What You Wish You Knew About Birth Control

Health

May 15

Written By Holly Hammes

WHY YOU STARTED THE PILL

So, why did you start taking “the pill” in the first place?

Answers I hear may include only one of the following reasons, or multiple…

I had debilitating cramps
My acne was horrible!
I was sick of earsplitting headaches/migraines
My heavy flow…it was inconvenient and kind of gross
I’m not ready to get pregnant and have kids!
I was diagnosed with “X” (endometriosis, fibroids, PCOS, etc. …you fill in the blank) and the doctor said it was the only treatment option

First, I want to address preventing pregnancy so we can talk about a much bigger (problem). Many women feel like the pill is the easiest way to prevent pregnancy, especially without sacrificing pleasure, but I have a few objections…

Why do you feel like you have to be solely responsible in a relationship to prevent pregnancy? You and your partner are on a team, so the weight of responsibility should not have to fall on just one person’s shoulders.
Furthermore, your body may be suffering not only temporarily from the pill, but also long term. (We’ll get into the details later) I love my body and want to set it up for success today, as well as for years to come!
Surprise! Like I’ve already stated, there are many other ways to prevent pregnancy without sacrificing pleasure, or “the moment.”
The level of emotional intimacy with your husband may grow even deeper as you both get open and honest, and you both get rid of practices that are negatively impacting your hormones, and overall health.
To piggyback off of that, your health may improve to the point where you actually WANT to have sex more often, and enjoy it even more!

Now that we’ve addressed the pregnancy reason, let’s get into the other reasons.

So we all know our body can’t actually speak to us in words, but what many people don’t realize is our bodies try to communicate with us every single day…for better, or for worse.

That being said, what many women don’t realize is those things that they don’t like (cramps, heavy bleeding, various diagnosis, etc.) are actually ways that their body is letting them know that something is OFF, essentially because her hormones are IMBALANCED.

Hormone balance is CRUCIAL not only for temporary reasons, but for our long-term health. Here are just a few reasons we want our hormones balanced…

Allows us to maintain optimal weight
Increased focus and productivity
Steady energy levels
Increased sex drive
Gorgeous, glowing skin + healthy hair and nails
Prevent inflammation, and thus, disease
Balanced blood sugar
Easy periods! (Yes, it is possible)
Prepare your body to grow a healthy baby eventually
And MORE!

Doesn’t that all sound pretty great?

You may be wondering, “So how do I get there? And why is the pill not the answer?”

Let’s take an honest look at what the pill is ACTUALLY doing…

HOW DOES BIRTH CONTROL ACTUALLY WORK, AND HOW IS THAT IMPACTING MY BODY?

Did you know that oral contraceptives essentially shut off your ovaries, so they no longer create hormones (estrogens & progesterone), AND they do not produce eggs (hence why your chances of getting pregnant on the pill drastically decrease)?

“I mean, aside from an organ being SHUT DOWN the pill doesn’t sound so bad…”

I don’t know about you, but that statement hits me hard. I mean, I really don’t want any of my organs to be shut off, even if it is just temporarily. Let’s look a little further into what this shutting down of the ovaries really means...

The bleed women experience while taking the sugar pills in their birth control rotation, that’s not actually a REAL period. In order to have a period, you must first ovulate. Well, since the pill is shutting off production of hormones and eggs from the ovaries, you do not ovulate.

Think of that bleed as more of a “withdrawal” bleed from the medication.

There’s more extremely important information to understand about the pill. I am going to give you a few very brief bullet points, then a link if you are ready to learn more, and be empowered further to make a decision about your body:

Our female bodies need a delicate balance of ESTROGENS & PROGESTERONE. Remember, those are hormones our ovaries are no longer creating on the pill… Oral contraceptives ONLY attempt to replace estrogens
The pseudo-estrogens that the pill provides, think of those as a foreign language. Our body isn’t totally sure how to properly use these, and furthermore…
With so much “estrogen” our body can very, VERY easily fall into what is called “estrogen dominance.” Here’s an awesome resource to learn more about estrogen dominance (and why we don’t want it!)
Depending on the individual, birth control may also provoke things like weight gain, depression, loss of sex drive, high blood pressure, reduced thyroid function, digestive problems, nutrient deficiencies, and MORE!

Ay caramba!

GOOD NEWS! Balancing your hormones IS possible, and the pill is not the only way to put a halt to the symptoms you may have been experiencing pre-pill, or are currently experiencing.

EMBRACE YOUR (GIRL) POWER

I’ve outlined my top five actions to help you not only see drastic improvements in your menstrual health, but even you OVERALL health, both today and for years to come. Even more so, you will begin to feel EMPOWERED because you will be equipped to take action for the better of your body.

HYDRATE

My first tip is SO simple, and won’t cost you a whole lot of money…hydrate with filtered water. Proper hydration supports efficient transport of hormones throughout the body.

If you get tired of water, add some fresh or frozen fruit and/or fresh herbs to give it a little extra flavor. And for the days that you need a little extra hydration, try adding a clean electrolyte powder to your water (my favorite is Ultima Replenisher), or make your own “Nature-ade!” Get the easy, delicious recipe HERE!

Each body is different so consumption needs vary. Variables include: body size, activity level, and intake of diuretics. To discover how much water YOU should be drinking daily check out my blog about dehydration for a simple equation.

I also recommend investing in a water filter to make sure there are no extra unwanted chemicals in your water. If you are curious about filtration options send me a message on Instagram!

EAT A NUTRIENT-DENSE DIET

How much FOOD PRODUCTS do you eat versus REAL FOOD? With our fast-paced lifestyles, it is pretty easy to want to buy quick-to-make foods or get take-out for dinner. On top of that, people feel like eating healthy will cost more money. I’m here to remind you that eating healthy to promote hormonal balance and optimal health for the long-term will actually SAVE you money because that likely means less medical bills down the road.

When making decisions about what to eat, ask yourself, “Could this food have been grown in a garden or on a farm? Or did it have to go to a factory to be made?” Aim to have substantially more food in its whole form (i.e. fruits, vegetables, meat, etc.) than processed foods.

As far as processed foods, read the labels! If the ingredient list contains chemicals, dyes, or preservatives I’d recommend putting it back on the shelf (or in the trash). Those foods likely contain more hormone disrupting ingredients that we don’t want!

As a reminder, a nutrient-dense diet that is made up of foods in their natural, whole form will provide your body and endocrine system with the necessary nutrients it needs to thrive. A few nutrients that are specific to the endocrine system include…

Healthy fats! These help hormone production. Avoid things like hydrogenated oils, vegetable oils, Canola oils, etc. These are no Bueno for the endocrine system, or the body!
Fiber. This will help you poop daily, which is a must.
Vitamins A, C, D (hello sunshine!), E
B vitamins
Complex carbs. Complex carbs are higher in fiber AND carbs actually cut cortisol production, allowing our body to “relax.”
Quality protein. Aim for grass-fed meats, wild-caught fish, and pasture-raised meat/eggs. Also check to see if the animals were eating their natural diet (like grass instead of grains).
Selenium. (Another good reason to eat your egg yolks!)
Calcium
Magnesium
Folate

ABSORB YOUR NUTRIENT-DENSE DIET

Proper digestion is so, so important for the health of our hormones and our entire body. Digestion is necessary for nutrient absorption to promote hormone balance, skin health, mood, weight, energy, decrease our toxic load, and so much more!

Because of the environmental and life stressors, processed foods, chemicals, etc. digestion function has decreased.

In order to breakdown our food and absorb key nutrients we must support digestion from north to south. Here’s a very brief highlight of…

Take a few deep breaths before eating. This will help get you in rest-and-digest mode. Also, try to not eat while standing, driving, or while watching TV. Pay attention to what you are doing (eating!) so your brain and body can do its job without distractions.
Chew your food completely before swallowing. By breaking it down with our teeth and the first set of digestive enzymes (amylase, which starts the breakdown of carbohydrates), we decrease the workload for everything down stream.
Support hydrochloric acid (HCl) from the stomach (despite many marketing campaigns to wipeout “heartburn”). You NEED HCl to help with the breakdown of food, specifically proteins. Plus it is a line of defense to protect the body from outside invaders (bacteria, viruses, infection).
We need our liver and gallbladder to be functioning well so that bile is plentiful, allowing us to breakdown fats and assimilate the oh-so-important nutrients fats provide!
Good gut bacteria, and release of digestive enzymes, will also help breakdown of our food as it moves south. When digestive function is compromised, or the delicate balance of bacteria is disrupted we start to feel it in our gut…ever had a stomach ache?
Lastly, we want our stools to have optimal transit time. We should be pooping AT LEAST once a day – a nicely shaped stool that doesn’t require much more than one wipe.
- If we are not pooping everyday, that means the toxins that typically exit in stools are just chilling in our intestines. NOT COOL! And not good.
- If we are pooping too much, and solid stools are not forming, we likely are not absorbing the nutrients we need before they exit the body.

I like to take a food-first approach, but supplements can have a profound impact on getting your digestive wheels turning once again. Before asking Dr. Google what to take, I recommend working with a professional to understand WHAT supplements are best for you, and which ones are good quality.

One final note with digestion…A diet tailored to YOU is so crucial. If you are eating what might be healthy foods on paper, but are not agreeing with your body, digestion is going to be disrupted. Be mindful of how the food you eat makes you FEEL.

EXERCISE

Exercise can do SO many wonderful things for our body, and should be performed daily. This does NOT mean we should hit it hard for a long-period of time every day. An unfortunate fact is many scientific studies on things like what kind of exercise is best are performed on men and their 24 hour cycle. Women, however, run on a ~30 day cycle…This means our movement needs do not match what a man needs.

I am not going to get into the details, but ultimately, LISTEN to your body. If you are on your period and feeling run down, let your precious body REST! Replace your typical exercise with a walk or some light yoga. And on the days you are feeling energized, try some cross-training, strength training, a short- or mid-distance run, or a few rounds of HIIT!

Please always remember that exercise is a CELEBRATION of what your body CAN do, not any sort of punishment.

Oh and one more bonus…sweating from exercise is an awesome way to flush toxins.

DECREASE YOUR TOXIC LOAD

The unfortunate truth is that if you are a living human being, you are filled with toxins and your body is stressed. Below are a list of things that are adding stress to your stellar body, followed by things you can do to decrease your toxic/stress load, allowing your hormones to gracefully fall back into balance, and promote optimal health:

Mental/Emotional Stress – We live stressful lives…We are bombarded with things like comparison from scrolling social media, busy work schedules, attempting to balance work/life, etc. Actively practicing stress-relieving tactics such as journaling, prayer, meditation, and walks can help to lower stress levels. Furthermore, I found that seeing a professional therapist helped me refocus my emotional lens so that I could carry far less of a stress-load.
Cleaning Products – As crazy as it may seem, a lot of your typical cleaning products contain hormone-disrupting chemicals. When these chemicals are inhaled, absorbed through our skin, or ultimately ingested (because bits end up on our hands, dishes, etc.), our endocrine system takes a toll. Download an app such as Healthy Living and scan your products to understand just how safe they are.
Plastic! Plastic, too, contains endocrine disruptors (i.e. BPA, phthalates). These chemicals mimic our hormones, which can throw off our precious hormonal balance, thus creating more hormonal and health problems. Ditch your plasticware, plastic water bottles, etc. as often as possible. And if you do have some still, PLEASE DO NOT HEAT IT!!! That rapidly releases the chemicals into whatever it contains. Invest in things like Pyrex with lids, beeswax wrap, and glass or other BPA-free water bottles. I promise, it is SO worth the extra dollars up front.
OVER-exercising. Like I mentioned previously, exercise is awesome. However, TOO much is a thing. I personally over-exercised myself, keeping my body in fight-or-flight. This increases the release of cortisol (a stress hormone), and never really lets your body relax and recover. Not only is this taxing on the endocrine system, it can also cause things like weight gain and disrupted sleep. Listening to your body is a huge step towards keeping your exercise limit in check.
Speaking of sleep…get enough of it!! Sleeping allows our bodies to become rested and restored. Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep each night.
Under-eating. Always make sure you are eating enough! This is CRITICAL for optimal health, especially for our hormone production.
Keep your blood sugar regulation in check. This is a little trickier to do on your own, but a few things you can do to help keep blood sugar levels at appropriate levels include: Not eating too much sugar or processed carbohydrates, limit alcohol intake, eat more fats (to help feel satisfied), be careful with intermittent fasting, keep your adrenals in-check.
Beauty Products. Yup! Your beauty routine may be causing some serious issues when it comes to hormonal health. Did you know that in Canada 600 different chemicals are BANNED in beauty products, and 1,400 in Europe?! Yet here in the land of the free, they still are out on the shelves harming innocent women. That sounds like an extreme statement, but I personally trusted brands and the FDA to make sure what I put on my skin was safe. I’ve learned that is not the case. Shout-out to Beautycounter for standing up for women’s health, and not allowing hormone-disrupting chemicals to be in their products. This means no endocrine disruptors that mimic our hormones, and throw us into hormonal chaos. I could go on, and on, but instead I’ll let you ask Paulina for some more info ;)

Learning more truth about how to take control of your hormonal health can be a tad overwhelming...I’ve been there! And the journey of recovering from hormonal chaos is not always a quickest route, but hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day. But it is WORTH it!

Here are my final pieces of advice as you begin making changes to shift to balanced hormones and better health...

Give yourself GRACE. Everyday you won’t check all of the boxes of “What to do to keep your hormones balanced.” And that is OKAY!
Our bodies are SO resilient so we actually don’t have to be perfect for things to be balanced…
Subtle changes will make a HUGE impact. You don’t have to make every change all at once.
Be patient. Any degree of imbalance a person may experience didn’t happen overnight, so healing won’t either. But it WILL come :)
If you are having trouble doing it on your own, work with a holistic provider who can give additional support for your body and your mind.

Embrace the power you have, and be well my friends!

Holly