Understanding what your hormones are doing is critical to understanding your health. To do that, you’ll need to take a hormone test. But there are many factors that can affect a hormone test that can lead to inaccurate results. Going to get your blood drawn is a disruption of your daily routine and, if you’re like many people, needles are going to be an added stressor. It also only gives you a snapshot of one moment out of the day. To truly understand what’s going on with your hormones though, you need a comprehensive test that you can take throughout the day with minimal disruption.

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Dr. Carrie Jones is the medical director of Precision Analytical, the creator of the DUTCH Test. She’s a naturopathic doctor with a master’s degree in public health who focuses on women’s health. Dr. Carrie is a driving force in the movement to understand complicated health issues of all sorts and their relation to hormones.

Today, Dr. Carrie and I talk about many important topics surrounding your hormonal health. The effects of stress, exercise, childbirth and so much more have profound effects. Knowledge is perhaps your most crucial tool. I feel that I have a better grasp of this topic after our conversation and I bet you will too!

Have you made changes to your lifestyle and health after a hormone test? Tell me about it in the comments!

In this episode:

• How your cortisol levels fluctuate throughout the day and what you can learn from observing it
• The ways in which adrenal and sex hormones affect your muscle tissue quality
• The potential negative consequences of running and overtraining
• Nutrients and vitamins you can take to help get your adrenals back in line
• Postpartum effects to your hormone balance and how you can best get back to your old rhythm
• How to monitor your hormone cycles to increase your odds of conceiving
• The connection between gluten and thyroid issues

Quotes:

“Cortisol is like the sun and melatonin is like the moon.” [5:58]

“If you’re already stressed out, you’re already in fight or flight. Your body already thinks the tiger is chasing you. And then what do you do? You go run, which is what your body thinks you’re doing already. So now you’re running because you’re life is stressful and busy and full, and then you literally go run for your exercise and it just pushes you to this breakdown state.”  [10:14]

“I’m not against thyroid medication. If you need thyroid medication, then you need it … Don’t feel guilty. You might totally need it.”  [36:43]

“The thing with gluten-free is, don’t think you’re going to starve, because you’re not. There is so much available that is gluten-free. And don’t automatically buy everything that is gluten-free if you didn’t use to eat it.” [42:38]

Links:

DUTCH Test

Follow Dr.Carrie Jones on Instagram

Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms? by  Dr. Datis Kharrazian