Balancing Hormones Naturally

If someone told you that skipping breakfast and fasting longer in the morning would help you lose weight, that advice was not built for your body. Research has actually linked eating breakfast regularly with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. But what you put on that plate matters just as much as eating at all, because it sets your cravings, your blood sugar, and your inflammation for the entire rest of the day. 
This episode gives you the formula and the exact breakfasts Leah rotates through so you can stop overthinking it every morning.
In this episode:
The 30 gram minimum for protein at breakfast, why it matters for muscle protein synthesis, and how far ahead of your day you'll feel when you front load it.
Why one egg is only six grams of protein, and what to pair it with so you're not falling short before you've even started.
Leah's go to breakfast proteins: eggs, chicken sausage, plain chicken, salmon, and Greek yogurt, plus the reminder that last night's dinner counts.
The veggie hash with salmon and dippy eggs that gets her to about 50 grams of protein before the day starts.
Why fiber is the broom that sweeps out your intestines, and the specific ones she reaches for in the morning: sauteed spinach, colorful peppers, hemp seeds, and broccoli or alfalfa sprouts.
The chia seed pudding build with Greek yogurt, protein powder, cacao, and berries when you want something that feels like a treat
Why you barely have to think about fat at breakfast if you're already hitting the protein.
Low glycemic carbs and why stabilizing your blood sugar at breakfast is what keeps it stable at 3pm, which matters for cortisol, insulin, and whether the weight actually comes off.
The reheated potato trick: why cooling and reheating turns them into a resistant starch that feeds your gut and lands lower on the glycemic index.
Why Leah skips grains at breakfast if weight loss is the goal.
The exact two or three breakfasts she rotates through so she never has to make a decision at 7am.
What time to eat after waking, and why the window matters for your cortisol.
Coffee before breakfast, and Leah's blunt answer: not if you love yourself.
Whether smoothies count, the three mistakes most people make with them, and how to build one that actually hits 40 to 45 grams of protein
Can you eat eggs every day? If you're Leah, yes.
You do not need a new recipe every morning. Pick two or three breakfasts you actually like, hit your 30 grams of protein, get your fiber in, and keep the carbs low glycemic. That's it. Do that consistently and you'll feel the difference in how satisfied you are and how steady your energy stays, and losing weight stops feeling like a fight.
Leah's Favorite Things: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/favorites
I'm Leah Brueggemann, a Functional Diagnostic Nutritional® Practitioner and Hormone Health Coach, helping you balance your hormones in effective and realistic ways so you can live a healthier, happier life.
Through the Balance Hormones Naturally podcast, you'll discover why your cycle is so important to your everyday health and how you can use nutrition to help support the rise and fall of your hormones and finally feel truly amazing. We dig deep to understand and heal the root causes of your symptoms so you can achieve lasting results through manageable and realistic lifestyle changes, allowing you to live a healthy and balanced life without a long-term pharmaceutical prescription.
Let's connect:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/balancinghormonesnaturally/
Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leah_brueg/
Website: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/
Email: leahbcoaching@gmail.com
The recommendations presented in this podcast are not a substitute for medical advice from a qualified doctor. Before making any changes to your diet and lifestyle, please consult with your healthcare provider.

If you're stressed, exhausted, and watching the scale refuse to move no matter what you do, you've probably already started looking at ashwagandha and rhodiola. Before you buy another supplement, look in your pantry. There are five foods that can do more for your cortisol than most of what's on the shelf, and most of them are already at your grocery store. This episode breaks down exactly what they are and why they work.
In this episode:
Why kiwi is the most underrated food in this whole conversation and does two jobs at once, one for your adrenals and one for your gut
The vitamin C connection your adrenals depend on, and why the same nutrient supports your progesterone production at the same time
The specific strains of Lactobacillus tied to stress resilience, better sleep, and lower cortisol, and why you don't necessarily need to buy a probiotic to support them.
How GABA production and inflammatory cytokines fit into the picture, explained in plain language.
Other easy prebiotic foods to rotate in: green bananas, sweet potatoes, garlic, onions, and leeks.
Why potassium is your stress mineral and how depletion and stress feed each other in a loop that's hard to break from the inside.
Avocados as a triple threat: potassium, fat that steadies your blood sugar, and fiber for your gut.
Wild caught salmon as the sledgehammer for inflammation driven cortisol, and why omega-3s matter so much if you're dealing with food sensitivities, gut issues, alcohol, or poor sleep.
Pumpkin seeds versus beef liver for food based zinc, why zinc is both a calming mineral and an egg quality mineral, and why Leah would just eat both.
Why pasture raised eggs are the other multivitamin, high in choline for your nervous system and your baby's brain if you're pregnant.
Why women who skip protein at breakfast almost always run higher cortisol all day, and the 30 gram target that sets up the rest of your day.
What to do if you're eating well but feel like you're not actually absorbing any of it, including the digestive enzymes Leah reaches for and the one question to answer before choosing which kind.

None of this requires a trip to a specialty store or a supplement budget. These are foods that are probably already in your kitchen or a few aisles away, and they're working on the root of the problem instead of masking it. If you want to go deeper, look at the minerals actually driving your cortisol, and get testing behind your decisions, that's what the Hormone Reset Program is for. Book a free consult call at bit.ly/hrpfreecall.
But if you take one thing from this episode, go eat more kiwi. Do it.
Use code LEAH to save 15% at Eversio Wellness, and it applies to every order, not just your first: https://www.eversiowellness.com/discount/LEAH
Leah's Favorite Things: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/favorites
I'm Leah Brueggemann, a Functional Diagnostic Nutritional® Practitioner and Hormone Health Coach, helping you balance your hormones in effective and realistic ways so you can live a healthier, happier life.
Through the Balance Hormones Naturally podcast, you'll discover why your cycle is so important to your everyday health and how you can use nutrition to help support the rise and fall of your hormones and finally feel truly amazing. We dig deep to understand and heal the root causes of your symptoms so you can achieve lasting results through manageable and realistic lifestyle changes, allowing you to live a healthy and balanced life without a long-term pharmaceutical prescription.
Let's connect:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/balancinghormonesnaturally/
Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leah_brueg/
Website: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/
Email: leahbcoaching@gmail.com
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The recommendations presented in this podcast are not a substitute for medical advice from a qualified doctor. Before making any changes to your diet and lifestyle, please consult with your healthcare provider.

You've probably heard that forever chemicals are bad. But what you might not know is that they're already in your body right now, in your blood, your organs, and they're not leaving on their own. The fatigue, the stubborn weight that won't budge, the thyroid issues, the hormonal chaos you can't figure out, PFAS may be a bigger piece of that picture than you've been told. The good news is there are real things you can do about it, starting today.
In this episode:
Why PFAS are called forever chemicals and what makes them so difficult for your body to clear without active support.

The most common sources of exposure hiding in everyday life, your cookware, cosmetics, dental floss, mattress, water, and underwear, and where to start swapping first.

Why nonstick cookware is one of the highest exposure sources and what to switch to instead, even if you can't replace everything at once.

Why switching to organic cotton underwear is especially important if you're dealing with infertility or endometriosis, and why that area of the body absorbs more than you think.

Why oats, a food the wellness world loves to complicate, contain beta-glucans that actually bind to PFAS in the gut and help your body excrete them.

The specific medicinal mushrooms highest in beta-glucans, reishi, turkey tail, and maitake, and why a tested blend matters more than just buying any mushroom supplement off a shelf.

Why PFAS detox is not a one-day cleanse and what it actually takes: reducing exposure, bringing in binding agents, and supporting every pathway your body already uses to detox, sweating, peeing, pooping, and breathing clean air.

How to check whether your water contains PFAS using the EWG database, and why "if you're not filtering your water, you are the filter".]

The nutrients your liver needs to actually do its job when it's up against this level of toxic load, vitamin C, milk thistle, dandelion, and adequate protein.
You don't have to do all of this at once. The worst thing you can do is look at the full picture, feel overwhelmed, and do nothing. Pick one thing. Switch out the cookware, filter the water, check your skincare. One step in the right direction is still a step, and your body will respond to every single improvement you make.
Leah's Favorite Things: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/favorites
I'm Leah Brueggemann, a Functional Diagnostic Nutritional® Practitioner and Hormone Health Coach, helping you balance your hormones in effective and realistic ways so you can live a healthier, happier life.
Through the Balance Hormones Naturally podcast, you'll discover why your cycle is so important to your everyday health and how you can use nutrition to help support the rise and fall of your hormones and finally feel truly amazing. We dig deep to understand and heal the root causes of your symptoms so you can achieve lasting results through manageable and realistic lifestyle changes, allowing you to live a healthy and balanced life without a long-term pharmaceutical prescription.
Let's connect:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/balancinghormonesnaturally/
Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leah_brueg/
Website: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/
Email: leahbcoaching@gmail.com
The recommendations presented in this podcast are not a substitute for medical advice from a qualified doctor. Before making any changes to your diet and lifestyle, please consult with your healthcare provider.

If you've felt out of control in your body some weeks of the month, thought maybe you were bipolar or had a personality disorder, felt suicidal or manic out of nowhere, you might not be broken. Your cycle might just be signaling that your progesterone is tanking when it should be at its highest, and once you know that, everything changes. This is Monica Grohne's story, and she's here to tell you that you don't have to stay a victim of this diagnosis.
In this episode:
Why thinking you have a personality disorder or bipolar diagnosis might actually be PMDD, and why so many therapists are starting to catch this.

The diagnostic process for PMDD and why there's no single lab test, which means it requires cycle tracking and usually a few months of data.

Why your standard OBGYN might run normal bloodwork and miss the root cause, because "normal" lab ranges aren't the same as functionally optimal.

What low progesterone actually does to your brain chemistry when it should be highest in your luteal phase, and why GABA tanks with it.

How energy deficiency and high cholesterol can play a role in your progesterone conversion and what to do about it.

Why cycling SSRIs works for some people but isn't your only option if you actually address the foundations.

The foundational things that matter for PMDD (spoiler: it's the same blood sugar and sleep and stress management that matters for everything else).

Why women are terrible at boundaries and how that directly impacts your ability to take care of yourself and your hormones.

What it actually looks like to live with your cycle instead of against it, including how to plan your month and adjust when life doesn't cooperate.

How to reframe from "I'm softer so I need to avoid things" to "I'm actually in control of what's best for me".
PMDD is real, it's not your fault, and it's not a life sentence of suffering. But you have to be willing to do the work to understand your body instead of just accepting that you're crazy. Monica did it, and so can you.
Leah's Favorite Things: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/favorites
I'm Leah Brueggemann, a Functional Diagnostic Nutritional® Practitioner and Hormone Health Coach, helping you balance your hormones in effective and realistic ways so you can live a healthier, happier life.
Through the Balance Hormones Naturally podcast, you'll discover why your cycle is so important to your everyday health and how you can use nutrition to help support the rise and fall of your hormones and finally feel truly amazing. We dig deep to understand and heal the root causes of your symptoms so you can achieve lasting results through manageable and realistic lifestyle changes, allowing you to live a healthy and balanced life without a long-term pharmaceutical prescription.
Let's connect:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/balancinghormonesnaturally/
Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leah_brueg/
Website: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/
Email: leahbcoaching@gmail.com
The recommendations presented in this podcast are not a substitute for medical advice from a qualified doctor. Before making any changes to your diet and lifestyle, please consult with your healthcare provider.

If you keep starting over every Monday, if you have a graveyard of supplements you tried for two weeks and abandoned, if you've bought planner after planner looking for the one that finally makes you consistent, you have not been lacking discipline. Your nervous system doesn't feel safe changing, and once you understand why, everything about how you approach your goals is about to shift.
In this episode:
Why you're great at starting something new but keep hitting a wall in the middle, right when it's time to maintain or finish.

The real reason your brain treats a new habit, a new food, a new boundary, like a threat, and why that triggers procrastination, cravings, and mindless scrolling without you even realizing it.

Why saying affirmations for ten seconds a day does nothing if the other ninety percent of your self talk is "I hate this, I can't do this, I'm so frustrated".

The study on people with split personality disorder whose bloodwork changed depending on which personality they were in, and what that reveals about how much your thoughts actually control your body.

Why "just calm down" and "just breathe" can backfire completely if you're in fight or flight, and what to do with that energy instead before you try to regulate.

The exact order for nervous system regulation, moving the energy first, then calming the body, and simple ways to do both.

Why identifying as someone who's "all or nothing" or who "always falls off" keeps you proving that belief right, and how to start rewiring it.

A simple mindset shift you can use today: asking what the version of you who already has this goal would decide to do in this exact moment
You cannot hate your body into health, and you cannot white knuckle your way into lasting change either. If your nervous system is stuck in fight or flight or shutdown, no amount of willpower is going to make consistency feel easy. 
This is the piece almost nobody talks about, and once you start working with your nervous system instead of against it, everything else gets so much easier. If you want to go deeper on this work, book a consult call and ask about VIP.
Leah's Favorite Things: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/favorites
I'm Leah Brueggemann, a Functional Diagnostic Nutritional® Practitioner and Hormone Health Coach, helping you balance your hormones in effective and realistic ways so you can live a healthier, happier life.
Through the Balance Hormones Naturally podcast, you'll discover why your cycle is so important to your everyday health and how you can use nutrition to help support the rise and fall of your hormones and finally feel truly amazing. We dig deep to understand and heal the root causes of your symptoms so you can achieve lasting results through manageable and realistic lifestyle changes, allowing you to live a healthy and balanced life without a long-term pharmaceutical prescription.
Let's connect:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/balancinghormonesnaturally/
Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leah_brueg/
Website: https://www.leahbrueggemann.com/
Email: leahbcoaching@gmail.com
The recommendations presented in this podcast are not a substitute for medical advice from a qualified doctor. Before making any changes to your diet and lifestyle, please consult with your healthcare provider.