Well hello everyone. Welcome to the Let's Get Loud podcast solo podcast episode with a if you guys are watching this on YouTube, you might not even recognize me because number one I have makeup on and number two I just came back from the hair salon. So if you just kind of like, you know, you never look this good is when you get your hair done at the salon. How is everyone. Happy Friday and recording this very much right when I'm about to hit publish. It is a Friday at 322. The sun is shining. It feels like we made it. It's feeling very spring-esque. It's still cold but I'm not complaining the sun is out. It's feeling good. I don't know about you guys. Oh my gosh. What's going with my voice. I don't know about you guys but this time of year I get a really like twitchy to I guess spring clean. But for me it's not just cleaning it's like organizing. It's like going through the kids closets and getting rid of the stuff they don't wear I'm really making sure that they have the stuff they do wear. Also, I always do this for myself. This year I'm feeling extra twitchy. I feel like I haven't purchased new clothes for a while now for myself. And I also feel like my like style that feels like a really strong word has evolved a lot since a couple years ago. Just everything's really looking a lot more like leggings that I'm actually wearing. So there's just so much in my closet that I just don't wear anymore. Anyway, stay tuned for that. I don't know what I'm going to do with that but I definitely have a lot of clothes that I could clean out. Do like a little bit of a closet sale. I'm not a holder owner. I'm not a like, well, what if I want to wear that on a couple years? That's not me. And if I look at shirts and I haven't worn you in two years, it's probably time for you to leave my closet. Right? Anyways, I think this weekend, the girls and I are going to get into that. Although that always ends up in us going shopping and I'm like, the whole point was to get rid of stuff, not bring stuff in. Phoebe tends to have this ability to like trick me into it. And then when we're shopping, she convinces me she needs things. But then when I look through her closet, I'm like, but you have seven pairs of pants. Here's the thing I realized about my kids and maybe a little bit late and maybe all kids are like this. Sometimes I'll see them rewearing the same shit over and over and over. And I'm like, Oh, God, it makes me cringe. I'm like, why are we wearing those things over and over? So then I buy new things. And then they still wear the old things. So they're wearing the old things, not because they don't have other things in their closet. They're wearing them because that's just where they're at. They just want to recycle the same seven things over and over and over. Anyways, those are my big plans for the weekend. Piper is also in a skating show because she's doing figure skating right now. So that'll be cute. But it should be a nice quiet weekend, which I am here for. I actually just realized that I'm going to put again in three weeks. I mean, I knew I was going and I knew it was happening in April, but it just snuck on up on me. It felt like it was so far away. And then all of a sudden we're at three weeks. What? What this means is I might need to get out of suitcase, try on some clothes, see where we're at. Isn't that so fun? Anyway, so those are my big plans for the weekend. Okay, so here's what I really want to talk about today. So I don't know if you guys saw, but I am hosting a webinar. So that with the webinar we did for calorie deficit went so well, which I'll link that one in the in the in the show notes for this as well, but it was a power hour. So it was an hour long of first of all, the first half hour was just a show saying I talking at you about calorie deficit like boom, boom, boom, boom, back, back, back, back. And then we gave half an hour for questions. It was super productive impact for impactful and powerful really enjoyed it. And then I was having a lot of questions lately specifically about weight loss after 40. So I thought I would do a power hour just me. I'm going to do it on Monday, March 24 at 10 a.m. And if you cannot watch it live. It's no big deal. Make sure you do sign up also in the show notes so that you can grab the recording. Okay. I'll email it to anyone that signs up for it. And basically the whole goal is to go through everything that you need to know about losing weight in your 40s. I'm pretty sure you guys have heard the story over and over but basically I feel like I turned 40. It felt like my body completely shut down. I was talking with joint pain, low energy and weight gain. And then when I switched on the switch to lose weight and do the things I'd always done before they weren't working. And I was feeling a little broken. And so I just like head down, figure this out research mode. We got this. And so I was able to create a system for myself and really figure out the what's it called there's a word. And not foundation framework. The framework for what is required for weight loss after 40. And so I'm going to give it all to you during this webinar. So obviously all of this is bringing up conversations about hormones. Okay. And something that really gets me about hormones is really our lack of actual knowledge about number one, what hormones are what they're doing in our body and and how to. I want to say do the right thing how to optimize our hormone health. Okay. And so someone asked me about seed cycling, which I had never heard of. And I'm not upset with this person that asked me about seed cycling. And I don't ever want to think that they think that I think that they're ridiculous. Obviously this is a thing that apparently helps with your hormones. And so someone said, what do you think about seed cycling. Basically, it's like you eat certain seeds, depending on where you're at in your cycle. And there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing bad about that. But I just started. I'm like, let's just take a step back. Like, imagine seed cycling. Like, that'd be a full time job. Right. And sometimes I see people almost getting distracted by the little things, the like 1%ers, the difficult things, the expensive things. And I don't see enough people maybe just focusing on the bait, the free basics, the lifestyle changes. And so I was sharing today on the internet. Why don't I just let me just look at it up right now. About 10 things that you can do to increase your form, optimize your hormone health today that are free. Okay. And for me, if I'm having conversation with someone and they say, like, help me, you know, I'm struggling with the symptoms of hairy menopause. And I am going to say, do you want to work on your hormone health? And they say, yes, I'm going to say, okay, here's, let's do these things. Okay. This is where everyone should start. If your goal is to optimize your hormone health, sleep, 7 to 9 hours a day, stress management, doesn't mean get rid of all that stress. That's not realistic. But are you managing your stress? Three, nutrient dense diet with an emphasis on protein. Now, this whole podcast, we are not going to get into the details of each and everyone. That will be, this will be more in the power hour. But there's a reason why I'm listing these to you. So the new, because the nutrient dense one is heavy. There's a lot to unpack there and it's hurting me to continue, but I'm going to continue. The fourth is exercise. And if you're optimizing your hormone health, you are focusing on anaerobic exercises, strength training, and flexibility exercises. You're prioritizing your gut health. You're staying hydrated. You're limiting processed food. You're limiting alcohol. You're limiting your, you're getting daily sunlight. Okay. So those, that was nine things I just listed. So honestly, I'm not doing all of those things. I think most people aren't. So for me, what feels like the clear path to optimizing hormone health is first focusing on the free things that I have access to and I can control and that I could work on today, right? Or the next one that I actually had several people say, I don't know what that is. And I thought, okay, there's space for this in the world. So limit your exposure to endocrine endocrine disruptors. So, I actually just did an entire coaching session on this within the community group. And I have my notes. Okay. So, before I get into the endocrine disruptors, I want to go back to hormones a little bit. I'm a little bit all over the place, but hopefully you guys follow me and you're like with me. We're like, okay, we're working on our wellness. We're working on weight loss. We're working on wellness stuff over 40. We're working on our hormone health. Okay. So what, so to fully understand what I'm going to tell you about endocrine disruptors, you need to kind of understand a little bit more about your hormone. So, what are hormones? So it's basically a toxic substance. Oh, sorry, I'm looking at the wrong spot on my notes. What are hormones? It's a chemical messenger produced by your glands in your body. Okay. So there's glands in your body and the whole system that is creating your hormones is called the endocrine system. So behind the scenes, your body has an endocrine system. And that is the naming of the whole process that creates hormones. Hormones are created in your glands. Hormones are a chemical messenger. Okay. That's going through your body to help regulate many of the functions of your body. Things like metabolism, growth, mood, reproduction. Okay. Hormones are extremely important. So what are endocrine disruptors? Basically, toxic chemicals found in everyday substances that disrupt they either mimic or block your hormones leading to an imbalance. Okay. So, endocrine disruptors are toxic chemicals found in everyday products. And, you know, maybe you guys are listening. You're like, Oh, Lee Shaw, you're being dramatic. Do some research. Look it up. Go down the rabbit hole of endocrine disruptors. And I think you're going to be shocked to find what is allowed on our shelves. Here's the thing. Our, the personal care industry has evolved so much over the last 100 years and our laws have not caught up to that. It takes so much work to change a law and to have higher expectations for brands. And unfortunately, some brands, their only goal is profit. And so they're not necessarily going to do the right thing. They're going to put the cheapest products in your supply in your personal care products that are going to give you the best results. So they don't care if the chemical that they're putting in the shampoo is actually an endocrine disruptor because that chemical makes your hair smell nicer longer. And that's what the customers want. Okay, so I am going to talk about toxic products that impact your hormone house. I'm going to talk about three things. Okay, your personal care products, your cleaning supplies and food, what you're putting your food, what you're cooking your food in and what you're putting your food on. So your personal care products. Phthalates, parabands. Okay, so phthalates are things in perfume, fun fact, one of the most toxic personal care products in this in the world is perfume. Okay, because it has phthalates in it because phthalates is the chemical that will help you smell nice for longer. Okay, and it is linked to hormone disruption. Parabands are used as a preservative in your personal care products, and it's linked to hormone imbalance and increased risk of cancer. Okay, so just, I just, it's important for us to know this. So one of the things on my list of things that you could do to optimize your hormone health was to reduce your exposure to endocrine disrupting products. Many of your personal care products have phthalates and parabands in it. Okay, now this feels overwhelming. Take a breath. A easy switch is to look for products that are fragrance free, paraband free, and phthalate free. Now brands have picked up on the fact that clean is in that non toxic is in so you need to do, you need to be smart and do a little bit of research, because there's something called green washing where brands know the colors and looks that seem natural. Use the words like natural. There's no rules about that. They can write natural in the product that means nothing. Okay, there's that is not regulated at all our personal care products are so under regulated. Again, I used to think health Canada will keep us safe. There won't be stuff on the shelf that's not safe and I was wrong over and over again. Look at Johnson's and Johnson's. Look at the whole debacle with the dry shampoo. All of that was proved to have toxic endocrine disrupting chemicals in it. Okay. There's a great resource. I will put it in the show notes. It's an E the EWG website. So it's an environmental working group website. It's a not-for-profit third party website and they rate products. So not, they don't have all the products in the whole world, but it's pretty inclusive. So you could go and just start with your body wash. How does your body wash rate? EWG goes from EWG verified, which is the best to the best to 10 on the hazard scale. And there's, it's like a complex kind of formula where they, they decide what the score is based on the ingredients and all that. Okay. And again, if you are wanting, so I want to share a little bit, my journey to this is basically, I was completely unaware. Like, I just, I just didn't know. But then when I started to understand, and when I started to be exposed to the truth of the personal care industry, I slowly changed my products over. When I started with my skincare, then I went to things like body wash shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, then I switched my family to the best that I could. Neil still uses toxic deodorant and body wash. It's his choice. We do still use toxic toothpaste. I haven't found one that works for me yet. So my point in sharing that with you is that it doesn't have to be perfect. Okay. Don't aim for perfect. You're going to exhaust yourself and burn out and basically perfection paralysis is going to kick in if you try to be perfect. If this interests you, if you're like, huh, okay, wow, like I want to start working on that. I want to minimize the products that I'm using that have phthalates and parabands. Incredible. Start small. Don't throw the stuff that you have. Just when you're going to replace things, you know, educate yourself. I personally enjoy just finding a couple of brands that I know and trust and better they are doing the right thing. And then I just purchase what I can from those brands. I find that a lot less overwhelming than just trying to go like one product at a time. Okay. So that is your personal care products. So the next thing I want to talk about is cookware. Okay. So non stick. Have chemicals. Teflon. I don't want to say bad, but bad. It can leach into your food. Proven to disrupt your hormones. Okay. Proven aluminum proven to disrupt your hormones. Also, not only pots and not only like pots and pans, but cutting boards. Hey, one thing I'm going to ask you guys to do. This is one thing I'm going to ask you to do every single person that's listening right now. I am going to ask you to throw out your plastic cutting boards, especially if they're from 1993. When you are cutting the plastic is getting into your food. And then you are consuming it plastic is like new. We don't even have the data on plastic, but it's been shown that the average adult consumes one credit cards worth of plastic every single year, which maybe doesn't seem like a lot. But where is that going in your body and your body does not know what to do with plastic. Plastic is such a, it's, it's such a foreign object in your body. Imagine what's happening in your organs with the amount of plastic in your body. Throw out your plastic cutting boards switch to wood bamboo glass or stainless steel. Okay. I didn't give you an option for your cookware your pots and pans stainless steel cast iron or ceramic are great options. Again, some of my pants right now are non stick, and I'm just waiting for them to be non stick, not non stick anymore. And I will replace them when I was running out of Tupperware. I slowly started buying glass containers. Thing number two, I'm going to ask you guys to stop doing immediately is microwaving your food and plastic containers that the plastic is getting in your food, and it is disrupting your body. It is disrupting your hormones. Okay. And so I switch to glass. Now, again, that requires you to purchase something so if you don't have access to that fine just dump your food in something else in a bowl, a ceramic bowl, please before you microwave it in the plastic. So thing number one is your personal care products. Okay, so your makeup. Think about how many products you put on every single day like I put 10 maybe on to do my makeup and I have a very simple makeup routine shampoo conditioner hair products there's three different things. Deodorant cream, like we're talking like 10 to 20 different personal care products every single day we're putting on our bodies. It adds up, it adds up. Okay, so personal care products cookware what you're cooking with and what you're putting your food in and cleaning supplies. Hey, there's harsh chemicals, phthalates because remember phthalates are in charge of making things smell nights longer. It's in your cleaning supplies ammonia bleach those are toxic endocrine disrupting chemicals, which is especially important in vulnerable populations. Right, women, women who are perimenopausal premenopausal perimenopausal menopausal children, pre teens, because this is when our hormones need the most support. Okay. And so if you're using all those chemicals in your home, you you're smelling them they are you're ingesting them, and that is disrupting the way that your hormones work. So switching to natural cleaning products is a pretty easy switch I find natural cleaning products are pretty accessible, pretty affordable. Again, you don't have to throw everything out. But the next time you go to replace your all purpose cleaner, perhaps just do a little bit of research ahead of time and say is there a brand that I know and trust that I could choose that would be a better option for me. I'm obviously very passionate about this. If you guys have any questions send me a DM. I'm I'm Alicia underscore YWJBL is where I hang out at on Instagram, most often. But I am happy to answer any and all questions about this point you guys in the right direction when it comes to maybe making some choices for yourself and your family when it comes to your personal care products your cookware, your cleaning supplies. So you are minimizing the amount of endocrine disrupting chemicals in your environment. I want you guys to just take a step back and think about what's happening in the world and thinking about how girls are getting their periods so much sooner. Fertility rates are sky high. The things that we are putting in and on our body are impacting our hormone health. And I don't know about you, but I'm determined to age as well as possible. And so for me, I take this pretty seriously. And that's why I'm focusing on all 10 of those things that I listed at the beginning of this podcast. Okay, that was, it was a little heavy guys. Oh, heavy. I like it's been a little heavy. So I'm just going to leave you with a smile. And I hope you guys have an incredible weekend. And I hope that if you are feeling broken. If you are feeling hopeless. If you are feeling frustrated with your health right now as a woman over 40. Please make sure you sign up for that content. I promise you'll have some aha moments. All right, everyone. Bye.
