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[00:00:00] Jenny Swisher: Welcome friends to this episode of the Sync Your Life podcast. Today, we’re diving into the five things that I believe could move the needle for you in your hormone health in 2024. The last few weeks, we’ve been talking about this topic of setting hormone health goals for the year, and I am all about keeping it simple.

[00:01:15] Jenny Swisher: If we can simplify our life, we can simply live better. Maximum energy is what it’s all about. You’re probably sick of hearing me say it over and over on the podcast, but last week I talked about focusing on the four fundamentals of hormone balance. and the simplicity of just that. Making sure that we’re eating enough, focusing on proper sleep, supplements that are specific to each of us individually, and exercise.

[00:01:36] Jenny Swisher: This week I went to my course takers and I asked them the question, what has moved the needle for you the most in your hormone health journey? And the following five things that we’re about to talk about were identified. This is exactly what today’s episode is all about. We’re going to dive into each of these five things and why they can be needle movers for you and your health.

[00:01:54] Jenny Swisher: And it’s my hope that you either implement these as soon as you can, or at the very least, make notes that you can share with your functional medicine doctor to ask the right questions about them. So remember, most traditional medicine doctors out there are trained in medicine, not necessarily in proactive wellness or a functional root cause approach.

[00:02:12] Jenny Swisher: So it wouldn’t surprise me if you were met with an eye roll or, and I’m not sure, it’s normal, it’s common, it’s unfortunate, but it happens. Most traditional doctors are advocating less calories and more exercise for women. And that is simply just not good advice. You can take your pick at any podcast episode that we’ve recorded here on the show before, and you’re going to hear it over and over and over again.

[00:02:36] Jenny Swisher: So as we dive into these five things, just know that there are hundreds of women out there, just like you, who have taken my Sync Digital course, who can vouch for these things being game changers in their health. So let’s get going. The very first thing on the list is listening to your body. Now that sounds too simple, right?

[00:02:53] Jenny Swisher: Almost everything on this list is probably going to sound too simple. I always like to ask the question What if it really was that simple? What if we’re over complicating things looking for the next fad diet or the next fad exercise program? What if the simplicity of just listening to our body was really the key?

[00:03:09] Jenny Swisher: If I had a dollar for every woman who pushes through a workout on her period Or who just lives with poor sleep, or she wakes up during the night and she feels unrefreshed during the day. I would be rich. We just aren’t listening to our bodies as women. Society really conditions us to be 9 to 5, right?

[00:03:27] Jenny Swisher: Jobs are 9 to 5, school is 9 to 5 ish. That’s just the rhythm that we’re into. But really, women have an extra layer. We’re not just circadian, we’re infridian. I will link up in the show notes for you a podcast that I did on women are lunar beings. It is a very powerful podcast to really teach you how we actually live in alignment with the moon when it comes to our hormones.

[00:03:47] Jenny Swisher: We aren’t meant to feel the same each and every day. We have hormone highs and hormone lows over the course of the month and we need to tap into that energy. So listening to our body on a daily basis is key. The number one testimonial that I received from my course takers is Thank you so much for giving me permission to listen to my body.

[00:04:06] Jenny Swisher: Many of these women are learning to step into self advocacy and to get true root cause answers to their health while they’re also letting their energy guide them. This is so, so powerful. As we start the new year with all the goals around exercise and diet culture, it’s easy to follow the eat less, work harder mentality and in the end, we burn out our energy.

[00:04:28] Jenny Swisher: Instead, let’s reverse that thinking this year. Let’s focus on fueling and training in alignment with our energy. In case you didn’t know, if you are a menstruating female, our energy does ebb and flow and change throughout the month. It’s not meant to be steady state. So learning more about cycle syncing and the menstrual cycle in general through this podcast or through the course can help you better understand this.

[00:04:51] Jenny Swisher: Number two on the list is biohacking your sleep. Too many women are struggling in this department, especially during their perimenopausal years of age 35 to 50 ish. Either we aren’t getting enough quality sleep or our sleep is broken into pieces from needing to pee during the night, tending to children, just simply waking up for no reason and the inability to fall back asleep.

[00:05:14] Jenny Swisher: Changes in our progesterone during this decade of life is to blame. So how can you biohack your sleep? Here’s my quick three tips I have on this. Number one, consider using a wearable device like the Oura Ring so that you can see exactly how your sleep is. Don’t just guess. Use something like a wearable to test.

[00:05:31] Jenny Swisher: Number two, use magnesium glycinate. Oh, for crying out loud, so many women that take my course swear by magnesium glycinate as being one of the biggest game changers for them. Seriously, magnesium changes lives. It helps with regularity, brain fog, headaches, menstrual related issues, and so much more. It rescues hormones in a variety of ways.

[00:05:52] Jenny Swisher: And then number three, have your progesterone levels checked. Preferably in relation to your estradiol levels. I have episodes on both magnesium and proper testing that I’ll link up in the show notes for you as well. Getting adequate sleep, my friends, is key. Even if that becomes your only focus for the first part of the year, I think it’s a very, very good choice in the focus department.

[00:06:13] Jenny Swisher: Number three on the list is increasing your protein and fiber intake. I am a huge fan of Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, who just authored a book called Forever Strong. I will link that up for you as well. But she, along with Dr. Stacey Sims and others who are in this space, advocate at least one gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight.

[00:06:32] Jenny Swisher: Now I get this question a lot. People will say, what do you mean by ideal body weight? I don’t mean the weights that you were in high school. What I mean is perhaps using a BMI index to look and see what the weight should be for your height. Now, I do not like to live and swear by the BMI index. I’m actually not a fan of it at all.

[00:06:50] Jenny Swisher: But I do like to use it just as a calculator for calculating protein intake. So for me, I’m a hundred and thirty six pound female I shoot for a hundred and thirty six grams of protein per day Now that means that we’re focusing on 30 to 40 grams of protein at each meal So don’t go asking me about my favorite bar or protein powder or supplement I do think those have a place But we really need to be focusing on good quality lean protein at each meal if we really want to essentialize those amino acids Most women are only eating 40 to 60 grams of protein per day.

[00:07:22] Jenny Swisher: But I don’t know a single woman who weighs 40 to 60 pounds. So we’ve got to focus more on our protein intake and fiber. Fiber is also as important. We’ve got to make sure that we’re moving that protein through our digestive tract.

[00:07:37] Jenny Swisher: 25 grams of fiber a day is recommended for adult females. Yet most of us are not getting even half that much. So we got to eat our veggies and eat our protein. Number four on the list is proper hydration in the form of adequate electrolytes. Dr. Chloe Gibbons says, did you know that simply drinking a gallon of plain water per day is not hydrating?

[00:07:57] Jenny Swisher: To properly hydrate our bodies need quality water plus electrolytes plus trace minerals. For years, I was the gallon jug of water girl at the gym. We actually owned a personal training studio for a few years, and especially in January when goals were high, I was the girl lugging the big jug of water around guzzling all day.

[00:08:16] Jenny Swisher: But it turns out, without proper electrolytes, it’s really not that efficient for the body. Consuming a dose of electrolytes first thing in the morning can be a game changer in your overall energy. It helps the body to utilize that water in the way that it needs. When the body is properly hydrated and notice I said properly, energy abounds.

[00:08:36] Jenny Swisher: I will link up for you my new favorite hydration elixir complete with pre and probiotics in addition to electrolytes so that it can give you that gut cleansing boost as well. I’ll put all that in the show notes for you to make it simple. And finally, number five, which really should be a focus for all of us in our current world.

[00:08:52] Jenny Swisher: And that is eliminating endocrine disruption. My goodness, friends, there is so much in our environment, the things that we’re putting in, on, and around our bodies that is wreaking havoc on our hormones. I recently shared on social media that climbing the elliptical at the gym for an hour is great, getting your body moving, awesome.

[00:09:10] Jenny Swisher: But then coming home to lather yourself in something like Bath and Body Works lotion or body wash is a complete oxymoron. It’s like riding a peloton eating a box of donuts. The things that we put onto our skin, the things that we’re ingesting, and the things that we’re breathing in are all affecting our hormones.

[00:09:27] Jenny Swisher: The average woman uses 12 products per day on her skin. That includes 160 chemicals. Let me say that again. The average woman is using 12 products per day on her skin, which includes 160 different chemicals. Making simple swaps in your home care and your skin care should be the first steps to cleaning up your environment.

[00:09:49] Jenny Swisher: Once again, I get lots of questions on my favorites in this department, so I will link up for you in the show notes my favorite simple swaps. Achieving maximum energy doesn’t have to look like beating yourself up. It doesn’t have to look like beating yourself into the ground at the gym or training until you’re blue in the face.

[00:10:04] Jenny Swisher: It shouldn’t actually look like that at all. We can’t exercise our way to hormone balance. I have learned this the hard way, my friends. We can find alignment in our exercise. We can follow our energy. We can follow that monthly in Freydian rhythm. We can properly hydrate, make sure we’re fueling enough.

[00:10:20] Jenny Swisher: We can prioritize sleep. These are things that are within our control. What if it really was that simple? It is friends. It is this simple. Let 2024 be your year to optimize your hormone health. Consider joining my SYNC course to go even deeper. Maybe even consider a virtual console with myself and Dr.

[00:10:39] Jenny Swisher: Paige Guttau so that we can go through full lab work and hormone panel assessment. If not now, when? You deserve to live with maximum energy and my course and this podcast are here to teach you how. As always, my friends, I want to keep it simple. Keep it brief. I want to make sure that I’m giving you value.

[00:10:56] Jenny Swisher: But when I asked my course takers, what are the biggest needle movers for you? These were the five things that they said. We talked a lot about listening to our body, right? Giving permission to listen to our own bodies. We talked about biohacking our sleep, using wearable devices, using magnesium, which will actually help improve quality of sleep and relaxation and anti anxiety.

[00:11:17] Jenny Swisher: We talked about fiber and protein and fueling enough, proper hydration and electrolytes, and of course, removing those toxins from our environment where we can. So I hope you’ve learned something from this today. This could be truly your health goal in a nutshell for 2024. Focus on these five things and I promise you will move the needle in your health.

[00:11:36] Jenny Swisher: As always, my friends, thank you so much for tuning in until next time. We’ll talk soon. Bye bye.