Postpartum University® Podcast

Hormone and Nutrition Testing, What You Need to Know

July 11, 2021 Maranda Bower, Postpartum Bliss Coach  Episode 16
Postpartum University® Podcast
Hormone and Nutrition Testing, What You Need to Know
Show Notes Transcript

For full show notes go to https://marandabower.com/hormone-and-nutrition-testing-what-you-need-to-know-podcast-ep16/

Does hormone and nutrition testing really help you get a better idea of your health and needs? A colleague of mine asked about my thoughts on these two very particular tests regarding hormone and nutrition testing. I wanted to share with all of you the answer I gave and why I feel the way I do on this particular topic.

I will be explaining why these tests can be helpful, and why I also think you should do other things before getting these tests done depending on where you are in your journey. These tests only tell you that something is wrong but they don’t tell you what is causing the problem.

Come listen so you can learn about the things you can do prior to going to get these tests run and where you should be focusing your effort initially. 

Be sure to drop any questions or thoughts you may have in a review or in my Facebook group The Postpartum Circle on Facebook! 


In this episode, I’m sharing with you:

  • Does hormone and nutrition testing help?
  • Why might someone want these tests done?
  • What happens after the results come in?
  • Supplements aren't helpful if your body is having trouble absorbing them
  • Your body slows dramatically after giving birth
  • Your body is in this survival state
  • Prolong healing time with foods you are eating
  • Inability to get the nutrients you need
  • Not being able to absorb the nutrients
  • Don’t invest in a bunch of tests as your first step
  • Your first priority is to address your gut health
  • Deficiency levels are different based on where you live
  • Some tests won't give you the correct information
  • After addressing your gut health, you need to address your sleep
  • If you’re not getting enough sleep you can’t regulate your nutrient levels 
  • Then you need to address stress, negative self-talk, and trauma
  • These three things dictate hormone balance
  • These components are so essential to addressing the woman’s whole body
  • Test the digestive health and toxicity levels first before addressing hormones and getting those hormone tests
  • First address the absorption
  • Next sleep and the other components to hormone balan

Feeling inspired and ready to learn more about how you can actively revolutionize postpartum care?

We all get it: postpartum and the years after having a baby is no walk in the park. But you know what? It isn't just about depression or anxiety either. Hey, my friend, I'm Maranda Bower, a homesteading mama with four wild kids whose life passion and education is all about supporting mothers and providers in understanding the science, the art, and the sacredness of healing after birth. What we know as common sense in the postpartum years has many women feeling just plain awful. It's time to bring back the truth, get you the tools you need to heal, and thrive in motherhood and beyond. Welcome to the Postpartum Circle podcast.

I'm your host, Maranda Bower, and I'm really excited for today's episode. I actually had a recent conversation with a colleague and I was asked about my thoughts on these two very particular tests regarding hormone and nutrition testing. She was sharing with me that many of the women she sees in her clinic were asking for these tests. Although she's really well-versed in them and trained in them and she's been using them for years, she wasn't really sure that they were actually helping. Despite having this information in hand, I see this over and over again in my clients. They get these tests, and their recommendations are usually followed up with medications or supplements or a combination of both. Then they wonder why they still aren't feeling better. In many cases, even worse.

It usually goes something like this: I'm gonna paint a picture for you on what I generally see, and maybe you can relate. I'd love to know your stories as well. So, after this podcast episode, please shoot me a message either on Facebook or an email. I'd love to hear your thoughts and how this fits in your experience as well.

So, you know, a woman comes to me. She's two years postpartum. I'm just gonna give you kind of a little scenario here. She's feeling intense mood swings, her period returns with, you know, a vengeance, and she feels sick to her stomach. She's bloated, has headaches, cramping with menstruation, sometimes even with ovulation. So she goes to her provider, invests in a full hormone panel and a deficiency and nutrient test. This usually comes from a holistic or naturopathic provider. She gets her results back and she's blown away by the information. There are two scenarios in which she's blown away.

The first scenario, which may have happened to some of you, is that the test reveals there's nothing wrong. There were a couple of points that needed to be addressed, but just about everything comes back in the range of normal. Most of the time, she's told to increase her vitamin D, maybe sometimes iron, magnesium, and B12, which are amazing mood enhancers. They also directly affect the way we experience our menstrual cycles. That's great, she gets a couple of information, but it's almost disappointing because she was expecting so much more. She might get some supplements, take them regularly, but her symptoms aren't going away. She feels like a complete lost cause because her symptoms don't match what the test results have shown.

The second scenario, which might be more fitting for some, is that her test results often reveal hormone levels on the extreme end of abnormality, usually matching a post-menopausal woman. She's also got several nutrient deficiencies. She's relieved and thinks, "Oh my gosh, I finally have the answers." She invests in the provider's recommendations, which usually consist of supplements, herbs, and sometimes even medications. There are providers, like the one I was speaking with, who address dietary changes and stress reduction. All of these are very important for feeling better. But, just like in the first scenario I shared, it often doesn't really work. Maybe it briefly takes the edge off, but the problem still exists.

So the question this provider was asking was: do these tests really help? And if so, are we providing the right basis for supporting them in their postpartum healing? We're going to dive into this topic. I am a huge proponent of information. The more, the better in most cases. The allure of knowing exactly where you stand with your hormones and nutrient levels is enticing and can be really helpful.

But in the beginning, they're not really helpful. There are a multitude of reasons that I'm going to share with you here.

The first is you already know that you have a hormone imbalance, right? You're coming into the provider's office having all of these symptoms and knowing that something is awry in your body. You already know, right, that nutrients and hormone balance kind of go hand in hand, especially if you've been listening to this podcast. Based on your symptoms, you've definitely got deficiencies and hormone imbalance.

Secondly, your test results will not reveal to you why this imbalance and deficiency exists. So usually, the protocol is to "fix it" with medications and supplements, right? And although there is a great place for medication and supplements, it still doesn't address why this is happening to you. To top it off, supplements aren't helpful if your body is having trouble absorbing them. This is the main reason why so many of you are experiencing these symptoms in the first place.

After giving birth, your body slows dramatically in producing the enzymes and juices and everything necessary to break down your foods so that you get the nutrients from it. Your body, after birth, is too busy. It's focused on healing. It's too busy focused on not bleeding, right? And doing all of those things and really getting back into a normal state because it's in a state of healing, right?

And so, your body stops producing those digestive juices and enzymes. It just doesn't create those as much as your body needs. Your body doesn't have the energy or means to maintain normal digestion because it needs to focus on rapidly healing from the birth of your baby. This is similar to your body entering a trauma state. Even if the birth was a positive experience, your body views it as trauma to recover from, okay?

And when your body is in this survival state, it requires foods that are incredibly nourishing yet very easy to digest. Most of the time, that does not happen. We're told to eat healthy like salads and smoothies, but often these prolong healing time and they don't support the natural progression of digestion and enzyme growth. As a result, we end up with a stomach that feels really abused for far too long.

And so, by the time you're two years post-birth, your digestion is not only poor and causing you a host of problems like gas, IBS, and bloating, but you've also been unable to get the nutrients you need because you haven't been absorbing them. This is why you're experiencing period pain, constant headaches, and thyroid issues. To put it bluntly, your body has been starving for two very long years after having a child. You need to recover from pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding as well, right?

And because it's in a state of desperation, your body is desperate for these nutrients and for balance. It's just not able to function properly, especially with your hormones. As you know, hormones need nutrients to be created and maintained. Therefore, your mood swings, period pain, and stomach issues remain off the charts dreadful.

The first step in solving this problem is not to invest in a bunch of tests to confirm this or get the details on it. The first step is to address your gut health. You do this by going back to what your body needed in the initial postpartum period: rich broths, easy, few-ingredient soups, high-fat, and protein meals in these soups that are rich with broths. They're warming, they're fully cooked, and they're easy to digest. The thing is, you can be given a bunch of supplements after seeing your test results, but if you aren't absorbing them, it doesn't do anything for you. It's literally money down the toilet.

Another note to consider is that not all tests are created equal. Each country seems to have their own basis for what "normal" means. For example, the US ranks in some of the lowest standards for normal nutrient levels. So, if a person went to Japan with average US nutrient levels, they would most likely be considered deficient in their standards. Another point to add, especially when it comes to thyroid testing: if you don't get the right tests, they won't give you the right information. This is why it takes approximately seven years before getting a diagnosis for a thyroid disease, because most providers don't order the right tests.

After making adjustments to your diet and improving your ability to absorb nutrients, you also need to address your sleep. If you're not getting enough of it, your hormones can't regulate. So no matter how much you're getting the nutrients your body needs, if you're not getting sleep, you're not regulating your nutrient levels.

Additionally, you need to address stress, negative self-talk, and trauma. These three components also dictate hormone balance and play a significant role in your imbalance. This is exactly why my one-on-one program focuses specifically on nutrition, better sleep, and hormone balance in relation to stress, negative self-talk, and trauma.

These components are so essential to addressing the woman in her entirety, your whole body, not just specific pieces of it.

Now, if this doesn't work, let's say you spend three to five months really nourishing your body, getting you all of the nourishing dense meals that your body so desperately needs, and you're really focused on reducing stress. You've been listening to how you've been talking to yourself and kind of shifting those patterns and behaviors. If there is still an issue, then that is an absolutely good time to seek out some testing. In my decade of supporting women, there has only been a handful of women who've needed this. And I lean more to testing digestive health and toxicity levels first before addressing hormones and getting those hormone tests.

So, to answer my colleague's question: Do these tests actually help? And if so, are we providing the right basis for supporting them in their postpartum healing? The short answer is sort of, but definitely not in the beginning. One should first address the absorption, the sleep, and the other components to hormone balance. And then if the problem still exists, seek out further testing and find out what is going on with the gut. Why is there this imbalance?

I also want to add, as a side note, I often get asked this: If we have an enzyme deficiency after the birth of a baby, then why don't we just take enzyme supplements? This is a really great question, but I will tell you it's not the answer because enzyme supplements will turn off your body's production or attempt at producing them naturally. It will turn that off. So, this builds a dependency on the supplementation, and it makes it very difficult to wean yourself off enzyme supplements without causing a lot of digestive discomfort. You want your body to be doing this work, not the supplement doing this work.

So, here is my recommendation for you. There are so many great pieces for this, and I hope that this makes sense for you. I'd love to hear your stories. You can connect with us on our Facebook group, The Postpartum Circle Facebook group. Check us out there. Let us know how this resonates with you and if you found your own story within this podcast episode.

Thanks for tuning in and taking the time to learn about how to support your body in deep healing. We don't do this work just for us or for you. Your healing impacts your children, your relationships, and your community. We do this work because the health and vibrancy of our world begins with its mothers. I hope you have taken some valuable information today and applied it to your own life. If you aren't sure where to begin, reach out about working together one-on-one or at minimum learning about my postpartum nutrition plan, which is where I start every single one of my clients. And you can do that by going to MarandaBower.com.

Hope you enjoyed this episode. Let us know by leaving a review, and we will see you next time.