200 Your Period Isn’t Supposed to Destroy You with Nicole Jardim

Everything went wrong before this interview even started: lagging audio, frozen screens, “Can you hear me?” chaos… which, honestly, became the perfect metaphor for today’s topic: women being told to accept dysfunction as normal.

And fittingly, this conversation marks a huge milestone — our 200th episode! Two hundred episodes of unlearning, reframing, and giving women permission to trust their bodies. And today’s guest delivers exactly that kind of truth.

Because once Nicole Jardim (women’s health coach + author of Fix Your Period) finally got connected, she dropped a truth bomb most women never hear:

👉 Statistically common doesn’t mean biologically normal.

Cramps, mood swings, missing periods, heavy bleeding — we’ve been conditioned to believe it’s “part of being a woman.” Nicole is here to burn that narrative down.

In this raw and revealing conversation, Nicole takes us back to where it all began — age 12, pads in the backpack, intuition on point — and then straight into the trauma, the chaos, and the hormonal storm that followed after the sudden death of her father. From survival-mode teen years to being handed the pill as a “solution,” Nicole walks us through the cascade of symptoms that no one connected to the pill, stress, genetics, detox pathways, or trauma.

This episode breaks the script. We talk:

• Why period pain can be a red flag
• How trauma + puberty + synthetic hormones created a perfect hormonal disaster
• The COMT gene, stress metabolism, and why some women feel like live wires
• Why your period is basically your body’s early-warning system
• The hidden stressors no one warns women about
• Why we’ve normalized suffering — and why that needs to end

Nicole doesn’t sugarcoat. She also doesn’t catastrophize. She reframes powerfully. Because the same genetic profile that makes you sensitive to stress might also be the source of your creativity, drive, memory, intuition, and fire.

If you’ve ever been told to “just deal with it,” this episode will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about your cycle, your symptoms, and what your body has been trying to tell you for years.

This is your permission slip to stop normalizing pain.

And to start listening to your biology instead of fighting it.

📲 Connect with Nicole:  

Website: https://nicolejardim.com/

Nicole’s Membership - The Fix Your Period Collective: https://www.fixyourperiod.com/

Nicole’s Practitioner Program: https://instituteformenstrualhealth.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicolemjardim/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicolemjardim/

Sally's Links:

Email: info@sallygarozzo.com 

[Free Guide] Healing The Trauma Underlying Your Menopause Symptom Severity: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/healingtraumatheguide

[On-Demand Masterclass] How To Heal The Trauma Underlying Your Menopause Symptom Severity [£17]: https://www.sallygarozzo.com/healingtrauma

[On-Demand Workshop] Redefine Your Values at Menopause and Live Life in Alignment With Them [£27]: https://www.sallygarozzo.co

Transcript

So my guest today is Nicole Jardim. Nicole is a certified women's health coach. She's the creator of the Fix Your Period Collective and author of Fix Your Period, Six Weeks to Banish Bloating, Conquer Cramps, Manage Moodyness and Ignite Lasting Hormone Balance.

Nicole (01:49.095)
Yes, that's exactly how you say it.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (02:12.154)
Her book is a life-changing step-by-step natural protocol to improve everything from PMS, period pain and heavy periods to irregular and missing periods. Her work has impacted the lives of tens of thousands of people around the world by addressing the root cause of what's really going on in their bodies and minds rather than just treating symptoms. So Nicole, welcome to the podcast today. How are you?

Nicole (02:41.774)
I am really good. Thank you so much for having me. I'm thrilled, thrilled to be here.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (02:47.238)
well we just realised that we have Adele Wimsit. Is it Wimsit in common? She took your programme a while back. Yeah.

Nicole (02:53.789)
We do. She did. Yes, she did indeed. And yes, I know. I figured we would have people in common though. It is, I know. Women's health is a lot smaller than we think it is. Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (03:01.122)
It's a small world in this. Yeah, definitely. So I'm really, really excited to talk to you today, Nicole, because it's actually been a while since we've talked about periods on this podcast. And of course, women going through perimenopause and the menopause transition can still have periods. So it's absolutely relevant and you are the expert. So can you take us back to the moment when you realized

that menstrual health was going to be your life's work.

Nicole (03:35.761)
thought this question was so great. I would say reflecting on it all, it probably started when I was 12. It was unbeknownst to me at the time, of course, but I just knew my period was coming. It was some sort of like sixth sense, I suppose you could say. And, you know, I had been sort of spotting and so I just, knew something was happening. I had my pads already stashed in my backpack, ready for the big debut. And then it came and I felt so proud of myself because I was so prepared.

But one of the things that happened to me at the time was one of my friends had found my backpack and she'd found the pads and she was demanding to know that whether I had my period or not. So it was this whole thing where my intuition was really strong and on point at the time. And then my friends were, you know, on my case because they didn't understand why I was so prepared. So was just a whole thing. But yeah, you know, I think back then I just there was something that I knew I was so sure of. And one of the things that happened right before

that actually prior the year before my dad died really suddenly and so it was just a trauma of all of that plus puberty it was definitely not a recipe for smooth sailing and so while I got my period it was what felt like a pretty normal way my hormones really went haywire and my periods became a disaster

from the time I was about 13 or 14. So I felt like, you know, most girls are trying to figure out how to use a tampon. And I was trying to just, I don't know, survive is what it felt like. And so, yeah, that was really how it all started. But obviously there was, you know, a lot more to it that went on over the next decade.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (05:17.407)
So what happened? What kind of nightmare did you have with your periods?

Nicole (05:21.767)
You know, I feel like it was sort of one of those things that felt like a classic teenage.

period story, especially because I was talking to others about it too and I feel like I had friends who were in a similar experience but now that I've done this work for, gosh, mean like 10 plus years, I feel as though I've heard all the stories and so for me around 14 or so I just I started noticing that my periods were getting heavier and heavier and then the pain...

also got worse, it just became unbearable. And so I found myself missing school almost every single month, either because of heavy bleeding or because I was in so much pain. My mood swings were totally crazy. And again, I think that part of that is being a teenager and having those raging hormones. And then maybe just became really irregular. And so I just felt as though I, know, first of all, I felt really invalidated because

my mom said to me, well, I had really horrible periods too. And she said, well, we can go to the gynecologist. And I think they're probably just going to tell you that this is something you just have to live with. And so I think that that was really, for me, one of those moments in life. I guess it was a...

a cornerstone moment in my life where I just thought, okay, well, this is just what I have to deal with. And it wasn't until I was 18 or 19 that I did finally go to the gynecologist because my periods were getting more and more irregular and the pain was just getting worse and worse. And the heavy bleeding was to the point where, you you're in school, you're bleeding through your school uniform. It's just horrifying on so many levels as if being a teenager isn't the worst thing already. So yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (07:04.582)
Yeah.

Nicole (07:05.651)
So that was when I decided to see the gynecologist and then she immediately put me on the pill. And at that point, yeah, I thought that I had found my period penicillia. That wasn't the case.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (07:18.384)
Yeah. So you went on the pill, did it help you for a while?

Nicole (07:23.857)
Yes, absolutely. It really did. In fact, I feel like I had found my magic bullet. Honestly, that was the fix initially. And my period problems virtually disappeared within a month, which makes sense, right? Because you're now taking a pill, you're overriding your cycle. So no more heavy periods, no more painful periods. My period came every 28 days. Amazing. And I truly thought I had addressed all my problems.

Unfortunately, what happened is I ended up with what seemed to be a laundry list of side effects that just kept popping up more more. it started with noticing that I just didn't feel the same. It's hard to describe that, but I think anyone who's been on the pill and has felt these feelings will understand. And then I started developing digestive issues, which I'd had on and off.

from the time I was my early teens, but this became exponentially worse. I developed melasma all over my face. My hair was falling out. I had people actually saying to me, your hair just looks so thin, which is again, mortifying. I started to develop these constant illnesses. Like I just caught every cold and then I got mono in college that felt like it just was never going away. And then I had chronic yeast infections, urinary tract infections.

I could go on and on. It was just, it felt like just a boatload of symptoms. And like I said, I just didn't feel like myself anymore. And so I was in and out of my gynecologist's office because of these chronic infections. And she gave me a medication for a UTI, an antibiotic that I ended up being allergic to. And so I had to rush to the emergency room because I was bright red, like a tomato, and you know, had a really, really high temperature.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (08:49.926)
you

Nicole (09:15.503)
And that was kind of a wake-up call, I guess you could say. A friend of mine in college had been telling me about her acupuncturist who I needed to see according to her. And so I finally did that. And that was really the beginning of realizing what was going on with my body. Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (09:33.168)
Yeah, and what was going on with your body? Like when you look back through the lens of your own expertise now, what do you see that that child, that 12 year old, right through to that 18 year old and beyond was actually going through?

Nicole (09:41.235)
Mm.

Nicole (09:50.259)
Well, I think there was a tremendous amount of trauma. My dad died in a plane accident. So this wasn't just, you know, like it wasn't expected or anything like that. I mean, he took me to school that morning and then by that afternoon he was gone. So.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (09:55.461)
Ugh.

Nicole (10:04.997)
it was one of those things where, and you know how this is, right? I feel like we all know when you're in your 40s and 50s, back then, there really wasn't any help for that kind of thing. You just kind of had to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and move on. And there was a lot of focus on my mom because my mom had lost her husband and kids are resilient and they bounce back and all of that narrative that happens or that's told to us.

For my sister and I, my mom really actually did just fall apart for the most part. Her dad had died three months before, very suddenly as well. So it was just, it was a nightmare basically. And so for us, we kind of just raised ourselves and I, know, that's my memory of the teenage years is just really being in survival mode for the most part. So I think that was a massive part of it. And then,

Info@sallygarozzo.com (10:41.635)
my gosh.

Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (10:54.331)
Yeah.

Nicole (10:57.482)
What I did is then I went on the pill and as we know, it has profound effects, especially if you have certain genetic snips, which I know I do, certain detoxification markers, as well as I don't clear catecholamines well, like epinephrine, for instance. So stress impacts me more on top of the fact that, you my dad died really suddenly. So I felt like

my stress thresholds had already shifted dramatically at such a young age and in puberty. So I think that there was a combination of those things. And at the time, mean, obviously none of this was even a thought. so now looking back, I can clearly see, and then adding the pill onto that dumpster fire, for lack of a better term, really, I think, it's just impacted me in so many ways. I mean, I was adding in synthetic hormones that clearly did not work for my body.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (11:45.53)
you

Nicole (11:53.827)
I was taking away ovulation. I really needed my hormones. I just did not function without my sex hormones. And as a result, I had so many side effects. I think that, you know, like liver detox, as I said, like I just don't detox certain things well. And so, yeah, it just, led to me just constantly being sick basically. Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (12:13.924)
Yeah, yeah. Well, it sounds like a maelstrom of events, both external and internal that were really, it's amazing, isn't it? How much stress, when I say stress, I mean, not just emails and deadlines, know, big, big trauma in your case, and also all the little traumas underneath that, you know, dealing with your mom, having to raise yourself and.

deal with all the feelings that you were feeling and then being a teenager and at school and how all of this is actually affecting our biology. We just think stress is stress, but it really affects everything on a macro level and on a micro level as well. You mentioned about your detox pathways. How do you know you don't clear adrenaline very well, very easily?

Nicole (12:58.366)
Yes.

Nicole (13:03.155)
Mm.

Nicole (13:09.129)
Well, I actually did, I've done some genetic testing and I did, so I've done a few things and then a couple of years ago I did something, a test called nutrition genome and I really like their test results, how they display everything because they will show you.

Some you know, the more I would say the more important genes are at least the ones that have been more well studied and And so the catecholamines like I said, I I've just learned based on my you know, like I have a snip on my comped genes you empty and that Just basically means that I just don't clear adrenaline estrogen as well dopamine

that well. And so it requires a significant amount of nutrients like magnesium, vitamin C, copper. So basically what it does, sort of like reduces your ability to manage stress. then

oftentimes many of us are low in vitamin C and magnesium and copper and things like that. So, and I had constipation, which was such an issue for me while on the pill. So it was just sort of a combination of things, I think. And I could clearly see now that I look back and I've had these conversations with so many women about their own pill experience and even mothers of daughters who've been on the pill.

the downward spiral of my immune system function and just, you know, like seeing the gut health issues and then that translating into not, you know, getting these colds all of a sudden. I'd never really gotten constant colds. I wasn't really sick, you know, as a child or in my early teens. And then just getting mono and then, you know, having all of these symptoms that just sort of built on each other so you could see a very clear trajectory.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (15:02.394)
Yeah, yeah, makes sense. think I've got that CONT gene as well. seem to remember having a Dutch... Yeah, I get, I'm very prone to estrogen dominance and androgen dominance as well. And I do feel that, yeah, probably don't metabolize adrenaline very well either, but I need to work on that. Yeah.

Nicole (15:08.585)
So fun.

Nicole (15:21.265)
It makes sense. Well, it's interesting because it is associated with anxiety and impulsiveness, obsessive behavior, irritability, especially under stress. And I feel like it's also associated with ADHD and different types of behavioral problems. So I do feel like that's a really big part of...

what we're seeing for so many women, especially in that second half of their cycle. I just, think that it really is playing a huge role.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (15:49.68)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm thinking about it through a trauma lens as well, because we would say that that trauma profile has a flight response. They're overactive in their thinking, overthinking and tendency for intrusive thoughts and scattered thinking and that needing to go, go, go all of the time. Yeah.

Nicole (16:15.517)
Yes, yes. think it's also nice to know though, just so everyone knows it's not all terrible. What's interesting is that particular snip on the comp gene is associated with higher creativity and IQ and good memory and like drive and motivation and things like that. So I also feel like there's, you know, there's good and bad to all of these genetics nets.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (16:41.69)
Yeah.

really good that's really good to know actually because you can start to see a positive profile in yourself as well when you look through that lens yeah okay

Nicole (16:51.223)
For sure. For sure. Yes, right? So there's that. A little reframe.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (16:55.536)
So there's that as well. I like that. I love that. Okay, so many women still believe that period pain and PMS are just part of the deal. Why do you say that period problems might be statistically normal, but not biologically normal?

Nicole (17:19.229)
You know, this is one of my favorite myths to bust because I just, as we've discussed so many times in this world, we have been conditioned to think that the cramps and the PMS and the heavy bleeding or the irregular cycles constantly, you know, every month I know women who are literally taking a pregnancy test because they don't know what ovulation is or when it's supposed to happen or anything like that. You know, all of this, the mood swings, all of it are just this.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (17:22.139)
Yeah.

Nicole (17:46.323)
package, part of the package of being a woman. yeah, I think statistically, a huge number of women experience them. There's no doubt about that. That's what makes them common. But common does not equal normal. And biologically, your menstrual cycle is just not designed to bring you to your knees every month. I think that that is quite shocking and a revelation to women.

I like to talk about this. said this in my book that your period is like the canary in the coal mine. And as we know, back in the day, miners would bring canary underground with them because unfortunately that poor little bird would be the first to show signs of whether the air was toxic. And ultimately your period is exactly the same. It's one of the first places that imbalances are going to show up in your body. I mean, it's not the first, but it's the one that I think most women can recognize. And so many of those drivers are

the things that are ubiquitous in our modern life, right? It's the chronic stress or the hidden stressors, the blood sugar issues, the gut health problems, the nutrient deficiencies, our environmental exposures. So if you're dealing with this, with whatever symptom, insert whatever period related or cycle related symptom or hormone related symptom you can think of, it's just your body's way of telling you that something's not right and it's time to pay attention. What I think though is,

is tragic is that women have been taught that these signals should just sort of be ignored or can be ignored or they should just be silenced. And we've normalized that to a degree where it's very hard to undo that thinking. We've also normalized suffering to the point that it's just brushed off as just being part of a woman. And I hear this from the time a girl is 12.

through the time she was 55 or 60. It's just this idea that every stage of the menstrual life cycle, there are just problems you have to deal with and it just sucks, but you just have to deal with it. And I just think that we're missing the bigger picture of what's happening in our health in such a major way. And so instead of shutting down all those symptoms at any age, really, because it's happening at every age now, with the pill or just muscling through.

Nicole (19:58.875)
Obviously, I want women to understand that your cycle is just a barometer of your overall health. It's what of what's going on with you. And when we look at what's driving that, then things can change drastically. Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (20:11.098)
Yeah, it's like a marker of health, isn't it? I've heard a lot of menstruality coaches talk about your period being a marker of health and it would be lovely if that would filter into mainstream medicine, know. Goodness knows if that can happen. Yeah, okay, we do, we remain hopeful. So can you paint a picture of what a healthy period truly looks like?

Nicole (20:14.376)
Yeah.

Nicole (20:24.135)
No.

I know. Yeah, it's, we're hopeful. We remain hopeful.

Nicole (20:38.858)
Yeah, for sure. And I just want to acknowledge that if anyone's listening who's in perimenopause and menopause, I particularly perimenopause, I understand that this changes dramatically. I'm 45, so I really get it. It's been quite shocking for me, actually. I just didn't realize how drastic it would be. And maybe I just didn't even know what to expect. Although I've read a lot of what to expect. But I think when it's your own body, it's always quite surprising. So when we're talking about

what a truly healthy period looks like, think that we all have our own unique period traits, but generally speaking, and this isn't to make anyone feel bad if they don't meet this criteria, but one of the first things is how long your period should be, because I think what happens is we tend to normalize very short periods and very long periods as just being, again, part of something you might have to deal with.

What I love to see is a period somewhere between three and seven days max. Honestly, three to five days or four to five days is the ideal. And when we're talking about the actual period, we're talking about actual flowing blood versus spotting. If you have more than two days of spotting on either side, like before or after your period, that could indicate something's going on too. So when I'm talking about your period, I'm talking about actual blood flow where you need period protection.

And then the other thing that I think is important to acknowledge as well is what color your period blood is. And so oftentimes I'll hear from women that it looks like crushed up blueberries or it just looks like raspberry jam or whatever. so that to me is a sign that something might be up. So what you're looking for is blood that flows like maple syrup. I say maple syrup, but I know a lot of people in Europe are like, what?

What does maple syrup look like? So it's just not quite like water, not quite like, you know, what's, it's, what I'm thinking of the, the Tate Lyle syrup. I used to put this on pancakes growing up. So not quite treacle. Exactly. Not quite like that. Something between that and water. And so, yeah, you just want it to flow. Like if it's clotty or clumpy.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (22:48.292)
yeah. Tree call. Yeah.

Nicole (23:00.743)
or if it's just really thinned out and very light in color like pink, that might mean something's going on. So we're looking for a balance. And it's very much a Goldilocks thing when it comes to your period. I think the other thing is too is like, so the texture of the color, really looking for that bright red, not necessarily bright red, but just like a rich red color versus very, very dark, like brown or black versus very light, like light pink or just like watermelon juice almost.

Um, so that's, that's something you really want to be paying attention to as well. I think the other thing of course is pain. And again, this idea that when you have pain associated with your uterus, it's okay. It's normal. It's dismissed, which is so insane to me because pain in any other part of your body is usually, I mean, sometimes it's dismissed, but usually it's taken more seriously. It's just, it doesn't make any sense when you think about it, that this one body part is somehow

Info@sallygarozzo.com (23:30.587)
Yeah.

Nicole (23:58.921)
You know just prone to pain and it's just meant to be that way but everything else when there's pain It means something is wrong. There might be pathology So that's the other things I always say to women if you have to use more than to ibuprofen or You know to whatever painkiller that you use in the country or place you live in That's a sign that and this is for your whole period by the way So not just like the day of your period and then the next day you get two more I'd say like if you have to use two

or more than two painkillers in an entire period, that tells me that something is probably up and it warrants further investigation. And then, you we come to the mood symptoms as well. And I think that that's a really big one too. Obviously, this has become what we're seeing now in this work is much more prevalent is the symptoms that women are experiencing associated with their emotional and mental health. And

it just seems like it's on steroids right now. So many women are struggling with their premenstrual phase and with ovulation. So that's something too, just to be paying attention to what your symptoms are like. Yes, obviously our bodies change. There's no doubt about that. There's massive hormonal fluctuation happening and underpinning all of that is what's going on in your life as well. What's going on with your diet and your stress and things like that. But ultimately,

you should just not be going off the rails. Like you do not want to be getting a divorce every month. These are kind of, right? Because I have women tell me this, I just want to divorce my husband every single month. And I'm like, all right, girl, we're going to work on that because that's, you just should not be feeling that way. Generally speaking, I think that we should feel pretty calm. Of course, there are days where we're like, whatever, I'm so over it. I get that. But it should not be so magnified that

Info@sallygarozzo.com (25:29.511)
Hahaha!

Info@sallygarozzo.com (25:38.47)
Yeah.

Nicole (25:54.395)
it disrupts your entire life. And I think that that's what is becoming more more prevalent. So those are some of the things that I think of when thinking about a regular period. I feel like I could go into more things, but I'll stop there. Yes.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (26:05.498)
Yeah, we'll get there. We'll get there. So what do you think are some of the root causes behind some of these irregularities, the PMS, the mood swings, the length of time the period is, the colour? What are some that you've seen in your practice?

Nicole (26:29.852)
Yeah, this is such a great question. It's really where I like to flip the script. Because, again, we've we're told a lot of the time, right, that all of these problems are random or, you know, they're just bad luck. This is your lot in life. You this is the genetic lottery that you happen to win. And I think that the truth is, is that there are always these underlying drivers, right? These root causes that we can identify and work on. And I would say, you know, one of the biggest ones I see is blood sugar imbalance. I mean, we're now

seeing all this research coming out, at least in the US, and I imagine in the UK, the profiles are very similar, and in a lot of other developed countries where very few people are metabolically sound, meaning that they have either chronic blood sugar imbalances, or they're insulin resistant, or they're in pre-diabetes, or they have diabetes, or even metabolic syndrome. So almost...

90 percent. I think it's like only 12 percent of Americans are metabolically sound. That is a massive insane number. And so when you think about blood sugar imbalances, we're often told, well, you don't have to worry about that if you don't have diabetes. And so I just feel like that is my biggest beef with modern medicine is that there is just such a lack of preventative thinking. And so when we think of blood sugar, we have to think of it like the foundation of our hormonal

house. And you know, when it's on this roller coaster with the spikes and crashes and the cravings, it sends these stress signals throughout the body. And what it does also is, you know, this elevated insulin, or this insulin resistance, creates this inflammatory environment in the body. And, you know, it causes inflammation everywhere in our blood vessels, literally, and we have like 60,000 miles of blood vessels in our body. It's absolutely insane. And so when you think about

inflammation in all these little tiny vessels in your body, what is that going to do to how you feel on an overall general basis? It's not great. We don't feel great. And one of the things that I always try to articulate for women is that your ovaries do not like this instability. They do not like this inflammation. Your ovaries are pretty delicate. And when you think about it, it makes sense because they are mitochondrial powerhouses. They've got so much mitochondria and

Nicole (28:53.002)
There's a reason for that, right? We make small humans from that. And so when you think about your ovaries in that way, you have to understand that they're very susceptible to inflammation, first of all. And secondly, they're going to want to protect from inflammation as much as possible. And so what tends to happen is when we're in that inflamed state, your ovaries sort of develop a protective cover in a way. And ovulation just doesn't happen as consistently.

or as healthily as it could happen. And so because they just, and this is because they just don't like that instability. And so that chronic elevated blood sugar and insulin or insulin resistance can really disrupt ovulation. It'll drive up your androgens and it'll reduce the quality of your follicles. So you just don't have as good quality ovulation, which means you just don't produce as much progesterone. And so this is to me, one of the biggest issues that I see when

We're talking about like a root cause. I can go on, but I'll stop there.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (29:55.991)
So progesterone is the calming hormone, isn't it? So if we're not getting enough progesterone because we're not ovulating properly, we're not getting the offset that we need to help us buffer stress.

Nicole (30:09.531)
Exactly, exactly. Estrogen also helps us buffer stress. And I think that's important to mention too, is that estrogen amplitude, meaning estrogen is building in that first half of your cycle and then it spikes right at, you know, ovulation. We have an LH surge and then ovulation occurs. And so if we don't have adequate estrogen as well, and again, because the ovary, you know, those little follicles are making estrogen. And so if they're impacted,

when it comes to progesterone, of course they're impacted prior to the progesterone production in their development. And if we are not, if that follicle isn't healthy enough to make that amount of estrogen that then talks to your brain, and then your brain comes back to your ovaries to send more FSH and LH to make sure that that ovulation actually occurs. So we're sort of running at this deficit where the follicle just never quite does what it needs to do because

because of the stressor, the environmental stress of the blood sugar, as well as the mental emotional stress that we experience too. So all of it is contributing to ovarian dysfunction. And we can see in the science, it's incredible actually, how stress like literally from your brain all the way down to your ovaries impacts your ovarian function and the hormonal interplay that happens between your brain and your ovaries because

Our brains are the epicenter, of course, and they are responsible for that whole stress axis, the HPA axis, and the HPO, which is the ovarian axis. So everything starts in your brain. Ovulation starts in your brain. So when your brain is hijacked by inflammation from the blood sugar or the external chronic stress, it's not going to bode well for your ovarian function, ultimately. Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (32:01.187)
Hmm, so interesting. also our perception. So I'm just thinking from a hypnotherapist and therapist point of view and a sort of mindset point of view as well. If our perception of life is somewhat altered because of childhood trauma, complex trauma, attachment wounds, things like that, I'm guessing because the brain is the epicenter, as you say, the sort of master computer.

for the rest of our body, you we might end up creating habits like over trying, just being that high pay personality or procrastination or perfectionism, things like that, that are going to likely affect our cycles as well. So it's not just, I mean, the whole world is just not set up for women, is it? Let's face it.

Nicole (32:55.22)
I know it isn't and I am just laughing because I am the poster child of this like all of my childhood stuff it's taken many years to undo that and you know and I feel like a lot of people can relate to that.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (33:03.696)
Yeah.

Nicole (33:07.241)
yes the type a the perfectionism all of it it's ridiculous and it's pretty exhausting and it's true what you said you know i i love this i feel like lara bryden talks about this and and if you follow any evolutionary biologists they talk about this evolutionary mismatch and and i really

I really resonate with that and I think a lot of people do because our modern world is not set up for this, whatever, know, for our biology or our biology is not set up for our modern world, whatever the hell is going on right now in the modern world. It is, it's really, I feel like it's really difficult to thrive and it feels like an uphill battle.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (33:34.81)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (33:46.151)
So I think something that we can do to take our power back is at least, you if we're working on our blood sugar, that can be such an enormous factor that can then help us feel like we've got a sense of control. And how would someone go about improving their insulin resistance or their blood sugar levels?

Nicole (33:53.192)
Yes.

Nicole (34:00.062)
Yeah.

Nicole (34:07.581)
I think there's so much you can do. And that's what is amazing about this. First of all, I will say our bodies are so resilient. And so take hope in that and that you will see pretty massive changes pretty quickly if you implement various things and just put some effort into it. What I have found is that, so for instance, coming back to my genetic profile,

I don't do well with caffeine at all. just does not. Yeah, right. Okay. So it's that bloody comp gene. anyway, I feel like it just does not do well. And it even says in that nutrition genome report that I should stay away from coffee and black tea and green tea. And I actually really love Earl Grey, but I just can't drink it. causes tremendous anxiety in my body. Like sometimes after like a really hearty breakfast, I might get away with it.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (34:38.65)
me neither. No.

Nicole (35:04.623)
But after a few days, I know. And so I think that this is what I want everyone to do, is to really tune into how you're feeling. Because oftentimes what we do is we disassociate from our needs and we outsource our health to someone else. And so we look at someone doing this or recommending that and we think, we'll just try that without taking our own biology into consideration. And you don't need to go do a genetic test. You just need to tune in.

to what's going on with your body. And so I, and I've used a CGM as well to, which is a continuous glucose monitor for anyone who doesn't know. And you put that on the back of your arm. And I've seen, it's unbelievable when I drink black tea, like my blood sugar goes crazy and it takes like a day to get back to normal. So again, that's just giving me more data, but you know, because you wake up with anxiety every morning or after you drink a cup of tea or coffee or whatever.

you're riddled with anxiety or you have the jitters or you just can't relax. And so I think that we have to be paying attention. So that's your very first step is to become a period detective or your own body detective and pay attention to how you feel after you do certain things. So that's step number one. And then I would say the next thing is caffeine. mean, coming back to caffeine, that can really drive your blood sugar up because remember caffeine is sort of an artificial stimulant.

So it's raising your cortisol and other stress hormones like epinephrine and norepinephrine, which again, those are the catecholamines, right? And if you don't clear those well, which you'll probably know if you have anxiety or you have a tendency towards any of the symptoms we were talking about earlier, then maybe you try it after you've had breakfast or after you've eaten a high protein meal to see how you feel.

So this to me is about experimentation and seeing what works for you. Maybe you're doing a half calf, half decaf, or you're switching from coffee to something else. But I think experimenting with small things like that is a great first step, making sure that you eat in the morning, because remember that, first of all, I'll say cortisol raises blood sugar, because historically, what happened to us is when we had a stressful experience,

Nicole (37:26.269)
basically your cortisol went up, right? So your brain is communicating with your adrenals, telling them to produce cortisol so you can basically run away. Cortisol is one of its mechanisms is to raise blood sugar to feed your muscles, to help you run away from this stressful thing. So we have to think about that too. Like what in your life is causing you stress that's gonna drive up your blood sugar. But other things are, yeah, eating a high protein breakfast.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (37:41.317)
Yeah.

Nicole (37:52.443)
eating protein with all of your meals so that you can balance out the carbohydrates that are in your meal, having fat with your meals as well. I also think too, you know, walking after your meals, like these are all really basic things. And I think that the basic things aren't very fun and sexy. We all want, we all want a supplement. And I get it. I get it. I feel like I also have a supplement graveyard in my, you know, in my kitchen. So we've all been there.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (38:08.252)
Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (38:18.235)
you

Nicole (38:19.651)
And they help, no doubt about it. I mean, things like berberine, inositol, magnesium, all of these can really be helpful. But I feel like unless we are addressing the foundational components, we're just going to chase these, you know, we're going to chase all of these different potential solutions forever. And we're going to try this thing and that thing. And it's just going to feel like bright, shiny object syndrome. And we're never going to feel like we've actually addressed the problem. So

Info@sallygarozzo.com (38:46.404)
Yeah.

Nicole (38:47.219)
That's what I come back to a lot is those foundational pieces.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (38:50.522)
Yeah, and what I often think of when we're these types of conversations is behavior change, actually addressing the behavior and the block and why someone might be stuck, why someone can't do the exercise or can't give up the sugar. mean, sugar is a tough one to give up, to be honest. How do you feel about GLP-1s?

Nicole (39:09.051)
Ugh, that's so hard.

So funny you just said that, cause I was just thinking about it. I have, I have definitely, no, no, not at all. I've definitely experimented and I am using, I'm working with someone with, for hormone replacement therapy right now. And one of her specialties is, is peptides. So I'm using, I'm using a peptide called thymusin alpha, and that's a, anti-inflammatory type peptide. And so I'm using that just to see, cause I, my mom has rheumatoid arthritis. I tend to have,

Info@sallygarozzo.com (39:17.412)
Not that I'm psychic or anything.

Nicole (39:43.945)
You know again the genetic thing I feel like is it's a small part, but a big part and so I tend towards having these inflammatory Issues so I'm trying that and then also I have used like a micro dose of semiglutide because what I found in my mid 40s was that it didn't matter what I was doing that like weight just kept on creeping on and and I think that this is

feels like a universal truth for pretty much everyone who's in perimenopause or in this 40s decade. And so that's what I'm doing right now. And I have found that to be miraculous. And again, from an inflammation standpoint has been really helpful to me. But I'm always careful to talk about this because I know it's so controversial and people have a lot of opinions and feelings about it, but it has.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (40:10.768)
Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (40:20.442)
Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (40:27.066)
Yeah, of course.

Nicole (40:34.058)
calmed down the food noise tremendously. And I've had this conversation with so many other women's health practitioners who are in this decade as well, saying that I just can't work out as hard as I used to. that, know, was listening to Stacey Sims on a podcast the other day talking about the why behind that and the fact that our muscle fibers just don't work the same. This is all so fascinating to me. And so when you think about the fact that you can't work out as hard, you don't have the stamina that you used to have.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (40:57.478)
Yeah.

Nicole (41:03.721)
You're losing your estradiol, which makes you more insulin sensitive by the way. So anyone who is in an is an estrogen deficiency You're gonna become more insulin insulin Resistant and so that's a huge issue as well. So you're kind of battling multiple things at once So for me that that microdose has been a game changer Yeah yes

Info@sallygarozzo.com (41:15.995)
Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (41:24.612)
Yeah, yeah, I'm on it. I'm on it. I'm on We Go V. I've been on it for just over three months now. And I, I'm the kind of person who I like to experiment. I don't like to make a judgment until I've tried it myself. Otherwise I've got no idea. Right. So I'm like, yeah, I'll try it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly.

Nicole (41:34.226)
And how is it?

Nicole (41:44.755)
Same. We're soul sisters. Yes, I love that. Yes, exactly. But keep going. I'm curious how it's going. Has it helped you?

Info@sallygarozzo.com (41:54.521)
It's really helped. So I've lost just over a stone, which has been really lovely. It's calmed down the food noise. I still have to employ behavior change strategies. So for example, I'm in a different environment now. So the tendency is to, you know, want to explore, try new things, eat sugary foods because it's all new and exciting. And I have done, but I'm like, right, okay, got to stop now. So again, the behavior, the mindset.

Nicole (41:59.283)
Amazing. Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (42:24.134)
Stuff is coming in but something really really interesting that I noticed is when I first went on it and first started losing the weight I was very emotional Because we hide behind weight weight from a metaphysical point of view is a barrier is protection and of course when you're losing it you can feel vulnerable you could you know you and you go through a grieving process As well because you're letting go and that's what happened to me

So it was so interesting and my energy levels have changed. I don't know if it's because of the semaglutide or the age. I'm hitting 50 this year, but I just cannot work out. I mean, the will is there, like the determination is there, but the actual physicality is just not there. And I think it's partly because it's summer. I've really high histamine in the summer, which is probably, you know, all linked to that comp gene as well.

Nicole (43:09.245)
Yes.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (43:23.418)
And it could be linked to, you know, feeling emotional, the semaglutide as well, and getting the right dose. So I'm not on a tiny dose. I've gone up three doses and I'm going to stay on this dose for another two, another two months and then see where I'm at after that. But yeah, it has been fascinating, I have to say. And I'm not anti, I'm not anti anything really.

Nicole (43:36.946)
Okay.

Nicole (43:48.393)
I bet. Yeah.

Me neither, I agree. I feel like, you you find something that works for you, go for it, girl. Like this is the thing that I really struggle with in the women's health space now, particularly is this unbelievable polarization and we're living in alternate universes, some of us, I think. And it's really difficult because everyone has such strong opinions, everyone's an expert. And I just keep.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (43:53.092)
So yeah.

Nicole (44:17.801)
checking in with my clients and with the women in my community and saying, do what feels right for you, do what makes sense for you, for your body. You know you. And just, you know.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (44:23.898)
Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (44:27.398)
Yeah, it's that innate wisdom, isn't it, that we all have. And just talking about side effects, yeah, I did feel quite nausea. I did get quite a bit of nausea on the semaglutite at first, ending when I went up to that final dose. And that's I thought I'm gonna stop here. So yeah, you do have to listen to your body and going back to what you said, I think we've lost our ability to connect with our bodies.

Nicole (44:31.292)
Yes.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (44:57.168)
You know, we need to redevelop that intuition, that connection with our emotions, with the way that we feel. And it requires slowing right down, you know?

Nicole (45:10.333)
Really? It really does. And holy cow, that is hard. It is so difficult in your 40s because there's also, I'm sure, you know, Adele talked about this on the podcast episode, the amount of women being diagnosed with ADHD and, you know, and all of these, these little variants that are happening. And I have never been any ADHD in my whole life until I'm in 40s. I'm like, what is happening right now?

Info@sallygarozzo.com (45:14.565)
Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (45:25.851)
Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (45:36.912)
Yeah.

Nicole (45:37.191)
And so that loss of your hormones is really, I mean, profound in so many ways. yeah, you said about the emotion coming up with the weight loss as well. Of course, so much is stored in your cells. I know. I mean, I remember I used to go to this chiropractor and he's like, you need to feel it to heal it, Nicole. You need to feel it to heal it. And I just think that we're all very disassociated with our bodies. And then also just the weird feelings that come up.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (45:50.534)
Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (46:01.479)
Yeah.

Nicole (46:05.769)
I mean, they have for me, I imagine this has been an experience for others too. I'm gonna have to start asking about losing that ovulation, losing this rhythm that you've had for so many decades and now that's going away. I mean, just the shock of not really seeing cervical fluid changes anymore, not really being able to predict ovulation or predict when your period is coming. I think I'm on day, I don't even know.

right now, day 40 something. And it's so annoying because I planned my business around this. I planned launches around this and my life and it's all just shifted so dramatically. And I'm using, you know, the mirror monitor and various other things to try and figure this out. But it is, it is quite the shock to the system for anyone who feels that they were able to predict things before. now, now it shifted so much that they don't feel like they're in control anymore.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (46:40.379)
Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (46:49.284)
Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (46:56.292)
Yeah, it's a kind of clock that you lose. Imagine not being able to tell the time anymore. Yeah.

Nicole (47:00.829)
Yes.

Nicole (47:05.571)
Right? Yes, exactly. That's so true. It's exactly how it feels. And then there's this grief too. I don't know if you've felt that. Like there's a grief around again, like I didn't have children very much by choice, but I feel as though there is a strange feeling of, okay, well the train has left the station now officially. And so this is not happening in this lifetime. Even though I feel like I made a pretty conscious choice about it, but I do think that there's something there too of losing that.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (47:09.198)
and it's perturbing.

Nicole (47:35.587)
aspect of ourselves that is so inherently tied to being a woman. So there's that too.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (47:39.61)
Yeah, definitely. It's like losing the choice to have children. I was the same, a bit, kind of one foot in, one foot out. Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn't. And obviously that indecision didn't bode well.

Nicole (47:44.189)
Mm-hmm.

Nicole (47:52.905)
It's a decision. I know that feeling so well. I know I was like, okay, my indecision has made the decision for me. That's good. But yes, I know. I feel like

Info@sallygarozzo.com (48:02.726)
There you go. There you go. Yeah, yeah. So where can we go from here? I would like to actually just ask you the question, how does the foundation that we set in our 20s and 30s really affect our experience of how we might experience our menopause?

Nicole (48:26.537)
Oh, this is such a good one and also so complicated because I think when we've all experienced being in our 20s, we feel invincible and we feel like 40 is so old. I mean, I'm never gonna get there. I distinctly remember thinking that about my mom and her friends and now I look back and kind of laugh. But I just, think that you're so resilient in your 20s. I mean, not all of us. I didn't feel so great.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (48:36.262)
Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (48:44.656)
Yeah, me too.

Nicole (48:56.166)
But then I did after I got things under control, but you're so resilient in your twenties and you bounce back. can party your ass off all night long until three in the morning, wake up at 7 a.m. and get to your job by 8 a.m. and you're good to go. I think as we know, right, in our forties and fifties, you basically die if you did that. And so I think that that unfortunately makes us or gives us the illusion that

All that we're doing is not impacting us. so I encourage women in their 20s and then especially in their 30s, because you really do start to see a shift in your 30s. And I noticed that. And I remember hearing that from a lot of clients over the years that, yes, you can still go out until three in the morning because I don't want to deprive anyone of that experience by any means. But you have to counteract everything that you're doing, or at least try to.

And that I think can be challenging because we don't have a lot of money in our 20s. And we're just not well resourced in that way. Although I think that that is shifting dramatically because women have access to all kinds of information now. But I would say that, yes, mitigate the effects of your crazy 20s lifestyle as best you can. Really focus on those foundations if you can. Like getting those meals in, not letting your blood sugar go crazy.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (50:13.798)
Yeah.

Nicole (50:21.257)
Try your best to mitigate the effects of the stress in your life. If you can afford it and you're resourced enough, get help for whatever childhood trauma you went through because trust me, it does not resolve, it just gets worse. Ask me how I know. so really think about how you can take care of yourself and really pay attention to your period. Track your cycle like your life depends on it because your life and fertility kind of do. And so I think that there's just this

this idea in our society that you can just freeze your eggs and that's your insurance policy. And that to me feels like a bit of a myth. this is not me knocking anyone who's done this because obviously I understand why anyone would, but the way to preserve your fertility is to really focus on these things. Know when you're ovulating, know how long your follicular phase, your luteal phase is. Know how long your whole menstrual cycle is. What's going on with your...

actual period, what's going on with your moods, what's going on with your physical pain, all of these kinds of things. Like how long are each of your cycles? Do you have a lot of variation in your cycles? All of this can tell you the health of your ovaries. And like I said, your ovaries are super sensitive to inflammation and other problems. So they'll be telling you, they'll always be talking to you.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (51:36.592)
Yeah, yeah, that's so powerful. Yeah, and it's so important to start young if you can. That's the first best time to start, but the second best time to start is now. If you're listening to this, yeah, yeah, I love that.

Nicole (51:49.193)
True, very true. Yeah, I know I used to think about that a lot when I started tracking my cycle in my 20s using a wall calendar, because that's what we had. And right, I know, and I remember my goddaughter, she got her period at 12 and she started tracking her cycle right away and I just thought, what I would do for that data, it's so cool. So yes, definitely as early as you can.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (51:59.482)
Yeah, me too.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (52:13.658)
Yeah, especially with apps now.

Nicole (52:15.965)
Yeah, it really, really helps. know we have a lot of tools at our disposal that literally did not even exist seven years ago. So it's really a remarkable time, I think, to be a woman and be taking care of your health in this way.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (52:25.349)
Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (52:29.392)
Yeah, take advantage of women's health technology, you know, for sure, to get a really good understanding of, you know, of all of it, your heart rate variability. That's another really good marker of health, isn't it? Your heart rate variability, yeah.

Nicole (52:34.142)
Yes.

Nicole (52:43.909)
It is. It is. I know it is. I know every time I've had a rough week, my aura ring tells me I need to get my shit together. So yes. For sure.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (52:56.198)
Yeah, put some things in place just to, you know, some space, some calm, some chill out time, some vegetables, some herbal teas.

Nicole (53:04.295)
some vegetables. I know, right? Just eat a vegetable girls. Yeah, I know. It's true. And some herbal tea. I know. I know. I again, like if you the more you tune in, the more empowered you're going to be. It's it's really life changing. And and I think for both of us, we can reflect back and see how much that helped us. I wasn't doing all the things I was doing in my mid 20s onwards. I can't even imagine what would be going on with my cycle right now. I think it would be disastrous.

And I see that, we see that, we see so many women and you ask them, well, what has it been like for the last 10 years? And most of them break down crying because it's been a lot. again, coming back to the evolutionary mismatch, we've got to put up a fight ladies against that.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (53:34.159)
Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (53:49.969)
We've got to rectify it. We've got to rectify it. Yeah, that evolutionary mismatch. Yeah. And it's unfortunate that it falls on us, isn't it? Because we're exhausted anyway, and now we've got to fight. But I think it's that righteous anger that Adele talks about. I mean, she's so fueled by that. And I think we all are, really. I mean, sometimes I'm just totally exhausted to even fight. But when I do have a little bit of energy, I'm like, right, no, come on. Let's do this, because we've got to change it. We've got to change how things.

Nicole (54:13.321)
same.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (54:20.198)
operate obviously on a societal level. We don't have to conquer the world as long as you're conquering your own little corner for you and you're doing what you need to do for you to take your power back then I think that's good enough. We don't have to go in guns blazing if we don't have the energy. Maybe post-menopause we might do. Amen, yeah, but perimenopause, yeah.

Nicole (54:31.485)
Mm-hmm.

Nicole (54:45.191)
I know, amen. Yes, I love that.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (54:49.862)
So look, if people have been really inspired by you and I hope they have, how can they work with you? What sort of offerings do you have? How can people get involved in your community? I guess you've got a book which people can buy, but yeah, tell us.

Nicole (55:05.161)
Yeah, my book is actually sold really well in the UK. So thank you all for that. Yes, it's called Fix Your Period. I think that it's now that I'm in my mid-40s, I feel like it is applicable across the board, much more so actually in your 40s, because that blood sugar, my goodness, and the stress resilience as well is huge. But so is your gut health, any kind of gut dysbiosis, problems with that, it's going to impact you even more.

So I'd say all of those foundational pieces within the book are really applicable regardless of your age. And then I'm also on Instagram. I feel like I share a ton of information on there pretty much every day about all kinds of things, whether it's cycle related at any stage of the menstrual life cycle, as well as all kinds of new research and fascinating things that I come across. Also some contentious things because I can't help myself.

It's just what it is. And then I have the Fix Your Period Collective. And so that is a membership platform where basically it's my book Come to Life. And we also have a ton of different protocols for a wide variety of problems. Like I've been talking about whether it's heavy periods or painful periods and the list goes on. I have recipes in there. I do live calls in there. Depending on the level of membership, you can do private calls with me.

So there's lots of options to get the help that you're looking for.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (56:26.662)
That's amazing and I will put all of your links in the show notes as well so that people can go and find you, can explore. Your Instagram account is amazing by the way, so start there. It's really good, I love it.

Nicole (56:36.809)
Thanks Sally. Yep, it's a good spot. I know. Thank you for saying that. We put a lot of effort into that thing. Yes. Yes, true. Very true. I know. It's a lot.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (56:43.898)
Yeah, don't we all, yeah? Yeah. You've done well though. You've done well. You've got a lot of followers. So obviously it's like what you're saying is really resonating with people. Yeah. We need people like you who have got this expertise, this rich level of inspiration and experience. and you know, the way that you put things across is so good as well. So thank you so much.

Nicole (56:55.569)
I hope. One can only hope.

Nicole (57:13.373)
Thank you so much for saying that. That's so kind. I really appreciate it. I'm so glad you invited me on the podcast. Thank you, Sally.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (57:13.541)
Yeah.

Info@sallygarozzo.com (57:19.268)
You're very, very welcome. Take care.

Nicole (57:22.013)
All right, you too. Thank you.