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There...I fixed it. I've been seeing this meme floating around for a bit now. "She believed she could, but she was really tired, so she didn't." And it bothers me. Yes, it's good to take time off when you're tired. We all need rest. But that's not the end of the line. Take responsibility, and do what you need to do (eat well, meditate, move, sleep) in order to get back into the place where you can be the #ladyboss you know that you are. Now, go forth and kill it, my friends. #thefemps
Late brunch of eggs with Trader Joe’s zhoug sauce (so yummy), tempeh bacon, & mandarins & kiwi. Hope you’re all having a good weekend! 🌞
Ever tried looking for information about how to track your cycle and gotten lost in the jumble of acronyms? Don't give up! Learning how to track your cycle and know which part you're in is key to feeling great all month long! Here are some of the basics: CD1 = Cycle Day 1. This is the start of your period, or the beginning of the menstrual phase. * 5-7 days after your period starts (CD5-CD7...get it?), you enter the follicular phase, when your ovaries prepare an egg for release. * Ovulation (the egg being released) occurs mid-cycle, around CD13-CD15 for most women with 28-day cycles. * Then you enter the luteal phase, when the corpus luteum from the egg that was just released produces progesterone to support a healthy pregnancy (or not). * Then it all starts again with CD1. Any questions so far? 😊
Check out this awesome hack from 2017, Bracelit. An indicating bracelit for cycling from @cyclehackBER https://buff.ly/2E8xTH9 Sign up your neighbourhood to #cyclehack and make cool stuff like this in 2018
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I’ve had an “off” feeling all day. My goal since leaving 40 Years of Zen is to be present. But I literally have not been able to find myself in a single present moment yet today. ## Worrying about tomorrow? Yes. Thinking about yesterday? Yes. But actually being here in the moment, not today! ## I started to panic. Am I losing my zen 😬😬?! I texted Alex to let her know that I had nothing to post (oh modern problems!). I often have lots of topics and discoveries swirling in my head that I can’t wait to share but not today!! ## Then 2 things happened. First, Alex told me that I should just do or read something fun (so out came my @mastinkipp book). That is always when I have my best ideas. Then, MyFLO app popped up to let me know I was menstruating 😂😂 Nothing like needing an app to remind me that I am bleeding! Ha. But that reminder actually helped me make an important connection. The first day of my cycle is always a very introspective day. I always can feel when things aren’t quite right in my life, and if I take the time to tap into my tuition at this point of my cycle I often make great discoveries. ## Lesson learned again! Emotions, even uncomfortable ones, are moving you in the direction you need to go. Emotions can physically move us. The only difference is whether we let the stop us in our tracks or inspire us to change what we don’t like. ## Today I will sit with the off feeling instead of trying to drown it in a chai latte, a movie or even by complaining to a friend. I’ll let you all know how that went tomorrow 😘 ## Oh and by the way tomorrow is the start of our Spring Healthy Hormones group program. Next time we offer this fabulous group will be in the Fall. Last call for all of our procrastinators!! Link in @zesty_ginger Profile or ZestyGinger.com/HealthyHormones -Megan (p.s did you hear a red headed emoji is coming soon?!! As my friend pointed out, they have the middle finger but no gingers 😂😂😂)
Improvised with some handy wine corks on both ends. . . #photograhpy #handlebars #cork #plug #winecork #cyclehack #barplug #barcap #lemond #cycling #reusecork #drinkthewinefirst #bicycle
Well, do you? Do you suffer from depression, fatigue, anxiety, weight gain, hot flashes, infertility, decreased libido, trouble sleeping, loss of muscle, acne, hair loss or unwanted excess hair? Check those hormones!! Test, don’t guess. You can easily waste thousands of $$ by randomly throwing supplements at your problem that you read about on the internet (we know we have!!). Why not get a customized plan? ## @dr.carriejones , the medical director at @dutchtest is going to join us for a live webinar tonight!! We will be discussing symptoms, PMS & all the things you can learn from testing your hormones. You don’t want to miss this one! Link in the @zesty_ginger profile to sign up@or go to http://zestyginger.com/pms-with-drcarrie ## Oh and for those of you live you will get a chance at an exciting offer from DUTCH 👍👍
Repost from @dr.carriejones !! Because not only is this great information but we wanted to remind you to make sure you are signed up for the live webinar with her this Tues 8 EST!! PMS with Dr Carrie. Link in @zesty_ginger profile or go to http://zestyginger.com/pms-with-drcarrie Feeling depressed? Go back a post to read a bit more. This post will focus on estrogen and progesterone. 🤔 . High or low estrogen can cause depression! LOW estrogen can occur in or near menopause or with those women who have amenorrhea or skip cycles. Estrogen is needed to get your brain to convert Tryptophan into 5HTP. 5 HTP then goes on to make serotonin. 🤭 . Serotonin is largely considered your anti-depressant hormone. Although we know other hormones are at play too. 😃 . Therefore if your estrogen is low, you can’t make 5HTP effectively causing lower serotonin. 😕 . Then, if you have HIGH estrogen because you are estrogen dominant, your estrogen detox is slow, you’re taking too much estrogen...etc, this can also cause depression! 😱 . Tryptophan is the start of the serotonin pathway but, HIGH ESTROGEN can cause it to turn tail and go down a different pathway causing lower levels of serotonin. 🤬 . You can’t win with high or low estrogen! It’s a balance! 🤷‍♀️ . What about progesterone? Well, it’s made only after you ovulate. If you don’t ovulate (release an egg) you don’t make much progesterone. Menopausal women don’t ovulate so they don’t make much progesterone. 🙅‍♀️ . If it’s TOO LOW, those women tend to have more anxiety or restlessness. The alpha metabolite of progesterone can cross the blood brain barrier and touch on GABA-a receptors! GABA is your major anti anxiety and calming neurotransmitter! 👍 . Like, who couldn’t use some anti-anxiety and calming about now? 🙋‍♀️ . Progesterone also helps balance estrogen’s effects on things like the uterus and breast. 🙌 . Do all menopausal women or women with amenorrhea have depression? Of course not! Lots of other hormones help. But how many women notice depression if their cycles change, skip or as they become peri-menopausal? I bet lots of you do! ☹️ . Later we’ll discuss the androgens, testosterone and DHEA and depression! 😯
Did you sign up yet?! We have @dr.carriejones all to ourselves next Tues on a live webinar!! If you like learning about hormone health and need some more insight into why you have PMS, you don’t want to miss this!! XO Megan Link in the @zesty_ginger profile or go to http://zestyginger.com/pms-with-drcarrie to sign up 👍👍❤️
Where are my Diva cup lovers out there?! I switched to Diva cup about 3 years and will never go back to pads or tampons!! ## I know it sounds crazy, but you definitely need to go with organic cotton for feminine products. I’ve worked with ladies that we’re getting UTIs or infections because they didn’t realize their tampons were “perfumed”. And I’ve also talked to many ladies (and experienced it myself!) that cramping is way worse with these products. Who wants to have worse cramps?! Not us!!! ## Another bonus of the diva cup is that you can see exactly what color and how much blood you are losing. These are all important clues in our health detective kit!! Ideally it will be bright red blood not brown. Lovely stuff right?! #gottaknowthis ## If you have been having horrible cramping or PMS make sure to check out our PMS webinar replay 👍👍 Link in the @zesty_ginger profile or go to ZestyGinger.com/PMS-webinar . And don’t forget, this is the week to sign up for free 20 minute consultations find out if the Healthy Hormones program is a good fit for you! I will be out of the office all next week! -Megan
I just gave the book Clean Gut to a friend recently (I have a million health books on my shelf, but my intuition told me that one would speak to her) and she discovered something interesting about herself. She had just finished some cereal with milk in it and was reading that dairy can cause the nasal drip down your throat, runny nose or also the needing to clear your throat. I could tell she was having an aha moment and said to me, “I get this all the time! Does that mean that dairy isn’t working for me?” And my answer was yes. ## Now we won’t get into the pros and cons of dairy here, but just that I suggest each person needs to test out foods for themselves. ## I’m in the first week of my cycle which is the perfect time to check in with food sensitivities. Our ladies who follow an #eliminationdiet starting right after their period are the most successful. The first half of the cycle we are focusing on reducing inflammation, and one large cause of inflammation is eating foods that you are sensitive to. Working WITH your cycle can help minimize PMS and any other unpleasant symptoms. ## Have you already signed up for our FREE cycle guide? If not, go to ZestyGinger.com/cycle or link in @zesty_ginger profile
Have you done a circle of life exercise before? Yesterday I sat down and filled one out for the first time in a couple of years. This is a part of my new monthly ritual that I am going to do during my #period . ## The idea behind the circle of life is to rate yourself in each area depending on how YOU feel about it, not what society says. If you stopped going to school in 2nd grade but feel your education level is exactly where you want it to be given your life’s goals and purpose than you can rate it a 10! The further out of the circle, the higher the rating. But the circle gives a really good visual on what areas are lower than others. ## Once I fill this out I find the 3 lowest areas and create very specific goals for the following month. Ex. This month I will be doing daily meditations and gratitude journal. I will also aim for 2 yoga classes per week. ## During your flow is a great time to check in with what you want to happen in the following month and set goals. Women have amazing super powers 😆 during this phase because we can tap into our tuition AND our logical thinking. Combining the two gives a new take on anything you’ve been trying to figure out. After I did this exercise I sat down and journaled on a few things I am struggling with and I came with some great new ideas. ## I will check in next month (I put it in my calendar!!) and keep track of how they shift this year. ## This is an exercise that we have our Healthy Hormones group members do in this beginning of the program. If you are ready to join us, we have some more slots open!! Check out the details to the 3 month online program at ZestyGinger.com/HealthyHormones or link in the @zesty_ginger bio 👍 -Megan
And... we have a winning caption!!! (There were a lot of amazing options, it was really hard to pick!!) 😂😂😂😂 ## There is no lack of jokes about being hormonal or having PMS, but we just want to make sure all you ladies are aware that PMS is not “normal”. PMS is actually a sign of imbalance. Bloating, cramps, irritability, tender breasts, headaches, cravings etc. These are all signals from your body that it needs some love!! ## Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely changes taking place at this time of the month and it is a great time to slow down (make sure you have a copy of our free cycle guide!! ZestyGinger.com/cycle) . Feeling different or off or contemplating life a little more deeply at the end of your cycle is normal. But wanting to rip someone’s head off because they cut you in line isn’t 😘😘 ## Or maybe you don’t have a period at all? Or maybe it’s so irregular it’s hard to track? Whatever is going on for you, it’s important to pay attention. Listen to the early signs so that you don’t end up like Alex & I did in a really deep hormonal imbalance that took a year to work out of. ## We want to share what we have learned from our mistakes. If you are ready to test, not guess, then you are ready for Healthy Hormones!! Our group is starting March 27th. Check out all of the details at ZestyGinger.com/HealthyHormones or go to the link in@the @zesty_ginger profile. We still have spots open next week for 20 min free consultations if you are wondering if this is right for you!
DUTCH kits!! We will be using the Dried Urine for Comprehensive Hormones kits for our upcoming Healthy Hormones group starting March 27th. Like we always say, test don’t guess!! ## Why #DUTCH is awesome: 👍If you have never used functional lab work, this is a very powerful tool!! This is often the first time that ladies see numbers that line up with how they feel. We are looking for imbalances at a sub-clinical level BEFORE disease & symptoms develop. 👍We can get an idea of your daily cortisol pattern but ALSO get both free & metabolized cortisol ( which you can’t get with saliva). This tells us how much cortisol you are making but also how much you have roaming around to be used. If these numbers don’t match each other it could be a clue to a thyroid problem (or too much or too little thyroid medication). Sometimes people think that they aren’t making much cortisol (from a siva test) and take something like licorice root when the reality was that they were making plenty but just are clearing it quickly and licorice root makes them feel worse. 👍You overall estrogen- estradiol, estriol & estrone - is really helpful to have a reading on, especially in relationship to progesterone. Excess estrogen is one of the most common reasons our ladies are having horrible PMS symptoms. But with DUTCH we also can see how estrogen is metabolized. Is it being sent down the protective pathway or a potentially dangerous or cancerous pathway? This can give us some insight into phase I & phase II of detoxification. Where is the bottle neck? 👍 melatonin!! Not only an important reading in sleep, it is also a sign of gut function since around 80% is made in the gut. 👍Ever wondered why your testosterone is normal in blood work but you seem to have excess androgen symptoms like chin hair & acne? Or if you’ve ever taken DHEA because yours was low but ended up feeling way worse? We can also see how testosterone is metabolized and one of the pathways will lead to more androgen symptoms. 👍New markers!! A few organic acid markers that give us insight on B12,B6, serotonin & more. ## Come join us and get your kit started right away! ZestyGinger.com/HealthyHormones or link in @zesty_ginger
Day 15 of my cycle, and this half of the cycle is all about supporting my body’s natural detoxification pathways. Many of the symptoms that fall under the umbrella of PMS have to do with excess estrogen, so we need our liver and detoxification systems in tip top shape! The liver is an important player in removing excess hormones from the body. And don’t get too confused, sometimes you don’t actually have excess estrogen at all (meaning your lab work says estrogen is in the ideal range), but can have symptoms of estrogen dominance when estrogen is high relative to progesterone or testosterone. Inflammation can be a strong driver of this. One of my favorite ways to use my charcoal soap from @beautycounter is as an armpit detox. Twice a day during the second half of my cycle I wash my armpits with the soap. Charcoal is fabulous for binding with toxins and helping remove them from your body. Check out yesterday’s post about dry skin brushing if you need more motivation & daily detox ideas!! On another note (but related to hormones of course!), the doors to Healthy Hormones group program are wide open to welcome you and we will be kicking off on March 27th. If you are wondering if this is a good fit for you and want to jump on a free 20 min consultation just shoot us an email at support@zestyginger.com . If you know you are ready to roll, join us know at ZestyGinger.com/Healthyhormones or clickable link in the @zesty_ginger profile
It’s hard to keep up with all my #dailydetox habits!! But what I’ve found best with any habit is to link it to an external reminder. In this case, I am using the MyFLO app. The first half of my cycle I am focusing on minimizing inflammation and the second half detoxification. Since I got the reminder on my phone that I am entering ovulation & second half of my cycle, that reminded me to up my detox tools!! I used my dry skin brush before showering and since I haven’t done it in at least a month it kind of hurt!! Usually I love it, but I guess I need to get back to daily brushing. My thighs feel so much smoother when I do I know my lymphatic system loves it 👍👍
Oh boy have I gone down a deep rabbit hole today!!!! I am trying to understand the female brain OK that is probably too big of a task, so I am starting with my own brain. Moral of the post if you don’t have time to read it all – Don’t dismiss your period as just an annoyance. This is a powerful time of month for the female brain. Why is it so hard to make a change even once you have decided to make it Why is it so hard to just be present? I have had this struggle in my head for a long time. It is the classic chicken or egg scenario. What do you do first when you want something to change? We share elixirs, recipes and sleep tips in relationship to where you are in your cycle. And we know from personal experience (and hundreds of ladies that we work with!) that these are very powerful. But, what if you can’t get yourself to do them or are just too tired to even think about it? What if you never buy the chlorophyll, open up the recipe guide or stick to your new sleep habits? Our theory was always this. Just do 1 simple thing, make 1 simple change. Start with lemon water for example! This one change is enough to help your digestion, support your detoxification, and decrease dehydration which can all result in MORE ENERGY. The physical change, causes a biochemical change. Then, once you have seen a little improvement in mood or energy, maybe you will be ready to add the next layer, make the next change, get crazy and start adding apple cider vinegar or cranberry concentrate. But, what if your thoughts are not aligned with your feelings? Meaning, if your decision to make a change will go against your underlying belief that you are unworthy, things never work out, you are a victim etc. then you will not be able to make that change. As Tony Robbins says change your story, change your life. Go even deeper, change your emotion, change your story, go drink an elixir When is the best time to change your story and your emotion? Let’s learn to track and work WITH our cycle ladies. If you knew that you had access to something monthly that male zen masters sit for years to try and attain, wouldn’t you want to use it? CONTINUED IN COMMENTS...
Agenda-tip: Het is tijd voor de tweede Fietsinnovatie Meetup van #CycleHack! Denk op 26 januari mee hoe Rotterdam een nog betere fietsstad wordt. De teams uit de eerste ronde zijn nu onderweg van prototype naar product! De inspirerende ideeën: #bikebadge #fitsclub #ovmeetfiets #daetour #fietsfan010 #cyclehack #fietsinnovatie #010 #rotterdam #welovecycling #fietsenopzuid #deltacycling
#cyclehack. What does your cycle have to do with my crackers? I just tried these flax seed crackers for the first time. They were yummier than my homemade ones (although I’m not going to lie, not my favorite. I had to soak them in my soup so I could chew them 😂😂)! The first half of your cycle, day 1 – 14 (day 1 meaning the first day of my last period) is a great time to add flax seeds since they promote estrogen. ** Flax seeds & Pumpkin seeds can promote estrogen which is especially helpful for me since my DUTCH test still shows depleted estrogen (having a baby and breastfeeding can reduce estrogen). We suggest that you test instead of guessing! Even seeds can be pretty powerful if you don’t know what you are working with. * Even better than the crackers, you can add fresh ground flax to smoothies or sprinkle over food. Here are some other ways that flax seeds have shown to be helpful: * Flax can help with blood sugar. Researchers found that people given 30 grams (4 Tbsp) of flaxseed per day lowered their insulin resistance and got rid of their metabolic syndrome. * Flax is naturally high in melatonin. Yes please sleepy time. * Flax contains high amounts of lignans, and is typically the best food to include in the diet to try to boost estrogen or relieve symptoms of estrogen deficiency. In studies, a dose of 30 grams (4 Tbsp) per day has been shown to be effective for hot flashes *Caution: If testosterone is also low, be aware that flax can increase SHBG (which can bind up testosterone and reduce free testosterone). This is why we like testing! * But wait, I was told to consume flax and I have excess estrogen? Flax promotes the metabolism of estrogen down the 2-OH pathway, this is the good protective pathway. Lignans, the fiber in flax, bind to estrogen and facilitate its excretion, so flax can also sometimes be helpful for excess estrogen! ** Want more info about what to do during different parts of your cycle? Grab our FREE guide, link in the @zesty_ginger profile or go to http://www.zestyginger.com/cycle/

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