Nourishing Your Hormones with Dr Brittney McGetrick

LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST EPISODE HERE.

On this podcast episode, Dr. Brittney McGetrick joins us to talk about factors that contribute to dysregulated hormones and how you can optimize your hormones with nutrient dense foods and lifestyle changes.

Dr. Brittney, you are a chiropractor; how did you get into the field of hormones and women’s bodies and nutrition?

I am also a registered dietician. I started out in nutrition, and then became a chiropractor. I really started doing a deeper dive into women’s hormones when I got into my chiropractic practice. I had many women come to me whose hormones were wrecked. They had period cramps and irregular cycles, or they were not having a period. They were coming off of birth control and had so much trouble. Chiropractic adjustments alone were helping a lot, which was so amazing. Then I started working with them on their nutrition and supplements and using essential oils. It really just bloomed into this amazing hormone practice that I have today.

Why is it that so many women don’t know, or understand, or have all these misconceptions about periods and their hormones?

It’s just that we don’t talk about it enough. A lot of our mothers also didn’t know. We never talked about proper hormone balance, or what your period should be like, or anything like that. Typically what happened was you got put on birth control around high school age because you had a boyfriend or you had bad period cramps. That was basically the only answer. Birth control came out in the 70s. For those of us who are of fertile age now, that’s probably about the time our parents were born. And our moms have all grown up just having birth control on hand ready to go. And it’s really replaced any sort of natural healing that maybe our grandma’s or great grandma’s knew about.

What are some of the common misconceptions that you see in relation to nutrition and hormones?

There are a lot of misconceptions. In the 90s, we had the low fat diet craze, and then a lot of women in general just have been pushed to go plant based. A lot of us are led to believe animal products, like beef, are bad for us. There’s been a lot of data out there that is misleading. A lot of women are trying to eat a plant based diet or trying to eat as many vegetables as they can, when really what we need is saturated fats, animal foods, whole milk, things like that. These are foods that are going to nourish our bodies. Becasue of this a lot of women are under-eating. We’re under nourishing ourselves. Not only are we not eating enough, but we’re not eating enough of the nutrient dense foods that are going to fuel our hormones. 

Do you agree that keto and intermittent fasting are not healthy for our hormones?

I definitely agree. Intermittent fasting and keto is not ideal for most women. But I will say, a lot of women do find success doing a carnivore diet. And now I’ve sort of landed somewhere in the middle where I bridge that gap between carnivore and pro metabolic approach. When it comes to women and hormones, I believe you have to find your place somewhere in that spectrum. 

Some women will switch to a carnivore diet, and it totally helps their cycle. And then other women will do a keto or carnivore diet and say that it absolutely wrecked their hormones. Some women really thrive off of having carbs in their diet. So, I don’t think that there’s necessarily an individual diet for every single person on a macro scale. But, I think all humans need to eat animal foods. I think there is individuality amoung how many carbs each woman needs to thrive with her hormones.

I think a lot of us have been misled, because when we think of carbs, we think of the food recommended by the food pyramid, like whole grains, and cereal, and all of these processed crap carbs. And a lot of people will try to say, you shouldn’t say there are good foods or bad foods. But here’s the thing, a lot of the things that we qualify as food today are not really food and should not even be eaten because it’s so processed. It’s not actually food. So, when we talk about carbs, we have to talk about it in the context such as a sweet potato is not the same as eating a bowl of Cheerios. If you’re going to get all of your carbs from these super highly processed carb sources, then you’re going to do better on a low carb diet, If you’re not eating all that crap and all of your carbs are coming from potatoes and carrots and fruits and berries, then you’re probably going to be much better off eating those nutrient dense carbs. 

When it comes to balancing your hormones naturally, do you have any tips or advice that you would share with women who don’t know what to do?

I think a lot of women think it’s going to be a lot more complicated than it needs to be. At the end of the day our bodies do the healing. All we have to do is support our bodies to be as healthy as possible. So, when it comes to natural hormone balance, you have to make sure that you’re eating really nutrient dense foods. You first have to nourish your body, and then take steps to eliminate a lot of the toxic things that we’re exposed to, such as chemicals in makeup, laundry detergent, cleaning products, etc. Really, the two most simple things to do is to eliminate the poison coming in and to put more of the good stuff in.

What are some recommendations that you have for people who want to start limiting their exposure to environmental toxins? 

First of all, it’s very easy to get overwhelmed with all of this because once you start looking into the environment you realize there are so many things that are toxic. My recommendation is to take it one step at a time. Basically, tackle whatever you are ready for at that moment. So, if you’re a woman who has just become aware of all the toxins in the environment, consider starting with the first thing that you learned about. If that was your laundry detergent, then just swap out your laundry detergent. Keep it simple. 

I would even consider taking it in chunks of time. So, if you want to do one thing a week or one thing a month, whatever is going to feel like you can manage. Don’t let swapping things over give you more anxiety, because then that’s not going to be healthy for anyone, and that’s not going to help you. Whatever timeline is going to work for you, find that and take it one step at a time. And understand that it’s never going to be 100%. With the world we live in, you’re never going to be 100% completely toxin free. You just have to do your best to help your body adapt to its environment. 

To hear Dr. Brittney talk more about getting off birth control as well as nutrition in relation to irregular or painful periods, listen to episode 159: Nourishing your Hormoes with Dr. Brittney McGetrick, on the Vaginas, Vulvas, and Vibrators podcast.

You can find Dr. Brittney on Instagram @dr.brittneymcgetrick. 

LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST EPISODE HERE.