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Join Mountain Metabolic Coach, Alicia, and I for a dive into all things hormone imbalance and holistic health. Alicia is a Functional Practitioner with a specialty in women's gut/hormone health and such a wealth of knowledge!
To try a free week of my signature Fit for Hiking program to get you fit from the trails (gym AND at-home options) start HERE.
To try a free week of my signature Fit for Hiking program to get you fit from the trails (gym AND at-home options) start HERE.
For next level fat loss strategies, hormone/gut health help, serious performance goals and unparalleled support, apply for Mountain Metabolic coaching. Learn more HERE.
For more free wellness resources, hiking/travel guides, and other blog posts, check out my website HERE.
What is Fit for Hiking?
Where fitness and outdoors meet. In this space we chat all things hiking, exercise, wellness, adventure, motherhood, and metabolic health from a female perspective! Get ready to learn + be inspired to live your fullest, most adventurous life!
Hi, my name is Brady and I'm a longtime fitness professional and Midwest girl turned mountain living hiking addict. In combining my knowledge of fitness and passion for hiking, I've helped hundreds of women get lean and strong for the trails. Think of this as your one stop shop for both education and inspiration on all things female wellness, trail talk and adventure. Hiking, female metabolism, motherhood, nutrition, travel and fitness are all topics you'll hear discussed here. If you are outdoorsy and active, looking to level up your health, unlock your potential, and become inspired to live your most vibrant life, you're in the right place. You're listening to the fit for hiking podcast. 1s Hello and welcome back to another episode of the fit for hiking podcast. Today we have a very special guest. We have Coach Alicia. She is one of the Mountain Metabolic coaches and she is a functional practitioner and gut slash hormone specialist. She has so much knowledge on this topic, so I really wanted to bring her on today to dive into this topic, in particular for our what she does with our clients, what types of symptoms to look out for as far as hormone or gut issues. And so I'm going to pass it off to her. Thanks so much for being on here today Alicia. Yeah. Hi, Brady. It's a pleasure. Yeah. So if you could just start off by telling listeners a little bit about how you got into this field. Yeah. So about six years ago I went to school to become a physician assistant, also known as a PA. I went to USC. Go Trojans out in California. Um, I practice predominantly in emergency medicine and urgent care for the most part. And then the last, like 2 to 3 years. I just found that Western medicine was just changing so much. It was more of like, patients are just a number, more of pill pushing. 1s We were fixing more of the diagnoses than preventing the diagnoses, which is why I went more into holistic medicine. I want to meet my patients before we get to that diagnosis and just prevent all the causes for like maybe high blood pressure, cardiac abnormalities or like heart conditions. In layman's terms. Obesity is a big one. Hormone imbalances was a big one. And the patients that truly wanted help, I couldn't even give them the time that they needed because of insurances. And you have like a ten minute minimum with the patient in the room. And it was just very restrictive, not really in line with what I wanted to be as a practitioner. So I went ahead and branched out, and that's how I just fell in love with Brady and her program. Um, and now I'm here. That's so cool. Okay, so I guess if you could describe the main differences between Western medicine and more of a holistic approach, I think that would be really helpful and kind of where you're falling between those two nowadays. Yeah. So again, Western medicine, what most people relate it to is more of like prescription pill pushing. Um, not very much time with your primary care despite how much money you pay for your health insurance. We're holistic, is more organic. It's like, what does your body do in its natural state? So if we were to remove those prescriptions, how would you how would your body respond? Would your blood pressure naturally come down? How would you lose the weight? What food are you eating? That's kind of where I'm at. I believe in, like, building that very strong foundation. And that's what I tell all my clients. Like, if your foundation meaning like your sleep quality, your nutrition, your movement, if all that is absent or just minimal, it's going to affect your lifestyle choices and just your body. So that's where obesity comes in. That's where the high blood pressure comes in. And just, you know, it leads into like depression and all these other things that potentially could be avoided if we were to just look at that foundation and create a more solid one. Totally. Yeah. Like a common example I always think of with this is like when I was having a lot of different hormonal symptoms when I went to just a general doctor, they wanted to just put me on birth control, which is just more of like, let's put a Band-Aid on this instead of really getting to the root cause of like, what's actually the reason that I wasn't having periods in my 20s for years? Like, there has to be a root cause. They're that birth control is magically fixed. So that's kind of the difference. There is more like Band-Aid versus going to the root cause. Yes, exactly. And like I like to say, your body isn't your enemy, okay. And like, your hormone imbalances are just signals that your body is trying to tell you, hey, something's not right. There's nothing wrong with you as a human. But, like, not having a period of regular period in your 20s is not normal. And so many women have just been either shamed or embarrassed to talk about it. And it actually, like, really upsets me because we're supposed to feel empowered and strong in our bodies instead of, like, quiet and timid. Um, so. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So what what do you see commonly as far as struggles for women in this space? Yes, most commonly it would be I've done everything the fad diets, restrictive eating, and I'm still not able to lose weight. A lot of over exercising and under eating, a lot of bloating, chronic bloating and fatigue is a huge one. Um, and then constipation, I would say, is like the fourth most common. Okay. So a lot of these types of symptoms are all stemming back to something with gut and hormones. Correct? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I would love to talk a little bit about how someone could know that they may need to look into hormone testing, because I feel like this just feels like such a big, daunting topic for a lot of women. And we don't even know where to start. Like, how do I know if that's something that I might need to look into? And what are some common symptoms, that there might be something off with our hormones or our gut? Yeah. So like you said, this is a very broad topic and everyone is different, okay. Depending on your age, your past medical history, your genetics. So factor all of that in. But the first question most people will ask you in this field is like, tell me about your periods. So are they regular? Are they irregular? Are they extremely painful when you do have cramps or is it minimal? Do you have lots of clotting when you're bleeding? Or again is that minimal? Tell me about hair growth or lack of hair growth? Acne? Fertility. Do you have a hard time conceiving or trying to get pregnant? Or you? You do, and that's perfectly fine. So I would say going back down to like fertility, bloating, 1s any hair loss or hair growth and then your menstrual cycle, that's a big one. Yeah. Yeah. So okay this is a bit of a, you know, a little bit of a tangent. But as far as menstrual cycles and what is actually normal, I feel like there's so much confusion around this because a lot of things are common. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they should be considered normal. So what would like a healthy period look like for standard reproductive age female. Yeah, that's a great question Brady. So standard healthy average female would be a period cycle of 5 to 7 days, maybe ten, but not more than that. Probably have some cramping or menstrual PMS two weeks prior. And then the first to the third day of your period, you would have some heavy bleeding and heavy cramping, and then it would kind of just taper off depending on the person, you would get your cycle every 27 to 31 days. Everyone is different. And again, this is assuming that you're not on birth control. So if you're on like an IUD or Depo shot, you may not even get a period. So consider that as well. Um. And then mild breast tenderness. You will have some bloating, especially in your first couple of days, but after that again it should taper off. You should not be bloated. 28 days out of 30 days of the month. That is not normal. 2s Yeah. Okay, so if you could, would you explain a little bit about the different types of common hormone imbalances for women and things that kind of lead to each one? Yeah for sure. So a common one is PCOS. So polycystic ovarian syndrome. Unfortunately most common cause is unknown. Some of people say it's like more genetics, but that is a very irregular period. You see it in women probably like 27 to 35. Some can show earlier, but for the most part in that age range, trouble getting pregnant is a big one. They may have like some uterine fibroids, very, very heavy clotting during their periods, and it's extremely painful like some women end up in the hospital for it. Um, that's a common one. Yeah, it's very sad because it really does affect their life. Like some can't go to work or exercise. 1s And then another common one would probably be like high estrogen. This one's a little challenging just because women with all the different hormones going around. Some of this is like, I feel like this all the time, but this is like six months or more of like a heavy period. Um, short menstrual cycles. So like 1 to 5 days as opposed to 7 to 10 days. Chronic bloating, big mood swings, extremely irritable, extreme breast tenderness. Um, that's for high estrogen. And then I would say the third most common would be low testosterone. I typically see this in women 40 and above. They've already had their kids. But chronic fatigue, maybe some mild depression, low sex drive, extreme weight gain and then hair loss. They're quite not menopausal yet, but they're like right borderline but they're still fairly young. That's where it becomes a little bit more concerning. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So you mentioned before that one of the common things that you see, and we see this a lot in some of our clients for Mountain Metabolic is the people who are doing all of the things and like feel like they're doing everything possible for weight loss. Maybe they are kind of falling into that camp of over exercising and under eating. What does this usually end up doing to the hormones as a result? Yeah, that like you said, it is extremely common. So your cortisol level number one is going to be sky high which is bad because that's where you retain weight. You retain that water. You have that chronic bloating. Your body is not ever able to just rest. Um, and you just think about like a hamster on a wheel. That's basically what's happening. You're just running, running, running, and you're not getting anywhere. And that's how your body is feeling. That's how your hormones are feeling. They're constantly in like a fight or flight situation. And then secondly, it would probably be affecting your gut more than anything. That's where you have like constipation, because again, your body is holding on to everything it possibly can because it's like, when are you going to eat next? When are you going to rest next? You know, 1s a lot of caffeine. That's where we see people drinking 3 to 4 cups a day and your body's like, well, I need some freaking water. Yeah, you can't just run off a caffeine, but then, you know, your urinary output or how much you're peeing is very minimal because, again, it's trying to consume everything because it's in a survival mode. And then that's where some of the fatigue kicks in. And that irritability and mood swings, it's all one big picture. Yes. Unfortunately. Yeah. And usually that type of person and I've been there myself. So I'm not at all like putting judgment out there because I've been there. But usually that type of person is also the one that wants to just do more to achieve the results, when in reality we need more rest and digest. And so it's it's such a hard thing to kind of wrap our minds around sometimes when we're over stressing and overexerting and not balancing with enough rest. Yeah. And I mean, yes, like you said, I am guilty of it myself. I was once that person that just under eight over exercise. Not even intentional. That's the scary part. And I do have a medical background. And, you know, I was working 4 to 5 jobs and seeing 60 patients. And then trying to work out at 5:00 in the morning, only getting 3 or 4 hours of sleep led to a huge depression. Like, I get it and I feel like. That's what makes me so passionate about this, because I've been in your shoes before, and you do not have to feel that way in order to meet your goals. And like, life is so much more than this hamster wheel like, and it's so beautiful when you could finally reach that point and be like, well, I really don't need to work out six, seven days a week and I can actually eat that donut and be okay. Like it's so rewarding in itself. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And also like to your point of, you know, working so much, hardly sleeping and all these things, I feel like sometimes we just look at exercise as like this whole separate thing when really like you have to look at your total stress bucket of like all of the things that are causing your body and nervous system stress. And that can be things like having a crazy busy schedule, never resting, never taking days off, or even just that mental. Like if you're someone who's like type A high achiever, never feels like you can have a rest day or just a day to veg out, like you're constantly in that stressed out state of mind which your body then interprets. And then if you just throw a ton of intense exercise with low calories and not good sleep on top of it, it's just like, you know, fuel on the fire. So think that's such a good point to bring up for people who are in that situation. Like you have to look at the whole picture together. Yeah. Again. And I'm more of like a very simple give me like a motto to go by. And I always tell my clients, like, your muscles don't build while you're exercising when you're in resting state. So like you're not taking those breaks in between sets. It's not helping you. Like you want to take that break and you want to have that rest day to give your body a chance to catch up and build, not just constantly being distressed. Yeah, it's so true. I really like didn't see any changes in my body composition when I was working out excessively and like doing really fast, high paced like high intensity stuff because I wasn't resting enough and it seems so counterproductive. But when I like added more rest into my workouts and added more rest, like between my workouts, that I actually started to see my muscles changing and my body composition changing, and I was like, wait a minute, this is very backwards from what everything like modern Fitness is putting out there, you know? Yes, yes. And that's such a great point. Um, and again, I can relate. I've been there, but it's like you almost get so excited when you're like, oh my God, I only have to work out four days a week and I can still, like, look amazing. Absolutely. Like. Yes, exactly. Again, that's where like holistic medicine comes into play because like your body at baseline is amazing. You just kind of give it a chance and like give it the proper nutrition, give it some good quality sleep, make sure you're staying hydrated. And it will do whatever you want it to do, you know, 1s like any prescription medicine? Yeah. I think sometimes we, like, ignore the basics and always look to do like the thing that seems like a more advanced fix or like, oh, this will definitely be the thing that helps when we're not even doing the basics, like care for our body in a general sense, consistently. And if we could just dial it back and actually take like the less is more approach, what a difference that can make. If you do that day and day and day after day, like month after month, and just actually be consistent with the basics. Yeah, 1,000% agree. Yes. So as far as testing like hormone testing, I think this is a common question of like, how do I know when I need it? And like what types of tests you actually recommend for some of those common things that you were talking about? Yeah. So again, I'm going to just continue to say this because it truly is. Everyone is different. Okay. Like just because I say this test is recommended doesn't mean you should go to your primary care or myself and be like demanding this test. That's not yeah. 2s I would say you're having some of the symptoms we spoke about before. So like that chronic bloating, chronic fatigue, constant weight gain, um, low sex drive. If you've had all of that for six months or more without any like drastic lifestyle changes. So like loss of a job, divorce, etcetera, because that obviously would play a role into all of that. But if your normal lifestyle is just the same, but you're still having those symptoms, um, I would start with some baseline lab testing of like, what's your estrogen like? Your progesterone, your testosterone. And then a little bit more invasive, depending on your symptoms would be like even an ultrasound of your stomach or your uterus, just to see if maybe you have some underlying fibroids or cysts. And then the next step would probably be like a map if your symptoms were more gut health related, and then if there were more hormone related, it would be a Dutch test. Um, and then depending on what level you need. So some of the tests do involve it's called your car. So your cortisol awakening response. And that's a big one especially for someone who is in constant high stress because it's a urine sample that's collected at like during a 24 hour period. So it tells me what your cortisol level is when you wake up 30 minutes after you wake up, two hours after you've been awake midday, right before you go to bed in the middle of the night. And that's helping to tell me, like, man, you're like in the middle of the night. Your cortisol level is still sky high. Tell me more about, like, your nighttime routine. You know, because it should be coming down. No one's cortisol when they're sleeping should be high. Like, yeah, it's not normal. There should be a natural curve. Correct. Like with your cortisol. Like should be highest when you wake up and then kind of like a curve and then come down in the evening and be lowest while you're sleeping I would assume. Yeah. You want like a, you want it to be like in the middle, I would say right when you wake up. But within 30 minutes you want that peak, that rise and then yes, gradually come down. But again, like people who do just if their cortisol level right when they wake up is super high. You want to think about bedtime routine. You want to think about some insomnia. You want to think about thyroid problems. Um, it's a whole sea of things that could be potentially contributing to that. But yeah, absolutely. With kind of the goal of figuring out what is the lifestyle component that we can alter here to improve this. Yes, exactly. Okay. Okay. So how do you implement these types of strategies with your mountain metabolic clients to kind of either push through fat loss plateaus or just improve some of these symptoms. Yeah. So again I would bring it back to basics. And I know at first some clients may be extremely frustrated because like you're telling me to sleep more or like more water. Absolutely. Like we cannot build on a sandy, holy foundation. Like, that's not going to work. So definitely go back and look at what time are you on your screen till how is your bedtime routine, your blue light exposure and then going to like waking up? How long is it until you have like some sunlight exposure? Because that does make a difference with your cortisol awakening key keyword awakening. It's much harder to wake up like in a room that's dark, rather than one that has like shades that allow a lot of sunlight in that will influence your cortisol level and how you feel just waking up. So going back to basics would probably be my first start. And then second would be exercising. A lot of clients like you said, are mainly over exercising. So scaling it back, adding in some rest days, doing more restorative, maybe some yoga, pilates, slowing it down a lot more. And then thirdly would probably be the nutrition again glucose levels. What are you eating right before. But tell me about your snacking habits. This is kind of where I see some of the eating disorders come into play, whether it's anorexia or binge eating that comes into play. And then you want to worry about stressors like, so what's causing you to binge eat at night? Like, tell me really about your routine. Um, and I think that's just where my personality really helps because I am a type, a very detailed, oriented person, and I ask all the questions like, no, but tell me why. Tell me more about that. Tell me more. And it may even be annoying, but like, there's a reason why I'm asking this question. Yeah. And eventually, like it does reveal itself when you're like, Holy crap, didn't even think about that. And I'm like, bingo, this could be it, you know? Let's go ahead and start changing that. Yeah. And speaking of just change in general, like I would say at least three months or 90 days. Is a great start because your body needs all that time to reset itself from the old habits or the old nutrition that you were doing. You're not going to see life long results in like two weeks. That's not that's not realistic. And it's just not going to happen in a healthy way. I don't even want to talk about Ozempic because that's a whole other podcast. But yeah, ideally, no, you're not going to lose £20 in two weeks. That's not healthy. If anyone is offering you that, reconsider and get a second opinion because that's. Yes. Um, yeah. So this is like about the patterns like you were talking about like really pinpointing like what are some of these things that we do cyclically that maybe we can't even look at and diagnose ourselves because we're too close to it. And that's where having someone to look at these things for us and say like, oh, like you're you're not eating all day long and then you're bingeing at night like, that's a problem with your relationship with food. Like we need to just come back to the basics of like starting your day with a more like, fiber and protein rich breakfast instead of just drinking coffee until like 1:00 pm and then having a granola bar and then, like, going nuts at nighttime. Like, these patterns make such a difference. And that's something that I love about this program. And so many of our clients have said to me, like, man, I kind of thought I would just get in a good workout routine and like maybe lose like a few pounds. I didn't think I would rethink my entire relationship with food or like all of these unhealthy patterns that I've had my whole life and like, actually work on those. Like, that's the coolest thing I've gotten out of the program, you know? Yeah. So cool. Like one of my clients now, she hated morning workouts. Like it was a struggle. We tried all the things, and finally we got, like, down to the nitty gritty of, like, a good morning routine. And now she doesn't even know who she is because she wakes up every day of the week. Super early, like she's not sleeping till 8 or 9 a.m. anymore. And she's like, I'm able to do a workout, I'm able to journal, I'm able to get my coffee and still get to work, like without rushing. And she feels great. And it's so rewarding as a coach to like, see your clients go through that transition. And just it literally is a life changing experience forever. Absolutely. And that's where like the time like you mentioned, it's not going to happen overnight. And they think that is something that's unique about this program is we don't push like ten new habits at once or like drastic changes right away. Whereas that might feel more satisfying on the client end initially there's such a higher like rate of burnout or just dropping off. If we're just trying to do like a super quick, fast fix. And that's something that I always tell people when they're interested in the program. When I'm on calls with them, I'm like, I'll be up front with you. This is not a quick fix type of program. You're not going to lose £20 in a month or even three months. Like this is going to take time, but we want to do things the right way. And like you said, establish that healthy foundation, because if we just change a bunch of things in the short term without actually working on the bad patterns, working on better habits, working on mindset, all of these things, then like, what are we doing long term? There's no exit strategy. There's no like plan for maintenance. And I think a lot of people are all about like the fast results right now, but they don't think about how the heck am I going to maintain this? Like, what does this like for me in a year? Like really, truly long term, like sustaining these results, right. Yeah, that's exactly true. Yeah. So what would be like three daily action steps that you would recommend for any women listening to those who want to just improve overall hormone health in a way that's not like daunting. And they can easily just kind of infiltrate these into their day. 1s Yeah. So super, super simple. At first I would say having nutrient dense diet stop randomly snacking. And like you said, eating just a granola bar all the way until 5 p.m.. No, you need at least three nutrient dense meals throughout the day. That would be my number one. Number two would probably be sleep quality. Like you could spend 12 hours in the bed, but you're only sleeping two. That's not 1s so. That would be my second. And then third is movement or exercise. So I like to say movement is medicine, at least for me. So again it doesn't mean it has to be a full blown strength training or hit workout, even if it's just going for a walk. Like try to get 3 to 5 miles a day walking, take the stairs instead of the elevator. Things like that is very helpful just at baseline. So you do have some movement, you do have some good quality sleep and you're fueling your body with the proper nutrients. It's not just like grazing throughout the entire day with only coffee and no movement. Like, think about your gut right there. Your guts probably screaming for help. Yeah. Feed me, water me. Like, help me right now. Like I'm backed up and we don't want that, you know, happy gut happy health. And it just continues. It's a domino effect. So yeah, it's so important to have like those three basic things as a foundation. Like we talked about earlier, I think a lot of us want to like sidestep the basics and go for these, like, well, what's my meal timing look like? Should I like do a fasted workout in the morning and then take a cold shower? And like, all of these, like more advanced things that actually, like don't make that much of a difference, especially if we're not doing the most basic things like getting good quality sleep, having good nutrient dense meals that have all the macronutrients and aren't just a snack, they're like something in a wrapper and then not even going for like feeling like you have to do super intense workout. Otherwise you're not doing anything at all, like just walking. More like if everybody really, truly implemented like the 10,000 steps a day, all of our health would be better. Like it's just the basics and it sounds so boring, but it actually is what sets us up for long term success. If we can get so good and diligent with these three things, like our whole health would be like taking a 180 turn. Yeah. Yeah. Well, hopefully we get there one day, but we're doing what we can on our part with our amazing people who reach out. So that's a step in the right direction. Yes, absolutely. Well, thank you so much for being on here today. This has been so informative. And if you guys are interested in joining Mountain Metabolic with Alicia as your coach, if anything that she said was resonating with you today as far as like the gut symptoms, hormone symptoms, we're just feeling like, okay, it's time for me to actually have a plan and support and someone to help me implement these habits that I know that I need to change. Then be sure to either DM us at the fit underscore for hiking Instagram. You can just send us a message that says hormones in all caps, and we will get you set up on a call with her to chat about what we could do with you in the program, and if it's a good fit. You can also always send us an email, and so all of that will be in the show notes. You can also apply in the show notes to the Mountain Metabolic Coaching. And just let us know if you are interested in the hormone side. And you can be paired with Alicia. She's our specialist in that area and she does amazing work with her clients. So hopefully this has been helpful. And thanks so much for tuning in. We'll see you guys in the next episode. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the fit for hiking podcast. As always, I hope it leaves you feeling inspired and informed on how to take your health and adventure into your own hands. For more content like this. Be sure to follow along with my daily posts at Ponytail Underscore. On a trail that's ponytail underscore on a trail. You can also stay up to date on my new episodes being released at Fit Underscore for hiking, and find more free resources at ponytail on a trail. Happy and healthy trails.