UNDERSTANDING YOUR MIND, MOOD, AND
HORMONE CYCLE
Leslie Carol Botha, WHE
Co-Author of Understanding Your Mind, Mood and
Hormone Cycle

LESLIE CAROL BOTHA,WHE
 Graduate of the National Institute of Whole Health
as a Whole Health Educator
 Educational Certificate from NeuroScience Inc., on completion of
“Neurology, Endocrinology and Immunology, The New Medical Paradigm”
 Internationally Recognized Expert on Women’s Hormones and Behaviors
 Member of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research
 Author, Publisher, and Broadcast Journalist
 Co-Author of Understanding Your Mind, Mood, and Hormone Cycle
 Botha’s work is featured in three other publications:
 The World According to Cycles How Recurring Forces Can Predict the Future and Change Your
Life
 Teenage Girls – The Guide to Health, Wellness and Self-Esteem
 She Rises – Why Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality?
leslie@holyhormones.com
Holy Hormones Journal @ holyhormones.com

Botha’s Work Can Be Found
on Amazon

DEDICATION
This presentation is dedicated
to all of the women who have
ever experienced a hormone
fluctuation – from puberty
to menopause; to all of the
women who have died
because they have forgotten
the source of their being,
and to our daughters who will be
strong because they will have finally remembered.

SEX TIME AND POWER
What is the true nature
of the bargain a woman
makes with Mother
Nature when she
intervenes to prevent
nature from running its
course?

FROM SACRED BLOOD TO THE CURSE & BEYOND
Politics of Women’s Spirituality
Judy Grahn
Because a group of people once gave me two apple trees for my yard, I
arrived at my own definition of the difference between power and control.
This happened to me as a result of understanding the nature of apples,
how they come about.

FROM SACRED BLOOD TO THE CURSE & BEYOND
An apple is something real, which is created; this is power. Only an apple
tree can make an apple, no one else can. The wealthiest magnate on earth
cannot make an apple no matter how he might stand in the sun, or squat
or contort his flesh. He does not have the power of an apple tree to make
apples and neither does anyone else. He can own them. He can fence
them, transport them, plant and prune them; he can bulldoze them, line
them up in military formation, poison them, grind them up, bore them to
death, set fire to them, graft them and use them and this is control. He can
never from the substance of his own body, make an apple as an apple tree
can; this is power.

ENSLAVED BY HORMONES BEHAVING BADLY: THE
STATE OF WOMEN’S HEALTH

RATES OF CHLAMYDIA BY GENDER

TRENDS IN MATERNAL MORTALITY IN 1990 -
2013

TRENDS IN MATERNAL MORTALITY IN 1990 -
2013

THE EMERGING FIELD OF NUTRITIONAL MENTAL
HEALTH, INFLAMMATION, THE MICROBIOME,
OXIDATIVE STRESS, AND MITOCHONDRIAL
FUNCTION
Bonnie J Kaplan PhD et al | Clinical Psychological
Science
February 2015
Suitable interventions for fighting
inflammation, restoring normal gut
function, reducing oxidative stress, and
improving mitochondrial metabolism
incorporate lifestyle variables, including
nutrients and probiotics.
This overview describes the basis for a new field in mental health:
nutritional psychiatry/psychology.

WHAT IS THE NEI SUPER SYSTEM?
When the signals go awry, are
misinterpreted, or the messages
not received, the cells are left in a
state of confusion. Think of it this
way – when you pick up the
phone to make a call – and no one
is there to answer, your message
does not get relayed – and the
intended recipient may not get
the vital information you were
attempting to share. Or if there is
too much static on the call, the
cell receptor may interpret the
message differently than what
was originally intended.

WHAT ARE HORMONES?

THE
ENDOCRINE
GLANDS

MENSTRUAL CYCLE ISSUES AND THYROID
IMBALANCE
 Cessation of periods
 Scanty (light) periods
 Heavy periods
 Irregular periods
 Very short cycles
 Very long cycles
 Severe cramping
 Failure to ovulate
 Constant bleeding
 Premenstrual syndrome
 Premenstrual tension
 Extreme bloating
 Water retention
 Premature or delayed puberty
 Premature or delayed
menopause
 Difficult menopause
 Hysterectomy
 Endometriosis
 Ovarian fibroids
 Polycystic ovary syndrome
(PCOS)

REPRODUCTIVE ISSUES AND THYROID
IMBALANCE
 Infertility
 Miscarriage
 Still birth
 In vitro fertilization failure
 Donor egg failure
 Abnormal estrogen levels
 Abnormal progesterone levels
 Abnormal testosterone levels
 Drop in sperm count
 Erectile dysfunction
 Loss of libido
 Sexual dysfunction
 Vaginal dryness
 Painful sex
 Breasts leaking milk
 Fibrocystic breast disease
 Maternal anemia
 Gestational diabetes
 Pre-eclampsia
 Placental abruption
 Postpartum hemorrhage
 Prolonged labor
 Inability to dilate
 Poor wound healing
 Pain in and around c-section scar
 Difficulty breast-feeding
 Low breast milk supply
 Premature birth
 Low birth weight
 Child's IQ

 About 24 million Americans have an autoimmune diagnosis.
 Another 50 million people have not felt well for years, with
symptoms of pain and fatigue and auto antibodies, but they do
not yet have enough damage to their bodies to make an actual
diagnosis.
 75 million Americans have immune cells inflicting damage to their
bodies. That's far more than are affected by cancer or heart
disease (approximately 25 million each)
 Currently, more than 140 diseases have officially been classified
as autoimmune diseases, and the number is steadily rising with
each passing year.
AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE AND THE THYMUS

IS PMDD AN AUTOIMMUNE DISORDER?
When you have a condition that is persistent,
seemingly irresolvable, and seems to flare up with no
rhyme or reason, there’s a strong possibility you have
an autoimmune condition.
You can develop an autoimmune or inflammatory
disorder to anything in your body – any tissue,
enzyme or hormone.
~Joni Labbe, DC CCN, DCCN
Labbe Health Center

ADRENAL GLANDS OVERDRIVE AND FATIGUE
 Trouble falling asleep even when you’re tired and when you do
sleep, you’re not rested when you wake
 Quick uncontrollable irritability/anger
 Craving sugar/carbs, fat, salt
 Tired around 3-4 most afternoons, and that’s when you crave
sweets or some extra caffeine
 Weight gain perhaps more noticeable in the abdomen
 Anxious or blue
 Getting sick more often
 Hormones are all over the place, having fertility problems, and
the libido is nowhere to be found
 Memory and focus are not what you think they should be
 Digestive system is a mess

LOW HISTAMINE LEVEL FOODS:
 Fresh meat (cooled, frozen or fresh)
 Freshly caught fish
 Chicken (skinned and fresh)
 Egg yolk
 Fresh fruits – with the exception of strawberries, most fresh fruits are
considered to have a low histamine level (also see histamine liberators
below)
 Fresh vegetables – with the exception of tomatoes
 Grains – rice noodles, yeast free rye bread, rice crisp bread, oats, puffed
rice crackers, millet flour, pasta (spelt and corn based)
 Fresh pasteurized milk and milk products
 Milk substitutes – coconut milk, rice milk
 Cream cheese, butter (without the histamine generating rancidity)
 Most cooking oils – check suitability before use
 Most leafy herbs – check suitability before use
 Most non-citric fruit juices
 Herbal teas –

HIGH HISTAMINE LEVEL FOODS:
 Alcohol
 Pickled or canned foods – sauerkraut
 Matured cheeses
 Smoked meat products – salami, ham, sausages, etc.
 Shellfish
 Beans and pulses – chickpeas, soy beans, peanuts
 Nuts – walnuts, cashew nuts
 Chocolates and other cocoa based products
 Most citric fruits
 Wheat based products
 Vinegar
 Ready meals
 Salty snacks, sweets with preservatives and artificial
colorings

MERCURY AND THE ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
Mercury blocks thyroid hormone production by occupying
iodine-binding sites and inhibiting hormone action even
when the measured thyroid levels appears to be in the
proper range.

BIRTH CONTROL MAY ALTER THE STRUCTURE OF
A WOMAN’S BRAIN
It’s possible that the synthetic hormones found in the Pill — and possibly the
suppression of natural hormones that occurs when women are using the Pill —
cause these alterations in brain structure and function, according to a new
study published in the journal Human Brain Mapping.
Birth control pills have some
troubling possible side effects,
including altering a woman’s
mood and even her choice of
romantic partner. A new study
adds another potential concern
to the list: Hormonal
contraception may shrink
portions of the brain and affect
their function.

The lateral orbitofrontal cortex
and ventrolateral prefrontal
cortex regulates behavior by
inhibiting the influence of a
broad scope of sensations,
feelings, thoughts, and actions
or perceptions.
Such inhibitory processes are described in the context of physical
sensation, including painful sensation, selective attention, emotion
regulation, control of mood congruent biases, attitude regulation, memory,
decision-making, and regulation in social interactions ~Oxford
Scholarship

THE MENSTRUAL WHEEL

LIFESAVING NEWS ABOUT YOUR PERIOD -
1993
“While most women hardly need to be told that their
hormone cycle affects their body; few of us suspected
it could make the difference between life and death.
But research with breast-cancer patients is starting to
suggest that scheduling a patient’s surgery according
to her cycle may increase her chances of being
cured. And that’s just the most prominent example to
emerge from a small but growing exploration of the
relationship between women’s monthly hormonal
changes and common illnesses, ranging from
migraines to irritable bowel syndrome.”

HORMONAL HONEYS

HORMONAL HONEYS

3 PHASES OF WOMANHOOD

ENDOTOXIN STUDIES – THE IMPORTANCE OF
DETOXIFICATION & NUTRITION
Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part
A, 54:593–611, 1998
Heavy Metals and Fertility
University Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Heidelberg,Germany
Aluminum and Glyphosate Can Synergistically Induce
Pineal Gland Pathology: Connection to Gut Dysbiosis
and Neurological Disease - Stephanie Seneff1*, Nancy Swanson2,
Chen Li 2005
Autoimmune Disease Risk Factors Linked To Mercury
Exposure; Women of Reproductive Age Take Note –
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999-2004. Published Feb 2015

ENDOTOXIC EFFECTS– THE IMPORTANCE OF
DETOXIFICATION & NUTRITION
 Early Menopause Linked to Chemicals
 Oops! The Brain DOES Have An Immune System
 New Research Discovers That Depression Is An Allergic
Reaction To Inflammation
 Persistent Organic Pollutants and Early Menopause in U.S.
Women
 The Toxins That Threaten Our Brains
 Great expectations
 What happens in the womb matters even more than was
thought
 Aluminum … A Silent Assassin
 10 Hidden Sources of Endocrine Disruptors – And How to
Avoid Them