After removing the hormonal birth control IUD I knew I needed to really focus on rebalancing my hormones and a huge part of doing that involves focusing on your nutrition.

Hormonal birth control pushes out synthetic hormones and forces your body to turn off its natural production of the real thing. Scary, huh? Natural hormones are vital for mental health, physical well being and fertility. While it’s so important to look at this information if you’re planing to start a family in the next 2+ years (yes, that far out, especially if you’ve been on hormonal birth control for a long time!), it’s just as vital for women that never even want children. Hormones do much more than support fertility and pregnancy.

And if you’re thinking, “but I need to be on hormonal birth control because I have acne” or cramps, etc.. birth control is not fixing those internal issues you have. It’s simply putting a synthetic bandaid over it.

When it comes to birth control, the best thing to do is be educated in all the pros and cons of all your options and then make the decision that is right for you. I’ve learned that we need to be advocate for our own bodies, understand exactly what is being released within it and not just take a doctor’s birth control suggestion as the only option or resolution.

I personally am so happy being back to the way my body was for 26 years of my life before the hormonal IUD – natural. I’ve been on a journey of listening to my body, advocating for it and filling it up with supplements that, in partner with healthy whole foods, have made me feel the best I ever have mentally and inside.

I think of supplements as a health insurance policy. While we can focus on what we eat being our medicine, supplements will allow us to get in all the physically and mentally support nutrients and vitamins we need to be our best selves!

If you want to learn more about hormones I suggest reading the books The Women Code and The Happy Hormone Guide, both of which are linked in my Amazon shop here. I also suggest reading this blog post where I share a lot of free resources and podcasts that were eye opening to me!

Today I’m sharing my holy grail supplements that help me feel strong, clear-minded and healthy.

WELLNESS WEDNESDAY: SUPPLEMENTS I TAKE

1. COLLAGEN PEPTIDES: I started taking this collagen peptide powder once to twice a day in 2017. I actually have a whole blog post on the benefits I have seen from collagen. It’s a daily staple that I don’t like to go without because it helps aid my belly in digestion, support joints, boost my protein in-take, and also makes my hair, nails and skin cells grow nice and healthy. What was most shocking to me was that collagen peptides helped heal a knee injury I had from falling during an outdoor run in Boston. It’s such a powerful supplement!

I love this unflavored powder and opt to add two scoops into my daily green smoothie. You can also drink it in your water or coffee. Just remember to find a reputable, high quality and transparent brand to purchase from like Vital Proteins. This isn’t an area to skimp!

2. COLLAGEN BEAUTY GLOW: And on the topic of collagen peptides, I love Vital Protein’s Beauty Glow line. These tubs have additional vitamins and nutrients for your skin, hair and nails. They taste so yummy! I love every flavor, but hibiscus may be my favorite. I just toss is in my ice water during the day or put a scoop in my smoothie for a tropical flavor.

3. COLLAGEN PEPTIDES TRAVEL STICKS: And since I don’t like to go without collagen, I always have travel sticks on hand! 

4. MOON JUICE ASHWAGANDHA POWDER: Each day I take a scoop of Ashwagandha to aid with stress reduction. Ashwagandha is an ancient medicinal herb that is know to have many benefits like. It can reduce anxiety and stress, help fight depression, boost fertility and testosterone in men, and even boost brain function. I usually grab this from Sephora by the brand Moon Juice to make sure it’s ethically sourced and high quality.

5. RITUAL MULTIVITAMIN: Last year I was looking to swap out my chewable daily vitamins and find something a bit more healthy. After learning more about balancing my hormones, one takeaway was that chewable vitamins just aren’t enough so I found Ritual.

Ritual is one pill that has the power of 12 inside! This multivitamin was specifically created for women’s bodies with ethically sourced, full transparency on all their ingredients! I love that to get everything my body needs, I only take two pills daily instead of 12 separate ones!

When traveling cross country for work or just a local weekend getaway, I pack my pill supplements in this cute pill box. I received it in a PR box and thought it was so thoughtful! The inside has a mirror that also comes in handy while on the go. 

6. RASPBERRY LEAF TEA: I try to drink this raspberry leaf tea every single day. The leaves of the red raspberry plant are full of important vitamins and minerals, including Vitamin E, iron, calcium, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, magnesium, manganese, and potassium! Red raspberry leaf tea is made from actual red raspberry bush dried leaves. It’s not “regular” tea with raspberry flavoring added.

Here are some of the benefits, specially for women –

• Relieve cramps and other PMS symptoms
• Regulates menstrual cycles
• Support implantation by strengthening the uterine wall
• Relieves PMS symptoms like nausea and cramping

I love this one off Amazon! I steep it in a big jug for 24 hours because for this tea, the longer it steeps the more vitamins and minerals that are extracted. 

Disclaimer: Please consult your doctor. I have no medical background. I am merely sharing what I have learned through my own experience and personal research.

7. MACA POWDER: Maca is a root that you can find in capsule or powder form. I grab the powder form from Trader Joe’s. It’s known to support fertility, uplift your mood and energy. I love adding it to smoothies.

That said, be careful when adding maca into smoothies as it’s very sweet! Anytime I add this superfood, I use collagen peptides for the protein in my smoothie and skip protein powder since my protein powder has some natural monk fruit sweetener in it. If you add both, it’ll be grossly sweet.

8. HEMP HEARTS: I use a variety of flax, chia, sesame, hemp and/or pumpkin seeds throughout the month within energy balls (love these by one of my favorite blogs – The Glowing Fridge), baked goods, smoothies and on my favorite unsweetened almond milk yogurts.

9. NATURAL VITALITY CALM MAGNESIUM: Magnesium is known to calm you so it’s great to take before bed! I will either sip on this CALM raspberry lemon magnesium drink or this Reishi cocoa elixer by Four Sigmatic depending on if I feel like chocolate or tart. Both relax me (I struggle with anxiety) and allow for a deeper sleep. 

10. 8GREENS: I primarily use these fizzy tablets when traveling because I know I’m not getting my daily greens in as heavily as when I’m home! Each 8Greens tablet contains eight essential greens that can be hard to eat during a busy day: spinach, wheatgrass, kale, blue green algae, spirulina, chlorella, barley grass, and aloe vera. These ingredients are real greens, not vitamins or extracts, so you can drink a skin-brightening green juice, anytime. source

11. FLAX SEEDS: I seed cycle throughout the month which is a natural way to regulate your hormones which is important for all women whether you are a teen, trying tog et pregnant, never want kids.. everyone! Hormones are the leading compass of our body and seed cycling helps get them on track.

Anyways, I use flax seeds from Whole Foods during the Follicular phase (pre-period) which aids in healthy estrogen production. Then I switch my seeds for the Luteal phase (post-period). I have been advised to by the raw full seed and grind them myself before consuming to truly get the oils! If purchased pre-ground you’re losing a lot of the nutrients. I just use my food processor at the beginning of each week to chop them.

Don’t forget that if you want to learn more about hormones I suggest reading the books The Women Code and The Happy Hormone Guide, both of which are linked in my Amazon shop here. I also suggest reading this blog post where I share podcasts that are very educational on the topic. 

While I’m not a medical professional, we are all solely responsible for advocating and fueling our own bodies. I shared my personal learnings and experience today in hopes that it sparks an interest for you! Please let me know your favorite supplements in the comments below. Xo Mindy