#335 Off the Pill, Back in Balance: Healing Your Cycle Naturally with Dr. BreAnna Guan

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Dr. Donni Wilson struggled for decades to solve her numerous health issues and heal her body. But with focused determination, she healed herself. And in doing so, she discovered the Dr. Donni Stress Recovery Protocol. On this show, you're gonna hear from doctors, nutritionists, and experts along with Dr. Donni who will give practical advice and wisdom to help heal your body. This is How Humans Heal.

Hi, and welcome to How Humans Heal. I'm Dr. Doni Wilson. And in today's episode, I have Dr. Briana Gwon here to talk with us about women's health and women's hormones. And we especially want to talk about some things that often don't get talked about, like what if you want to come off the birth control pill and you want to get your menstrual cycle regulated naturally, whether that's because you're planning on a pregnancy and you want to prepare for that, or maybe because you just don't want to be on a birth control pill anymore, or you're having side effects to the birth control pill. So we wanna be like thinking about how is it that we can balance our hormones naturally? What are all the options that we have as naturopathic doctors? Because Dr. Briana Gwon is also a naturopathic doctor like me and also graduated from Bastyr University. And so it's really such a pleasure to have you here with us, Dr. Briana, to talk about this as naturopathic doctors, as colleagues to say, Wow, there's so much that we can offer women who are struggling with hormone balance, whether that's— right, if that's PMS or painful cramps or PMOS or even perimenopause or preconception, all these Ps. How do we help women? And I know that you specialize in this, especially after dealing with it yourself. So maybe you can Just tell us a little bit more about how this played out in your life in terms of, and how you realized, hey, this is something you wanted to be able to help other women with.

Yeah, so when I was a teen, I had extremely painful periods. I would like lay in bed curled up in a ball. I would, you know, soak menstrual products in an hour. It was just, it was really bad. And so my mom took me to the nurse or doctor, And I got put on the birth control pill to solve the problem. And I think a lot of women end up going down that same sort of trail where they have a menstrual issue and the pill becomes the option for solving the problem. Later down the road, when I was doing pre-med, I wanted to go off the pill. And when I went off the pill, my period didn't come back. It took about 6 years for me to recover it. Every time I would go get lab testing done, they'd say, oh, your hormones are normal. Just go back on the pill. It's because you're a runner, or, you know, some other reason, or they didn't have a reason. And so I started looking for other options. I was like, I knew that I didn't know about naturopathic medicine or holistic health, but I knew there had to be something different. And so I started searching for answers, and I wanted— I was doing pre-med, and I also wanted something to bring life to people, not just Not just like molecular steps. I wanted— I was looking for something like vitality or the life behind all of these things. And that led me to naturopathic medicine. And through those, you know, practices and learning so many things, my period finally came back. But it was quite a journey. And I'm actually really thankful for it because I think I got to heal, right? Like, you talk about, you know, how do humans heal? And it— what if I had just stayed on the pill and then waited till I was 30 or 40 and wanted to have a baby and then had to, you know, start the process then? So I feel like for younger women, when they're suggested to go on the pill because they have a hormone issue, it's— that's their opportunity. That's their in to healing. And I want to see more women find that in and use it and see it as that. That open door for finding solutions.

Yeah, it's so, it's so important. I agree. And it's— and the thing is, is that when women go to a gynecologist, right, you would think, okay, I'm having menstrual cramps or irregular cycles or heavy bleeding. I'm going to go to the gynecologist who's going to help. And yet most times when women go to the gynecologist with those concerns, the most common prescription is a birth control pill, right?

Right.

Even still.

Yes, um, 100%. They, they might get blood work. Typically it's not very in-depth. They don't typically look at hormone levels because, uh, random hormone testing doesn't typically provide very much information. And then they might have an ultrasound, and then they end up— if they have fibroids or endometriosis or PMOS or just painful irregular cycles, you might get an IUD or the birth control pill, which doesn't help with the underlying causes or Or really look at what is causing the symptoms or irregularities for that woman. It's hugely frustrating.

And like you, many women go years without being diagnosed with something like endometriosis or PMOS. A lot of times it's not the first thing that gets identified. And so, I mean, I know for myself as well, I had severe menstrual cramps for many years And it was not diagnosed, and and the only suggestion was a birth control pill. And then I had side effects to the birth control pill, and that were severe, like extreme bruising. And literally, the doctor said, "You can't take that anymore." And so then I was kind of thrown into what am I going to do? You know, like like what you were saying, like you know we have that similarity in our story. Like oh my gosh, I'm thrown into what am I supposed to do with this? And actually. At the time, I was at naturopathic medical school and was trying even— sometimes we even in naturopathic medical school, you might get first recommended different B vitamins and herbs that help the liver. And, what ended up happening is I felt worse. Sometimes that can happen where you even try something natural at first and then you end up feeling worse or not better. And then you just feel like—

Yeah.

Now what? And, and I think that's an important point to say that sometimes if we just grab a certain nutrient or herb, it's not really getting to that. Like you're saying, we want to get to the underlying cause, what's really going on underneath. We don't— it's not just about replacing the birth control pill with an herb. It's how do we understand what's really going on in your body at a deeper level, would you say?

Absolutely. Yeah. I think you have to look at the woman as a whole and where do we see the systems working or not working or what is what might be present that's a deterrent from health? Like, where is the piece? Her whole story has to be evaluated. Her diet, her gut microbiome, her nervous system, her stress, her hormone balance, liver detoxification, nutrient status, sunlight, sleep, all of these. As naturopathic doctors, we look at all of these pieces and we evaluate each woman uniquely 'cause there's no just one protocol that's gonna be the thing for her. And so, yeah, I like to think of it like farming, you know, how's the soil? How's the ecosystem? How's the— how is she presenting that way so we can nurture and revitalize her back to health? If you just pour fertilizer on some soil that's not so great, that you might produce more leaves or something, but it might not like create a healthy ecosystem. Could create more problems, like you said.

And this is the difference with— as naturopathic doctors, we're trained to think of it differently, right? We're trained to not only look for what's the underlying cause, but to look at the body as a whole. That's what I hear you saying, is like, we can't just— we can't just look at the uterus and the vagina, and we can't even just look at estrogen and progesterone. We need to look at all the things.

Yes.

So what do you look like when you're helping a patient when she says she first comes in with, you know, irregular cycles or cramping? Well, what are some— how do you think through, you know, so just so women can kind of start to think through, like, this is what should happen if a doctor is really going to look at you as a whole and look for the underlying causes. This is what they should be doing, right?

Yeah. So I spend about an hour with the first consultation with my clients gathering information about these various systems. So where else in their body do they feel disharmony? So You know, how is their how is their sleeping? How is their stress management or stress levels? Are they anxious? How is their mood? Do they have skin issues? So where what I'm doing is investigating and looking for other signs and symptoms outside the menstrual cycle. Of course, we're going to really thoroughly talk about like when do you bleed and how often and what is it like and do you have cervical mucus and do you have bleeding right before your period comes and how's your PMS and how do you feel at ovulation?

All of those.

pieces tell us about hormones, but then are there other areas of the body that are speaking to us too? Do we get migraines? Do we feel fatigued? How's the libido, immune system? So we're looking and gathering all of this data about what is the body communicating so we can see where the imbalances lie. So perhaps she doesn't sleep well, and then Maybe her— we'll explore her diet and exercise and lifestyle pieces that might contribute to sleep, mineral status. So we're really just looking so broadly, Doni. And I also like to do testing with my clients to confirm things and look deeper. So I'm doing hormone testing for my clients, metabolic testing, immune testing, nutrient testing.

Mm-hmm.

Gut microbiome testing. All of these things could be impacting a woman's menstrual cycle. It's not just like a hormone issue. Hormones just reflect whatever we're doing.

And these kinds of tests that you're just mentioning, usually the gynecologist isn't going to know about them or mention them or offer them. So women are going to have to, you know, realize, okay, if, if my gynecologist isn't saying there's anything else I could do, that might mean I need to go to a practitioner who is going to offer some more tests that allow us to be detectives and figure out, because it can be unique for each person, right? It could be completely different for each person with the same symptoms.

Yes, yes, absolutely. So, um, for example, PMOS could be related to breathing, right? Like, uh, nasal breathing versus mouth breathing at night. And she— so say she's mouth breathing all night, you should be nasal breathing. but she's mouth breathing and it's causing a significant stress on her system, her blood sugars are irregular, she becomes insulin resistant, that could impact or be a part of her story for PMOS. And so either things that you might see in her blood work, her red blood cell count could be elevated or her insulin levels might be high. And so it really takes understanding how all of these pieces fit together, the chemistry, the physiology, the physics, And then what, what does it take to support vitality and, and finding where are the weaknesses there?

And, and you mentioned some about like light exposure and, and connection to nature as well, which is also really such a— right, it's naturopathic medicine, which means we're supporting healing using nature. And so I love how you already mentioned You know, like the connection to nature and our natural environment and how that could be related to women's hormones. Tell us more about that.

Yeah, there's so many layers and connections. But, you know, usually humans do not historically or even other animals spend so much time indoors. It's very irregular to be indoors all of the time and to be under artificial light. So I think just the act of going outside is so beneficial. One of the things that I often have my clients start with is morning walks. So wake up, go outside, take a walk, and you end up— if you circle the same path every day all year, you get connected to the seasons, the temperature changes. It activates the parasympathetic nervous system, so rest and digest. You feel more awake, you have your movement. I heard your lymphatics flow, you know, all of these benefits from being outside and moving. Um, and then also we see the seasons, um, changing and reflected in our own health. You know, we have seasons, so, um, reproductive is, you know, like spring. And, um, we just make all these connections, um, by being in touch with nature. I think, uh, there are so many things about nature reflected in our bodies and through the menstrual cycle. One thing I teach my clients is about Finding the seasons and adjusting their lifestyle practices, dietary adjustments to support their menstrual cycle. So, for example, the winter season of your menstrual cycle is when you're bleeding. The spring of your menstrual cycle is the follicular phase. Ovulation is summer, your peak energy. Fall is the fruiting time, you know, when you might become pregnant, or that's time when you're going to slow down in your cycle. And so we can see all of these patterns repeated, and we can't separate ourselves from the outside world, from nature. We're a part of it, and it— those patterns are reflected in us. And so the more that we make those connections, I think it just makes us all the more vital.

And it really helps us to honor our own bodies and, and allow our bodies to create that pattern, right? Because sometimes when— I find a lot of times when women have an irregular menstrual cycle, let's say for whatever that reason is, whether it's PMOS or perimenopause or whatever we might diagnose it, we have to look deeper and go, wait a minute, what is it? Is it that she, the woman, is so busy right now in our lives, right? That's the thing. A lot of times as women, we get so busy with work and taking care of our families and taking care of everything on the to-do list that we end up lowest on the to-do list. And we aren't doing, like you were talking about, this morning walk or time to just even a few minutes to connect with nature, whether that's pets or plants or outdoors and the seasons. And if we don't get that, then we're kind of like— just existing in our head and our thoughts all the time, and we're not really existing in our bodies. And, and it ultimately can cut off the communication to the ovaries. And if the ovaries aren't— if the ovaries are just getting a signal, hey, we're too stressed right now, then the ovaries are not going to ovulate and make hormones and do this natural cycle that you're talking about. Do you find that too?

Absolutely. You have to ask yourself, ask yourself, what do I need? You know, maybe you do need like a moment of stillness. Maybe you need to pause to drink water. Maybe you need to take breaks to nourish yourself regularly. Maybe you need to invest in relationships more. Maybe, you know, so where are her needs? Is she breathing? And so I think listening, doing an inventory of where those things can be such a profitable just first step. And most of the time there's something that pops up, like, what do you need? And just pause and listen. And, and then I think, I think that's a great question for women to ask themselves and for practitioners too. What, where, what is, um, what's detracting from our health and what do we need more of?

And really listen for the message from within, right? Like, because sometimes at, at first we might just, it might be what we think we need. But when you can connect back in with your body and go, what is it my body's been really trying to tell me? When everything's a little more quiet, right? And we can go, oh, that's what I need. I need, you know, maybe it's you need like an hour on the couch under a soft blanket. It could be something like that, right?

Yes, absolutely. It's not always more. Sometimes it's something a little bit less. Yeah.

And it's amazing to me how responsive the ovaries are to that over time. Like, we could be— we can be trying to push and push and push the ovaries, and lo and behold, it isn't that they need us to push them more, it's that we— they actually need us to show them safety. That when our body feels safe and our stress hormone levels drop, All of a sudden, the ovaries start responding again and, and do— making hormones in a more balanced pattern.

Right. I love to think about, um, chickens for reproduction because they make eggs. It's so obvious. But can you imagine like a factory farm where you have chickens just packed into this farmhouse, right? And the farmer might be upset the chickens aren't laying as much, um, You know, it's crowded, they don't have sunlight, maybe they take antibiotics. It's just not a really healthy ecosystem or environment. Um, you know, if he put ashwagandha in their feed to help their stress hormones, like, that's not going to— I mean, they might lay more eggs, but have we really enhanced, um, the situation? And, and I don't want to equate women to chickens, but— If you took that chicken out and put it into an ecosystem where there was grass and sunlight, the chicken could very quickly have a change. Like you're saying, you know, you're restoring an environment that's supportive where they have light and good food nutrients. The stress hormones are going to just go down so quickly by changing those things. And so, you know, where in our life are we factory farming? And where can we enhance things. The supplements are, are, can be a really key, amazing, beneficial compound, but they don't change the ecosystem that the woman is within, and they don't change the soil. And so I think we have to keep coming back to that when there's so much push for, you know, take something outside to like fix what's inside. They can be complementary, but I, you know, we have to look at the whole picture.

And those, those foundational pieces. If you're— say you're working with a naturopathic doctor, you should be hearing them say things like you're hearing from Dr. Briana and I and hearing like, hey, let's get the foundation of taking care of you going first, the feeding yourself well, getting enough sleep, getting these, these moments of recovery in through the day. And then we can say, okay, now should we add something? Right. That's this, this is how we learn and trained in naturopathic medicine to go in that ladder of intervention.

Yes. It often seems like it's lacking sensation when you, when you start out, but those foundations are so essential and so important and they make, I mean, sometimes if you just lay the foundations, that's all you need. You don't have to add in all of the layers and high-level things. It's amazing what we can do when we take care of ourselves that way.

And then it helps with maintaining over time, right? Because then you get into— you build it into your usual routine. You don't even think about it anymore. And this is how you can maintain over time, is what I find as well. I'm curious if, say, someone's like, okay, I got it. I'm going to come back to the basics first. And then maybe then say they get access to this testing with— and we'll talk about here where you guys can all, if you're interested, you can get in touch with Dr. Briana because You do virtual work as well to help women with balancing their hormones naturally.

Absolutely, yes. All of my clients are virtual, and so it's really fun to get to work with people from all over.

So if you're, you're interested, you'll be able to find how to reach Dr. Briana down below in the notes. And so as we, you know, say you work with a practitioner or like with me and we do testing, because I agree, we got to do— sometimes we can use this specialty testing to get a better sense of what's going on. Sometimes it's Regular blood work, but some things we can't find in the regular blood work. Like you said, it's not very accurate to just check estrogen, progesterone there. So we need to do specialty testing and then we can start to implement. But maybe you can give a little bit of either an example or just talk through what that might look like in terms of nutrients and herbs to support the menstrual cycle.

Yeah, absolutely. I do a lot with dietary adjustments to help support the menstrual cycle. I mentioned briefly the cycle syncing with your food. I think that can make a huge difference in supporting quality of ovulatory activity. So some women might have really regular cycles, they might ovulate every month, but the quality of that ovulation, the quality of the progesterone and the second half can be impacted by supporting the dietary approaches in the first half of the cycle. So the first half of the cycle really is reflected in the second half of the cycle.

Mm-hmm.

I think it's so important to understand that. I utilize a lot of herbs to balance inflammation within a woman's body. I like curcumin and green tea, things to support liver detoxification and clearing hormones. I like nutrients to balance inflammation like fish oils. I, I think those can be really vital. Magnesium comes up a lot. So we— I do utilize a lot of magnesium in my practice. And then I, I take special efforts to support gut health for hormone health, and they might seem disconnected, but the gut has a huge impact on Hormone metabolism, food preferences, mood, the immune system, pain. And so with all of these overlaps, I, I never leave gut health neglected for my clients. I think so that, that's— I utilize just various different herbs to support microbial balance, probiotics. So those are some of my favorite strategies for helping women, but I just take a case-by-case approach. I do see a fair amount of adrenal dysregulation. So whether it's high adrenal output or low adrenal output, most of those women, they know that they're— they suspect their adrenals are off. Sometimes they're surprised they're actually low. They think they're high, or they're high. They thought they were low, but. I like to investigate those things and use adaptogenic herbs or supportive herbal therapies for helping to balance those types of hormones. So yeah, I, um, I love herbal medicines. I think they're, you know, um, balancers versus drivers for, you know, turning off something or turning on something. They really help to regulate and work on many different So they can have unique approaches and activities based on what the woman's body needs, which I think is just fascinating.

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Yeah, the gas and bloating are huge ones. I feel a lot of women are stating that they're bloated all the time, and that can correlate with the menstrual Any abdominal pain often correlates and overlaps. If there's more inflammatory activity happening within the gut, that's gonna ripple throughout the system. And so menstrual cramps might become more chronic. She might just have chronic pain that she thinks is related to her gastrointestinal system. It could be hormonally driven or like endometriosis. So pelvic pain. can be a big one for overlapping there. And then irregular stool patterns could be something. Fatigue, sugar cravings, food cravings, um, like excessive appetite or food noises could be a sign that there's microbial imbalances. Frequent illnesses can be a sign there's microbial imbalances. And painful periods. Estrogen dominance is often associated with gut microbiome imbalances, and The immune system can cause the uterine environment to change and the upregulation of estrogen receptors. The dysfunction of progesterone receptors can be caused by gut inflammation. So there, it's— yeah.

So many, so many.

Can't keep them apart.

Right? And now there's research to show all of this.

We— Yes.

You know, it's a classic, you know, really, actually, for naturopathic doctors to say that Most all health issues start in the gut, but now the research is proving it and showing like, yeah, we need to heal the gut if we want to heal the rest of you.

Yeah, there's, there's good bacteria in your gut, right? And when they metabolize your foods and your fibers, they create super chemicals that ripple through your system and support your health. But there's bad bugs in the gut too, and when they metabolize and live their life, the chemicals that they produce ripple through and negatively impact your health. And so there's It's it's really fascinating. One of my favorite supplements is my spice cabinet, right? So I like to encourage my patients, especially when we're going through some sort of gut protocol, to utilize culinary herbs. Most cultures used an abundance of culinary herbs. You know, people would travel thousands of miles to trade spices. Spices were very important, and they they have polyphenols and antioxidants. And they, they are food for the gut microbiome. And so it's amazing what you can do just with your spice cabinet, just adding a little more clove or cinnamon or oregano. You're feeding and impacting your gut microbiome and therefore your hormone health also.

Amazing. And you mentioned the importance of diet before. There again, it's like realizing what we eat Is what's going to feed our gut bacteria, which is going to influence our hormones and everything else, right? So what do you— if someone's struggling with— you start to— you're listening and you're like, oh my gosh, yeah, I have all these gut issues. Um, and where do you encourage them to start in terms of diet changes?

Mm-hmm. I think, um, you can do, uh, gradual changes like incorporating more prebiotic fibers into your diet. Um, or increasing your vegetable consumption is always a really great place to start. So, um, you know, 2.5 cups twice a day of leafy green or green non-starchy veggies. That's a good addition for gut health and fiber, minerals, alkalinity. I love that. And it's so easy. Just start with roughage. Um, and then, um, If you want to add on to that, you can work on reducing, uh, you know, processed foods. So processed foods have become so abundant in our society. Most— and when I say processed, I think of foods that are turned, that are created, um, from a flour. So something has been pulverized into a flour and then, um, made into a food. So those foods can really impact blood sugar metabolism for women. impacts their digestive microbiomes. So I think moderating those foods can be hugely impactful for hormone health.

Yeah, it's so true. And so just sort of going to your kitchen and noticing, okay, are there— it usually comes in the form of like a box or a package, or a— right, it's something you got at the store that was pre-made and has a label on the side of it that's like a Right? Like a— like you said, made from a flour, whether that's a wheat flour or another powder, and then it ends up just imbalancing the blood sugar. Let's talk about that a little bit because now that PCOS was renamed as PMOS, which is— I think it's— for all these years I always said that PCOS is really not a good name because it's putting the emphasis on the ovarian cysts when a woman doesn't necessarily have to have ovarian cysts to get that diagnosis. And I feel like for a while too, and probably even now, if a doctor, if a gynecologist wasn't able to identify a cause for a woman's symptoms, they would kind of just put them, put everybody into that category of PCOS. And we've known the research has existed for over 20 years about connecting blood sugar imbalance to PCOS, which is now PMOS. But it's, I think, becoming even more the stronger awareness for that, which I'm so glad for. What are your thoughts on that? And how— let's talk through, like, what is that connection between— because I think a lot of times women are surprised. What does my blood sugar have to do with my ovaries? What the heck? Who knew that was related?

So I think some women have a genetic predisposition to be more on the PMOS spectrum. And I think PMOS is a spectrum. You can have really strong symptoms, you can have milder symptoms. And I think of PMOS as a genetic superpower or advantage, not a disability or a weakness. Often it's— these women are strong, they have higher androgen levels, making their bodies stronger. They're able to store tissue more easily, so they have that more storage-type metabolism, which would make them able to survive in challenging environments. carry, you know, babies or work hard out in an environment that would support their survival. But if you put them into an office space and you give them access to processed foods all day so they don't have to utilize that storage metabolism type, it becomes a weakness. So it's a strength put into the wrong environment, is my—

Mm-hmm.

For a lot of women. And so I like to encourage my PMOS clients to really utilize or try to work in their strengths. So if they have access to these processed foods or high-sugar foods, their insulin levels are going to go up. And so insulin causes the ovaries to prevent testosterone from being— to turn into estrogen. And so that estrogen surging in the first half of the cycle is so important. And if we're not doing that conversion step, the testosterone stays elevated and ovulation Gets delayed, delayed, delayed because we don't have the big estrogen surge. So in the first half of the cycle, when you're menstruating, when it's the follicular time, I tell women to moderate their blood sugar, their insulin, so that they can convert testosterone into estrogen, cause that estrogen to surge, and that helps support that regularity of the cycle. Women also who have that kind of tendency or irregularity like that benefit from. More physical activity. Building lean muscle mass is a huge medicine for balancing that blood sugar. Getting getting outside, doing harder physical activities. Sometimes you hear like be gentle, take walks, do yoga, and all those things are nice and great and really important. And I I like women to choose the exercises that they like, but. Women with PMOS often benefit from doing more active physical labor to really challenge their bodies to build the muscle mass and utilize the glucose and keep those things more balanced if they have those storage-type metabolisms. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, thank you so much for explaining that, and that's going to be so helpful. And I think, yeah, that the way you explain it makes so much sense. Because then it's also reframing it into a positive sense of like, okay, this is, this is actually a way that your body's trying to help you. We just need to help understand that and then match that, give your body what it needs, you know, in order to still be able to have a regular menstrual cycle and support fertility. Is that when you help women with preparing for pregnancy, is it some of these same things you're talking about, or is there anything unique that you find is important related to fertility?

I think there are certain things that you can do in terms of nutrients. I like to focus on a few that I think are really essential for preconception health, and I like to help my clients lay that nutritional foundation because we can end up positively impacting the offspring and many generations to come. Often with fertility, the goal is to have a baby, and that's so understandable because, you know, we want to have children and we want to be productive and make families. But I think we can think further as to impacting the generations to come, and that's why I'm so inspired by preconception health. How can we help this family to have this very healthy baby, and then the generations are going to be impacted by that. So I love to help women optimize their diet. I really think omega-3 fish oils or omega-3s in the diet can be really beneficial for fertility, making sure she has sufficient iron and B vitamins. Choline is really important for that first stage of fertility. And most women don't get enough iodine. That's such a huge one for fertility. And, um, and your need for iodine goes up. And there's studies showing, you know, omega-3s and iodine impacting IQ. And so if— and that's something that you can't reverse necessarily if you don't have great iodine levels during pregnancy, then You know, so I think there are these like keystone opportunity points that we can really support a family. And I also think that it's so important to support the male factor fertility because his part contributes to the health of the woman's pregnancy. And so, and her pregnancy is going to impact her health for the rest of her life. And so she's carrying forward whatever he you know, gives to her. So I think it's, it's so vital for her long-term health to have a healthy partner to, um, you know, in terms of preventing gestational diabetes or preeclampsia and those types of conditions. The male factor can contribute to what a woman experiences in pregnancy.

Isn't it something? I love that you're emphasizing that. And, and really for women to know that it's when you have a pregnancy, That, that egg was developing from 3 months prior, right? So there's this at least 3 months that you can— if both partners can be focusing on the things we've been talking about, diet and stress recovery and nutrients and balancing hormones and microbiome and blood sugar and so on, then you're— like you're saying, it's only going to help you get pregnant easier, but it's also going to then help the health of your baby.

Yeah, it's such a gift. It's, um, such a beautiful gift. I, um, I, I love to go to the grocery store and look at older people and see what, you know, how do they— how are they walking around. And, um, often, you know, women might have goals to be thin or to lose weight or have a regular period or You know, have a baby, all of these things. But I think we need to think about aging well and the next generation and looking forward. How can we be strong? And how can we how can we see this society that's so kind of health consumed? Or I'm not sure exactly the word for it, but how can we look to being vital? You know, so that we can be our strongest versions of ourselves for the future generations. Like when I see. You, Dr. Doni, at the grocery store, you know, in 30, 40 years, like, you know, standing up tall and with a quick pace walking around. And it's, it's such a beautiful thing to be able to be vital and for the next generations to have that vitality passed down to them through the practices that we adopt to support our fertility or menstrual health. All of these are doorways in to, to support vitality and, um, and then something that we can pass forward.

It's, it's really so beautiful to have that bigger perspective when we're making choices because— and sometimes it's hard to decide, oh, I'm gonna decrease my sugar intake, or I'm gonna, I'm gonna eat more vegetables, or I'm gonna exercise. It's sometimes in the moment you're like, oh my gosh, how am I going to do that? I'm so busy. But when you can kind of go, oh, this is not just about me, this is about my— what's happening in my future and for my health, but also for my family's health. And, and so when we can see that bigger picture, we can go, oh, okay, this is not just about this moment in time, this is about the future and future generations. And, and sometimes that can help in those moments of like Like, when, you know, I encourage women, if you're struggling with making changes, you know, think of why are you doing these? Why do you want to make these changes? Why do you want to be able to balance your hormones? And I mean, first of all, yes, get out of pain if you're having menstrual cramps and be able to have a pregnancy. But even more, like, what is it? What is really the why? And when you connect with your why, right, then you can sometimes— then you can go, okay, this is something I value and I'm doing it because it has value to me and is priority to me in my life, you know, is different, right?

Right. It's hugely different.

Yeah.

And the, um, you know, you end up becoming an agent of change, right? You start making changes. People notice, you know, when you have dinner together, oh, you're, you're doing this, you look different. And then you just end up rubbing off, like, your good habits and things. They impact everyone around you. So you're Your colleagues and your, um, your students or friends, they, they're all positively impacted. And so it just ripples out forward from you. You become a little shining light of vitality that gets to be mobile for longer and do things that you love. And, and pain is so hard, so it's such a gift that you're paying forward to yourself, an investment.

Oh my gosh, it's so beautiful. And I'm just thinking of, of your patients who you've been helping. Maybe you have an example patient who, who's been through this process with you and has come, you know, has experienced that transformation where she's like becoming the shining light for her friends and family.

Yes, um, it's, it's amazing to see women, um, transform.

It really is.

And it feels, you know, sometimes when you're getting started, it feels really hard and like, how am I going to go be social and how am I going to do these things with my friends? But you just, you learn how to do them. You, and you start with baby steps. And even, um, I'm thinking of a client now who I'm working with. Every time I see her, I feel like she looks a little bit different than the, you know, the first time, first time she was fatigued and tired and she felt so scattered. She could, in her professional life, she was having a hard time making decisions and moving forward because things were just so overwhelming for her. And so starting with baby steps and being accountable to yourself. So picking one thing that you can do, maybe it was that thing that you were quiet about and asked yourself, you know, like sitting on the couch with a blanket for 30 minutes, an hour. Maybe it's you just start with that and you show up to it consistently for yourself. Maybe you don't have an hour. Maybe you start— it's like like 10 minutes of walking around the block, one glass of water, something that you can absolutely do. You show up to it and then you feel, you feel different from that. Like getting that chicken that's in that big cage in the, in the factory farm, you get that chicken outside for part of the day, it would make a huge difference consistently. So these small things that we can absolutely accomplish Um, can help be what we build upon and create opportunities for transformation. So it's, um, it's starting small. With so many times when I tell my clients they— I want them to do strength training, it's like, I, I don't have time for strength training. 10 minutes of strength training can absolutely change body composition, and we all feel like we need to do 30 minutes, 45 minutes at the gym. It's not— it doesn't have to be huge. It can be just a tiny move in that direction is enough.

Oh, I love that you're, you're encouraging women to just— yeah, I agree. You just start little by little. We don't have to make giant changes, and we don't have to be perfect either. We can just be committed to, I'm going to make little incremental changes, and to trust that it's going to add up to bigger changes over time.

Yes. Yeah, it does. But I think that, you know, the people who are at the grocery store walking around fast with straight backs, they're just— they live, they live something. It's not a protocol that they started or like a— I mean, maybe they did a boot camp, but I think that the living, the way that we live, and so it has to be sustainable and it's never going to be perfect. But we're just going to live in a way that supports us day after day the best that we can. It makes it enjoyable. And find things that you enjoy to do. It doesn't have to be like, you know, you're working so hard to get healthy. Of course, there can be some effort behind these things, but find the joy in it too so you can do it until you're 80, 90, 100, right?

Absolutely. And that's— it's interesting. I think as naturopathic doctors, we— because we're helping others, but we're also living this ourselves in our own lives. We're practicing all the things we're talking about. We do for ourselves too. And so we realize that it's— that it's— that getting healthy and being healthy is the journey, is the life experience, right?

Mm-hmm.

I think that's what I hear you saying.

Yes, right. It's, it's so natural to be healthy, you know. Um, like, in, in most, uh, you know, plants in their natural ecosystem are typically thriving, and animals in their normal ecosystem, they're thriving. Our body always wants to move to a state of health. It always wants to heal and find equilibrium. But sometimes there are deficiencies or are like toxins that come in or pests that come in. And so we can recover from those things, but the natural state of life is one of productivity and health and vitality. Um, and it feels— it's a, uh, it's a good feeling to have.

And even if you've been, oh my gosh, struggling with severe symptoms and severe issues, it's still possible to heal. I just want to give that encouragement because Yeah. I mean, I myself, I had severe migraines for 20 years, even as a naturopathic doctor. And I felt embarrassed to tell anyone at the time because I'm like, I'm the naturopathic doctor and I still have these migraines. And I just kept working on it, you know? Like, so just get that, like, just that commitment and determination to say, hey, my body can heal. I know my body can heal if I just keep working for what are those incremental changes that are going to get me there. And eventually now I don't get Migraines, they're gone. And I don't, you know, like so it's like that can happen. So even if you have severe symptoms, don't give up on yourself. Absolutely worth it to reach out to work with an naturopathic doctor who can help guide you. It's not that you're supposed to be able to figure this all out yourself.

Right, absolutely. There are so many women suffer with you know heavy periods, painful periods, all like throughout their life, and they think it's normal or. But those things can be healed and recovered, and it, it can take time, but it's so worth the time. And it can— you will learn so much along the way about your body with each step. And you might try things that don't work, but it doesn't mean that it's a dead end. You just keep going. And I think what you said is so right, that commitment and saying, I can heal, that is— That has so much weight just in and of itself to be Having that faith and commitment for yourself and trust in your body, it's huge.

I'm so glad we got to have this conversation today. Thank you so much for joining me here at How Humans Heal. And I, I'm so glad for everyone listening to know you as a resource if you're dealing with menstrual-related symptoms, or maybe you have a diagnosis of endometriosis or PMOS, or you're working on preparing for a pregnancy, or even if you're having perimenopausal symptoms. You know now that Dr. Briana is available virtually wherever you are to be able to help guide you using these naturopathic tools. Is there anything else you'd like to share before we wrap up, Briana?

Oh, I just really appreciate you, Dr. Doni, having this podcast and bringing all these guests in. It's such a gift to just be shining light on all of these ways that humans can heal, and so I just want Thank you for what you do. Thank you.

I'm so— I appreciate that, and I'm always so glad to get to connect with you. So I'll put all of your contact information in the notes. And thanks all of you for listening in today. I hope you walked away with some insights for your life and your body and your health. And we'd love to hear from you, and we'd love for you to subscribe so you don't miss the next episode of How Humans Heal. Thanks everyone, I'll talk to you soon.

Thanks for listening to How Humans Heal. If you liked this episode, leave a rating and a review, and for more resources, visit drdoni.com.