E264: Creating Safety + Hormone Balance Through Simplifying Everything

Have you ever bought the one thing that was supposed to fix your hormones, and then realized you’re more overwhelmed than before? That’s where this episode starts.

We’re wrapping up our Safety Series with an idea that might seem too simple to make a difference: simplifying. It’s not about adding another supplement or following the latest trends, but about stepping back so your body can feel safe again.

Because when your brain is overloaded with information, fear, and constant “fix this” messaging, cortisol stays high and progesterone struggles to keep up.

We’ll unpack:

• How information overload and fear-based wellness culture keep your nervous system dysregulated
• Why doing “all the things” can make hormone symptoms worse
• The few simple habits that actually move the needle

Sometimes, hormone balance isn’t about protecting yourself from every toxin or buying the right greens powder. Sometimes it comes from doing fewer things consistently so your body can finally settle.

If you’ve been feeling burned out by wellness itself, listen in; this episode will feel like a reset.

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Disclaimer: Nothing in this podcast is to be taken as medical advice, please take informed accountability and speak to your provider before making changes to your health routine.

This podcast is for women and moms to learn how to balance hormones naturally in motherhood, to have pain-free periods, increased fertility, to decrease PMS mood swings, and to increase energy without restrictive diet plans. You'll learn how to balance blood sugar, increase progesterone naturally, understand the root cause of estrogen dominance, irregular periods, PCOS, insulin resistance, hormonal acne, post birth-control syndrome, and conceive naturally. We use a pro-metabolic, whole food, root cause approach to functional women's health and focus on truly holistic health and mind-body connection.

If you listen to any of the following shows, we're sure you'll like ours too!
Pursuit of Wellness with Mari Llewellyn, Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark, Found My Fitness with Rhonda Patrick, Just Ingredients Podcast, Wellness Mama, The Dr Josh Axe Show, Are You Menstrual Podcast, The Model Health Show, Grounded Wellness By Primally Pure, Be Well By Kelly Leveque, The Freely Rooted Podcast with Kori Meloy, Simple Farmhouse Life with Lisa Bass

Chapters

• 2:47 How information overload and fear-based wellness culture keep your nervous system dysregulated
• 13:23 Why doing “all the things” can make hormone symptoms worse
• 15:13 The few simple habits that actually move the needle

Transcript

00:00:00

Your PMS is triggered by your brain and your body not feeling safe. And we are going to talk about today how you can simplify and feel more safe instead of trying to do more things to feel safer in your body. Okay, ladies, I'm really excited for this. We are wrapping up the safety series and this has been a fun one. It's been all the way through January and February.

00:00:24

And I have really enjoyed the guests. We've had a lot more guests. We've had a lot of different topics. And I realize it's gotten a little bit less hormonally focused because we're looking at the big picture of our lives and safety. And so as we go forward, I will be getting back to those meat and potatoes episodes that are more focused on your hormones. If you've been missing those, I do have 260 episodes and you can go back and find probably 200 that are more like that. And just

00:00:54

binge those while you're waiting for next week. We will be getting back into really more of that specific hormone focus. But even today, we are going to be focused on hormones again because we are talking about how you can create safety and hormone balance through simplifying. This is really near and dear to my heart because it's been a really busy season and

00:01:16

when, or even not busy, but just like full. Like there's just a lot in my brain, a lot in my body, a lot in my life. And when things are chaotic, when things are overwhelming, when you are burned out, the last thing you need is more. You need less. You need simplicity. And so today we're going to talk about how you actually can simplify what you're doing. This is honestly, I think this is the vibe for 2026 for us crunchy mamas who have gone maybe a little too far.

00:01:46

with all the things that we're doing, and we need to settle down. So this episode is all about how we can settle down. Grab yourself a little cozy drink, take a walk, do something that you want to do, fill your little cup while we talk about this. I was really excited when I came up with this idea of safety through simplicity, because who doesn't need things to be more simple these days? I absolutely do. And I think that one of the biggest

00:02:12

factors, honestly, for our hormones being overwhelmed and overstress, not detoxing well, not making hormones well is just this information overload and overwhelm. And of course, yes, it's the stress, it's the toxins, it's all those things, but it's also the fear that we have around those things. It's the fear that we have around eating the wrong way and it's going to cause us problems or, you know, using the toxic products or

00:02:39

having the toxic mold in our house or the EMFs or just all these things that are just like, ding, ding, ding, every time you turn on the internet, there's another threat. And this is on purpose. I'm going to be honest. You know, you probably won't be surprised if you've been listening to me for a while, but I'm not like a big fan of trusting the powers that be and just like they have the best interest at heart. I'm also not really like a big conspiracy theorist or anything like that at this point because

00:03:08

I don't have the time for it. With that being said, there's a lot in our world that is not good for us, and it's even worse for us when we're scared of it. Not only are there lots of toxins and lots of EMFs and lots of things that we need to protect ourselves and our kids from, but also we're being told about it like fire, fire, fire, fire, just like it's just in our faces all the time, and there's always something, right?

00:03:33

With that being said, that always something, that always like flashing in front of our eyes, like danger, danger, is a big part of the problem. Our bodies are made to be able to handle some of these things. Now a lot of them are man-made and like we didn't have them a long time ago, and so I don't think that they're ideal, clearly, and we

00:03:55

When we are trying to avoid them at all costs, fearing them, stress the heck out with just making sure that we're living like a fairly reasonable life, that in itself is causing issues with safety and it's causing fear. And when we have excessive fear in our lives, in our bodies, it dysregulates our nervous system. Your girls are like, yeah, like we knew that, okay, what do we do about it? Working on that,

00:04:21

With that being said, it dysregulates your nervous system, and it also dysregulates your minerals. And so this is a cascade that turns into blood sugar issues, and it turns into hormone issues, and it turns into energy issues over time. And so we have to start to shift the way we are taking in information. We have to start to shift what we're believing and what authority we're giving it. And I say authority, and maybe that is the right word, maybe that's just Holy Spirit. But what I

00:04:51

actually meant to say was more like, how much weight are we putting on these things? When we think about information overwhelm, when we think about turning on the internet, and there's always something to learn. It's like, this is bad for you. This is especially good for you.

00:05:09

girls, I am the worst at falling for the supplement that's going to change my life. I have been really working on that. And it's funny because I am not like that for my clients. Like I will not tell you ever, this supplement, this is the one for everyone. I am very measured. I am very focused with supplements. I use evidence-based practice. I will only give you the things that I know match with the body systems that you need support. And I will not oversell that supplements are going to fix everything. But for myself,

00:05:39

And sometimes my kids, like, I bought this greens powder the other day and I got the bag. Okay, I got the bag. It's literally tiny. It's the tiniest bag I've ever, not tiniest bag I've ever seen, but I definitely expected it to be four times the size that it was. Didn't check, but I'm like, greens powder. Yes, my kids need more vegetables. And instead of taking the accountability of just making them eat more vegetables and fruits, I was like, Well, I'm going to do that, but also I'm going to buy this greens powder because it's going to help.

00:06:08

Have you looked at greens powder, guys? Like when you look at it, it has nothing in it. It says on the back like spirulina and blah, blah, blah, but you're not getting that much nutrition out of greens powder. When you look at what minerals and vitamins are actually in that bag, it's basically nothing. So I got scammed again and I did it to myself and it's fine. It's not the company's fault. It's my fault. But this information overwhelm where we're like, oh, this is the thing that's going to fix the problems.

00:06:36

and it's a supplement, or it's an EMF device, or it's a brick for my phone. I've been looking at those. When we keep staying in these spirals, we cannot settle down enough to see what's truly going on around us and to allow our bodies to heal.

00:06:55

And so this information overwhelm is keeping us so stuck and we have to stop. We have to stop letting it in all the time. We have to stop overcomplicating and thinking that a greens powder is a thing that's gonna fix our kids' health when what's actually going to impact them so much more is their mom being regulated, their mom being present and calm, and

00:07:21

not trying to feed them 17 powders A day. If you're resonating with this at all, I have a couple questions for you to think about. When you're just like, okay, you're giving yourself too much credit. I know this because this is me and I see other women doing this too, who are like, you're the mom who does the things, right? You do give your kids vegetables and fruit. I do too.

00:07:41

You feed them consistently. You're not giving them, the food dyes and toxins and blah, blah, blah. Like you're doing the things for them. You think you're doing them for yourself too. If someone was like, hey, do you eat well? You're like, yeah, I haven't been to fast food in 10 years. Of course I eat well. But even though you're not doing the bad things, sort of, are you really eating whole food? And what I mean by that is like, yeah, you're not eating junk food, but are you eating enough whole food? Are you paying attention with,

00:08:10

what's going on in your body on a daily basis and responding. Are you eating a full meal three times a day consistently, or is that like the goal? But if you were to actually pay attention, it's not happening most of the time. You know you should be getting morning sunlight, but you're definitely not doing it because you think you can get away with it 'cause you're like, Well, I'm doing all these other things, it doesn't really matter. You know you shouldn't be scrolling at night.

00:08:40

but you're doing it just for a little bit because you have blue light glasses on. You know you should be walking more steps per day, but you're not doing it because you're too overwhelmed.

00:08:52

and then you're self-medicating with whatever, scrolling, shopping, snacks, stress, whatever it is, you're self-medicating. That stress that would be improved if you just went out for a walk for 10 minutes. All of these things, some of them will resonate because no one's doing it perfect. And I am not doing it perfect either, and I am not here to advocate for doing it perfect.

00:09:18

But if you are consistently not giving yourself what you need, but you think you are, going to have these hormone issues that essentially come from, I feel like I want to sugarcoat it, but lying to yourself. You are not in alignment with your own beliefs or your own priorities. And so of course you're going to be dysregulated. Of course you're going to feel like you don't have time for yourself. Of course you're going to feel like things are chaotic.

00:09:47

And when your brain is getting those signals of chaos, those signals of I don't have what I need, it is going to show up in your hormones. Because the reason we're doing this whole safety series, if you missed part of it, definitely go back and listen to the episodes that feel like they resonate most with you. But the entire reason we're doing the safety series is because your body longs for safety. Your body craves safety to be able to make hormones well.

00:10:15

I started with this at the beginning of this series, but your brain is consistently getting signals from your body, from your emotions, from your environment that say, are things safe or are they not? The absolute priority for your body is to keep you alive. And so it's always scanning for danger, which you might know because you feel like that. It's always scanning for danger. And if it's consistently getting signals that things are not safe, like, oh, you didn't eat breakfast again, like you're running on coffee,

00:10:44

Like you've been in the house all day, have not gotten any real light in your eyes. Like you are not moving your body except for going really hard for 30 minutes and then doing nothing. Not doing nothing, but doing nothing moving the rest of the day. Those kind of signals that your brain is getting when it's scanning for danger, if it's getting signals of danger, it tells your adrenal glands to make more cortisol. And inadvertently you start making

00:11:13

less appropriate amounts of your estrogen and progesterone. And I'm not going to go into that whole thing because we have done that before. You can definitely find those episodes. But you need to be making an appropriate amount of estrogen and have the tools in your body to detox that estrogen. And also, you need to be able to make your progesterone well so that you're feeling calm in the second half of your cycle.

00:11:38

You make enough progesterone to move estrogen out. You make enough progesterone for your thyroid to be functioning well, for your metabolism to be functioning well. And when we're in this just constant state of overwhelm and burnout and chaos, we can't have happy hormones. And so that's where this shows up, where we have to make a really conscious decision. I'm going to say regardless of circumstances, because I am talking to myself as well.

00:12:01

No matter what your circumstances are, it might have not felt real good lately. I will be honest with you. There is always good to look for. And when we are looking for the good, when we are speaking the good, when we are just not giving ourselves this victim mindset that

00:12:19

I can't take care of myself because it's too stressful right now. Well, when are you going to then? When are you going to do it? Because when we feel like we have to arrive at a certain point to take care of ourselves, like we have to wait until this baby is weaned, or we have to wait until the kids are in school, or we have to wait until dance competition season is over, or whatever. It's something always is coming. There's always something else coming. To be honest, I love

00:12:46

Love it. When my clients come to me and they're like, I'm in a good season, things don't feel stressful. That is the exception. It's not the rule by any means. Most of us feel stress on a daily basis. Sometimes some of us are in the most stressful season of our lives right now, and we don't know when it's going to end. And because that is true, we have to do what we can now. And this is where we have to be ruthless.

00:13:13

about simplifying because absolutely in a stressful season, you cannot do all the wellness girly things that you quote unquote should do to have perfect glowing skin and happy hormones and a good libido. Nobody has time for that. Like all the things, all the lymphatic drainage and all the skincare and all the supplements and all the walking and being outside at the perfect times of day and eating the perfect foods too because you know that takes no time at all. You may not be able to do those things and like if you can, you're probably

00:13:42

25, single, with a not very stressful full-time job. If that's you, I am so happy for you and enjoy it, truly. And that's not mostly people listening to this podcast and that's not me. And so we have to be ruthless and simplify what is actually going to move the needle and what is actually going to make a difference and then do it even when we don't feel like it. We have to be able to do it most of the time when we don't feel like it. It's not going to be perfect. It's not going to be all the time. But

00:14:10

We have to be willing, I think, to let go of that badge of honor of like, well, I'm just really stressed or I'm in a hard season. We have to let go of that mentality and that identity that we place on ourselves. And sometimes it feels good to have that because if you are having a hard time, it kind of feels good for people to know you're having a hard time because it gives you excuses, right? And some of them are real. Sometimes you really can't be

00:14:38

the whole person that you want to be, but does that mean you can't, instead of scrolling, go outside for 10 minutes? Does that mean you can't get the sleep that you need to get better than you're getting it now? Does that mean you can't just track your food in a really simple way to make sure you're not undereating or just eating a bunch of random crap when you think you're doing fine?

00:15:01

Those are things that you can take accountability for. As I've been in this season myself and meeting women who are in this busy season, whether it's a bad season, a good season, there's a lot going on, right? And you want to feel your best. You want to stop having those PMS mood swings 2 weeks out of the month. You want to stop having the painful periods. You want your skin to be doing better. You don't want your ***** to hurt. You don't want to be just like moody and irritable. You want to go back to thriving.

00:15:27

but you have a list of 150 things in your head that you think you have to do before you can get there. If that's you, I want you to email me, hello at LiciaDrews.com and just say, it's me. You can also DM me on Instagram, just say me. I have recreated my coaching program to be as simple as possible so that we can pinpoint for you what are your needle movers,

00:15:52

What is going to help create safety in your body so that you can make and detox hormones better without the fluff? I'm not going to tell you to do 30 minutes of lymphatic drainage a day and, you know, eat this perfect exact meal plan and do this perfect exact workout. We are going to look at what's going on for you and your body, what you are doing, get some honesty in there with so much love and help you move forward.

00:16:19

That's what this program is for. The spots are almost full, but if that's you, email me and let's talk about it. Because we don't have to stay in our excuses, even if there's something that it feels like is helping you or feels very real.

00:16:34

where you are right now. We don't have to stay stuck there. And we can make a change no matter where you are. And I know that you're the one who's like, you're doing the things, right? You're not starting from scratch. You're not. I don't know if you heard that, guys. My husband just burped like as loud as possible outside of my door. If you didn't, he did. Lost my train of thought completely. But what I want you to walk away with from this episode is

00:17:00

Even though I did a safety series and we talked about lighting and we talked about nervous system, we talked about marriage and all of these things, it can be simple. It works best when it is simple. And we can get you moving forward no matter where you are right now. So I can't wait to talk to you. Send this to your friends. Leave a rating and review on the show. All these things really mean a lot to me. I'm not just saying it to be cute or whatever. Truly means a lot for my family and my small business in this season right now.

00:17:27

So if you haven't done those things, you're listening to the podcast for free, enjoying it, learning from it, leave me a little five star rating, write a note to me, write me a review, tell me how you like it, tell me what you like, and I will see you ladies next week.