Leparski - The happy hormone guide: a plant-based program to balance hormones, increase energy, & reduce PMS symptoms

Copyright 2019 by Shannon Leparski

Published by Blue Star Press

PO Box 8835, Bend, OR 97708

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Photography by:

Shannon Leparski: Cover

and Sara Hilton:

Cover Design: Amanda Hudson

Hardover Interior Design: Amy Sly

ISBN9781944515836

Ebook ISBN9781950968046

DISCLAIMER:

This book is for informational and educational purposes. Please consult your healthcare provider before beginning any healthcare program.

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S OMETIMES LIVING IN A WOMANS BODY CAN feel like riding a roller coaster in the dark. Its a shaky, loopy journey and you cant always tell where you are heading next. I vividly remember my stomach doing somersaults after coming home from school in the seventh grade to find I had started my first period. After quickly calling my mom to tell her the news, she congratulated me with so much excitement and enthusiasm that I thought she had lost her mind. Why should I be excited about bleeding every month for the next 40 years! While my sweet mom was trying to make it a positive experience (which I now appreciate), I couldnt help but dread everything having to do with periods and puberty.

My unpredictable body was taking me for a ride, and I was clueless about what was happening.

A few months later, PMS came knocking. Her grand entrance was a little too obvious. First came the debilitating cramps that felt like someone was chopping up my insides and made me want to curl up in a ball and never leave my bed. Next came the excessively oily skin and hair, to the point that I was showering and shampooing my hair twice a day (which I now know only made it worse). That was followed by a long list of equally lousy symptoms like severe acne that lingered for months, dramatic mood swings that scared my parents, mild depression, cyclical weepiness, brain fog, cravings, painful bloating, constipation, severe breast tenderness, fatigue, and insomnia. The worst part was, as much as those symptoms sucked, I thought they were completely normaland so did everyone around me. I was now a woman with a period, and this is what was supposed to happen. Its just hormones, everyone said.

The problem is that hormones can make your life downright miserable if they arent fluctuating within optimal ratios. Hormones control more than most people think; they act as the master switches for growth, reproduction, mood, metabolism, weight, energy, brain function, libido, and the appearance of your skin, hair, and nails. From a young age, women are fed an abundance of ideas about hormones. PMS symptoms are normal. Most hormonal conditions are incurable. Hormonal chaos is part of being a woman. The two options we have are to suck it up or take the birth control pill.

The belief that hormones can only be tamed through medication is false, and these ideas are severely outdated. If we provided young girls with the tools, resources, and education to understand the ride of womanhoodfluctuating hormones and allit would encourage a more positive connection to their bodies from the beginning. It would help eliminate the confusion, negativity, and sense of helplessness that I once felt, and so many young women feel, as their bodies startand continueto change.

Sure enough, by age 16, I had had enough and asked my mom if I could go on the pillmostly because I yearned for clear, beautiful skin, and a life without cramps. It felt like my oily, acne-ridden and makeup-covered face was all anybody could see, which sucked my confidence dry. Ive blogged about my journey with acne numerous times, but my biggest insecurity was always my skin. I would marvel at any girl with clear, radiant skin and wonder what on earth I was doing wrong. Since many of the girls in my high school were already on the pill for their periods and skin (and probably for other reasons, too), I wanted to join the club. Easier periods, clear skin, and pregnancy prevention? Um, yes, please! Going on the pill couldnt have been easier. While many of my symptoms lessened while on the pill (we will get into why and how this happens in chapter three), my skin was still acting out. A dermatologist prescribed six months of a harsh medication that was popular at the time.

The medication cleared up my skin fairly well for the rest of high school and throughout college. At age 25, green juices sparked my interest in holistic health and nutrition, and I began to question everything I was putting in and on my body. Then, on a cold Friday night in February 2014, I had a life-changing experience while watching a documentary called Vegucated. In an hour, everything I thought I knew about our food system blew up in my face, and I was left standing at a crossroads. While sick to my stomach, tears and mascara running down my face, I decided to go vegan right then and there. I knew nothing about the lifestyle at the time, but it felt like the universe closed the door on my previous life, and I had to move forward as a vegan. I know what youre thinking. This girl is dramatic! But it felt right, and everything about the vegan lifestyle instantly resonated with me.

This major lifestyle change prompted the start of my vegan recipe and lifestyle blog, The Glowing Fridge. That April, my little creative corner of the internet was born. One year later, blogging turned into my full-time career.

I wrote this book to be inclusive of all women. You do not have to be vegan or plant-based to follow the Happy Hormone Method. I purely wanted to create a space where that is possible. You can thrive with happy hormones and be vegan or plant-based, as long as you take the right precautions (which I will address), stay on top of your health by getting a full blood and hormone panel done every six months, and make adjustments as necessary.

Note: I use the terms vegan and plant-based interchangeably throughout the book. Technically, vegan refers to an animal-free lifestyle, while plant-based refers only to an animal-free way of eating.

Two months into my vegan journey, I quit the pill, and my skin went haywirein the worst way possible. Just like that, I was back at square one and had acne as an adult. Eating whole plant foods helped to heal my skin as I eliminated many of the inflammatory foods I had been eating (like dairy and processed junk), but it remained far from clear. Deep down, I sensed my skin issues were hormone-related but felt lost as to what steps to take to heal from within. By age 27, two years into my vegan journey, I had lost all hope for ever having clear skin or a regular period without severe PMS symptoms.