Celebrating a milestone is special, and for our 75th episode of The Power Transformation Podcast, we're not just popping the champagne but we're honoring the journey of transformation of Heather Allmendinger, certified Period Awareness and Cyclical Living Coach and host of the Embracing Flow podcast. Heather is a beacon of resilience who's navigated the twists and turns of menstrual health and fertility, for her story isn't just hers but rather it's a mirror reflecting the often untold struggles of early-onset periods and the emotional odyssey of conception faced by many.
This episode is a symphony, with each note played by the intricate harmonies of women's hormones and cycles. We unpack the misunderstood challenges of the menstrual experience - from puberty to menopause - and the importance of ovulation, moving beyond the myths that cloud our understanding. Heather's insights into the delicate dance of cortisol and our 'hormone symphony' hit all the right chords, offering a fresh perspective on managing stress and its affect on our well-being.
Whether you're in the throes of hormonal flux or simply seeking to support the women in your life, this conversation is a testament to the power of knowledge and compassion. Join us as we continue to transform - one powerful story at a time.
Connect with Heather:
Episode 75's Affirmation:
I take care of my body and its health, because it is one of the most precious gifts I will ever receive.
Click here to connect with Alethea Felton!
CALL TO ACTION:
STEP 1: Subscribe now to The Power Transformation Podcast so you don't miss an episode! New episodes are released every Wednesday and it is on ALL podcast platforms.
STEP 2: Then, leave a rating and write review on Apple Podcasts, and then share with as many people as you know. I absolutely love reading your feedback, and the reviews help others find my podcast.
NOTE: Your feedback helps me be of greater service to you so please subscribe, rate, and review.
Thanks for being a part of The Power Transformation Podcast community!
Celebrating a milestone is special, and for our 75th episode of The Power Transformation Podcast, we're not just popping the champagne but we're honoring the journey of transformation of Heather Allmendinger, certified Period Awareness and Cyclical Living Coach and host of the Embracing Flow podcast. Heather is a beacon of resilience who's navigated the twists and turns of menstrual health and fertility, for her story isn't just hers but rather it's a mirror reflecting the often untold struggles of early-onset periods and the emotional odyssey of conception faced by many.
This episode is a symphony, with each note played by the intricate harmonies of women's hormones and cycles. We unpack the misunderstood challenges of the menstrual experience - from puberty to menopause - and the importance of ovulation, moving beyond the myths that cloud our understanding. Heather's insights into the delicate dance of cortisol and our 'hormone symphony' hit all the right chords, offering a fresh perspective on managing stress and its affect on our well-being.
Whether you're in the throes of hormonal flux or simply seeking to support the women in your life, this conversation is a testament to the power of knowledge and compassion. Join us as we continue to transform - one powerful story at a time.
Connect with Heather:
Episode 75's Affirmation:
I take care of my body and its health, because it is one of the most precious gifts I will ever receive.
Click here to connect with Alethea Felton!
CALL TO ACTION:
STEP 1: Subscribe now to The Power Transformation Podcast so you don't miss an episode! New episodes are released every Wednesday and it is on ALL podcast platforms.
STEP 2: Then, leave a rating and write review on Apple Podcasts, and then share with as many people as you know. I absolutely love reading your feedback, and the reviews help others find my podcast.
NOTE: Your feedback helps me be of greater service to you so please subscribe, rate, and review.
Thanks for being a part of The Power Transformation Podcast community!
Hey y'all, I am Alethea Felton, host of the Power Transformation Podcast, and I have a special announcement before we dive into this episode. This marks 75 episodes for the Power Transformation Podcast, and I am so excited. It is because of listeners like you that I have had the opportunity to share 75 episodes with you. Oh, my goodness, let's keep the Power Transformation Podcast movement going. So follow and subscribe. I am so thrilled and excited to have our guest today and you will hear more about her soon. But again, from the very bottom of my heart, thank you 75 episodes for the Power Transformation Podcast, ranked in the top 5% of all podcasts globally. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Have you ever faced a challenge that seemed hopeless? Yet you think that you have the power to change your life for the better, no matter the obstacles you face. Well, if so, then you're in the right place. I'm your host, Alethea Felton, and welcome to The Power Transformation Podcast, where we explore the incredible true stories of people who have overcome adversity and created meaningful lives. So prepare to be inspired, equipped and empowered, For the time is now to create your power transformation. Hey y'all, I am so glad that you have joined me for another episode of the Power Transformation Podcast. Thank you for being here with me and for all of you who have been with me since the beginning of this podcast or early on. I thank you sincerely for your support and for all of you who are new to this podcast and new subscribers. I truly value and appreciate you as well, and I welcome you on this power transformation journey. If you are listening for the first time and if you have not yet followed or subscribed, go ahead and do that. It's absolutely free, but the benefits are lasting because you are now a part of the power transformation community.
Alethea Felton:And what a guest we have today. This is definitely a topic that is different, yet so empowering and that's what I love and she has a story and a journey to tell herself. So we're gonna jump right into this interview and, as customary, we always begin and end the Power Transformation Podcast with an affirmation that helps us to retrain, reset, rejuvenate our thinking and our mind and our perceptions of ourselves in a good, positive and healthy way. So I will say it once and you repeat it I take care of my body and its health because it is one of the most precious gifts I will ever receive. I am so excited today to have such an expert and when I tell you she is an expert in an area that I wouldn't have even thought of.
Alethea Felton:She is, and I think that's what makes her so much more powerful and important to our discussion today and she has such a transformation journey of what led her to be who she is today, and that is none other than Heather Allmendinger, who is a certified health coach. And Heather is also a period and cyclical living coach, fertility awareness educator and y'all. She's also a podcaster. So I have a podcast host here for a top podcast that's called Embracing Flow, and there is so much more she's going to say about herself. But, heather, welcome to the Power Transformation Podcast.
Heather Allmendinger:Thank you, Alethea. It is my pleasure being here. I am just I don't always have the words to explain, that's okay, where I'm at with my excitement being here. I am just I don't always have the words to explain, that's okay, where I'm at with my excitement being here.
Alethea Felton:Oh, thank you, thank you, and it is truly an honor having you. And let's just break the ice. It's a fun question, random question that I ask guests and it can be any question, nothing that's going to make you uncomfortable, but just something lighthearted. And my question for you, heather, is do you believe in life or existence on other planets or galaxies, and why or why not?
Heather Allmendinger:why or why not? For me, anything is possible. We don't know. We do not have the science to prove or disprove my belief is there's things that we just do not understand quite yet. Our brains cannot wrap itself around it. So the possibility is there. If it is great. If it isn't, you know what? That's okay too.
Alethea Felton:Yeah, exactly, exactly, and I guess just an expanded question of that. Do you like anything pertaining to science fiction, like Twilight Zone, star Trek, star Wars, or are you more of a different type of a genre, movie or book person?
Heather Allmendinger:I've seen the Star Wars movies. I've watched Star Trek. My favorite episode is with the Tribbles, because I just think they are so stinking cute, those little balls of fluff that just cause trouble. Yeah, do I call myself a trekkie? Absolutely not. Do I call myself a star wars fan? Absolutely not. Um, I will watch it for entertainment purposes. Some of it's like okay, that's really cool that they came up with that. Uh, some of it some of the movies that I've seen that's more of a science fiction are coming true.
Heather Allmendinger:So I don't know where they came up with this stuff in their heads.
Alethea Felton:Isn't that wild? Yeah, exactly.
Heather Allmendinger:It is absolutely phenomenal and wild at the same time. But I wouldn't exactly call myself a sci-fi fan. I will watch different things, sci-fi I guess sci-fi you can also put in paranormal that I'm a little bit more interested in, a little bit more curious about. And we'll watch more shows of ghost hunters, ghost adventures, the dead files, heather hold on.
Alethea Felton:I am not joking here and I don't mean to cut you off, but I am so serious I was either going. There were two possible questions I was going to ask you right, and the second question that I tossed back and forth with was I was going to ask you if you believe in ghosts and paranormal, but I don't know how how people always take that, so it's ironic. You would bring it up and I know that we could talk about this forever, but wow, the question I had in the back of my head actually got answered.
Heather Allmendinger:So yes, and the reason I do believe in that is because I have activity in my home.
Alethea Felton:Ah, I could have a different episode.
Heather Allmendinger:I've had unusual scents that stay in different parts of my house that are connected to my late father-in-law, who owned this property before I did Unexplained things in my car that science cannot explain. We were listening, just quickly. We were listening to a song that my son made a playlist with my late husband's pod, um, ipod. He had a whole bunch of different songs. My son made a list of songs that he liked. He was about six or he was nine, ten years old. We're listening to a song.
Heather Allmendinger:Halfway through a song I forget what song it was it stopped and switched to the middle of another song that was in the ipod, was not on the playlist, was not in alphabetical order of the playlist. I have no idea how this song got onto this ipod or how got to be played. I was not touching the controls on the radio, it just switched and I was like, okay, science cannot explain this, I cannot explain this. So, yes, I've, I've experienced that type of activity in my home, in my car. Um, so yes, that I believe oh, I can that I can stand by, yeah.
Alethea Felton:That's so well. Hey, thank you for answering that, because I went back and forth like which question do I ask her? So that's pretty cool and thank you for the insight. And as a former educator, I always find connections in everything. So people are like why is she always asking these random questions? Well, I always find different connections and the sci-fi things, even supernatural events. Is she always asking these random questions? Well, I always find different connections and the sci-fi things, even supernatural events. The human body is such a complex machine and so the connection is even with us as human beings and all of the inner workings of our body. You have such a specific niche, such a specific area that you explore, and so I want to transition now, while we know a little bit about you, from that aspect. If you were to describe who you are, heather, who would you say? Heather Allmendinger is?
Heather Allmendinger:That's one of those questions that's right up there with how would other people describe you? For me, I see myself as an open-minded individual that wants to understand other people's perspectives. Take science, trusted science not necessarily experts, because I've had experts steer wrong in situations that I've experienced personally. But it's taking science, taking knowledge, taking experience and making my own thought process, and if I find another avenue that comes in that changes my perspective which has happened many times, because that's how we grow we get a little bit uncomfortable, we find new information and our perspectives change. But there's that aspect, there's the open-mindedness there's.
Heather Allmendinger:I've started coming into the fact understanding more of energy flow and how energy flows in and out. Energy does not stop. Energy flows from one person to another. Everything is made of some sort of energy. Uh so, but I'm a compassionate individual. I am a very passionate about my niche and about what I teach and about what I do. Um, I'm also. My mother calls me the queen of lemonade, and she calls me that because I have been tossed a lot of lemons in my short life.
Heather Allmendinger:And I find the silver lining. I worked in childcare and I was going for an early childhood education degree and they said try and find the positive in all your children. And I had a child that nobody really liked and I just poured into this. He was three years old at the time. His parents were going through a nasty divorce and I just poured love into this child and I found the positives and that child just soaked up that love that I was giving to him and it completely changed his behaviors.
Heather Allmendinger:When I saw him doing great things, I would tell him thank you for doing that. That was very nice that you helped your friend pick up their toy, where in other instances he would have hit his friend with that toy and just pouring love, pouring compassion. Seeing the silver lining, I try and find that in every situation that I'm in good, bad, good, bad I actually have a tattoo on my arm that is of scripture that reminds me to rejoice, pray and give thanks in all things not for all things, because even in our darkest storms there is something to be grateful for.
Alethea Felton:Wow, and that's perfectly said. In terms of that, I live by that motto as well, in carrying scripture in my heart to keep me going and moving forward. And the light that you exude, heather, is something that I know that the people with whom you work and your clients also see, and so that takes us along this path in terms of, yes, you're a certified health coach, but more specifically, it's the fact, heather, with you being a period and cyclical living coach. Heather, what exactly is that and what do you do in that area?
Heather Allmendinger:I teach female athletes and high achievers how to elevate their performance using their superpower of their menstrual cycle Superpower yes, our menstrual cycle is a superpower. It is linked to all 11 body systems.
Heather Allmendinger:It is linked to how your hair grows. It is linked to all 11 body systems. It is linked to how your hair grows. It is linked to how your skin looks. It is linked to how your nails show up. It is linked to our heart, our thyroid, our liver, our kidneys, our blood, our bones. It is not just for creating babies and population. It is connected to all of us. We are creators and so it is connected to all of us.
Heather Allmendinger:So there's understanding how our body works, understanding how the cycle works within our body when different hormones go high, low, why you might be experiencing different PMS symptoms, why you may be missing a period, why you might be having heavy, painful periods kind of what's going on inside the body, how teens when they first start their cycles, how that is connected to health issues later on in life that can lead to difficulty with getting pregnant, that can lead to missing periods. I mean it is connected to us. It is an outward sign of our inner health and even when we become wise women, when we are no longer menstruating, we still have a cycle. And just understanding energy as I mentioned earlier how that energy cycle works once we no longer have that outward sign of menstruation.
Alethea Felton:Wow. So, heather, let's go back now a bit and dig a little deeper. In terms of you, this isn't just something that you wake up one day and say, oh, this is what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. There's got to be a journey and a story behind that. So, heather, take us to what led you down this path and saying you wanted to help women in this area.
Heather Allmendinger:I got my first period at 10. Oh, wow, I was young. I was young. My cousin was nine. We were very early bloomers.
Heather Allmendinger:My grandmother, my paternal grandmother, actually sat me down. She's a Mennonite. She was a Mennonite woman, grew up Mennonite, sat me down, saw the changes in me and said this is what's going to happen to your body around. Saw the changes in me and said this is what's going to happen to your body. Okay, grandma went about my my days. A week later I got my period. I'm like okay, that's what she was talking about.
Heather Allmendinger:I hated my cycle. I had those painful cycles. I had those naughty zating cycles. My mother would get a phone call every month. Heather's in the nurse's office vomiting. Can you come pick her up? And she be like no, give her tylen, send her back to class. She just got her period. I dealt with that. I didn't understand my cycle. My first pregnancy was oh shoot, I'm pregnant. My second pregnancy was 14 months of trying. I had secondary infertility, didn't know what was going wrong. Everything was perfectly fine. Con um conceived. My second son had gestational diabetes and all that led to at one point I was um.
Heather Allmendinger:I was in the corporate world for a majority of my life and something was telling me you need to. It's time to end your corporate career and do something different. And I was using products, absolutely loved them. They have a financial opportunity attached to them. But I was like I am not a product seller. I want to know more about what these products can do other than what people are telling me. Above, my team leaders are telling me that they can do. I want to learn how the body works. So that's when I went back to be a certified health coach, became a certified health coach three certifications, one in family so I can work with those that are just trying just starting their families how to get their kids to eat good foods, how to incorporate good foods into their system, into their lifestyles, how to incorporate good foods into their system, into their lifestyles. Seniors, for those that are going into their golden years and want to be active, and how do they get rid of different things.
Heather Allmendinger:And pregnancy Loved the pregnancy piece because I understood what it was like to have a horrible pregnancy, a good one and a bad one, and not necessarily bad, but challenging, okay, challenging pregnancy. With my second one, I was 38. So I was a quote geriatric mother, so understand that I did not like that title. I'm like I'm not freaking 70 years old, why do I have geriatric attached to this? But I was working with a mentor and she said Heather, you have so much valuable information that you share. Would you be open to going into the trying to conceive world and talking to those that are trying to conceive, give them so much value so that way when they do become pregnant, they may consider you as your coach because you gave them so much information for free while they were trying to conceive?
Heather Allmendinger:That's when I dug into the rabbit hole. I went into that trying to conceive world, realized we don't know what an OPK is, an ovulation predictor kit. There are so many individuals that are like how did you confirm ovulation? Well, I took an ovulation predictor kit. There are so many individuals that are like how did you confirm ovulation? Well, I took an ovulation predictor kit.
Heather Allmendinger:An ovulation predictor kit is exactly what it is. It's predicting ovulation. It's not confirming ovulation. There's only a few ways to confirm ovulation and if you don't know when you're ovulating, you can't time the conception correctly, because our eggs only live after ovulation. Once an egg is ovulated, it is only alive for 12 to 24 hours. Once that 24 hours is up, one of my clients called it the diva girl Once that diva is out for 24 hours, she goes behind closed doors and she is gone. There is no access to her at all after 24 hours. So if you miss that ovulation window and it is a tiny window you miss it, you're out that cycle. So ovulation is extremely important to understand when it is.
Heather Allmendinger:But then I was also getting the. I took a pregnancy test at eight days post ovulation and I'm getting a negative. I'm out for this month. If you look at how the body works, it takes four to five days for that diva to travel the fallopian tubes to get to the uterus. It takes another day or so to implant into the uterus uterine lining that plush uterine lining, and then, once it does that, then the hormone that pregnancy tests pick up starts to be produced and a negative pregnancy test or a negative pregnancy is under 5-HCG. Our bodies are usually at one, if not under one, hcg doubles every 48 to 72 hours. Okay, so you need to wait almost seven days for a pregnancy test to even pick up the HCG that your body's making. The most sensitive pregnancy test I came across HCG of six, which is very rare to find and it's extremely expensive.
Heather Allmendinger:Next one is 12. So it's you've got to know when you ovulate it to be able to really take that test. I know that there's the clear blue easy that says can give you a positive test within six days of your period. If you look at the fine print, it's only 76% accurate. So even if you get a negative before your period, that doesn't mean you're out for that month for those that are trying to conceive. And if you get a negative and you're still six days from your period, that doesn't mean that you aren't pregnant. You could still get a positive in another day or so. It was just too low for that test to register as positive.
Alethea Felton:And so, heather, the question I have for you is is while you knew you were going down this path, was there something, though, that really struck you to say this is really a need? And there is one. But did you have some type of aha moment where you said people really need help in this area? And it wasn't taking away, of course, from OBGYNs, things of that nature but as a coach, coaching, as we know, although we have different niches, we're both coaches. Coaching is a really specified type of craft. It's not therapy, it's not counseling. We aren't medical doctors, but as coaches, we support, we get our clients and people to really learn more in depth about themselves, to come up with the answers that they need. So what was it specifically? I know how someone said yeah, I think you should do X, y and Z, but your years of experiences, the things that you encountered, was there some aha where you said you know what I've got to really do this, and what was that?
Heather Allmendinger:What really got me to really stick into this niche and dive super deep down that rabbit hole was I got into the period coaching school and I had somebody. There was a post that said about working with teens and I realized, thinking back as a teenager, we weren't taught about their body. We were given that little class where the boys were pulled over in one class and we were pulled in and we were just told this is going to happen here a tampon here's, here's a hygienic pad.
Heather Allmendinger:This is what's going to happen. I didn't know why I was having those heavy periods and there was a course that was mentioned to work with to learn fertility awareness, and part of that was working with teens. And when I went in and I started learning about it in that course was where I found out that our periods one, our first period is not the beginning of puberty. It's not no. The first period is about two years after puberty starts. Okay, so in moms looking at their daughters, parents looking at their children, you start seeing breast buds develop long before the first period arrives. Oh, yes, true, okay, true, okay.
Alethea Felton:I understand the hair starts getting darker.
Heather Allmendinger:The hormones are already starting to ramp up. But the thing that really really hit home to me was that our periods as teens can indicate health issues later in life. Our periods really are an outward sign of our inner health. As a child develops through puberty, cycles get regular. If it's irregular after 12 months, really start keeping an eye out on it. If they're experiencing heavy periods, that's an indication that something the hormones are off If they're having those heavy cycle. Just so many things. I don't want others to go through what I went through and I hear the same story. I hear a lot of the same stories I did. My periods were horrible. They're painful, they're nauseating or they're skipping periods.
Alethea Felton:Either skipping or even something I know is we really shouldn't, as women or girls, really be having very long periods either, and so sometimes people who are bleeding over a week that's real, it really shouldn't be long, and so you know. That's also a clear sign that something's off too.
Heather Allmendinger:Yes, A healthy period. And I say healthy, although healthy means all the hormones are working as they should, or as they're designed.
Heather Allmendinger:I don't like using the word should. Um, as they're designed is three to seven days, yes, and with that only one to two of medium bleed. Which medium bleed, in the definition that was given to me and that I use with my clients and anybody I talk to, is three to four product changes a day, only one to two days of that, or one to two days of heavy bleeding, which is five or more products a day, a product change within an hour of changing a product, or you have to change your product overnight. I know, with period underwear that's going to make it a little bit more challenging, mm-hmm, but that's a heavy period If it's over two days of heavy bleeding, if it's over seven days, if it's under three days without those medium to heavy, it can be considered an unhealthy cycle. Unhealthy period, which means the symphony of the hormones involved. Something was off, and it's not just two hormones. There are 50 known hormones in the body. 12 of them are directly related to our menstrual cycle.
Heather Allmendinger:And those 12 are also connected to our blood pressure, our blood vessels, our brain health, our heart health. Estrogen is a growth hormone but it's also used in our blood vessels to dilate them, make them larger. It's also used for blood clotting larger. It's also used for blood clotting. Progesterone is really only made when we ovulate Pre-puberty and after menopause. Progesterone is made by the adrenal glands in a very small amount, but during our reproductive years, during our period years, it is made primarily by the ovaries, after ovulation by the corpus luteum.
Heather Allmendinger:If we don't have that progesterone, it can affect our brain because that progesterone is our calming hormone. It calms down the anxiety that estrogen may be putting into our system. Estrogen increases breast tissue. Progesterone normalizes that breast tissue. Estrogen grows bones and helps heal bones where progesterone maintains that bone health. Progesterone decreases that blood vessel dilation. It decreases that blood clotting ability. It decreases that blood clotting ability. So it's understanding if with estrogen, high estrogen can give you high anxiety. High progesterone can give you depression. So by understanding and those are just two of the hormones- you add cortisol in there, which is that fight or flight hormone, that cortisol loves estrogen and they love to store fat.
Heather Allmendinger:You add insulin into that. Insulin plays a part with estrogen and progesterone. Um, not even mentioning the luteinizing hormone, which is what causes ovulation to happen. There's the follicle stimulating hormone, which is what sets off our the beginning of our our cycle. Every month. We need that to develop follicles in our ovaries, for one of them to ovulate. There are just I know this is a lot of science. There's a lot, it is a symphony inside our body with these hormones.
Alethea Felton:And, Heather, I'm glad that you're mentioning this and for any listeners who are saying this is really, really technical, well, it's very informative and the whole thing is, you know, part of the transformations that all of us experience and I do have male listeners too all of us experience, and I do have male listeners too, and I know that this episode specifically isn't necessarily for them. But men also have hormones and the way men's bodies work and changes, and whenever we even say that men have midlife crises, a lot all of that is still connected to hormones and women going through the change, et cetera. But I say that because, Heather, what you do really does empower women, young girls, to really take ownership of their bodies, to know who they are and when we experience hormonal changes, whether we are still having our periods or whether we're not still having them the fact of the matter is is that when we can be fully aware of how our body works, it can make a lot of difference. And this is where I want to transition into asking this. You shared something with me when we first met and it's something that you said you are comfortable talking about. You can take it any way that you want, but the question I'm going to ask is life change.
Alethea Felton:How do life changes affect women or girls? And what I mean by that are difficult, challenging life changes, from stress to grief, to unexpected things. What has been an experience or two of yours where it seemed like everything was under control, you had finally had things kind of going right. Then life hit hard. How did it affect you, possibly your cycles, and how do you help give women the strength they need to still be in control of their bodies even when life can hit them really, really hard?
Heather Allmendinger:Yes, I did have. I've had several situations where I was, I was knocked on my backside unexpectedly with a dump truck, let's just put it that way and with that, at the point that this happened to me, I did not understand my cycle. Yeah, oh, okay, I see. Yeah, I didn't understand it. I was kind of paying attention to it, but not really. Now I know what that situation could have done and what may have been doing to my cycle.
Heather Allmendinger:Stress we are under a lot of chronic stress. So self-care I know that's a big thing, self-care isn't selfish, it's not. We need that in order to reduce the cortisol levels in our bodies Because, as I said earlier, cortisol can mess up our hormone symphony. Cortisol is made from progenolone, which is a chemical that is, from cholesterol. So fat for the female body is needed. Healthy fat Avocado oil, olive oil, olive oil, coconut oil, um salmon those are considered good fats. Fats from animals so butter, lard, those are considered good fats because our body knows what to do with them. Those fats change toolesterol is used to make progesterone. Progesterone is made to use to make cortisol, progesterone, estrogen and testosterone. We have high cortisol. It's going to take away from the estrogen. It's going to take away from the progesterone and it's going to mess up our cycles. So we may have heavy cycles, we may have painful cycles because our estrogen is high, we may have missing cycles because our hormones aren't working correctly, because they're missing different aspects. So it can really mess up what our body needs to do. Yeah, how to kind of get back into a regulated cycle.
Heather Allmendinger:One is knowing your body. It is really knowing your body. I know that there's the big mantra my body, my choice. And I ask when I hear that and I run into people, I ask them do you really know your body? And they look at me and go well, what do you mean? I'm like do you know how long your cycles are? Do you know if you're ovulating? Do you know just different things that we can know? Our body tells us where we are in our cycles and what's going on. We don't always need the emergency contraception because we know what our fertile window is. We know that that diva is only available 12 to 24 hours. We know sperm can live five to seven, up to seven days tops. Usually it's one to three in our uterus If we have the correct cervical mucus. If we don't, our cervical mucus kills the sperm and the sperm don't survive so we can't get pregnant. So it's understanding that aspect. It's understanding that medication isn't always needed. It's just tuning in to your body and understanding what's going on in to your body. And understanding what's going on.
Heather Allmendinger:Now that I know all this, I can see when I have stressful months because my cycle tells me hey, I had a painful cycle this month. I'm like, all right, let me look back at the past 25 days because my cycle has changed. I went from a 28 day cycle it's now 23 to 25 days. Okay, I'm in my mid forties, so I know the transition is coming. I know I'm in perimenopause because of my cycle change and how my menstruation has changed. But it's. I had a heavy cycle, which is unusual. Usually I get it. I'm like, okay, yep, I knew it was going to arrive. Today it was a little bit more painful. I'm like, looking back, okay, what did I do over the last 25 days? Was I eating a lot of fast food? Was I eating a lot of processed food?
Heather Allmendinger:Was I drinking more alcohol than I normally do? Was I taking my vitamins the way I was supposed to? And I looked and I'm like you know what I cut out a lot of the processed foods, even more so than I normally do. But I was a lot more stressed. I was like, okay, I need to put more self-care back into my routine. And so in a few days, in a few weeks, I'll see did I take care of my body and you can make that change within one cycle.
Alethea Felton:I did it.
Heather Allmendinger:I went from having, like I said, those painful, nauseating periods with high anxiety. I thought I was going to get fired every single month. I thought people didn't like me every single month To. Actually, I was on chronic antidepressant medication for 10 years. I no longer take it because I realized that that medication was only really needed close to my period. My hormones were out of balance. I balanced things and I don't take my medicine anymore If I'm noticing anxiety or depression.
Heather Allmendinger:I'm like. I don't take my medicine anymore. If I'm noticing anxiety or depression. I'm like okay, what's going on in my life? What's going on in my body? All right, anxiety, estrogen is a little behind. Let me add a little bit of fiber to my, my diet or my lifestyle. I try not to use it. We're dyed it either. Because it's not. It's not a short term thing. This is a long-term lifestyle change and way of living. So it's by understanding really understanding your body and listening, and sometimes you do have to learn the language your body's speaking, because my body speaks a different language than yours might be speaking to you.
Alethea Felton:Exactly, and I think, too, it's important that, along with having someone like you as a coach, it's also important for women to regularly see our gynecologist to also make sure that that medically, health wise, things are going well when we're going through those changes, so getting our annual pap smears and checks and things of that nature also. Now, while a lot of your focus is on really helping women understand cycles, fertility et cetera you said earlier too is that cycles still happen, even when you're not necessarily bleeding or still have your period and our time is coming to a close here. But speak a bit more directly. To say, women who have already gone through menopause and yet still have hormone issues and still have changes there, what do you say to them to help empower them to say, hey, you're not losing your mind, this is still you as a woman? What do you say to those women who, yeah, I don't have the period problem, but I still feel kind of off, I still feel kind of funny? What do you say to them?
Heather Allmendinger:I get a lot of individuals that say I still have the hot flashes and yes, even you can have. I've spoken to women who are in their 90s and still have hot flashes. Oh, so and really. I didn't know they lasted.
Heather Allmendinger:Yes they can because of what's going on in your body. It's what you're feeding your body or what you're not feeding your body, what your body's missing, but it's understanding that you are energy and energy is connected. I use the moon cycle. I asked them are there days that you have low energy? Yes, are there other days that you can. You have a long to-do list and it is clicked off by lunchtime and they're like yes, I said okay.
Heather Allmendinger:When you're low on energy, you're in your new moon phase. You're in. If you look at the moon, there's no moon, it's dark. When you're in your high energy phase, that's your full moon phase. And in between, the new moon phase is when you're in menstruation. Full moon phase is when you're in ovulation and then there's the two phases, the waning and the waxing. So it's the energy that you feel and harnessing the power of that energy and utilizing it and scheduling your day, weeks and months and year around where your energy lies. I need a rest, take a rest. You can actually schedule naps into your month. You can schedule a vacation every single month and know when it is. You want to snuggle with your kids, with your grandkids. You'll know when to snuggle, when is a great time in your cycle whether moon cycle or menstruation cycle when to snuggle with your kids, versus when you're going to want to go out to the playground and have a play date with your kids, or go out with the girls for a weekend away and just live it up.
Alethea Felton:And also Heather. I failed to ask you this earlier because I know what it is, but you've used the term moon cycle a lot for a listener who does not know what that is, because there could be a woman who has no clue what it means. Could you briefly explain what that is?
Heather Allmendinger:And I'm sorry.
Heather Allmendinger:I didn't ask you earlier. No, it's okay. The average menstrual cycle is 28 days. The moon cycle in the sky the moon that's in the sky, that's right, is 28 days and our cycles are linked to that moon. Yes, they are. So if you and I have people like so, if right now we are in the waning moon because we just had the full moon a few days ago, if your energy is starting to decrease, then you might be in. If your energy was really high on Friday, saturday, sunday, thursday, maybe till Monday, you might be in line with the full moon. If you were menstruating like me. I'm in the opposite. I was in the new moon, but it's internally. But you can use the descriptions that are part of the new moon the full moon, the waning moon and the waxing moon to your energy level. So you know internally what your moon schedule is versus what's in the sky. So you know internally what your moon schedule is versus what's in the sky.
Heather Allmendinger:It's still a moon cycle. You can still learn from it. At one point I was linked up to the moon and usually around 34, 35, 36 years old is when it flips for us. So I was menstruating on new moon. I was ovulating around full moon. Now I'm opposite. Now I'm menstruating on new moon. I was ovulating around full moon. Now I'm opposite. Now I'm menstruating at full moon and ovulating at new moon, but internally it's new moon in the sky. So it's looking at the energies of the different phases of the moon, finding out where you are internally in your moon and working with that. And that's all part of cyclical living what to eat, what activities to do. Your sense All of your senses change throughout each phase of your cycle, whether you're menstruating or not, and understanding what your body needs during each phase is how you live in cyclical living. Mm-hmm.
Alethea Felton:And gosh. I could go on and on and on about this, but I do have to wrap up soon, but before that, I do know that you give a lot of education as well as different topics on your podcast, Embracing Flow. So if you could speak to that, tell us what exactly is Embracing Flow. But more importantly, Heather, please share specifically how listeners can also follow and support you with your podcast.
Heather Allmendinger:Embracing Flow is on Apple Podcasts. It is now on Spotify as well. It was just recently released on Spotify. Embracing Flow is all about our flow in life but it focuses on the menstrual cycle. I've had trauma coaches. I've had the menopause guru, jean-andreus, on there. She talks about how her situation with menopause and so if you're in that stage, please check out episode one and episode definitely. Episode nine is where she really really dives into what happened with her Metabolic coaches relationship coaches. If you're going through a relationship, how are at the end of a relationship whether it's a partner, a job going through that grief. Sarah was absolutely phenomenal. So we talk about that.
Heather Allmendinger:I have authors. There was an author who wrote about it's called in the name of the pill, michael gaskins. He tells about the the dark side of hormonal birth control, um, and that one is hormonal birth control, uh, liberation or liability, and how that has shaped our current world. And what we're not told about hormonal birth control uh, I had on a world class or a world record setter, um on the podcast who spoke about athletes and how she didn't know about her. She didn't take into consideration her cycle. She still became a world athlete, world record setter, athlete, um, but how she wishes she knew more about it.
Alethea Felton:Wow, it's diverse Very diverse.
Heather Allmendinger:I'm going to be releasing next week or here in March an anxiety support coach and she gives things to help decode your teen. So these are some things that we talk about. On Bracing Flow it covers the menstruation, but it also covers other things. I want to talk with naturopaths.
Heather Allmendinger:I want to talk to others that are dealing with stress pelvic floor. Everything that has to do with our body is involved with our periods. That's right. So if it has to do with our body, we're going to be talking about it. And I did have an author on whose father. He asked his father about miscarriage.
Heather Allmendinger:He saw a Twilight Zone or a Doctor who episode and it prompted the question on miscarriage and he asked why are there 10 years between my brother and I and it was a really neat recollection of a conversation a 10 year old had with his father. So, yeah, we cover a lot of topics. You can find Embracing Flow, like I said, on Apple or Spotify. I can be found on Facebook, LinkedIn. Instagram are my three big ones.
Alethea Felton:Perfect and I will definitely put the links for all of your contact. But for my listeners, I am of the mindset, and just of the belief, that God has enough blessings and abundance for everybody and that we don't need to be selfish with anything and hold others back. I truly believe in paying it forward, not even to get anything in return, but it's just the right thing to do, and I think nowadays people just need to do the right thing, just do the right thing. Spike Lee had a movie years ago called Do the Right Thing. We just need to do the right thing by each other.
Alethea Felton:So I say that to say just support the podcast, pass it on this issue that Heather has brought before us. Oh, my goodness, for people who might not know, this is a major issue in more ways than one. I, of course, live with autoimmune illnesses. I have been blessed where I haven't had a lot of reproductive issues in my teens and stuff like that yeah, because I got my cycle late, things of that nature but thankfully, for at least the last 20 years, things have been pretty great on my end in that area. However, the amount of people I know I know so many women who have had problems, issues in their cycles, with just reproduction. This is a major issue, and Heather and I could talk about this for days on end, not even talking about the not discrepancies, but even amongst races about the healthcare industry and all of that. I know that we could go on and on and on.
Alethea Felton:So I say that to please follow her podcast, give it a five-star rating, share it, because for us as podcasters, the more follows we get, the more downloads we get, the more ratings we get, the more popular our podcast become, and it's about getting the message out. So please support that. Heather. As a closing question, I'd like to ask you this it's a two-part question, so answer them whichever way. The first thing is let us know of any upcoming events you have say coming in the spring, perhaps, if you have any events, things of that nature. And then the closing question is Heather, how has the work you've done transformed your life?
Heather Allmendinger:has the work you've done transformed your life? I am working on a journal that is going to be coming out in March. That is for athletes or high achievers. That explains a little bit about the cycle stress mindset. But you can track every day your cycle. You can track every day what you do so that way you can see how your body is working correctly so you can elevate your performance. I'm working on a book that will hopefully come out in the spring, a full book. It is extremely exciting I was hoping to launch my teen program that I would go into teens and explain what's going on in their body.
Heather Allmendinger:Fortunately, that's probably going to be later in the fall, so I'm going to be putting a wait list up for that one. So that are just some things that are coming up and coming down the pike. I do have programs. I have a 12-week program for those that you will learn fertility awareness, so you will really take a deep dive into your cycle. But you will also learn nutrition and you will also learn cyclical living in 12 weeks. And, if that's not your jam, if you just want a quick, brief overview, there is a three-week course that is available that we quickly go through Not quickly, but you get an idea on what fertility awareness is, as well as how nutrition affects our bodies and how to kind of pair it with cyclical living.
Alethea Felton:Real quick. What's your website? If you could spell it out, because everybody doesn't necessarily go to the show notes. Absolutely.
Heather Allmendinger:My website. My company is Vividus. It's the full of life company. Vividus is Latin for full of life, so to find that it's wwwv-i-v-y-d-u-scom. So you can find information on vividuscom. And if you miss the spelling, it is there in the show notes, but you can go there. You can see my programs, you can see the link to the Embracing Flow podcast, you can see more about me and my story. But that's where you can find a lot of information. And I forgot your second question.
Alethea Felton:Yeah, don't you worry, girl, I got you covered. I was going to ask you again closing question Heather, how has this work that you're doing transformed your life?
Heather Allmendinger:For a majority of my life. I was embarrassed to take period products to a cashier that was male. I was embarrassed at having a period I was. I hated it. I wanted it gone. I was in a situation that I could have had a hysterectomy and my body said no, and that's when. That's. It was just in that timeframe where I wasn't on hormonal birth control, I had a medical procedure done and I had to get rechecked in six months and if the condition came back, I could have had a hysterectomy.
Heather Allmendinger:So, I stayed off hormonal birth control and that's where I really balanced out my hormones. Because of that situation, my life completely changed, because that's another part that got me diving into periods and menstrual cycles and how to fix them, how to understand them. I'm not here to try and fix them, I'm here to teach those to understand them. And I found out that PMS is common. Pms is not normal, it is atypical. If you have PMS, your body's telling you something's wrong and you've heard me say plenty of times no period or heavy, painful periods is your body telling you something's not right. So it's. That has drastically changed my life to the point where I don't care if it's a male cashier.
Heather Allmendinger:At this point I will take my I'm. I'm proud to be menstruating. I am proud that I still have the ability to menstruate and that I do, and I have no problem standing on the rooftops. I am this passionate about sharing how vital our periods are to our bodies. We need them. It is not. It is as important as blood pressure, weight, all the things that we go to the doctor and they check us. Our periods are just as important as those are. Unfortunately, we've been told that they're not they. It is our super power. When you harness that superpower, your, your mind frame switches, your body switches. It is amazing what we are capable of doing. Even if becoming a parent or childbearing is not something we choose to do, we still have that superpower that we can harness and use.
Alethea Felton:Wow. Thank you, Heather. This has been a delight. I've learned so much. I'm so glad that we got connected and we are definitely going to keep in touch. Please keep me posted as to when your book will come out, because I would love to share that along as well with my guests. But it has been an honor having you on the Power Transformation podcast. Thank you so much.
Heather Allmendinger:Oh, it has been my pleasure being on your podcast, alethea. Thank you so much for the invitation, of course.
Alethea Felton:I am so thrilled to have had Heather here as the guest for the 75th episode of the Power Transformation Podcast, and Heather shared some amazing news with me after this recording, and it is that the Dominate your Sport journal is now available in hardcover and paperback. It has been released that is her book, the Dominate your Sport journal, and y'all, it hit number one new release on Amazon, excuse me, and it's a bestseller, so I'm going to include the link in the show notes, but you can get it from Amazon the Dominate your Sport journal. And please connect with Heather as well, and she is so amazing and so informative, so please connect with her. All of her details are in the show notes. And again, thank you for 75 episodes. I am so excited and we're going to keep it going, to have 75 more and another 75 after that, and so on and so forth.
Alethea Felton:Let's go ahead and close out with our affirmation. I will say the affirmation once and you repeat it I take care of my body and its health, because it is one of the most precious gifts I will ever receive. If you enjoyed today's show, then you don't want to miss an episode, so follow the Power Transformation Podcast on Apple Podcasts, spotify or wherever you usually listen, and remember to rate and review. I also invite you to connect with me on social media at Alethea Felton, that's at A-L-E-T-H-E-A-F-E-L-T-O-N. Until next time, remember to be good to yourself and to others.