Understanding low progesterone

Understanding low progesterone.

Progesterone is the most important hormone in the female body and also not understood by most women. Hopefully this post will help fix that!

Progesterone is one of the female sex hormones, which gets released after ovulation and only if you ovulate. If you don’t ovulate, you will not make progesterone! Women can ovulate and make progesterone but not make enough depending on their personal situation (we will look more at what can interrupt progesterone levels below). I like to explain progesterone to my clients and followers as our most important hormone. It is our sanity and vitality hormone. The hormone that encourages fertility, youthfulness, calmness, motivation, fulfillment and libido (wink wink). Progesterone is involved in so many aspects of being your most healthy and optimal self, yet many women I speak to are unaware of the importance of this essential hormone.

Read more here…

Histamine, migraine and PMS

So what about histamine and MIGRAINE? Specifically migraine that many women experience with PMS or before out menses?

Histamine symptoms are actually more common in women because of our hormones,  and often track with the menstrual cycle, occurring when estrogen is high at ovulation and then again just before the period AKA PMS.

• Estrogen stimulates mast cells to release histamine and down-regulates the DAO enzyme that clears histamine. While, histamine stimulates the ovaries to make more estrogen. The net result can be a vicious cycle of estrogen → histamine → estrogen → histamine.
• Progesterone stabilizes mast cells, up-regulates DAO, and can therefore reduce histamine… but most women have issues with low progesterone due to chronic stress. So of course are not metabolizing and detoxifying histamine efficiently.
• It is proposed that symptoms of estrogen dominance are actually symptoms of high estrogen.

Several symptoms on the symptoms list here are typical symptoms of PMS which makes sense because histamine rises and falls with estrogen. Histamine is highest just before ovulation and then again during the days before the period. Histamine can also cause period pain because of its inflammatory effect.

Read the full article here.

Tricks and tips for a better nights sleep!

Its important to also note;

Getting direct sunlight early in the day (or blue light spectrum), especially after waking is an important player in the circadian rhythms, hormones and sleep. Blood sugars can greatly influence sleep, you should work on balancing them. Some studies also show that grounding can help with sleep and insomnia. Reference. 

Exercise has also been shown to greatly improve sleep quality, deep and Rem. Reference. 

Avoid substance that can effect sleep negatively like;

• Caffeine
• Theobromine and theophylline (cacao and kola nut)
• Alcohol
• Excess sugar
• Tyramine containing foods (bacon, cheese, eggplant, potato, tomato, spinach, sausage).

I hope you found this helpful and please reach out if you have any questions! And will maybe try these before resorting to medications. Good luck on your sleep quest! xo

Bitters and the bitter principle for gut health and bile support.

𝑩𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 are a tool that can be used to improve gut health, bile and other organ support via the vagus nerve and stimulation of digestive acids, enzymes, bile salts and more. But what are bitters?

Medical definition of bitter principle: any of various neutral substances of strong bitter taste extracted from plants.

Bitters a are varied group of plant constituents or molecules with a pronounced bitter taste – these are the active ingredients of the plant. Bitter herbs are often hepatics & cholagogues (more on this in our biohacking Facebook group), and must be ‘tasted’ to produce these effects.

The bitter principles; The bitter principles work by stimulating the bitter receptors of the tongue and increasing saliva secretion. Thus, it is always advisable to taste and chew the herbs. Sorry your ACV pills and gummies are no good!😉

The taste or sensation of bitterness is directed primarily by the vagus nerve to the central nervous system, leading to various physiological effects – bitter tastes stimulate the vagus nerve in your tongue (although this nerve originates in your brain), which in turn signals the digestive system to start getting ready for digestion with the production of stomach acid, bile acids, digestive enzymes and peristalsis if needed. This vagal stimulation also tells the body (and mind) to rest and digest – relax and slow down. 🙏

Benefits of bitters;
– General stimulation of the flow of digestive juices (acid, mucus, enzymes & bile) from the pancreas, duodenum and liver. Aiding digestion and detoxification.
– Stimulate appetite
– Stimulate peristalsis
– Aid the liver in detoxification
– Regulatory effect upon secretion by the pancreas of the hormones that regulate blood sugar (insulin & glucagon)
– Help the gut wall repair damage by stimulating self-repair mechanisms
– Establish parasympathetic dominance, putting you in that rest and digest state
– Anti microbial
– Ant inflammatory

Some herbal examples include:
– Wormwood
– Gentian
– Yarrow
– Goldenseal
– Chamomile
– Dandelion
– Marigold
– Peppermint

Some other herbs/substances that may be considered ‘bitter’ are;
– Apple cider vinegar
– Lemon and Lime juice
– Chasteberry
– Berberine
– Yerba mate
– Bitter melon
– Cacao
– Coffee
– Green tea
– Bitter or sour berries like cranberries and raspberries.

The more bitter, sour, tart, or astringent a food, the better!

In my practice, it is very noticeable that those that have a palate more geared towards bitter food have healthier guts, better detoxification action, better success with fat loss and better long term success. 🙂

Cholagogues and choleretics, for gallbladder, bile, liver, cholesterol and digestive support.

What are cholagogues and choleretics?
🍃 A cholagogue is a substance (herb or other) that promotes the flow of bile from the gall bladder into the duodenum (the first part of the small intestine) and the liver.
🍃 A choleretic is a substance (herb or other) that stimulates the increased production of bile by the liver. Not the gallbladder but the liver… So if you’re having issues with your gallbladder, you can still promote bile production from the liver. 👍🏻

We know bile is ESSENTIAL for digestion, having healthy bowel movements, emulsifying fats in the diet, detoxifying estrogen, killing bad bacteria, and other pathogens that cause infection. And for clearing out cholesterol and fatty liver.

So here are some examples of cholagogues;
1) Gentian
2) Yellow dock
3) Oregon grape
4) Burdock
5) Aloe Vera
6) Wild yam
7) Black root
8) Globe artichoke

And some examples of choleretics;
1) Barberry
2) Dandelion
3) Yerba mate
4) Mulberry leaf
5) Shizsandra
6) Goldenseal
7) Turmeric
8) Milk thistle

But honestly all off these above herbs will have both cholagogue and choleretic activity. Choleretics and cholagogues are best taken before meals (about 30 minutes prior, but can be taken just before eating). I generally like these in tea or tincture form but they can be take in tablet form too. 

Please speak with your health practitioner for continued use of these substances. 🙂

What your nails can tell you.

I am always saying to my clients that if they stop and listen to their body, it will tell them what it likes and wants. I try to do this myself a lot too, but sometimes life gets so noisy that its hard you know. But recently I saw a white patch under the nail on my index finger and thought “oh I should do something teaching about “what our nails can tell us”… So here we are.

When we pay attention to all this little signals and signs our body gives us, they can direct us towards nutritional deficiencies, underlying health issues and things like that. This is especially important in our current time/environment, where many of us are learning to be our own doctor and are taking more responsibility for our own health.

So today I wanted to give you an over view about nail signs and what they can be telling you about your body, and what may be going on. It’s really very interesting the way the body wants to tell us what’s going on through signs on our nails, tongue, hair, skin and even through our eyes (which is one of the reasons I got certified as an Iridologist or as someone who studies the Iris). Our body wants to survive – it wants to be strong and healthy, that’s why we continually build new cells and get rid of old damaged ones. And as always I am here to show you, and teach you, and encourage you on how to listen and support your amazing body. Don’t give up, don’t lose hope – there is always a way and your body is stronger than you think.

So there are many different natural practices you can us to support you on your healing journey. For some people one works better than another, and that’s ok because we are so bio-individual that its natural to take time, do some trial and error, and see what works for your body. So that all can take some time, but if we actually listen and pay attention to our body, we can move things on a bit faster and narrow things down a lot better.

One of the ways we can do this is by paying attention to our nails. Every chipped, brittle, indented and blackened nail has something to tell us. So healthy nails grow on average of 1 mm per week. This can be useful for seeing where a sign is on our nail and determining how long ago our body was having the issue that caused it. So if we were to calculate how many millimetres say a white spot is from the base of our nail, it will give us an idea of how many weeks ago that spot was relevant or when the issue started.

For the general population, nail health is most often an indicator of poor nutritional intake or poor digestion. Most nail issues usually don’t indicate a serious underlying illness. So lets look at some of those signs or symptoms that we can see in our nails.

The most common I think, and what spurred this conversation is the white spot or white patch we can see on our nails. These usually indicate a zinc deficiency or calcium excess, or you could have hurt your finger. So zinc is a very solid or defined white spot, you can also see a scattering of spots or several spots that relate back to zinc. And then if its more of a vague shape or blotch of a spot, we generally see that’s connected to calcium. If its a calcium excess or you hurt your finger, you will see the white spot grow out with your nail. Whereas, a zinc spot can appear and disappear. Mine was calcium excess for anyone who’s curious.

Now if we see the white spot was say 3 mm away from the base we can think back a see – well 3 weeks ago social isolation and home schooling started so my nutrition was terrible, and mostly just sugar and void of real nutrition. Then we can correlate and connect the dots. You can see how this can be helpful.

Next would be furrowing, ridges or groves in the nail that run horizontally. These lines are also know as “Beaus line” and can be just a natural occurrence with age, but in rare instances can signify something serious, so if you are concerned, be sure to speak to your doctor. So these  ridges indicate where the nail stopped growing due to something that has stressed the nail out. This could be illness, major stress (physical or emotional), a big lifestyle change or a big immune hit. Something like this that has thrown the body through a loop and stopped the nail from growing. Again you can do the calculations and figure out a time frame where your body was under this stress and what happened.

Next is also quiet common and that is brittle nails. This we can connect back to digestion and also the thyroid…a sluggish thyroid can contribute to brittle weak nails due to poor circulation and the inability to utilize nutrients properly. So what’s happening in your digestion that’s causing your body to not get enough nutrients and minerals to make strong healthy nails. So this might be an issue with low stomach acid, poor digestive enzymes, poor vagal nerve activity, gallbladder issues,  IBD (irritable bowel disease) or some sort of other gut issue. All of these will impact the break down and absorption of nutrients. Two nutrients that can be helpful here are calcium and silica. So some examples for calcium, we are looking at almonds, sesame seeds, bone broth, buckwheat and green veg. And for silica we look to oats, melons, cucumbers, artichokes, asparagus, dandelion, and again our green veg. But also constantly wetting and drying your nails/hands can attribute to brittle nails too. Something to be aware of. 🙂

Now when we see ridges that run from the base (where the nail comes out under the skin or cuticle) to the top, so vertical ridges…we are looking at low digestive enzymes. So again something that’s stopping the nail from getting nutrients properly from the gut. Vertical ridges generally appear later in life and as long as they aren’t accompanied by other symptoms such as changes in color, they are usually nothing to be concerned about. We would just go back and look at the gut and nutrition again. These can also be connected to poor circulation and oxygenation into the nail bed – so anemia here and carpel tunnel could be present.

If your nail ‘spoons’ or becomes concave, we can usually connect this to an iron deficiency. You can also compare this to your energy levels, how well wound heel and also your menstruation. Looking to food first to address the issue before supplements is wise, and then remember that iron is best absorbed in the presence of vitamin C.

Then the clubbing or the raised nail, something that looks like a Geckos foot. Where the nail is elevated, round and popping out, this can again show us poor circulation and oxygen to the nail cells. So this could be respiratory conditions, how well oxygen is being carried in the blood and being used in the cells. Here we can use magnesium to support cellular health, mineral water is great and also make sure we are moving a lot daily, especially outdoors and in the sunshine.

And other sign will be beaking or curving of the nail. This is where the fingernail curls over the top like a birds beak. This can show us a potassium deficiency. Also Hyperparathyroidism, Renal failure,  Psoriasis and Systemic sclerosis should be considered.

Next when we look at the color of the nail… A yellow nail may tell us that there is an infection present, or reaction to a product you are using on the hands and nails, or also that the nail has received some sort of trauma. This can go for blacked nails or black spots or ‘splinters’ under the nail too. If you have ever caught your finger in a door and got a blacked or bruised nail, then you know what I am talking about. This black appearance is a result of blood vessel inflammation under your nail and will disappear as the nail and finger heals. The splinter appearance can signify poor circulation and weaker blood vessels or blood vessel damage.

If we see opaque or frosted or ‘pale’ yellow color nails, we may see liver dysfunction or the liver is having issues. Here we would bring in liver support like dandelion, milk thistle and even burdock root. For the kidneys we might see a red tip at the cuticle. This is where the capillaries in the body might be struggling, and you might see a pale ring under the nail/on the skin at the top of the nail.

Lots of pinholes or small indentations in the nail can be connected back to psoriasis and inflammation. Again we look back to the gut first here and of course if you have skin issues you will see an improvement in the nails if you take care of said skin issues. Ridges and lines can also be connected to psoriasis too.

When we look for those half moons or crescents by the cuticle of the nail and there is none visible, this is generally connected to B12 deficiency. This can also be connected to poor circulation and blood flow. We can also check capillary return by pushing down on the nail. The nail bed should be nice and pink and then when you push down on the nail you push the blood away, this makes the nail bed go white and when you take your finger away the nail bed should instantly return pink. If it takes a while to come back, you will have poor capillary return, which means you may have low blood volume, poor circulation and poor blood flow out to the appendages.

If we see regular infections around the nail, like fungal infections, we look towards the gut and the immune system. In this case where there are reoccurring infections… as we look at the gut and immune system, we can also use some topical applications like colloidal silver, coconut oil, essential oils and where the issue is severe, you can use a topical anti fungal or antibiotic.

You can see a lot of these nail signs can be intertwined and be a symbol of many of the same issues or underlying concerns, but this just further reinforces the fact that the body is one system and should be treated and cared for as a ‘whole’.

As always, I hope you found this information helpful and please share with anyone you feel may benefit. Sharing is caring but it also helps this information reach the masses and empower people to be responsible for their own health.

Chemaine xo