Megan Rand

Tag: hormone balancing

  • How to Conceive Naturally Book Review

    How to Conceive Naturally Book Review

     

    Although I am currently in my 2nd pregnancy, I consider this my first holistic pregnancy. This time around I am much more in tune with my food choices, sensitivities, gut health, adrenal health, chemicals, pesticides, GMOs, toxins, and things in our environment to be avoided.   Unfortunately, I was unaware of most of these topics when I got pregnant with my first daughter and we paid the price!! We spent 3 years of my daughter’s life investigating gut dysfunction and food sensitivities. We went to numerous doctors and spent tons of money on lab testing.

     

    [image url=”http://gingernewtrition.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/DSC01029-300×225.jpg” raw=”true” alignment=”left” margin_left=”0″ margin_right=”2″ margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”0″ border=”smallBorder” width=”300″ height=”225″] I was fortunate enough to be able to work with Christa Orecchio at The Whole Journey, not only as my nutritionist, but I was also able to complete an internship with her. Both experiences changed the course of my life and my health. So I was so excited to see her philosophy of digging to the root cause of a health issues applied to the topic of fertility, conception, healthy mamas and healthy babies in a very detailed book. What an amazing resource for our future mamas!!!

     

    When Christa asked if I would like an advanced copy of the book to review, I was like a kid in a candy store (I mean an organic honey sweetened chocolate kind of store of course)!! Little did she know I had already pre-ordered a copy on amazon and was counting down the days until it would be released so that I would have time to read it all in before my looming due date in December.

     

    I don’t think I have devoured a book in such a short period of time!! The content-rich How To Conceive Naturally and Have a Healthy Pregnancy After 30 was co-written by Christa Orecchio and Willow Buckley. Willow is a classical homeopath, labor doula and mother of two. The combination or Christa’s clinical experience and Willow’s experience with pregnant mamas provides a unique take on health, fertility and pregnancy. The book is filled with information but is written in a way that is very digestible (pun intended!). Since I am currently in my 3rd trimester, I jumped right to the chapter about Weeks 27-40 and next I took copious notes as I read the ultimate postpartum survival guide. I then went back to the beginning of the book and read it all the way through!!

     

    Although the title of the book says that it is for women over 30, this book is for everyone who is interested in a healthy pregnancy and baby! I am seeing younger and younger clients with fertility problems, autoimmunity and hormonal imbalances. My goal is for women to start thinking about their health and fertility a few YEARS (or at least a few months) before trying to conceive. An extra year of effort now can save you a lot of heartache and time in the future when you have a happy baby who is set up for optimal health not only as a child but also as an adult.

     

    This book is for anyone who:

     

    • Is confused about what to eat for optimal hormonal health
    • Wants to get pregnant, whether it is now or in the next 3-5 years
    • Has had trouble trying to conceive
    • Is currently pregnant and wants to navigate pregnancy is the most natural manner
    • Is wondering how to deal with pregnancy symptoms without drugs & interventions
    • Wants to be a super dad
    • Is wondering how to survive the postpartum period

     

    Although I was most personally interested in the information in a book about pregnancy and the postpartum period, I think that the most powerful information in this book is the 12 Week Preconception Action Plan. This part of the book spells out exactly how navigate the 12 weeks before you start trying to get pregnant. But this book is like no other pregnancy book that I have read before. They cover the kind of topics that I help my clients with, such as loving your liver, balancing your hormones, tracking your thyroid health, taking time for yourself and crowding out junk foods with nutrient dense foods.

     

    Wondering if your body is ready for pregnancy?

     

    Take this test to find out if you are ready to rock or if it is time to focus on yourself and do some health detective work first.!!

     

    Grab your copy now!!! This Fabulous book is released today!

    [image url=”http://gingernewtrition.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/How-to-Conceive-Naturally-300×300.jpg” raw=”true” alignment=”left” margin_left=”0″ margin_right=”0″ margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”0″ width=”600″ height=”600″]

  • Your Brain and Stress; Neurotransmitter Basics

    Your Brain and Stress; Neurotransmitter Basics

     

    Many people are becoming aware of the term adrenal fatigue and are starting to suspect that this might be something they are dealing with. But this term can be misleading, because more often that not, it is not as simple as supporting the adrenals to have your fatigue, inflammation and hormonal imbalances disappear. The adrenals gland themselves are often working just fine, but the communication channels and feedback loops might have become disrupted. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that deliver important and vital messages from the brain and the adrenal gland. These tiny messengers help you respond to stressors and if they become imbalanced, all sorts of symptoms will start to pop up because the correct messages are not being sent. Once I started looking at a neurotransmitter panel in conjunction with an adrenal/hormone panel, I saw a big shift for my clients. The combination of their hormone and neurotransmitter results helps to put the puzzle together as to where the breakdown is in the chain.

    What happens with our neurotransmitters during stress?

    In time of acute stress or when you are in a constant chronic state of low stress (not just mental/emotional stress but also hidden internal stressors such as food sensitivities, bacterial overgrowth or heavy metal toxicity) neurotransmitters can become depleted. Just having a thought or being scared will alert your brain to alter hormone and neurotransmitter production in response. The neurotransmitters are a part of the stress response cascade. Think about how often we are bombarded with negative imagery and high stress situations in our fast-paced lifestyle. By looking at the levels of different neurotransmitters as well as their relationship to each other, such as the ratio between serotonin and dopamine or norepinephrine and epinephrine, we can see how well your body is adapting to stress.

    We have both excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters and some play both roles depending on the situation. Since our body likes to remain in balance, we also function optimally when our excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters are balanced. For example, stimulants such as caffeine push dopamine into the synapse and dopamine acts as an excitatory agent, which improves our focus. You know how you have your coffee and then feel pretty productive for a while? Feeling productive is great except there is a price we pay for that focus. Your body must now send in some inhibitory neurotransmitters to reign in the excitatory neurotransmitters. Serotonin and GABA come to the rescue. This is not necessarily a problem, because this is one of the ways that our amazing body stays balanced, but when we abuse ourselves daily by artificially forcing productivity with excess caffeine consumption, we eventually end up depleted in serotonin and GABA. Among many other functions serotonin is important for a stable mood and GABA is nature’s valium-like substance, you can see where we end up without these precious resources. You always have to ask… is this short-term benefit of being able to focus and have energy worth the long-term risk of an instable mood?

    Here is an example of the neurotransmitter testing results that the Healthy Hormones Group Program will have access to. These are just clues to get an idea of the bigger picture because your neurotransmitter levels will change throughout the day. Testing and then retesting after a period of time after trying a protocol or therapy will help us to understand how your body is reacting.

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    Here is a quick explanation of the neurotransmitters that we will be looking at during the next Healthy Hormones group program:

    Serotonin – This is considered the master neurotransmitter and helps to keep balance between the excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters. Adequate levels is necessary for a stable mood.

    Dopamine – Key player in reward-seeking type of behavior such as pleasure, satisfaction and focus. Dopamine also influences muscle control and gastrointestinal motility. Really low or high dopamine levels is correlated with memory issues.

    Norepinephrine– Important to the fight-or-flight response and also helps to make epinephrine.

    Epinephrine– Also known as adrenaline which we all know well. Epinephrine prepares the body for fight-or-flight by increasing your heart rate, blood pressure and respiratory rate so that you can run away or fight off the danger. This will also elevate your ACTH which raises your cortisol

    GABA– Nature’s valium-like substance which also helps regulate muscle tone.

    Glutamate– Important for memory and learning but can be damaging in excess leading to depression, seizures and damaging nervous tissue. This is often seen high for those with PTSD but you also have to watch that you are not accidentally consuming glutamate from MSG or DSG sources in food.

    Histamine – Helps to control sleep-wake cycle, energy production and memory recall. This reading on your lab is a window into inflammation and the higher the number the more mental fogginess, allergy symptoms and irritability you might be experiencing.

     

    If your neurotransmitters are all trending low in conjunction with low cortisol levels, than this is a sign you are in a chronic state of stress and are now in the tired and “burnt-out” phase.  At this point you will need a good amount of support to return to a healthy level.

    Ready to find out what is going on at a sub-clinical level before symptoms occur? Ready to get to the root of why you can’t seem to kick the anxiety or get your energy back? Come join us for the Healthy Hormones Group Program!!

  • Hormone Helping Coconut Chips

    Hormone Helping Coconut Chips

     

    As Alex of Dig Primal and I have been working on the content for our Healthy Hormones Group Program for the last few months, my favorite part of the process is that I get to learn the tips and tricks that she uses too! We all have different tools that we pick up along the way and I think that it is important to have a really varied toolbox for my clients. Each person that I work with is so uniquely different in their bio-individual and genetic makeup that often a suggestion that works amazingly for one person will leave another feeling sick. A supplement that gives me energy though the roof might cause you to fall asleep at your desk. That is all a part of the puzzle!! I love learning lots of different options, recipes and suggestions so that we can find the perfect combination for each person.

     

    Alex shared this recipe with me for Hormone Helping Coconut Chips and I can’t get enough! I love incorporating coconut flakes into my diet for a lot of reasons. For one, they have an amazing composition of healthy fats, protein, and fiber. Not only does this combination of macronutrients help keep you full longer after meals (which also helps prevent unhealthy snacking you weren’t actually intending), but fueling your body with such balanced caloric intake is great for the hormonal system. Additionally, the fatty acids found in coconut products directly play a role in healthy hormone synthesis so their presence in the diet greatly increases the success of all your other hormone-helping interventions; after all, it makes sense that if you don’t have the building blocks to create hormones, no amount of adjunctive therapies are going to help your cause in the long term.

     

    The spices found in this recipe work through a variety of mechanisms to help the endocrine and adrenal system along. Since glucose metabolism is a huge problem in people with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal dysfunction (which is often simply referred to as “adrenal fatigue” but is actually an incredibly limited way to look at the problem since it encompasses so much more than the adrenals…no wonder people have a hard time treating it on their own!), the cayenne, turmeric, and cinnamon are in here to help with the proper use and balance of sugar in the body.

     

    As an added bonus, cayenne pepper and turmeric are incredibly effective in tempering the inflammatory response in the body due to stress, high glucose levels, and underlying hormonal imbalances (see how they all work off each other??), incorporating these spices into meals regularly can be really helpful.

     

    Ingredients:

     

    • 2 cups coconut flakes
    • ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
    • ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
    • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
    • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 1 tablespoon ghee (replace with coconut oil if you can’t tolerate dairy products)
    • 5 tablespoons raw honey

     

    Steps:

     

    1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
    2. Place your coconut flakes into a medium-sized mixing bowl.
    3. Add in the cayenne pepper, ground turmeric, and ground cinnamon to the coconut flakes and stir well so that all the spices are well distributed (trust me when I say that you do not want a big bite of cayenne pepper down the line).
    4. Place the tablespoon of ghee (or coconut oil) into a small bowl and microwave it until the ghee has melted.
    5. Add the honey and vanilla extract to your melted ghee and mix them all together.
    6. Slowly pour your honey, ghee, and vanilla extract mixture of the spice-dusted coconut flakes. Mix it all together until everything is evenly distributed.
    7. Line a baking sheet with wax paper and evenly spread your coconut flake mixture over the entire area. You don’t want big clumps so take a few moments to spread it all out over the entire baking sheet.
    8. Bake in the oven for 5-7 minutes.
    9. Take out and let cool.
    10. I stored mine in a glass tupperware container.

     

    Want to learn more fun and delicious recipes that can also help support your adrenal glands and balance hormone? The Healthy Hormones Group Program is starting Sept 15th!!!

     

    [image url=”http://gingernewtrition.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Healthy-Hormones-Group-Program-Logo.png” raw=”true” alignment=”center” margin_left=”0″ margin_right=”0″ margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”0″ width=”244″ height=”103″]

     

     

  • Adrenal Fatigue Friendly Gummies

    Adrenal Fatigue Friendly Gummies

     

    There are many things that I do to maintain my adrenal health (or more specifically, my hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal health) on a regular basis. After struggling with adrenal dysfunction for years it is an aspect of my health that I stay consistently committed to. Working for myself and owning my own business is incredibly rewarding but can also be stressful and draining. Taking note of how many stressors are present in my life can help me realize when I need to ramp up my adrenal health support.

     

    I keep many foods on hand to maintain my adrenal health such as bone broth, various hormone-health-promoting teas, and several notable juices. But, as with everything that we do for our health, staying with these practices can take some time and effort, and it can be really easy to start making excuses for why you can’t do them. “It’s too hot in the summer for bone broth or hot tea.” “I have way too much on my plate to think about adding beneficial juices to my water every day.” (Sound familiar? I’ve totally been there!)

     

    In an attempt to simplify life, this recipe–which incorporates a wide spectrum of adrenal fatigue friendly ingredients–was born. Helping out your adrenals (and your hormone health overall) by eating some gummies after dinner? That’s something I can stick to!

     

    The Players

     

    So what makes the gummy ingredients so good for adrenal and hormone health? As it turns out, this crew helps out our endocrine systems from many different angles.

     

    Raspberry leaf tea has long been used for addressing hormonal imbalances (we’re talking centuries!) thanks to its incredibly high mineral content that can aid in appropriate hormone synthesis. Likewise, lavender tea has been used throughout the world for its stress-reducing properties, which therefore also aids in adrenal fatigue. But it wasn’t until recently that several studies came out suggesting that lavender works by helping to decrease cortisol production when it rises at inappropriate times.

     

    Both pomegranate juice and fresh squeezed lime juice are loaded with Vitamin C, which is crucial for sex hormone balancing. Most notably, vitamin C has been researched as an aid in increasing progesterone levels. Progesterone levels usually plummet the most with adrenal dysfunction. Since low sex hormone productions negatively impacts feedback loops to the hypothalamus and the pituitary, and therefore the adrenals, addressing these imbalances is equally important when you’re struggling with adrenal dysfunction.

     

    Additionally, pomegranate juice helps increase glutathione levels in the body, a very important antioxidant, which can help lower inflammation and help support good liver function. While these processes again can seem unrelated to adrenal fatigue, the proper functioning of these bodily functions is integral to attaining and maintaining hormonal balance. In fact, detoxing is so incredibly important to hormone health, that I offer seasonal group detoxes and suggest that anyone trying to balance hormones considers this crucial step first.

     

    As you can see, adrenal fatigue can be incredibly nuanced and requires the interplay of a lot of moving parts to truly overcome and improve. That’s why I strongly recommend that people with adrenal and hormonal problems get guidance from health care providers who can order the appropriate labs and consequently come up with a holistic plan to address all the different aspects of health.

     

    Check out this easy recipe for a simple way to start supporting your hormonal balance.

     

    Adrenal Fatigue Friendly Gummies

     

    Ingredients:

     

    • ½ tablespoon raspberry leaf tea
    • ½ tablespoon lavender tea
    • 1 cup water, boiled
    • ½ cup pomegranate juice, room temperature
    • 1 tablespoon gelatin
    • 1 tablespoon raw honey
    • fresh squeezed juice from 1 small lime

     

    Steps:

     

    1. First, you’re going to be making a tea blend out of your raspberry leaf tea and lavender tea. Start by placing the loose leaf teas into a tea strainer (or cheesecloth, if that’s what you have) and then steeping it in your cup of a hot water for about 5 minutes. (If you just have tea bags, I recommend steeping 2 of each kind of tea in your cup of hot water)
    2. While your raspberry leaf and lavender tea brews, place the tablespoon of gelatin into a small pyrex mixing bowl.
    3. Add the ½ cup of pomegranate juice to your gelatin and stir well until everything is combined.
    4. Once your teas have brewed, add the hot tea into your pomegranate juice and gelatin mixture. Stir well again.
    5. Let everything cool for about 5 minutes. (This is so that the boiling hot water doesn’t degrade the vitamin C in the lime and the enzymes from the raw honey)
    6. Add in the raw honey and lime juice and whisk everything together well one last time.
    7. Pour your almost-done gummies into a 9-by-9 baking pan and refrigerate overnight (or until the gummies have set).
    8. Cut into squares (bonus points for cutting them into cute shapes!) and enjoy.

     

    Note: this recipe isn’t overly sweet so the kiddos in your house may not be very interested. If they are, it’s best for them to stick to a portion every now and again but I wouldn’t let them go overboard.

     

    Ready to balance and support your hormones and adrenals?  Are you interested in group coaching? Alex at Dig Primal and I will be offering a 12 week Healthy Hormone Group Program starting April 2016. You can sign up for notifications here.

     

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  • The Adrenal Cocktail Creamsicle

    The Adrenal Cocktail Creamsicle

     

    Adrenal dysfunction is a very popular topic right now.

    I have recently been working with Hayley at Primal Palate to support her on her health journey (you can read about that here). We are making small upgrades and tweaks in her life to try to support her adrenal health and hormone balance and one of the additions to her life is a daily Adrenal Cocktail.

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    When she posted a picture of her Adrenal Cocktail on Instagram it spread like wildfire. It has affectionately been named the “dreamsicle” and the instagram community has already started upgrading the recipe by adding carrot, tangerine or ginger to the juice as well! The Feisty Kitchen even used her fabulous photography skills to make this look like the most appetizing drink there is!

    Here is a little bit of background about this recipe.

    I learned about the Adrenal Cocktail from my mentor Christa at The Whole Journey. Her recipe is a slightly modified version of the traditional Adrenal Cocktail (the original recipe is orange juice, cream or tarter & Himalayan pink salt).

    When I was in the depleted phase of adrenal dysfunction, this dreamsicle saved me! I drank the Adrenal Cocktail every morning for about a month while I was balancing my hormones. The most notable difference was my energy and the ability to finally regulate my blood sugar. I found that I wasn’t crashing mid afternoon, craving sugar or getting light-headed as much as I used to.

    Adrenal Cocktail recipe:

    • 4-6 oz OJ (fresh squeezed or cold pressed like Evolution brand)
    • 2 Tbsp raw cream (or coconut cream)
    • 1 Tbsp Collagen
    • Himalayan pink salt as much as you can stand

    Blend it up into a delicious creamsicle and drink 1-2 times a day an hour before or after food.

    Benefits of the Adrenal Cocktail: 

    • Fresh squeezed OJ gives liver the glucose it needs to regenerate
    • Perfect balance of fat/carb/protein ratio for adrenal health and blood sugar balancing
    • Collagen is loaded with the amino acids and building blocks for health
    • Himalayan pink salt has 84 essential minerals that the adrenals need to function properly (very different from iodized table salt which can be harmful)

    This might not be for everyone.

    You always need to consider your personal situation when implementing a dietary or lifestyle change. I have had clients try the cocktail and feel horrible because of an issue with bacterial overgrowth!!

    What else can I do?

    Drinking a daily creamsicle is just one of the many life changes that I made and by no means a quick fix for your adrenal glands. You can find some other steps to start taking here.

    If you have been “diagnosed” with Adrenal Dysfunction (often called adrenal fatigue) don’t stop there.  Start digging for the root cause.  What caused the imbalance?

    Adrenal Dysfunction is an imbalance of hormones.  The problem is very rarely actually the adrenal gland itself, but instead there can be a breakdown anywhere in a complex relationship between the Hypothalamus Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) axis.  Anything that helps “restore the adrenals” is really just a way of helping to balance hormones and blood sugar, and therefore puts let stress on the thyroid, detoxification and every other function in the body.

    In the meantime, while you are doing the deeper work, you can replenish your body with this cocktail.

    Cheers!

     

    Do you feel like you need a group for guidance and support on your Adrenal balancing journey?

     

    The Healthy Hormones Group Program starts September 15th!!

     

    This 12 week program will get you access to the hormone and neurotransmitter labs and a customized protocol.  With biweekly videos, emails & support in your inbox we will go step by step through how to support your adrenals and balance your hormones.

     

    [image url=”http://gingernewtrition.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Ginger-Newtrition-Group-Coaching-Program.png” raw=”true” alignment=”center” margin_left=”0″ margin_right=”0″ margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”0″ link=”http://gingernewtrition.com/work-with-me/” target=”_parent” width=”900″ height=”360″]

     

    Photo credit: The Feisty Kitchen – check her out for her fabulous recipes!!