. You mailed the kid in, you get the results within five to seven days, we call you and you can set up, um, a consult if you want, or you have three packages. One is just, you get the test results, which explain everything beautifully. And, uh, another one that has, um, a consulting package, and we also have a great Instagram at your hormone balance, lots of information, and the code by the kit. We’d love to give your listeners $50 off any kit and that we can use feel good, 50 great as your code, amazing the symptom quiz on the website, which is a great place to start.

Kimberly: Okay, great. And we will link to all of that in our show notes, beauties. All right. Um, over@mysolluna.com. So you can just click on the info there. Thank you again so much, Candice. Thank

Kimberly: All right. My loves, I hope you enjoyed our show today. As much as I enjoyed conducting the interview, be sure to head over to mysolluna.com for our show notes, more links to Candace’s work and other interviews, recipes, articles, I think you would enjoy. Please also remember to check out our Solluna app, which is free in the app store. All the other offerings we have and also see you on social. My handle is at underscore Kimberly Snyder.

Kimberly: See a Thursday back here for our next Q&A show, but till then, take care, take care of your beautiful, unique self and see you back here soon. So much love.