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What is the best supplement for me? What potency is right? What does the research show? Is it worth the money? These and all of your other supplement questions are answered here. Jared St. Clair brings well researched information so that you can make more informed decisions regarding your health, specifically focused on how to effectively use natural supplements to optimize your health and Vitality. Of course supplement and food choices aren't the only factors in optimal health. Jared also shares a regular series of Emotional Vitality episodes that will help you release the negativity that may be holding you back and embrace your full potential. Vitality Radio is not JUST about health, it is about HEALTH FREEDOM. Jared provides needed insight into the current threats to your health as well as the threats coming from government agencies, pharmaceutical companies and modern medicine as a whole. With over 35 years of experience in the natural products world, and a hearty dose of wit and sarcasm, Vitality Radio isn't just educational but entertaining and enlightening.
Niki Wolfe
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Jared: [00:00:00] Welcome to Vitality Radio. I'm your host each and every week. My name is Jared St. Clair, and it's good to be with you again on Vitality Radio. I am always excited to deliver this show, but I'm especially excited today because I have a returning guest who got a lot of really, really who I got a lot of really, really, Feedback from her last episode.
So we're gonna talk today about women's health. We're gonna talk about PMs, we're gonna talk about hot flashes and menopausal things. We're gonna talk about urinary incontinence. We're gonna talk about maybe even urinary infections and what can we do about those Naturally, a lot of stuff pertaining specifically to women and.
We might throw a few things for guys in there too, but that's the topic today. Uh, before we get [00:01:00] started, I wanna remind you that Vitality Radio is always brought to you by Vitality Nutrition in Bountiful, Utah. If you are close to Bountiful, we'd love to have you make an appearance at our shop, but if you're not, you can check us out online vitality nutrition.com and uh, we're happy to help you.
Either place. You can also give us a call if you wanna talk to a real person about what you're dealing with. 8 0 1 2 9 2 66 62. That's 8 0 1 2 9 2 66 62. And now without further ado, I'd like to rewe Nicki Wolf to Vitality Radio.
Niki: Thank you so much for having
Jared: me, Nikki. You are on episode 2 57 and we talked all about men's health and of course we live in a world now where equity is everything, so we can't not talk about women's health.
Right,
Niki: exactly. And I mean, it's something that affects so many of us and it doesn't have [00:02:00] to be as bad. as I think media makes it to be.
Jared: I would agree. I'm really actually very excited about this conversation. I, I did a show on, on women's hormones and specific to the concerns about, uh, birth control and how that can impact hormones and things like that.
And it was a. Big hit. People love that episode. So this, I think this is gonna be well received. I have a lot of female listeners that I think will be very interested in what we're gonna talk about. Nikki, tell, uh, because you've been on before, people that haven't heard you maybe before. Uh, tell us just a little bit about yourself and your background and, and why I would ever want you to be on my
show.
Niki: Yeah, I happy to. So I'm Nikki. I have a Bachelor's of Science and Public Health. I'm a certified functional health coach. I'm the director of education and social wellness for major supplement brand called Life Seasons, what You Guys Sell at your Store. Um, but I am incredibly passionate and have just lived from a very early age.
Pursuing health, particularly [00:03:00] integrative and functional health. I've been in the hospital since I was three years old for a monument of issues, and so there has to be western medicine in my life for a ver variety of reasons. But I never wanted to create my diagnosis or conditions or hurdles to hold me back from thriving.
And so that's something that I deeply feel passionate about is resiliency. Vitality is actually one of those words. And there's so much that we can do and there's so much in our control to feel and live and, and be incredible despite our conditions. And so I've always just been interested in health and wellbeing, whether that's physical, mental, spiritual, um, and so I'm just very happy to be here to chat about women's health and maybe some of the misconceptions that we think, um, we're supposed to go through.
Yeah.
Jared: Excellent. Well, I'm excited to have you again. As I said, uh, the first time I met you was on Instagram. [00:04:00] Uh, we had a few chats, and then of course I invited you on the show and, and, uh, it's been really great getting to know you got to actually meet you face to face just a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, absolutely.
At the trade show, which was a lot of fun. And, uh, We'll just share really quickly because it certainly pertains to women's health. You're only three weeks away from having your first baby three
Niki: weeks away. I had my first like Braxton Hicks last night, and I will tell you, and again, we're gonna chat about this.
It's my first baby, but this has been, and I'm very blessed. Not everybody has this situation, the most blissful thing I've ever experienced. Nothing like all the you. , everything that you hear. I'm still doing my 20 pushups every day, working out swimming laps, lifting weights, and so, There's a lot of reason behind it and you know, balancing hormones is a major one that I know we're gonna be discussing
today.
Jared: Absolutely. So let's go ahead and get down to it here. Balancing hormones. The first thing that I want to discuss, I'm really curious, I have very strong opinions on [00:05:00] all of this as I imagine, you know, but I'm actually really curious to hear another perspective on it. What are your thoughts for people listening right now?
Women that are out there that are struggling with, uh, Significant p m s symptoms, things like that. They're going through menopause and having lots of hot flashes or night sweats or dryness or any of the various things that people deal with, um, that are, you know, unique to women. Uh, what is your thought on how normal that might be?
Niki: I love that you brought this up. So 80% of women struggle with p m s symptoms that impact their ability to perform in life and work. They're calling out, um, you know, they feel debilitated, paralyzed. They have to completely shut down their day. This is not normal. Um, I just had a girl on, um, a gala on my show, and she says, on a scale of zero to 10, 10 being the worst, , we should be having period [00:06:00] symptoms between a one and a three.
And I think that is mind blowing to so many people. When I first heard that my jaw dropped. Hmm. Because I think we're so used to, okay, we know our periods this week, I, we can't sign up for this and you know, I can't go to this event or I need to do this because it's so debilitating. And, and when you.
pulling back, you know, the life and what you have going on, be behind the scenes. That's usually the root cause of what's creating the really heavy PMs symptoms. But when you can start regulating and balancing out your hormones, your, your lifestyle, all these different factors, you're gonna start noticing that your periods tend to be pretty.
Jared: Yeah. And I think that would be a huge shock for a lot of women because, uh, I talk to lots of, you know, teenage girls that have just gotten that started. Oftentimes they come in with their mom and say, Hey, you know, started having my period. I've had three or four and they've been horrifyingly bad, you know, tons of cramping and bleeding and [00:07:00] bloating and mood swings, and all these kind of things.
And it is very much a shocker, I think, to the majority of women that haven't. easy periods. We'll say that that's even a possibility. Like I think most people probably, I think women talk about this, right? Nikki, you talk to your girlfriends about your, that's all we do, right? , , like men don't ever talk to each other about how enlarge their prostate might be.
But, uh, women talk about this stuff a lot, and I would imagine most women know a, you know, have a friend. has easy periods and they're like, well, that's just a lucky person, right? Yeah. They're just blessed and I'm not so lucky. My period looks like this. And when they recognize maybe that everybody can potentially have, you know, easy periods and uh, you know, mild menopausal symptoms and things like that, I think that is an eye-opener for a lot of people now that maybe oversimplifies it though, right?
Because it's not just one thing that can suddenly turn you [00:08:00] from. a horrible week every month to having a couple of days that aren't so great. There's a lot more to the story. So let's talk about lifestyle stuff. Yeah. What do you think are the biggest offenders, the biggest things, whether it's in our diet or in our environment, or whatever else that would be leading to or causing some of these extreme symptoms that so many women.
There. There's
Niki: so many that we can touch upon and there's more that I'm passionate about, but you know, our chemicals, what we are consuming, heating up products and plastic. But I even think, you know, looking at our blood sugar levels, our stress levels, I would maybe say that that is the most. That's the biggest influencing factor and I think one of the ones that we can have most control around.
Um, but yeah, blood sugar, making sure, adequate protein, looking at that. Um, and, and you look at the time of life that we are having. , these [00:09:00] really intense periods. Um, you know, and that could vary, but look at what's going on in that life. Is it, you know, uh, laid into high school where you're under so much stress where you're undereating significantly, you are, you know, maybe overtraining, you're avoiding all the fats, which, you know, where are levels of cholesterol are all completely off, which make your hormones.
And we've had a discussion on that. But I think chemicals stress, , adequate quality sleep. Um, I mean, there's so much going on that we have in our control, and so I, I would say those are some of the most common ones.
Jared: Yeah, I, I couldn't agree more with that list. And, and there's, uh, there, there are some challenges, right, because the way our society is right.
Eating really clean is doable, but it's not necessarily easy. Uh, it's, it's crazy. Now, I'm currently myself doing a no seed oil [00:10:00] and, uh, no green diet. Okay? So you take out grains and seed oils, and you look at packaged food. Good luck, right? You can't find packaged food that doesn't have those two ingredients in it, one of those two ingredients in it.
And so then all of a sudden you're cooking all your meals, you know, from scratch. Uh, you are, you're having to do things that are a lot more challenging, again, doable, but, Life is busy. And, and that's a, a big challenge for a lot of people. It's certainly not a small challenge for me. Uh, it it, it reduced the number of restaurants I could eat at down to about two or three, uh, from however many there were, you know, prior to that.
And so it is an interesting thing when it comes to diet. And then another challenge that people have, I think. There is, you know, you mentioned heating up food and plastic, for instance, and you mentioned chemicals. Well, so the plastic thing is, you know, it's ubiquitous, right? Plastic in everything and on everything.
And these types of petrol chemicals are all over the place. But it's not just plastics, it's also makeup. It's, it's [00:11:00] hairspray, it's scented candles, it's lotions. creams and all these different things. Glade plugins, pretty much anything with a scent, uh, unless it's scented with an essential oil, is going to have some type of offending chemical that is potentially disruptive to your endocrine system and imbalancing hormones.
And the problem is you can. , and I love this because you mentioned something that, you know, a lot of this stuff is in our control. Uh, according to E W G, you can control about 65% of those chemicals, but the other 35%, they're in the air, they're in the water, they're gonna get into your body. And so I think also one thing that I would add is detox.
Detoxification is a big deal. .
Niki: Oh, absolutely. And I just did a few episodes on that and how important detoxification is, especially if you have a genetic mutation like the M T H F R and you're not detox, detoxifying properly. I live in Los Angeles, which is one of the cleanest, most nutrient dense cities.
Totally kidding there. [00:12:00] Um, but yeah, we're just bombarded by Steph. But yeah, I mean to our makeup, to what we put on the skin cuz we're absorbing that and I. You know if there's a balance of risk versus reward, and are we stressing so much? About, okay, I gotta get rid of this, I gotta get rid of this, that it's actually creating more harm.
And so you take what you can, you apply that, start making the changes, start, you know, implementing when you finish your bottle of lotion, you know, then go on to purchase a new one. And so, you know, I use vinegar for my cleaners now, and I'll put essential oils to kind of combat the, the, um, really strong.
Smell, but I use Castile soap for almost everything nowadays. I use baking soda for my, uh, toothpaste. So there's so many things that we can't apply and we can do, but overanalyzing and like freaking out about it isn't gonna be our best option. Cause then that again, adds to the stressors, which adds to the imbalance hormones, which adds to the PMs.
So it's really about being [00:13:00] conscious of what you're putting in and, and applying what you.
Jared: Yeah. And, and, uh, you know, I was on your, uh, an episode of your show. Well, wasn't technically, cuz it's not gonna, uh, launch until May. Yes. But, uh, we talked about, you know, cholesterol and, and the controversy about whether or not cholesterol is evil or good or whatever.
And if you wanna listen to that, you can jump over on, uh, Nikki's podcast, which is, uh, inside the aisle. Did I get right inside the. Inside the aisle and I'll post a link to it in this, in the show description. But so when we re reference, yeah, we hear we were talking about this. That's what we're referencing.
So we just recorded that episode as well. Um, so we talked about the overwhelm thing, and I hear that almost as much as anything I hear from my listeners is okay, but. . I can't do all of that right now. So, you know, where do I start? What do I do? And I, one thing that I've told people that sounds kind of silly, I think, but it means something, is [00:14:00] uh, just do this.
Make one change right now today that will improve your health in the long run. And that is, instead of buying regular berries, buy organic. , make that one change. You're getting less, you're not getting the glyphosate, the other chemicals. And we know that berries are the most heavily sprayed of, uh, you know, of pretty much all the fruits and vegetables.
So make that change and you make that change This time when you go to the grocery store, you make the next change, the next time, maybe you're gonna avoid soil oil or. Canola oil or whatever it is, and so now you're reading packages looking for that, and you can just do these one thing at a time, and those incremental changes can change your life and the trajectory of your health in a really profound way over time.
One thing when it comes to these petrochemicals, I just tell people, look at anything you've got in your house that has a scent. And again, if it's not scented with an essential oil, then when you're replacing that thing, find something that. doesn't have those chemicals in it. And that little improvement, which was re easy to do, didn't [00:15:00] cost more than a dollar or two more in most cases, than what you're normally spending.
That is an improvement that most people can make, and over time those incremental changes make a big difference. Have
Niki: you heard, um, I don't know, like the joke of the saying, how do you eat an. . Yes. Yeah. One bite at a time. Yeah. And it reminds me so deeply of like where we are now to where we wanna be can be so overwhelming that we get paralyzed and we don't take action, we don't do anything.
You gotta just step, do one thing at a time. And I found that, you know, you don't generally find motivation before you start. , you start moving and taking action, you start seeing the changes. That's when the motivation happens. That's, you know, you think about you going to the gym, well, you're not motivated to go to the gym before you go there, but once you start lifting, you see changes.
You're more motivated. And so what that I'm full circle is start to doing one thing, then slowly adding another. You're gonna start noticing your energy increase, your PMs decrease, you're in a [00:16:00] better mood, your partner's in a better mood, everything will start building that momentum and your motivation will increase and keep you moving forward.
And so just starting with things that you know that you can apply, I think is so. .
Jared: Yeah, absolutely. I, I, and I really can't stress that enough, and I know that you and I from our previous conversation are very much in agreement on that topic. So then we, we don't want to overwhelm, right? So we have diet is, is a big factor.
But let's talk a little bit about diet. What are some of the things that you think are maybe the most problematic in leading to more harsher symptoms of PMs or menopause or things like, ? I
Niki: think so when we are referring to blood sugar, not eating enough protein, um, I think especially with this fasting world, and there's absolute benefit to intermittent fasting, and I think there's a time and a place and a season of life.
But for those who are struggling with strong pm s [00:17:00] when we're doing intermittent fasting and keto and depriving of our bodies of certain nutrients, or, you know, starving it for a certain amount of time or doing high intensity. , that's not the right season for that individual, or maybe even just the right week to do that.
Giving our body love and nourishment and so making sure that we have our breakfast, you know, earlier in the morning, making sure that there's adequate amounts of protein. I would say about 20 grams of protein in each meal. You know, including the carbs. Not completely restricting, but being very conscious of what you're eating.
You know, maybe that's sweet potato. Um, maybe it's oat. or if you're not doing great and you find, you know, find something different. Yeah. But making sure that you're getting a balance in Absolutely. Those healthy fats are so crucial, cuz again, your cholesterol is gonna dictate everything with your hormones and so not depriving your body, which I think so many of us do.
And it's, you know, it's a story. I mean, I don't know how [00:18:00] many women I've spoke. Who have not gone through a season of deprivation because they're trying to lose weight or something. And you know, maybe you have the skinnier body, but you end up getting all the hormonal imbalances and all the issues down the long run.
And so making sure you're getting enough protein, you're balancing out with all your macros, you're not depriving your body in this season or working too hard. I guess we're focusing on food. So yeah, I would, I would say those would be kind of your.
Jared: Okay. And uh, and of course we already talked about chemicals and some of the things that you can do pretty quickly there.
Another thing I will say that I found to be really easy as a shift, you mentioned using vinegar, which I use a lot of vinegar myself for cleaning, but, uh, basically for me it's water vinegar and, uh, something that I love that I talk about all the time. I don't have any affiliation. Them. Uh, but it's called elo, uh, which is a really unique microfiber cloth.
You can get the cleanest thing, cleanest counters, windows, mirrors you've ever had with just water and a cloth. [00:19:00] That's really fascinating. I gotta write that down. Yeah. And, and we, well, I fell in love with them, uh, so much. Got some samples actually at a trade show and fell in love with them and, and we actually sell 'em at Vitality now, but, oh, fantastic.
I've helped a lot of people do chemical, clean, free, clean. For about 15 bucks of cloths that you can then use, which in the end save you a bunch of money cuz you're not buying chemicals anymore. Right. So And then you don't
Niki: have to buy doctor's appointments, , you know, if you're starting to get sick or Exactly.
Call out of work cuz you're not sleeping well. I mean Yes, exactly.
Jared: Longevity. Now you did mention a couple things that I don't want to glaze over too much cause I think it's pretty important. And one of 'em you said was blood sugar, blood sugar's a big deal when it comes to hormones. So let's talk a little bit about blood sugar and why that is impactful and you know, what people can do about it.
Niki: Absolutely. So blood sugar, you know, we, we reference insulin and most individuals it's higher blood sugar levels. That's the problem. I actually have severe hypoglycemia, so much lower. Um, but you [00:20:00] really wanna make sure that we're not spiking that blood sugar, cuz then insulin comes in and that can start, you know, that's what's taking the sugar.
Putting it inside the cells and using it for energy. But if we are having, I, I've used this example of like a, let's see if I can shorten it, but like a clerk at a grocery store and you know, if, if some, there's one customer who has, you know, a certain amount of products on the conveyor belt, that clerk can handle it and bag everything up.
But if you think about all those groceries as your sugar, and it's a really, really busy day and they're loading up that conveyor belt and there's only one clerk, So, you know, there's only one person that can package. They can't handle it. They start spilling things. Eggs start cracking, glass starts breaking your body can't handle in the process, and things start wreaking havoc.
And that starts affecting your metabolism. That starts affecting your hormones, which will, uh, in turn affect your p m s. And so making sure that we have the [00:21:00] appropriate amount. Blood sugar to keep us alive and functioning, but not an overwhelming amount. And so many us of us, you know, car foods or even making sure that if you're just having a piece of fruit, which, you know, it's not a bad thing, but making sure you're having something to balance out that blood sugar spike so that it doesn't spike.
And then crash can lead to a drop of energy. And again, hormone dysregulation, making sure you're having, you know, a little bit of fat and protein with it. That's why they say, Fruit with nuts, um, is gonna be important. But you know, we wanna make sure that we're balancing out our insulin le insulin levels.
Um, and a lot of times when we talk about women's. Hormones, P C O S, polycystic ovarian syndrome is something that's pretty common, a common issue. There's a lot of people don't understand about it, and that tends to you be, you're much more insulin sensitive, and so being conscious with your blood sugar, I mean, I think blood sugar can be connected to almost [00:22:00] every issue in the
Jared: body.
Yeah. And, and then the other one that I wanted to touch on that I think is really important is sleep. I think if there's one thing that Americans deprive themselves up of more than maybe anything else, it's sleep. And I don't know, it might be healthy food, but it's one of those two. And, uh, the thing about sleep is, you know, if you're a, if you are a.
If you're a, a, a wife, if you're someone who is, uh, not just doing the mom thing, but also doing the work thing, and you're stretched between, you know, the soccer mom job and the the work job and all the other things that you've got. Time an organization is a real challenge for people. And oftentimes I think, well, I know I do this myself, uh, it's very easy to say, you know what, I'm just gonna stay up an hour later and get this done.
Right? Yeah. Yep. And so recognizing if, if, if you're out there listening [00:23:00] and let's just, let's stick with PMs for a moment, but I would apply the same thing to menopause, and you have. Significantly uncomfortable, uh, symptoms when, when that time of the month arrives, um, you know, cramping and, and, and mood issues and, and heavy bleeding and things like that.
Or maybe you have a very irregular cycle or whatever it is, any of these types of things, and you're thinking, okay, so what the heck's the culprit? If I'm really only supposed to have like a. between a one and a three in symptoms instead of an eight, nine, or 10 like I have every month. What am I doing wrong?
What Nikki and I are doing, we're taking a pretty big sort of, uh, I don't know what you'd call it, a bird's eye view on this. And we're saying, okay, so here's all the things that you can consider. The best thing I can say is consider all those things, but make these incremental changes and see, let your body be the judge.
Uh, if there's. Good thing about a period being a monthly occurrence. It is that you can gauge it month by month and figure out is it getting [00:24:00] better, is it getting worse? Is it staying the same? Did my shift away from. You know, uh, vegetable oils and seed oils. Uh, did it make things better or worse? Did my shift away from uh, refined sugar make things better or worse?
Did my shift away from cleaning with chemicals, make things better or worse, or stay the same and just work through those things? And again, let your body and its symptoms, uh, be the judge of whether or not what the heck you're doing is actually gonna do the job that you want
Niki: it to. . Absolutely. And I strongly encourage journaling, like you mentioned.
It's like tracking that down. Cause we don't remember, we might over exaggerate and so. During, maybe it's during the time that you are PMSing, whether that's before or during your period. Start tracking down that stuff. What did you do today? What did you eat? How much sleep did you get? You know, and start seeing the changes and if there's any sort of correlation.
But man, sleep, and I've been doing some binging on that and. You know, I just got the book by Matthew Walker. I think it was Matthew Walker. Yeah. Why We Sleep, why We [00:25:00] Sleep. It's an amazing book. And you know, I have the Aura ring. My mom, my husband, we're all like competitive of, okay, what score did you get?
competitive sleep is Oh yeah, yeah. . Um, but how important sleep is for everything. That's when you recharge, you recover. And I think there's been, and maybe it's starting that narrative, starting to. I know with intermittent fasting and with sleep, like it's kind of like a ward of like, oh, I only need four hours of sleep.
I, I think that narrative started to change where people are like, no, I, I want quality sleep. But that used to be the case where you were cooler. You, you know, had this badge of honor, the, the. Lower amount you can sleep. And you know, they say you can sleep when you're dead. Well, you're gonna die a lot sooner and your quality of life is gonna be a lot more minimized when we're not prioritizing that sleep.
So I think sleep is one of, if not one of the, yeah, if not the biggest influencer of everything. Whether [00:26:00] that's P PMs, symptoms, um, mood, energy, anything. We wanna name it. I think sleep is kind of that, that big. Yeah,
Jared: it's a major factor. So yeah, definitely don't, um, don't skimp on that. And, uh, I, I'll link it in the, in the show notes, but I, I, I did a really comprehensive episode on sleep.
Uh, if you struggle with sleep, maybe check that one out and see if you can find some improvement there. Let's move on to this, because one of the things that I think is really interesting, Nikki, we live in a society where, um, We've sort of been trained to look at symptoms and how can we knock down the symptoms more so than looking at root cause and how can we get behind the scenes of the symptoms.
But there's sort of a happy balance there in my opinion, because sometimes getting to the root cause isn't something that can be done in a weekend. In fact, it could. A year, we're talking about incremental changes could take two or three or four years or whatever it is, and it depends on what you're [00:27:00] dealing with.
In the case of women's health, I don't think it's as dramatic as that. I think there's a lot of things you can get on top of within several months, but it varies from person to person for sure. And we certainly don't wanna suffer with symptoms in the meantime. So for from someone. Health food store that people come to and say, Hey, what do I do for this?
Right. What's the natural approach for this? Um, I get all the time women coming in and giving me symptoms that they're dealing with that have to do with women's hormones. And one of the things that I tell them is, well, so here's the. Kind of the big picture is let's look at what the root causes are, which we're talking about a lot, you know, here on today's show, and let's start addressing those root causes.
But in the meantime, here are some things you can do to feel a lot better between here and there. So let's talk about some of the things that we've discovered. Uh, herbal things, uh, nutrient based things, supplements that can help with these symptoms as we're trying to figure out, you know, maybe cleaning [00:28:00] up our diet.
Cleaning up our cleaning, uh, of our homes. You know, things like.
Niki: Absolutely. So we, life seasons has a formula called pre men's tea. And so this is all designed and I couldn't agree more functional medicine. Let's get to the root cause of what's going on, but we want some fixes right now. Mm-hmm. . So what can we do?
What can we take in order to get that relief? And so Prem Men's Tea is a blend of vitamins and herbs that are gonna be supportive at balancing hormone levels, um, promoting a healthy menstruation and. Um, there's even ingredients in there that help support menopause, but quai is a really good ingredient.
It's gonna be this root that is commonly used in Chinese medicine to support normal menstruation levels. Um, so any of that really intense p m s cramping, um, You know, hormonal shifts. Uh, we also have cramp bark, which is a very, I mean, just based on the name itself is gonna help ease those muscle spasms.
[00:29:00] So we're not getting those severe pain so that you don't have to clock out of work or not show up at school because you're in so much pain. You're debilitated. You have, you know, ginger in this formula that it's gonna be soothing. Um, it's, you know, supporting inflammation cuz. A lot of stuff does come back down to inflammation.
Um, it supports healthy circulation levels, black cohosh, which is gonna help balance out, um, your, your hormones as well. And so really looking at herbs that are gonna balance the mood kind of calm. the body so that it's not quite in this fight or flight state of being, um, and giving our body the nutrients that maybe there's some gaps going on during this season of life.
Um, but it, again, it's designed to help in the moment. I do have some individuals who will take this prior to getting their symptoms, so, you know, For me, my periods tend to be, I mean, I don't have one right now, [00:30:00] I'm pregnant, but you know, they were kind of like any other day. But during heavier seasons, more stressful seasons, I would notice a lot of symptoms a few days before I start my period, and so I would make sure to take Premeds tea.
even a day or two before that, to give my body those ingredients so that it's ready and primed and prepared for that hit. And so some people like staying on it during their period. I've even had individuals who just say, I feel better with it. Every single day. It just feels like it balances me out and kind of bridges the gap between everything.
So yeah, cramp, bark, ginger, vitamin b6, b6, we know important for the nervous system. Um, red Raspberry Wild Yam. Um, so those have all been researched and studied to support reproductive health and just balancing out hormone health again.
Jared: Excellent. Yeah, it's a really comprehensive formula. And one of the things that I'll say, and it's not because you're here on the show, but uh, Have [00:31:00] loved having representatives from life seasons on the show because the formulas are so well thought out.
I've had, I think I've, now, this might be the fourth interview I've done with an educator from your company, uh, so far, and that has been one of the things that I'm. I'm always confident when we're talking life seasons products because the formulas always make a lot of sense. And this one, you know, there's a couple of other things that uh, I'd like to just chip in on this one.
You know, chase Tree are also known as Vitex is in there. So we're talking about PMs symptoms, but if you're talking about irregular periods, uh, that may be the single best thing I've ever seen for that purpose. And that would be a reason why this could potentially be a daily formula for a few months to sort of.
The cycle back in rhythm. Um, I've seen a lot of success with that.
Niki: Yeah, I, I'm gonna credit my pregnancy brain to leaving that one out. . Um, but Vix, absolutely, I think that's one of the most used, most effective, and especially for those individuals with a amen. So lack [00:32:00] of, they lost their period, whether, you know, again, sh crazy stressful season, um, maybe they're undereating kind of struggling with some sort of eating issues.
Um, it's pretty common to lose your period. Vitex has. Known to help bring that back, regulate and just bring that body back to balance. So absolutely, that is. Probably one of the most crucial ones in this formula.
Jared: Yeah, I wanted to make sure we didn't, uh, we didn't, uh, miss that one. Let's talk about someone who is a little older in life who's, uh, hit, uh, perimenopause or, or is in menopause, um, or even postmenopausal and still having some symptoms, uh, that are known as kind of menopausal type symptoms.
These would be things like hot flashes and night sweats, uh, vaginal dryness. Um, uh, one thing that is very common in menopause, I hear it all the time, actually, two things that I probably hear more than almost anything besides hot flashes would be, uh, a significant drop in libido for a lot of women, uh, in that situation.
And, uh, [00:33:00] some sudden weight gain where all of a sudden, uh, they're not having a regular period and they put on 5, 10, 15 pounds over a, you know, year or two period while diet and exercise and all those things stayed the same. .
Niki: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, we have our formula positivity, but we do have a lot of individuals perimenopause.
So kind of prior to that, established menopause who will take this formula as well, giving your body the ingredients and nourishment. Um, sage is a pretty known ingredient to help with those hot flashes. So reducing body heat and excess excess perspiration cuz, and again, that we talk about sleep. If you're getting the hot flashes in the middle of the.
You're not sleeping. It starts tacking it, tapping into that restorative component, and so making sure that we can cool down the body. Again, side tangent from supplements, but making sure your room is very cool. Getting cooling sheets. I've purchased sheets that are, there's some technology in it that it, it stays really cold, so making sure [00:34:00] that we're addressing.
Um, black cohosh to balance out those estrogen levels in the body. I think one thing, well, so let's, before that we have the soy iso flavonoids and we use non G M O, um, organic soy. I know soy is controversial. For some, this works differently in the body than just having, you know, stuff over the, like eating a tofu or something like that.
It's gonna work at mimicking the estrogen and encouraging that hormone balance in the body. , but one of my favorite ingredients in that we do really well with life seasons, kind of what we had talked about earlier, is functional health, but holistic health, looking at the body as a whole, because we can't just address one thing.
Um, we really have to make sure, you know, maybe it's somebody, um, who's. Like losing eyebrow hair a little bit. Well, maybe it's not a bio or collagen issue that's creating that, maybe it's a thyroid issue. So we wanna get down to the deeper rooted of what's going [00:35:00] on. And so like you said, vaginal dryness.
But also another thing that tends to be a little bit dry and clogged up is the, um, is constipation. That's a very common symptom during menopause. Mm-hmm. and. , we're putting Turkey rhubarb in this formulation to help with this peristalsis. So this moving contraction that's gonna help move the bolus down and the food down, it's gonna help move in the intestinal tract to get you to start moving regularly because we also know that excess estrogen in the body is extruded through stools as well as your toxins.
So if we're not going regular, We're starting to get a buildup of these hormones, a buildup of these toxins, which can lead to belly fat, which can lead to all these other symptoms. And so making sure that we're moving. Things regularly focusing on detoxification is gonna be important. Um, and so I love that we add the Turkey rhubarb in this formulation.
Jared: Yeah, and that's actually a really [00:36:00] great point. I hadn't, uh, I hadn't actually even noticed that before, but it makes a lot of sense and I think, you know, maybe at the very beginning of the show what we should have said was you, Chemicals and diet and lack of sleep, but also lack of movement and two kinds of movement, right?
Actually exercising and also making sure your bowels are moving like they should. Because if you're not able to, uh, excrete these toxins, you will end up with worse symptoms almost in every case. So if that, and that's, and it's a much more common problem for women, uh, than it is for men, uh, chronic constipation.
So we do need to recognize that that's a factor that we need to. Well,
Niki: and I mean there could be a number of reasons is the makeup we're putting on the perfumes, the lotions that's starting to clog things up and adding to the toxins. If you're having hot flashes, chances are you're using anti per sprints cause you're trying to control that.
You know, cause it can be very embarrassing or you know, cause a lot of issues and so you're getting that extra, you know, all those [00:37:00] extra chemicals in there. And so it's a hard balance to play, but the more that we can. Um, the input that we're putting in our body, um, whether that's topical stuff or stimulation, I think the better we're gonna.
Jared: Yeah, absolutely. And so there's, there's a lot to this topic, right? And, and I think it's kind of interesting cuz as we've gone through this and, you know, recollecting back on the men's health topic, we certainly talked about some of the same things because of course men's hormone balance is an important thing too.
And pretty much everything we've just talked about applies equally to men and women when it comes to hormone balance as far as the chemicals and sleep and all these things, but, Maybe the solutions as far as symptoms are a little bit more straightforward, uh, in men's health in some cases than, than in women's health.
So as we're talking about this and, and you're looking at these formulas, one thing that I will say that I am a firm believer in. It's really common for people to come into vitality, nutrition and say, Hey, do you have black [00:38:00] cohosh? I'm having hot flashes, or do you have wild yam? I'm having hot flashes. Or do you have, uh, you know, b6, I'm having excessive cramping, you know, during menstruation or whatever it is.
and I really do believe that the combination of these key elements in these formulas makes a whole lot more sense for the vast majority of people than just a single ingredient that we know has a specific function. And it may work in that function and help out, but maybe you're missing a lot of other aspects of the big picture if you're not looking at at more comprehensive formulas like.
Yeah,
Niki: I think isolated ingredients have their time and place, but I think especially, I mean, maybe you're not going to a medical doctor. Whatever the case is, you know, you have some sort of issue coming in and to get a full spectrum formulation that is targeted, not just on kind of that quick response and relief, but also this deeper rooted component.
I mean, that's what anic is a [00:39:00] tonic. You're, you're using ingredients and that's what we formulate is tonics, but you're using ingredients that balance one another out, that improve the benefit. I mean, when you find your partner in. They bring out the best in you, they calm down. You know, some of the other things that are heightened.
And so that's what our formulas do is they, they benefit each other. When you play in this ingredient with this ingredient, they're gonna balance and work better together. And so I do believe in doing a formulation as long as you're making sure the potency, the quality, everything is good. And life seasons has been shown to, with all of our clinical research and just the feedback and testimonials, it is an incredible company.
Comprehensive blends that have those therapeutic doses that are efficacious, that have clinical studies. Um, and again, we've done, you don't have to be the master. You already know you're already coming in with issues and you're frustrated. You don't wanna do the research of, okay, do I need to combine this and this and this.
we've done that work [00:40:00] of not just, again, would you have ever thought, let me add Turkey rhubarb to help with me using the restroom if I'm coming in for hot flashes. I think most chances, most co consumers will not be coming in and saying, oh, I need to make sure to get that too. And so we've done that deep dive and so absolutely, I think a comprehensive formula is gonna be really.
Jared: Yeah, I agree for sure, and I think it makes a lot of sense. And again, if you are, you know, you may be looking at these supplements as, as you know, kinda long-term use if you feel like you need them, but you may also be using them as more of a bridge until you've kind of figured out what some of the other root cause type issues are.
So keep, keep in mind that these supplements can be used, you know, Either direction as far as that goes. Uh, we don't have a ton of time left, Nikki, but I want to hit a couple of these other topics, uh, that are, you know, really common in, in women's health. Let's talk a little bit about urinary incontinence.
Now, this isn't, uh, exclusively women's problem, uh, but it's certainly more so I. Think the numbers are like [00:41:00] 75% in women, 25% in men. And, and so we're talking about, you know, the inability to control, uh, uh, you know, urinary output or major urgency, uh, you know, lots of times per day, that kind of thing. You, you folks have a formula called women's security.
Let's talk about that and how that works.
Niki: Absolutely. So incontinence, for those that aren't familiar, it's. Bladder leakage. And so there's generally, I mean, I think I've seen, heard two main ones, but there could be three different forms of incontinence. So there's, uh, one that's damaging to the nervous system and one's that's more of a muscle issue.
So like you mentioned, Jared, it could be, you know, you're sitting there, we're having a conversation. All of a sudden outta nowhere, you have to run to the restroom. You know, you weren't feeling it coming on or anything like that. That's usually there's a nerve signaling not happening, but also maybe there's a frequency going on, and so that could be the muscle spasming.
We think generally, okay, if there's a leakage, it's maybe a little too loose down there. It's actually quite the [00:42:00] opposite. It's more of like a murmur and it's this spasming happening. So relaxing those smooth muscle muscle tissues is gonna be important. And so this formulation's incredible not just for incontinence, but also it's a really good kidney tonic.
It has a lot of supporting ingredients that are gonna be nourishing for the kidneys. But you have Buchu Mia Vinpocetine. , which I'll explain. Vin Postin is really good for that brain to body connection. So maybe it is a nerve signal signaling that is misfiring. Vin Postin is gonna be helpful to tell your brain, okay, you gotta go, you gotta go.
So that all of a sudden you're not, you know, one step away from using the restroom. Um, you know, you have that combia, which is gonna be also supported for the kidneys as well, but, Has had so much of an impact on people's lives. Um, Yes, it is not just a women's issue. We do have a lot of women who take it.
I have young and old who take it, but also a lot of [00:43:00] men. This formula used to never say women's on there, so the formula never changed. It was just the labeling. But a lot of men, also men with prostate issues, cuz there's a very strong correlation between frequent urination, nocturnal urination. So this is a great formula.
If you are a man listening and are getting up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, maybe you go often throughout the day. Highly recommend doing an incontinence formula.
Jared: I, I like that. And I'm, I'm glad that you brought that in with men as well, even though it does say women's on the bottle and the label's pink.
Uh, men can use it. I know, I know. Uh, so what about the, we, we talked briefly about this, and of course this isn't just a strictly menopausal thing, although it's quite common in menopause, but it happens to women of all ages and, and that is, The, uh, you know, the low libido that a lot of women complain about, uh, you know, lack of desire when it comes to things in the bedroom.
Um, and just generally feeling kind of blah. I, I hear that a lot, uh, where it's like, you [00:44:00] know, I don't even know if it's necessarily a libido issue. I'm just not there. Right. I just don't feel good enough to be interested in doing something like that. Uh, what, what suggestions do you have?
Niki: Yeah, I, I mean, I think that comes back to a bigger conversation where we might wanna have a two hour podcast episode, , but it comes back to hormones, I think, to stress to, are we depleting our body with these nurturing factors, or are we giving our body the ingredients and the building blocks it needs to be able to thrive.
And I think a lot of us, particularly as women, we wear so many hats. I know I'm about to walk into a season of. Where I'm sure the last thing on my mind is gonna be libido and intimacy, because we're thinking about this, we're thinking about this, and there's a saying that women tend to be more like a, or men tend to be like a microwave.
And women are more of like an oven. You gotta preheat them, you gotta calm them. You kind of have to, if you're looking for intimacy at the end of the night, you gotta start in the morning. You [00:45:00] know, loving on them, nourishing and you know, giving them that feedback. Whereas men generally, , turn the switch.
Women, it, it takes a lot more and that's the way our, our bodies are designed. And so balancing those hormones, there are estrogen and progesterone levels, but also our cortisol levels because if we're at a heightened state of stress, you think about this back in the day, if a tiger's running after us, I don't want all my blood flow and circulation to go to my reproductive system.
Let's make a. , it's let's get blood to my muscles so that I can sprint away. And so if we are in chronic states of stress, our bodies are not, our bodies are so intelligent, it's not gonna prioritize libido, it's gonna prioritize staying alive and the main functions. And so you might notice when you go through a season of maybe trauma or recovery or some really heavy things, libido's the last thing on your mind.
But when you. Coming back to balance and you know, maybe coming out of that rock bottom, you start seeing things [00:46:00] start to change and balance. So again, it comes back to balancing those hormones. I think calming the stress, like we mentioned, blood sugar issues. I think stimulation, reducing our stimulation.
As much as I love podcasts, and I'm a host on a podcast as well, I think a lot of times we're walking around. , let's consume more information. Let's learn. Let's do this. If you were in a season of life where your libido is low, when your pmms is high, when you're having hot flashes, night swing sweats and mood swings, and you are being a consumer when you're driving and listening to this or trying to learn and trying to do all this stuff.
Slow it down. And I say that as I'm speaking a hundred miles a minute, , but slow things down. Reduce the intake. Are you on your phone while watching tv? You know, what can we do to pull things, start learning to get bored. Go to the bathroom without bringing your phone, you know, do things where you're like a little bit uncomfortable because that stimulation is increasing our stress, which is thus changing our hormones and leading [00:47:00] to all these issues.
Minimizing as much as you can, whether that's chemicals, ingredients, stimulation, I think you're gonna see a lot of big changes in the long run.
Jared: Yeah, I love all of that because that, that really is an area of life where, um, in an area of health where the holistic approach matters in a big, big way. It's not.
I'm in the mood or I'm not. It's all the factors that potentially would prevent you from, uh, feeling like you can get into the mood. There are some things that we know clinically, uh, have really good evidence though to help in this area. From supplemental standpoint, uh, how does life seasons address that?
Niki: Yes, and so I know I always, I'm, I mean, I work for a supplement company, my. My go-to is always talking about, you know, lifestyle things before the supplements, but supplements are supplementing, you know, either a bad diet or poor lifestyle. And so, you know, we have arginine in here which is gonna help blood flow and circulation.
So making sure we're getting oxygen to these areas of the body. [00:48:00] And you know, improving those energy levels have been postin again, that brain to body connection. , we've B, a complex amount of B vitamins, which is nourishing for the nervous system, but you're gonna see calming ingredients like theming and theobromine, which is, again, we're not gonna be able to wanna be intimate if we're at a heightened cortisol level or very heightened.
So we wanna comb down that energy we have go to cola and again, the in there, which is gonna help balance out those hormones. Um, and. You know, boost a higher level of sex drive, um, Damian, which is a really known, um, ingredient to help with mood imbalances and boosting the mood as well. So, I mean, there's tons of ingredients in this formulation.
We have the chase tree berry, again, the Vitex that we've mentioned earlier, which is a very common one. Um, we have some cayenne pepper. Spice things up and get the body, you know, warm and [00:49:00] ready for wanting intimacy. So a really good blend of ingredients in this formulation.
Jared: Yeah. And again, the, the formula makes a lot of sense.
Now we, we, we have to all understand as consumers of everything really, but supplements may be in particular that not every formula is gonna work for everyone. That there are a lot of factors. And that unfortunately, supplements, as you stated, very, very, um, uh, very well. I think there supplements are designed to supple.
Good things that we're already doing right? Getting enough sleep, uh, avoiding chemicals, reducing stress, all of these different things that we can do from a lifestyle standpoint. And if you are a woman, I'll just be, uh, very frank about this. If you're a woman and you're saying, I've got low libido, give me a pill to fix it.
And that's the only thing that you're doing to address it, you're far less likely to get to the results that you're looking for. , but a formula like this can be a real big asset. If you are also [00:50:00] looking at these other types of things that Nikki's mentioned and in com combination, you can have a really great result.
Niki: Well, and I think, you know, obviously our, I think our first go-to is let's talk to a specialist or a, a provider or you know, even a health coach or you know, listening to podcasts where we could kind of figure out what is it that we're missing. But if you don't have that accessibility, life seasons, formulas.
You know, um, cheat the system a little bit because we're gonna give you those ingredients at those doses to get that quick relief. But again, getting to that root cause that maybe that's what your practitioner, naturopath health coach might advise. Again, I focus a lot on stress. , B vitamins, theanine, theobromine, that's gonna address stress.
So it's not just the main ingredients, Damian and Vitex and Don Quen there, that that's gonna be that quick effective supplement or symptom relief, but you're getting all those other bridge the gaps. And so that's why I'm just such a believer at heart from life [00:51:00] seasons, um, because they, they do a lot of the hard.
For you.
Jared: Yeah, absolutely. And there are areas, uh, where we all need a little bit of support and I talk all the time about my Vital Five, just kind of covering the bases of things that people need, need to be aware of. And I wanna just real briefly before we, uh, get out of this conversation, cause we're just up about, up against our time limit here.
Um, we didn't mention this and I think we would absolutely be. Missing a huge chunk of this, uh, of, of what we're talking about if we didn't mention it. Magnesium. Mm-hmm. is such a major element that almost every one of us in America is, are, is deficient in and it is a massive. Player in stress and stress response.
We have what's known as the magnesium burn rate, which is basically how quickly are you utilizing the magnesium that you're able to get into your body, and the higher your stresses, the higher the magnesium burn rate is. So it's a major, [00:52:00] major factor and what we're talking about pmms in particular, and cramping, uh, to go backwards a little.
Magnesium is the primary element in the body that allows muscles to relax rather than contract. And so you can be far more relaxed, far more, uh, ready from a mental and emotional standpoint as well as from a physical standpoint by making sure that you're getting enough magnesium in your diet. And I know Nikki, I, I anticipate we agree here that the magnesium glycinate is really, probably the most efficient way to make that happen, uh, from a supplemental stand.
Niki: Glycinate, absolutely. But I know that there's a lot of research on the three and a mm-hmm. , um, that is incredibly absorbable and bioavailable and Yes, magnesium. Absolutely. And you know, for those of us that use filtered water, we're filtering out good minerals as well. And so making sure that you're supplementing with adequate levels, um, particularly magnesium is gonna be so crucial.
Um, I, I, I [00:53:00] think there's gonna be a new resurgence about mineral. Um, because I think, you know, we've priced so much on herbs and vitamins and, you know, I think minerals have kind of gotten a little bit of a backseat, but they are so crucial for health. And so focusing and making sure we're getting adequate levels.
And yes, most people are absolutely deficient in magnesium, taking medication, drinking coffee, all these different things are gonna de. even further our levels of magnesium. So I mean, that's why, you know, you hear brands, um, or the marketing honor is the very calming where we take Epson salt, magnesium rich baths because it calms the nervous system, but also the muscular system.
And so, yes, I think, again, coming back to the stressors in the body of. , we need a calm in order to be able to perform at all these levels. Because if I'm sure maybe in a few months from now you're gonna have a different version of Nicki on the show, , you know where my levels are, my stress levels are high.
You see [00:54:00] things, uh, come out different ways, and so making sure and prioritizing that we calm those energies so that we can work. . Yep,
Jared: absolutely. And with that, I will say we are a little bit over time, so we gotta wrap this thing up. I'd love to talk to you again soon on Vitality Radio for you listening.
If you enjoyed this conversation and you'd like to hear, uh, the men's side of it, you can check out episode 2 57 of Vitality Radio or Nicki and I did a deep dive on men's health and, uh, covering prostate health and, and libido and testosterone and things. That. Uh, also if you, uh, again, if you enjoyed listening to Nikki, uh, and even if you didn't enjoy listening to me, but if you liked listening to both of us , there's another way to do that on, uh, May 22nd, it sounds like it'll be, I'll be on inside the aisle, uh, Nikki's podcast.
She has another really. Cool podcast that I think you should know about. It's called Road to Resilience. Uh, this is, uh, people's, uh, real life stories, uh, bouncing [00:55:00] back from very, very major challenges in life. Uh, we all get 'em right. We all have big challenges that we have to, uh, get through, and I believe the more we can hear.
Uh, the, the people on the other side that have made it through those challenges. I did a show on Vitality Radio, if you haven't listened to it. I was talking to Nikki about it before we started called Gin's story. That's about my gin, uh, my sweetheart and her road back, uh, from 10 years of. To opioids, uh, 20 year plus, uh, diagnosis of bipolar.
She's on no medications. She is happier and healthier than she's ever been, uh, approaching 50 years old. These things can be done, and I know I echo, uh, uh, Nikki's feelings on this. The reason we do. Our shows is to help you find the way to get these things done in your own life. So I'd love to have you check out her shows, uh, obviously, uh, love that you listen to Vitality Radio and appreciate it very, [00:56:00] very much.
Nikki, it's been a pleasure. Thanks for joining me once again on Vitality Radio.
Niki: Absolutely. I always enjoy it. So thank you so much, Jared. I appreciate
Jared: it. You bet. And for everybody else, thank you so much for listening. If you like what you hear, go tell somebody, share this show, share Nikki's shows. Let's get the conversation going about all of these things that pertain to our mental, physical, spiritual health, things that we can do to truly make a difference in our lives.
And our li our. Our emotions and all of the things that we concern ourselves with. That's why we do Vitality Radio. I appreciate you listening to me. If you have any questions, call us at (801) 292-6662. That's 8 0 1 2 9 2 66 62, or check us out vitality nutrition.com. I'm Jared St. Clair and this has been Vitality Radio.
All righty.[00:57:00]