Balancing Your Hormones with Proper Nutrition

00:00Real quick, the only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals, and feel insanely confident. And the only way we can do that is if you rate, review, and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask for you to do is if you could leave a review. It will take you 10 seconds, and it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else. So what hormones are is they are the chemical messengers that travel through your bloodstream to your tissues and to your organs, helping those tissues and those organs to perform their functions.

00:40Key hormones like insulin, cortisol, estrogen, testosterone, those are the ones specifically that need to be in balance for your body to function optimally. Hey, everyone. Really quick before we dive into today's episode, I have an exciting milestone to celebrate with all of you. The WarriorBabe Show has officially reached 500,000 downloads. That's a half a million downloads in just a year and a half of being born.

01:13I could not have done this without you guys. Thank you all so freaking much. And now I want to hear your stories. If you could just take 10 minutes of your time to fill out a testimonial, that testimonial link is in the description below. That would mean the absolute world to me. How has The WarriorBabe Show positively impacted your life? What have you taken away from this show? How have you applied it? And what results have you gotten? Your story could be featured in one of our special celebration episodes to come.

01:43So if you could, please head over to the testimonial link. The link is in the show notes below. And share your journey with me. Thank you all so much for being an essential part of this freaking amazing The WarriorBabe Show community. You guys all rock. I love you all so much. So let's celebrate this achievement together. Again, that testimonial link is in the show notes below. Thank you all so much. Hey, everyone. What's going on? Welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show with Nikki Stott, co-founder of Warrior Babe. And on this podcast, we talk about mindset, methodologies, and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident.

02:23I'm your host, Nikki Stott. And welcome to today's episode, episode 172, where I want to talk about an essential topic when it comes to your fitness journey. How proper diet helps hormones and how improper diets can seriously mess them up. I get this question all of the time, why nutrition is so freaking important. And there's so many ways to unpack that question. And so I want to dive into this episode today with you guys talking about that and talking about how really in relation to having a proper diet, you will have a balanced hormonal profile.

03:04And when you have a balanced hormonal profile, that is going to get you the ultimate results that you want with changing your body composition and with building muscle and with making sure that like, you know, the muscle building process and the growth process and achieving the fat loss and all of the things are in alignment when your hormones are in alignment. But if the way that you get your hormones in alignment is if you're eating the right way and you're eating enough food to regulate those processes that are happening inside of your body.

03:38Hormones play a crucial role in regulating many of our body's processes from our metabolism to our appetite to our mood to for women for reproductive health. But your diet can significantly impact that balance, right? So what I want to dive in today is talk about what you can what you can eat, what you should eat, you know, talking about why these specific hormones like how they play a role, like what specific hormones play a role in this.

04:11And, you know, just making sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can make sure that you can So let's just start with a basic understanding of what hormones are.

04:44And like I normally try to do with all these podcasts is I'm going to try and just keep it super high level without getting too sciencey. So what hormones are is they are the chemical messengers that travel through your bloodstream to your tissues and to your organs, helping those tissues and those organs to perform their functions. Key hormones like insulin, cortisol, estrogen, testosterone, those are the ones specifically that need to be in balance for your body to function optimally.

05:19There's tons and tons of other ones. You know, growth hormone is really important when it comes to you guys building more muscle and being more toned. But those are some of the key ones that balance your body to function optimally. And your diet, like I mentioned, like what you eat on a regular basis is a major player in keeping those hormones balanced. So insulin, that hormone regulates your blood sugar levels. It helps your cells to absorb glucose, absorb energy or for or absorbing it for storage.

05:54When you have a balanced insulin level, those are crucial for, you know, preventing diabetes later on in life. Or many of you guys get tested for your A1Cs. And if your A1Cs are showing that you're pre-diabetic, this is because your insulin levels aren't probably being able to be regulated on a regular basis. And it's also when you have balanced hormone or balanced insulin levels, it helps to maintain your energy throughout the day. So that's insulin. Cortisol is known as the stress hormone.

06:26And for those of you guys that if your cortisol is elevated, then it's much easier for your body to store body fat and harder for you to get rid of it. Cortisol helps your body to control the use of the fats, to control the use of the proteins and control the use of the carbohydrates. It also regulates your blood sugar. I'm sorry. It also regulates your blood pressure and it reduces inflammation. With proper cortisol levels, those, when you have them in alignment, when you have a beautiful like curve, if you ever get the tests done, those are so important for with having, you know, people sometimes have flatline cortisol or they have no curve whatsoever.

07:10When you have a nice cortisol curve where your cortisol is usually spiked in the morning and then throughout the day, it gradually lowers down and goes into a curve and it's supposed to be low before you go to bed at night. But that is really key for you managing stress and maintaining overall health. Then there's estrogen and there's testosterone. Those are sex hormones that are essential for reproductive health, for bone density, for muscle mass. And having a balanced level of those support mood, support energy, support physical performance, support all of the things.

07:43And especially when it comes when you're, for those aiming for a toned body, for building muscle, estrogen, testosterone, mainly testosterone and growth hormone are especially important when it comes to you achieving those types of goals. Testosterone, even in women, which we have a smaller amount than men do. So for those of you guys that feel like, you know, oh, if I lift weights, I'm going to get too bulky. That's not true. We don't have as much testosterone as men do. So we can't build as fast of muscle mass that as men can.

08:17But it's still really, really freaking important for us because if we want to be toned and if we want to build more muscle, we have to have good balance levels of testosterone. And not only does it play a role in muscle development, it also plays a role in fat distribution. And growth hormone, which is influenced by nutrition and exercise, which is so important because growth hormone as you age tends to decrease. And that's because your nutrition is off, you're not doing appropriate exercises or, you know, indulging in strength training.

08:50Those having growth hormone, having a balance and having the right nutrition protocol and the right exercise protocol is what aids in muscle growth and repair. And when these hormones are in balance, your body operates so freaking smoothly, you guys. It allows you to achieve that result that you want. It allows you to get that toned body. It allows you to have the muscular physique. It allows you to be happy with the progress moving forward. But when those hormones are out of whack, it leads to a range of health issues.

09:21That's why a lot of women feel fatigued because their hormones are out of whack. And it's like this is the thing, you guys. You can't see this externally. Okay. You could go throughout your entire life and you could feel, you know, think that you are, you could feel good. Or you could think that as you continue to age, the feelings that you start to feel are just a natural form of your aging process. That is not true. When I hear women say that they're fatigued or they have weight gain in unwanted areas or they are experiencing mood instability or they're experiencing, you know, a plethora of different things that I've heard throughout the years.

10:04And they attribute it to their age and them getting older. I always have to just interject. And I'm like, that is not the case. You do not have to feel this way as you age. There's things internally that are off, out of balance, out of whack. And why you're experiencing this in your, you know, everyday day to day. And again, like I said, you can't, you don't see, you see this externally, I guess, in some senses because of the results that show of your body. But people just attribute it, what I'm trying to get a point across is that they attribute it to them aging.

10:39And that does not have to be the case. And it's just some people don't think about this hormonal profile. They don't think about their hormones. And I think this is something that the fitness space is doing a better job at is recognizing the internal. I always say to our warrior babes, like, we can give you the protocol. We can give you the nutrition protocol. This is why we recently partnered with Equal Life and Dr. Cabral. You guys have heard Dr. Cabral. He's been on the podcast before. I'm going to have to bring it back on. But earlier this year, we partnered with them because we knew that the missing puzzle piece with Warrior Babe was getting the hormones tested and having our babes have the support of their labs being tested on the way into Warrior Babe.

11:20And then we're able to see that lab work and we're able to really personalize a protocol for nutrition and for workouts and all of the other things in terms of habits, sleep, water, that are going to help to fix the – not discrepancies, but fix the – what's the word I'm looking for? This word always slips my mind. But you guys know what I mean. Like, fix the things that are off balance to get them back into balance. And so all of our babes have this on the way in coming into Warrior Babe is now the hormonal profile that we get to have access to to facilitate the right protocol.

11:59But like I say all the time, it's like we can give macros. We can give workouts. We can help you with your mindset. We can break barriers in terms of limitations that you are telling yourself and get you out of your own way. But there's – and I'm even experiencing this with a few of my personal clients that I continue to – that I still work with to this day. I don't take on new clients. And I know that our coaches do this too as well. I'm going on a rant right now, but just stay with me because I'm going to dive into next like how proper diet – what a proper diet looks like to help with hormonal health and muscle building.

12:31And then the impact of an improper diet and how it impacts hormones and muscle development. But my personal clients right now, like, you know, that we've gone three years. And you actually just probably heard this in the podcast that was released last week. I'm filming this one, you know, when – it's actually – the podcast is going to go live tomorrow. So this podcast is going live next week. The podcast I'm talking about that you guys will hear me talk about, my client that was experiencing this after three years of working together, we kind of hit like a wall.

13:04And there was no more adjustments and macros that I could do. There was no more different types of protocols with strength training I could do. This was something that was deeper. Being that, her hormones were out of whack. Her thyroid was trash. Like, it was complete trash, which her doctor told her. And if your thyroid is trash, it makes everything else really hard to achieve at a physical result. Like, it just – it makes it hard to achieve the physical results of your body. If hormones, thyroid, all of the things are out of whack and they're not addressed.

13:36So it's not just – you know, this is like the final puzzle piece of what we brought. So what we're going to be this year is, okay, we can do the nutrition. We can do the strength training. But we need an expert in the space that can help us with the hormonal profiles of these women so that we can really get down to the nitty-gritty of what needs to be addressed, what needs to be worked upon, and how can we get everything in the body balanced so that externally we can get the results that the client wants. So anyway, to go on a tangent, it's – if you're – if these are out of whack, if your insulin is out of whack, if your growth hormone is out of whack, your testosterone, your estrogen, your thyroid, your cortisol, especially your cortisol.

14:16Cortisol is a fat-storing hormone, so it makes it really hard. Like I said, if your cortisol is elevated or flat-lined, it makes it really hard for you – it just – your body wants to store body fat and it wants to hold on to it. And when you have the right balance of your cortisol, it helps to control your body's use of those fats so it doesn't hold on to it. It uses it in the right way that it's supposed to. It uses the protein the right way it's supposed to. It uses carbohydrates in the way it's supposed to. But if it's – if you're stressed to the nines, which a lot of freaking people are, but not a lot of people know what their cortisol levels are actually like.

14:49But if you're stressed to the nines, which a lot of people are, like I said, it's going to be really hard to – Ladies, are you feeling frustrated with body changes you're experiencing during menopause? It's time to take control. If you're between 45 and 65 years old and tired of struggling with body fat and muscle loss, Warrior Babe is here for you. At Warrior Babe, we've helped over 18,000 women just like you lose body fat, build toned muscle, and understand their bodies better with personalized plans based on hormone and thyroid testing and more.

15:27Imagine knowing exactly what your body needs to see real results and results that last. Look, don't wait anymore. Take charge of your health and join our community of strong, empowered women. Visit warriorbabe.com forward slash apply today to start your transformation. That's warriorbabe.com forward slash apply. All right, let's get back to the show. Push what you want to physically with the results you want to see with your body.

15:57So it's really important to get this testing. And again, like if you want help, I've said this in all the podcasts, Warrior Babe. If you want to know deeper hormonal profiles for yourself, check out Warrior Babe. And then you will have one of our expert coaches be able to put together your plan of which you need based off of the results that we get with that type of saliva. And, you know, moving forward to get you the results that you want. Anyway, link is in the description or warriorwave.com forward slash apply. All right, let's get into the rest of the podcast.

16:30So when you have a proper nutrition protocol, I want to talk about how those nutrients that you are eating, what your body needs, helps to produce and regulate hormones efficiently and effectively. And it supports both the overall health of you as an individual and the process of which you want to build muscle or that you need to build muscle. Okay. So when you have healthy fats, hormones are made from fats. So you consuming healthy fats like omega-3s from fish, flax seeds, even like down to the nuts, like walnuts, these can support your hormonal production.

17:10When you have the right – so this is the thing, like, and I'm going to get into it without getting too ahead of myself, but actually I'm going to talk about that and the impact of the improper diet. Having the right amount of fats helps to reduce inflammation. It helps to improve insulin sensitivity. And it's crucial for muscle recovery and for muscle growth. And again, like I said, healthy fats are how hormones are made. So if you aren't consuming the type of fats that you need to on a regular basis or you think that you need to have a diet that is less in fat because it's going to make you less fat, that's not true.

17:53You need a healthy balance of fats. Typically, like, what I look for in women to put them at a fat range with their macros is anywhere from – depending on where you're at and what phase we're at, if you're cutting or if you're in maintenance, it can range from 55 grams to upwards of like 85 grams. Especially if you're going to – especially if you're going through menopause, your fat grams are going to need to be a little bit higher to support the hormonal imbalances that are changing as you go through this phase of life.

18:26So really freaking important to have healthy fats in your everyday protocol. Protein. Having adequate protein intake, this helps to balance insulin levels throughout the day and supports muscle maintenance, which in turn helps to aid in hormonal balances. When you are eating enough protein throughout the day, protein is what helps keep you feeling satiated and fuller longer.

18:59And it helps to eliminate any type of insulin spikes you would have throughout the day. And it helps you to – like, when you're eating protein, as you should, like maybe 30 grams of protein per meal, depending on where your protein levels are, and I'll talk about that in a second. This is what will help you, you know, come the end of the night and be like, oh, I'm not – I'm satiated. I'm not hungry. Like, for those of you guys that get to the end of the night and you're like, oh my god, I'm just so hungry. I feel like I could eat anything and everything, even though you've had, you know, maybe some type of different – or, you know, balanced meals throughout the day.

19:38You probably weren't eating enough protein in those meals to make you feel satiated. And now all of a sudden you're having spikes at the end of the night and you're wanting to eat all of the things because you didn't give your body what it wanted throughout the day. So it is so important to eat enough protein for those reasons, but also because consuming enough protein stimulates the release of growth hormone, which as I just talked about a couple minutes ago, is so important and vital for muscle development.

20:09So if you aren't eating adequate amounts of protein throughout the day, as I mentioned a couple minutes ago, growth hormone is heavily influenced by nutrition and by exercise. And that hormone is what is going to help to grow and to repair muscle. And in order to grow and repair muscle, that's what's going to get you toned. So when you don't have enough protein, which a lot of people don't have enough protein throughout the day, you aren't able to stimulate that growth hormone release as much as somebody who would be eating enough protein throughout the day.

20:46So just protein is king. Like protein is a macronutrient god of over fats and over carbohydrates, if I was to argue that. The amount of protein you should be consuming in a day is anywhere around your body weight or more. Now, for those of you guys that may be like 250 pounds, I wouldn't necessarily say that, hey, you need to go eat 250 grams of protein a day. That's going to be astronomically overwhelming and you're not going to be able to do it. So that's where I would maybe drop down to like 0.8 times your body weight.

21:18And that's where you would eat in grams of protein in a day. For me, for example, like I'm 150 pounds, so I would eat around 150 grams of protein in a day. But let's say that I was going into a cut and I needed to maintain my muscle mass and keep that intact as I decrease body fat, then I would probably increase my protein to be like 1.1 or 1.2 grams per pound per my body weight. So it totally depends on you as an individual. And that's what working with a coach is freaking awesome about because we can see that. We can put our professional education to play and we can give you the protocol that you need to be following.

21:53But most importantly, like a lot of women that I see and that come into Warrior Babe and that our coaches coach is that they're eating 60 grams of protein in a day. And like I just want you guys to think about how this plays a huge factor into you getting the results that you want. If you're eating, which it's a protein is like a, what is it, a mass epidemic in the fitness space. Not a lot of women eat enough protein on a regular basis. And that is why not a lot of women look the way they want to look because protein is such a huge component to you getting the physique that you want that stimulates the things internally to operate how they should and function as they should.

22:30To get you the results you want on the exterior. It's not just like protein stimulates these things. It also is like and gets you the results. It stimulates the hormones that balance out the processes of which that get you the results that you want externally. And I don't want to ignore how important carbohydrates are in this process. They are what give you the energy to go perform the lifts that you need to go to stimulate the processes to build muscle. Fiber is really important. Getting fruits and vegetables and whole grains.

23:02They help regulate blood sugar levels and they support gut health. And those are really important for hormonal balances. Fiber can slow the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream. And this can prevent insulin spikes throughout the day. And this also promotes a stable environment for muscle growth. And then, of course, like our micronutrients. Like I know this is a The WarriorBabe Show. And I talk about all the macronutrients like protein, fats, and carbs. But our micronutrients are also two very important. Vitamins, minerals, vitamin D, magnesium, zinc.

23:33Those are all super essential for hormone production and function. Magnesium helps you to regulate your cortisol. So if you guys are high stress individuals, that's going to help you to bring down that cortisol levels. Vitamin D is extremely important for healthy levels of estrogen and testosterone and supports muscle strength and function. So those like if I was to recommend any type of supplement on a daily basis, these are the two that I take regularly. I take magnesium. I take two of them.

24:04The Pure brand. I take two vial or two pills at night. Two whatever tablets you want to call it. I don't even know what you call it. I take that at night before I go to bed. And I take vitamin D in the morning. What I just recently learned though is you want to take vitamin D with K something. I don't, K2, K3, one of those. You don't want to just take vitamin D by itself. I also take vitamin D, the Pure brand too. So those are just overall ways of which micronutrients, macronutrients, fiber, those, how,

24:40making sure that you have those in your day-to-day and you're consuming enough of those macronutrients into your day-to-day, how that's going to support your hormonal health for just overall health and for muscle building and for you wanting to be having and achieving the results that you want for your body. Now, I want to touch on the impact of improper diet and how improper diet has a huge,

25:10it just wreaks havoc on your hormones and it won't get you the results that you want with muscle development, which I kind of talked about it with inadequate protein. I kind of talked about it with inappropriate fats, but I'm just going to like touch on it again. If your diet is less than ideal, an improper diet can wreak havoc on your hormones. It can lead to a range of health issues and it can hinder muscle development. So for those of you guys, and this was me before I started my journey, I loved sugar.

25:41Like I talked about in episode one, I was the type of person that ate a bag of Smarties in one sitting. I was the type of person that before I decided to do all of my fitness journey cold turkey, I went to Wawa, which is a local convenience store around here in PA, gas station. And I got the strawberry milkshake and I would get candy. Like this was me before my diet or this was me before my taking off of my fitness journey. And I know that this is a lot of individuals too as well. I get it. Sugar is so addicting.

26:12But having excess sugar and having processed foods leads to insulin resistance, which disrupts other hormones like estrogen and testosterone. Processed foods like this, I used to do like the lean cuisines, like the frozen dinners. Those contain unhealthy fats and additives and further disturb your hormonal balance. So this can lead to, you know, increased inflammation in the body. This can interfere with insulin's function.

26:43It can making all of the things that you want to accomplish like muscle recovery, muscle growth, losing your body fat way more difficult. So that is one area. The second area is not having enough healthy fats. Your body can't produce hormones, as I just mentioned, effectively without healthy fats. And so this leads to an imbalance and effects on everything from your mood to your metabolism to hormone production to hindering muscle growth. Having enough healthy fats into your day-to-day.

27:16And like some people go, I just posted this on my Instagram a couple days ago, is that people think they have to eat less fat in order to lose fat. And that's not true. Like if you just have the right balance of each of the macronutrients that your body needs to perform optimally, you will lose body fat. What is going to make you, you know, people think that you need to eat less to lose more. Or that making you fat is going to make you, or eating fat is going to make you more fat.

27:47No, what is going to make you more fat is you consuming too many calories in a day or not enough calories that your body goes into starvation mode and holds on to the things and stores more body fat. It's having the right balance of the macronutrients that you need to accomplish your goals. So that was fats. Protein, I talked on about it. If not getting enough protein in your day, as I mentioned, it causes insulin spikes. It causes crashes. It leads to imbalanced insulin levels and increased cortisol, which stores more body fat.

28:20It leads to the improper function of and production of your thyroid hormone, which regulates your metabolism and your energy levels, which are both extremely critical for muscle building. And then overall, just like your diet lacking in essential vitamins, minerals, impairs, impairs the production of the hormones that we mentioned, insulin, cortisol, estrogen, testosterone, growth hormone, like having low magnesium levels.

28:51Like you guys don't understand how all of these things severely impacts what is going on in your body. Like people don't, there's some people that barely eat in a day. There's some people that, you know, have one meal a day or don't, or it's just use an excuse of I'm too busy and I don't have enough time to eat. If those are the things that are going on with you, this is what's going to happen. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next week, maybe not in one month, but guarantee more of you doing this for years on end is going to lead to something happening.

29:27With your health in 10, 15, 20 years. So if you can just get this right now, you are being proactive for yourself right now without having any type of symptoms that you may have. And so that you don't have to be reactive later on in life. All of these imbalances of which I'm talking about that literally start from what you eat on a daily basis and how much you consume on a daily basis. All of these imbalances lead to symptoms like fatigue, which is what a lot of women experience.

29:59On want to weight gain, which is what a lot of women experience. Mood swings, which is what a lot of women experience. And even more serious health conditions if left unchecked. The weight gain, the mood swings, the fatigue. This is what I said earlier on in the podcast where you guys think that this is just a normal process of aging. That you're going to feel tired. That you're going to have on want to weight gain. That you're going to experience mood swings. That you're not going to have enough energy. That is not due to your age. That is due to the hormones inside of your body being out of whack and not being balanced.

30:32Proper nutrition is a powerful fork and tool for maintaining hormone balance, supporting muscle growth, and your overall health. It will literally, what women experience, they won't experience some type of external result in the first like month, maybe even two months when they come into Warrior Babe. But what they will experience and what I will put my life on this is fatigue turns around. Their mood swings turn around. They have more energy. They're sleeping better at night and they feel better than when they started before Warrior Babe.

31:08So just take this podcast and let it give you the wealth of knowledge that you need to understand. That it's not just the external results that people need to go or want to go for. It's also the internal of getting the internal right so that you can achieve the external results that you want. It's about being proactive now rather than reactive later. And it's about understanding that age is just a number.

31:45And what you're experiencing as you do age isn't correlated with you getting older. It's correlated with what's going on inside of your body and your body being like, yo, some things need to be addressed. And so it's giving you these types of symptoms. Okay. So and then once you like I guarantee you. A lot of people have some type of imbalance that they don't know they have. And you won't know you have it until you get it checked out.

32:16Until you do a saliva test. Until you do lab work. Until you routinely. Figure this stuff out. And that's exactly what you know you guys listened to Lisa's podcast last week. And if you haven't go listen to it. It was on it was released on Friday, July 5th. Go listen to that because she was experiencing all of these things. And she didn't know she had anything wrong until she went and got tests done and took action on figuring it out. All right. So if you guys need help.

32:47This is what we do at Warrior Babe. We now offer hormone testing. You guys do saliva testing. We get your A1C. We get your sex. We get your sex hormones. We get your cortisol. We get so much more. So and then we can take that into account when we're giving you your protocol. When it comes to your nutrition and your workout. And all the other things that we help you along your way. When you when you're on your fitness journey to get you the results that you want. But it worried me. It's not just the external results. It's also just your overall health and your well-being.

33:20All right guys. I hope you enjoyed this podcast. I was actually one of my favorites that I've recorded lately. And I enjoy sharing that type of information with you. Because I think more women need to understand this kind of stuff. That really nutrition plays a pivotal role. It's not just about exercising. Which a lot of you guys think it is. Like I'm going to go do my workout today. I'm going to go make sure I do five days of workouts this week. Nutrition is king. Exercise is queen. I've said that time and time again. But I think this podcast really elaborated why nutrition is king and exercise is queen.

33:51Nutrition is the most important protocol that you can put in place for yourself on a daily basis. Is it going to help so many things internally and externally for yourself? Okay. Anyway. Love you guys. And I'll see you in the next podcast. Peace out. Peace out.

34:33Peace out.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.