Eila: 0:10

You know, little by little, like breath work, stress management, nutrition, fundamentals, spirituality, and just little by little, like my symptoms started fading away. And I was kind of shocked, like it surprised me as well. I was like, okay, this is really working. And, you know, other women started to notice and they reached out for help. And that's when it hit me like we need this. Women need support, they need to know what to do, they need a road map, they need a path and I just I think it's just so inspiring just to know what's out there, what's possible for all of us.

Emily: 0:43

Hi everyone, welcome to the Web3 Thrive podcast. I'm your host, emily Rose Delara. This podcast was designed to give you the confidence, knowledge and clarity needed to succeed and lead in Web3. I teach proven strategies and tactics you can apply immediately to become confident and successful working in Web3. So take 20, plug in and learn how to really thrive in Web3. And if you like what you hear, leave me five stars and subscribe and Spotify or follow on Apple podcasts so you never miss an episode. You can also sign up to my newsletter to get exclusive content, tips and strategies to help you thrive at work without the burnout on formal, direct to your inbox each week. Plus, you'll get full access to exclusive leadership and coaching, q&as, free workshops and all the Web3 Thrive podcast episodes in one place. So just head over to learnweb3thrivecom forward slash newsletter.

Emily: 1:37

In today's episode I've invited a very special guest, isla Rain. Isla is a friend of mine. She I've been a client of Isla for the past four years. She is a functional and integrative nutritional practitioner who trained at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in the US, and she specializes in addressing the underlying causes of gut and hormone related symptoms. I went to Isla many years ago because I was stressed, I was burnt out, I was exhausted all the time, I couldn't eat anything, I was struggling to even digest the stuff that I loved, and I'd also just been diagnosed with a hormone imbalance and we go into that in the episode. And the reason I wanted to bring her on the show today is because Isla is really this guiding light for all women, right, she's helping them regain their well-being from the inside out, and that very much aligns with what I'm trying to do.

Emily: 2:37

She's got a very strong mission to support women all over the world and I really want to make sure that you, the listeners of Web3 Thrive who are most likely leaders or founders in Web3, working very stressful environments, building businesses for the first time, managing all of that.

Emily: 2:54

I want you to be able to bring you a different perspective. We often talk about mindset, we talk about boundaries, we talk about how to manage difficult personalities and stress at work, but on the opposite side of that, we've also got all the other well-being practices that you need to be doing to help you manage that stress on top of all the other work that you do right. And so Isla in this episode goes into why she even trained as a functional practitioner, what kind of women she helps, and she addresses the root causes and highlights some of the things to look out for if you might be struggling with hormonal imbalance, if you might be struggling with something like a thyroid issue or period issues, and maybe if you're struggling with intense burnout, what you could do to supplement that without completely changing and overhauling your life. So I'm so happy to welcome Isla to the show. Hi Isla, hi Emily, lovely to have you here.

Eila: 3:49

Thank you. I'm super excited to be here with you. We're going to talk about so many juicy topics. I think it's going to be really, really great.

Emily: 3:56

Me too, and for people who are always listening to this podcast, you'll be thinking Isla, I recognize this name. This is Isla, my health coach. I call you a health coach. I call you a functional practitioner. I think I've called you like my hormone person. You have many different titles, but do you want to explain to me what is your actual role, what do you do, what's your business and why are you here today?

Eila: 4:22

Yeah, absolutely. I think. I mean you have my bio, which I think you're going to share, but in a nutshell I would say that I'm on a mission to give women or people assigned female at birth. I want to be inclusive in this conversation but to give them a natural alternative if they don't want to or cannot take prescription drugs to manage their issues For example, women that don't want to take hormonal birth control to manage their periods, and they would rather understand why, the why behind their symptoms. Or for those that if they're taking an antidepressant, that's OK, but if you have chronic fatigue and burnout, maybe that's not the only solution for you. So I really I am a functional nutrition and integrative nutrition practitioner, so I'm trained to look deeper, to go deeper and find the root cause of what's going on so that we can heal that and so that women can feel in control of their bodies and their health and make informed decisions.

Emily: 5:27

So that's really, I think, in a nutshell, what I do and what my mission is, and you help so many women like me, especially women who are working in high pressure environments, where they're working 24 seven, where they are putting a ton of pressure on themselves to perform in a way that their bodies are not made to Right.

Eila: 5:50

Absolutely, I think, for high achieving women, for leaders, for really high functioning people. We have a lot of pressure that we're dealing with. We have the weight of our dreams and our goals on our shoulders every day, and that's exciting, but if we're not careful it can really just kind of take a toll on our health. So I think this conversation will be really relevant for your audience.

Emily: 6:18

Definitely and we met. We haven't actually met in real life, which is so weird because we've known each other for years now. How many years? Like nearly four years.

Eila: 6:27

I think four years. Yeah, we've been like I feel like you're. You know you've been a client, but so much more than a client. I feel like you're now a friend and a business bestie and like I just I think you're amazing and you're just, I feel like someone that's like a soul sister, like we'll just be always connected, always our souls are aligned in terms of that's how.

Emily: 6:47

I feel I haven't told you this yet, but I was listening to Sahara Roze the other day and she was talking about going to the carnival in Trinidad and Tobago and I was like you know what I mean? I should go to this that would be awesome yeah that would be amazing. And then I was thinking, wait, we haven't even met in real life, but I bet it's just like with sisters, the students we meet, yeah we would have a blast for sure, dancing and letting her hair down.

Eila: 7:14

Yeah, anyway, I digress.

Emily: 7:18

So we met because I think I reached out to you when I got diagnosed with Hashimoto's. Was that the first time? I was at the second time.

Eila: 7:28

I think that was the first time. Yeah, you initially reached out because of the autoimmune disease.

Emily: 7:33

Yeah, and then you helped me to understand how we're all Everything's connected to our gut, to our hormones, and how Hashimoto's is in fact connected to our hormones as well. And if we can just work on balancing that and healing our gut lining, then the Hashimoto's will get better. Right, that was our hypothesis and it worked.

Eila: 7:56

Yeah, absolutely. There's a root cause for autoimmune disease too, and it largely lies in our gut health. So a lot of these things, these experiences, these conditions that we're facing, if we look to the gut, that's like a great place to start, because a lot of the causes of what we're experiencing can be solved by healing the gut. So that's where we started with you and, yeah, it's been a great journey. I think things just keep getting better and better for you.

Emily: 8:24

Yeah, it really does. Like all these small little changes. Like today I just texted you and said I've just been to a test and they're like wow, what you had before is like God, like this is, what have you been doing? And I'm like working with Isla. Like this is all these small changes. And even I get like surprised at the progress that I've made. And when I speak to people, everyone says to me God, you're so healthy, right? And I'm like that's just the default, like that's how I want to live. I don't see it as being like it's not restrictive in any way, it's just like this is me looking after my body and trying to keep it in check.

Eila: 8:56

Yeah, you've learned, you've done a lot of work to understand your body and to really know what it's asking for, what it's communicating with you, and you know that's. It's almost like what it needs becomes second nature in terms of how to eat, how to live, and you kind of develop these habits, these routines that don't feel restrictive or hard. They just feel good and they support your energy and your focus. And it's been amazing watching you and your journey.

Emily: 9:23

I've loved it and, honestly, yeah, I don't think I'd be as productive, as energetic as even where I am in my career without your support. So I'm always very grateful and I don't think I'd have the rituals and routines that I have without you, like the trying to go to bed a bit earlier but doing the lemon water, doing the body brushing, reducing all kind of toxins out of my home, like everything is natural, yeah, like all these little, tiny, tiny things that are easy to add into your life just become normal, and that's what makes the difference, right.

Eila: 9:54

Absolutely, and you know we've been doing some deeper work, you know, since initially getting in touch with each other. And I mean, weren't here like antibody tests last time you checked in remission Like you're actually? You know it was just normal, which is crazy. It all adds up. You know, these things that you're doing for yourself, these rituals.

Emily: 10:17

Yeah, and we were in Vietnam when I had the diagnosis, which was always difficult, trying to find the ingredients and trying to clean the air and having everything that we could have access to. So I think we did a pretty good job back then, and now, moving to France, it's like life is macho.

Eila: 10:30

Yes, yeah, being an expat, I feel like, is an extra level of just a challenge, because not only are we navigating a new medical system, but we're trying to source ingredients and supplements that you know are sometimes difficult. So, yeah, good job, we did it.

Emily: 10:51

It is Well, yeah, exactly, and I just think, being in such a high stress environment, like when I met you, I think I was like working 24 seven and like half dead. You're like, well, I can, I can clearly see what's going on here. Maybe if you just change these few things to start with, and it's helped me put health and rest first, like we've had lots of conversations about, like rest is the most important thing you can do right now and hydrate. And it's very difficult as someone who is especially in web three. There's this tendency to move into the routines of other people who are working around you. So if you're surrounded by young, young entrepreneur types or young crypto people, they don't mind working 24 seven, right, and usually the men, these guys who are doing this and their bodies seem to be able to take it a bit more until it doesn't right, but they give us this feeling that we cannot take a break and that we can't work at our own speed. If we do take our foot off the gas, it feels like we're not doing enough, and that's something that people come to come to me a lot about, and if they take time off, they feel guilty. Like everybody else is working. I should be working at this speed. So it's very difficult for women, like in those kinds of situations.

Emily: 12:08

But yeah, for me, making that change was the shift that I needed to to put my health in the right direction. And I think the day that I got diagnosed with Hashimoto's on to, one said to me let's move to Da Nang, and we know how that went. But he was like we need to put health first, goes to be to island, we're going to move to the beach and we're going to get out of this polluted city. So when you get diagnosed with something that you feel, especially when the doctor tells you like this is, you can either take a medication for your entire life or you can heal this naturally. It's like, okay, well, I'm going to go down this healing. That is as hard as it is. I'm going to go and do it because otherwise I'm not going to be able to afford this nice house, I'm not going to be able to live this lovely life that I've got. I'm not, I'm going to be ill and sick. So that was a no brain, yeah absolutely it's.

Eila: 12:56

It's really motivating right when we think about what we gain when we focus on our health. It's not just, you know, hard, it's actually like a really empowering journey that gives, that provides so many gifts along the way in terms of energy and moves and feeling better, looking better and just living your day and knowing you know, understanding your body. It's just, it's so empowering we can feel in control again.

Emily: 13:22

I agree. So I would like to know because I don't I don't know if I've actually asked you this what made you want to move into this world and work on your own health and help other women work through their own hormone issues. I'm quite a ride.

Eila: 13:39

I feel like I'm like the poster child for health problems. I've literally had all the period and hormone issues got health issues, I've had chronic fatigue, I've had burnout and you know it just. I remember like being a teenager when my periods were a total nightmare. I'm talking about like the kind of cycles where I would want to just curl up in my bed clutching my stomach and reaching for like painkillers just to survive it, and like my flow was really heavy and I was using overnight pads in high school and it's just like always carrying a jacket with me in case of a leak, you know, to tie around my waist, like those mortifying leaks, especially at school. And just you know it was just always an issue for me from the very beginning and, believe it or not, like my mom went through the same struggles and because of this, I was able to just assume that maybe it was a genetic thing or it had to be like my normal and I didn't really question it. I just like learned how to deal with it, basically, and like survive it. And this, this went on for years and years and I just was. You know, I remember having to miss work because of my periods, like even when I got older, when the painkillers weren't helping. So I think that has always been a sign of an issue from the very beginning.

Eila: 15:02

But then when I got older, you know, other things started happening to. I remember I would wash my hair, especially when we first moved to Vietnam with like some of the pollutants there. I would wash my hair and like I would just pull these like clumps out and like stick it to the wall and be like, just look at it after, just be like I think I'm balding, it's scary. And you know, then, like my, my PMS was going off the charts. You know I literally was having like an emotional angry outburst every month before my period for days and days and days, or crying I literally was. I was scared about you know it, just drawing my marriage or like really kind of you know, just really deteriorating our relationship because I didn't recognize who I was becoming every month and, honestly, like the dog, like seeing a doctor or getting some help around. This didn't really even occur to me until it got so bad that I was like in bed for days with fatigue and the period pain was just, you know, crippling and eventually I just I really became desperate for answers. It's crazy that, like you know, we have to really get to a point of suffering before we start to ask questions or seek support because we're not told that this stuff isn't actually normal. You know that that period pain isn't normal, that these issues aren't normal.

Eila: 16:29

So I finally went to a doctor and asked to get my hormones tested. It was really hard because I didn't know what to ask for at the time. I didn't know which hormones I should test because there's so many. They didn't really know what to do with me either. But they checked a couple hormones and thankfully it was enough for me to see that they were totally out of whack. Really like, my estrogen and progesterone levels were shockingly low post-metaposal low.

Eila: 16:56

I looked like an 80-year-old woman in terms of my hormones and that was a light bulb moment for me. They didn't necessarily have the solution for me. I knew I could take the pill or something, but I didn't really want to do that and somewhere, intuitively, the wise woman inside of me, or my intuition, told me diet and lifestyle got me here. And I don't know how I knew that, because I was not a practitioner at that point, but I somehow knew that and so I went on this journey to understanding my health and what to do and what that meant, and eventually I went back to nutrition school.

Eila: 17:35

I became an integrative nutrition practitioner and I started applying everything I was learning little by little, like breath work, stress management, nutrition fundamentals, spirituality, and just little by little, like my symptoms started fading away. And I was kind of shocked Like it surprised me as well. I was like, okay, this is really working. And other women started to notice and they reached out for help. And that's when it hit me Like we need this. Women need support, they need to know what to do, they need a roadmap, they need a path, because I didn't necessarily have one for myself. I had to change my whole career and become the expert that I needed to figure this out. So I feel like that's not okay. We need more answers and information and options. And so, you know, I became really passionate about this and my clinic was born and here we are today. So it's been a great wild ride.

Emily: 18:33

Yeah, well, thanks to the problems that you had, the issues and the hard times, we now have you as wonderful Isla, who I always say is glowing at all times, all due to the hard work that you've done for yourself. I always watch your Instagram and I'm like is that a filter? Is that just her face Like?

Eila: 18:53

I use filters.

Emily: 18:55

Okay, okay, maybe it is that, but it's partially that right, Try not to use the ones that change my face too much, yeah, but no, and I love it and I'm like, and, honestly, when we first started working together, I just love looking forward to our calls because you, especially in that time period, I was so stressed and it's I didn't have my own coach then. I wasn't going through therapy, I wasn't into spirituality yet and it was like coming to you was like this calming experience and seeing you as this glowing, beautiful being that you are on the other side of the screen was like, okay, this is I can achieve this. Right, I know I can and also I used to love is. It was like every week we were having like little snippets of education, right, so you were. Your goal wasn't just to like tell me what to do. It was like I'm going to help you continue to do that, regardless of if we want it together or not.

Eila: 19:50

Yeah, that's my mission. Like I really want you to have this knowledge because it will serve you for the rest of your life. I want you to be the expert in your health, so let me teach you some key things step by step, guide you through the process and and yeah, it's, that's that's my goal is like, knowledge is power and knowledge is sexy. So let's, let's just empower each other and share this as much as possible.

Emily: 20:13

Exactly, and I think many people, like you said, don't understand that there is this thing as functional medicine or working on your hormones, other than medication. And actually I want to ask you I know that in America it's quite a big thing, but over in Europe it's it's kind of seen as like alternative, which to me is this bizarre concept of alternative therapy. Like we've got and I'm just going to go from one here, but like we've got allopathic care, which is for those people who don't know what that means. Like Western medicine. Right, you go to the doctors, they prescribe you something for a symptom and then you've got everything else is alternative. I would love to see a world like this is my dream, where that's flipped. You go and treat a symptom short term, right, I, like I understand we need medical care, we need Western medicine. It has to be integrative, which is why integrative care, but not for a long term treatment.

Emily: 21:12

And I think many people don't understand that we have multiple different layers to our bodies, not just physical, and that all of these are impacted throughout our lifetime, our timelines, our ancestry, and we're never going to be able to treat that with a pill. I've got a phone one here, but that's why I'm really intrigued to understand how do we bring this to the wider world, how do we bring this to people who really need it, like, for example, in my industry? The reason I wanted to record this podcast is because so many women are dealing with this stuff and they're just dealing and dealing and dealing until they can't deal with it anymore. But then, when they can't deal with it anymore, they don't really know what to do. How do we get the word out? How do we make sure that women do have another option?

Eila: 21:59

Yeah, oh man, I agree with you completely and totally feel this conversation Like. This is what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to try to, you know, just get the word out that there are other options, because we need to know that you know we don't just have one option to take a pill to manage a symptom, that we can dig deeper, that there are root cause approaches and people that are willing to help you. Practitioners I have a virtual clinic, so I work with women all around the world and you know I have a few colleagues that do the same, that specialize in different areas. So I just I think it's amazing that you know you do focus on web three in your podcast, but that you know that this is relevant for all people, all menstruators, all women as well, because you know we have to feel good to be leaders. So I mean, I just thank you for having this conversation and I think we need more of these conversations and just to normalize it and to spread the awareness.

Eila: 23:00

Really, it is about education and just sharing. You know, sharing our stories and I try to share as much as I can and I know you share your story and that's like you know, there's a ripple effect and I hope anyone listening today will share this with their friends and share with their colleagues and post it on social media, because you know the more that we can spread the news that there are other options that are not hard, they're not difficult and they're personalized to each person. So, personalized each person. I'm so eloquent. Yes, but you know that is functional nutrition or integrative nutrition, because we look at each individual case, each individual person's health history, their conditions, their symptoms, and then we develop a personalized plan that's customized to them and it really is not a one-size-fit all, it's not a one pill for just a blanket of symptoms or an umbrella of symptoms, and so it really is about like I don't know. I just I think it's just so inspiring just to know what's out there, what's possible for all of us.

Emily: 24:09

Yeah, me too, and I think, once you could start to go down that that no, I wouldn't say whole portal. It's a nice thing. You don't come out of it, you just keep going deeper. And it's like I discovered you. I discovered coaching, I discovered spirituality, I discovered somatics now, which I'm learning, which it teaches me all sorts of stuff and how. Then you can start to see how it's all connected and why it works. So it's, it's amazing. I just wish that more women could see this. So, yes, share the podcast. If you've got any women in your life who are struggling with burnout, stress, they're not sleeping, they've got irregular hormones, they've got really awful periods, this is going to help them Now into the hormone thing, especially when women are working really stressful roles and there's a ton of eyes on them and they are trying to perform at their best and they are putting their health second. What are the signs of imbalance with their hormones? Like? What should they be looking out for when their health is not their priority? Work is because they're running around in fear mode.

Eila: 25:10

Yes, such a good question. Let's talk about what to look for, because oftentimes we think some of these signs are normal, right. So I would say, really look at some of the like early onset signs. Signs might be where we wake up tired. You know, we actually, like are meant to. If our hormones are balanced, we wake up with energy. We don't necessarily need coffee If we are wired but tired at night, so we're having a hard time falling asleep. Or maybe we fall asleep but then we wake up again at like three, four in the morning and we just are struggling to go back to sleep. We're just lying in bed awake, you know that's.

Eila: 25:52

Those are kind of like early warning signs in terms of energy and stress that often this is caused by stress levels and cortisol, which is our stress hormone, being really out of whack, and so when we start to kind of live under this chronic stress, it really starts to take a burden on us and it dysregulates our cortisol. We become cortisol dominant for a while, which causes, you know, the sleep issues and also weight gain around our midsection. It's going to cause blood sugar issues where we might be like not have an appetite or we might just really create like salty or sweet foods, but eventually, when cortisol is elevated for too long, it's going to lead to like burnout, fatigue, just feeling like we can't focus where we're not able to function like we know we can, and we're just kind of overwhelmed. Like a state of overwhelm is another sign.

Eila: 26:48

And then some of the symptoms like that I mentioned earlier, like hair loss, skin issues, digestive issues, like mal digestion or bloating or constipation, stuff like that it's all related to the hormones as well Menstrual cycle irregularities. You know these are all kind of warning signs. Your body is like waving the red flag Hello, yeah, we might need some support. And you know, pms is like really normalized in our culture but it's not actually something that we need to experience every month and is another sign that our body is kind of needing some support. So, you know, it can look like a lot of seemingly unrelated symptoms, honestly, like you might think.

Eila: 27:31

And we really, with our Western medicine, we you know we go to one doctor for one thing and one doctor for another thing, but really we have to look at the whole body and the whole ecosystem and you know, these are all just kind of symptoms that the body needs support. Maybe we're under chronic stress and it's really interesting, like, when we talk about hormones, you know what does that even mean? A hormone imbalance, right, like we hear this all the time. And you know I think just to just to shed some light on it for a minute like a lot of times that when our hormones are in balance, we really have to look at some of the more dominant hormones, like cortisol and insulin. So cortisol, like our stress hormone, and insulin, our blood sugar hormone, these are like kind of the top dogs, I would say, or like the queen, queen bees of the endocrine system, and when these are out of balance, they kind of have a trickle down effect on every other hormone. So our sex hormones, like estrogen and progesterone, our thyroid, which is our metabolism, and, and you know, basically like every, every hormone in the endocrine system.

Eila: 28:44

So we really, when we're, when we're talking about a hormone imbalance or rebalancing, we really have to look at, you know, these, these two dominant hormones the most, or at least first, first and foremost.

Eila: 28:59

So it's almost like a hierarchy, like I like to think of it, as, like you know, cortisol and insulin are like the most dominant, powerful ones, and so if we want to regulate our menstrual cycle, for example, we don't start with balancing estrogen and progesterone, we start by balancing cortisol and insulin, which is surprising for a lot of people, and this is because of the way that cortisol interacts in our brain. So when we have too much stress, for instance in our lives, and that can look like a lot of different things this could be acute stress, like we have a deadline at work, or ongoing stress from being a leader or an entrepreneur, or even, you know, being a person, or putting unrealistic expectations on ourselves. You know, all of this is a form of stress, and stress comes in a lot of different ways, from over exercising or under eating. You know, I could go on and on in terms of what causes stress. That could be a whole another topic.

Emily: 29:58

Yeah, that's a different episode.

Eila: 30:01

But basically all of this can throw our adrenal endocrine glands and mess with our cortisol hormones and so, like I said, this has an impact on the entire endocrine system. So too much cortisol can actually inhibit communication between our brain and our ovaries, which, of course, will mess with our menstrual cycle and our hormones. Ooh, yeah. So cortisol is a hormone that will like basically slow down this hormone GNRH production in our brain, which is the hormone that tells the hypothalamus to tell the pituitary to send signals to our ovaries to get the like to get the show on the road. So basically, the brain is a master controller and cortisol goes up there and it's like, okay, let's just quiet things down and like not send that signal to your ovaries. So basically, the body is working hard to block the reproductive process, and that kind of makes sense if you think about it from like a biological perspective.

Eila: 31:02

If we're under stress, the body doesn't know that. It's just from like work emails, you know, or like being really stressed out with our job or something. The body might think that we're like in a time of war or running from a tiger every day, and the body is really smart. So it's like, okay, this is not a good time to bring a baby into the world. We have to shut down fertility and basically make sure we don't, you know, don't have a baby. So it's actually looking out for us. Everything the body does is trying to look out for us. So I like to really stress that, like it's trying to have our back. It just doesn't understand what's going on.

Eila: 31:37

So then you know, we might not ovulate that month or we might start having irregular periods or missed cycles. Periods are coming late, you know, and we're kind of getting worried and I think you know it's really it's because we're not familiar with these feedback loops that are programmed into our system to help us, based on, you know, thousands of years of evolution. So you know there are hundreds of ways our hormones can impact us. It's just really important to understand, you know, the root causes of our particular imbalances and and if estrogen and progesterone, which are sex hormones that are made from ovulating, if they're not at the levels they should be, you know, we really do have to look at these like more dominant hormones, like cortisol, blocking the signals. What about insulin? Are we balancing our blood sugar? So you know these, it doesn't always have to be as complicated as we might think in terms of healing, you know, sometimes it just is actually really simple. But simple is not always easy, right? Like managing stress is hard, exactly.

Emily: 32:44

Because it's it's like talking about the issue and progesterone. Obviously, we get given pills to increase or reduce them, right? I don't know, I haven't been on pills for many, many, many, many years. The pills that people are generally given, what are they attempting to do? What? What symptom are they attempting to make better?

Eila: 33:04

Yeah, so like the oral contraceptive pill, like hormonal birth control, for example, its mechanism of action is to shut down ovulation, so it shuts down the communication between the brain and the ovaries and it replaces our hormones that we normally would be making with a synthetic version that's oftentimes inferior to the, inferior to our natural hormone product. Ew, so Sounds awful. Yeah, our hormones are perfectly designed for us. So this synthetic version, you know, might cause some side effects. It actually, you know, oftentimes depletes nutrient reserves in our body. So if we are on hormonal birth control like, I'm not against hormonal birth control, I just want, you know, women to make informed decisions and you know, if they do take it, you know, it's helpful to support our nutrient levels, our gut health, our liver function, because it's kind of a little bit stressful on those systems. And and then just know that, like, oftentimes, when we come off the pill, if we're, if we're using it for contraceptives, that's, you know, that's great.

Eila: 34:11

If we're using it to manage our period symptoms or like regulate our period, for one, it's important to know that the period that we're having on the pill is not actually a real period, because it's just a withdrawal bleed from synthetic hormones. We're not actually ovulating, we're not having a menstrual cycle and usually, when we come off, the symptoms that we were having are going to be coming back right, like they're not going to be suppressed anymore, and they often come back with a vengeance. So it really is just suppressing our symptoms by shutting off our natural hormones. And I could go on and on. There's so many health benefits to our hormones that, like I, even beyond fertility and having babies, like our hormones are good for our brain health, our focus, our mental health, our bone health, breast health. So just a little note about that they're actually really good for us to have these hormones.

Emily: 35:04

Yeah, and it's a really great example that you just gave that about. We're shutting off the estrogen or the progesterone or however we're doing it with a synthetic hormone. So, for example, when I was younger, maybe like in my teens, I was given a birth control for my skin, right, but nobody really knew why I was. Everyone just assumed it was hormonal, could have been bacterial, could have been, because my gut health it's probably like a bit of both. And so when I remember coming off it and my acne was terrible, I think I was 18 and I was like what is going on and I blamed it on hard water. Like I say, it's, the hard water is doing this to my skin. And when I was in Saigon, I wasn't on any birth control since that point when I was 18. But when I went to Saigon, my acne was terrible and we actually worked together on this, didn't we? And when I started removing anything that was causing inflammation started to heal my gut, the acne went away and I look at your skin now.

Eila: 36:01

I mean, for those that are listening and not, you know, seeing the video her skin is just glowing and beautiful, so it's just amazing.

Emily: 36:09

Yeah, and it's ever since. If I ever do ever get any flare ups, I'm like, okay, my body is trying to tell me something or something's off. Maybe I've eaten something that I'm like not dealing with very well. Maybe I'm in a new area of water, which happened like when I moved to France. I had a big flare up. I moved France, it's new water. Like you have to start looking inside versus external solutions, Absolutely.

Eila: 36:32

And I mean I completely agree with that. I will just say that I don't want to completely dismiss Western medicine, like if we're having, if we're in a car accident, or like having an emergency, like we need an emergency C section, for example, or something like that, like they're going to save our lives, like definitely, and they can help us manage symptoms, even with, you know, pills to help us cope with these things, while I would suggest, while also looking a little bit deeper, so you know, I think there's a place for all of this. It's just about you know, knowing options and moving forward informed.

Emily: 37:10

Yeah, and I think that's a great point, because when I first started working with you, I was on antidepressants because I just couldn't get out of a hole. Right, that was like and that was the only way especially because my family are all doctors and nurses that was, that was always a solution. And so when I came to you like you were like, if that's working for you right now, that's fine, and while we, while you've got this and while this is helping you, let's make sure that we're supporting your body in all the other ways that we can. So when you do feel like you can come off of these tablets that I've been supporting you, you have everything else to back you up.

Eila: 37:44

Yeah, 100%.

Emily: 37:46

I thought that was brilliant. It's very difficult, though it's very difficult to move from I need to go to the doctor for everything to there's options like there's options outside of Getting a prescription.

Eila: 37:58

Well, we need guidance and support. Like we just do. We cannot heal without Energy input. I feel like it's just. We can't just like be isolated and try to heal on our own. I think that's really hard and can feel lonely and like a struggle. So it's okay to ask for support. It's just. You know Knowing who to ask for what like doctors are great to ask for certain things and then you want other practitioners for other sort of Advice and support exactly, and I think what you also find is, when you're seeking alternative Help, you're the person that you've gone to first.

Emily: 38:34

They probably know someone else who's gonna help you with that other thing that you're dealing with. Like, for example, the coaches that I worked with first of all they were like, okay, well, I feel like we've done enough here, but maybe if you're looking for something else, this is a person you should go talk to. So we're all connected. So if anyone wants to come and work with I, like they can do. I'm connected, like. It's like we all kind of we all gravitate towards each other when we're, when we share the same values and we've kind of on the same mission. So, yeah, you probably already know someone who's been to someone like I, like who can help you. Yeah, absolutely Amazing.

Emily: 39:08

So the last thing that I would like to talk about we've talked about your experience. I've talked about different hormones. I've talked about what to look out for, but what could maybe be like three ways that people who are maybe in leadership roles they're a new founder there, or maybe they're just a woman listening to the show, who isn't in any of those roles but they're feeling like their hormones are all over the place. They've got terrible periods, they're stressed, they're tired all the time. What can we do to help leaders feel more energized, feel informed and have, like more overall mental clarity?

Eila: 39:43

Yeah, absolutely so. As a business owner myself, I have to credit this method called cycle syncing, in terms of Matching and aligning the way I eat, the excerpt, the way I exercise and the way I run my business with the phases of my cycle. It's just helped me tremendously to avoid burnout and overwhelm and To actually work and live in a way that's in aligned with my cycle. So I don't know if you've ever noticed, emily, that like one week You're feeling unstoppable and you're checking everything off your to-do list and then the next week You're literally like on the couch and you're like I'm not moving, like if you need me, I'll be here, and then you think, and then you feel guilty or like ashamed, because you're like why am I not the way I was last week? You know why am I now tired or fatigue or feeling different energetically? And the truth is is like because we have female bodies and we go through the. We have a circadian rhythm right, it's like a 24-hour rhythm but we also have an infradient rhythm, which is a 28 day cycle that we go through and we're literally a different woman every week of the month. And so I think, when we understand that, we understand these different phases and what's happening with our hormones. We Can like slightly adjust what we do and how we work, just a little so that we don't feel drained. There's, I would say, there's actually different superpowers in each phase in terms of productivity, and if we know what to expect of ourselves, we can plan better, we can live more in, aligned with our hormones and our cycle, like it's just. We're not a man like we don't.

Eila: 41:28

Men have only a 24-hour Harmon cycle. They're the same every day and if we try to live like that, if we try to live like that, we're gonna burn out. So it's okay to like adjust our morning routine based on where we are. It's okay to like adjust our exercise routine based on where we are, because we actually do better when we do that. So you know, this maybe could be like a part two. If you wanted to, or if someone wants more resources, they could look up, you know, the cycle syncing method. There's a lot of information out there, but this is just one way that we can really honor our cyclical bodies, honor our hormones and Be the CEOs that we want to be and the leaders that we want to be, without burning out. So we have to maintain hormone balance and, you know, get, get shit done. So this is probably one of my top recommendations.

Emily: 42:21

That doesn't. I'm just gonna say that that's an amazing Tip as much as it like I think. When you told me about this, I was like this is gonna be way too hard work, like like making sure that I know all the days and la, la, la. But actually when you start even thinking about Period is how would you call it? Cycle?

Eila: 42:40

syncing method is the term coined by Elisa Vitti. But you know just, you know aligning your Life with your cycle. You know it's just a great practice.

Emily: 42:51

Yeah, and when you start thinking about it, you start noticing all the feedback from your body, like so I'm exactly the same Some, some weeks. I'm just dead and I'm like, okay, my periods coming, like I just know. Or sometimes I might get nauseous randomly and I'm like, wait, I haven't even eaten anything. Why am I? Like what's going on? Oh yeah, wait, my periods tomorrow. Like, sometimes I get little bits. I don't always get it, it's just sometimes. And then during my period, I have your voice in my head and I'm like Emily, gentle, exercise, don't be running bloody 10 miles. Yes, exactly.

Eila: 43:25

It doesn't have to be really rigid. It can sound hard, but it's just a very, it's a couple of key principles that, once you know, it's just very intuitive and you just kind of feel it. And if you track your cycle which would be another suggestion of mine to really understand what's normal for you, what's not we need to be informed, especially when we work with a doctor or healthcare provider. And if we have this hard data, this is a new symptom, this is a new issue. These are my cycle links. That is actually really vital information. And then, as we track our cycle, we're gonna be just like understanding which phase we're in, because we're in tune with that.

Emily: 44:08

Isn't it crazy that we actually look externally to people to tell us what's going on with our body, that we can't provide them that information because we've never been taught how We've?

Eila: 44:17

never been taught exactly. It's not our fault, it's just we live in a patriarchal society, right? It's just there's been little research done on women's health In the US. It was actually like the FDA banned women from being in like scientific research For like drug research, different things like that Since the 70s and it wasn't until recently that they started including women. But that knowledge like hasn't trickled down into clinical practice yet or medical school. So they are doing a little bit more research with women now but like it hasn't really made it into, you know, into your doctor's office necessarily, yet that takes a lot of time. So there's a huge knowledge gap there. So we really do have to be, sadly, we have to advocate for ourselves because there's just not a lot of information out there for doctors that are not informed. They don't understand women's bodies as much as they could, and you know, it's just it's sad but it is a lot.

Emily: 45:23

And even with gut health, I think the UK and the US are doing better at this, especially with the terminology Like, for example, I remember IBS, right. Everyone used to tell me I had IBS, because that comes. Lots of women who've got hormonal issues also struggle with IBS and bloating and everything right. And I used to go to my dad and he's like, okay, you can take this, go and ask the doctor for this pill, right? This is when I was in my teens. Then we did a few different tests together.

Emily: 45:50

I mean, you and I had SIBO I had leaky gut, right and I spoke to my dad about it and he was like never fucking heard of this. I believe he's like I don't know what this is, this is voodoo stuff. And I was like, well, look into it. I said look into it, dad, because you might have some patients who might have similar symptoms. And then I think maybe it was like a few months after we'd started working together and he was like someone came to me the other day and I remembered you talking about this thing called SIBO. So I researched more into it and I actually sent her to a functional practitioner instead. I told her that I could not help her. Well, he said, I could either give you tablets or you could go and do this.

Emily: 46:31

Wow good for your dad, yeah so he, yeah, so he now does that, like he. I think that the point I'm trying to make here is, when you've been through something like this, you've managed to heal yourself. It's important to talk to as many people as possible about it, especially your medical practitioner. Like I in France, have really struggled with getting the hormone tests that I want to get, because they're like why, why do you need this? And I'm like, because you know I'll work with someone else, blah, blah, blah. And I'm just like please just give me the tests. And it shouldn't have to be like that. You should have access to your own body, absolutely Feedback. Like you should have full sovereignty over being able to get access to that.

Emily: 47:15

Very web three style. But like I don't know if you know this, but in web three it's very much about self-sufferinity, having your own ownership over everything that you have. I like that, yeah, yeah. So it would just be amazing if we could just say okay, I know something's going on, let me just pick the tests that I'd like to do, because at the moment it's not that accessible. They're very expensive. Like even I. Like I want to be able to do SIBO tests every few months just to make sure I'm on top of it, but it's like 200 year olds ago and it's like, oh, maybe I'll just listen to my body instead.

Eila: 47:47

Yeah, definitely Testing could be an expensive addition to the whole plan and not always necessary, because we can look at a cluster of symptoms. I mean, ibs is a syndrome, right? Which a syndrome is just a cluster of symptoms. So like yeah, exactly, so you know, symptoms are really important to look at too. So I think you know both. Both can be helpful, but testing is a challenge to navigate for a lot of people.

Emily: 48:17

Yeah, and we didn't have access to tests in Vietnam. We just had to go. We just had to. Based on the stuff that came up. We were like, okay, this is probably definitely what's going on. Let's treat this yeah.

Eila: 48:30

And it worked, yeah, for certain things. There was no like in-depth functional gut testing in Vietnam or anything like that.

Emily: 48:37

Yeah, they just want to give you about antibiotics. Is there anything else that you'd like to add that maybe our women can take away? Or have we covered?

Eila: 48:46

quite a lot. We've covered a lot, but I would say, like you know, in addition to tracking your cycle, which could be really helpful practicing cycle thinking or aligning your life and your productivity with your cycle, you know, really making sure that the foundational things are in order to. You know, like that we're radically managing our stress or we're making time to ground every day, do something, grounding. You know that we're setting boundaries, delegating tasks.

Eila: 49:12

You know it's okay to hire help or hire a VA or, you know, ask for support. Say no. You know when we need to we don't have to agree to everything. You know be sure that we're sleeping and eating well. You know I think women do the best when we're nourished and rested. And you know we have to make sure that we're eating nutrient dense foods regularly, not skipping meals.

Eila: 49:38

And you know this goes a long way for how we feel and for feeling energized and focused. You know, if we're eating meals that spike our blood sugar, we're gonna feel fatigued right after, probably with an hour or two. So if you notice that you're feeling tired after you eat a meal, it's probably that it's not like blood sugar stable for you. So you know blood sugar is important for everyone, whether we're diabetics or not. And you know making sure that we have the right amount of protein and fiber with every meal is gonna be vital for maintaining our energy throughout the day. Like I know that if I you know carb load too much at lunch, I feel fatigued and then I can't focus the rest of the afternoon. I need to like be lazy a little bit and that's just doesn't work. You know I need to have my energy, so really like paying attention to that.

Emily: 50:27

Yeah, and it worked so well for me because that's one of the first things you taught me about is make sure that you have spinach with all of your protein and carb-heavy meals.

Eila: 50:37

Yes, I literally have that in my.

Emily: 50:39

I remember I used to go to the Vietnamese restaurants in order because you can get spinach everywhere in Vietnam and order a side of spinach because, okay, ali tells me that I need to do this, I'm gonna do it. And the best thing is, I was on your Instagram one day and I saw that you were like having all these fruits, and I think probably what in one of our sessions is about having all of these fruits in a smoothie is like the worst start to the day. But you don't have to change it. You just need to add more things in. So like now I have avocado, I have lion's mane and cinnamon and cacao and collagen and protein all this kind of good stuff and I can still have my smoothie.

Emily: 51:16

Exactly, yeah, I'm coffee. I can still have my coffee now like for ages. You know, that's like I always say to you this is like the hardest thing. That's like take everything else out but coffee because I love it and it's a ritual for me. I love doing, I love making the coffee. But now you're like Emily, just have a meal, just don't have it on an empty stomach.

Eila: 51:35

Yeah, don't have coffee instead of breakfast. Have a protein rich breakfast and then have coffee and your hormones will be like okay, I can handle this. It just really depends on our stress bucket, like where we are. If we're not sleeping, if we're drinking coffee instead of meals, if we're not eating. Well, if we're, like you know just if it's really like our stress buckets overflowing, we have to be a little careful with coffee. Maybe we like cut back a little, but if we're sleeping, we're eating. You know, we can probably handle some coffee after breakfast and enjoy it and live Exactly.

Emily: 52:08

It's like like a lot of women listening to this are running around conferences all the time. This is one of the reasons I don't do many conferences I hate to be out of my routine, and that includes they're eating well, they're knowing when to drink my coffee, all that kind of stuff, and so I have no doubt that these women will really benefit from this conversation, even if it's just snippets like understanding, if they eat something that is not high in sugar and then they have the coffee, they're gonna probably have more energy for this bloody conference that they have to go to all day.

Eila: 52:40

Absolutely. Muffins and coffee might make us fatigued.

Emily: 52:44

Yeah, Muffins and coffee. That's like donuts and coffee like out the American TV shows.

Eila: 52:50

Yes, that's what we have in our conferences.

Emily: 52:53

Wow, donuts or muffins and coffee yes, I feel like at your health conferences, they have smooth bowls.

Eila: 53:04

Yeah, green smoothies.

Emily: 53:06

I mentioned your Instagram earlier because it is so creative and so informative. Would you like to tell people how to access your Instagram?

Eila: 53:14

Yes, aw thank you for your sweet words. I just keep you and bring you to my house and you can tell me these things all day, always.

Emily: 53:20

I'll just whisper in your ear, yeah.

Eila: 53:24

Yes, I hang out on Instagram most days. It's Ilaraine health E-I-L-A-R-A-N health on Instagram, same for Facebook, and then my website is wwwIlarainecom, so I'm sure you'll have all the links.

Emily: 53:44

Oh, I love how short it is. Yeah, we'll put it in the links. And how can people work with you, like if somebody is listening to this and they're like I have all of this shirt and I don't know what to do. I need help.

Eila: 53:54

Yes, absolutely so. I have a free strategy session you could book and we can just chat. I can hear about what's going on for you and then we can make a plan together based on what your goals are. So that's a great way just to kind of ask me all your questions. We can meet face to face and make sure that we're a good fit, that we're aligned for working together. So there's a link on my Instagram and my bio, and then on my website as well, to schedule that for free, and that would probably be the best way. So I have a hormone mastery program as well as a gut fix program or a combo of both, if we need to kind of work on both.

Eila: 54:32

So, options for kind of everyone that needs some support.

Emily: 54:37

I would go for the customized option.

Eila: 54:39

That's the one I do, yes a little bit.

Emily: 54:41

Actually, I think I've done multiple of yours. We've worked on a custom. Then I was like, oh, I need this and I need that, and then we're doing different things. It's fun.

Eila: 54:49

Yeah, so at different stages of our life, at different countries, we just need support with different areas that kind of pop up and, yeah, absolutely, there's something for everyone in terms of the support we need.

Emily: 55:03

Thank you so much, isla, for coming, and I will probably bring you back on at some point, and I'm also going to bring you into my group coaching, so those lucky ladies don't know what's going to hit them. Yay, I would love to Everybody. You know where to find her and I hope you enjoyed the show. It's very different this time. I love it. She's just me rambling away. See you next time, isla. Bye, thanks for having me. So that's all I've got for you today, as always. Thank you for listening. Don't forget to drop me a review and subscribe wherever you get your podcast and head on over to Instagram and TikTok at Emily and Web3 for daily content to help you thrive in Web3. Also, feel free to drop me a DM, a message or a question. I am here to serve you. See you next time.