By Mariah Mansvelt Beck, co-founder of Yoni
Hana & Hormones
Hana Ilg is an expert on everything related to female hormones and the menstrual cycle. She is a doula, which is someone who next to a midwife provides physical, emotional and informational support to women before, during and shortly after childbirth to help them achieve the healthiest, most satisfying experience possible. Hana is also an expert on the Fertility Awareness Method, one of the natural alternatives to birth control. She runs courses on this Method as well as a course on how to live more in line with your menstrual cycle.
In this podcast episode Hana speaks in depth on how the hormones fluctuate throughout the menstrual cycle. She discusses the different options in birth control including how the Fertility Awareness Method works. She also touches upon the why behind things like period shits (yes, they are a thing!), hot flashes and how our foods can play a role in our hormonal fluctuations.
A few things I’ve learned from this podcast as well as from my conversation following the podcast, which you can find on Yoni’s Instagram:
- I learned that the Fertility Awareness Method is 99.4% effective – the pill being 99.6% and condemns around 98% – if you put in the work. I’ve tracked my period with my favorite period app Clue for years but now see the benefit of tracking your temperature and changes in cervical fluid on a daily basis to allow you to know exactly when you are in your cycle. This can obviously be used to help you achieve or avoid pregnancy. But is also a great tool to understand where you exactly are in your cycle so that you can start to make adjustments depending on the phase.
- I wasn’t fully aware how the liver plays an important role in filtering out excess hormones. This allows us to achieve the rise and fall of our hormones as seen in the below graph and to which Hana speaks to in detail in the podcast. This is why we want to avoid pesticides as well as processed foods and eat sugars, alcohol and caffeine in moderation. These all stress our liver, which can lead to an imbalance of our hormones.
- During our Instagram interview Hana also shares that the next step after reviewing our diet, is to become aware of the chemicals we may be ingesting from the fragrances around or on us. Fragrances are chemicals which can disrupt our hormones leading to imbalances and health problems. Hana shares that she gets most of her oils, diffuser to scent the home, makeup, house cleaners, lotions etc. from Young Living. Use her referral link to get a wholesale discount! https://yl.pe/hanawellnessco – thank you Hana :).
- A couple of book tips to dive into if you want to learn more about hormones. “Woman Code: Perfect your cycle, amplify your fertility, supercharge your sex drive and become a power source” by Alisa Vitti & “Period Power: Harness your hormones and get your cycle working for you” by Maisie Hill (also to be found in Dutch as “De Cyclus Strategie”)
- Period shits are a thing – listen to find out why.
For more information about Hana check out her website where you’ll also find her courses at www.hanawellness.co as well as on Facebook and Instagram @hanawellnessco.
