The Universe is in Your Uterus

Let’s talk about a female organ that needs some attention - the uterus. Hey MEN…don’t go tip-toeing off anywhere – you are included in this conversation and need this information too. It amazes me how little is understood about the uterus; its sacred power, its connectivity to everything else in the body and how to care for it.

Much of our uterine care advice comes from a medical community, which disregards the power of the female body to regulate itself through a natural ebb and flow of hormones throughout the month.

As a species, we have gotten so far away from our raw natural state, that we see our periods as an inconvenience and our uterus as an expendable organ to be conquered and controlled rather than honored and nurtured.

I got a call from a friend the other day. She said, “I need to talk to you about something. Sex is becoming very painful. My sex drive is good. But my tissue is just so tight. I’m so uncomfortable. It is really becoming an issue, and I don’t know what to do.”

We talked some more. We talked about lubrication options, which could help to buy some time while we figure out what’s going on. And then things got interesting. I asked her, “What do you use for birth control?”

She said, “A copper IUD. I figured that it is the least invasive with no hormones.”

IUD stands for intrauterine device. Lots of women opt in for this contraceptive device based on the statement above.

I said, “Ok. You are not going to like what I have to say, but here we go. First, let’s talk about invasive. There is a foreign, metal object in your vagina. That is invasive. You already have an autoimmune disease (she has Hashimoto’s). Once again, you have a foreign object inside of your body that could elicit even more inflammation. My vagina gets tense just talking about it!” [laughter]

“Do you see that this IUD isn’t doing you any favors? I’ve even seen this argument extend to wearing contact lenses, which is a foreign object in your eye. I’ve even seen it extend to vasectomies in men. They don’t stop producing sperm when they cut the tube that carries them. The body absorbs the sperm. For some people, none of this means anything. There is little to no known impact. But for others like yourself, who already have a chronic inflammatory disease, well, it could tip the scales even further away from your favor.”

“There is no easy way to prevent what Mother Nature wants to have happen, which is get you impregnated. But making your vagina an inhospitable place with an IUD is disrupting the core of your entire being. The uterus is this open space where life happens. Out of nothing, an egg and sperm meet and make a baby. The uterus is the ultimate source of creativity and right now yours is not happy. It is inflamed.”

“We can try herbal smooth muscle relaxants. We can try nervine herbs to help relax your nervous system. We can try to moisten your vaginal tissue from the inside out with appropriate nutritional and herbal support. There are lots of options. I do not want to tell you what to do. My job is to educate. If you decide to remove it, you can always get another one. I will support you either way. I just hate chasing symptoms on people and wasting resources when there is something obvious that needs to be addressed, like a foreign object up inside your body. Obviously, I am biased [more laughter].”

She thanked me for my feedback, and I told her to call me if she needed anything else.

Whew! What would she decide to do?

Within 48 hours she made an appointment to remove the IUD, and I received this text message:

“Holy shit! Just left the doctor’s office and I swear to God it feels like this dark cloud has lifted. It’s like my vagina just took a deep breath of fresh air, ha ha! I had no idea it would be so immediate and noticeable.”

She had her IUD for 21 months before taking it out. Then, a few days later, I get this message:

“Light bulb moment! I would bet money that my iritis was an inflammatory response to the IUD. It started shortly after having the IUD put in and nothing I did diet wise seemed to keep it at bay.”

So in addition to an autoimmune pattern in her body, she has had this mysterious inflammation in her eye, which is called iritis. Now, she thinks the two are connected.

Everything is connected.

You cannot imagine the joy I feel for the possibilities of this young woman’s life. She is ready for change. She is motivated. She is committed to the unfolding of her vitality. I have had this same conversation with many women. She was ready to hear it.

She gives me hope.

Ladies, your uterus is not an expendable organ. The two most unnecessary and destructive surgeries I see happening are cholecystectomies, which is the removal of the gall bladder, and hysterectomies, which is the removal of the uterus. The fact that both of these are hollow organs intrigues me. I wonder what that means, if anything. Beyond that fascination, I am pissed.

If you have had one or both of these organs removed, I am so, so sorry.

If you still have yours, do everything you can to keep them.

Women deserve better.

Just because you can live without it, does not mean that you don’t need it.

This is one of the reasons the medical system is so quick to schedule these surgeries. Technically, you can live without these organs, but my question is: CAN YOU LIVE WELL?

When women fail to honor their reproductive capacity, they fail to honor themselves.

The energetic function of your uterus is to ground you, to help you feel a connection with the earth, and to inspire your creativity. The vaginal canal is an opening for the exchange of energy into and out of the body. I am not just talking about sexual activity. I am talking about the kind of connection that reminds you that you are part of the tides and the seasons and yes, the cycles of the moon! Once again, the IUD is not going to facilitate this healthy flow of energy.

When the uterus is understood as a sacred space, we no longer feel at odds with the emotions that arise because of our menstrual cycle. The positive emotion associated with the uterus is containment. The negative emotion is histrionic, which means overly dramatic or theatrical; essentially, the opposite of containment. Both emotions are important and reveal to us secrets from our subconscious.

You know what happens right before my period? I might get sensitive. I might get weepy. I might get angry. I might not have any energy. These symptoms are not a pathology. This is the wisdom of the body at work. When my estrogen and progesterone start to drop, my body has to adapt to that. Sometimes it doesn’t adapt all that well, and what gets revealed to me is what I am overlooking in my day-to-day life. All of a sudden, I can’t contain myself as well I could earlier in the month. At this point, my life shows itself to me. The things I have ignored, I can’t ignore anymore.

These insights are painful gifts.

Maybe I need to get more sleep this coming month.

Maybe I need to eat better foods this coming month.

Maybe I need to have that hard conversation with my spouse, co-worker, boss, family member, or friend that I have been avoiding.

You don’t want to make your menstrual cycle go away. You want to harness the power it brings each month. Use it to learn about yourself. Use it to connect with the moon. If your menstrual cycle disables you, then get to work on your self-care. You need support. On the other end of the spectrum, you may not have a menstrual cycle. That is another kind of problem, and you need help, too.

The emotional expression around a woman's period is raw. It is primal and often uncomfortable. Instead of making it wrong or viewing it as a weakness, I think women and men would be far better off to embrace it and look for its wisdom.

We can either think…I am a beacon of light and truth when my menstrual cycle comes along. What will I learn about myself and life this month?

Or...

I shouldn't feel so strongly or be so weepy or be so angry or be so irritated. What is wrong with me?

I think the first perspective is much more empowering. Don't fight it; lean into it.

Let’s examine another method of birth control: The Pill. Women’s hormones are cycling all month long. In the first half of the cycle, estrogen is high. As a hormone of proliferation, it builds the endometrial lining of the uterus. Then, the woman ovulates, and egg white-like vaginal discharge appears, marking the beginning of the second half of the cycle. Next, progesterone takes over, which helps to hold onto the endometrial lining, making sure your uterus is a nice, soft space for an egg and sperm to unite and make a baby. If pregnancy does not happen, then the estrogen and progesterone both drop and the woman has her period, effectively shedding the lining.

That’s the simple story. The menstrual cycle is very complex. The thing to know about hormones is that they exert powerful influences in the body in very small amounts, and they all affect each other.

Everything is connected.

Now that you understand, the ups and downs of hormones and how they dance together with all the other hormones, you understand why The Pill is a horrific intervention:

It takes this glorious cycle out of the equation and introduces a flat line of hormones.

It removes the essence of what it means to be a woman. It introduces male energy to the body. Let a man be a man. I want women to be women.

What I mean by that is that your menstrual cycle isn’t something that holds you back in life. It is NOT an inconvenience. It is something to celebrate – these are your reproductive years! And this cycle you live with, that resides inside you, makes you strong. It makes you adaptable to change. It’s wonderful!

But The Pill, an IUD, or an hysterectomy are NOT viable solutions. While it may make your symptoms go away, it is driving your imbalance deeper…and deeper!

I said this earlier and it is worth repeating: the universe is in the uterus; the empty space where the possibility to new life resides. Please respect and preserve this sacred space.

So here's my primer on how to take care of your uterus...

There are targeted nutritional and herbal solutions that can help you. There are dietary and lifestyle changes that can help you. You have options, but they require your participation.

My number one nutritional supplement for supporting the health of the uterus is from Standard Process. It is called Utrophin PMG, which is available through qualified health professionals. This supplement comes from the traditional wisdom of ‘like restores like’, meaning that our ancestors believed that if you had a problem with a specific tissue, then you need to eat it. This is still true today.

My number one herb for the health of the uterus is Rubus idaeus, also knowns as raspberry leaf. Many herbs have an affinity for specific tissues or organs. This is something that our ancestors figured out and is often observable. That is what is useful to me - observable phenomenon, observable changes. Raspberry helps the uterus be a better uterus. A few years ago, I suffered from menstrual cramps. After a few months taking raspberry leaf, my cramps subsided.

For thousands of years, women have also employed this herb to ensure healthy childbirth. I drank raspberry tea every day when I was pregnant. The easiest means of consuming it is in a teabag from Traditional Medicinals. Consume 4 teabags every day, steeped overnight in a quart of hot water, for the best extraction. Traditional Medicinals teas are available at most health food stores, and you can refer to my previous blog about herbal medicine for more information and resources on this topic.

And if you have feelings to coldness, add a little ginger to your raspberry tea. Sometimes all the uterus needs is a little bit more blood flow, and she will feel much better. Once again, herbs have different affinities in the body and ginger likes to support the health of the pelvic floor, which includes the uterus.

If birth control is your main focus...

Outside of creating hormonal imbalance and an inflammatory cascade, well, like I said earlier, it is hard to prevent what Mother Nature has wired us for. On that basis, my advice is simple: don’t have sex unless you are prepared to have a child. Another way to say it, there is no such thing as casual sex. Any act of creation is sacred, and birthing a child is at the top of the heap.

The two most non-invasive and viable forms of birth control are family planning and condoms. I like Katie Singer’s work – gardenoffertility.com. This is win-win because whe teaches a woman how to embrace her menstrual cycle, know herself in a new, refreshing way and understand how her fertility works. It just requires participation and presence, which are wonderful ways of being that will seep into every aspect of your life. As far as condoms go, what a small price to pay.

If you are intrigued by the possibility of investing in uterine care, I recommend a woman here in Austin named Michelle Brown who can teach you how to care for your uterus, if you still have one. She can help you repair and heal, if it has been damaged. She can help you grieve your loss, if your uterus is gone. Whatever your phase in life, she can bring honor to you and your uterus. She specializes in Mayan Abdominal Massage, among other techniques. Michelle travels to Belize to study and is committed to her craft.

Barbara Christman is another woman I highly respect and I wouldn’t get a vaginal exam from anyone else. She is the female embodiment of Mother Earth; kind, gentle and knowledgeable.

If you doubt what I have said so far, or if it interests you, then you will want to read Mothering From Your Center by Tami Lynn Kent. It could just as well be titled living from your center. Tami specializes in holistic pelvic care, and Barbara Christman has trained with her.

I love these women and what they bring to the world and what they stand for, which is healing the female form. I am so happy to share them with you.

My hope is that after reading this, you will never look at a uterus in the same way. When you hear the word, you will think: universe. The universe is in the uterus. Love it. Respect it. Cherish it. Beyond that, get the help you need for true, deep healing. You’re worth it.

Eat in Peace. Live in Peace.

Love,

Charlotte

Why Cigarettes Are Good For You

Is it possible that our “bad habits” actually nurture us in some way? Usually there is so much shame and scrutiny about our unhealthy rituals, we don’t see how they are actually contributing to our wellbeing.

Many years ago, I was dating someone who was going through a stressful time in his life. He took up smoking American Spirits a few times per day. He was very health conscious and not a smoker when we met. As a former asthmatic, smoke is not my friend and that would have been a deal breaker in terms of the relationship. I had never even been around someone who smoked, so this was a new experience for me.

We spent a lot of time together, so when he went to smoke his cigarettes, I would go outside with him. We would sit and chat on the patio for ten to fifteen minutes. A few months passed. It wasn’t a big deal until… he stopped smoking.

I missed our time together, but it was more than that. I watched my discontent grow, and I sat with it. I didn’t just miss our conversations, I missed going outside, taking a break, and connecting with someone. I now felt true compassion for smokers. I get it!

You go outside.

You breathe.

You talk with some friends.

You bond.

You consciously relax for a few minutes.

It feels good! It feels damn good. And it’s not just about the nicotine or drug of choice because I wasn’t the one smoking. I still fondly remember those times. Most importantly, I don’t judge people who smoke. I feel for them, and I ask questions, like: How can we create healthy rituals?

Why can’t we just get up from our desks and go outside to take a break a few times a day? Do we have to have a reason or an activity associated with the break? Think about this...How do our so-called “bad habits” serve our wellbeing? They all benefit us somehow or we wouldn’t engage in the activity.

Relieving shame around our “bad habits” and looking for the wisdom can sometimes facilitate healing better than just stopping cold turkey. While guilt can point to something that needs to change, it is not a healing emotion. In the stress of the modern world, we need things during our day to look forward to.

I have a friend who worked 13-hour shifts in a restaurant, and got so fed up that only the smokers got to go outside to take breaks that she started going outside for two-minute NOT smoke breaks. Sometimes you have to go against the grain or piss off your boss to take care of yourself. It's worth it.

We need things that make us feel alive.

Parenting, for instance, has turned me into a coffee drinker. I used to be a green tea drinker (and still am). But parenting is a game changer. It is intense, and I needed a beverage to match the intensity of this new phase of my life. Tea is just too soft for what we have going on! The coffee feels good to me, just a cup or two, and I am a happier mother and wife, but most importantly, my husband and I take time to connect. We sit down and enjoy our coffee together. It is a nice way to start the day.

Human beings are wired for rituals, so much so that I think rituals and stress-relieving activities find us…our responsibility is to be co-creators in this process. I am not delusional. Smoking and drinking pots of coffee are not the answers.

Here are some of the habits I have established in my life that both facilitate my wellbeing and are enjoyable:

Daily walks.

Having a cup of tea mid-day.

Taking time to prepare and eat my meals.

Drinking a Live Soda Kombucha in the afternoon.

Bathing with my child at night.

Reading before I go to bed.

These are the things sprinkled throughout my day that nourish me. I would love to hear what nourishes you. How have you designed your life to honor your vitality and have fun in the process? Let’s learn together…and find a deep compassion for these “bad habits” we have.

Eat in Peace and Live in Peace!

Love,

Charlotte

Why Skinny is NOT a Sign of Perfect Health

At this point, everyone is aware of the photoshopping that occurs with images in magazines and advertisements, engineering models into icons of perfect beauty. They aren’t even real, but it doesn’t matter. These pictures seem real and if you look this way, i.e. skinny and youthful, whoa, get ready because your life is on the verge of perfection. And oh, you will have so much happiness. You won’t even know what to do with yourself.

We are constantly told what attractive people should look like and there is little to no room for variation. Women are young and thin. Attractive men are portrayed as lean, mean, fighting machines and are allowed to be a little older and maintain their attractiveness…not so much with women. Yeah, we still like the women young. Oh, and yes, we like them skinny WITH big breasts (the two don’t typically go together, but whatever, we can get breast enhancements).

I am acutely aware of the impact of these pictures because when I was 13 years old, I had a pharmaceutical drug-induced eating disorder.

I had been a somewhat chubby kid with asthma and a host of environmental allergies. My parents decided to take me to a medical specialist who could test and treat my allergies. I ended up on a ton of medications: weekly allergy shots, antihistamines, bronchodilators, steroids, and then of course, when I got sick, antibiotics. I stopped eating. I passed out at school once because all I had eaten that day was a banana. I ended up losing 35 pounds in one month. I was ill. I had dark circles under my eyes. I cried all the time. Everyone was worried about me. The teachers were talking about holding me back a grade because I had missed so much school. My parents begged them not to. The whole scene was tragic for a young girl.

In the midst of it all, parents started calling my mom. They would say, “Wow! Your daughter looks fantastic! I want to put my kid on that diet. What did you guys do? She should go take some modeling classes.”

WHAT?! My health was rapidly declining and people wanted to know what I was doing to look so great?!

All of a sudden, boys started to pay attention to me. In a month’s time, I became very aware that my body mattered. Before this event, I didn’t give my body a second thought really. I was too busy enjoying myself. Now I was obsessed with staying this way.

And I thought to myself, “Wow. If I can just keep this up, I will have a flat stomach and then my life will be perfect.”

I was now a product of teen magazines and the television. If I just had the “perfect” body, then my life would be perfect.

I remember coming home one afternoon, and my parents wanted to talk with me. My dad had purchased a book about the side effects of medications. All the medications I was on had the same side effects in common: decreased appetite and anxiety. They said that they were really sorry for what I was going through. They understood that what was happening wasn’t my fault. They decided to take me back to my general practitioner and to stop seeing the allergist. Our GP said to stop taking all the meds and to see what would happen.

In a few days, I started to eat again. I returned to some previous version of myself, but not really because now I counted calories. I had to stay thin. People liked me this way. Counting calories wasn’t enough at a certain point, so I escalated to binge eating. I would eat a whole cake or pie or pint of ice cream and go exercise it off.

What a recipe for disaster, and yet, people thought I was healthy.

I am sharing my experience with you because maybe you need to hear this story or maybe you know someone who needs to hear this story. Please pass it on!

In the spirit of this conversation, I am going to ask you a bizarre question:

What if what you eat does NOT always affect the way you look?

We speak like there is a law at work in relationship to food and appearance; eat this food and this will happen. But there is no law. We are complex. I'm not saying if you eat a box of twinkies everyday that it won't change your appearance. However, there may be times when you feel like you are doing everything "right" or you take measures to change your body and nothing dramatic really happens.

I am having an interesting experience with my body as a breastfeeding mommy. My child is 3 years old now. My husband recently wanted to lose weight, so I joined him on nothing but vegetables, meats, and berries with limited nuts and seeds. He lost 16 pounds. I lost 2. My body didn’t want to change. Maybe it’s hormones. Maybe it’s sleep deprivation. Maybe it’s the stress of life. But maybe it’s healthy…maybe there is nothing wrong. Maybe my body is saying this: move into motherhood as a robust looking woman. When I look at my life, this is the healthiest and most vital that I have ever felt!

Is this correlation or causation? I was skinny and sick, now I am voluptuous and well.

Close your eyes, forget about how you look for a few minutes, and ask yourself how you FEEL!

I know a lot of people who eat and live a healthy lifestyle. They are walking their talk, AND they are round and they are strong. You won’t see these people on the billboards; yet, they are shining lights in the world.

Bottom line: I am tired of genetically gifted people who fit into the media’s version of beautiful who then use their beautiful bodies to sell their product. “Here, look at me, I am beautiful and you can be beautiful, too, if you follow my diet and do things my way.”

Don't assume that skinny equals healthy! Obviously, the problems that stem from obesity are many, but the key is to maintain a healthy weight for YOUR body - rather than deprive yourself of nutrients and minerals to fit into an approved stereotype of health and beauty. You are literally killing yourself to be skinny.

Some people are naturally thin.

Some people are naturally fit.

Some people are naturally round.

If you are naturally a larger person and try to make yourself thin, your vitality will suffer.

I am qualified to write about this because I have lived through having an eating disorder and I have witnessed the effects of being too thin in my clientele, particularly, but not limited to, menopausal women and athletes.

For healthy hormone production, women need body fat, both when they are young and older. One medical doctor I heard speak said that a woman should be two dress sizes larger in her menopausal years than she was in high school. This extra weight is also thought to be protective to our bones. Bones need weight-bearing exercise to stay strong and supple.

As far as female athletes go, it is common to see female athletes without a menstrual cycle and if they do have a menstrual cycle, it is highly likely that they will not be ovulating. I swam competitively in college. We trained 3-4 hours per day. I complained every day of how hungry I was. My swim coach pulled me aside one day and said, “Charlotte, you’re not eating enough. You need to be eating a box of cereal per day. You need to eat like you are a football player.” I was very thin and my coach would comment on how healthy I looked. I didn’t have my period for 3 years! I went to a gynecologist who said, “Oh, no big deal. You just need to be on the birth control pill. You will be fine.”

If only I knew then what I know now. I would have been eating steak smothered in butter instead of cereal, which we know leads to raised insulin levels that eventually crash causing a roller coaster of energy levels.

I do not foresee that the media is going to change any time soon, so you know what has to change…YOU! Well, you and your attitude towards yourself and your body. Here is my attempt to change this dynamic – both in myself and in the larger world. Below you will see a letter I wrote to a specific store. Out of respect for the fact that they did try to resolve the situation, I am going to keep the store anonymous. It doesn’t even matter anyway. It could have been anywhere:

Hello,

Today was my first visit to a XXXXXX retail store. My mom had offered to buy me a new workout outfit and a good friend gave me a $25 gift certificate to spend. I had always heard such great things about your store both in terms of the quality of the clothing AND the company’s commitment to their employees’ personal growth.

All the clothing looked so nice and I loved the textures, colors and styles. Thing is, I got concerned when I was shopping because I saw that most items only went up to a size 10. What?! Really?! Haven't seen that before. Then, I noticed a small, handwritten sign hanging on the back of a table, in the back of the store that said something to the effect of: "Size 12's like to look cute, too." And I thought to myself sarcastically, "Haha...NO SHIT!" Now, I was really having my reservations about this store meeting my needs and expectations.

Nevertheless, I went into the dressing room with a number of items - mainly pants and various tops. Not a single thing fit. My breastfeeding tits are too big. My former competitive swimmer/triathlete shoulders are too broad. My new-mommy stomach is too round. And my God-given torso is too damn long. If the store had had more size 12s (gee, I wonder why they were sold out) or even larger sizes available, some things would have fit and I would've walked out with a new outfit and would've been a happy woman.

But alas...I am very disappointed. I don't obsess about what size clothes I'm wearing. I am a holistic health professional and have a good strong body that I am very proud of. And here's the deal: when I stop breastfeeding and if I drop the rest of my pregnancy weight and return to what is probably a size 10-12, I still don't know that your clothes will fit and I probably won't go back to your store anyway because that sign pissed me off: "Size 12's like to look cute, too." Damn straight...please call the manager of that store and have them take that stupid sign down before it offends someone else. And if that is an approved sign, then shame on you guys, not everybody who works out is a size 8 and there are lots of voluptuous women who want to look nice.

My contact information is below if this warrants more of a conversation.

You guys are missing a BIG segment of the population - pun intended.

Thanks for listening,

Charlotte

Mmmmm…that felt good.

I want to invite each person reading this into my world; a world in which you are not your body. You are a spiritual being walking around in human form. In this world, we take care of our bodies. We respect them. We feed them real food that exists in Nature. We exercise enough to move our breath and muscles but not to exhaustion. We sleep. We love ourselves and we love each other.

I’ve been overweight, and I’ve been underweight, and I know this for sure: wherever you go, there you are.

Even if you look in the mirror or get dressed and think, “Ugh. I look like shit.” It’s ok. Fake it til you make it - just gently pat whatever part of your body is offending you the most, and say, “I’m learning to love you.” One day, you will. I hope this story, more than ever, encourages you to Eat in Peace!

Love,

Charlotte