194: Eating to Balance Your Hormones with Leisha Drews

Leisha: 0:00

The thing that I see as a mistake the most when women are trying to eat healthy, eat for hormones, whatever that is is that they're really not eating enough.

Camille: 0:19

So you want to make an impact. You're thinking about starting a business, sharing your voice. How do women do it that handle motherhood, family and still chase after those dreams? We'll listen each week as we dive into the stories of women who know. This is Call Me CEO. Welcome back everyone to Call Me CEO.

Camille: 0:40

This is your host, Camille Walker, and today is a special treat because we are talking hormones. This is your host, Camille Walker, and today is a special treat because we are talking hormones, which, for any woman, that is a part of our life and, trust me, I just turned 40 this year and I'm learning that. It's even more of the equation now that I'm going into the next stage of what is perimenopause and how do I eat and how do I do this naturally. Well, we have a specialist here, Alicia Drews, who is the host of Happily Hormonal Podcast. Soisha, Leisha Drews is the Happily Hormonal of podcast. So, really, this is dipping your toes. Dipping your toes into what is available and what she has to offer. But we're going to talk about how to nourish your body daily. What are the things that you can do right now to gradually understand it better and nourish yourself day to day so that you're not having highs or deep lows, which we all want more of that. So, Alicia, thank you so much for being on the show today.

Leisha: 1:31

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I'm always excited to talk hormones and I love connecting with other women, so this is this is all of my things.

Camille: 1:38

Yay, well, I'm just happy. I was thinking about this this morning as I was preparing for this interview. I am so grateful that I live in a day and age where women are talking about hormones and that it's not such a mystery, and that women are also advocating for other women in health professions as well, in conversations like this, where we can even discover what's normal and what we can do to help ourselves.

Leisha: 2:03

Yeah, absolutely. I know that. I've had experiences in the past and I hear from other women that I coach and work with all the time that they've just been essentially ignored or not listened to, and I really think that that's starting to change, and that's a huge passion of mine is to make sure that it's changing, and I think that that's a great point that you're making, that we are in a space where we can talk about this and 20 years ago, 30 years ago, like there wasn't as much information for sure.

Camille: 2:30

Yeah, okay. Well, tell our audience where you live, how you have children, tell us about that. And how did you get into the world of hormones? What brought you down this?

Leisha: 2:39

path. Yeah, so I live in Oklahoma. I live with my husband, we've married almost 12 years, and then my three kiddos. My daughter is nine and I have two little boys. They are five and two and a half, and so if you have kids at that age, you know that that is a whole full-time experience in and of itself, and so I actually started my journey into hormone coaching kind of the long way. So I went to nursing school straight out of high school and worked in the hospital for about 10 years, and as I started having my babies and started really paying attention to my own symptoms in my body and understanding that they weren't just normal and they weren't just something that needed a bandaid on top of them to ignore the symptoms, I really started to ask a lot of questions and I did all these.

Leisha: 3:30

I did a lot of this question asking while I was in the hospital and while I was seeing this older population of people who were coming to the hospital with these chronic diseases, and I just remember some specific people that I saw who were coming back again and again and again and they were just getting worse and worse and worse and they were getting older. But that wasn't enough of an explanation that they should just be getting worse and so many of the symptoms that they were struggling with and the things that were putting them in their hospital and like essentially ruining the quality of life that they had left was these things were preventable. And I really started to, as I started to advocate for my own health and for my children's health and understand nutrition better and understand how our bodies work and gut health and all of these kind of like beginner things that we dive into when we start to become more crunchy people. Um, we start to understand like there's a lot more to this picture and I started to see that, in conjunction with you, know what was going on in the hospital and realize that I wanted to be on the front side of this and I wanted to help people prevent these chronic diseases in the first place. And so, as I started to, I got a couple of certifications in functional health and, um, a couple of different, different programs that I did to be able to move into more of the functional health space.

Leisha: 4:48

I really realized that I loved working with women and I loved helping moms specifically get more balanced in their bodies, more balanced in their hormones, so they had more energy and they could have more capacity to show up as the moms and the women they wanted to be. And so that's truly my passion is like helping women get out of this place of feeling terrible, you know, one week out of the month or three weeks out of the month and not having energy, just not feeling like themselves. And so that's kind of the progression of how I moved into hormones and I haven't looked back since.

Camille: 5:22

Oh, I love it. It's interesting because I have nieces who are now I mean, my oldest niece is just 12 years younger than me and she's in that phase of trying to get pregnant and dealing with PCOS and having hormone situations with trying to get pregnant, and then there's the hormones of what to do while you're pregnant and after having your baby and coming back to normal, and then and then you get into perimenopause, which I feel like is this brand new situation where we're barely even learning what that means and how to deal with those symptoms. So, as far as where, what looks normal and what is a common question that people come to you with, you've been doing this now for five years. So what are some initial first questions to look for, or what is considered normal or abnormal?

Leisha: 6:13

Yeah. So I think that the biggest thing to start to walk away with from this conversation is that what you may have thought was normal, just because it's always been in your family or because all of your friends have the same symptoms, just because it's always been in your family or because all of your friends have the same symptoms, that doesn't necessarily mean that that is optimal for your hormones and optimal for your health. So I know that so many women have painful periods and they have PMS and like mood changes before their period. But both of those things, while they are completely accepted in our society and it's just like oh yeah, your period sucks, like everyone has a period, it sucks. That's just part of being a woman, Right? I just don't agree with that because I've seen so consistently that things can change when you or a body has exactly what it needs to be able to produce those hormones well, and so having painful cramps, having heavy periods, clotting um, having a lot of mood changes that week before your cycle or multiple weeks out of your cycle, and then even into having low energy or hormonal acne, um, breakouts before your cycle or breakouts throughout the month, like all of those things, in my opinion, are abnormal hormone symptoms, but we get told, you know, oh, you're just a teenager, so your periods are going to be bad for a while, or they're going to be irregular for a while, or you're going to have acne because you're a teenager.

Leisha: 7:33

And then we move into our twenties and we're told it's just normal to have those painful periods. It might get better after you have a baby. But take birth control for 10 years until you're ready for that and it'll all be fine, right? Or oh, you have mood swings before your cycle, that's just normal. Suck it up, try to be nice, maybe take an antidepressant if it gets bad enough, and that's just.

Leisha: 7:52

It just makes me sad even saying those things, because it's just so dismissive and so close minded, essentially, that you just have to have this experience as a woman. That is negative, especially around the hormones that we were given to create new life, which is like the most incredible superpower that a human could have, right and so. But we're taught to hate those hormones that gave us that ability to create new life and to have our babies and to create families and legacies, and so I just think that the narrative has to change and when we start to have less hormone symptoms. We don't have as much of a reason to feel like our bodies hate us and we're having to fight against them.

Camille: 8:37

Yeah, oh, my gosh, there's so much to impact. No, I mean, of course, you come up with new content every single week to talk about this on your own podcast, so this is a very high level scenario where many of our listeners are at different stages of hormone health and what that looks like. But our nutrition and balancing our hormones naturally through food is something that can apply to any woman, so that's what our focus is for this episode is what can you eat in a daily lifestyle way that helps us to balance hormones, so that you aren't experiencing these fluctuations as much?

Leisha: 9:12

Yeah, so I do love that we can talk about this in the whole range of women's life, where we're talking about like teenagers to women who are having babies, to postpartum, to perimenopause, like you mentioned, like all of those seasons are different, but it comes back to our bodies are going to need the same things to thrive in all of those seasons, and then there's just like a few little differences sprinkled in, not like everything, just like every 10 years completely changes, screeches to a halt. We have to change everything we're doing for our bodies. So I think that the first thing that I really like to focus on when it comes to food is looking at our mindset around food, and this sounds very like, you know, like, oh man, here we go back to mindset, right, because? But it's the the root of so many things. And so for women in our culture especially women, I think, in our thirties and our forties maybe a little bit less nowadays Um, it really has been honed in for us that to be healthy, to be beautiful, to be worthy, we have to be a certain weight, and so when we have that just hammered into us over and over again, we have certain preconceptions. When it comes to food, again, we have certain preconceptions when it comes to food and we have certain preconceptions when it comes to, like, what's healthy and what's not, and what I find is that has been very, very um elevated and praised.

Leisha: 10:38

When women don't eat enough, it's just like look at, look at you, like you must be stronger than the rest of us because you don't have cravings or you must be. You know, you must have a lot of self control if you don't eat carbs, or you look really good so you definitely have never eaten a bite of sugar in your life and when we right, and so it's just. It's just this like mindset of restriction that I find we have to really search out in ourselves before we can start to make great changes with nutrition. Because if I give you, you know, three foods to eat or not eat to fix your hormones, but your mindset is still like food is bad, I'm bad if I eat the wrong things and I have to do this perfect, or I've failed and no one will ever love me. It sounds very dramatic but, like I think we can all relate to that, it goes deep really fast.

Leisha: 11:32

So I love to be able to just talk about and kind of search your own soul and heart a little bit about like where is your mindset with nourishment and I love the word nourishment, because it's not diet, it's not nutrition, it's not these words that we kind of like associate with trying to lose weight.

Leisha: 11:49

It's really like how can I nourish my body in a way that I love my body? And for those of you who are moms or who want to be moms, thinking about how you'd want to nourish your body when you were pregnant with your baby, or how you would even want to nourish like your daughter, and just thinking of, like, the feelings of love that that brings up that maybe it doesn't come up when you just think about feeding yourself there's a whole shift there that can be so beautiful and can make such a difference in how you can be consistent with nutrition and with feeding yourself well. So I think that that's where we have to start, even though that's not a food answer is just like how can we focus on nourishing our bodies and giving them what they need, instead of taking things away from them and punishing them?

Camille: 12:33

So that's where I want to start. I love that so much, yeah, because I think when you shifted it to what would you want to feed your baby while you're pregnant? That is a different mindset, I know from when I was pregnant. I was a little more conscious of like what nutrients or what kind of things. I know that when you're pregnant, calcium can be sapped from your bones. Literally, your baby can take it from your bones. So I remember thinking when I was pregnant I better make sure that I have enough calcium for both of us. You know, and it is true that it's kind of this nourishment perspective rather than a restriction mindset, and I love that because it's like what can you add instead of what are you taking away, and that's. That is such a healthier way of thinking of taking care of ourselves. That's really helpful.

Leisha: 13:24

And you know, I think even just hearing you say that it's like sometimes for women in pregnancy they're like I can just eat whatever I want.

Leisha: 13:29

Finally, I don't have to worry about getting fat and you can almost like go too far with that, and I think that that's a fear that women have a lot of times when you start to try to change your mindset to nourishment, we're holding onto that restriction so tight because we're afraid if we stop restricting we're just going to be out of control and then we're definitely going to gain the weight we don't want and feel the ways we don't want and all of those things and so really everything that I have learned.

Leisha: 13:52

I feel like the older I get and I'm not even that old yet the older I get, the more I realize that they're just like we have to be in the middle with so many things. And so when we're looking at nourishing, the beauty behind that is when we start to actually nourish our bodies well and consistently and stop trying to restrict all the time, a lot of the things that we're holding onto as fears start to be essentially like soothed with that safety that we're introducing our body to, that we actually have what we need. We have the nutrients that we need. It's consistent. We're not starving on a regular basis. It's really incredible how it's not just a clear like if I let go of this restriction, I'm going to be out of control, and there really is, like, this gentle progression essentially of being able to nourish. So, with all of that being said, the thing that I see as a mistake the most when women are trying to eat healthy, eat for hormones, whatever that is is that they're really not eating enough.

Camille: 14:57

And I was just going to say that I'm like I'm always so busy that I'm like I don't even know. Oh my gosh, it's two o'clock. I have an evening late in lunch and my husband we were talking about this just the other day. We were at lunch as a family and we each said what time we eat lunch and my husband said, oh my gosh, it's two, this is so late. And I'm like oh, this is my normal lunchtime that I look at the clock and think, crap, I haven't eaten yet. And it's funny because he's like I eat at noon on the dot and I think a lot of times for women we get busy doing so many things or we're just distracted. That for sure. I know that I a lot of times I'm not getting enough, so sorry to get really excited about that, but I'm like okay, yeah, that's me.

Leisha: 15:40

Yeah, yeah, and I think that again, like I've talked about weight a lot and that's not even the focus of so much of what I do, but I know it is a focus for a lot of us in our brains and it's it's linked to health for us a lot of times and so when we're, when we're thinking about you know what we're doing that is causing weight gain. A lot of times we think we just assume, well, we must be eating too much. But most of the time I see that women are not eating enough and sometimes it's because of diet, diet mindset restriction, and sometimes it's just what you said, like we're just busy and we're not focused on it, and unfortunately that leads to a lot of blood sugar imbalances within the body and on a hormone level. Blood sugar imbalance is a true emergency because when you don't have enough glucose in your bloodstream to feed your cells, to keep your brain going, to keep all of your functions going, your body recognizes that as this is a true emergency, you spike cortisol, which is one of your main stress hormones, immediately, and rightfully so, because you need to prop up that blood sugar level as quickly as possible so you don't start to have symptoms, so your brain doesn't stop working Um, and so that emergency situation in the body tells your body, okay, if this is an emergency, things are not safe right now. But the more that that happens throughout your day or throughout your week, it starts to trigger issues with your sex hormones, like estrogen and progesterone. Because the more times we have this response in our body that things are not safe, the less your body is going to focus on fertility, because everything is working together for your good and when your body is protecting you, it's not going to focus on a very metabolically expensive task of keeping your hormones balance and keeping your ovulation on track and keeping your periods regular, because you don't need to get pregnant right now.

Leisha: 17:29

When your body is stressed the heck out and it thinks there's an emergency happening. You know, twice a day, when your blood sugar drops every single day, and so it's really taking those signals that you're giving it or not giving it, when you're not giving it food and interpreting that the way that it needs to to keep your body safe. So not eating enough is a big one, and it can be just not eating enough in general throughout the day or not eating consistently enough, and so a pattern that you might recognize from what you just said is like a lot of women, especially busy moms, especially business owners, they're getting up in the morning and it's like it's go time, it's time to get stuff done. If the kids aren't up yet, you better believe you're not going to waste your time making breakfast, because you can do that later, when there's all the people involved in all the things, and so you're going to get up and start going right away and you might drink some coffee because that'll help you stay alive a little bit longer, and you're just going to like, get on with your day.

Leisha: 18:24

And so a lot of women I'll see drinking coffee in the morning and then maybe skipping breakfast or eating like a late breakfast or even like a late lunch, because it's just, you know, it's easier that way sometimes and it's not something that feels like a priority until it actually feels like an emergency later when you're like, oh, wow, I'm, I'm going to die, I'm starving all of a sudden Right and so you might eat lunch a little late and then usually dinner can be like a little bit more of a balanced meal Maybe you're doing it with the family, it's a little bit more of a priority and then a lot of times later in the evening, this is where cravings show up, right when your body is saying like, oh, I need to eat some chocolate, I need to eat some chips, I need something.

Leisha: 19:02

And it's just your body finally having the chance to tell you, when you finally slow down, like, hey, I'm really hungry, you're not giving me enough food. And then it's going to ask for the things that are going to have the quickest energy, the quickest mineral spike, and so that's why we crave, like the sugar and carbs and salty foods. So if that, if that pattern, sounds familiar at all, this is an easy way to not be getting enough and to not be keeping your blood sugar balanced. And those are the two biggest things that I see as kind of like the first triggers for hormone imbalance when it comes to food.

Camille: 19:34

Yeah, those are really helpful. I mean, I think that that is most likely very familiar to many who are listening. I actually saw a video recently that was saying something like if you can focus all of your meals on getting your protein and your fiber in first, that will actually balance your sugar level way better, even if you had the exact same meal but started with your sugar first and then went to your protein and fat or fiber or whatever it is. I thought that was really interesting. So I like the way that you're putting it out into.

Camille: 20:08

What is it that we are likely to do for just busy lifestyles and how can we reverse that and look at it in nourishment and the steps that we can take, because I think, looking at blood sugar, I have a brother who's diabetic. And the steps that we can take. Because I think, looking at blood sugar, I have a brother who's diabetic, and so I am a little more aware of blood sugar maybe than someone would be who didn't have that in the family. But for myself, I'm not testing my blood sugar all the time, and so that's another reminder that your body will respond to that. But I didn't even think of it with the cortisol hormone, which that is something I'm learning more about all the time. So that's that makes a lot of sense that that would be a stress response.

Leisha: 20:46

Yeah, so I've talked about kind of like what we're easily doing that's hurting our hormones, but what would we want to do instead? So when we're looking at food, my first thing that I want to look at is consistency. So I always recommend eating within 30 to 60 minutes of waking up in the morning and having protein and carbs together, and absolutely fiber is very important. I really focus on simplifying because I work with moms who are busy, who are depleted at minerals from several kiddos who are already having hormone symptoms, try to try to keep things as like, focused and simple as possible. And thankfully, when we're eating whole foods, we usually are getting those fats in, and fiber is a little bit, a little bit more hit or miss, but that's something we can like work on as we go. So I always look at protein and carbs first, because when we are getting enough protein, we all know protein is good for us. We all know we need protein. It's going to help our muscles, it's going to help, um, energy levels, it's going to help keep blood sugar stable. But what we oftentimes don't know is good for us is that we need healthy carbs as well, and the good thing about carbs is that that's going to give you kind of like the quick energy right away when you need it, and then that protein is going to be able to be used to actually build your muscle and to actually repair tissues and things like that. When you have the carbs for the immediate energy, and when you have both of those things together, you're going to have a lot more balanced blood sugar. So I like to, within 30 to 60 minutes of waking up, have something with protein and carbs. Again, I hear you, if you're like. I'm definitely not making myself eggs and bacon and toast before the kids wake up. Same, neither am I. There's quick and easy little things you can do to just get a little bit like a snack right away in the morning, give your body something to go on, and then after that you can, you know, start living your day. If you really need coffee first thing in the morning, have some coffee and then have like a real breakfast, maybe a little bit later in the morning, and then try to make sure that your meals always have protein and carbs together and then our every like three to four hours throughout the day, um and so maybe not a meal every three to four hours, but like a meal or snack will really help keep things stable. And when your body gets those consistent signals of safety, we start to see cortisol go down, which starts to make your hormones feel better and your energy better. Almost right away, like within a week usually, we're seeing the energy starts to feel better, and that's just like the most simple step that I can give you.

Leisha: 23:13

And then when I'm looking at again kind of like an overall step for food, then we start to look at quality and we start to look at are you eating whole foods? Are you eating things that are like just kind of like the main source of the food, so like, is it like some meat and then a sweet potato? Or like some meat and a simple grain? Or I really like fruits and root veggies as a main source of carbs, and so I like to start there like, instead of it being, you know, like a packaged pizza, it's more like this is this is whole food, this is real food. It doesn't have ingredients in it that I don't know what they are and it doesn't have a lot of processed oils. I think even that step again like that can take you a very long way, and then we can always make it fancier. We can always make it better, but if you're not there yet, those steps are going to make a huge difference.

Camille: 24:02

Oh, I love it. Okay, so I have a game we're going to play. You don't even know this is happening, but let's go. So I, when I hear things like this, I'm like, okay, but tell me what you're eating, and I have some things that are my go-to. So we're going to ping pong and I'm going to share you with you things that I like to eat for breakfast, and then we'll go to snack, lunch, dinner. Are you? Are you ready? Yes, ready. Okay, I mean, you're probably more prepared than me, okay. So one of my go-tos in the morning, when it's a quick, fast breakfast, I love eating a built bar and an apple. There are two things I can grab in the car and I generally will eat them before I go to like a 9am workout. So that's number one. Okay, now it's your turn.

Leisha: 24:41

Okay, so my very favorite thing to do first thing in the morning is I really love just it's essentially like a protein shake, but I make it like hot chocolate, so I just milk and then I really love the equip chocolate protein and I'll do that and I'm going to have some solid protein. But I like it as a drink because it just like feels like something slow to wake up with or like I can do it while I'm doing a little bit of work in the morning or something like that, and then I'll definitely do that before my workout as well. But for some reason I just enjoy like having more of a drink in the morning and then I'll have food pretty soon after.

Camille: 25:13

Yeah, ooh, I like that. Okay, so another one that I love, and I have discount codes for these, you guys, so I'll put these in the link. I have a discount for Bilt Bar. Another one that I love is the Transform protein, and they have a flavor that's peanut butter chocolate that I love, and I actually prefer to eat it warm this one warm. I have certain proteins I like to drink warm and certain ones I like to drink cold, but I love to drink that flavor and then pair it with a piece of toast with peanut butter. Okay, so your turn.

Leisha: 25:46

That's so interesting Warm peanut butter. I would have to try that it's well, it's chocolate peanut butter.

Camille: 25:51

I know Put it in my cocoa motion maker. I like to drink it warm. I showed it to my mom. She loves it too, so I don't know it's one. No, it sounds good.

Leisha: 25:59

I just never thought of that. Um. Another one for me is just like a simple, like Greek yogurt, a little bit of berries and honey. Again, you're going to get that carbs and protein the honey and the fruit are quick sources of energy, and then that um protein in the yogurt is going to help sustain you for longer and that's again super quick. So I love that.

Camille: 26:20

I love that. I love that one too, okay. Another favorite right now that I love is they're selling them at Costco, but they are the Starbucks egg bites, and they have one that's egg whites with veggies in it, or they have one that's like gear cheese and bacon in it. But I put them in the air fryer for 10 minutes, and what I like to do in the morning is pop it in and get my kids going or doing, you know, helping them, do whatever the thing is and 10 minutes is long enough in the air fryer that by the time I'm done helping them, my breakfast is ready, and so I can either eat it when I get back from dropping them off or eat it with them there, depending on how the morning is going. But that is has been one of my absolute favorites, and then I'll typically put a yogurt on the side or some strawberries too, with that.

Leisha: 27:09

Yeah.

Leisha: 27:10

This is your last one for breakfast. Okay, so another breakfast that I like that can be simple is it's a. It's a very similar version to like egg bites, but sometimes I'll just do a quick prep of a little bit of like whether it's frozen, cut up potatoes, or I cut them up myself, and then just a scrambled egg cheese, maybe throw a few veggies in there and just bake it. So essentially like a little quiche, but not really with a crust, and then we can use that for just like a little breakfast square, eat it by itself, or sometimes I'll put it in a breakfast taco, so that can be like a couple of breakfasts, if I know that the mornings are going to be really busy and I won't have time to necessarily make something.

Camille: 27:50

Yeah, are you cooking that in like a muffin tin? I?

Leisha: 27:54

can do it in a muffin tin. A lot of times I'll just do it in a big Pyrex and just cut squares of it. Oh, okay, yeah, Like when I'm making it, not necessarily when I'm taking it out, but when I'm making it, it feels easier.

Camille: 28:04

Well, whatever, it's fine, it's all the same. Okay, so let's go to snacks. So this could be for mid morning or after lunch.

Leisha: 28:12

You go first. Okay, so one of my favorite snacks is a raw carrot salad. This is a big one. That's really good for your hormones, it's really good for your gut and estrogen detox, and so it's essentially just like a shredded carrot with a little bit of oil and vinegar. I like um, nct oil, it's like a liquid form of coconut oil and then a little bit of apple cider vinegar and salt that one if you're looking for some fiber, really good fiber and then I'll usually have like a little side of protein with it, like maybe a couple of pieces of cheese or some cottage cheese or something like that.

Camille: 28:45

Oh, that sounds good. I saw someone on TikTok making a corn or a carrot salad like that, almost identical to those ingredients, and I thought that looks so crunchy, like to satisfy that crunch and almost like that saltiness that you crave. So it's like if you're craving potato chips, do carrots instead. I love that.

Camille: 29:03

Okay, so one that I have had recently that is so easy and basic but I love it, is the Taylor Farms snack. It's basically like a veggie mini veggie tray, but it comes with almonds and cheese or a little turkey sausage and cheese with broccoli and carrots, and I have brought it on the airport with me. I are on the airplane with me and I have had it just when I'm. If I go and do like a work, I'll do um co-working hours with a friend and I'll bring it with me there sometimes, or even just at home. It's a really balanced, easy way to get those veggies in, and something about not having to prepare it myself makes me eat it more. I don't know why, but it's just like it's all there and it's ready to go.

Leisha: 29:48

Yeah, but there is definitely something to that. Um, an easy one that I like to have just in the car or I'm recently out of a diaper bag, but I've had a diaper bag for a long time is just some beef sticks. At Costco you can get the chomps beef sticks or you can get the little chomps the little blue package ones, I can't think Archer farms.

Leisha: 30:06

I think I like the chomps personally. For an adult sized person you need a little bit bigger size than the little baby one. Um, so I'll do like a chomps bar and then either a piece of fruit or like some dried fruit, like dried mango or something. Um if you want to keep it in the car, and some dried fruit is a really good option and that's just like so easy.

Camille: 30:26

Yeah, ooh, I like that. Okay, last one for snacks. I love hard boiled eggs and having. You can buy them at Costco pre-made. But again, these are easy to make. But if you know you're not going to and it makes you eat healthier to have it done for you, then do it. So I'll just eat um hard boiled eggs and then I might have like an apple with it or um some cutie oranges or something.

Leisha: 30:51

Yeah, that's a great one too.

Camille: 30:53

Okay. So, going to. Oh, do you have one more snack?

Leisha: 30:56

I was going to think of one, but we can go on.

Camille: 30:59

Okay, that's fine. Another snack I really like is cottage cheese with cut up apples in it. I think that's so good. Or cottage cheese with a cut up cucumber, tomato and avocado. That's another favorite.

Leisha: 31:11

Have you ever put jam in it? No, what kind of jam it sounds weird, but it's really good.

Camille: 31:16

In which one? The one with like more?

Leisha: 31:18

savory. Just jam, just jam, like I'll put like strawberry jam, or even sometimes, like I had a jam that had like little pieces of berries in it, like maybe it was a mixed berry jam.

Camille: 31:30

I just mixed it in with the cottage cheese. I don't know why it's so good, but it's really good and just spoon it like cereal, just like a tea spoon.

Leisha: 31:36

Yeah, and you just eat it with a spoon.

Camille: 31:38

Okay, cool, I'll have to try that one. All right, we'll do a combo of lunch and dinner, because they could be the same, so you start with yours.

Leisha: 31:48

Okay, so, easy yeah easy.

Camille: 31:49

Yeah, it is hard. Now it's like eating other people.

Leisha: 31:54

I have a couple easier go-tos though. Okay. So Costco you seem to be a Costco fan like me. Um, they have those Amy Lou or Amy Lou um meatballs, chicken meatballs. Those are super good and they're kind of seasonal where they have different flavors, but one of my family's favorites is those meatballs. And then I'll make pickled carrots, which is just like strips of carrots, like I do with a potato peeler, put them in some apple cider vinegar for like 10 minutes while I'm making dinner. And then rice, um, and it's just, it's really good. The pickled carrots really just like make it. And sometimes I'll make like a little sriracha mayo to mix in, but that one's a super good and I mean you could put it together and however long it takes for the rice to cook in your instant pot, which is beautiful.

Camille: 32:37

Yeah, I legit have those meatballs in my fridge right now. It's like um teriyaki pineapple, but we haven't tried them yet, so that would be perfect. Hey, okay, um, my kids love the Adel's sausages. That, um, is it chicken sausage? And we'll put that on. We'll do that with spaghetti or even on um what? So this is one thing that I will do with my kids, especially when they were younger. That really helped them to eat veggies. What's to do? Cucumber chips is what we called them, but all it was was cucumbers sliced really thin, and so we would just do like cucumbers sliced really thin, and so we would just do like cucumbers, potatoes and sausages like basic but they love it, I think that basic, especially when you have kids, it's kind of the only way to go for a while, and I've even told my husband sometimes I'm like I'm so bored with this dinner right now, but also like no one's

Leisha: 33:29

complaining. So when? Yes, so I try to definitely spice it up where I can and my kids are getting a little better, but sometimes it is just like I think you sometimes just have to do the basics when things are busy and you're getting what you need, and then, like you can again, you can fancy it up whenever you want to. Okay, another this is more of a dinner in my opinion, but I love making quinoa bowls and it's just like exactly what it sounds like.

Leisha: 33:54

I'll do ground beef quinoa as kind of the base, and then you can add whatever veggies you want to add. It ends up being a lot of veggies for me typically, but usually I'll roast them, sweet potatoes and then we'll add, like, maybe it's tomatoes, um, some sort of like chopped lettuce. We did collard greens the other night just for like a different vibe. With it. I can throw in tomatoes I think I already said tomatoes, cucumbers. Sometimes you can kind of make like a little bit of a sauce to go with it, but truly it's kind of crazy what random vegetables you can get out of your fridge that you need to use up and how it goes really well together with a quinoa bowl with beef.

Leisha: 34:34

So that's kind of my like end of the week, like clean out the fridge meal. I'm like, okay, I have like these four or five different kinds of vegetables that we've got a little bit of, so like maybe zucchini or another type of squash, or I put some eggplant in there the other night, cause I didn't know what to do with my eggplant, like any of those things you can kind of throw in, and it makes a really pretty colorful bowl. I'll do like some shredded carrots in there sometimes, um, and it all just like somehow goes together and is really good.

Camille: 35:02

Oh, that sounds. This is making me hungry, let's be honest. So, for sake of time, because a lot of times I know when my hormones are maybe out of whack sugar cravings let's talk about healthy. I know when my hormones are maybe out of whack sugar cravings let's talk about healthy. Maybe a healthy snack or treat.

Leisha: 35:22

um, that would be better for us than reaching for the tub of ice cream. I'd love to hear your ideas. Okay, so a couple of go-tos are bone broth, hot chocolate. So I do it kind of the same way as I just did my like morning hot chocolate, but I'll do milk. I like to just do raw milk. We have a farm locally. That's really good for that. I'll do usually chocolate protein powder, and then I have found that I can add like half a cup or maybe even three quarters a cup, of bone broth in there, and I don't even notice that it's there. So find the ratio that works for you. But that's going to make it a lot more mineral rich, which will actually help satisfy that craving. And I really just like I mean, I'm just a hot chocolate fan myself, but when I, when I can make hot chocolate that has 20 grams of protein and some minerals in it and actually no sugar, there's no reason not to.

Leisha: 36:06

So I do a lot of hot chocolate. At least once a day I probably have some hot chocolate Um. Another one that I like that's a little more summery is just like some plain Greek yogurt, some I always have frozen cherries. My kids love those, and so we'll chop up some frozen cherries and put a few like chocolate chips and maybe like a little drizzle of honey. That's delicious for a little nighttime snack. And then I always am a fan of making like some whole whole food ingredient, maybe gluten free cookies or brownies here and there.

Leisha: 36:38

But I do want to say like if you're having a lot of sugar cravings, it really is your body telling you that you're not getting something that you need. And so, as I have moved out of a restrictive mindset with food and have moved out of trying to like restrict everything, I don't eat a lot of sweets, or even when I do make sweets, it's just not a big deal anymore, and it used to be like if I made cookies I was going to eat all the cookies within a day or two, and it's just not that anymore. So I think that you know, having a healthy swap for sugar is a great option, and if it's like out of control sugar cravings. That's something that you can address with getting your body more of what it needs.

Camille: 37:16

That's something's out of whack. So say that you someone listening right now is thinking this all sounds well and good, but what are my best first steps with knowing if my I mean, we talked about some of the symptoms, but how does someone know if it's what we would maybe consider like a regular sugar craving versus, oh, my hormones are? I'm in trouble, like I need help. What are some first steps that would be good to take?

Leisha: 37:45

Yeah. So I think that first step really would be come over to my podcast. I have episodes on just like so many different layers of this, so really you can come find information on what is most specifically going to relate to you. But as far as just you know, kind of knowing, like whether your symptoms are within the realm of normal or not, if they're affecting your life or it's like really taking up a lot of your thought life, that's the time that it's something, it's time to do something about it, essentially. And so I have lots of different resources at kind of like different levels, depending on if you need a little bit of help or if you need like full handholding. Let's figure this out together, let's do testing. There's a, there's options available.

Camille: 38:26

Yeah, we talked about this briefly before we started this recording, but what's really cool about your approach is that you actually have coaching and a group like a course that people could take. So there's different levels of depending on how much help that you need, as well as helping with mindset and really getting into what's going on for each person, because, let's be honest, with hormone health there is so depending on the age you are or what your symptoms are. It's it's just such. It's a puzzle, but I love that there are people to help us put pieces together.

Leisha: 39:02

Yeah, absolutely. I definitely couldn't have done it for myself when I was in the thick of it and I just I didn't know where to go.

Camille: 39:10

Would you say, of all the people that you've helped, what has been one of the best, like, oh, what's a good, what has been the best payoff for you or transformation that you've seen with people you've helped?

Leisha: 39:23

Okay, that's a great question. Um, I have like three or four that are coming to mind right now, and so I'll kind of just give you like a quick little overview of a few different ones. But I had one client in particular who had just essentially like become not like herself anymore, where she was only having a few good days out of the month with her mood, and it just took, instead of it being like three weeks of PMS in the month. Within the first month it was like I had four days and then it went down to three days and then it was like I'm, you know, back to being myself every day out of the month, except for maybe like a few hours. I feel snappy and so like a transformation like that. You know, like that's where we're talking about capacity and like changing your life in motherhood. And I've also had clients had I've had multiple clients that I've helped with period pain, but one in particular that I can think of.

Leisha: 40:13

She used to have like two to three days on the couch with a heating pad, just like severe period pain. And over the course of the time we worked together, she was getting ready to get married and she ended up, unfortunately, getting her period on her wedding day. The good news is it didn't slow her down. She didn't have to be on the couch and she actually felt good throughout her whole wedding and into her honeymoon because we had worked on her period symptoms. So that one was really cool. Just because it was such a special day of her life, that didn't get completely ruined, that's cool, so for period pain just really quick, like what.

Camille: 40:47

what are some things to help with that, and specifically yeah.

Leisha: 40:52

So I always am going to go back to the foundations of nourishing your body well, and then making sure that your body is able to detoxify Well. Those are going to be the big things, and that's a little bit more of like a step-by-step than just like here's something to try like with your gut and going through all of it.

Leisha: 41:07

Yeah yeah, and the things that I would try kind of on a more immediate basis are slowing down a little bit around your period, just not trying to like go, go go If you know that you're typically going to have symptoms. Um, doing a lot of like hip opening stretches can be really helpful, chiropractic can be helpful, so kind of more of like those structural issues. And then I really like castor oil packs. I think you were talking about castor oil recently on an episode, but castor oil packs and actually using them down over the uterus for the last week of your cycle can make a pretty significant difference in period pain over time.

Camille: 41:44

Is a castor oil pack something that you buy, or do you make your own?

Leisha: 41:49

You can buy them Um, there there are multiple like more obvious brands that are more popular, but you can also just get them on Amazon. Now, you didn't use to be able to, but they've gotten really often. Check that out, I'll link to that.

Camille: 42:03

I'll link to that below, for sure. Well, I would love to hear, as we're wrapping up here, what is something you are reading, watching or listening to.

Leisha: 42:15

So I have been reading because I'm in such a busy season of motherhood and business. Really, what I've been reading is just mindless fiction.

Camille: 42:26

That's totally fine. Yeah, tell us, we love it.

Leisha: 42:34

So I have kind of rediscovered my love for, like Southern fiction authors, and one that I've been reading more lately is Dorothea Benton Frank, so I read a couple of her books. They're just like super fun Southern summer beach reads. And I also really like Elin Hildebrand. She has some really good beach reads as well. So that's really what I've been reading. And then you can always find me listening to podcasts on motherhood and business, and I like to kind of skip around with those, but there's always something for sure.

Camille: 43:02

Yeah, I love that. Okay, and then your motherhood moment that you'd like to share.

Leisha: 43:07

So I have been doing some just journaling and mindset work myself, as we all probably are, and I yesterday I had told my kids that, um, I had some words that I was working on that I was just like these are words that I am wanting to be more of, and I helped them pick some words for themselves too.

Leisha: 43:31

And so my little five-year-old told me that his word was happy and he wanted to be happy and I was like that's a great word and we're going to work on that today and it was really cool to see just that intentionality and when he would start to get upset about something and he would remember to be able to say his little word of like I'm going to be happy even if things are hard, his little word of like I'm going to be happy even if things are hard, and just to see, like the, the affirmation that that gave him. Um, I think it was just. It was just an encouraging moment in my very recent motherhood that showed me the power of us being intentional as moms and I know for me especially, like doing all the things sometimes intend to. Being intentional in like all the things is really hard to do. So that was just a little encouraging moment and a sweet moment with my five-year-old. Oh, that's awesome.

Camille: 44:17

Well, this has been so helpful. I am sure our listeners are ready to hear more. Please tell us where we can find you online.

Leisha: 44:25

So the happily hormonal podcast is the best place to find me, and I also am on Instagram a little bit, so you can find me on Instagram at Leisha Drews and then my website is leishadrewscom, and that's where you can find information about my nourish your hormones course, which is my self-paced option, as well as information about coaching, where we can go more in depth and do functional labs and kind of do all the things. If that's the place that you're at, awesome, Well, thank you so much.

Camille: 44:52

I hope everyone listening learned a lot. I know that I did, and it has been so wonderful to have you on the show today.

Camille: 45:03

Yeah, Thank you so much for having me. It's been great. Yeah, you're welcome. All right For everyone listening. Please make sure that you are subscribed to the episode so you never miss a show. There's so many awesome interviews coming up and I would love to have you hear them all. Thank you so much for being here today. We'll see you next time. Hey CEOs, thank you so much for spending your time with me. If you found this episode inspiring or helpful, please let me know in a comment and a five-star review. You could have the chance of being a featured review on an upcoming episode. Continue the conversation on Instagram at callmeCEOPodcast, and remember you are the boss.