#115: Optimizing Your Life and Body Through Diet and Hormone Balance with Karen Martel

Hi, I'm Dr. Tabitha, the gutsy gynecologist. I'm a triple board certified, OB, GYN and Functional Medicine physician. I've embraced the world of functional medicine and wellness through my own personal health journey. And I'm super excited to share my wisdom and unique perspective as it pertains to women's health. After caring for thousands of women, I've come to realize that your gut health determines your gyne health and your overall health. And it's a super gutsy thing for me to go against conventional gynecology practice to bring you the truth. No more band aid medicine, ladies. We're talking root cause resolution on this show. So if you're struggling with hormone imbalance, weight gain, period issues, anxiety, insomnia, you name it, then you've come to the right place. And I want to be your gutsy gynecologist. So welcome. All right, ladies, this episode probably is going to be an important one to listen to because I feel like every women have experienced this at some point or another where you're doing all the right things, you're feeling good, but then something happens and your body starts working against you, you start gaining weight, all of a sudden you don't have the energy and you don't feel amazing anymore and you feel like, what the heck happened? And, and my guest today, she talks about her story and how she went through all of that and everything she figured out. And we are really going to dive deep into why does that happen? Why does our body seem to sabotage us, why our hormones get imbalanced, our thyroid quits working, our adrenals no longer can handle our stress, and we want to get mad at our body and blame our body and all of that, when what we need to do is just have some empathy for our body and some grace and really look at what's going on. And there's ways to get evaluated and to figure all of this out. And what my guest has realized and what a lot of women have realized at this point, but I really want you to understand is that what we have been told by conventional medicine for the past 20 years to make us healthy is really stressing out our bodies and not helping our bodies. You know, the low fat diet, the no fat diet, all of these processed vegetable oil products like margarine and everything, and like high intense calorie exercises that were like burning calories, burn more calories and calorie deficits, or just eat less exercise more. Like all of that mentality was really destroying our bodies. And my guest today explains that really well. And she explains what you should be doing instead, which is the even more important part, because, like, now we're understanding, like, hey, that didn't really work for us, us. Or it worked for a little bit and then we rebounded. That's a really common scenario is like, it'll work for a while and then your body will say, no, we're not doing that anymore. So we've really talked about this in detail and I think it's important for all women to understand. And we also go on a tangent about what birth control pills do to your body and Mirena IUDs and all that other medication that's given by doctors to quote, unquote, help you, but in reality is oftentimes causing new issues and more root cause issues. So I think this episode is just important for every woman to know because the more that we know about how our bodies are functioning and responding to things in our environment and to the things we're putting into our bodies, medications, food, all of that, like, the better you will be able to get in tune with your body and listen to it and navigate what's going on and understand your journey. Because you're never going to be stagnant. You're never going to have the same hormone levels every day, day after day. Women are very cyclical, but we are also seasonal. And then we are also seasonal in the fact that that we go from reproductive to perimenopause to menopause. And so understanding that these transitions can be multiple years in the making. And if you know how to optimize your situation, you're going to feel so much better. Your life is going to be so much more enjoyable. And so that is why I'm just so committed to like, bringing you all of this information because it's so relevant. And the more that you can soak in and understand and connect the pieces of the puzzle together, the better you're going to feel and the better your life is going to be. And you can share this with your friends and your moms and your sisters and everybody. And we can all just like, live amazing lives together. We don't have to be miserable and struggling and in survival mode and dealing with infertility and all of these yucky symptoms. Like, it's all so unnecessary. But until we realize what's causing all of this stuff, we can't fix it. So stay tuned. Listen to this episode. My guest, Karen Martel is the host of the Other side of Weight Loss podcast. So she is super passionate about all this Karen is a certified hormone specialist and transformational nutrition coach and women's weight loss expert. So she's founder of the revolutionary program On Track, a women's hormone balancing and weight loss program. She's host of the top rated women's health podcast, the Other side of Weight Loss, like I mentioned, so definitely check that out. She's going to talk about how she struggled with her own health issues and how she was determined to bring her knowledge to others with a bold new approach to women's health and weight management. Karen's passion lies in helping women break through weight loss resistance and find their weight loss through diet variation and hormone optimization. Karen is a health leader and researcher determined to revolutionize weight loss for modern women. So I'm really excited. It's a great episode. Here we go. Well, welcome, Karen, to the gutsy Gynecologist show.

Well, I'm happy to be here, Tabitha. It's so exciting.

I know, I loved our conversation beforehand because there's just so much that women don't know about and we need to just really bring the truth. Right?

It's so true. I was just talking about somebody who came to me recently and said that she wanted to become a hormone coach and I'm like, please become one. Like, there is not enough of us speaking about this right now. It's like it shocks me how little women know about that transition time between perimenopause and menopause.

Yeah, exactly. And they just don't know in general about their reproductive health or how their hormones function. And it's really nobody's fault. It's just we don't talk to people about that. We don't educate people. You know, I remember in sixth grade, I think having one day, one class, like, here's your sex ed and really not understanding it until I went into medical school. And the focus on medical school is very much like disease oriented. Like let's focus on how to treat and use or band aid approach to treat endometriosis and fibroids and cancer and things like that. But there was really no emphasis on how the hormones should be functioning every day, all month of your cycle and how your diet impacts that and your movement and your stressors. And what I've really seen is a shift in the past 30 years. And I just love your story because I think you're a perfect example of what is happening to women in this country. Right. So please share. Just, you know, the gist of like, how the heck did you even get into hormones? Because I think your story is really powerful.

Yeah, mine happened. It started after, of course, after my first child, first pregnancy. It always seems to be the trigger.

Yes.

And So I was 33, had my daughter and, you know, lost all the baby weight, was well on my way to doing fantastic a year after, stopped the breastfeeding and then just suddenly out of nowhere. And it was really like that. It was like overnight, I suddenly were getting all these symptoms and I started gaining weight and I hadn't changed anything in my diet. So I started getting severe insomnia where I couldn't sleep all night long. I. And I was raising my daughter by myself at this point in time. So that wasn't fun. I was having horrible digestive issues. My stomach would look like I was three months pregnant by the end of the day. And I was getting severe, suddenly menstrual migraines that would last for 10 days around my period. So all of this developed within like a month time. And then of course, I just focused on the weight like most women do. It's like I don't really give a crap about the rest of it. I just like, I mean, I did, but my focus was how to lose weight. Like, how do I get this weight off? Because it just kept piling on and I was getting to the heaviest I'd ever been. I was like, what the heck is happening? So I started working out harder, I started eating less, I started, you know, researching every diet under the sun. I tried the Zone, I went vegan, I was doing detoxes, I hired a personal trainer, I was doing like a CrossFit type boot camp, like six days a week. All the wrong things. And I just. Let's talk about that.

Exactly. You doing the wrong things and perpetuating it. Because that's what society was telling us at the time, right? Low fat, no fat diet, exercise more, eat less calories. So what was happening to your body? Why was the. Why were those the wrong things?

Well, and it just, it was like every, everything I tried, nothing worked. And it just kept getting worse and I kept putting weight on and all of those symptoms kept getting worse. And so, you know, my doctor, I first went to the doctor, she put me on an antidepressant and a sleeping pill. Finally I was like, there's something going on with my hormones. And I just knew it. And I was like, but nobody would have told me that I'm 33. And I went to my friend who was a naturopath and I said, could you test my hormones, do you think? And he was like, yeah, for sure. And I did a saliva hormone test and it came back that my DHEA and my cortisol were both tanked. So there I was in adrenal insufficiency, working out like crazy, doing high amounts of cardio, barely eating, which is all the exact wrong things to do. And I had to fully step back and go, what? I'm stressed out. Like, I just couldn't. I didn't even think I was a stressed out person because I associated stress with, like, that person that was like, go, go, go. And like, I've got such a stressful life. And I don't know, I just didn't think of me as that person because that's not my personality. I was still always just a chill person. And. But there I was, running my own business, single mother of a toddler, not sleeping at all, working out like crazy, and dieting, and it was like, oh, my gosh.

I really just want women to hear what you're saying because this is important. Just because mentally you can handle those stressors in your life does not mean your body physically is handling it well. And I think women need to realize this. You know, we're all over stressed, and so we think it's normal because it's so common. And in reality, our body just physiologically cannot handle all that stress. And so your adrenal glands could no longer keep up with all your exercising, all your stress, and it tanked your sex hormones and messed them up.

So they really did.

Oh, my gosh, that's such an important point because we just didn't see this. You know, 40, 50 years ago. Our grandmothers were not running their lives the way that we were. And so this really is a legitimate issue and it's wreaking havoc. So what was it looking like when it came to your sex hormones? What was all this chronic stress doing?

I had very low progesterone, I had high estrogen, and I had had a history of high estrogen because I had endometriosis and ovari and cysts. And so that wasn't surprising. I was like, okay, my estrogen is definitely too high in comparison to my progesterone. And later down the road, I did find out that I also had hypothyroidism. And so I know that pregnancy probably triggered that. I may have always had it, but it definitely amplified it. And then when the adrenal system went, it just tanked the thyroid, which was causing so many problems with the menstrual cycle and the weight gain. And I had to fully step Back. I quit doing all of that exercise. I started only doing yoga. I started asking for help. I fixed my digestive system. I found at that time the Paleo diet, which was a lifesaver for me because it really helped with my blood sugar and my inflammation and definitely helped fix my digestive system completely. Never lost any weight from it, but it definitely fixed, so changed my body composition, and I just felt so much better. But the weight didn't start coming off for a long time. Like, I quit. Thankfully, it quit gaining because I had taken that step back. But I had to heal myself, and I had to go back. And it wasn't just physical. There was a lot of emotional crap that came up at that time, too. That was, I think, all very meant to being very connected to what I was going through, because I never liked my body. I was bulimic in high school. I was obsessed with my weight. I, you know, just abused myself. I was an alcoholic. I was a drug addict for many years before I had my child. I've been sober now for. Since she's been born, but still, like, there was so much healing to do when it came to my body. And I really feel like the emotional stuff had to be healed alongside with the physical. And I see that now in women all the time, where it's like, there's this missing piece where they're not dealing with a lot of the emotional stuff that they've had to deal with throughout. Throughout a lifetime. Right. My thyroid, I think it's a. It's a big energy center. It's your voice chakra. You know, your pelvis, when you have all these, you know, ovarian and PMS and endometriosis, that's calling your attention to that energy center. And I had to go through and heal a lot of that. And that's when the weight finally started to come off.

Oh, my gosh. I'm so glad that you brought that up, because I couldn't agree more. I think that is key. You cannot heal a body you hate. You have to heal that relationship. You need to accept. Accept your body where it's at and say, I'm sorry that we're in this mess, but we're gonna fix it. As opposed to resenting your body and blaming your body. I hear that all day long with my patients. And I used to do it myself, you know, forever. Like, oh, my gosh, you're so fat. You're so weak. Why can't you do this workout? Why can't you handle this stress? And it's like, that's not what your body needs to hear.

That's not going to make your body heal. It does the opposite. It's terrible. And I came out of that whole experience going, I can't be the only one.

Right.

I'd be the only woman that is eating right, exercising, you know, feels like she's tried everything. The weight's not coming off. You still have all of these hormonal problems, but you still just keep looking to the diet and the exercises as to the solution for the solution. And that is like 98% of women out there right now. They just go to, what is the next best diet? What is the next best exercise program? And we really need to open this up because we're in an epidemic of hormone dysfunction right now in women and in men. This. Men don't see. We don't see it as. They don't get affected as much as women do because we are so. We got so much going on with our hormones, but men are being affected for sure.

Yeah, exactly. You can see the man boobs and the pot belly and everything else. They have too much sex drive. I mean, there's a ton of research now that people are having issues with gender identity because of xenoestrogens in our environment and just these hormone imbalances that are really becoming rampant. So I do think it's super important that we address this. But I. I just want women to step back and look at the truth of how they're treating themselves. Because you would never talk to your daughter the way that you talked to yourself. Right? Like, I just. Yeah, it. It breaks my heart that we are so hard on ourselves and we talk to ourselves the way that we do because we would just never do that to any other human being that we like or even don't like. Like, I'm nicer to strangers, you know, and yet we expect this body to heal. So I would love for you to, like, talk about how did you. Okay, you figured all that out. You had the testing, but then where did you go from there?

Yeah, that. That was all. I mean, like I said before, it was all kind of. It all hit me together as far as the emotional side and the physical. So then when I took that step back and I just started doing yoga, which really brought me into my body and helped me to connect to my body. I started seeing a therapist shortly after that. I started seeing an energy healer, which was super profound. I ended up seeing her for, like, seven years and had to uncover all this garbage from my past that was. I Think making me really sick. And I did get better and I did heal. And, you know, I did really well for a good solid 10 years. And then my early 40s and I went into menopause and I was like, oh, you're kidding me. But I really feel. Tabitha. It was so meant to be because I had been dabbling in the hormones. I'd become a nutritionist, and I was kind of doing this, like, general, I'll help you with your hormones, weight loss, digestive system, autoimmune condition. I had, like, this great big umbrella, right? Like, I had everything underneath it. And going into menopause early and then also having what I call a thyroid storm happen, where I realized finally that I had hypothyroidism and I was put on Armour, the Canadian equivalent to Armour, suddenly felt the best I had ever felt in my life. I was losing weight effortlessly. I was able to eat more. I felt fantastic. And then about six months in, suddenly, I was the most depressed I'd ever been. I gained ten pounds in a month. I couldn't get off my couch. My skin was itchy. My breasts were inflamed. I felt like garbage. My period was suddenly irregular, which had never been in my life. I was like, what just happened? And then that took me on a journey of years of figuring out thyroid issues. I had a high reverse T3, so I was put on the wrong medication. I had to figure this out for myself because nobody here even had a clue about how that worked or how reverse T3 worked. My doctor certainly didn't have a clue. So I had to go figure all of this out on my own, figure out why was I hitting menopause shortly after that, like, what happened with the thyroid and the hormones and what's, you know, what just happened. And so I had to go figure all of that out and start researching. And then it was just like, wow, women have no idea, no idea about their hormones. And even though I had been quite educated up to then, even about the thyroid and hormones, I. It was. I was only scratching the surface. And so I just went on this deep dive for the last probably five years of my life now of. On hormones and thyroid. And. And just now I'm. Now I'm determined to get that information out to other women out there because they don't know. They don't know what to do with their hormones. They don't realize they're going into perimenopause at 35 and that there's things that you can do to stop that, you.

Know, Yeah, I love that so much. I think what the work you're doing is so important. Women just need to realize what they're feeling and why and how their hormones are being impacted by all their everyday situation, you know, and you're a shining example of it's working until it's not. Like your body literally do everything that it can to stay in homeostasis and to maintain balance, but it will rob other systems and have such a high burden. And eventually they'll say, no, we're not doing this anymore. And then you'll have that point. And so you really do have to take that comprehensive approach and look at everything. You have to look at your adrenal glands and your thyroid, your gut, oh my goodness, your gut. So I would love for you to talk about, you know, you mentioned a little bit the paleo diet. Paleo diet really helped your gut. What else about your diet and your gut health really shifted you overall.

Because I had, you know, I had done the low fat whole grain diet. Like that was the era I grew up in. My mom was a fitness fanatic. She worked at a weight loss center. And it was like there was no fat in the house. It was only whole grains, carbohydrates, that's it. And that was the exact wrong diet for me and my body type and my genes and everything. It was just not meant for me. And so when I discovered the Paleo diet, it was like, oh.

Like, oh.

My God, this is it. And it was, and it still is. I still follow a paleo based diet. And I think that women really need to know that just because it worked for me doesn't mean it's going to work for them. And we're in this time right now where, you know, the ketogenic diet, the fasting diets are all the rage. And I tried that and I watched my thyroid just go take. I tested it before and I tested it one month after of being on the keto diet and it tanked and my metabolism went down and I didn't feel good, you know, and I get all these women that are like, oh, I've been, you know, doing one meal a day and fasting for 24 hours every single day. And I'm like, and you're wondering why you're 10 now, 20 pounds overweight, and you're losing your hair and you can't sleep. But then there's some women that go on it because they've got insulin resistance or maybe they've got really high estrogen and inflammation. Inflammation. And they Go on a ketogenic diet. And it's like how Paleo was for me, it's a miracle. And they feel like they're best they've ever felt in their life. And so depending on what your hormones are doing, is the what diet you should be leaning towards. And then that can change. A lot of the time people do really well on keto women and then in the long term it actually starts to reverse and it actually starts to cause more harm than good. So people have to just be open to changing the diet as their hormones are changing as well and just be open to that because we really do start to identify with whatever diet is working for us at that time. It's like, oh, I'm vegan. And then. And it's like, anything else is the devil. And the same with keto diets. You know, people don't want to hear that it's bad for their thyroid. They don't believe that it's bad for their thyroid. And there's these doctors saying, no, it's all good, it just means your thyroid's functioning better. And it's like, actually, no, that's not what it means because the person's losing their hair, they feel like garbage. Clearly this isn't working for their thyroid. And so you just have to be open minded when it comes to what diet you're doing. I do think that primal based diets tend to be the best for hormones because you're taking out the inflammatory foods, right? You're taking out the grains, the gluten, the dairy. For some people, the dairy and that really helps to lower inflammation, which then helps to lower inflammation in your guts so that your gut can heal. And so I feel like even if it's just to start to heal the gut for, you know, three to six months, even if you do a paleo based or a ketogenic based diet, and then you can kind of toy around a little bit with those other foods and see how your body handles them. And a lot of people can start, okay, I'm going to eat quinoa sometimes or put some beans in here and there and they do great. Other people, it's like, nope, can't do that.

Right? Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I think that it's very much individualized. It's based on your ethnicity, your genetics, where your ancestors come from, what food diet is best for you. And so many of us, we just need to get back to basics of stop eating out of boxes and bags, you know, like actual real food. Like you're saying, like, if it had a mother or it grew out of the ground and it hasn't been genetically modified like crap, then it's probably okay. But I think that we want to skip that, and we want something special and over the top. You know, we want the latest fad, and it's like, wait, we forgot to do the basics back here.

Yes, yeah, yeah.

People, alcohol in the past. Right. That kind of stuff. So, yes. Yeah.

And we. We look for, like, extreme diets because we feel like the more extreme it is, of course, the faster it's going to work, which a lot of the time it does quickly work. But is that. Can you sustain that? Very.

Right, right. You made an important point, like, sometimes strict keto, you drop the weight, but you gain it back because like I said, your body will do it for so long, and then it will say, enough is enough. And it thinks you're in survival mode. It doesn't think you're thriving. And eventually it will turn down that metabolism. Your thyroid will say, nope, we're not keeping up with you anymore. We're not doing that anymore. So I couldn't agree more. You need to know, is your thyroid struggling? Is your thyroid being attacked? Like, all of those things have such a profound impact. So I think that's so important. So tell my listeners about your group program, because I feel like you have so much success, and I love how women just get in a group and support other women, because I just think that that's part of it is just having a community and knowing that you're not alone. Right?

Yes. And so the group program has been going for five years now, which is very exciting. We've had 4,000 people go through the program over. Well, that's going to be probably 5,000 now, because that was like, six months ago. So. Yeah, and it's a very comprehensive program that teaches women about what happens to their body as they go from perimenopause and into menopause. So we have women that are in their 30s, that are in their 60s, that are, you know, well, through menopause, but are still suffering. And then women that are having a lot of hormonal dysfunction in their 30s going, what the heck is happening? And it takes them through kind of step by step. You know, what's diet? You know, we have a weekly meal plan in there that is a carb cycling program. So it goes up and down with your calories and your carbs, because that's very important for keeping the body kind of guessing. It's like you're just changing things up all the time because your body adapts to whatever diet you're going to do, it's going to adapt to that. Whatever caloric intake you're taking in, it's going to adapt to that. So if you're on a 1200 calorie day diet, it's going to work in the beginning, but then your metabolism is going to meet that and go, okay, we're going to lower the metabolism. There's not a lot of food coming in and now suddenly you stop losing weight. And so now you got to go down to 1,000 calories and then you got to go down to 800 calories. You can't do that. So in the program, I cycle the calories and the carbohydrates. So there's days where there's higher carb intake. So you're signaling to the body that there's still plenty of food around. There's fasting, you know, three days a week, usually different amounts of time in that fasting window. So sometimes you may fast for 16 hours, sometimes you may fast for 20 hours, even occasionally 24 hours. But then the next day you're going to have a full day of meals. And I really encourage women to follow that. It's very hard for them because they're coming from this background of I fast every single day for 20 hours a day, you know, and it's like, okay, but how's that working for you? You wouldn't be here if it was working. So I get them to follow that system because it really does work. Because by the end of the week, you're still in a caloric deficit, but you haven't signaled to the body that you're in starvation. So it doesn't lower the metabolism, doesn't hurt the thyroid, doesn't hurt the adrenal system. And I'll tell women, you know, if you have an un, you know, thyroid problem that is under medicated or you haven't got to the root of that hypothyroidism, maybe you've got adrenal issues that haven't been dealt with. Don't fast, then you shouldn't even be trying to lose weight. So fix those problems first, right? I take them through all of that. Like what does stress do to your hormonal system? You know, at what point in this journey is it safe to start taking bioidentical hormones? When can you just take supplements and change the diet and change your lifestyle? You know, that typically works when you're still in your 30s and early 40s. But after that, we're getting into ovarian dysfunction. And there's no amount of dieting, no amount of supplements that bring those hormones back. And doctors will not tell their patients this. So women start going to their doctors in their 40s and saying, what's happening? I can't sleep. I'm having hot flashes. They get their hormones tested. Oh, looks good. Because they sit in a range from 200 to 2,000, whatever it is, on estrogen. And they're like, yeah, you're good to go. This is normal aging. And so the program teaches women that, no, you don't have to suffer. You don't have to put up with any of these symptoms. And the earlier you get on top of this, the better it's going to be. And you're going to really enjoy those years rather than suffer through 10 to 15 years of perimenopause.

Yeah.

So I teach women all about the hormones, the bioidentical hormones, what to ask their doctors. I even have you, Tabitha, listed in my physician list of here is a doctor to see. Because it's really difficult for people. Women to find people that are really knowledgeable when it comes to hormone replacement.

Yeah. I think that's an important point, is that we rely on our gynecologists to take care of our hormones. And gynecologists are surgeons. They're not hormone experts. I was not trained in the intricacies of the endocrine system and the thyroid and the adrenals and how it's all interconnected. Until I did functional medicine training, I had basic understanding. I knew just as much as the family practice doctor or the internist. There was nothing above and beyond as a gynecologist. Yet we expect them to know stuff that they're just not trained in. And so the sooner women can understand it and just not be mad about it, but go find someone who actually has been trained in hormones and who knows and understands, you know, you'll just be so much better off because trying to get your conventional doctor to interpret the labs the way they should be, which is not based on the lab values written on that lab result, you know, it's just going to cause more frustration. They're not comfortable giving you the bioidentical prescriptions. It's like, it's not worth the fight, honestly.

And they'll give you birth control before they give you any bioidentical.

And I'm sorry, but synthetic hormones and birth control is probably one of the biggest reasons that we're in the situation that we're in, you know, that's a whole nother episode. But yeah, synthetic hormones are not the answer. And I am a proponent of bioidentical hormone replacement because we as women, we didn't used to live and thrive after menopause. In 1900, the average lifespan was 49. So yeah, we did not have to live a whole nother lifetime in the menopausal state. So you would never ask a man to live without his hormones and be happy and thriving and running businesses and taking care of families and everything. But we expect that of women. And I just think, you know, that's a really sad way to look at it. It's like, yes, it's a natural state, but we have advanced so much as society in such a quick time that our physiology has not changed to keep up with how we've changed as a society. And so we have the ability to safely keep you suspended in that nice 47 year old body for a while. Why not do it? It is safe. You just have to know how to do it appropriately.

So yeah, women don't realize the history of and the research that's been done around bioidentical hormones and their safety. And it shows that women that replace their hormones have a 30% reduction of all cause mortality. So you are healthier and safer to replace your hormones than not replace your hormones. And women just immediately think like, oh, but what about breast cancer and what about this and what about that? And it's like, no, actually it even shows that it reduces your chances of getting breast cancer. And most women don't know that. And it's like doctors are not trained in bioidentical hormones. And the whole male to female thing is so frustrating. And I have interviewed doctors even on my own podcast who I could tell were really against hormone replacement. And I just felt like saying, okay, so if your penis started to shrivel up, feel like you were having sex with a broken piece of glass. Because I've heard that from women. Yeah, you know, that their emotional disaster that they, you know, their marriage is going in the toilet, they, they're a wreck and they've gained 20 pounds. Do you think that they would if I said just take some testosterone therapy and all of this is going to go away, that you don't think that they would jump on yet? Crazy. It's crazy. Or let's just remove your balls just like, oh, let's just give you a hysterectomy if you're bleeding too much because you're in perimenopause it would never happen. Exactly. It's gotta change. It's really gotta change.

Yep. Women need to stand up for themselves and their quality of life and say enough is enough, and they need to seek alternative help. You know, there are doctors and practitioners out there who understand this, and it's just a completely different way of thinking about your health. The health care system, quote, unquote, is a sick care system. They are focused on disease and band aid medicine. They're not focused on having a good quality of life, especially after menopause. Like, that's just, oh, you're getting older. Just deal with it, you know, and yes, sir, all the time for all your symptoms. And then you're just getting new symptoms from those medicines. So it's really not the answer. No.

And we have to quit looking to the doctors for the answer because they're not trained. Like you said, you weren't trained. Your family physician certainly was not trained in bioidentical hormone therapy. So you got to quit looking to them for the answer. I always say you can try. And I have a lot of clients that will take my recommendations then to their doctor and say, I want to try this. I want to try natural progesterone, I want to try natural estrogen. And a lot of the time the doctor will go, oh, okay, sure. Well, I guess so here, you know, but a lot of the time I'll get the. Well, here, I'm going to put you on the Mirena. That's better.

Yes.

Here's your antidepressant.

Yep. Yeah. So that's the Mirena, ladies, if you haven't heard my podcast episode on that, that is a synthetic progestin that very often down regulates your ovarian hormone production. So they. They tell you that the progestin is only working on the lining of your uterus and keeping that from overgrowing. But more often than not, it goes systemically. All that blood flow, there's a lot of blood flow in your uterus, and your ovaries are literally about an inch and a half away from your uterus with a big fat artery in between. And so that synthetic progestin is going straight to your ovary and telling it, oh, we have enough of this hormone. You don't need to make your hormones anymore. And so what we see is progesterone goes down, down, down. Estrogen goes down unless you have other issues, testosterone goes down. So you gain weight, you get depressed, you get anxious, and you have no libido. And it's all from that. IUD that's supposed to help your periods, so.

Yes.

Yeah, some women love it.

They swear they love it.

Yeah.

Because it doesn't make them bleed. Right. They're so happy. They're like, I don't have a period, I want to stay on this. And I'm like, no. I just did a whole podcast on birth control pills. So I am like really geared up on that one right now. I'm like, look, ladies, like you think you're scared to use bioidentical hormones, well, guess what? But progestin, which is in your birth control and in your iud, is the drug that is the one that increased breast cancer in the WHI study. And most of them don't know that. So it's like that's the one that's going to give you breast cancer. So not guaranteed. But you know, it's, there's, it does go up your rate of getting that. And the depo Vera shot. Oh my gosh. I just, I had somebody recently that had been on it for 23 years and that's like, it has a black box warning on it. Like it's just, it's mind boggling mind. But yes, a whole nother podcast.

Yeah, we need to do that podcast because it's so important for women to understand what they're consenting to putting in their bodies, because we're really not.

Or all the teenage girls that are being put on. I had a one woman write me after that podcast aired and she said, can you recommend any book that I could give my daughters that they could read about this? Like what you were talking about? What this birth control? Because there's no information like this out there. And so I was like, oh, there's no teenage geared book. But I said you could try, you know, Dr. Jolene Brighton's book. And I said, there's Sarah Hill's book, which is what's your brain on birth control? I think that's her name, Sarah Hill. So I said, you could try those two, but that could go. Go over those girls heads, right? Because. And I'm like, yeah, but how many women take their teenage daughters to a doctor? I was at 14 for acne.

Oh, yeah.

I used for periods and acne all.

The time to my patients. But when you know better, you do better, right?

Absolutely.

Like, it breaks my heart that that's how I practice, but it breaks my heart that that's how all of gynecologists practice. And so the fact that the majority of us women go on birth control pills at some point Many, often for decades. And we completely negate that fact when we look at risk of breast cancer and diabetes and everything else, we just pretend like it's like a sugar pill or something, like it's nothing. And literally we're putting synthetic hormones in our bodies for years and shutting down our own production. And we're acting like that might not have any impact. I promise that'll never be researched. It will never be tested. There would be too many lawsuits. I mean, our world society would blow up if that were the case. So it will never be touched.

No.

And. And honestly, birth control pill, you know, it's a feminine feminization thing. Like, we needed it. I needed it to go to college and not get pregnant again, but I wouldn't have stayed on it so long if I had known all the implications of what it was doing for my body. And so that's what my point is. Just be educated about what you're putting in your body so that you can actually make the informed decision for you. And quit being told that it doesn't have any effect and it's safe. And that's just a lie.

It's a very, very big lie. And to be putting our little girls on it and then they stay on it for. I can't tell you how many women I come across that tell me. I've been on birth control for 15 years, 20 years, on and off for 20 years. And I'm like, oh, God. You know, we've got estrogen receptors on every organ in our body. So you have to think like you are depriving your body of your estrogen. And it's not just about reproductive. This is about how every organ in your body functions. And estrogen will impact that, that progesterone will impact that. So to remove these hormones, to down regulate them, because you're getting these synthetic ones in, we don't know how much damage that is causing because you can't. You won't be able to put that together. You won't be able to say, this is why I got breast cancer, or this is why I got osteoporosis, or this is why I got cancer or whatever it might be, or low libido or depression or anxiety. You won't be able to say, this is because I was on birth control.

Yeah, they will never do that study. They will never compare. And, you know, I do case reviews for Fabfertil. They are a fertility group that deals with premature ovarian insufficiency and diminished ovarian reserve. And we just Did a case today. A 27 year old woman who was on birth control pills from 14 to 24 diagnosed with premature ovarian failure and told that she needs donor eggs to get pregnant with ivf. I'm like, you have been on birth control pills your entire reproductive life. You just got off of them. Of course your ovaries aren't functioning. They've never functioned. You've always told them to be quiet. So we need to support all of your systems and get everything in balance and give them a chance to come back online. And I just, I cannot believe there's, you know, fertility specialists out there telling this woman to use a donor egg at 27 and not even looking at their comprehensive health. Like, we're, we just have it wrong in this society. Like conventional medicine is failing us women, we have it wrong. So I'm glad she found fab fertile. We're going to do the work. They're going to heal the gut and ch the thyroid and get her adrenals balanced and all of that so that her sex hormones feel safe enough to actually be produced and come back online. You know, your body's not going to reproduce if it's in survival mode. So no, yeah, super important, but what a good conversation. We could go every direction, couldn't we? Because there is just so much when it comes to women's health.

Yeah, yeah. And just even how we're looked at in society when it comes to our aging, it gets terrible. That has to change. You know, not only that, we shouldn't have to deal with any of these symptoms of aging like the hot flashes and insomnia and weight gain and all of that can be remedied. But what needs to happen is that women need to feel okay about aging. Men feel great about aging. My husband doesn't get botox. He doesn't get anything. Like, he's just like, yeah, bring it on. I got gray hair. Now I got my little pot belly.

This is awesome.

Like, but women are told that, no, don't you dare age. Do the Botox, do the breast implants, you know, make your face look like it's completely distorted. Because God forbid you age and you get some wrinkles or some gray hair and that has to change too.

So yeah, oh my gosh, it totally does. Totally does. So all this work is internal that we need to do and we need to support each other as women. So I love everything you're doing. Tell my listeners where they can join your group.

So if you head over to karenmartel.com you can go into the group coaching. I do do private coaching, but mostly the group coaching. And you can register through there. There's also a hormone quiz that you can take that will also give you kind of your top imbalances just from the quiz. So it's not written in stone, but it'll give you an idea of what could be out of balance for you right now. And that will come with a sample of the meal plan that comes in the group coaching program. So you'll get a two week sample program meal program that's called the hormone and metabolic reboot plan. And this is what I was talking about, the carb cycling and the calorie cycling. And it is a paleo based meal plan kind of going between paleo and keto. But I always encourage everybody to make it their own.

I love that. That's awesome. And you have your own podcast.

Yes.

Can tune into, right?

Yes. And Tabitha will be coming on in the next month or so. So that is the other side of weight loss. And so we've got almost 200 episodes. Was rated the number one top 20 weight loss podcasts of 20, 21 and five star reviews. It's awesome. So, yeah, definitely check that out. There's lots of information on that about hormones and weight loss and kind of that holistic view of women's health.

I love it. Well, I love everything you're doing. Keep it up, women.

I love everything you're doing. Thank you.

Thank you so much. What a great episode. Oh, my gosh. I hope you got so much out of that episode. I know we went off on a couple tangents, but I just figured that information is so important for you. And if you haven't heard me talk about it before, I just wanted to get that out there since she's passionate about it as well. So there are answers to your weight issues issues, your hormone imbalances. You know, there's better birth control options. There's an easier way to transition through perimenopause into menopause or hold off on menopause and do bioidentical hormone replacement. So there's a lot of options. And it's my goal to give you informed consent. So let you know all of the options in the actual, actual risks and benefits and alternatives because so often a lot of those pieces are missing. So it's really important that you have all the facts. So I hope you enjoyed this. Please share it with all the women in your life. Because we need to band together and get educated together and support one another to live amazing lives. We shouldn't have to struggle. That's not how God created us, us to be. So I love everybody supporting each other. And if you feel like you want more support, you can join my group, the Renew you Sisterhood. It's a private Facebook membership group where you get daily inspiration and motivation and accountability for what are you eating, how are you moving, what can you do to manage the stress in your life? You know, and if it's really amazing when you get into a group of other women who are on the same mission of like reclaiming their health and optimizing their health, it's just you can go so much farther because the saying is true. You are, you know, the sum of the five people that you hang out with the most. And so if you want to be healthy, you need to hang out with, with other people who want to be healthy or who are healthy. That's just how it works. So I would love to see you in the Sisterhood. The link is in the show notes if you want to join. And check me out on Karen's podcast coming up here soon. And if you're feeling like you're receiving value from this, I'd be super honored if you would leave me a five star review and let's itunes know that you want to hear more of this. So follow me@drtabitha.com at the Gutsy Gynecologist on Instagram and TikTok and let me know how I can serve you. Go have a kick ass week, ladies.