This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast Episode 41 Real Period Talk With Jenna Longoria, The Period Guru.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

Amy: 0:06

Welcome to Nirvana sisters podcast where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state your nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman.

Katie: 0:18

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation Welcome back to the show Nirvana sisters family. Today we are super excited to introduce you to Jenna Longoria, aka the period guru. Jenna is a board certified functional nutrition practitioner specializing in women's hormones. She was listed by Huffington Post as one of the top 20 new health writers to follow in 2017. That's so cool. And her work has been featured in mind body green and BC the elephant journal. She's also an author. Her book is the period solution 28 Day hormone balancing guide. Through her virtual private practice, Jenna helps women reclaim their hormones and digestive health with a multidisciplinary approach combining functional medicine, nutrition and diagnostic lab testing and her results driven root cause program. She's a firm believer that the right diet and lifestyle can put any hormonal condition into remission. And I think that is super exciting. I just can't wait to hear all about it because it's gonna be so helpful for so many people. So welcome to the show. Jenna.

Jenna: 1:30

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me on today, Katie. Thank you, Amy. Happy to talk about hormones, periods, and anything else that we're guided to discuss today. That's

Katie: 1:40

great. Well, we usually start our show with our nirvana of the week. So it's just a little moment that brought you joy. So I'm gonna I'm gonna kick it to Amy to let her get it started.

Amy: 1:51

Sure. Well, my Nirvana this week might be similar to Katie's because we had a baby birth in the family. So my cousin, Matt and his wife just had their first baby girl. And they we haven't met her yet, but they she was born, I guess, like last weekend. So it's just really cute to see them. You know, have a new little family. They had a little girl named Cora, Cece, for sure. And it was just really exciting. I'm excited to meet her. We'll probably meet her in the next few weeks. But they got married during COVID and just had the baby during COVID. So it's just interesting time. But yeah, it's just cute to see them with a newborn and all excited about parenthood. So that was my nirvana. And I'll pass it to you, Katie.

Katie: 2:39

Yeah, that's, I mean, definitely part of my nirvana. It's so great to have another little baby in the family. And, like maybe the last one for a long time until, like, grandkids, right? Until they have a second which hopefully they do, fingers crossed. But I also had a little moment of Nirvana this morning about an hour ago. I I'm just I'm feeling really great today, physically, mentally, just having a great day feeling like myself after being little under the weather for a while. And after I dropped my daughter off from preschool, I just jammed out to want my new favorite song in the car. I blasted as loud as I possibly could. I didn't care that people thought I was an absolute idiot in the, you know, waiting at the stoplight, and I just had a moment of euphoria, where I just felt the music and my body and my soul. And it just brought me so much joy and kind of you know, woke me up and started my day. So that was mine. What about you, Jenna?

Jenna: 3:30

Well, so for the week, right? Or is it today

Amy: 3:32

to be anything we any day? Yeah.

Jenna: 3:35

Well, I've you know, I've practiced in a yoga Sharla for the first time this Wednesday, so I practice Ashtanga Yoga in the mornings. And before locked down, it was like an everyday six day a week I would practice with my community every morning rain or shine six in the morning. And it was a little bit of soul crushing when all that closed during COVID. And so I just moved to Amsterdam. And this Wednesday, I finally found a new home Sharla. And I joined the program and I practiced and it was just the best feeling ever to unroll my mat and just practice with people and get all sweaty and leave and feel great. It says that the best way to start start the day for me personally. So that was I was really grateful for that to practice with people in the community.

Katie: 4:21

That's great and you're glowing. I can get that yoga glow. Well, I've never what is a Shahla? And you have to explain that to me, because I'm a yogi, but I don't know this one. Yeah, so

Jenna: 4:29

Sharla is like a home for yoga. So when like the yoga Scripture, the yoga by the Hatha Yoga predict kappa or yoga sutras by Patanjali they call it a Shahla. So it's like a home for yoga instead of a studio. It's like I guess the Sanskrit word yoga Shala.

Katie: 4:46

I love that. Okay. Very cool. All right. Well, let's get right into it because we have so much to talk about. We've got a few quickfire questions for you. First, let's just start out with the basics. How long have you been a functional nutritionist and And what were you doing before you became the fabulous period guru?

Jenna: 5:03

Yeah, oh my gosh, it was just such a crazy road that led me here. So I've been doing this for about eight years now. And I this is definitely not wasn't I didn't wake up when I was, you know, little and say, I'm gonna be the period guru and I grow up. But I actually originally was in grad school in Washington DC at American University, and I was an associate producer for a political radio show. And that was like my first life. And I had horrible period problems and hormone issues. And they eventually just got so bad. And, you know, they started when I was 14. So I really think our pain is our purpose, you know, I always had issues. But at 14, I was put on the birth control pill to mask the issues. And turns out, I have polycystic ovarian syndrome and endometriosis. And I was just kind of trying to stay on the birth control pill and just, you know, ignore my body. And then one day, I just had this Wake Up Calls, I need to take care of myself, and I want to, so I did before I quit grad school, before I quit my job in DC, I started to look into more into holistic, holistic modalities, got off the birth control pill. And then I realized that that's actually what I wanted to do, I wanted to share this with other females, because I knew that there was another way than just taking the birth control pill to solve every problem. And so I did that, and I went back to school, became a nutritionist and have devoted my life to helping other women balance or hormones.

Katie: 6:32

And you have been practicing as the period guru for how many years now,

Jenna: 6:36

you know, at first, I was just a nutritionist, and I just, you know, my, my business was healthier notions. And I just was kind of I saw, I just really, people were coming to me for the kind of common weight loss kind of thing. And I would always ask them about their periods. And one day, one of my clients lovingly and jokingly said, You're the period guru, you know, you always ask what are my period, and they should call you the period guru. And I was like, ah, that actually clicks, you know, so about, I guess that was about four years ago, now, I completely rebranded and changed my focus to just serving women. And more about hormone balance became the period guru, because I realized that, you know, first of all, weight loss is just a symptom of inflammation and as a symptom of an imbalance. So when I help my clients achieve hormone balance, fix their digestion issues, you know, optimize their gut, then weight loss is just a side effect. It's not something we're really focusing on.

Katie: 7:37

Yeah, that's, that's actually really interesting that you say that, because I've had a kind of a personal experience with that recently. But yes, okay. So so you, you touched on it a bit. So you have endometriosis and PCOS?

Jenna: 7:53

Correct? Yeah. How old are you? I'm one of the lucky winners, I get, I get

Katie: 7:57

the double right, of course, how long? When did you was that in your teens that you really

Jenna: 8:03

don't you know, I never got a diagnosis until I was in my 20s. Because when I was I started menstruating on 13. And then at 14, I was just having these horrendous periods. And a lot of, you know, those polycystic ovaries and the little over, you know, but they're not really sis. They're their little follicles and large follicles. But I was having that and the doctor put me on birth control pill, he's like this will fix it. He never gave me a diagnosis or anything like that. And so as a child, I was my hormones were cut off completely. And I had a lot of side effects from the birth control pill like I really reacted negatively to it, I gained weight, I became depressed, having crippling anxiety. Then at 15, I had to put me on Prozac because of that. And it turned out that I'm not a depressed person. Actually, as soon as I got off birth control pill a decade later, that kind of went away. And so you know, that's why when I got off the birth control pill, we were able to discover the real issue, because it silenced the symptom when I was on the birth control pill at 14 and got Yeah, okay, I didn't have painful periods anymore. I didn't have a period. So if you're on birth control, you don't have a period, you have a withdrawal bleed, so I wasn't having pain anymore. I wasn't having you know, those issues, but I was having tons of other side effects. So when I finally got off of it, we were able to realize, oh, wow, you have endometriosis. So they see knows that an average of 10 years they get a diagnosis and that's absolutely true, because I didn't get an official diagnosis until I was actually not until I was like 27. So more than 10 years. I knew I knew when I got off the birth control pill and then and started having painful periods. I'm like, I know I have to have endometriosis like and the only way you can get official diagnosis is through a laparoscopic procedures they have to cut you open and they have to look so you know, that's a lot of that that can cause scar tissue. That's a surgery you know, so not everybody wants to have that diagnostic tool done, but When I was on my honeymoon when I was, I think, yeah, so I yeah, my honeymoon, I had an ovarian cyst rupture and it was it ruptured around my it hemorrhage actually tore off a piece of my ovary. And I had to go to the hospital in Thailand and get an emergency surgery in there, they were like you're riddled with endometriosis. Wow. And I was like, That makes so much sense. I've already known this, but it confirms it. So yeah, you know, and that's what I took, really, I just knew that I had to figure this out. Because the only option I went back to the doctor, like we'll just get back on the pill. And it's kind of don't want to do that. There has to be another way right? Quick Fix It is in allopathic medicine. It's like if you haven't had kids, but you don't want to have kids yet and you have issues. They put you on the pill to fix it. If you can't get pregnant and you have issues, then they immediately send you to a fertility clinic or want to give you Clomid or Metformin or whatever. And then after you've had kids and you have issues, they just want to give you a hysterectomy. Like that's really the three top.

Katie: 11:03

That's why it's so true. Yeah, yeah. Western medicine, it's like that's let's just put a bandaid on instead of digging deeper and seeing what the root cause of it is, which hence, there you go. Root Cause program, I assume that's

Jenna: 11:16

because I was told that I would never cycle naturally and never ovulate naturally, I was told that I wouldn't be able to start a family without lots of drugs and interventions. I mean, I don't have kids yet, but I haven't tried. But I but I ovulate regularly every month, I have painful periods. For the most part, there's a few years that maybe might be a little bit painful. But I'll take that from my periods every single month of the year used to just put me in so much pain, pain medicine did nothing, I would get nauseous because there was so much pain, I thought I was gonna have to go to the emergency room. So yeah, like it's possible in all of this, which is diet, lifestyle changes, doing the right functional labs and supporting my body and giving it what it needs. So I can get back.

Amy: 11:59

That's what I was going to ask you. So you've been able to manage this all through what you were just saying diet, lifestyle labs, like, can you tell us a little bit more about that journey? Because Katie, and I will talk later, but Katie has an autoimmune and other things. And I have. So it's just interesting to hear, like how you kind of get there? And then we'll kind of take you through some of the experience that we've had.

Jenna: 12:23

Yeah. Well, you know, first of all, it's like Western medicine looks at everything in isolation. That's just how they're trained. And they're trained to diagnose, and it's just a different type of medicine. It's not bad, it's not good. It's just, it's good when it's used for when it when you need Western medicine, like if I was in a car crash, or when I had a surgery when my ovarian cyst ruptured, and I almost died because it tore off a chunk of my ovary. I am so glad I had a surgeon there that was trained, absolutely thrilled, like it saved my life. But for the most part, when we're talking about preventative care, or talking about nutrition and supporting our body before there's a disease before it becomes like the severe issue. Western medicine fails us, and especially women, we are, we are grossly underserved. In we are in the health industry. Like, If a man goes in and complains that his, you know, testes are hurting, or his you know, he can't have an a jet, you know, he can't get an erection, they're gonna, like run every single lab under the sun on him. They're gonna give him Viagra, which, you know, like, they're gonna just really take it seriously. But a woman comes in and she complains of painful periods like I did growing up and they're like, we'll just take the pill, or that's just part of being a woman, which actually, there was a research study showing they were measuring the pressure of women who are having a period cramps, versus the pressure on women when they were have contractions and labor. And I don't know the exact number, but it was something like, like 10 times more on these women's period, cramps who had endometriosis. So I have literally had clients who have told me that they would after they had kids, it confirmed that their worst period pain was worse than a contraction. There were like, my labor was nothing compared to my period pain. And so it's invalidated, you know, our pain is invalidated in the doctor's office. So there's that there's that like, you know, we're missing you know, we're not given the it's not given the attention it deserves going back to like what I did and how I supported my body is really just by kind of try stop going to the allopathic medicine. I'm always looking for something else. So insanity, the definition of insanity is trying to do the same thing, right, expecting a different outcome. So I was going to doctor to doctor and they're all telling you the same thing, and I was frustrated and I was like, Well, if I want Thai food, I'm not going to go to a pizza restaurant and get mad when they don't give me Thai food. You know, go to a Thai restaurant. So right If I was looking more into the functional world in which we look at systems and and in functional medicine, we're looking at all of your systems together, not in isolation, not like just the liver and the eyes and the ovaries and the hormones, we're looking at everything together and supporting that it's a mix of, you know, the right functional labs. So I find a lot of doctors, they don't test the right markers, they don't get adequate testing. insurance doesn't cover adequate testing. So there's no way going to your conventional doctor that you're going to really dive deep and really understand what's going on with it with your thyroid with your hormones, because the testing is really outdated. And then,

Amy: 15:39

and it's also just a moment in time. So like one day, you could have something but the next day you may not right, yeah, it's

Jenna: 15:47

true. And now I mean, there are some, there's that's a whole nother thing. A lot of doctors don't understand the the timing of hormone tests. So I'll have clients that come in, they're like, Oh, my doctor did all my panels and my progesterone is low. And I'm like that they tested your progesterone on day five, like, of course, you'd have an ovulated yet, like I don't understand, like there's there's a precise time to test certain hormones. And there's and there's a you know, so it's, and usually that that doesn't happen when you go to just a regular OB. And so with functional medicine, you test you use the right labs, you test it the right time, you test the right markers, and you look at everything in a hole, and then you're also supporting your body through nutrition. So a lot with hormones, I will say like especially polycystic ovarian syndrome, the number one thing you can do to make a difference is to change what you're eating, support your blood sugar levels, because insulin is a hormone and that's where it all starts. Insulin is a hormone. And if we have too much insulin for insulin resistance, then there are going to be big problems with the rest of our hormones. Because it influences cortisol and influences influences your sex hormones. And so what's up with women with polycystic ovarian syndrome, most of them are insulin resistant. So when we put them on a kind of, you know, a lower carb nutrition plan, and we support them with enough protein and fat, then their blood sugar balances and their symptoms go into remission. And so it really is about what you eat. And so supporting all of that, you know that and that's really what I did, you know, I just had to go I was like a detective and functional hellebore, detectives are looking at everything. And I will say I have not had one client who has come to me that has had a normal thyroid. Their doctors have said that they had their thyroid is fine. I have not had one client who sired was actually fine. The worst case scenario I had I had I had a client and she had been going to fertility, really like in Orange County. But one of the creme de la creme of fertility clinics, okay spent, I don't know how much money on how many rounds of IVF young she's only like 29. And she comes to me and she's like, none of it's working and toxic that you know, and so I'm like, we need a thyroid lab. And she's like, Well, my, you know, my doctor has run these labs. And I'm like, that's, you know, doesn't tell us anything. But then I did happen to look at one of it and it was her TSH, and it was like, the highest TSH level I know, I won't get too complicated and test markers that I've ever seen. And I was like your doctor has never asked for further thyroid testing after this. This TS I didn't want to alarm her. But I was like after this TSH, TSH reading, she was like never. And I was like, how many rounds? Have you heard of IVF? She's like three. She had never had a proper she had Hashimotos, you know, and I was like, we did more testing found out she had Hashimotos I'm like, No, I cannot that is a crime. They took her money, her husband's money, let them do all these rounds of IVs. But never gave her a simple thyroid test to find out that she had Hashimotos. And that's why she wasn't getting pregnant. So as soon as we fix that, literally the next month she got pregnant. Yeah, wow,

Katie: 18:42

that's amazing. I have Hashimotos as well. And it's the thyroid, I know how impactful it can be. And also so many of these doctors, they say that you're you're doing well, because your labs aren't maybe necessarily like in range, but not ideal and optimal. And I think that's also a big thing. Do you have you noticed that in your practice? Yeah,

Jenna: 19:01

I mean, I have definitely so I use functional ranges, not conventional ranges. Conventional ranges are the aggregate of like the standard American. So really what we want is functional, like right there in the sweet spot in the middle. And yeah, so most conventional doctors will use the conventional ranges, and then they won't, they won't test all the thyroid markers that we need. As I said, they usually just has TSH, which is a brain hormone. It doesn't tell us what's going on with the thyroid. Sometimes they'll test total for T four, but that's something that I never test was my clients. So in Hashimotos, you know, it's very common, it's on the rise. I have Hashimotos too. And you know, there's and there's also usually when you have one autoimmune condition you have more than one that it's like kind of this you know, and you know, polycystic ovarian syndrome, there's a lot of research out there pointing out that it could actually be an immune disease which is an autoimmune disease, which I I'm kind of think that is is right.

Amy: 19:55

Question for you on that. So like something like Hashimotos I know a lot other people that have that and they take, like medicine for it Synthroid or whatever, like, since you have Hashimotos, are you taking anything? Are you doing more of like your functional strategy and not needing to take those type of medicines?

Jenna: 20:13

Yeah. So here's the thing. I do think that it's over prescribed, I think medicine, I think thyroid medicine is over prescribed, and it's used as like a, you know, it's, it's just like, okay, takes off and fix all and now we're getting to the root cause why is your thyroid under functioning. So about 80% of the cases of hypothyroid is actually Hashimotos. The estimate and, and so that's a lot of, you know, so chances are, if you're listening to this and you have thyroid issues, you have a 80% chance that you have Hashimotos. I've seen people with Hashimotos, reverse or symptoms and not have to take thyroid medicine, I see it in my practice with my clients. But alternatively, I see it to where we reverse your symptoms, but they still have to take some thyroid medicine for I don't know how long because it is an autoimmune condition and their body's literally attacking their thyroid. And if their thyroid medicine actually works and that's winning, because there are some people who actually motos it, the thyroid medicine doesn't even work. And so I do take a little bit of thyroid medicine. You know, it's the only pharmaceutical I take but it's a glandular is bioidentical. And I'm just grateful that my body responds to it, and I, I, my blood levels i It doesn't even look like I have Hashimotos I have no antibodies, and

Amy: 21:22

I'm sure all the other things you're doing is contributing to that. So it's really like the best of both worlds in a way.

Jenna: 21:27

Yeah, it is. But every it is an eon like I'm grateful for it. And I would like one day, I'd like to get off of it. And I that's the end goal and working towards it. But I also accept the reality that that might not happen. And I'm just happy that it's here for me.

Katie: 21:41

And stable and stable. Yeah, yeah. My thyroid has been unstable at times. And now it's stable. And yeah, it's something to be very grateful for. Yeah, it's

Amy: 21:52

funny, Katie, because she knows how to read all the labs much better than me. And I had a physical one year was a couple years ago. And my thyroid was like a little bit increased. It wasn't bad, but it was like, increased from where it was. And I said to Katie, I'm like, Oh, the doctor said, it's fine. She's like, Yeah, might be, but you should ask for XYZ tests. And remember what what tested was Katie. And so I went back, and I asked for that test. And they ran it. And it looks really good. So I was thankful for that. But I wouldn't have even known as like a normal average person that goes the doctor to even even ask because the doctor says fine, but Katie, since she just is so deep, and knows this world much better than me. She was like reading my labs. And she's like, No, you should push on that. And I was so thankful that she knew that. But most people don't even know that. And so I think it's like, being an advocate for yourself. And if something doesn't feel right, don't always listen to the doctor, like keep going further.

Jenna: 22:42

Listen to your body.

Katie: 22:43

Do you teach your your clients that about self advocating? Oh, absolutely.

Jenna: 22:47

That's the part of the program. You know, when I work with my clients, like I always tell them, I'm not the gatekeeper to health. I'm just showing you the roadmap there. And so working with me, my program is a lot of that education based to to have the tools so that you can be your own best health advocate moving forward, learn how to interpret your labs, read your labs, and and also speak up for yourself. Like, I love it when my clients are like, if I you know, say, okay, I'd like you to do this, but why? Why am I doing this? And I read something about this. I don't get offended. And like, why are you just listening to me? I told you, this is what you should do. And you should just, you know, that's what a doctor sometimes does. You know, I'm always like, I'm so glad you researched that. And you have questions, and you're advocating for yourself, you should always advocate for yourself like that in any with any healthcare practitioner. And so yeah, I mean, that's, that's part of it. And I think that's one of the things that is wrong with the healthcare system is we go to the doctor and we treat them like gods like everything they say, is gold, the golden rule and goes is like the truth. You know, a lot of times we know, all the time we know our bodies better than they do.

Katie: 23:49

Yeah, of course. It's interesting. My mom, she worked in as a surgical nurse worked with doctors her whole life. And she'll always say to me, they're also just humans like that, you know, they you have to remember that what they say is it you have to take it with a grain of salt. Yeah, not always. Yeah. So I want to get into a little bit some of the symptoms that the listeners should look out for. Be, you know, if someone's listening, and it's all sounding very familiar to them, what would be some things to watch out for that would lead them to, you know, figuring out if they have endometriosis or PCOS or just

Amy: 24:25

hormonal hormonal issues in general, right?

Jenna: 24:28

Yeah. Well, I think the first step is, you know, being aware of your menstrual cycle and tracking your period, you're in your menstrual cycle. You know, your menstrual cycle is a whole event. So it's anywhere from 25 to 35 days, that's a healthy menstrual cycle. You should be bleeding anywhere from three to seven days. That's a healthy period. You shouldn't lose more than 80 milliliters of blood. You shouldn't lose less than 25 milliliters of blood. You shouldn't have an app your charting, ideally even better, you're tracking ovulation even if you're not trying to get pregnant, tracking ovulate. To see if you are ovulating. And then you know a lot of times we're tracking your ovulation, you're tracking your basal body temperature that gives insight into your metabolism. So if you start having really low temps that could signify an adrenal or thyroid issue. So it's a free diagnostic tool that you have every month. And it's free. And, you know, by doing that, you know, if something's off, something goes off one month, that's not a big deal. It's normal to have one or two, you know, weird periods a year. But if you're having it like three months in a row, then that's an issue and you should get some heart your hormones tested, investigate work with a practitioner. And so that would be the My First I'd say the first step is to look at your period because expect, you know, like women with polycystic ovarian syndrome, they might have two periods a year, three periods a year. So that's a really big sign. If you're having irregular periods. And women have endometriosis. You can have period pain all day, every day of the menstrual cycle. It doesn't just have to be on your period. So noting down when you're having this pain and symptoms and sensations.

Katie: 26:00

Are there other hormonal conditions that you focus on? What about like, like perimenopause and things like that. Do you work with women in that realm also?

Jenna: 26:11

Yeah, I mean, I always say perimenopause is a natural state and more than a condition like that's just a natural phase of life. Menopause is a natural phase of life. But there are some women who have really bad transitions. Their perimenopause symptoms are awful. But it doesn't have to be that way. And so I do work with women going through perimenopause. But ideally, the those are the women who never address the period and hormone issues at a younger age. And that's why they're having really bad, perimenopause. Oh, that's interesting. So the earlier you address these period issues, hormone issues, the more smoother your transition through perimenopause and menopause is going to be I say, because it is the root cause of these issues is not going away, you can mask it with birth control, you can mask it with whatever you know, but it's gonna be there. Later, at some point, you're gonna have to deal with it. Whether it be when you're trying to get pregnant or whether it be during menopause, you know, perimenopause or menopause.

Amy: 27:04

Our listeners know this, and I've talked about it a little bit, but I have a stapler migraines, which started to appear for me about five years ago, or so. Which is when I really started tracking my periods. But I am still convinced and have told all of my doctors, that it's definitely related to hormones, because I noticed that, I mean, I haven't had symptoms in a long time, you know, knock on wood, unfortunately. But when I have had those symptoms, they're more dramatic, right before I'm about to get my period, like, I get that dizzy, sort of, like vertigo feeling and all of that. Typically, before I get my period, and it doesn't, it doesn't go away after it's still, but it's much less, but it's much more intensive. So I kept asking, like, can you test and they tested my hormones,

Jenna: 27:46

everything's fine, but then they tested your hormones, so like,

Amy: 27:50

everything was fine. So then I went to functional like more integrated doctor, and he tested my hormones within a specific timeframe, I can't remember if whatever was passed my period or before May have like 14 or 17 days, whatever it was, and then actually checked out at the time. Pretty good. So that was good. But I still know that it's related to some sort of hormonal,

Jenna: 28:15

yeah, the he or she wouldn't have been able to figure it out the blood test, I see that I see that hormone issue with headaches related to the hormone cycle all the time. But a blood test isn't going to show the show the way.

Amy: 28:26

So how to test is very sad on a blood test.

Jenna: 28:29

I use a dried urine test with my clients at a specific time of the cycle. And it shows how the hormones are breaking down. metabolizing or not the different pathways shows the different types of estrogen because there's more than just one. And blood tests just shows like really static.

Katie: 28:46

Is that the Dutch test? Yeah, yes. Okay. I've heard of that.

Jenna: 28:50

That will show especially with people that have a lot of migraines around menstruation and ovulation, that Dutch test will is really needed to show the estrogen detox pathways to because there's a lot of correlation between estrogen issues histamine and liver function. But it's a very common, you know, it's a very common pattern I see. Yeah, and headaches, and they're awful. I mean, it's just awful. I'm sorry. Like, it's just like,

Amy: 29:18

Yeah, well, I'm on medication for the vestibular migraines, but I would like to get off of it. Yeah. So it's, like, you know, from a lifestyle standpoint, I think I'm doing all the right things but who knows, I should probably talk to you offline offline and figuring that out. But I would like to get to a point where weaned off of it because I don't obviously want to be on something forever, but it does help with the vertigo symptoms, which are like literally if you have them you can't function so ya know, it's it is helpful, but I would like to get to a point where I'm like, really understanding because I do track my period like I've always had. I mean, my periods have always been regular, but I would say they're between like 35 and 40 days, my whole life so I started tracking everything another Oh, interesting, slash random related thing I think was when I started getting this vestibular migraines five years ago, I also around that time was spotting, which I'd never spotted before. So I feel like it was all related. I'm not anymore. And yeah, all kind of going away. I mean, a lot of it, I think too was like stress and different things, who knows, but it's just really interesting. So that's when, like, my eyes opened up about this whole field, which I don't know much about. But I ever since then I've been tracking my period, I have an app that like tracks, the grades and all of those things, but it clearly I need to learn more. And I'm sure our listeners do too, because you sort of like, it is great that we do have a free diagnostic tool, our period we know if we're getting it every month, we know how we're feeling. And that's like your North Star, you know, like, Okay, I'm like a little bit moody, because I know I'm getting out of here, but it's like your way to track everything. But other than that, it's like, it's hard to go deep if you're if you're not really seeking out the right kind of help,

Jenna: 30:53

kid it's so great that you even knew and it was great that you even had the awareness that you're like, Oh, I these these headaches become worse right before my period. I mean, that's huge that you've got that awareness.

Amy: 31:04

And the funny thing was back to your point about the birth controls when this was first happening I did get a lot of different tests done and spoke to a million different doctors if but my OB was like Yeah, go on birth control it'll it'll it'll help and I didn't give me the prescription but I never did because I was like I don't want to go on birth control so I just you know, trying to figure out you know, other ways but you're right it's that's like the catch all Oh, just go on this and I will be fine.

Katie: 31:28

Yeah, it's true that my quick fix was surgery. They I had such horrible periods after pregnancy that they suggested hysterectomy and I was finished with having kids and I also had other issues from having babies like so this is actually the first time I've mentioned this on the show. So that's that was the route that I went with and I was perfectly okay with it. It took me a long time to come to terms with it. But knowing I was finished having children and just being able to remove some symptoms, I have so many symptoms from my two autoimmune diseases to be able to have my hormonal cycle just a little bit more balanced out. It it was really a great move for myself personally, but that's it's very drastic and evasive and someone that isn't ready for that and that's their suggestion and their only fix is really scary and very sad. And you know there are repercussions. I have horrible scar tissue pain that I get that can be debilitating in my abdomen. But for me personally it was the right thing. I asked

Jenna: 32:29

them castor oil packs where you're wearing those like three or four nights a week. This what is it castor oil packs, they QUEEN OF THRONES makes them these like ready made castor oil packs and it's castor oil and you put it on this like sheepskin, like Pat like a wrap you know and you put it on and you wear it at night over your you can wear over your liver or your ovaries and your uterus and it breaks up scar tissue soil gets through castor oil goes through all the layers of your skin and it actually breaks up the scar tissue and increases blood flow to your to that area.

Katie: 33:04

That's amazing. Thank you that is the

Jenna: 33:08

scar tissue pain, I would definitely get some castor oil packs. And

Amy: 33:11

you know you mentioned earlier and I totally forgot you were talking about your ovarian cysts. And I have one when I was younger too, which I always knew about because they you know, caught it during a regular visit. And I remember them saying when you get pregnant, you'll see that it'll probably get better bigger and it'll fill with liquids. So when I first got pregnant with my first child, they monitored it the whole time and it got like it was like tiny and I got huge like to the size of like a grapefruit. So I actually had it drained during my pregnancy. And it was literally like two saline bags of fluid of what was filled right back up. And it and it ruptured, like late into my pregnancy. And speaking of the pain to your point, it was awful. And I was pregnant. It felt literally like I got stabbed in the side, but it ruptured and I was so worried about it rupturing my whole pregnancy because like they said that could have been a possibility ruptured, it was brutal, but then it went away. And for my second I didn't have any pain like I always had this dual pain in my right side with my first child or with my second and have any of it because it ruptured. So it's just so interesting how these things just come and go. I mean, again, I was aware of it, but if I wasn't I wouldn't have known what was going on.

Jenna: 34:23

And it's actually really common for women of childbearing age to have a cyst once every few years or something like that. Yeah, it's like a what we call functional cyst. It's very common and then they can rupture with your period. You know, a lot of doctors will say just get on the birth control pill to shrink it but you know, a lot of times they just go away with your period when you start treating and my case it I was one of 1% of women where the the cysts not only ruptured but it went into torsion around my ovary and took off a chunk of my ovary that only happens to one Yeah, that was like that I've had I've had other cysts burst before rupture. Having gone torsion was like having 1000 cyst rupture at the

Amy: 35:04

same time. I don't even know. And that's so scary. You weren't even in this country.

Jenna: 35:08

No, it was like so scary. My husband like rushed me to the hospital like an hour away to like the private hospital in Chiang Mai. And it was, you know, and there was there's, there's really good health care outside the US a lot of people think that there's not but actually just better and cheaper. Yeah. And so yeah, I was fine. But yeah, I mean, so it is so you know, there's so much but I'm, you know, the pain of the of the ovarian cyst. And then doctors, they'll say, get on birth control pill and all this stuff. And it's like, I don't under like the birth control pill to them. It's just like, let's be nice. And let's be easy. You know, I'm just wondering if they should just have a recording doctors, here's a prescription for the birth control pill, like no matter how serious, they really need the person they're moving, we could just have like an avatar, birth control, birth control,

Amy: 35:53

right? Right, just hitting the button to your point like adapters, whether it's an OB or your regular doctor, whatever, no one is asking about your period, or they do it to check the box, but they're not really going into the root knows of all of these things. They only

Jenna: 36:06

care if you're trying to have a baby, right? Yeah, baby. Then they give they care so much. They want to give Oh, okay, fertility panel, all this stuff. It's like, so I, you know, so I, you know, I remember before I could run my own labs, when I was first kind of starting out, now I can get all my blood work and all my labs and stuff. I wanted to get a full hormone panel, and I went to the doctor, and they're like, why do you want this? And I was like, because I'm gonna check my hormones. Well, no, we can't give you that I go. And then I just put on my thinking cap, and I go, I'm trying to get pregnant. And they're like, Oh, sure. So Oh, yeah. I'm like, you shouldn't have to be trying to get pregnant to find out what's going on with your hormones. It's not like we own our health only matters when we're ready to host a child. Like, it's just, it's ridiculous. It's absolutely ridiculous.

Amy: 36:56

What are your thoughts on these home? Like, I know, there's a bunch of companies like Everly well, that that do different sort of home tests for hormones. Is that because I think like being able to take it into your own responsibility is so empowering, like to be able to just have blood every month and not have to ask your doctor and have to rationalize it like are those? Would you recommend those home sorts of tests? Or what do you think about

Jenna: 37:22

that? Yeah. Okay. So first of all, this is kind of a long winded answer. But this is the best, like a three pronged answer. But yeah, first of all, I feel like the for like thyroid, I think that's great. I like let's get checked for that they have a thyroid test. You know, that's something that every six months, we should be checking our thyroid, because it can change overnight. So every six months, check your thyroid, if you have Hashimotos, maybe every four months. It's so easy. It's like, you know, you can order it online, you take it at home, you don't have to faff about with your doctor and be like, I need the full thyroid panel. But no, all you need is TSH, no, I would like to full thyroid panel. Now now TSH, and you don't have to like hassle and our you know, just like beg and plead with your doctor. And so for blood type thyroid as best as blood. So that's why I think that's great. Now maybe like a full thyroid panel, you know, through letsgetchecked or something like that, or everlywell once a year is great, you know, but what we really want to be testing besides the thyroid, what we really want to be testing more than the hormones is our gut. So I think everybody really wants to test the hormones. But hormones is really it's important to do every once in a while. But the gut is really something that that most people never test their gut. And you can't have healthy hormones without a healthy gut. That's why with my clients, I always test the gut. First we do a comprehensive gi you know, stool test, the GI map, because we have to fix the gut infections before you'll ever have a healthy thyroid or hormones and, and so that's what I would say would be the most important and then it is and then once you get everything in checked, those tests are very empowering to just monitor your own health. And check in with those and do those. That's so how do you do that?

Amy: 39:03

How do you how do you test your gut? I don't think I've ever done that.

Jenna: 39:06

Yeah, so it's um, it's a stool test that you take at home. Okay, they gave you all the instructions and stuff. It's not the most glamorous but it's

Amy: 39:16

what's the what's the site or product that does that?

Jenna: 39:20

Well, they don't you have to have a you have to have a license to order it. You have to go through a practitioner. Okay, so it's not like I really well in all of

Amy: 39:26

us, we can do a blast. So you have to go to a doctor and you ask for what we are Yeah, it doesn't

Jenna: 39:31

have to be a doctor. It can be someone like me a nutritionist or dietician a functional dietitian or you as far as I know I don't think allopathic doctors run this type of you know, usually if they do anything with the gut they do like they look for structural issues, you know for polyps and things like that and they don't or maybe they run sometimes for like certain parasites but they don't do a comprehensive gi essay which is like this looking your immune system function your bacteria levels, whether you if you have a gluten sensitive tivity is looking at for parasites and h pylori and virus viruses. And it's just

Amy: 40:06

so you would go to a functional doctor or nutritionist and ask for a comprehensive gi function. I'm like writing it down because I,

Jenna: 40:13

you know, honestly, a good a good, a good way to determine if if the practitioner is, is good, basically, is it? That's what they're offering? Yeah, that's where they want to start. I had

Amy: 40:27

no one's either, like, ever tested that on me,

Katie: 40:29

right? Well, most. So I went to a GI gastroenterologist, and it was, you know, like, during the height of the pandemic, the summer and I had horrible SIBO. And of course, it took me a long time to figure out what SIBO was, and I was doing all this research trying to figure out if I could get some answers and found out that that's what it was. It wasn't through a doctor that I got that diagnosis, but she, the only tests they did for me was a colonoscopy. And then she said we can we can attempt to this right, Faxon. And we did that. And then it revealed a candida overgrowth that she refused to even acknowledge as real. So they they will do nothing. But to your point what you were saying they it's just like it's for polyps, it's, you know, yeah, it's

Jenna: 41:12

not like pathology, think about it, they're looking for cancer, they're looking for structural issues. And that's great. And it's great to have those routine colonoscopies after you get a certain age. But when we have these people having heartburn and then all the doctor wants to give them is protein pump inhibitors, which suppress your stomach acid, which is the worst thing you could possibly be doing for someone, then they get addicted to it. And they've been taking it their whole life and they have osteoporosis and all these issues later down the line. Why don't we test their gut and just figure it out? You know, it's just like, it's, it's it's so easy. You know, I've had I've I remember this 135 year old, a friend of a friend and he was like, had all these colonoscopies and all these issues because he had such bad heartburn and IBS. And the doctors kept on saying there's nothing wrong, there's nothing wrong, you know, nothing. And I'm like, why don't it just stool tests like, there is something wrong if you're complaining of this, and they were like, well just take Prozac or take these, you know, what are the you know, what are those protein pump inhibitors? Like the standard drugs that Zyrtec No, not Zyrtec allergy. What's the one that demand tax? Zantac? Yes. And I mean, just like that is just such lazy medicine. It's like, let's just silence a symptom and not figure out what is going on. And so the gut is really the best place to start. And when you have a Candida, Candida is like the third tier that's like that's a side effect of bacteria and balances, possible parasitic infections. And it's not where you you start treating somebody's with the Candida, because if you just treat the Candida that superficial, it's going to grow right back, if you don't get rid of the other imbalances in the gut.

Katie: 42:40

That's interesting, because that's me, that's my life. I have I have repeated candida overgrowth, and yeah, fluconazole it literally once a week, which to manage it, it's like it's and also with diet diet does help

Jenna: 42:52

you exactly. But you can be doing all the right things and be frustrated, and do all the right things and do a Candida diet or all these things, but it's not going to, you're going to hit a plateau, you're never going to go right or if you don't investigate the other issues.

Katie: 43:05

So that that is a great segue into what you do. Because I would love to hear a bit about your root cause program and your coaching that you do so the listener can, can reach out to you.

Jenna: 43:16

Oh, yeah, well, I you know, I love it. I love working with women in this capacity. And it's a form of program. So, you know, I found over a lot of trial and error. And after working with hundreds of clients that you can't amazon prime your health, unfortunately, everyone wants, you know, like, a quick fix, and I still get messages Oh, do you can you just do a one session, I just don't do that. Because it's unrealistic on both practitioner and patient to think that you can get these results when you've been having these health issues for years. Some of these women decades coming to me, we can't fix this in one session. And I want people leaving my program happy. And so that takes about three to four months. And we do the GI map, which is the gut test that we talked about, we do the Dutch hormone test, which is the hormone test I discussed. And we have five sessions over the course of these four months. And we we tackle every system in the body, you know, the liver neurotransmitters, you know, our estrogen metabolism, we look at our blood sugar, you know, diet, all of these things and support the detox pathways and look at everything in unison and at the same time. They're being empowered themselves because they're learning this new language. They're learning this body literacy. They're learning how to be advocates for their health and understanding what's going on. Maybe learning some propensities that their body has towards certain illnesses or certain you know things so that they can be proactive and take care of themselves and then also just know their bodies better, you know, so to continue out of advocating for themselves so they can be their own health advocates because no one can give you back your health if someone's advertising like Hey, I mean, that's not possible. no doctor, no nutritionist no one can give you your health. Do you have to do that yourself? We're just kind of it's just a roadmap, and we're helping you get there. And we're supporting you. And we're able to

Amy: 45:06

test and proactive versus like reactive based on something terrible that could Yeah, right. Yeah. So I have a question. So you do that over the four months, and you evaluate and then based on like, all of the data and all the conversations, you then what do you prescribe someone like a program? Like What? What? Yeah, what happens after that?

Jenna: 45:26

So well, in the four months working together, it's it's, you know, we I first start off with like, an initial health session, and we make some foundational, you know, recommendations with diet and exercise, and with maybe some targeted supplements or herbs, which I use therapeutically in my practice, because that's another thing I see a lot of naturopaths. And I see a lot of nutritionists out there, just throwing supplements that people like, that's also some take a probiotic. Yeah. And like that, and that symptom care relief to just take all the supplements just as much as a doctor is prescribing all these pharmaceuticals. So it's like, kind of same, same but different. And so, you know, so therapeutically, you know, maybe I'll be like, for 60 days, you need to take this supplement for this, for what we found on this test, like XYZ, we're going to take this supplement for 60 days, here's why. And then we go over the gut testing in a second session, and we I design a protocol for them. And they and I help support them over the GI protocol, we have a follow up session to see how things are going. The fourth session, that's when we go into the hormones, because that's fine tuning as much as everyone wants to do the hormones first interest, everyone's always so excited about the hormones, it's really the last place to start. That's we're really fine tuning things there. And and then we have a follow up after that. And then generally, you know, I really pride myself in not having repeat customers, because we're able to get to the root cause. So they'd love to check in with me, I have my clients check in like once or twice a year just to see and go over their their lap, you know, to retest and just see how things are going or give them some support. But really, you know, my goal is to have them have their own wings to fly and just kind of be able to advocate for themselves moving forward.

Amy: 47:03

Yeah, this is so eye opening, I need to do this program with you. Because I've never really looked into my guide, because I really haven't. I don't know, I just never thought about it. Like to your point. It was always like, Oh, the hormones, the headaches and the this and that. But it could be my God, who knows. I mean, I definitely don't have a regular

Jenna: 47:22

if you're having headaches too. I was, that was my first.

Amy: 47:25

And I'm not I've never been like regular as you would say in that department. So

Jenna: 47:30

and you know, to be honest, it's not just you, it's every human being on the planet. So it's a gut test at some point, because we're bombarded with pharmaceuticals and our water and our drinking water. We've taken antibiotics growing up, you know, birth control, pollution, pesticides, toxins, or cosmetics. I mean, like our liver needs a tune up. I mean, yeah, and liberty to tuna, you don't need to tune up.

Amy: 47:52

I think that's really important for our listeners, too, because I think you hear everywhere, that health, gut health, but I actually don't really know what that means. Like, I didn't really know that this test you're talking about exists where they can actually where you can really look deeper into what that means. Because you hear things like gut health and take this versus like doing these tests to figure out what you actually need. So I think that's something that everyone should be looking into, including myself. I have a question for you. Just on a side note, when we're talking about hormones, period, gut health. So I wasn't on birth control. I never took the birth control that the OB wanted me to, I ended up and this is not this wasn't for my hormones, but really just for birth control, getting an IUD, which is something I wanted since my second kid and I just like never did it. And I did it. Maybe like a year ago. Do you think that that's like, what are your thoughts on that? I know, like the hormones are less than whatever. But it's a little I was saying this to Katie, it's a little hard to track your period because I can kind of tell like I'm in like, what's week I'm in just based on how I feel. But you don't really have that definitive because there's nothing you don't really get your period. You just get like a wipe of something and you're like, Oh, I guess that's my period, but it's a little bit harder to track. So kind of what are your thoughts there and like, how does that relate to getting this gut test and all of that?

Jenna: 49:13

Yeah, so the IUD. Do you have a copper IUD Do you have it? You have the hormone like the Skyler that Kaylee

Amy: 49:21

I forgot what it Mirena it's not Mirena, but it's like a newer version of that

Jenna: 49:24

the key is it the Kaylee Kaylee asked whether

Amy: 49:27

or not I actually have it anyway. Just quick

Jenna: 49:29

what do you do what did your headache start around then are both there were they already happening before though they

Amy: 49:33

were happening way before I just got this recently my headaches I've had probably for five years and then this like that just recently more so from like a birth control letter. That's what a

Jenna: 49:45

letter okay? They're always these like, you know, sweet girls names to make a noun so like, I know why. So first of all, having less hormones is still the same thing as having some hormones. It's like drinking half a cup of poison versus a full cup and Not saying birth control is hormones. Is that that hormones? Well, synthetic hormones are kind of, they're an endocrine disruptor. That's what they are. They're a hormone disruptor. And so it basically it's not like, they'll be like, this is a low hormone to make it sound better. It's the same thing.

Amy: 50:14

So you see in birth controls essentially the same well,

Jenna: 50:17

it, isn't it. The low dose pills and the low dose IUD. Yeah, same, the same way. Okay. And then and then the IUD is the other method doctors always used to say and still say today, which I don't understand how someone who went through eight years of education and then fellowship can still say this. That's because it's in the uterus. It's localized. It's localized hormones, it doesn't spread anywhere else in your life. That's

Amy: 50:42

what they told me. Exactly, I'd

Jenna: 50:43

say. So that's the biggest BS. And I've been saying this for a decade, and then actually a decade, like seven years. And finally we got validation. There was an article and some science journal that came out in December of 2021. That was say, Oh, we found out that the hormones are actually systemic, they spread systemically. And here's this MRI, this woman's breasts did prove it and yada yada yada. But women symptoms are being dismissed for so long. They were saying like, I'm having all these issues. I know, but the hormones are local and IUD. So they're not local. They spread. Yeah, it really is. Because like, let's it goes into your bloodstream, so they should know better because they're freaking doctors. They know how the body works. And so so it is, it is low, it is systemic in the body. Now I will like it's one thing I like about the IUD. I mean, I out of all of the birth control methods, one of the reasons one of the pros of the IUD is that you still ovulate or may ovulate. You know, a lot of women don't because of the inflammation from the IUD. But ovulation is really what we want to be doing ovulation is how we make progesterone. Progesterone is what we need for heart health, bone health, thyroid health, healthy, healthy mood. And when we don't ovulate, we don't make that. And so that's really important that we make that so with the IUD, you have a chance of ovulating. Even though you're not having a period you're not seeing blood, what you can do is you can track your cycle by taking your basal body temperature. And then when you and that's one of the fertility signs that we use in the fertility awareness method, which is my form of birth control that's hormone free. And I know after my temperature spiked and it's remained elevated for three days that I've ovulated I also observed my cervical fluid. So it didn't matter if I had a period or not, because once you ovulate, you will start your period within 14 days or you're pregnant, it's coming or you're writing it so right then you kind of know okay, I ovulate it my temperature spikes, I ovulated. And then you also kind of feel it, you know, sometimes people have, you know, but But you may not also be ovulating on the on the IUD, I have a lot of clients who haven't ovulated on the IUD. Now with a gut, the IUDs have been shown to create imbalances in the gut, especially with Candida overgrowth. So that also can happen not always, but that can happen so but it's kind of with the birth control pill and hormonal birth control is pick your poison. Like what, that's why I'm like, which one is so that I you know, I gave a while back and I still have it on my website, I have a free birth control masterclass. And you can go on my website wants you to have like 45 minutes, and it breaks down every single type of birth control hormone, and hormone free, conservation, unbiased, non judgmental, and it's really just kind of pick these what's right for you might not be right for me and might not be right for you know, your friends. So it's like it's, we all have different needs and different. We're in different places in our lives. And so that's why I'm all about informed consent. So instead of just being told, this is what you need, yeah, being these are your options. And here's the pros and cons. And now you are, you are a grown ass adult, why don't you go home, think about it, make a decision and choose for yourself and with now that you have all the information present. And that's not that's not happening in medicine that's not happening with most female patients today.

Katie: 54:00

I love I love everything that you're doing what you're offering and how you're healing women and what you're just bringing to the forefront. These women's issues are so hush hush in so many cultures. I mean, even just the fact that like this is the first time I mentioned that I had a hysterectomy and I was embarrassed about it. Like there's no reason for that, you know, so the awareness that you're spreading and teaching these women to self advocate and everything you're doing is it's just it's really phenomenal and we're so grateful to have you and I know our listeners are going to learn a lot and potentially you're going to really help some of them just from an episode so

Amy: 54:35

yeah, and Europe by the way, I love your Instagram and I love all the videos you do they're so helpful for our listeners if you check out her Instagram page, it's it's at a period your period guru and you've got all these great videos just like little bits of information that are super helpful about diet and lifestyle and hormones. So anyway, I love it. So good job. Yeah, yeah, she like that. It's really helpful. Share it, share it on our pages. Yeah,

Katie: 54:59

yeah. How can our listeners find you? Is that your website? Just yeah, so

Jenna: 55:03

on Instagram at the period guru, and my website is Jenna longoria.com So those are great places I have so many free resources I really do I have tons of free resources on my website I've got a pain free period book I've got a ebook I've got a period solutions masterclass a birth control recording so pick your pick your jam and

Amy: 55:25

quiz in terms of your program. If our listeners want to sign up with for your program, and you do it virtual I know you're based in Amsterdam, but do you work with anyone?

Jenna: 55:34

Yeah, I work online. And I actually only do enrollment twice a year. So I'm currently my enrollment starts Hint Hint, actually, next week. Oh, I don't know when this podcast is going out. But I enroll in the spring, early spring and I enroll in the and in the Fall Enrollment Period is usually two or three weeks or whenever the spots fill up. I work with 11 women because it is a four month program. So I can only see a certain amount of women each enrollment period. So there are options out there.

Katie: 55:58

That's great. All right. So let's hit our rap session really quickly because I have a feeling you have some some good ones for us. So just a few questions. How what is your favorite wellness or beauty hack?

Jenna: 56:10

For me? The lemon water first thing in the morning, I couldn't imagine starting my day without 16 ounces a warm lemon water and I put a little bit of sea salt in there. That just I mean, hydrates, you makes your skin look great. It's great for the liver and detoxing, you know, toxins away from the body endotoxins hormones and yeah, I think that would be probably be my wellness hack would be the lemon water.

Katie: 56:34

That's a good one. And I've heard that that's good for your gut to kind of

Jenna: 56:37

absolutely to get moving. Yeah, it helps with motility. So in the morning gets things moving and it helps stimulate the liver. It helps make your bile not because our bile but that our gallbladder releases to break down fats sometimes can get kind of sludgy, and then it can't do its job and lemon water can make it kind of thinner and consistency. So it's kind of and it's just and they're hydrating. The sea salt, the sea salt is has, you know, minerals in it like sodium and potassium, which a lot of us are deficient in. So I always recommend people add a quarter teaspoon of sea salt to every liter of water to remineralize re mineral mineral wise. So I do that first thing in the morning with like a little bit of sea salt and lemon, half a lemon squeezed and 16 ounces of warm water first thing in the morning,

Katie: 57:24

hey, yeah, I need to try that. Alright, so this is what we call your five minute flow. You just got out of the shower and dried off Uber. They do have Uber and Amsterdam. Yes, yes. Uber just alerted you. And they're five minutes away. What are you going to do? What's your holy grail is your go to your routine to get out the door and get into the Uber in five minutes.

Jenna: 57:44

Oh, wow. Okay, so usually, I Well, I'll go to the bathroom one last time before I get to the Uber. Oh, yeah. And I guess I don't know, like, make sure I have everything in my purse. I guess that would be the thing. Make sure have like my chapstick and my phone and all of that jazz. And yeah, and then I'm always running late. So forgetting something and then coming back inside to go get that off my shoes. And I'm getting that thing and then putting my shoes back on. And that would be it. Yeah.

Katie: 58:14

That's great. That's all right. And last one, how do you maintain your daily nirvana?

Jenna: 58:20

Oh, man, meditation. Absolutely. I love to meditate first thing in the morning and I have a this infrared near infrared red lights and I sit in front of that lamp while I meditate, and that really just helps me just start the day and just ground and at some present, you know, just kind of calming nervous system. I love that. What

Amy: 58:41

brand red light Do you have? I'm looking into getting one. Yeah, I like

Jenna: 58:44

the bio light. It's not advertised that much. And so then you don't pay all their like the price for the advertisements and stuff and other companies. So really? Yeah, like the bio light. That's a good one.

Amy: 58:55

Okay, nice to know, good to know, Ray noted. So thank you so much for being on our show. Jenna, this was amazing. I learned so much. Thank you for answering all of my detailed questions. But I think I'm not alone in saying that, you know, we all need to be more educated. And I think this will be so helpful for our listeners. So thank you so much for coming on the show. We definitely will probably want to have you back for a second round of questions. I'm sure our listeners will have a lot of questions for you. So thank you so much for spending time with us today. And I will kick it to Katie, we always like to end with a mantra to set the tone.

Katie: 59:27

Yes. Thanks, Amy. And thank you, Jenna, this was such an illuminating session. So it's very exciting. All right, our mantra for this week. Everything I am going through is planting something valuable. And me. I think that is a really powerful one. And it's so hard to remember when you are going through things but yeah, just repeat that when needed some Yes. Good one. Yeah. All right. So thank you

Amy: 59:53

so much. Thanks for listening to Nirvana sisters. For more information on this episode. Check out the show notes please subscribe and leave us a review. also find us on Instagram at Nirvana sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana sisters will continue to watch out for all things wellness so you don't have to. Bye.