#133: Hormone Imbalances in Younger Women with Alannah Slingsby

Hey beautiful, it's Dr. Tabatha. I want to share something with you that I believe God is doing right now in women's health. We're in the middle of a massive movement and most people don't even know it. Every single day, 6,000 women in the U.S. enter menopause. That's over 2 million women a year, and by 2030, that's more than 1.2 billion women worldwide. So here's the thing, most of these women feel exhausted, bloated, anxious, disconnected from themselves, and the medical system is Doctors are handing out prescriptions and quick fixes, and no one is helping women heal from the root cause of their issues. That's where Fast to Faith coaches come in. As a certified coach, you'll be equipped to help midlife women balance their hormones, heal their gut, regain their energy, and reconnect their faith, the foundation that so many of us have been missing. And from a business standpoint, woo, this is one of the most lucrative untapped opportunities in the entire health coaching world. The global health coaching industry is expected to reach over $33 billion by 2023, and midlife women are the fastest-growing, highest-spending demographic in that space. Most importantly, these women stay with their coaches. They invest deeply because they are desperate for lasting transformation—

body, mind, and spirit.

So if you've been feeling that pull and that whisper that you're meant to do more, This is it. Now is the time to rise, to serve, and build a purpose-driven business that not only changes other women's lives but transforms your own in the process. Because when you help one woman heal, you help her family, her marriage, her faith, and her future. That's the ripple effect that we're creating with Fast to Faith. So join me, click the link to come watch this webinar. It might be the one thing that really moves the needle for you in this Next season. I can't wait to see you in there.

Hi, I'm Dr. Tabatha, 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 gyn health and your overall 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. Welcome back. Today we are going to be talking about hormone imbalances, particularly in younger women. And my guest today is really awesome. She is Alana Slingsby. She's the CEO and founder of Moment, a health femtech startup focused on testing and treating hormone imbalances with a whole-person approach. From the comfort of your own home. So that is awesome. That's pretty much what I'm doing. So I love this whole idea of being able to see a functional medicine and integrative medicine practitioner who can get your hormones back into balance. And you can do this through telehealth medicine from home, from work, from your car. You know, I see patients from everywhere. So I love that she's created this. It's in California, which is awesome as well because I'm actually not licensed in California. So check out Moment because it's a great healthcare option if you are struggling with hormone issues. Okay. So during our conversation, Alana talks about how her mother was a DES baby and how that really impacted her. How she viewed health and, you know, women's health and hormones and everything growing up. So I just wanted to give you a little background really quick because DES is kind of a big deal and some people have never heard of it. So it's a synthetic form of estrogen that was used from like 1940 to 1971. It was given to women to prevent miscarriage. For premature labor, related complications of pregnancy. It was used quite a bit. It's estimated that 5 to 10 million women took some form of DES, this synthetic estrogen. It was sold, I think, under like 40 or 50 generic names. Like, if you look at the list, it's crazy long, but you can look at that at cancer.gov. So women were routinely given this synthetic estrogen called diethylstilbestrol, or DES. And it turns out that when they were pregnant, the babies that they were carrying, those girls went on to develop cancers of the vagina and the cervix and the breast that just were very uncommon, especially the vaginal. cancer called clear cell adenocarcinoma. And this was being seen— finally the FDA said, let's no longer use DES, and they took it off the market. But then we have to deal with the aftereffects of all this. So there was a lot of women who took this, and they had a lot of babies on it, right? And so we know that DES babies have this increased risk of these certain cancers: clear cell adenocarcinoma, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, and cervical precancers. It's more unclear about the male babies and what happened to them. There's evidence around testicular cancer, but the problem is they haven't been researched as much as the the women babies have, the female babies. And so I really thought my guest's story was interesting because she mentioned a side effect of being a DES baby that didn't seem to be hormonally related— scoliosis. But it, in fact, is very much hormonally related. Estrogen dictates how your skeleton grows, how your bones grow, their structure, their form. And because she was a DES baby— her mom was— she went on to have really bad scoliosis and a humpback and everything else because of this DES exposure. And so it just highlights the fact that hormones impact every part of your body, from You being a fetus in the womb till the day you die, all of your systems are impacted by hormones. And the bigger key is that they are very much impacted by synthetic hormones that you take as a prescription or a pill from a doctor, a well-meaning provider. I worry because the birth control pill is about to be available over the counter. By what it sounds like, there's a big push right now In the government to approve this, mostly to counteract the changes with Roe v. Wade. But I am all for birth control, ladies. I am all for women having a choice, but I want you to have informed consent. I want you to know what you're signing up for, and we're not telling women what they're signing up for with these synthetic hormones. So we don't know the long-term impacts. What I do know is that, you know, we started using the birth control pills in the late '60s, and really into the '70s and '80s it gained a lot of momentum. And about that time, we started seeing a lot more breast cancer. So just keep that in the back of your mind. I'm That's all I can say because that stuff is not going to be studied. And if it is, it's, it's going to be held under wraps. So choose your birth control wisely. Know what you're signing up for. Use it only for the length of time that you need it. Am I maximizing how my body metabolizes those hormones and gets rid of them? Because that's the other big, big piece is if you take synthetic hormones, what is your body doing with them? Are they recirculating them and using them 5 and 10 times over before your body gets rid of them? Because that can happen. Are you metabolizing them into a form that is carcinogenic, that does damage DNA and cells? If that's happening, you need to support your body's metabolizing pathways so that that happens less. And so it's really important to know what you're getting into, know what you're putting in your body, and know what can happen because of it. So that was just to give you kind of a backstory of what we're going to talk about today. But my guest is really awesome and I'm I'm loving what she has started over in California. I think it's so important for you women to have access to providers who understand all of this and who really want you to thrive and be healthy and not just manage your disease processes. So let's get on with the show. Well, welcome, Ilana, to the Gutsy Gynecologist Show.

Hi, thank you for having me.

Yeah, I'm really excited for this conversation. Like we were talking about before we got on air, there are so many women that need help, isn't there? I mean, so you just said you're turning women away because we can't reach them all. Like, tell me, is that what prompted you to like really delve into this, or how did you even get into this You know, line of work?

Yeah, so it was— I think what we were just mentioning is that your interests choose you, you don't choose them. But actually being interested in health is like winning the lottery because your life and your body and your health affects every single action in your entire existence. And so I feel very blessed that I happen to be like obsessed and a maniac about health and reading about it and delving into it. But my interest in hormones specifically and hormone testing and, and just health in general came a long time ago because my mom was a DES baby, which you are probably familiar, but a lot of people actually don't know this story, and it is nothing short of insane. And basically, you know, in the '50s, a lot of women were given a pill which was a synthetic estrogen, which was given to prevent miscarriage. And so my mom was a DES baby, and what it turned out is this drug actually, you know, caused such severe side effects like anatomical problems, disfigurement, cancer, cancer, you know, precancerous on the cervix. It's estimated that millions of cases of, you know, cancer are linked to this one specific drug. And the sad thing about it is it was actually known that it was a carcinogen by that point. They had banned its use in poultry farming by the FDA. And so it's just chilling, all of these effects. But so I grew up with a mom that was overcoming these side effects her entire I actually thought it was kind of normal to have a hunchback. Like, I didn't think it was that rare because one of her side effects was scoliosis, but the scoliosis was so severe that it had a, like, a hunchback effect. And so I just thought it was okay. Like, some people just have different kind of backs. And so she dealt with, you know, infertility and, you know, precancerous dysplasia on her cervix and just a whole host of just problems you can't even imagine. And so when I was, you know, graduating college, I started getting super into health, and I had my own sort of health issues. You know, there's ongoing studies on the grandchildren of DES, and I don't think that is really what I— who knows really what I was going through. I couldn't sleep through the night kind of issues, just like sort of basic tune-ups and tweaks. And then I started working at a cancer center, and I got so into how cancers are hormonally driven. Like, it's estimated that 80% of breast cancers are related to hormones. And I feel like that is just never mentioned. Like, they're just overlooked. It's all about genes and your DNA. And we know there are known causes of things like breast cancer and specifically hormone imbalances. And it's not just breast cancer, it's liver cancer, it's pancreatic cancer, it's gastric cancer, which is why the first line of defense when you go into breast cancer treatment is estrogen blockers. There you go. It's not It's not totally unknown, but it's just not really widely talked about. So as I was going through all of this and going through my own health issues and my experience with my mom, I just started talking to women about how they were confused about what to do in the aging process and what they should take. And I'm sure you run into this a lot. You probably run into doctors that just don't agree with you at all.

Mm-hmm.

And it's like maybe you have a different library of studies or a different life experience. But that sort of disconnect has made a lot of women confused and lost. And so there's, there's so much slack to pick up on education. And just, you know, no one was given this, this book with all the answers. And so we have to keep enriching our lives with new information. We have to welcome it instead of being like, I know everything. And this is now I'm going to tell you how to live. And I feel like, you know, what we were talking about is a lot of doctors, they sometimes have that approach with, these are my 2 options and this is what I'm going to offer you. And so that's when we launched the hormone testing, which measures most of the sex, the major sex hormones. And then we also pair with our doctors that have really innovative therapies along with nutrition and lifestyle changes. Because as you know, progesterone is not a panacea and it's best paired with things that are good for your life. So like thyroid, potentially, like, you know, making sure you have all your nutrients in your food and everything. And so that's how it kind of came to be.

Awesome. Yeah, I think you hit on a lot of important points, you know, that so many cancers are driven by hormones. But what conventional gynecology fails to help women understand is that Their hormone imbalances. It's not just because you have hormones circulating. And so we've gotten to this point where women are just blankly afraid of estrogen. They think estrogen causes cancer and it doesn't. Right.

So I do always say there's no bad hormone. There's no bad hormone. We all have hormones in our body, just in different amounts. It's about your specific balance and we want to make sure that is optimized. But I actually think, um, like, I totally agree with you, and we don't want to demonize the natural processes of the body and like the natural production. Um, but I, but I also feel like we have to live in reality that, um, certain hormones, when they are off balance, do have negative effects. And I think I have a very visceral idea of that because of my mom. You know, it's like I saw the pain she went through every day, and and just how having hormone imbalance it affects every part of the organism. It's not just that it affects your hot flashes or it affects PCOS. Every aspect of you is affected by your hormones, and that's why my mom had disfigurement on her body. That's why she had dysplasia on her cervix. It's because hormones are not just involved in brain fog or whatever symptom you have. It's all over you.

Right.

And so we also have to live in reality that if you have progesterone deficiency, that is something that needs to be addressed. And we have to understand why you have that in the first place. We can't just feel good about giving progesterone without understanding, is it the natural process or Is there something else going on? Do you have, you know, is your thyroid low? Is your cholesterol low? But so, like, yeah, I totally agree. We have to be conscious of how we word things and say things because it does matter in our interpretation of things, because then women do get afraid of estrogen. That's what makes the conversation so confusing, right? It's like these things are linked to cancer. But they're also part of the natural process. So it's like that fine line of how do we, how do we talk about this in reality? You know? Yeah.

I find that it, it matters so much what's going on and how your body's metabolizing your hormones. You know, like, we are just in the most toxic time in history we have ever been. You know, before your mom was born, there were thousands of chemicals that didn't exist. that our bodies now have to combat every day, and they're so busy metabolizing those that they don't even get to handle our hormones. Wouldn't you agree? Like, that is so just profoundly impacting our ability to just even be balanced, right?

Yeah, there's all these stressors in modernity that we've just never had before, and so it creates this mismatch, right? Like, you have this mismatch of how you are meant to thrive and the stressor coming at you. And so when we, when we don't know how to avoid the mismatch or we don't know how to solve it, then you're just constantly— all these cumulative actions start to just, you know, weigh on you and stress your cells. And that stressed cell is what causes it to, you know, have a disturbed metabolism and grow and proliferate and, and all of those things associated with aging and disease and cancer. And so Yeah, no, I totally agree. It's— we're living in a very stressed time in every way, emotionally, societally, environmentally, food-wise. It feels like every day everyone's like, I can't escape someone, there's something out to get me, you know. And so it's almost like you can barely live in peace with all these stressors at you. But I think, I think it's an opportunity to be brave and to learn and just to, you know, do your best you can. That's all you can do, you know? Yeah.

And I'm so glad that, you know, we're having this conversation because so often it's just thought that women going into menopause have hormone imbalances and like, it's not really a thing that younger women need to worry about. But I will tell you, like, I do case reviews for a fertility practice and younger and younger, we're seeing premature ovarian failure and all of these major hormone imbalances and You mentioned that you're getting so many young women reaching out to your clinic looking for help. Talk about that.

Right. Yeah. I mean, you know, menopause is really a time where I think women are kind of jolted into thinking about their hormones. It's like, you don't have a choice. I have hot flashes. I can't, I can't, I need to solve this. And that's really kind of a jolting experience. But what we're seeing is more and more a younger sort of precursor to those sort of later symptoms. So you might experience fibroids or PCOS or endometriosis, which are commonly associated with a sort of younger demographic. But a lot of it, you know, it is induced by hormones. And so, you know, most doctors are like, well, I'm not really sure, you know, what, you know, what to do. And so I think our doctors have really, really innovative and advanced and effective formulas that are safe and effective. And because, like, we're only as good as we are solving our patients' problems, you know, and so as much as we can get those treatments to a woman that is safe and effective and solves them. It's nothing, you know, it's very, it's miraculous. It's wonderful. I feel really happy that we're able to help those people. But yeah, I mean, I think it's been troublesome because of the confusion that's been created, especially around like food and not knowing what to eat. And because a lot of that can contribute to hormone imbalance, like specifically I don't think most people know that cholesterol is the raw material to sex hormones. And so a lot of women have been like feared into eating, you know, fat, which has a very strong impact on cholesterol. Most cholesterol is made in your liver, but there is about 1/3 that is derived from food. And it's not— cholesterol in the food is not the same as cholesterol in your body. They're regulated differently, but fat can influence cholesterol. And so I see that a lot, that women are like, well, I've been told not to eat eggs, or I've been told not to eat, you know, butter or something delicious and wonderful. And so that further tumbles you down into this road of hormone imbalance. And then combine that with potentially being, you know, on a certain medication, or, you know, and combine that with the stressors of just, you know, life, and then the environment that we mentioned in that we're kind of living through. Um, yeah, it's, it's not, it's not surprising that we're seeing so much cases of PCOS, a lot of fibroids, honestly, like a lot of fibroids. And that tends to happen in like in your 30s. And it tends to possibly go down in menopause as estrogen starts to decrease. But that's big because women don't really want a hysterectomy. And that's a more, you know, the common solution to fibroids is You know, you never know how the body's going to respond, and it's a very injurious process. And even if you keep your ovaries, it's possible that the communication between the receptors that were in the uterus and the ovaries can be disrupted. And so that's a big, big segment of people wanting second opinions on if they really need a hysterectomy. I'm sure you run into that too. It's like, well, if I can shrink it on its own, I would much rather do that than go through a serious surgery where I don't know how my body's going to respond. And that is just overlooked by a lot of surgeons. So we're seeing that a lot. Really, really interesting things in that realm.

Yeah, I actually just did a podcast episode on that because I'm getting so many appointments for a second opinion on fibroids. And unfortunately, women aren't being diagnosed a lot of the time until they're so large that they look pregnant or their bowels and their bladder are affected and being pushed on because they have these physical masses in their pelvis. You know, so I would love for women to be more proactive about their pelvic health and know, how big is my uterus, right? Like, if you aren't carrying extra weight and you're laying flat on your back, you should be able to feel what's in your pelvis, essentially, to some degree. And it should not be up toward your belly button, right? A normal uterus is like the size of my fist. It's pretty small. And so you shouldn't feel big lumps and masses. And if you do, you should get examined.

Right. And then at that point, when it's grown so large, it's really, it really affects your day-to-day life. And so you have, you don't have really a choice. It's very hard, you know, it gets to that point where it's, it starts to get really hard to shrink. But you can shrink them. And a lot of doctors just don't know how, you know, with, you know, the help of a potentially large dose of progesterone, you know, working with our doctors on a lot of different mechanisms, right? There's rarely just one factor that's feeding these issues. It's like a storm, but it's a lot of these driving factors that can be soothed and give your body a break. And with the right kind of plan, we can do a lot. It's more just like, well, let's just watch and wait, and then it's too late. Now we have to do a hysterectomy, and a woman is at the behest of her doctor's guidance. But if they simply don't know what to do, then, um, you know, that is just, you know, it's really terrible when there could have been something we could have done earlier. But yeah, that's why we're like, come to us earlier and let's get this on this prevention route and this proactive health route now. And you're gonna be thriving for as long as possible and into menopause and doing wonderful.

Yeah.

And so we're seeing a really good sweet spot actually around like 40 years old, just like, okay, I'm feeling like things are changing. I need to get things organized. Because when you're younger, you sort of have that insurance of energy and metabolism and youth on your side. Um, and so the ailments just aren't as amplified, um, unless you are super, super bothered. I actually, I think I read this study that's like, if you are very sensitive, um, to like health changes, you may have like a higher IQ. So if that's you and you're like, wait, I don't like this, then, um, it could be a good thing. Could just mean you are very intelligent.

Yeah. So I, I just love your approach of we need to take a comprehensive approach. We need to look at what you're eating and your environmental toxic burden and exposure and all of those things. I literally remember having a patient maybe 8 or 10 years ago who had large fibroids. She was sent to me with these large fibroids from the emergency room because she had bled out so much she needed a blood transfusion. And I was like, oh, that's an easy solution. That's a hysterectomy. And she was literally Nope, I'm not doing that. I have to run my store. I can't take a day off of work. And, you know, I just, I didn't get it. I was young and I was a surgeon. I like doing surgery, right?

Right.

And she was from a European country. And I just remember that she loved her blueberries and she insisted that if she doubled up on her blueberries, Wow. These fibroids would be controlled. And literally, she came and saw me every few months and she ate so many blueberries. And I kid you not, those fibroids stopped growing and she never did have the hysterectomy. And I just— it just stuck with me in my mind, like, is there something to what we're eating? Because as a conventional gynecologist, I was taught that food had nothing to do with your health. Right? Like, it really doesn't matter. And so that was like the first inkling I had of like, huh, I wonder if it does impact. And then, you know, finally to understand blueberries are full of antioxidants, fibroids are very much an inflammatory condition, and she was treating all the oxidative stress that was driving that. And so it's like we learn all these little tidbits along the way, you know, and then our eyes are finally Opened. But I just love that you're not just giving the hormone Band-Aid because we need to find out why the hormones are imbalanced and address that, right?

Yeah, that's super interesting on that story. Um, I also know on that note that sometimes a good thyroid supplement can help to shrink, um, a patient's fibroids. Again, I'm not a doctor, but I, you know, are— I want the patients to get as as healthy as possible. So I work closely to make sure that we're getting the results we need. And I know fibroids are closely linked to thyroid malfunction. And so even helping with— I myself take natural desiccated thyroid and it's changed my life. I have Hashimoto's disease. And so I used to not be able to— this is kind of a detour, but I used to not be able to sleep through the entire night or I was like, Ilana is always up at 4:00 AM. And that was always kind of my thing. And it turns out that's not my thing. I just needed thyroid. And so I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't started taking it, but I would just— on that note about fibroids, I know also a really good thyroid supplement can help shrink them.

Yeah, I think that's a great point, is all of our hormone axes are connected. So our adrenals affect our thyroid and our sex hormones. Our thyroid affects our sex hormones and adrenals. Our sex hormones affect our thyroid and adrenals. Like, it all matters. And so Where women really don't get the results they're looking for is when they go to a practitioner who only replaces their hormones and only focuses on hormone levels and never actually deals with the root cause and the other issues. So I love that you guys are doing that.

Yeah, totally. I mean, it's really to, to make all of the treatments work and make you have the best possible outcome. And so sometimes, yeah, we do have to go the extra mile in terms of, you know, talking about nutrition. And I think it's also tough though because food and nutrition is a very polarizing topic these days, and it's very tribal and it's very personal, right? Like everything you eat is very personal to you. And so we have certain formulas, like when it comes to food nutrition, that have worked for so many patients, But it's balancing that with where the patient is right there in the context of their lives. And so it does become kind of a fine line of this is what we have seen work and this is why and this is the science behind it. And you can take it and you can enrich your life and see if it works for you. And at the same time, you know, we want to meet you where you are. But I do think it's becoming increasingly a An interesting topic to circumvent just because, um, and it's one of my favorite things, uh, to research just because there's so much we don't know and there's so much that need— and I wish there was like more funding that went to nutrition science and all of this because it is one of the biggest determinants of your health in your life. And just by tweaking certain like foods in my life, um, like I know specifically like I can't eat nuts, it has a very anti-thyroid effect on me. And, um, and so when I stopped eating those Like, my life changed, which is crazy. But other people, you know, may have a different sort of tolerance for certain things. And so it is interesting topic of it's so necessary and imperative that we get right because like from a, you know, from a body standpoint, if you do not have enough protein and B vitamins, your liver will— cannot work right. And if your liver doesn't work right, it can't detox out estrogen, which is where estrogen is detoxed out. So then you just have recirculating estrogen. And if we keep adding progesterone, It's still not going to help that problem. And so that's part of the issue of, yes, we need to talk about nutrition because of like, let's take politics and polarizing opinions away. If we don't get it right, you can't be thriving the way you should. And so it's, it's, it becomes interestingly, you know, just how do we, how do we navigate this topic? And that's kind of like what we think about at Moment is how do we do this? you know, properly, effectively, safely, so someone gets it and someone feels like they are getting the right kind of education. But yeah, the opinions never stop on the food topic, and I think that's okay. I, I like— I welcome the new information, and I want to, uh, keep growing and learning. And so, like I said, not everyone— no one has it all figured out, so we have to keep, you know, learning and growing from all of this. But yeah.

Yeah, I totally agree. Do you see a lot of hormone imbalances in women who are vegan and vegetarian?

Yeah, I mean, definitely. And, and then that's, again, it's another topic that's super, uh, it's, it's super, um, it's super choppy because, um, you feel very passionate about a certain way and, um, whether that is truly a benefit to your body in the long run may be at odds with your personal opinion. And at the end of the day, we can say everyone's individual, but we all are one species, and we do all have the same, you know, requirements for certain vitamins like zinc and iron. And some plant foods simply aren't nutrient-dense enough with their bioavailable, you know, vitamins for it to be enough for some people. I think a lot of percent of people that go vegan end up eating meat because there is this little instinct in yourself that's like, I don't feel as good. And, and what we were saying about women sort of being at the, at the subject of a lot of the marketing that goes on in food and big food and big agriculture to get you to eat and drink a certain way to ensure they have the profits they need to be, you know, to be a company, you know, as far as nutrition science. I think a lot of those claims that you need to be vegan to have proper health is just, it's just not accurate. And it's not what we see here. We see when women introduce, you know, the, you know, healthy, like nutrient-dense grass-fed meat, foods that we've been eating since the dawn of man, that we're just this, this beautiful, like evolution of, of a species. And so we can't neglect the past. And when we neglect it and we neglect tradition and what our ancestors have done, We usually pay. And so it's not about like the politics of food or nutrition, it's about following the ways of our nature, of a way we're intended to live. And part of that happens to be, you know, including, you know, meat and all that in the diet, from what we have seen in our experience. Of course, like I said, everyone has different sort of lens that they come to.

And I—

and, you know, I don't have to make this about food because it is a— it is a hot topic. Um, but I, I've been through my own trials as a young girl that was listening to kind of all those things that I had to do. This is kind of interesting story that you can comment on why this may have happened. But what changed everything for me in terms of food was, um, I, I worked at a tech company. I worked at Twitter for several years, um, and it was at finance, and they had this amazing food bar, like the best food bar in the entire world. So every day I would go and make like a lot of a salad with like heavy spinach. And, and I don't know if you've experienced this, but, um, at night I started having this, um, I started having to pee a lot and no one could figure it out. And I, I got an ultrasound on my, my pelvic area. Um, I did all kinds of tests. They actually thought I was diabetic because peeing a lot is a sign of diabetes as your body starts to, you know, excrete as much as it can. And I read no one could figure it out. And I read online that someone had stopped eating spinach and that solved all their problems. And I thought, I'm willing to do anything, even if it's at this point, it's at odds with what I've been told. And I actually had very severe oxalate poisoning.

Oh.

And yeah. And so again, everyone has different tolerances for these things. But for me, I was so affected by it. I've never had a bite of spinach since because when you get food poisoning from something and you're like so off-put by it. That was several years ago and I've never had the problem come back.

Well, oh my gosh, I'm glad you shared that because so many women struggle with that issue and it's a real thing. Like, it really is ingrained in us that spinach is so healthy and could never cause any issues. And high oxalates are a major cause of issues with the bladder and the kidneys, getting kidney stones and all this waking up to pee multiple times a night. So you can get too much of a good thing. And I, you know, I just want women to understand that. And the other point you made, like, it's not the best for everybody. We're all unique, but we all come from a carnivore-type species. That's just my belief, and that's what I see. I see women thrive when they incorporate—

Right.

animal products into their diet.

We need— I mean, honestly, Dr. Barber, when I started doing that, it changed my life. So I— that's like, makes me feel reassured that you have seen that too. Because like, like you said, I was like, I gotta do— I gotta like drink oat milk every day or something. And when I stopped, when I started listening to my instincts on what I genuinely love to eat, and I don't diet, I don't fast, I only eat foods I love, and it's helped me actually a lot with like, um, diet culture kind of thing. Um, I listen to my hunger cues and I don't overdo it with that. And I, I used to be, um, that person that was always like, I need to diet, I need to lose weight. And now I'm at peace, and it's kind of like one less thing to worry about is my weight and my food and stuff, just because I'm just listening to my instincts. No, no, no marketing claims here. I'm just here to Eat what I love, go about my day. When I'm hungry, I will eat. I will not overdo it. When I stop getting hungry, I'll slow down. I'll delay. I'll delay. And just those little things are just life-changing. So I'm glad you agree with that.

Oh my gosh, without a doubt. And sometimes you have to break up with sugar and get off the processed foods before you can be in tune with your body like that. But everybody is capable of it, without a doubt. And I think We need animal proteins and animal fats in our diet. That is how hormones stay balanced. That's how we thrive. And so I couldn't agree more. But tell my listeners— go ahead.

I was just going to say, how do you navigate that with your patients? Do you give them like a food plan or how— like, what's your method?

Yes, I usually actually have them do food sensitivity testing while they're healing their gut because a lot of women are coming to me with major gut issues. know, and that drives a lot of hormone imbalance. And so we usually remove the food triggers. And I explain to women, like, it's not that you can't eat those foods ever, but that it's your immune system is seeing these foods in a way that they're not supposed to because you have leaky gut and gut dysbiosis and your immune system is just trying to protect you, but it's confused. Confused and it's reacting. And so we need to calm down your immune system while you heal your gut. Those antibodies will almost always go away. Those reactions to those foods will stop, and then you can reintroduce them. But the key is, like, you have to heal the gut. So that's where so many women seem to be confused, is they get in a situation where their gut is a mess And they try to remove a food for 2 weeks and it doesn't work and they do something else and they're on to the next thing and they're actually not giving anything enough time to balance out and calm down, right? The process matters, the timing of things and the way you do things. So—

Mm-hmm.

That's why a lot of women, you know, they'll buy these tests online and not have a practitioner to help guide them like you provide. And so they just get more confused and they think, Oh, I did that. That didn't work. That's not the problem. And the problem was they didn't have a guide.

Right.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

Yeah. So tell my listeners how they can work with your providers and really get this care that's so needed.

Yeah. So they can go to momenthealth.co, www.momenthealth.co, like moment, like moment in time. Like we manage your Yeah. And then you can also, if you have any questions, you can shoot us an email at hello@momenthealth.co and we would answer any questions you might have about if it's a good fit for you.

Perfect. And you guys are licensed in California and Nevada?

Yep. Hopefully we'll be in your state soon. You can always also sign up for the waitlist and we'll let you know when we're there.

That's wonderful. Awesome. Well, I'm so glad that you're doing all of this and you're helping women everywhere. It's amazing. Thank you so much.

Thank you for having me.

All right. I hope you got something out of that episode. And if you know any younger women who are dealing with PCOS, fibroids, endometriosis, you know, wanting to get off a birth control pill because they don't need it or It's causing them side effects and issues, like, reach out to Moment. The link is in the show notes and get them help. Share this episode with them. It's really important for us to talk about this stuff with each other and not keep it to ourselves, how we are struggling and, and what we've been through, because we can learn from each other. There's so much wisdom in what we've all been through as individuals because I promise you there is another woman out there who is struggling with something that you have figured out. And if you could share that, it can be so helpful and so amazing. So I, I love how she shared, you know, how switching her diet affected her health and her life and how watching her mom's health struggles created her into this health entrepreneur mogul. So that's really cool. So I love sharing stories. You need to share your stories with the women in your life. And then shoot me out a message and tell me what else you want to hear about, because remember, I do this for you. And oh my gosh, it would mean so much if you would take 30 seconds to leave me a review and let iTunes know that this stuff is important to you, because that is how I keep going. That's how I stay on the air. I keep making episodes and I get all the amazing good guests. So help me out, shoot me a 5-star review, send me a review.

Okay.

So grab your golden nugget from this episode, add it to whatever else you're doing, and go have a kick-ass week, ladies. So proud of you.

Bye-bye.