Gracie Norton On PCOS, Lymphatic Drainage, Low Impact Workouts & Lowering Inflammation.
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The following podcast is a Dear Media production. Mari has grown her to fitness and nutrition brand. Co-founder of Bloom Nutrition. Forbes 30 under 30 list. A successful entrepreneur. Someone who has lost 90 pounds. Today's guest is Mari Llewellyn. Mari Llewellyn. My friend Mari. Welcome to the Pursuit of Wellness. What's up, guys? Welcome back to the Pursuit of Wellness podcast. I am in Europe right now and oh my gosh,

This episode could not be more relevant for everything I feel like I'm going through and you guys are going through. All of us women in 2023 are having hormonal issues, whether it's to do with the environment, what we're eating, toxins, and more. And we talk all about that in this episode. We talk about cycle syncing, hormone health, cortisol, high impact workouts, and more. Acne is a big topic. So...

You guys are going to love this episode. And I have to mention, after talking with Gracie since this episode, I have gotten my period back. Moment of silence for the period. Massive moment for me. I was so, so excited after having so many hormonal experts on the podcast and implementing all of their recommendations. I

I have finally had a period back. Now, I'm not saying it's consistent and regular yet, but I had a full period and that is worth celebrating. So with that said, let's hop into this episode with Gracie. I really hope you love it. Let's go.

Okay guys, today on the show we have Gracie Norton. I first learned about Gracie through her amazing TikTok content featuring hormone healthy recipes, cycle syncing, low cortisol workouts, skincare and more. What I love about Gracie is her transparency with her PCOS journey. So many of us women are struggling with hormone issues and having someone

online to relate to and learn from is incredible. Gracie now has her own e-cookbook full of gluten, dairy and refined sugar-free meals. I can't wait to hear more about her story. Gracie, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. This is so exciting because we've been following each other for a while now. We have, yeah. And I love your content. And I love yours and I heard your story and I relate so much to everything that you went through so I'm so happy that we're finally getting to

I know. It's kind of like the transformation girly moment. Yes. And now I'm having my own hormone issues. Okay, so you're going through a different phase right now. I'm going through a phase and I have so many questions for you. And I think so many people listening, the hormone epidemic is real. Like I feel like all women are having issues with their hormones at the moment. Yeah, well, I feel like now it's just being talked about a little bit more because when I was diagnosed with PCOS...

had never heard of PCOS. I had no idea the impact the hormones were having on just like my metabolism, my mood, my hair, everything, my bloat. It was affecting every aspect of my health. And because it wasn't being talked about, I didn't have any knowledge on it. It was something that I really started to educate myself on because I knew I wanted to heal naturally. But I love that more people are talking about it. And there's just, there's so many resources out there. So it kind of can be difficult to

figure out what works. Yeah. And I think that's where it can get overwhelming. But gaining control of my hormone health and learning more about it has really changed my life. So. And I think that's why you and your content are so valuable because you are

Speaking to that, you healed naturally and you're showing us how to do it. So I'm really excited to dive in. Where did your health journey begin? Oh, goodness. Okay. So my health journey really began or I guess the onset of PCOS was when I was in college and I had a few ovarian cyst rupture and

didn't look too much into it. It was very painful. And then after that, my periods kind of started getting lighter. I had moved from, I grew up in Mooresville, Indiana, which is a very small town, went to college in Indiana, and then I moved to LA. And that is when my life and my health just really started to change a lot. I'd always been someone that was really in tune with my body. I've always been an active person. I've always...

ate relatively healthy. And after those ovarian cysts rupture, my periods start getting lighter and then it completely disappeared. And it took me three months to realize. But I can understand that. You know what? I mean, I'm sure you know that everything is so fast paced here and especially that transition going from living a slower paced life.

in a very different area to coming here you just i don't know how i missed it it was it had been three months and i was like oh my gosh i haven't had a period in three months back in the day when i wasn't so into my health journey i would have missed anything like i didn't even really have a sense of how i was feeling at the time yeah because you don't know what to look for and i think when you feel a certain way for so long it becomes normal and it that can be just so dangerous

So that was kind of where the onset of PCOS happened. I went to several different doctors just because my symptoms started to get pretty bad. I was bloating after every single thing that I ate. I had gained 30 pounds in three months. I was losing hair. I had hormonal acne, issues with my metabolism, everything you can imagine. And it felt like everything, it felt like I woke up and everything had just hit all at once.

And so because I didn't know that these problems were coming from my hormones, I was looking at each problem as its own.

thing, right? And so that was really stressful for me. And then, so after I decided to start seeing doctors, I was like, I have to take care of this issue. Went to seven different doctors, all of them recommended birth control and metformin, spironolactone. And I was just like, I really want to get to the root cause of these symptoms. And here's

heal myself naturally instead of putting a bandaid on everything. So that was where my wellness journey started. I thought I'm going to educate myself. I'm going to find the right doctor that's going to listen to me. And that was when I really started to dive into wellness.

I have been wearing Nike since the beginning of my fitness journey from Metcons on leg day, which by the way, they are the best leg day shoe, to Air Force Ones for my street style looks, to the sports bras and shorts for my workouts. They have literally been there every step of the way. And I am beyond honored to be working with them. What a dream come true. I love the fact that Nike is focused on holistic fitness. They know that women are multidimensional and so are the ways we feel good in our bodies. And I love the fact that Nike is focused on holistic fitness.

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From leggings that move with you and keep you worry-free during your period to super soft, versatile bras and sneakers that let you perform to your fullest, Nike is here to help you fulfill your full potential. So what I love is that no matter what your workout type is, whether it's weightlifting, Pilates, or running, Nike has a product for you and they've invested a ton of time and money in making sure it feels and fits the best.

for example how many of you have stressed about the leggings you wear during your period to the gym i know personally i went through this recently you're kind of paranoid the whole workout you're not really able to focus which is why nike has just introduced their awesome leak protection biker shorts made with ultra thin liner which means you can work out or chill out without any worry

I also love the fact that they've done thousands of body scans in order to engineer sports bras that provide all the support for the way we move. And plus, they're really, really comfortable. So head over to Nike.com today to discover all the ways that Nike helps you feel your all. Is PCOS, maybe this is an ignorant question, but is it genetic or is it caused by something?

That is a good question. Honestly, I think it can vary. For me, it was definitely caused by, I think the changes in my lifestyle and I think it was stress induced for me as well. But yeah, I think it can be a variety of things that can cause it. And the cysts on the ovaries. Yeah, so you don't have to have

polycystic ovaries to have PCOS. I also had polycystic ovaries. I'll never forget. I was, it was the first doctor that even took the time to give me an ultrasound. It was actually a gynecologist and she had the projector kind of up next to me and I saw all the cysts. My ovaries were four times the size. Wow. It was crazy. And this is like me going in. I had no idea what PCOS was. I had no idea what was going on with my body. And I,

I just broke down in tears and she's like, these are cysts on your ovaries. And she kind of had explained to that what PCOS was. And then I found an integrative medicine doctor that helped me heal naturally. But you don't have to have polycystic ovaries to have PCOS. You can just have the variety of symptoms that I mentioned earlier. It's interesting because I've had an ultrasound to see if I have the cysts and nothing showed up. But I do have some

symptoms of PCOS. Yeah. And I think that's the big misconception is that people think if you don't have the cyst, you must not have PCOS. So it's always important to get, you know, a second opinion, be your own advocate. If you're feeling a majority of the symptoms to keep...

figuring out if that could be a potential diagnosis. And let's say you don't have the diagnosis, but you do have symptoms like hormonal acne, inflammation. Right. Will the same healing methods help? Oh, for sure. Yeah. I mean, if you have any type of hormonal imbalance, there's certain practices that you can do that will ultimately just help you feel more in tune with your body.

I think a lot of women, there's a lot of mystery and sometimes why you're not feeling well. And one of the things that took that out of the equation for me was blood testing. And that was when I realized that I had hormonal imbalance. And that's when I started kind of digging into, you know, what can I do to ultimately just, you know,

you know, I've learned how to manage these symptoms. So the specific doctors that helped you were gynecologists and integrative medicine? Integrative medicine doctor, yes. I know everyone's going to ask that question. Yes, an integrative medicine doctor, functional medicine. It's basically just they help you heal holistically. And that was the avenue that I wanted to take because I wanted to be able to maintain my symptoms or to manage my symptoms without, you know, putting a band-aid on them. And it's been, what, three years now? I've regulated my cycle. I feel like a new human and...

I don't count calories, I don't restrict anything and I just feel so happy and healthy. So that is the goal. So what did your lifestyle look at the time when PCOS was really at the forefront of your life? Oh gosh. Okay. So that's when I was living here.

I wasn't sleeping well. This was, I'd worked in an industry where we were up until what, 3 a.m. filming sometimes. I was sleeping maybe four to five hours. I wasn't eating at the same time every day, which was also an issue. Very fast paced. And then, you know, my symptoms kind of started to appear. So this is when I was rapidly gaining weight. But at this time, and I'm sure you can relate to this, I was

working out twice a day, I was eating so healthy because when I noticed these symptoms, I just thought, oh my gosh, I have to do something about this. And so I was just trying anything and everything. So that was the trial and error period because at this point I hadn't found the integrative medicine doctor. I just, you know, had the diagnosis and it was just trying anything and everything. And I was just not having any success or seeing any results, which was just causing more frustration. But I think stress was a huge factor in just like

making my symptoms worse. I have so much turmoil with lowering stress and every doctor I have seen has told me you're chronically stressed, you need to lower stress.

I can follow a diet, I can take the supplements, I can do all the things, but I don't know how to lower my stress. What have you done? For me, it's finding a good wellness wind down routine. So every evening, I really have to focus and prioritize just kind of like getting in that, just finding my peace in order to feel rested and get a good night of sleep because for me, sleep is everything.

So it looks something like, you know, I'll do my red light therapy. I'll have some type of digestion tea, maybe like a ginger mint tea, legs up the wall meditation, just a super quick two minute meditation. And then magnesium always, always, always before bed. Do you take magnesium? Oh, yeah. Okay. That's helped a lot with my sleep and stress.

But yeah, ultimately just finding that good wellness wind-up routine and just sticking to it. And I think once you learn what you need, because there's people have different stress triggers and then people are calmed down by different things as well. So I think it can vary person to person. But for me personally,

really prioritizing that routine in the evening was key. Yeah, that's something I'm really focusing on right now. And I also think the mornings can be so powerful. Right. Yeah. It's totally sets the tone for your day. Do you like to meditate in the morning? I'm trying. Okay. I'm trying. I go back and forth between journaling, meditating. I'm kind of finding my groove with it. It's honestly my biggest, I think, flaw is sticking to the

calmness. I'm addicted to the chaos a little bit. Yeah. Some people can be addicted to stress and you don't realize it because a lot of mine was self-induced. Yes. You know, and that's the thing that's tough is because, I mean, obviously living in LA, there's so many other outside factors that can cause it, but it's hard when you look back and you're like, well, I was kind of causing a lot of it myself as well. Yeah. Do you feel like your lifestyle in Indiana is a lot more suited? Like, how are you feeling? Because I know you've been in LA for the past week. Yeah.

it's interesting because I was visiting LA this time last year and I was like, I'm so happy that I don't live here. And then I came back this time, just got back from Coachella. It was so fun. And being here, I'm just getting a different, a different feeling. I've met a few more people in the wellness community. Everybody's been so kind. And I mentioned this earlier, but I just love having that like in-person communication. I'm such an energy person and

So I might start coming back more often, but Indiana is very quiet. It's very calm. I have my little sanctuary there. So I think it'll be nice to get maybe like a little bit more of both and maybe start traveling here a little bit more often. That sounds ideal. Yeah, but it's a lot slower pace and I have to be near my family. And so they're back in Indiana. So that's what kind of took me back there was obviously went back to heal and then be with my family.

And it's probably nice to be around people who have a similar job to you. And we have so many wellness creators here in LA. Yes, and that's the thing. Yeah, when I was connecting with so many wellness creators at Coachella and just when I've been here this week, it's been so amazing to just...

have those conversations because there's not too many people in Indiana. I mean, wellness, the wellness community isn't very big in Indiana. So it is, it can be pretty isolating to be doing that by yourself. And obviously when you're creating content, sometimes it's just you and your phone or your camera. And yeah, it can be, it can be isolating. So you mentioned losing your cycle. Yes.

What was that like? Was fertility mentioned in any of your doctor's appointments and what did you do to get it back? Right. So that was definitely a big topic of conversation with my gynecologist. It was a big worry of mine because I definitely want to have children in the future.

And to get my cycle back on track, this was a combination of changing my nutrition, changing my exercise, and then just incorporating a few full body treatments like lymphatic drainage and acupuncture was a really big one for me. I actually did electroacupuncture. I had never done acupuncture before, but I think that was one of the big things that actually helped stimulate my ovaries and helped me start my cycle again. But again, nutrition and changing that exercise were two things.

So for nutrition, I decided to remove gluten, dairy, and refined sugar. Some people recommend for PCOS also cutting out grains. Couldn't do it. I got to have like a little bit of grains in there. And then for exercise, I switched from high impact to low impact. And I know I mentioned this earlier, but...

I thought when I was when I gained 30 pounds in three months just exercise more and even some doctors had told me you need to burn more calories make sure you're exercising so I was doing two high intensity workouts a day so switching to more low impact workouts inclined walking hot yoga some dumbbell training here and there really helped so those were those were the main things that helped me get my cycle back on track and it does take longer and some people ask you know

I want to, you know, I want these changes to happen overnight or I want, how can I feel better next month? No, it was, it was a long process, but it's definitely worth it because it's just so much more enjoyable to maintain your symptoms when you can do it with, with peace and happiness as opposed to feeling restricted.

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How long did it take you on your healing journey to actually get your period back, if you don't mind me asking? Yeah, it took a year. Oh, wow. Yeah. Okay, because I'm currently...

trying to get mine back. And I've been trying acupuncture, which was so new for me. I was a little bit skeptical, but now I'm really understanding the power of acupuncture. Yeah. And keep in mind, this was, that's including the trial and error period. But once I found the right practices and once I made that switch in nutrition, it, I think it would have maybe around the six month mark, but I threw a period party. I was so excited. I was like, oh my God,

Gosh, I got my period. I was so, so happy. We've been saying I'm going to throw one as well because I literally... Oh, you're coming. 100%. We need to have one. And I have dreams of getting it back because I'm just so desperate. How long have you been without your period? I think I came off birth control. Again, we should talk about birth control. But last July. Okay. So almost a year. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

And I'm trying desperately to get it back. And are you having, because for me, I was having all of the premenstrual symptoms and then you just don't have a period. Yes. It's the worst. It's like you have acne, you're bloating, you feel like you might start. I was cramping and it was just no period. Yes. It's such a like tease. I feel like it's coming and it's not. It's the worst feeling. It's the worst feeling. So, okay. The workout specifically, I'm really curious about because I think a lot of women are

kind of addicted to the Hitstar workouts. I don't want to name names, but kind of like a Barry style. What did you switch to and did you notice like an immediate difference? Yeah. So I think the first thing that I tried to look at was, you know, when I was working out with PCOS and my goal was just to, how can I lose this weight? Why am I not seeing results?

I was so exhausted from my workouts. I wasn't working out and feeling energized after. And I noticed when I made that transition to more low impact, they were workouts that made me just fall back in love with the process. I was feeling energized. I felt great afterwards. But yeah, at first it was that hit style. And then I moved to incline walking, just 12, 330, which I don't know if you've heard of that style of walking. I think Lauren Giraldo was the one who started that. So I started doing that and then just...

dumbbell exercises. And I love hot yoga. I love to sweat. I love to stretch. And I think just not putting that stress on my body helped so much. And I started to see results after making that swap within what, three, three months or so and being consistent. So my body just responded so much better to that. And I know everybody's different. Some people prefer the HIIT style and I'll sprinkle that in now and then depending on what phase of my cycle that I'm in. But yeah, changing my workouts was a big one for me.

Let's talk about cycle syncing for a minute because the community had a ton of questions about that. Where did you begin to learn about cycle syncing? Because it's a bit overwhelming. It is overwhelming and I'm still learning about it. It's still pretty new to me, but I didn't start incorporating cycle syncing until after I had started my period again.

And there's actually a book that I read not too long ago that's a really great resource for people who want to learn more about it. It's called In the Flow by Alyssa Vitti and she breaks everything down. Essentially, it's just

how you are learned to live in harmony with your hormones. Because as women, we also, so we all have circadian rhythms, but women also have an infradian rhythm and that's living in harmony with your 28 day cycle and finding the workouts and nutrition and just the lifestyle changes that are going to make you feel your best at each stage in your cycle. So you have your menstrual phase, your follicular, your ovulatory and your luteal.

And the way that it was explained to me the first time, which is so helpful, is you kind of pair each one up with a season. So your menstrual will be your inner winter, your follicular is your inner spring, your ovulatory is your inner summer, and your luteal is your inner fall. So if you think about those seasons and what you may do during those seasons, for example, in the winter, you're kind of like inside, you're staying cozy, which is like your menstrual phase. You want to be, you know, prepping yourself for what's next. And I think for me, I like to...

I don't like to communicate with like a lot of people during that time. I don't like to be socializing. Like it's my, it's my me time, my self care time. And then during my ovulatory phase, I, I,

just feel like my hottest. So I'm like feeling myself and it's great. But yeah, I think the more you can learn about those phases and again, women feel different at different points. So you really have to, I would, I would suggest reading in the flow and kind of applying, applying the, what you learned from that and figuring out what works best for you. But I would sync my nutrition and my workouts to each phase in my cycle. How does your nutrition change between each cycle? Yeah. So my, my menstrual phase, I'm focusing on a lot of warm anti-inflammatory foods and

Like sometimes I'm like, okay, I got to have a smoothie right now during my menstrual phase, but I try to have mostly warm drinks. And then during, for example, like my luteal phase, I will try to have more iron and vitamin C and just get ready because obviously during your menstrual phase, you're losing, you know, a lot of iron. So it's important that you are having that. So yeah, highly recommend reading that book to learn more about it.

So let's talk granular. Back when you began to heal, what were some initial steps you took? Small changes, because I know for me personally, when I began to lose weight and focus on my health, I really started small, walks a day, making tweaks to my diet. What were your initial steps? Yeah, the initial steps were...

what was stressing my body out. So that was the first thing is just gaining control of my stress. And then after I'd gotten my blood work back, I really focused on having

how to balance my hormones and gaining control of my symptoms. So again, making those small shifts and my exercise that was actually easier. I mean, I was putting my body through so much work and effort, so slowing down and then just making those simple changes in my nutrition. An easy switch was just starting to eat at the same time every single day.

nailing down a great morning routine, a wellness wind down routine. And yeah, I mean, I think there's so many, there's so much information out there. But I do think the smaller shifts, for example, just like walking more, you know, and just taking that time out of the day, focusing on stress. But I think the biggest thing is trying to focus on one thing at a time instead of waking up and deciding to change everything. I think that was one of the things that really helped me enjoy the process instead of be overwhelmed by it.

You mentioned eating at the same time every day. How long do you wait in between each meal? So it really, for me, I don't like to eat like right when I wake up. Oh, I like to have juicy pudding like every single morning. So a little bit juicy pudding and then I'll have my breakfast around the clock.

around 8:30, 9 o'clock. It's usually three hours between each meal and then I'll have a snack before dinner. And is protein a big part? Yes. Okay. Yes. For women with PCOS or hormone imbalance, getting your protein in is huge.

One of the things I'll do in the morning, 'cause I don't eat, I'll have eggs and baked goods, but I don't have like a five egg omelet for breakfast or anything. And so people are like, how do you get your protein in if you don't have eggs? I love chicken, apple sausage. I'll do like a chicken, apple sausage, breakfast hash. And then Chomp's beef sticks are like, I always have one in my purse. - I have one today. - Easy, nine grams of protein right then and there, beef bone broth in the morning. So if you're someone who wants like a yogurt bowl, make sure you're getting that's an extra, what, nine grams of protein in a cup.

That's a huge one. Snacking on like pistachios or nuts throughout the day. But yeah, making sure I was getting in enough protein was huge for me. And that's a simple swap too. Like going back to those changes, it's like, what do I want to focus on today and how am I going to achieve it instead of like trying to change, you know, everything at once. Yeah.

You're kind of known for your recipes. They are incredible. Where did you begin to learn these recipes? Like where did the creativity come from? Yeah, it's so funny because growing up I would have like eggos and pop tarts for breakfast. So like wellness was not a big thing in my family growing up until my dad, I think he went vegan for a few years and then we both kind of, we did that together for a year and

That was when I first started to learn about just nutrition and kind of have fun with food. But yeah, I think, well, after I was diagnosed and I, and my functional medicine doctor said, Hey, you know, we should think about removing gluten, dairy, and refined sugar. I just thought, Oh my gosh, my food's going to be so bland and boring. What am I going to eat? And then I thought, you know what? I'm going to figure out a way to make this fun. So I just started throwing random stuff together in my kitchen. I am not a chef.

I honestly don't know how it happened. And then I just thought, you know what, I'm going to start sharing these recipes because there could be someone that could help. And then one thing kind of led to another. And I was like, wow, people are enjoying these recipes. I'm just going to keep sharing them. But yeah, my love for food kind of started just like after I was diagnosed. And I just wanted to find a way to make nutrition fun. Because people, I feel like, you know, people always say, oh my gosh, if you're vegan or if you have these dietary restrictions, it's always...

There's no way that your, you know, nutrition is fun. So, yeah, I kind of wanted to change that. Same with me. I think when I went gluten-free, dairy-free, all of a sudden it kind of sparked my interest in cooking because I was like, I want to make this enjoyable. Right. And I love all of your recipes, too. Thank you. Thank you. A lot of them are inspired from you. And I also love your olipop in the wine glass. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Moment. Yes. I felt like that went viral. Isn't that fun? It's just like I'm I don't drink alcohol often. Actually, I removed alcohol for while I was healing was about two whole years. I just don't enjoy the way it makes me feel either. So that part wasn't too hard for me. But yeah, it's just like, how can you make it fun? Pour it in the wine glass. I put anything in a wine glass. Oh, yes.

So luxurious. So now that you have healed or you're on, you know, very much along your healing journey, do you introduce things back in? Yes.

Yeah, so this has been the best part of healing for me. So I did work with my integrative medicine doctor when I started adding things back in. I removed, you know, all my food stativities, gluten, dairy, refined sugar, and now I can have everything in moderation without it flaring up my symptoms. And I never thought that I was going to be able to do that. And so that truly is the best part of healing for me is that now I can have everything in moderation.

you

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Did you find that your acne healed from the overall improvement of your lifestyle or was there anything specific you did for hormonal acne? So I didn't do anything specific. And I know the medication that was recommended to me that I did end up taking was spironolactone. Yes, I just came off it. Okay.

So, and I know that's, that works for a lot of people and that's amazing. But I think for me, the biggest thing that helped was the refined sugar in my nutrition. Yeah. That sparks my acne every time. Yes. And I had no idea how much of an impact that would, that would make just changing that, that one thing. Cause, cause gluten and dairy helped a lot with my digestion. Cause on top of PCOS, I had a ton of digestion issues as well, but refined sugar helped so much with my hormonal acne. Do you find,

now that when you have refined sugar, if you ever do it, it comes back? I do. Yeah, I do notice that a little bit. Yeah. Just before I left for Coachella, I was having a little bit of a breakout right here, you know, on my chin. Mine is all around my mouth. Yeah. So that right there is that's the hormonal zone, if you will. It's kind of along the jawline, the chin. And I actually would have it come to the back of my ear and down my neck. Wow. I didn't really have acne up here. It was all just kind of a long...

along my chin but refined sugar I feel like is what helped a lot with that and I think in general you know getting more sleep all of those things helped but if there was one shift that I noticed the most in my diet it was the sugar I'm curious in your blood work so I'm assuming the testosterone was elevated yeah so I I was telling my doctor I was like I want to see that I want to look at my blood work again just to go over it with you but when I had my hormone panel it was my s

estrogen, my progesterone, testosterone, follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, cortisol and insulin that were tested. And he just sat me down and said, oh girl.

Oh, okay. Everything is just out of whack. We have a lot to work to do. So I do recommend, have you had a full hormone panel yet? I have. And I did a Dutch test. Have you heard of that? Yes. Yeah. I've heard of a Dutch test. Did a Dutch test. Everything's messed up. Yeah. Everything. Yeah. And it does help when you have someone working alongside you to really explain everything, you know, of what changes are going to help, you know, certain hormones and things like that. But for me, like my cortisol was also...

Through the roof? Through the roof, yeah. Mine spikes in the morning and then it completely disappears. Okay. I guess they said I've been chronically stressed for so long that it's now no longer working. Oh my goodness. Yeah, well, not producing enough cortisol is another thing, you know? Yeah. So you can either have, you know, the situation that I was in where you just like, it's off the charts or you're, you know, you need to figure out a way to get those levels back up.

- Yeah. - Yeah. - With PCOS and PCOS symptoms, does everyone have elevated testosterone or it can be all over the map? - I think it can be all over the map. There's different types of PCOS. So depending on what type you have that will reflect in your blood work. But I think ultimately once you, for me, once I made those changes in my nutrition and my lifestyle, it was just like every symptom started to feel better, yeah.

You mentioned morning and night routine. Yes. Super crucial. Yes. Talk us through your morning routine in detail. Okay. In detail. Okay. So I wake up. I'm not, I would love to be the gal that wakes up at 5am. You were an early riser, aren't you? I am. I need to learn your ways. Well, my anxiety is also through the roof, so I don't think I'm a good example. Oh my gosh. I wish I could wake up early. So I wake up around 7.30, 8 o'clock.

First things first is oral care. So tongue scrape, brush my teeth, flossing action. Sometimes I'll oil pull. Tongue scraping. Do you tongue scrape? No. Oh my gosh, we got to get you a tongue scraper. Okay, what does it do? Why do I need to do it? Okay, first of all, it has a lot of benefits for your oral health. And for me, it also has digestive benefits as well. They say it can help massage your internal organs. Nobody wants bad breath, so it helps with that. And it gets just all the mucus off your tongue. It can help activate digestive enzymes.

And it's just one of those things like once you start it, you're going to do it once and be like, how have I not been scraping my tongue? My husband does it. Yeah. Getting all that mucus off your tongue. It just, it feels so good. We'll brush my teeth. And like I said, floss, sometimes we'll oil pull, but that's a 15, 20 minute like process that you, I like to multitask. I'll put like my dishes away in the morning or start making breakfast while I'm swishing it around. So I'll do that.

And then I'll do a little bit of skincare. I always do my lymphatic drainage facial in the morning. Okay. I kind of tried to do it a little bit today. Can you talk us through like, why is that beneficial? What does it do? Yeah. So where I learned the method was from Rebecca Faria and her Instagram is detox by Rebecca and she shares so many tips. I've learned everything that I know about lymphatic drainage from her.

So when I was diagnosed with PCOS and before I was diagnosed, I had so much swelling and inflammation to the point where I felt like I could touch my legs, my stomach, my face, and it just felt like I was going to pop.

And it's interesting because a lot of people think that like, oh, it's just weight gain, but inflammation and swelling is a completely different feeling than weight gain. So this was one of those practices that I would do in the morning that really would help with that inflammation. And I used to see Rebecca, she's got a studio here. And then she said, hey, you know, if you're moving back to Indiana, here's how you can do it at home. So it's a two minute

facial you don't need any fancy tools just your fingers and your face oil and that's why i love it and in my opinion it's more effective than any tool so you start by massaging your lymph nodes right here in front of your collarbone by your ears and you just massage very gently by the nose in the inner corner of the eye and then it's just a series of hand motions you'll swipe down the neck you'll swipe across the chin across the cheeks under the eyes and then upward strokes along the forehead and

And I'm telling you, I can see a difference in the before and after in just two minutes. Wow.

Yeah. Helps so much with your swelling. So it's draining toxins. Yeah. So the way that Rebecca had described it to me is that you're imagine like your lymph nodes as a garbage disposal. And, you know, when you have to like flick the switch and when it's clogged and you can't get anything through to run the water. So essentially that massage is opening so that all of that excess fluid has a place to escape. Whereas like if you just were to put a jade roller on your skin, you're not giving it an exit.

point you know so that's why it's important to and again this is just how it was explained to me but I have seen so I've seen great results yeah I've also heard it's great for acne yeah and I think liver health yeah yeah for sure because you're detoxing all those toxins exactly and there's a massage that I do on my stomach and legs as well because I had a lot of inflammation there

And it can help with digestion if you need to have a quick bowel movement. It helps with that. Love that. But the facial is like, that's my non-negotiable part of my morning routine. What do we do after the facial? After the facial, I will finish up my skincare and then I'll usually have my bone broth before eating. I love beef bone broth just because it's a little bit more rich in glycine, which is great for our gut health.

Do you have a brand? I do like Kettle and Fire. And I just started trying because I wanted to have something to take on the go while I was traveling. Chroma Wellness has a beef bone broth powder. Okay, amazing. And I really enjoy the flavor of that. But when I'm making my beef bone broth in the morning, the Kettle and Fire version,

I'll add ginger, turmeric, smoked paprika, salt and pepper. And the ginger just gives it that extra like spice that it's like, I don't know, it gives it a really good flavor. So if you're trying it, add that to it and it will be better. Some people just don't like the flavor. I actually really enjoy it. And then sometimes I'll have a matcha. I love my matcha lattes. And then I'll make breakfast. And that usually looks like some type of chicken sausage, sweet potato hash or something along those lines. I recently heard...

of someone mixing their matcha with the bone broth. Oh, gosh. I don't know if I can jump on board with that. That's a lot. I don't know. That's a lot. It's an interesting mixture. It is. I've also seen, what have I seen on TikTok that I tried? It was a bone broth hot chocolate. Have you seen that? Ooh, that could be good. Yeah, because the cacao powder is going to be so flavorful, right? That I think it could mask it. So I'll try it and I'll report back and let you know. Oh, yeah. Make a TikTok about that. We all need to see. I will. What time do you work out?

I work out in the morning because my cortisol levels are naturally higher in the morning. And the last thing I want to do is spike those levels again before bed. So I'll work out in the morning. I'll usually, I like to split my workout into 10 or to a few different parts, 10 minute segments.

So I will start with my cardio and I'll do an incline walk, get my heart rate up. I'll do some like dumbbell training back to my incline walk and then I'll finish with some dumbbell training. That keeps it fun too. It keeps it fun. It goes by so much quicker and I enjoy it and it's been one of those things and I'll change the intensity depending on what phase of my cycle that I'm in. So for my menstrual cycle,

It's just like a stroll outside. I'm not doing any intense workouts. During my follicular, I'll just keep it at an incline walk. Ovulatory, I'm picking up the pace. I'm doing a little bit more high intensity. And then luteal is just kind of toning it back a little bit, focusing on dumbbell training and maybe some Pilates, walking outside, a little bit of jogging. So yeah.

What does the nighttime routine look like? Yeah, nighttime is for me, that's like when I really have to focus on winding down. It's always magnesium, magnesium always after dinner. Sometimes I'll mix it with like an Olipop, like pour a little wine glass, you know. Is it liquid magnesium? Powder. It's from Moon Juice.

Interesting, because I do capsules, but that sounds like a good method. Yeah, well, what I've noticed is that some magnesiums are better for focus for me and then some are better for...

So the powder has just been one of those things that's really helped with my sleep. And they actually just came out with a new flavor. I think it's like a blueberry lemonade, but the berry one's really sweet, so you'll have to try it. So I always have magnesium before bed. I like to do a quick legs up the wall meditation. If I want to do a quick lymphatic drainage massage on my stomach, I'll do that. And then I always like to make sure like...

lights, no bright lights in my apartment after like 8 p.m. Sometimes I'll turn my phone settings on like the red screen, like the red color tint. So my eyes aren't stimulated by that blue light. And then, yeah, just like a wind. And if I have time for an Epsom salt bath, I'll squeeze that in there. But that's like that's like my perfect night. You know what I mean? Sometimes I don't have time for every single thing. But yeah. And then I try to like crawl into bed by 1030.

I have these really weird red light glasses that are actually like orange. Okay. And I look like a, I don't know, I walk around in those glasses, but they help. They really do. The amount of relief on my eyes, especially because we're both looking at screens pretty much all day long, my eyes get so strained and that blue light is pretty stimulating. So to have that red light therapy and because I'll do the mask as well, it does, it helps me like calm me down, it relaxes my eyes and it's just one of those things that gets me in my sleepy zone. How

How do you handle, because you work for yourself now. When did you begin full time working on TikTok?

Oh, about a year ago. Yeah. So it's still pretty fresh. And you know what's interesting is that when I first started sharing just like my experience, my goal was just to help. And I didn't know at the time because when I was diagnosed with PCOS, I'd never heard of it. And I thought there's got to be a few other girls out there that could potentially be going through the same thing. I'm just going to talk about this. And then one thing kind of led to another. And it's like the very thing that was

you know, so isolating to me has become this thing that has now brought me so much joy. It's brought me the best community. I love my community so much and it's turned into, you know, such an amazing career. So it's been incredible. I always say I feel like our pain becomes our purpose and it seems like you're living out your purpose now, sharing the things that you do. Yes, I have so much joy, fulfillment. I...

Yeah, there's nothing I love more than speaking about, you know, this experience and connecting with people. And even, you know, I see every single DM, every single comment of somebody just saying, you know, I tried your recipe. I loved it. Or, hey, I made this for my kids. It was great. Or I tried your workout. I'm feeling so good. It makes my day.

Tell us about the e-cookbook because you're now an entrepreneur. Yes. You have your own product. Tell us all about it. Yeah. So Cooking Up Wellness, it launched March 1st. And my dear friend, Jazz Leaf, also worked with me on the cookbook. It was so fun to just compile all of my favorite recipes. And it has over 50 gluten, dairy, and refined sugar-free recipes. So these are the meals that I was eating while I was healing. These are the meals that I eat right now. And...

it's it's fun it's easy I'm not a chef so these are like these are foods that anybody you can go to any grocery store pick them up anybody can make them and for me like I said my my goal was to just make nutrition fun again so the this e-cookbook is full of desserts we've got snacks we've got breakfast lunch and dinner it has it all I'm gonna buy this book yeah I need it I'm gonna we can give some away too let's do a giveaway I was gonna ask can we yeah

Let's give some away. Okay, let's do it. How about everyone follows Gracie at Gracie underscore Norton. Yes, at Gracie underscore Norton. Yep. Follow this podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and let us know your favorite part of this episode under my podcast page latest post. Yay. Now it's time for the question we ask every guest. Okay. I started this podcast because I believe everyone's pursuit of wellness looks different. What does wellness mean to you?

Oh, for me, I think wellness means acknowledging the fact that your body is going to need different things on different days. I think sometimes we can treat our body like, treat our bodies like machines and expect them to perform, perform, perform without asking ourselves what we may need different that day. So remembering that your body is a garden, you're going to need a little bit more water one day, something else one day, and just being able to, to

to go with the flow and and just listen to yourself yeah I love that thank you Gracie where can everyone find you and your book online yeah so it's at Gracie underscore Norton on Instagram and TikTok and my ebook is called cooking up wellness it's linked on both my my Instagram and my TikTok and yeah thank you so much for having me thank you so much for being here loved it that was great

Thank you for listening to today's episode. Go comment on my last Instagram at Mari Llewellyn with the guest you want to see next. I'll be picking one person from the comments to send our bloom greens to. Make sure you hit follow so you never miss my weekly episodes. If you enjoyed the conversation, be sure to share and leave a review. See you next week.

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