What Washington Post Didn't Say About Birth Control + Reclaiming Health After Being Dismissed with Nicole Bendayan

Yasmin Kouri

Hey, everyone. We're back this week with our health series called Hormone Happy Hour that I do with Kaya Perawit, my co host and co founder. In our business, be a wellness. We interview the top experts in women's health, hormones, mindset, sexual health, and so much more. Health is a huge part of running a successful business and having a fulfilling life.

So it's my honor to share these interviews that show us how to eat, think, move and live in a way that is designed to help us feel great so, so we can build our own empire. Now, let's jump into this week's episode. A couple of weeks ago, the Washington Post released an article that infuriated us to say the least. It was all about misinformation around birth control. And what Yasmin and I thought could have been a really good opportunity to have an open discussion about the benefits of birth control as well as the cons of birth control turned into kind of a takedown piece.

Kaya Perawit

Specific women who were saying that there are other solutions if birth control is not agreeing with someone. One of those women is Nicole Bandaiyan. Who we have on the podcast today. And she was pretty much the influencer that they went after the most in this article because she's doing the work to spread the word about what it takes to heal our hormones online. And they said that she's spreading misinformation.

And what started off as her thinking that this was going to be a great opportunity to get the word out about the work that she does turned into, again, a takedown piece, which is really unfortunate. So we are so excited to have. Her on the podcast today to share her story, share the work that she's doing, and kind of explain to us what exactly happened with this Washington Post article. Nicole Bandaiyan is a certified holistic nutritionist and women's health expert, and she's on a mission to educate and empower women on holistic menstrual health. Through her engaging and informative approach, Nicole guides her audience to optimize their well being and embrace their natural cycles.

Yasmin Kouri

With over a million combined followers on Instagram and TikTok, her platform underscores the importance of her message and ability to connect with her audience. Nicole also has been featured in prominent outlets such as well and Good Doctor Phil, Fortune magazine and Health news, solidifying her as a trusted voice in the field. We're so excited to have Nicole on today to share her story. So let's get into it. Well, Nicole, we are so excited to have you on the podcast today because we want you to shed some light on what's been going on with this Washington Post article.

Nicole Bandaiyan

But essentially you were approached by the Washington Post to share about your journey and a little bit about the work that you do, and that quickly escalated to something else. So can you take us back to the beginning? Who reached out to you? How did those initial conversations go? Yeah, I was reached out to by Washington Post reporter named Sabrina, and she just asked me if she could interview me regarding women's health and fertility.

Nicole Bendayan

And pretty much what I assumed the article was going to be about or what was implied was how women are going toward more holistic practices and moving away from hormonal contraception. So we had a couple of Zoom calls together and back and forth with the emails. And then I was told that the article was going to come out kind of the following week. And this was, I was reached out to first right at the end of November, and then the end of January, I got a call that they wanted to release the article the following week. And if a photographer come to my house and I was like, yeah, of course.

Cool. And then the photographer came over and I asked her if she had read the article because, of course, like, it's the Washington Post, so that's really exciting. But it's also very nerve wracking because I'm very aware of how manipulative media can be and all of that kind of stuff. But kind of throughout the process with talking to the Washington Post reporter, it was implied that it was going to be a positive article. And when the photographer came to my house, I asked her if she knew anything about the article or if she had read it.

And she told me that she had read the first draft and couldn't go into detail, but said, use the word trailblazing and said that it was a positive piece. And then about a week later, I don't really hear anything back. A couple of days after the editor reached out to me, she called me and told me that if the article goes to print, that she'd want to send me a couple of copies and that it was kind of exciting, right? And then I didn't really hear anything back. And then a couple of weeks later, I got an email from Sabrina telling me that they had reached out to social media company and one of my TikToks was deleted.

And we talked about the, what that post specifically was about, which was the fact that, I mean, my post stated that hormonal contraception, some forms of hormonal contraception, can make women more susceptible, susceptible to infections and StI's. So she asked what my response was, and I sent her a long email saying that I stand by the post that I had created because it was rooted in science. And I gave her information about what specific STI's were studied, and the fact that, yes, it was found that some sorts of hormonal contraception can increase the risk of chlamydia, gonorrhea and HSV two. And within my response, I also mentioned that, yes, I agree that posts that may perpetuate misinformation or maybe misconstrued as misinformation should be taken down, which I do stand by. But they included that in the article and fully left out the fact that I stood behind the post itself and that it was rooted in science.

And, you know, throughout that article, they mentioned, you know, three separate times that I was not a doctor and I never claimed to be a doctor, which I do not, but also did not include the multiple certifications that they were aware that I had, and, you know, really positioned it as well as a political piece, which we never spoke about, very much so, never spoke about. It was really upsetting because, let alone did it dismiss, invalidate, and discredit me. But it misled women, the very real side effects of hormonal contraception. I spoke to another woman who was interviewed for the article who experienced two blood clots, and she also says that she was misrepresented in the article. And it was just really unfortunate how really an opportunity to validate women's experiences, to call for more research to be done, for more funding, for women to have more access to information and be validated by their healthcare professionals, turned into a piece that dismissed very real side effects of hormonal contraception, made women's bodies into a political piece, and, of course, discredited me, which was quite unfortunate.

But I think a lot of people saw it right through the article. There's been a lot of backlash. And, you know, the Washington Post even turned off their comment section. And, yeah, it's been a whole whirlwind. Yeah, it's been amazing to see the response, and we'll kind of get to that a little bit later.

Nicole Bandaiyan

But I did want to ask you about something that you touched on, which is, did they ever give you any indication, which pretty immediately in the article, they say that this misinformation is primarily being spread by conservative women, which I thought was really interesting. Did they, they never gave you any indication that they were going to be talking about conservatives versus liberals or anything like that? Did they. Not whatsoever. Not whatsoever.

Nicole Bendayan

And also the way that the article, the placement of the article, because right before they start talking about me, they say, influencers of all political stripes seeking fame and fortune. And then right after they finished talking about me and my picture is right there, there's a subheading of an underlying conservative push. And no, we have never talked about politics. My political leanings have never been within my content. I don't believe that women's health should be a political issue.

I believe in the access to hormonal contraception, and I believe in women's choice and informed consent, which is not provided. And that was really what I was trying to get across, but it was definitely skewed within the article. Oh, my gosh. Do you think. Sorry, I have, like, a million go for a k.

Nicole Bandaiyan

Do you think that the article maybe started off one way and then, you know, they. You said that Sabrina reached out to you when she found out about the TikTok post being taken down. Do you think that at any point there was a turn, that they decided to do something else? I mean, this is all speculation, but do you think it started just from the get that they wanted this specific spin on the story? Honestly, I'm not sure.

Nicole Bendayan

The fact that the photographer told me that the piece was not the original piece makes me think, potentially. But also, it really seems like the article was already written. They just needed someone gullible enough to believe that they had pure intention with it to add me in. So I'm really not sure. The Washington Post still has not reached out to me.

The article did go to print, and the editor didn't contact me because I would like a copy, but no. Oh, yeah. I have no idea. I don't really want to speculate because I could have a few different speculations when it comes to it, but the fact is, also, since the article came out, the video that they had mentioned within the article, I had a viral TikTok video of my experience on birth control that had hit 10.5 million views from a few years ago, and that one has subsequently been taken down as well. So.

And I'm not aware that any of my previous videos have ever been taken down. So I really don't know when they got taken down, if it was intentional. If it was, I'm not sure. Wow. And it's been taken down on TikTok and Instagram.

Just TikTok. Just TikTok. Interesting. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of crazy to take down somebody's video of them talking about their own experience, which is one of the most infuriating parts of the article, is to deny the experiences of thousands of women who essentially have said, I experienced negative side effects from this.

Nicole Bandaiyan

And when I read the article, I was like, basically they're saying, like, no, you didn't. It's all good. Leave it alone. And all of the side effects that they really tried to minimize are very well known side effects that are listed on the packaging for most of them. And, you know, I can also speculate how they really navigated it as a promotional piece for a new type of hormonal contraception that's coming out or that had just come out, the over the counter pill.

Nicole Bendayan

And they minimized a lot of the side effects that are related to progestin only pills and maximize the side effects that are related to both estrogen and progestin pills, the combination type. So that was a little bit. Makes me raise an eyebrow. Yes. I can't even imagine.

Yasmin Kouri

I've had my own share of post birth control syndrome. Didn't even know that existed. So I've had my own personal side effects. And we actually had Sarah Hill on, who has her PhD, and she really went through the details and she has a book and just such great content around things to just think about with birth control. Right.

And certain repercussions. Just so we're all educated where none of us here are, like, you shouldn't take birth control, but we should all be educated. And I wish, at least when I was in my teens, I was aware of what was going on in my body at the time. And I'm curious, you know, I know they had taken down that post where you've talked about your own experience, but can you walk us through your journey and really what you kind of felt being on birth control and then getting off of it? Yeah, I started on birth control when I think I was, like, 16.

Nicole Bendayan

And then a few years later is when I really started experiencing a lot of negative symptoms. You know, in the article, they said she was concerned about weight gain, low libido, etcetera, and that she assumed they were side effects. But that really minimized my experience that I communicated to the reporter that I was suffering from really, really negative symptoms that impeded me daily for about three, four years. And I went to go see four different doctors within three years, every one of them dismissed me. And even, you know, by that last appointment was continuously getting dismissed.

And so that's when I started to do my own research into the hormonal birth control that I was on. And at the same time, I was going through my education in nutrition, so I was versed with how to read articles and how to find information, and I found all of my symptoms laid out, and it was really an eye opening experience that made me feel like my healthcare wasn't being actually cared for and that I didn't have agency over myself and over my body. And that was really disturbing in a lot of ways because, you know, I think that I was well educated and I think that I was well versed. But the reality was, is I gave the authority over my health to somebody who I thought deserved that authority, who I thought had the best intentions and had the information to help. And it turned out that they didn't.

And that was kind of me coming back into my own body and being like, hey, I don't really know myself without synthetic hormones. I've been on these for almost ten years now, and I've been suffering from all of these symptoms. And then once I got off of birth control, those symptoms went away and it really just sparked an interest in hormonal contraception and the impacts that they have as well. As I started to do more research into reproductive health, and I found out that there was four phases to my menstrual cycle. And that was shocking because, you know, I think I was like 23, 24 at that point in time, and I was going through my education and nutrition, and I was into biohacking for so long and all of these different things, and I knew nothing about my body as a woman, as a cyclical being, and how to really take care and live in tune with.

With myself. Hey, everyone, it's Yasmin here in 2020, I was struggling with some debilitating health stuff. I just got off birth control and suddenly I had acne, mood swings, breast tenderness, and really painful periods. I tried so many things, but the one thing that worked was something called seed cycling. I know you're probably thinking, seed cycling.

Yasmin

What the heck is that? It's a natural way to support your hormones using four specific seeds throughout your cycle. The challenge is that seed cycling can be a little complicated to do and kind of time consuming. So I decided to make an organic seed cycling product that is so easy to use, we make it effortless for anyone to get started. Today, it's called bea, and it's a super easy way to add something powerful to your diet, to support your hormones, regulate your cycle, and bring back balance.

To learn more about Bea and join our community with thousands of incredible women all over the world. Go to beowellness.com dot. And that's spelled Beeya wellness.com. And check out the show notes for our promo code to get $10 off your first purchase. Thanks so much for listening.

And now let's get back to today's episode. That's what I think people such as yourself are really saying, is that there's so much education around women's bodies that is not taught in school or maybe not necessarily given in the doctor's office. And that's okay because doctors maybe don't even know some of that information. But people like you are trying to get that information out there and inform women like, hey, this is what's going on with your bodies. This is how you can take advantage of the different cycles.

Nicole Bandaiyan

This is how birth control may or may not affect you. And just having all of that and then making a decision, which you talk about the idea of informed consent. So can you explain that a little bit more? What does that mean? And why is that important?

Nicole Bendayan

So I think for myself, what I see as informed consent when it comes to specifically birth control. But I think this reaches beyond that. There's three pillars or categories that I really see it being. So the first would be screening for potential risk factors. So, for instance, with birth control, a lot of the research that connects hormonal contraception to anxiety, depression, mood disorders, a lot of those papers say and state that doctors should be screening for history of mood disorders or predisposition.

And then furthermore, with the increased risk of breast cancer, cervical cancer, brain and liver tumors, why are we not asked if we have a history of that in our families and if that could increase the risk? So the first would definitely be pre screening, and then the second would be comprehensive understanding of what the side effects are that have been shown in multiple studies have, you know, they're all backed by evidence. So at least walking us through that so that we know what we're getting into, because even so, if we then choose to go on hormonal contraception or whatever the medication is, or whatever it is, that we then can understand that, hey, maybe I'm not necessarily feeling like this because. Because I actually hate my life, you know, maybe I'm feeling this because it's a side effect. And then along with that comes, you know, birth control has been shown to change nutrient requirements, right?

It depletes six specific nutrients. It can impact the microbiome. So if we know that, then we could take the steps to increase our micronutrient intake, support our gut health, etcetera. And then the third pillar would be having access to alternative resources. So, for instance, if a woman is going on hormonal contraception to avoid pregnancy, understanding that we're only fertile for about six days of our cycle, and specifically, the symptothermal method of fertility awareness is comparable in effectiveness to hormonal birth control pills.

Right? And yes, it takes learning and education, and it takes time and consistency and responsibility, but that's an option. Or, you know, I think it is. About 58% of people who are on hormonal contraception are on it, not just to avoid pregnancy, but also for another reason, acne, pcos, painful periods, etcetera. So we should be given the alternative resources, mainly dietary and lifestyle intervention, of how we can really support our bodies and try to mitigate or manage those additional symptoms or what we're experiencing.

And therefore, if we then have that information and we still choose to go on hormonal contraception, then awesome, we should have access to it. But the fact is there's so many women that don't want to be on hormonal contraception or don't want to be on other types of medication or whatever it is, but they don't know how to support themselves otherwise and how to mitigate these symptoms and how to live a healthy life specifically and intentionally focused on what they're experiencing. And I think that's really a downfall. And it lends women to being continuously dismissed, confused. We, I think, lack confidence in a lot of ways because of it, because we don't feel safe or, or understood within our bodies.

And I think that, yeah, it's really upsetting to see how many women have experienced this, how many women share a very similar experience in offices and in the healthcare system. Yeah, I'm so passionate about everything that you're saying, specifically mentioning women who are on birth control because of horrible periods. That was me. And if I only knew the lifestyle and dietary shifts that I could have done 15 years ago, I would have saved myself so much time, so much pain. But you mentioned in your conversation right now that there's one specific fertility based awareness on method that you're passionate about.

Yasmin Kouri

So can you dig into that? Because we have a lot of women who always ask us how they should think about it and how they should approach it. Yeah, absolutely. So there's a bunch of different types of fertility awareness methods. I think why it gets such a bad rap is because they're all lumped together and especially the calendar or rhythm method that you're just inputting the days of your period and kind of assuming or guessing when you might be fertile, that's really, really ineffective because ovulation can, you know, we can have premature or delayed ovulation and it can change based on our lifestyle, our sleep, our stress, et cetera.

Nicole Bendayan

So that guesswork is guesswork, and that is really when people are getting pregnant on their period or all of these different things. But there's a couple of other types. So there's the billings method, the cervical mucus method, the BBT basal body temperature method, etcetera. Then there's the symptothermal method. And the symptothermal method is the most effective.

It's, when used perfectly, it's 99.6% effective. But studies also show that with typical use, if the person practicing it is actually versed in it, not learning off of a two minute TikTok or an article or whatever it is, but actually practicing the method and getting educated on it. With typical use, it's 98% to 99% effective, which is comparable to the pill. And that method uses your real biomarkers, which are signs that your body gives you in response to fluctuating hormones. So if you learn how to identify and track these biomarkers, specifically your cervical mucus and your basal body temperature, but also your cervical position and luteinizing hormone testing, then you can actually avoid pregnancy naturally and very, very effectively because you're using your in the moment biomarkers rather than guesswork or assumptions.

Nicole Bandaiyan

I've used fertility awareness method pretty much, you know, my entire adulthood. And of course, everybody's different. I think something that you mentioned, which was really unfortunate about the Washington Post article, is that they did not highlight that a lot of women are using hormonal birth control not to avoid pregnancy, but because they have bad periods or symptoms of hormonal imbalance. And they didn't really highlight any of the other things that women could be doing to essentially support their bodies rather than just take a pill. That was like a really frustrating part.

But why I love the work of Doctor Sarah Hill is that she's saying, okay, for younger women or teenage women who are not going to be following fertility awareness, or they might be, you know, forgetting to take their temperature or doing these things. Things. There's so many different options for hormonal birth control. Here are the different side effects. Here's what to look at.

Here's what might be a good option. And they didn't really get into any of that or interview anyone who understand the nuances of that. And I remember watching a video, I don't know if you guys have seen this, but, like, I think last year or the year before, Hailey Bieber had a stroke, and she was saying that one of the first things her doctor said to her was, well, were you on birth control? Because that maybe caused a blood clot and that could have led to your stroke. And it hits me that, like, we're waiting for it to be really bad before we tell people, hey, this could have been the cause of what you were going through.

I don't know. Did you guys see that video? And I'm sure you've heard millions of women explain that they've struggled with blood clots, and maybe afterwards their doctor said, hey, it could have been hormonal birth control. Yeah. Multiple different side effects and extreme side effects.

Nicole Bendayan

Right. These are things that actually put women in danger and can be very life threatening. And even if it's not life threatening, can be inhibiting for life, which is detrimental. You're right. Like, there are so many different options.

And, you know, the work that I do, of course, I do a lot of education around the symptothermal method and fertility awareness because I think it's so underrepresented. And I think it's going back to what you said with younger people not necessarily having the responsibility or the consistency. I think that that same thing can be said about pills because I know a lot of girls when I was growing up who were like, oh, I forgot to take my birth control. Let me take two today. You know, I just got flashbacks.

Yasmin Kouri

You're so right. Oh, my gosh. So it's also like, how are we empowering young people to be responsible? How are we empowering us to, like, take responsibility of our bodies and also to be empowered with. With the decisions that we make, you know?

Nicole Bendayan

And I think it's an important thing to mention. Yeah, it's. I'm very passionate about it. For my daughter, you know, as she grows up, I want her to be aware of what her menstrual cycle means, the different phases of it, how it's not a nuisance. Like, I want her to start to understand and track all of that because had I done that at an earlier age, I could have avoided all of the struggles that I went through.

Nicole Bandaiyan

I'm sure you guys feel the same way. But, you know, going back to this whole experience, as you mentioned, there was an outcry, an outpouring of support for you and for the other women featured in this story and for women who hadn't been featured but who had their own stories kind of sharing on that on the comment section, just like, hey, I went through this. Like, I firsthand have gone through this and I feel invalidated from this article. What has it been like since that article was released? How are you feeling now?

Nicole Bendayan

Honestly, I've never felt so sturdy in my practice and so reassured of why I'm doing what I'm doing, because there has been an outpouring. You know, I gained thousands of followers and many of them were like, I saw right through that article and I came straight to your page because you're right, like, so many of us have been invalidated, and that article was just another representation of that. So the outpouring of support and women finally feeling seen or heard because of my content has felt very inspiring to me to continue what I do. And the fact that the Washington Post tried to discredit me and drag me and invalidate all of these women was that reassurance of, no, you need to keep doing this because it's so important to get this information out there. I really think that this information should just be general knowledge.

And I hope that in my lifetime I'm able to see that, because it really is. It's just about having women be able to make decisions for. For themselves in a way that actually is aligned with them. And I think for us, so much of, you know, in my history, one of the stories that I tell all the time is one of my best friends. He has a little sister that's like eight years younger than us.

And when she started going through puberty, she had a lot of these mood changes. And he came to me and he's like, nick, she's so different. She's just not herself. She's freaking out at everything. Xyz.

And back then I said, she doesn't know what she's going through, so you're definitely not going to know what she's dealing with. And I wish so much that I actually had the knowledge that I have now so that I could be able to support them, because there is ways to support it, you know? And I think as women, you know, if you look at the research done on women in ADHD, how our symptoms present so differently, and much of that is because we go internally and we internalize so many things that we end up having anxiety and these mood issues because it's so internalized. And, you know, there's a quote, not sure who said it, but it's a problem well understood as a problem half solved. And I love that because it's, if we at least understand that, like, oh, hey, I'm in my luteal phase.

My serotonin and my dopamine levels are a little bit low right now. So maybe I just need to take a little bit of extra space for myself rather than internalizing it. And then you know what? I experienced suffering from real lack of confidence, not trusting myself, not feeling at home within my body. And I think that's.

Yeah, it's a sad experience that so many women go through just because we don't have the knowledge or understanding of what's actually going on in our bodies. And I would love to. I know we talk a lot about this in our podcast, but you do such a great job communicating in a digestible way. So maybe we can zoom out and can you share more about what is going on in our hormones? And what are these shifts doing every, you know, 28 to 34 days, depending on your own hormonal rhythm?

Sure. And thank you for the compliment. So the menstrual cycle is from the first day of your period to the first day of your next period, and it should be between between 24 to 36 days. Anything above or below that is starting to signify that something might be up in the body and needs attention brought forward to it, because our cycle is our fifth vital sign, and it can tell us a lot about our overall health. So we start off with our period, the one that we all know and love, and this should be between three and seven days.

Again, anything above or below is starting to signify something might be up. But we start off with really low hormones, so our hormones are at their lowest. And then about three days into our cycle, the egg starts to develop. And as the dominant egg follicle is developing, it is releasing estrogen. And then we enter into our follicular phase, if we're looking at for phase thinking purposes, because there is a few different cycles that are going on, but for phase thinking purposes, we go into our follicular phase, and this is when that egg follicle is starting to develop and estrogen is being released, which is our dominant hormone, in the first half of our cycle.

And then when we're starting to approach ovulation, so the egg is reaching maturity, estrogen is really being. There's a rapid rise in estrogen, and estrogen needs to hit sufficient levels in order for the egg to actually ovulate. And kind of couple of days in and around ovulation are really the peak event in your cycle. And if without ovulation, you're not having a true menstrual cycle, because only after ovulation that follicle which once housed the egg then turns into what's called the corpus luteum, and that starts to produce progesterone. And progesterone is going to be our dominant hormone for the latter half of our cycle.

And if the egg isn't fertilized and implanted, then the hormone levels start to fall and that will trigger a new cycle to begin. But there's really, you know, if we're looking from an ovarian cycle, then it's separated by ovulation because without ovulation, you're not having a true cycle. But if we're looking at phase thinking purposes, there's four different phases. So there's a little bit of miss or multiple levels of communication when it comes to that. And as you mentioned, all of these phases and fluctuations in hormones come with their own set of instructions almost to our body.

Nicole Bandaiyan

They control our weight, they control our appetite, they control our mood, they control our dietary preferences, our preferences for human beings, whatever it is. Like, everything shifts because of these huge fluctuations. So again, you know, when we shut down ovulation or we shut down some of those things, obviously that's going to come with some massive shifts, too. So super, we super appreciate the work that you do. Can you just share a little bit more about what you do with the clients that you work with, maybe any stories that you'd like to share of women who were really struggling, who kind of found you and then maybe were able to find a more balanced state?

Nicole Bendayan

Yeah, im really grateful that ive been able to help quite a few women that have once felt lost and confused. One of my pretty early clients, she suffered from PCos, hypothyroidism. She used to faint because of the pain. She would go to the ER a couple of times a year because of the pain that she was in and would have 40 day long cycles. And we got her down to regular cycles that were consistent.

No more pain, no more suffering. And she to this day still is feeling really good and it's two or three years later. And really what I tried to do because, you know, in the article they mentioned these quote unquote, hormone balancing regimens are not backed in science. Well, yeah, because your hormones are out of balance for another reason. Right.

So I really take my clients right now. I do. I run group programs and it's called the cycle revival blueprint. And it really runs through all the different systems in the body that influence our hormones in our cycle so that we can actually repair those systems. So, you know, insulin plays a huge role.

So our blood sugar levels, our cortisol levels, our inflammation. So we really want to address that upfront front, because without addressing those, it's going to be hard to address everything else subsequently. And then our gut health is so important because our gut microbiome plays a huge role in our overall health. But our hormonal health, especially, especially the relation to estrogen and also our gut, is how we're going to be absorbing nutrients and our micronutrients, which don't get talked about enough. We hear so much about macronutrients, but we really need to talk about micronutrients, because this is how our body is going to be functioning.

It's information for our cells, and without proper absorption, it's going to be really hard to balance your hormones. And then we get into liver health, because that's how we actually detoxify. That's our main detoxification organ that is going to really be impacting how quote unquote, balanced our hormones are. And what I see a lot is women who experience estrogen dominance, so too much estrogen in relation to progesterone, it's. And without addressing the liver and without addressing our detoxification pathways and our gut health, so that we're actually eliminating these excess hormones, it ends up leading to widespread disruption in the body.

And like I said previously, our cycle is our fifth vital sign because it can tell us so much about our overall health. So what I really empower my clients with is understanding the language of their body. So what are all of these different symptoms really saying about what's going on in your body? And what are the correlating factors so that you can start connecting the dots? Because what I really try to do with my clients is educational, so that not only I'm able to support them in whatever they're currently struggling with, but empowering them to be able to understand and manage things that come up in the future?

Because the reality is our life gets in the way of a lot of things. You know, our sleep schedules change, we might be traveling, we might be doing x people, XYZ stress plays a huge role. So how can we listen to our body, understand the communication that our body is providing us, and then be able to support it so that, you know, it's not five years later that we're really, really struggling and these red flags are going off. You know, if we can start to notice them when they're yellow flags, then we can really address it, and it's not as horrible. Yeah, I love that and it's like our friend Doctor Saru Bala said.

Nicole Bandaiyan

She said, if something's going on with your period, that's kind of almost like the end of the road. That doesn't mean like, oh, it's just isolated to just your reproductive organs, just your period. That means there's some sort of imbalance that your body might have been giving you hints, but now it's kind of like alert. Alert. Like there's really something going on here, or what's your vision for how women's health can be more integrated into this world after all this whole experience, like, what did it teach you?

And like, what do you hope for next? So I think I've been pretty steady with this for many years. I believe education is the most important factor, and we should start that early. So we should be talking about reproductive health, how our body works. Nutrition should definitely be included in curriculum for young people.

Nicole Bendayan

And this isn't just for women. I think that boys and everybody should be privy to this information because it builds a lot of solidarity as well. I think that men often disregard women or misunderstand women because they don't get why they're not like them, why they can't be stable, why XYZ? But if we're able to educate boys and everybody else about how women's experiences are and how their hormonal fluctuations are actually impacting them, not just on their period or pm's, but through out their entire cycle, then that can build a lot of understanding and solidarity between communities. So really my hope and dream, I would love to work with curriculum and in the curriculum for younger people so that this knowledge is built up over the next couple of generations, because I think that's really how we're going to be able to shift things.

Yeah. Young people are our future, right? Absolutely. I mean, my husband did not grow up with any sisters or many young women around him. And so it's been interesting for me.

Nicole Bandaiyan

I'm reteaching him or teaching him or helping him understand even all of the shifts that a woman goes through, not only when she's having a cycle, but all the shifts that I go through in pregnancy. I sent him a video of pregnancy is like having the brain of a three year old and the body of an 85 year old, like, to help him understand what I was feeling. It's been really eye opening for me to see that, wow, he didn't know any of this information growing up. And there's times where maybe I need more rest or I need more downtime. And for him to understand that and now, like, accept it and promote it has been really kind of amazing and life changing for us.

And I think both Yasmin and I spent years feeling like, why can't we keep up with the boys? We should be able to biohack like the boys. We should be able to live off of, like, zero sleep. And, you know, she was in finance, and I was surrounded by a lot of functional medicine doctors who were male and doing all of, like, the cold plunges and this and that. And me feeling like, well, I can do that maybe a few days out of the month, but then the next week I'm like, absolutely not.

My body will just shut down. So it's really our hope, too, I think, for women to understand that their cycles are a superpower and that we have all this information that we're getting every month that is telling us how our bodies are doing and that we can respond to. So we are very much in alignment here, and we're so excited to have you on this and so excited to get your story out there. I can't wait for people to listen and hear what really happened. I really appreciate you guys having me on.

Yasmin Kouri

So fun. And, you know, one thing, and I'm going to just backtrack into one thing you said with the course and everything that you do, it's. You're so passionate about helping women understand those yellow flags. Red flags. And I feel like for so long, I was living in red flag zone, and I didn't even know.

Right. I was having debilitating periods, horrible PM's. And I'm like, this is completely normal, and I love you. Actually broke down different elements of PM's. And I just want to share that because I still think a lot of women think that it's completely normal.

And I'm like, there is a way better life to live and a way to feel that I always love to share. So maybe can you break down those different elements of what PM's can look like? Yeah. So there's actually five different types of PM's, and each one has their own potential causes and potential natural solutions. So we have PM's type a, which is anxiety, and that is categorized by anxiety, mood swings, irritability, et cetera.

Nicole Bendayan

And the most common potential cause that we see is the imbalance between estrogen and progesterone. So having too much estrogen in relation to progesterone, and this impacts about 70% of those who experience experience PM's, which is about 80% to 90% of women. And just because something is common does not mean it is normal. But so, yeah, we have PM's type a. Then there's PM's type c, which is cravings.

And this is usually cravings for simple carbohydrates, sweets, etcetera, but also can include headaches and fatigue. And this is often caused by dysregulated blood sugar levels, especially in the follicular phase. So in the earlier half of the cycle, which the going back is why it's so important to support your body through each of the different phases, so that, you know, when we experience PM's symptoms, it's not as bad. And then it can also be due to the fact that during our luteal phase, our metabolism speeds up. So our bodies might be craving more because we're not giving our bodies more if we're restricting calories, etcetera, or due to the lower serotonin levels, because quick carbohydrates are the quickest way to elevate our serotonin levels.

But then they end up crashing. So there's a couple of different factors in there. We also have PM's type D, which is one of the lesser common ones, but is often misconstrued as either PM's type A or PMDD. And that is depression. And this is often caused by too little estrogen.

And then we have PM's type W or type h, which is another one of the most common ones because it is related also to too much estrogen in relation to progesterone. And this is water retention. So that's the bloating, the a little bit of weight gain, puffiness, especially in the extremities or in the face. And again, those usually go hand in hand with PM's type A because of that too much estrogen in relation to progesterone. And then there's PM's type P, which is a more modern categorization, and that is pain.

And that incorporates painful periods, cramping, nausea, vomiting, et cetera. And this is often caused by excess prostaglandins in the body, which are compounds that our body needs and it naturally produces so that it can constrict and contract the uterus so that we can actually release the endometrium. But if we have too much, then it can cause a lot of pain, and then it can also those prostaglandins can spread into other areas of the pelvis, and that's where we're getting period poops from. So if you're experiencing a lot of issues with constipation or diarrhea during your period that can be considered with PM's type P. And this is also often linked up to too much estrogen in relation to progesterone, and is often also seen seen with estrogen dependent conditions such as endometriosis, adenomyosis, polyps, fibroids, et cetera.

Nicole Bandaiyan

Have you been seeing personally a rise in things like endometriosis or working with women who have endometriosis or endomyosis and how? Obviously that requires a lot of medical attention, but do you have any thoughts about that? I wouldn't be able to say if I see a rise in it. I definitely think that in general, hormonal imbalances are very prevalent because we have a lot of endocrine disrupting chemicals in so many of our home products, our skincare products, fragrances, which are in so many cases very much directed to women with consumerism. And all of these products that are marketed toward women end up really messing with their hormones.

Nicole Bendayan

So I think that plays a big role in it as well. Pesticides, pollutants, et cetera. All these toxins can really overload our systems. And if we go back to how important the detoxification pathways are, if we're really overloading our systems and that can then lead to stagnant detoxification pathways or having issues with that, that can then have far reaching impacts on the body as well. So I definitely think that the lifestyle that a lot of us live, also with the stresses that we're under.

Yes, it's incredible that women have come into this place, that we are represented in schools and in the workforce and all of that kind of stuff. But that can also play a huge role in why we might experience irregularities with our cycles or symptoms with our cycles, because we shouldn't be on this go, go, go, constant burnout. And if we do learn how to live in tune with our cycles, then not only are we able to support it, but I think going back to, you know, for a really long time, I thought consistency was everyday hustle. And what I figured out was that if we are able to leverage each phase of our cycle, then we can have better overall productivity within a full cycle, rather than just looking at a specific day. So I think consistency is really about that long term longevity.

And when women are able to support our cycles and feel good and have energy and treat our bodies with honor, we can actually have overall better productivity, etcetera. I love that. I actually have not thought about looking at your productivity over the course of your cycle. I actually love that. That's something I'm still working through.

Yasmin Kouri

I literally am on my period right now, and I have the most jam packed day, which is probably why I'm even feeling a little off. I'm like, I need to honor everything that we talk about sometimes. And I just love the approach of thinking about your productivity over your cycle. That's so beautiful, because we do have different superpowers at different elements, and I truly do believe that, and I feel that. So I love all that, and we fully do.

Nicole Bendayan

So it's really cool when you start to look at how the menstrual cycle can impact our brain and our senses and all of these different things and how we kind of have four different perspectives that we can look at things through. And it's such a cool thing to, you know, our hearing, our scent, our sight is actually heightened in and around ovulation. So that is something super cool that if you know that you have a project coming up that you have to pick out the interior design of something, then doing it in your ovulatory phase could bring you more benefits, you know? So we have these different ways that we can really understand ourselves based on science, and then also based upon our personal experiences and really leverage our strengths so that we can. Yeah.

Have that overall superpower. Yeah. We're always talking about Yasmin, and I talk about how I say I actually love my luteal phase because it's just, I get so much insight. I get, like, these downloads, and I feel like I really can sit with myself, and my intuition is just higher. And once you kind of recognize those things, you can actually love phases that traditionally people don't love.

Nicole Bandaiyan

So I want to end just on. I know a very big question, but what are three things that you think women should be prioritizing every day to just take the steps towards better hormonal health. If they're new to this journey, they're just getting started. They're just getting their feet wet. What are, like, three things that you would prioritize?

Nicole Bendayan

So I would say the first one is just connect to your body. Start to scan your body on a daily basis, either when you wake up or when you go to sleep. Maybe have some questions laid out, like, how am I feeling physically? How is my brain feeling? Do I feel focused and settled, or do I feel hyperactive and brain fog or whatever it is?

And then how does my body feel? Am I in pain? How is my sleep, etcetera, and then actually track it and see if it falls along with your cycle. And see if different things start to impact it. And as soon as you start bringing attention to those things and as soon as you start bringing attention to your body, you'll start to notice these correlations.

And it's really cool because then, you know, oh, when I don't sleep as much as I should be, I end up feeling this way. So at least if you're going into that day, you can give yourself a lot more grace, which I think a lot of women struggle with. But also you can take certain precautions. You know, if, if you've been drinking the night before, you know, make sure to get in some ginseng, you know, have some adaptogens so that you don't feel so much anxiety. Right.

So I think a huge, huge thing is just connecting to your body because then things will start to fall into place. And I know with phase sinking and hormonal journeys, it can seem super overwhelming because, you know, where the floodgates open up when you start to start to consume this type of content. But I think bringing it back to the basic and just starting to tune into your body is super essential. So that 100% stress reduction is huge. And that is something that I think a lot of people don't recognize, that stress is a physiological response in the body.

It's not just in your head. And also, depending on how we're living, depending on our nutrients, we, we may have some intolerances to stress. So we might get stressed out a lot quicker with things that, you know, previously we didn't. So I love adaptogens for that as well. So compounds that help your body deal with stress better and prioritizing sleep and then just get moving.

Right. Of course, as a nutritionist, I should be like, focus on all of your nutrition. But I think the basics really are, you know, getting enough sleep, really prioritizing stress reduction, really connecting to your body, and then just taking small steps to start to align yourself to the healthier version of yourself. And that could be as simple as going for a walk every day or taking the stairs an extra couple of times a day. Because, of course, physical activity plays such a huge role in our hormonal and overall health and then focusing on our nutrition.

And I really like to do stacking. So, like, start off with something and then continue to stack upon that. Right? So you have, you know, the average woman will have 451 menstrual cycles in their life spanning 38.5 years. So you have time to figure this stuff out.

Don't overwhelm yourself at first. Take those small steps and then just continue stacking upon them and eventually it becomes second nature. I love that. And I love those tips specifically because they kind of help get your mind right so they get you in the right head space. Because if you're not in the right head space, then things like nutrition and all of that can feel really daunting.

Nicole Bandaiyan

So it's like just getting yourself to a more joyful, relaxed, peaceful place can get you to take the following subsequent steps, whether it be like being on a specific protocol or taking supplements or getting dialing in on your nutrition or your gut health and all of that. So love all these tips. Thank you so much for joining us today, Nicole. We love what you're up to and super excited to get this out there. Me too.

Nicole Bendayan

Thank you so much for having me. I'd love to come back at any point in time to have you back. We got to do a part two. Dig into all the gems that you have for everyone, so we'll make it happen. And thank you for all that you're doing.

This is amazing.

Yasmin

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of behind her empire. If you enjoyed this conversation, it would mean the world to me. If you would consider leaving a review or even sharing this episode with someone who might be inspired to create their own empire. To stay updated on new episodes or join our private community, visit behindherempire.com to sign up. We send inspiring and short emails every.

Yasmin Kouri

Week to your inbox. I'll see you next week. And until then, remember, you're always in charge of your own destiny, and it's. Never too late to start your own empire.

Yasmin

Never too late to start your own empire.

Yasmin Kouri

Never too late to start your own empire.

What Washington Post Didn't Say About Birth Control + Reclaiming Health After Being Dismissed with Nicole Bendayan

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Episode Summary

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Episode Chapters

1: Introduction to the Series

2: Critique of Washington Post Article

3: Nicole's Journey and Misrepresentation

4: Holistic Approaches to Menstrual Health

5: The Importance of Informed Consent

Actionable Advice

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