Suzanne Proksa:
Welcome to another episode of The Suzanne Show, where I talk a little online business, human resources, personal development, chronic illness, and whatever else I decide to chat about. I am so excited that you are here, and I love to hear from my listeners. Please feel free to reach out to me on my website, suzanneprogsa.com Proksa on all the socials where I'm also suzanneprogsa. And don't forget to put that k before the s. Let's move on with the episode. I can't wait for you guys to dive in. Hello everybody. I am really excited to be here today with Whitney Tucker.
Suzanne Proksa:
She is a hormonal coach and we have got some amazing, content for you today. If this is something that you struggle with, we are going to talk about designing your badass dream life with hormonal support today. And so I'm just going to let, Whitney go ahead and introduce herself real quick because she's gonna do a much better than job than I can. And then we're gonna dive right in.
Whitney Tucker:
Hi everybody. I'm so grateful to be here and talking about one of my favorite things to talk about and learn. So I help women design and claim their badass dream lives. And I do it through hormonal coaching, physical training, and productivity optimization. And what that looks like is I'm either leading a course. I lead retreats. I work with individuals when they come with a specific wellness concern. And my goal is to create a container for embodiment, what that looks like.
Whitney Tucker:
So I come from a background of being a lifetime athlete and artist. I was a professional dancer for a long time living in New York City, and I consistently elevated my understanding of the human mind, body, and spirit through the study of anatomy, Pilates, yoga, strength training, boxing, martial arts. You can guess that I was pretty physical. And I then got into social justice, esoteric trainings and birth work. And that's how I chose to sort of serve I'm founder of embodied potential and I'm the creator of sync to thrive, which is an 8 week detox and hormonal reset for premenopausal women.
Suzanne Proksa:
Awesome. So I actually met Whitney over on Clubhouse, so whoop whoop to Clubhouse. And so so then I don't forget, Whitney, if people wanna find you over there, what is your username or handle?
Whitney Tucker:
Sure. It's at Whitney Tucker underscore. It's the same there as it is on Instagram and as it is on TikTok, but those are the easiest ways to get
Suzanne Proksa:
in touch with me. Awesome. Perfect. Perfect. Yeah. So she was in a room that I was in and I think all of the moderators fell in love with her. She's probably got podcasts scheduled with some of the others as well. So, but I, I am really excited about the topic today.
Suzanne Proksa:
When I was a health coach way back in 2015, one of the things that I was obsessed with was hormones and it was actually more so for my own selfish purposes because I'm sure a lot of what we're gonna be talking about today is, is stuff that I deal with as well. So, and I have no issue telling, telling the listeners that. So my, my first question is because you've done so many amazing things is what led you to start working with women to get their hormones in check?
Whitney Tucker:
Sure. So, you know, I had always been a master of resilience and that sounds really egotistical because it was my ego sort of, kept me constantly being in a state of, I need to produce more. I need to be excellent. It's perfect or nothing. And suddenly I found myself where none of my old tricks were working and it had followed a period where I had an emergency gynecological procedure. I had a pregnancy termination that turned septic and I, you know, I had found myself basically in a hospital and doctors were shocked that I hadn't gotten there earlier. I had a lot of shame, so I was there alone. And it was one of those things where they said, you know, if you didn't get here earlier, you're you're risking organ damage, sort of some big things.
Whitney Tucker:
But once I got out of the hospital, I thought, you know, my old habit, the old version of me was just grateful. Like, okay, now I can get back to work. Like that was just a little setback. Let's go. Like I got this. And at the time I was yes, a health and wellness provider. And I was still, you know, working with a lot of clients in New York city. And I I'm, I realized that my identity was really split.
Whitney Tucker:
I had this side of me that was just not taking care of myself. And I was negotiating exhaustion and unexplained weight fluctuations and mood swings. And my anxiety was get was through the roof. So it was everything was getting a little bit more severe and frequent. And even though I knew I had accumulated years of stress and trauma, I was getting frustrated by solutions that I felt like were band aids. So at the time I, you know, I went to see a lot of mental health professionals, gynecologists, alternative health practitioners, bodywork, physicians, acupuncturists, and all of it was helpful in its own part, but none of it sort of was helping me deal with recurrent bacterial infections, anxiety. Like I said, a lot of the symptoms just kept coming back or were just dampened a little bit. So I realized I had to go all in with and for myself.
Whitney Tucker:
And my, you know, my approach became like, it's this or nothing I have to heal. And it was scary because I didn't know how to scale back. I didn't know what burnout was. That wasn't even a word in my lexicon. And, you know, I was scared financially. I was scared in my relationships. I was scared what would change. So I also knew no one was going to dig me out of that place except for myself.
Whitney Tucker:
And I'm so grateful that I had that thought because that's what kind of got me to be an like, no holds barred about it. But what was new for me is that I knew I was going to have to ask for help. Like I was going to have to do the heavy lifting of changing my life, but I needed help. So I started to look at, I spent the last, what it is now, 4 years with the attitude of whatever it takes. And I started to discover tools that restored my well-being and it all had to do with the endocrine system. It all had to do with my hormonal system, which had been throughout my life quite regular. You know, I had a period at what was seemingly a normal age and I wasn't super inconvenienced by my period and they were never that painful. I was always an athlete and things now that they were super regular.
Whitney Tucker:
And I realized that that wasn't the case for a lot of women. I started having conversations with friends and realizing, and clients realizing how few of us actually understand our endocrine system. How few of us actually have any education about what is or isn't a normal period, how we, you know, only are fertile a few days out of the month. And, you know, but most of us are suggested or prescribed birth control. So this kind of led me back to my work as a birth worker. I was a, you know, a labor doula, a full spectrum reproductive justice worker, abortion doula, and placenta capsulator. And I know it sounds like I've done, like, all these things, but it's sort of my personality when something I don't know something or something's kind of itchy, I go find out. So fast forward to about a year ago, I wanted to develop a program and that's why I created Sync TO Thrive.
Whitney Tucker:
And I really believe no woman should suffer alone. We don't have to, a lot of the solutions are right in front of us. And I think they're easier than we realize if we're willing to do the work. And if, if you're, if you, you know, want to do it and you think like you can, or you're not sure you can rather trust me, you can. If I did it, you can. I am stubborn. I was totally broken. Oh my God.
Whitney Tucker:
I'm stubborn as hell. And I was totally broken and I'm so grateful. It led me to a totally different life that I didn't think I could ever have.
Suzanne Proksa:
So that is a really amazing story. And I'm I'm so sorry to hear about your your experience in the beginning. So I think, you know, my my next question is, you know, I think, I think that there are a lot of people out there that don't realize they even have a problem, You know, as somebody like myself who has chronic illness, I know how often doctors miss the mark. As a matter of fact, I had to lead them to just look at things, you know, in, in my lifetime. And, you know, you also talked about self advocating. So my question is then who needs hormonal resetting? What, what are they gonna see that would say to them? This might be something that I need.
Whitney Tucker:
Yeah, that's a really great question. And even the phrase hormonal resetting, I, I will go as far as saying it upsets people. So even people in the, the hormonal world that I'm in, you know, many, mostly women that are supporting other women will say, you don't you can't reset your hormones. You know, I I believe that reset for me, the word resetting means you need to take a step back, take stock, observe, learn how to, trust yourself and be curious. And sometimes that's a difficult balance to strike because I think that intuition, we all have intuition and I think it's a tool that we can hone and we can honor and still know that we may not always be right. Feelings are not facts. All of those things are true. But when you know something is physically wrong, there's nothing more frustrating than knowing something's physically wrong, not being able to find a solution, going to somebody who you feel like you should be able to trust, that's telling you something that is contradictory to what you feel.
Whitney Tucker:
And, you know, I bet you experienced that, Suzanne. It's like that a lot of these things that are syndromes, you know, where it's syndrome is a grouping of symptoms that basically you hit a certain amount of markers and then you have PCOS and then you have PMS and then you have autoimmune disease. And the truth is I think that there's, and I think this can upset a lot of people, but I think that there is a gap between endocrinology and gynecology. So a lot of people will not get to an endocrinologist that may be able to help them or a functional medicine practitioner, which is my, my care provider of choice. They won't even get to them till an issue is well down the road. And so what I suggest is, you know, if you have an issue that here's the thing, right? If you have an issue that's seemingly an issue that you ignore, What happens with the endocrine system is every, you know, neurotransmitters and hormones are reliant on each other to signal, to, to, you know, be triggered into production. So if there's something wrong kind of in the orchestra of your body, your body can be overproducing something, underproducing something, you know, even what we call excess estrogen, which is the result of, basically estrogen, not getting escorted out of your body after ovulation, and then getting turned into PMS symptoms as physiology that often is not excess estrogen. It's just a lack of progesterone production.
Whitney Tucker:
And I would say for anyone who thinks they might have an issue, 2 things right. Is getting with a care provider that you trust. There are hormonal tests that they can run. I am shocked at how few women who have, what is like undoubtedly a endocrine issue is, you know, and this is for people that have had a pregnancy termination or loss of pregnancy for people that have had really irregular periods for people who've had other endocrine issues. And when I talk to them and I say, you know, are you working with somebody now with your endocrine system? And they're like, no, I see my GP and my gynecologist, and they haven't ordered a test. And I'm I'm shocked. I think a lot of it is, you know, the state of the medical system in our country. People either don't have the care or the care that they have.
Whitney Tucker:
They feel awkward about, you know, asking a test from a doctor that the doctor should, you know, know. And doctors, I love doctors. I've got doctors in my family. I think that I believe in medicine. I'm so grateful for it. I, I think in the, in the field of women's health and gynecology, it's missing the mark a lot. And I saw that personally, I worked in a trauma for hospital in New York city, working with women who were coming from all over the country because 2nd trimester abortions are illegal in many places. And that's where they, you know, ended up coming.
Whitney Tucker:
And I was really shocked at the care afterwards too, that oftentimes, you know, women will have what is an issue and it's normalized. So I would say if you think you might have an issue and some of those things can show up like symptoms that people don't think are related. So hair loss, hair growth, unexplained weight loss and weight growth. Like, you know, if your body can't regulate its temperature easily sudden and this, but I will say the biggest sign and what we call the 5th vital sign is your menstrual cycle. So a regular period is considered between 21 35 days. So you, the first day of your periods, the first day of your bleed. And if you are bleeding again in 20 days, that's considered short. If you're bleeding again in 36 days, that's considered long.
Whitney Tucker:
If you're bleeding through, if you use period products, which I'm referring to tampons and, you know, sanitary napkins and pads, which I could go into a whole thing about how many of those are endocrine disruptors. Many people prefer like the Diva Cup or some kind of cup because, and if you can get one that's non BPA plastic, like there's so many details that we don't consider where we just put our trust in the system outside of us. But if you're bleeding through more than 10 period products through the cycle of your period, that could also be considered excessive bleeding. If the period is, I think I said this, lasting less than 3 days or more than 7 days, or if you're doing breakthrough bleeding where somewhere in your mid cycle you're bleeding, that could be something to look at. And then what did I wanna say? Oh, there's also all these indicators that are pretty cool, which the color of the your period blood. So if it's if it's pink versus really dark, deep red or purple, right, that could be that indicates that there is not an imbalance, but there's more estrogen or progesterone. If you have blood clots that are larger than a size of a quarter. And these are things that I didn't know I'm in my late thirties.
Whitney Tucker:
I work in birth work. I have, you know, I'm I have so much like access to information and these are things that this is a cycle that isn't just important for my life, but it's a sign and symptom of my health. And I really didn't know I didn't have literacy. And I, the more I talked with women, I realized we were in the same boat. So I'll, there's a super long answer to your question, Suzanne, but I would say that and it it's a long answer because I think many people don't have the information, but if somebody wonders if they have any of these issues, you know, not to be hypochondriac, but the coolest thing is that, you know, once you start to make some adjustments right now, further down your cycle week 2 week 3 week 4, And not that it happens within a month, but that's when you can start to see the changes. And that's when I ask women to be patient about the process. But if you don't have a doctor or you have, or you are unable to get the test through a lab, there are some really incredible companies. I work with the Dutch kit, which a lot of people consider the gold standard of hormonal testing Everly well is another one.
Whitney Tucker:
And those are at home kits. I would say one people, one thing that people, you you know, one thing that people criticize about those tests is that you got this information back and you're not sure how to interpret it or read it, you know, to which I would point to the numerous videos and resources that those companies offer for that. But at least it gives you some information then that you can then work with, especially if you're not getting answers that you feel good about.
Suzanne Proksa:
So I, I have to say you are absolutely right about, you know, you mentioned when you first started talking about the gaps and, that's definitely true. I mean, I even had my gyno tell me it wasn't worth doing the testing on the hormones because essentially it is what it is. Then, of course, I'm talking about, you know, the estrogen and progesterone, etcetera. So I I shutter to think how many women out there are not getting appropriate care for these things. So I'm so glad that you're shining light on it with that. So my next question then is what's been the biggest surprise in working with women in hormones. You've probably had a few.
Whitney Tucker:
Yeah. Oh my gosh. So I have, you know, periods definitely can come back. Symptoms of excess estrogen subside, women confidently break up with their birth control and, start to understand when they're ovulating. That is all incredibly just as from the coach side, I love seeing it, and it's sort of predictable. What has been unpredictable has been seeing women really gain clarity to start new careers, gain tools, to address their self limiting beliefs. Because we do a whole section in addressing power leaks and you know how you're talking to yourself. Because if you think about it, if you're carrying around the weight of feeling crappy all day, emotionally, or kind of being in toxic relationships or in a job that's draining, it has a physiological impact.
Whitney Tucker:
You know, it, it, to, to start with, it's gonna produce cortisol, cortisol over production of cortisol prevents production of estrogen. So those are some things. People that have have changed their lives and actually things are starting to work. You know, their relationships change. They needed to have breakups that they can then start new relationships. And then the most surprising thing Suzanne has been around money and this has been, and which is why we have money experts come in money, mindset, experts, and financial advisors come into my program is that I started to see women, you know, change their lives in all these ways, address their self care address, their boundaries, address like, you know, maybe some of the friends that they didn't need anymore, or they, you know, were like, alright, these are actually people that are not elevating my life. And it became really clear. And then they would start, we would start to have conversations around finances.
Whitney Tucker:
And when I thought about it, you know, a lot of I, I had to do a lot of work on money mindset and what I believed I could earn, what I was worth all of that, but didn't connect it to this hormone work and my nervous system. So that's been a really surprising result that, and I do think, you know, I have, I'm very passionate about getting, you know, all of us women elevating us and having collaboration over competition and getting us to a place where we're reaching down, we're reaching across, we're helping each other because I needed it. I wasn't raised at all. I, you know, didn't grow up at all with an empowered mindset around money. So that would be the most surprising aspect, I would say.
Suzanne Proksa:
So that is really interesting, that financial piece. That's definitely something I that I never thought of. So you talked again about your your program sync to thrive.
Whitney Tucker:
Mhmm.
Suzanne Proksa:
And this sounds absolutely amazing and probably something that so many people out there need. Can you talk a little bit about what results, you're seeing created by the women who complete your program?
Whitney Tucker:
Sure. You know, the program I'll talk about that maybe through the 3 pillars of health that we address because I do not think it's a one size fits all approach. And I, you know, this coaching program, this program and course has a lot of contact time with me as a coach, as well as over 15 experts. So I bring in people, I bring in doctors, physicians, nutritionists, because I am not an expert in all these things at all. And I needed a lot of expert support. So I think depending on each woman, one of the 3 pillars usually addresses where she needs support. So the first thing we address is detoxification and stabilization, and we learn how to use food to heal, regulate our mood and energy. And we learn, you know, what endocrine disruptors exist within our home, our cosmetics, which is one of the least regulated industries in terms of endocrine disruption in the US, at least.
Whitney Tucker:
We address power leaks, like I said, of time, money, relationships, and self care. And that's what we do as a baseline of the program. And for a lot of women that are coming in, who maybe never taken care of themselves, they've never invested this kind of time, and gotten the support that the results that I would see, and I see this a lot, It's not sexy. Like the results might be the end picture, but because you're setting up, you're setting up support that is changing maybe how you've lived your life forever. Some of the changes are not that sexy. You know, if you like, for example, we work with sugar, stress, and sleep. Right? So most people, when you talk them and you're like, alright. What are the big issues? They'll come in and, you know, I asked them about their blood sugar stabilization, and that's not a conversation around eating candy and donuts or your favorite dessert of choice.
Whitney Tucker:
Mine is ice cream personally, but it it's more about, like, avoiding getting on a glue. So, you know, making sure you're getting breakfast, making sure you're eating every 2 to 4 hours, not a full meal, but something that has good fat, a protein and fiber. And there's a reason hormonally for all of those. So for a lot of folks that come in the program, I would say that's where a lot of the changes happen and they'll say, oh, wow. I just need to like, make sure I keep nuts in my bag. I need to, I need to make sure I'm drinking water. You know, we had one woman in the program who has 5 children and we observed with her that she, of course, always makes sure her feet her kids are fed, are getting from this activity, that activity. She ended up homeschooling during the pandemic.
Whitney Tucker:
She was super busy. So if anyone thinks they don't have time for this, I always think about her because you do. She made it work. And she, you know, she noticed she didn't drink. She doesn't drink water and dehydration is a big, you know, it can really affect, first of all, your hunger signals. It can really I mean, we know, like, everyone's like, drink more water. Like I said, it's not a sexy solution. So then you start looking at accountability measures.
Whitney Tucker:
Is it just that you so what she did is, you know, every time she got her kids a snack, she drank a cup of water and then lo and behold, her water content was, you know, her water amount was better. Some people need a little bit more support. They need a reminder from friend, they need an alarm on their phone. They need an app to track the water. They need a coach to call them, you know? And so that was kind of, those are some of the results as people just making changes to those 3 areas, sugar, stress, and sleep. And then the next pillar that we address is we, and this is something that anyone can do. We learn how to track our cycle non hormonally. So for, you know, women that are not on birth control, if you are on hormonal birth control, you're actually not having a period.
Whitney Tucker:
You're having a foreshadowing of your uterine lining. And then there's a different, a different way to kind of use this information. If you were on birth control and you're waiting for your period to come back, there's ways to accelerate the process and the alignment with your body. But we are learning how to track your cycle through 3 methods. So, and and I have a webinar and in the, on this as well. And, developing online courses for this too many courses, because I think some people just need one part of this information. So but basal body temperature tracking, it's, tracking your temperature every morning. There's apps that can help make it really easy, or you can do it online or sorry, on paper, cervical mucus tracking.
Whitney Tucker:
So actually tracking the changes because right before ovulation, your cervical mucus gets there becomes more abundant. It becomes more slippery. It becomes there's basic more clear kind of like egg whites. Right? So before you whip them, it's like the kind of that kind of slippery. And that's because it's a great conductor for Stern to live and swim. The third one is cervical positioning. So I, you know, teach women first off, like how to actually locate and find their cervix. You'd be surprised how many women have never contacted their cervix or don't do it regularly.
Whitney Tucker:
And so we, those three methods will start to be able to track where your cycle is in terms of ovulating and ovulation, not as a desire to get pregnant or avoid it, but just as a sign of health. And then we, you know, Talk about how to amplify for all the 4 phases of the month. And it sounds, Suzanne, this sounds like a lot, and yes, the program is comprehensive, but these are great practices just to get back to yourself, to know yourself. I mean, I'm, I'm shocked and I have been one of those people where. You know, if I had problems, I, you know, instead of actually a self inquiry, I would go to a doctor. I would go to somebody else, even a coach. And I would say that, you know, a lot of the work at the end of the day, hopefully is gonna stay with these women when, you know, I've always, I'm gonna have a relationship with them, but when that relationship is done, and sometimes I'll hear from people 6 to 8 months later, and they've had a huge transformation, a huge moment because what we're doing in this 8 weeks or work like this is really setting up the conditions for wellness.
Suzanne Proksa:
Yeah. Awesome. So is this a one to one program then?
Whitney Tucker:
Oh, this program is they have sessions with me, but there's also there's a closed online group and portal of information. There's a workbook. There is, fitness classes. I also teach, you know, I come from a background of athletics and professional dance. And one of the things, one of the movement components is that for women that are doing more than more than 20 to 25 minutes of high intensity exercise, 3 times a week, more than that can can actually be disruptive for the endocrine system. So the classes I teach twice weekly, that's included in the program. There's a lot of deliverables. I'm trying to remember them off the top of my head.
Whitney Tucker:
It's, and they keep growing because the more I see that, you know, people need a weekly check-in and people just learn differently. You know, we all learn differently. So and people are gonna hear things in a different way. So there is a one on one component for sure, which I am shocked how many coaching programs don't have that. I need the support. I need the touch time.
Suzanne Proksa:
So, yes, I totally agree with you. Also, I am so glad that you mentioned the glue coaster because I need to go eat my second breakfast soon. So, so glad you brought that up. So how do people go about getting into your program then? How can they, where can they go check that out?
Whitney Tucker:
For sure. So and I actually when you asked first about the clubhouse address, it is not Whitney Tucker underscore. It's just Whitney Tucker. Whitney Tucker underscore is my Instagram. And if you go to the link in my bio, it'll have a landing page for this program, but the best way, if you're interested in, if this spoke to you, I bet it's worth having a conversation. Just DM me. It's really easy. I try to get back to everybody, you know, within 24 hours.
Whitney Tucker:
I'm pretty, I'm pretty receptive on that point. So just DM me. I'm glad to have a conversation, even if it means it's just more information for you. And you're not sure you want to do the program. You're just curious. I literally love talking about this and the more that I get this message out, the more, you know, people will talk to their sisters, their cousins, their daughters, because I, I do not want anyone to go through what I went through and what I hear every day that women are going through a lot of it is avoidable. And a lot of it has to do with us kind of coming back to ourselves and trusting ourselves, building that intuition, staying curious and getting the support.
Suzanne Proksa:
I totally agree. And I'm so excited to hear that, that you're putting this out there and helping people with it because it really is a, a big deal and has such a huge impact. So if people wanna reach out to you or, you know, check out any of your things, or you're seeing Instagram is the way to go.
Whitney Tucker:
Instagram is great. And if they wanna look at embodied potential.com, just look at any of the offerings and it'll it'll also lead there. If you're a more visual person that way. Instagram, I give I try to give a lot of tips. So I try to give a lot of this information in bite sized pieces so that, you know, it's creating value for people, but not overwhelming them so that, you know, if you, and if any, at any piece of this, you have questions about, just let me know. I'm really glad to have a conversation.
Suzanne Proksa:
Awesome.
Whitney Tucker:
Yeah. Thank you. Fun. Thank you, Suzanne.
Suzanne Proksa:
Thank you for hanging out with me today, Whitney, and I'm sure we'll see each other again on Clubhouse. Yes. And yeah. Keep us informed and maybe we'll have you back, in a few months so we can talk a little more. For sure. So thank you to the audience and we will see you on the next episode.
Whitney Tucker:
Thank you so much, Suzanne. Take care.
Suzanne Proksa:
You too. I hope that you loved this episode. If you did, give me those shout outs, show me some love on iTunes, give me a rating and hey, if you wanna know where to find me, you can find me on pretty much all social media at suzannepro k s a. And you can also head over to my website, suzanneproksa.com. Until then, we'll see you in the next episode. And here is the party music for you.
