Celebrating Growth: What I Learned from Studying Hormone Health
This week, I officially graduated from the IIN Hormone Health Course - and I’m feeling incredibly grateful for what I’ve learned and how it’s shaped the way I care for myself and my family and also the knowledge I can bring to my role as a Health Coach.
The course offered a comprehensive overview of hormone health, covering adrenal function, thyroid health, the endocrine system, sex hormones, and, most importantly, how we can support these systems to function at their best.
As I’ve sought to understand more about what’s happening in my own body during perimenopause and menopause, I’ve often been struck by how little I truly knew about my reproductive system when I was young - its complexity, nuance, and, quite frankly, its power. Looking back, I wish I had known how to harness the stages of my cycle to improve how I worked, related, and coped - especially during fertility challenges.
One of the things I loved about this course was learning how younger women can use the phases of their menstrual cycle to feel more empowered in their health. If you want to know more about this, Mindy Pelz’s Fast Like a Girl is a standout resource, showing how nutrition and lifestyle choices can be tailored to different stages of the cycle to enhance mental clarity, energy, vitality, and especially, healthy weight management.
As a mum of two teenage boys, I’m very familiar with the unmistakable scent of Lynx body spray wafting through the house each morning. I often wonder how it got in here - but it’s part of the landscape now. What concerns me, though, is how many of these fragranced products are linked to endocrine disruption. And it’s not just body sprays. It’s scented candles, skincare, beauty products — so many everyday things.
The course really highlighted how frequently we’re exposed to toxins that can disrupt our hormonal balance. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by how much there is to think about. Just a few of the most common hormone-disrupting culprits include:
Heavy metals
Flame retardants
Herbicides and pesticides
BPA (found in plastics and epoxy resins)
Non-stick cookware
One practical part of the course was doing a home audit - identifying areas where we might reduce toxic exposure and making a realistic plan. For me, plastics were the biggest shock. From cooking utensils to food storage containers to drink bottles, they were everywhere.
So I made a small but manageable commitment: each week, I buy a glass container and replace one plastic item. I’ve started doing the same with drink bottles. It’s slow, yes, but it’s sustainable - and I know I’m moving in the right direction.
So here’s my challenge to you:Take a look around your home. Can you identify one or two items you could replace with a healthier alternative? Start small. See how it feels. And let me know what changes you make - I’d love to hear how it goes.