208-SYNCPodcast_HappyNewYear

[00:00:00] Jenny Swisher: Welcome friends to this episode of the Sync Your Life podcast. Today, we’re diving into what it might look like to establish hormone health goals for yourself in 2024. Let me start this episode by saying Happy New Year. I’m actually recording this on New Year’s Eve, sitting in my office, in the dark. My girls are asleep nice and early at 8 p.

[00:01:17] Jenny Swisher: m. and I’m recording this podcast. I can’t believe that another fresh new year is upon us already, but here we are, and I’m here for it. As I record this episode, I just have to share. My family and I just got a brand new golden retriever puppy at Christmas time. And in case we weren’t crazy enough with a three year old and seven year old, Now we have officially gone loco with our new Remy.

[00:01:39] Jenny Swisher: I hope your holiday season was joyful. Introducing this fluffy ball of love to our family sure has brought us a lot of joy already. I can’t wait to see the adventures that are in store for our family in 2024. But on to the podcast episode for today. This isn’t the first time that we’ve addressed goal setting and personal development, but it is the first time that we’ve set aside time and space to discuss what it might look like to establish health goals around your hormone health.

[00:02:03] Jenny Swisher: I think it’s commonplace to establish weight loss goals or hit the gym type of goals at the start of the new year. But if there’s one thing that you’ve learned here from me, it’s that health goes way beyond aesthetics and how we look and weight loss. Health should be measured in energy. I am all about measuring in energy.

[00:02:21] Jenny Swisher: If you’re entering this year feeling low on energy, or knowing that it could improve with the right focus by focusing on your hormone health, I would suggest that that be step one in your endeavor. So as we start here, I just want you to think about a time in your life when you felt vibrant with energy.

[00:02:38] Jenny Swisher: When was the last time you woke up in the morning feeling good? When you weren’t so reliant on caffeine and when sleep was good and your clothes fit right? Now, what did that look like for you? What did that feel like for you? Write down some things that you’ve experienced before and wish to experience again as it pertains to reaching your maximum energy.

[00:02:56] Jenny Swisher: That’s what the focus for today’s episode is all about. So nowhere on this final goal sheet do I want to see a goal weight or a number on the scale or anything else. Nowhere on your goal sheet should be that. In fact, you won’t need a scale at all because from now on you’re going to be measuring everything in energy.

[00:03:15] Jenny Swisher: Next on your goal setting action step list is to complete the hormone imbalance quiz if you haven’t already. You can find the quiz at sync. jennyswisher. com, that’s s y n c. jennyswisher. com. This will give you an idea which area of the four legged hormone chair might need the most attention for you when it comes to your hormones.

[00:03:33] Jenny Swisher: Hopefully if you’ve been listening to this podcast for any period of time, you know that finding a functional medicine practitioner who is knowledgeable in hormone health and getting the proper testing that you need is all part of this adventure. So getting the right supplementation unique to you is also key in reaching that maximum energy.

[00:03:51] Jenny Swisher: I teach you these things in the SYNC digital course, and I also offer virtual health consults for course takers alongside Dr. Paige Goutal. If you’re looking to really hone in on your energy this year, consider hopping into the course and meeting with Dr. Paige and myself. Again, I’ll link this up in the show notes along with the hormone and balance quiz in case those are things you’ve never done before.

[00:04:11] Jenny Swisher: So let’s talk about the four fundamentals of hormone balance and let’s create some action items for you for each one. These are things that are within your control, and that’s how I always like to roll. Let’s just control what we can when it comes to our health, and hopefully everything else will fall into place.

[00:04:26] Jenny Swisher: So, we’ll start with sleep, because sleep is the first fundamental of hormone balance. And yet, most of us aren’t getting good quality sleep. While I do love my Oura Ring and the data that it gives me, it’s not required to simply make your sleep a priority. Getting to bed plenty before midnight, Sleeping in a pitch black, dark, cool room with breathable pajamas and bedding, and establishing a bedtime routine to help your nervous system downregulate before sleep, these are all crucial for prioritizing your sleep this year.

[00:04:57] Jenny Swisher: Let’s talk briefly about that nighttime routine. Most of us are on our phones, watching television, or we’re racing into the bed late, paying zero attention to slowing down first. Now, I already told you I have two young kids, and I can attest to you that they do not operate like my puppy. The puppy runs until he’s exhausted, and then he crashes.

[00:05:18] Jenny Swisher: But my kids, they require downtime. And so do we as adults. With my children, we do bath, book time, and bed each and every night to help them down regulate. Yet sometimes as adults, I feel like we lose this process, and we often assume that our bodies are ready for good night’s sleep, when really we’re in fight or flight mode from the day.

[00:05:37] Jenny Swisher: Prioritizing a nighttime routine should go on your action item list for 2024 hormone health goals. Next on the list is supplementation. Supplementation is the second fundamental of hormone balance. The majority of your supplementation will be catered to you and your unique needs based on those test results we talked about.

[00:05:56] Jenny Swisher: But there are some things that I recommend discussing with your doctor for pretty much everyone to listen to. And that includes magnesium, omega threes. Vitamin D and yes, my new favorite morning and nighttime routine supplements that contain the perfect concoctions of hormone balancing herbs. I will link these up in the show notes for you.

[00:06:14] Jenny Swisher: I really do believe that everyone should be taking magnesium, everyone should be taking omega 3s, everyone should be taking vitamin D, and I’m a huge believer in these morning and nighttime routine supplements as well. I think that while of course supplements are unique to us and our deficiencies, these are across the board pretty much needed by everyone.

[00:06:32] Jenny Swisher: Next on the list is nutrition. Nutrition is the next fundamental of hormone balance, and I have to say, society tries to condition us in a variety of ways to think that there is one way to eat healthy. You might hear that keto is the way, or intermittent fasting is the way, or restricting calories or portions is the way, when in reality, once again, health is individual.

[00:06:53] Jenny Swisher: Just like your supplementation should be unique to you and customized to you, your nutrition should be too. I find that most women aren’t getting enough food because they’re falling victim to societal ways and this diet culture mentality. This idea that we should eat less and work out harder. Focusing on adequate protein and healthy fats is a great addition to your 2024 hormone health game plan.

[00:07:18] Jenny Swisher: How much protein? Well, I always say one gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight. Combined with 25 grams of fiber per day and a healthy fat at each meal. We don’t need to overcomplicate it. It really is this simple. Our body needs all three macronutrients for thriving in our hormones. We need carbs, we need protein, and we need fat.

[00:07:38] Jenny Swisher: But focusing on getting enough fiber and enough protein on a daily basis are things that I have found can be game changing for so many women. Start simple. Take that first step.

[00:07:49] Jenny Swisher: Next, I want to share with you my story from 2021 when I headed into 2021, which was actually the same year that we launched the podcast, I wanted to just make it simple for myself. I wanted to really reach that maximum energy. And so when I looked into all of the recent research, when it, as it pertained to women, I found that prioritizing protein and sleep were really always at the top of the list for so many successful, fit, healthy, vibrant women.

[00:08:14] Jenny Swisher: So these became my two focuses for 2021. I purchased the Oura ring and I started paying attention to my sleep and biohacking my sleep and really paying attention to that night time routine. And I started slowly increasing my protein over the course of months. By the end of that year, I had lost 17 pounds.

[00:08:29] Jenny Swisher: I finally was feeling amazing in my own skin. I had that energy back. I was excited to wake up in the morning. I was getting restful sleep each night just by focusing on those two simple things. So as you’re listening to this today, just remember. It doesn’t mean you have to over complicate anything.

[00:08:45] Jenny Swisher: It can be as small as choosing one or two or three things from this episode and making those your focus for the year. Finally, fitness. Let’s talk fitness, because fitness rounds out the final fundamental of hormone balance. Now, I’m a fitness girl, you guys know I’m all into cycle syncing, and I’ve always loved to move my body and exercise.

[00:09:03] Jenny Swisher: Sometimes to a detriment. What we do know is this. Strength training is queen when it comes to the best way for women to train. Aiming for at least 3 or 4 days a week of strength training, and I mean lifting heavy ish, should be on your action list for 2024. Balancing strength training with walks and mobility is really simple and effective.

[00:09:24] Jenny Swisher: We don’t have to overcomplicate our fitness either. I know that we can get into the nitty gritty of cycle syncing and what workout is best on which day of your cycle, but if at the end of the day you’re really just focused on strength training, walks, and mobility, you’re winning.

[00:09:38] Jenny Swisher: So, can we tap into cycle syncing? Sure. Can we leverage the various energies of our cycle? Yes, but we can also keep it really simple. Finally, it wouldn’t be true hormone health goal setting if we didn’t know what this roadmap will look like for ourselves. If you are listening to this and you’re a menstruating woman, let me ask you this.

[00:09:54] Jenny Swisher: What does your current menstrual cycle look like? How long is your cycle? Not just your bleed, but your overall cycle. What symptoms do you experience? Remember that we can look at our period and we can reverse engineer our menstrual health. And by tracking ovulation, we can start to get the true picture of our sexual health.

[00:10:11] Jenny Swisher: Ovulation is our fifth vital sign. I recommend checking out Dr. Laura Bryden’s book, Period Repair Manual, or if you are in perimenopause, check out her book, Hormone Repair Manual. Both of those are a great start at taking a look at your hormone health. If you’re in perimenopause and your periods are starting to become irregular, I am with you, sister.

[00:10:31] Jenny Swisher: Sometimes prioritizing what we can control and acknowledging where we are is number one. And for those of you in menopause, creating hormone healthy goals for your year is just as important. You still have free flowing sex hormones, sleep, supplementation, exercise, and nutrition are all worthy of our focus, regardless of our age or stage of life.

[00:10:51] Jenny Swisher: I will make sure as always to link up the hormone imbalance quiz, the sync digital course, and my favorite supplements and gadgets for each of these areas that I discussed here on the show today. It’s my hope for you, my friends, that you have a healthy and purposeful 2024. My word for the year is alignment.

[00:11:06] Jenny Swisher: Finding things that I align with in my health, in my relationships, and in my life. That’s my focus for this year. I hope that you can truly reach your maximum energy to be the best for those you love. Hear me out. You are worthy of it. The world needs you at your best. You can’t exercise your way to hormone balance, but you can focus on progress in these four areas that we’ve discussed today.

[00:11:30] Jenny Swisher: Progress, friends, never perfection. Start with self love, execute with a plan, keep it simple like the one we just outlined today, and always return to self love. Thank you, as always, for tuning in, my friends. Until next time, Happy New Year.