Living in Hormone Hell to Feeling Well - How to Balance your Hormones with Dr. Carol Villaneuva Part 1
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March 16, 2021 - Episode #58 - Living in Hormone Hell to Feeling Well - How to Balance your Hormones with Dr. Carol Villaneuva Part 1 You know the foggy, frenzied, frazzled, fatigued feeling of living in hormone hell. You hear the word hormone balance, and it sounds like a solution but how do you achieve that? Is it possible to have hormone harmony and go from living in hormone hell to feeling well? You are about to find out! Today starts a 3-part series on How to Balance your Hormones. Part 1 and Part 2 we will be joined by Dr. Carol Villaneuva, a Functional Medicine physician who specializes in hormone balance and women’s health. And then in Part 3 I’ll be reviewing foods that are helpful and foods that are definitely harmful when it comes to balancing your hormones. These next three weeks will empower you to take control of your health and get some hormone harmony in your life. Does this sound familiar to you...brain fog, belly fat, fatigue, low libido, no energy, lack of motivation?? These are indications of hormone imbalance. Today's podcast gives some perspective on the vital role that hormones play in the body and how to know if your hormones are unbalanced. Our guest, Dr. Carol Villaneuva, does an excellent job of simply explaining some complicated science as we dig into thyroid insufficiency, the importance of testosterone for women's health and the dietary and environmental factors that play a role in throwing our hormones out of whack! Dr. Carol Villaneuva is a board-certified Internist and Functional Medicine physician. This is her 2nd time with us on the Healthy Harmony podcast. The first time that she was a guest we discussed the deficiencies seen today in health care, what makes Functional Medicine unique and why she chose to leave the traditional health care system to practice in Functional Medicine. Click here for that podcast! https://www.inspirehealthyharmony.com/broken-healthcare.html#/ You can find Dr. Carol Villaneuva at www.mymodernmedicine.com Hey girl...don't forget!! If you are looking for support, empowerment and accountability in a tribe of women who, like you are trying to be more intentional in their health journey so they can live in FREEDOM; I have just the community you are looking for! It is a FB group called Functional Medicine for Weight Loss - Body, Mind, Soul Wellness for Women. You can access this incredible group by going to bit.ly/FMwomenswellness Read Full Transcript below Where else to listen: (note: Google is only available on android devices)
FULL TRANSCRIPT March 16, 2021 - Episode #58 - Living in Hormone Hell to Feeling Well - How to Balance your Hormones with Dr. Carol Villaneuva Part 1 Speaker 1: Hey girl, I'm talking to you. You know, the foggy frenzied, frazzled, fatigued the feeling of living in hormone hell. You hear the word hormone balance, and it sounds like a solution that how do you achieve that? Is it possible to have hormone harmony and go from living in hormone hell to feeling well? You are about to find out! Today starts a three part series on how to balance your hormones. Part one and part two, we will be joined by Dr. Carol Villanueva, a Functional Medicine physician who specializes in hormone balance and women's health. And then in part three, I’ll be reviewing foods that are helpful and foods that are definitely harmful when it comes to balancing your hormones. These next three weeks will empower you to take control of your health and get some hormone harmony in your life. Are you ready? Let's do this. Hey there. Welcome to the Healthy Harmony podcast. I'm Jennifer Pickett, your host, your health coach, your friend. If you're ready to tap into the healthiest version of you. So you can live life with confidence and intentional harmony. And my friend, you're in the right place. As a Dietitian turned Functional Medicine Health Coach. I'm here to walk beside you and show you how to take control of your complete health.. body, mind, and soul. I want you to live a life. You not only love, but a life where you're truly thriving. This podcast is a real talk about real life. Simple, realistic strategies that will leave you feeling empowered. As we dive into physical health, mental, emotional health, and spiritual health. Because addressing these areas equals intentional harmony, AKA happiness, fulfillment, and confidence. Let's do this. Before I introduce today's guest. Let me remind you. I have created something just for you. If you're looking for a tribe of women who are just like you and trying to be more intentional in your health journey, so you can live in freedom. I have just the community you're looking for. It's a Facebook group called Functional Medicine for weight loss -body, mind, soul wellness for women and you can access this incredible group that going to bit.ly/FMwomenswellness. Again, that's bit.ly/FMwomenswellness. And I will link that right here so you can click it very easy. I'm so excited about today's guest. And after listening to her, I think you will be too, Dr. Carol Villanueva is a board certified internist and a functional medicine doctor. She has a passion for using functional and lifestyle medicine to address the root cause of chronic disease. Her patients. And by the way, that's me included, love her compassionate nature, her empathy, how well she listens and her attention to detail. She does an absolute, fantastic job explaining very complicated health related subjects. And that's why I wanted her to come on again to the Healthy Harmony podcast. You may have heard her last year as we unpack the subject, what is Functional Medicine? And we discussed the shortcomings of our healthcare system. So if you missed that podcast, I will link that here in the show notes. And you can go back and listen to that. Dr. V. Thank you so much for joining me. How are you? Speaker 2: Well, thank you. Thank you so much for having me. Speaker 1: You're welcome. Okay, so this is such a hot topic. I can literally feel women leaning in. Is there such a thing as hormone balance? Can we really take control of our hormones? Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely. And I think it doesn't come as a surprise to most women to know that when her hormones are not in balance, we do not feel very well and it can impact multiple areas of our lives and, and play out in tons of different systems for us and, and different areas of our lives. Speaker 1: So how can a woman tell if her hormones are out of whack, if she's completely unbalanced, what would be some, some signals that she's unbalanced Speaker 2: Some of the most common symptoms that women come to me seeking help for that are commonly linked to hormone imbalances or hormone disturbances are low energy or fatigue, decreased concentration. Sometimes it's a degree of brain fog or what I call just an overall lack of motivation. So sometimes it's a F a feeling low or down, but not like a full depression, but just kind of finding it difficult to want to get out of bed or want to do things that were once enjoyable. And a lot of times that is just linked to hormonal imbalances, sometimes it's of the stereotypical, what you think of like crazy hormones and mood swings and feeling irrational or emotional or feeling like it's difficult for you to control your emotions or high level of anxieties. Sometimes it's poor quality sleep or trouble waking frequently in the night. Sometimes it's just low libido. Speaker 1: So many things that you mentioned. And I know that so many of us can relate to this. This sounds very familiar. So how do we know when this is just kind of part of our norm it's it's what we've gotten used to and when something is wrong, because a lot of these symptoms can overlap with other diagnoses. So how do we know if it's hormone imbalance versus another diagnosis? How can we tell that Speaker 2: That's a great question. And sometimes it is easy to tell and sometimes it's not, and sometimes it's multifactorial and like you mentioned, it is sometimes these symptoms are exactly the same as, or very similar, right? Low testosterone symptoms, like low energy weight gain, or increased belly fat kind of feeling down or low or lack of motivation. All that sounds very similar to an underactive thyroid as well. And, and we consider hypo thyroid or any type of thyroid imbalance as part of overall hormone balancing as well. Speaker 1 : So yeah, very interesting how those go together. Cause I think it's, sometimes it's hard for us to see the link between thyroid function and, and hormone. So how do those two work together in conjunction with each other? Speaker 2: Yeah. When, when I describe this to my patients, oftentimes I'll say think of a mobile where you have all the little pieces hanging down and imagine that you whack one that one's really gonna wiggle, but, but they all will wiggle. And so, you know, you may be directly kind of working on say the sex hormones, but your thyroid is going to wiggle a little bit. And so we want to kind of see how the impact of manipulating sex hormones impacts the thyroid and vice versa. Maybe the thyroid is your target problem. And we want to see how optimizing thyroid function improves the sex hormones. And, and oftentimes it can be difficult for a patient to know on their own. Sometimes patients do feel like they know my hormones must be out of whack. And, and, and for women in particular, is it that their symptoms are completely cyclical are tied to their regular monthly menstrual cycles or that they feel like they've never had regular monthly menstrual cycles and don't know why they haven't, or maybe they have been felt great for most of their life. Had several, several pregnancies and then the last one, they feel like they never recovered hormonally from we hear those kinds of stories a lot, or sometimes it's one pregnancy and may feel like man, I just have never felt the same. And I don't. I struggle with, you know, all different things are functioning day to day and, and, and kind of checked off all the typical post-partum concerns with their OB provider, but feel like they never kind of recovered or sometimes people have PCLs that runs in the family or different estrogen dominant symptoms. Maybe they have horrible menstrual cycles that are just heavy flows, intense pain can not, you know, some women experienced such profound symptoms that they literally can't continue their daily functioning for several days and they are work or out of school. And you know, these can be signs that, that the hormones are, are not in balance. Speaker 1: So do you think that there is a degree to which we accept it as, okay, this is just, it is what it is. We can accept some degree of brain fog, some degree of low energy, some degree of, of bloating, a lot of these things that we experience as women with our hormones, and especially in relation to our cycles, can we accept this as normal? And what do we accept as normal? And then what do we accept as, wait a minute, I need to look into this further. Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely. I think a lot of times we see women that feel like they're at the ends of their rope, so to speak. So, and, and several times they've seen other providers and feel like they've tried other options, but don't feel like they've made progress in terms of feeling different or better. And somewhat of the nature, the stereotypical nature of women is to just kind of plug along and, or they've been coming. Speaker 1: We do, we just keep going. I think we kind of accept some things as normal or just kind of our plot in life. And we just keep going, cause we don't have a choice. So we kind of get stuck in that survival mode and, and operating as if this is to be expected. Speaker 2: Absolutely. And, and the nature of hormone balancing and hormone replacement therapy options being, I call it a passionate topic. So it's one of those things that regardless of your role in it, some people have a very guttural reaction to that, that even just saying that statement, hormone replacement therapy, and it it's, it's been in, in the medical community and outside of the medical community, something that has I would say changed, you know, in our lifetime Speaker 1: And hotly debated. Right. Very, very hotly debated, and I'll really want us to address hormone replacement therapy. But I want us to take one step back as we kind of build the case for hormones. And is it possible to achieve some hormone balance? You mentioned testosterone earlier, and I know that for most of us listening, we're like, wait a minute. I thought testosterone was a quote unquote male hormone. So can you give us just a brief explanation of what what are some of these hormones that you're talking about and what role do they play? Speaker 2: Absolutely. That's a great question. So it is often overlooked and it is especially in women and testosterone in particular is one that women don't often think about and address, but can often be linked to symptoms. So as women we start losing or, or making less testosterone from our ovaries starting in our twenties. So by the time we get to perimenopausal age, or, you know, the few years before, during and after menopause, we're profoundly deficient in testosterone, not to mention that factors like chronic stress and, and certainly pregnancies and other direct impacts on, on hormonal shifts and changes are, are oftentimes linked to profound testosterone, deficiencies in females as well. Speaker 1: So this is something that you're seeing a great deal of in women. I didn't realize that it goes back to the twenties and your testosterone starts decreasing, and then it really just continues. And there are so many other things that impact testosterone. So is this something that you see a lot of in the women that you see? Speaker 2: Yes, yes. Without a doubt. And that is that is oftentimes sometimes we call it the feel-good hormone more because that is to like the symptoms that include energy level or libido and sexual performance issues, like even being able to climax and and, and things that are important to good quality of life with a partner. Speaker 1: And I think that's interesting that you I'm so glad you brought up the hot topic of sex, because we really can't talk about hormones without talking about sex. And I think we have in the past, looked at testosterone as only being related to sex because we associate it with men and then men having testosterone, and it's just related to sex, but I heard you say that it plays such a key role with energy levels, Speaker 2: Women that feel like they can't build muscle. So you, you hear women come in and say, man, I have been working out like crazy, and yet I can not lose the weight and I can't get toned. And oftentimes that's from a profound testosterone deficiency. Cause remember you need testosterone to build muscle. Speaker 1: Very interesting. Very interesting. Now what about estrogen? Cause I think that is the one that's probably the most recognizable as a female hormone. What about estrogen and what about estrogen dominance? Let's talk about that. Yes, Speaker 2: Absolutely. So when I was kinda mentioning signs or symptoms of hormonal imbalance, like horrible menstrual cycles or heavy bleeding and endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome syndrome, oftentimes those are the way that estrogen dominance is playing out in, in someone's body. And this is multifactorial as well. So sometimes it's genetic and from, from like most things from a functional medicine perspective, it's, it's not one sole antecedent, but maybe several factors that are contributing, but dietary hormones and dairy and plastic containers and soy and different, all these different things can, can act as what's called endless endocrine disruptors. So even just cultural nutrition and dietary habits and the way that we, what we cook with and what we store our food and is impacting our hormones from early ages and on Speaker 1: Very fascinating. And you brought up a lot in, in that answer from a nutrition standpoint not just what's in our food, but also, and what we're taking in, but what we're preparing it in and, and the, you brought up the plastic and the soy and the dairy. So so let's dig into that a little bit more from a nutrition aspect. What are those foods that have the biggest impact on our hormones? Speaker 2: I would say dairy is one of the biggest ones. And part of the reason why I would go to that first is because the general thought process of how from, from very early ages and, and infancy really you start right with milk, milk, milk, you need to have milk, milk, milk, and, and, and cows milk. And these kinds of things oftentimes can have hormones and endocrine mimickers and can, can certainly play a role in inflammatory processes and overall gut health from a very young age and how these exposures from infancy and on can play a role in what happens hormonally as whether that means maybe we're seeing puberty at earlier ages, whether it's through breast development or breast tissue development or early menarchy where girls are experiencing getting their periods heavier. And earlier in age, sometimes this is directly correlated that sometimes it's not cleanly sourced meats, or that have been treated with antibiotics and hormones prior to being, you know, prior to our consumption, Speaker 1: It brings up such an interesting topic. We do have so many young girls starting their cycles so early on in life. And I think we've seen just a dramatic rise in that and and development happening so much younger in life. Do you feel like this is directly related to what we're taking in? Do you feel like this is related to dairy? Cause we've gotten that message for a long time. Now, drink your milk, drink your milk, you need it for strong bones, you need it for the calcium. So do you feel like that that push has ha has harmed our health? Speaker 2: I do. In addition, I wouldn't say it's the sole reason and not necessarily the only culprit and the, the culprit for everybody, but you know, a lot of baby bottles are plastic. A lot of everything that we use kind of to that has improved maybe convenience and seems like the right thing to do. Or, or we feel like has kind of helped one part of our lives may not be helping another part of our lives. So I think it's complicated, but I could not say that there is that that's not having an impact. I would wholeheartedly believe that that's a big part. Speaker 1: Certainly plays a role. You used a term, and I want us to kind of define this term and, and give some thought to it. The, you used the term endocrine disruptor. So I know that that's the term that you and I use but I want to make sure that folks know what that term endocrine and why is that important when we use that word? Endocrine disruptor? Speaker 2: Yeah. So what I mean by that is there are maybe chemicals in food or food items themselves that can mimic what a hormone looks like in the body. What's a, what, an endogenous when I say endogenous means a hormone that your body should be making or does make, and, and sometimes these exogenous or out of body things that, so something that we don't make in our body, but we take or consume or put in our body in one way or another can affect how, how our endocrine system works. So, so for example, like soy can mimic or act at several of the same receptors that estrogen does. And so on a very kind of simple level, I would think about it, like something that's acting like a hormone in the body. Okay. Speaker 1: Okay. So do you think that that soy is another one of those things that we need to be very cautious about? Speaker 2: Yes. And I think that that is one again, that there's been kind of controversial data. It's been somewhat hard to dissect through. It depends on different people, too. Some of the, some of these things are even dairy to some extent there there's, that is one that we typically can say is pro-inflammatory for most people, but you know what, sometimes depending on your own individual biochemistry and, and background, you may respond different than somebody else. So sometimes, you know, we, can't just blanket say, these things are bad for everybody, but but we need to look at and understand better how this is impacting you. And sometimes the best way to do that is simply cutting it out, seeing how you feel and for a period of time, like usually for a decent wash out anywhere from two weeks to four weeks, and then being real careful, if you want to try to reintroduce it, to see if you develop any bothersome symptoms after you do Speaker 1: That sounds like a very effective strategy. And I think you spoke to something that is so very important for us to remember. And that is that this really does take a a truly customized approach. And everyone is very, very unique and different, especially when we're talking about hormones. And that if they're going to try something and see if something is disruptive in their body, or if it's inflammatory in their body to eliminate that for two to four weeks and then possibly slowly re-introduce that and see how you feel. So I love how you how you kind of summed up that strategy. I think it's a very, a very solid strategy. I hope that you enjoy today's hot topic with Dr. Carol Villanueva. Don't worry. We are not done. We will pick up exactly where we left off next week as we continue the conversation about hormone balance and delve even deeper as we talk about hormone replacement therapy. Until then do me a favor if you're loving the Healthy Harmony podcast and the relevant topics, and the sense of empowerment that you get listening to this podcast like that subscribe button, and please leave a rating and the review, it makes a big difference. Now until next week be empowered, make those small changes so you can be healthier and happier. And I'm going to remind you friend, we're in this together. Bye y'all. |
