S2. E27. Guest ep - Kim Gargano
===
[00:00:00]
I am so excited for today's episode. We have Kim Gono joining us, she's a dear friend of mine. She is a Christian content creator, an author and a podcaster as well. She's the host of Holy and Hormonal Podcast, and a lot of you have actually. Found my page in this podcast from when I was a guest on her podcast.
So I will link that episode below if you haven't had a chance to listen to it. Very, very great conversation, and Kim and I have just become really great friends since connecting and doing that interview a while back, and she is just such a delight, filled with wisdom, filled with the Holy Spirit. Y'all are really going to enjoy.
This conversation about being both holy and hormonal and, and really what that means and what that looks like. I am just so excited. Now we dive into and just talk about the different phases of the menstrual cycle, assuming that people already [00:01:00] know the four phases of our menstrual cycle, follicular phase, ovulation phase, luteal phase, and menstrual phase.
So if you don't already know. That period. Health knowledge, either before listening to the rest of this episode or right after, you should listen to our cycle sinking 1 0 1 episode. We have that below or the episode that I, I did with Kim, either or. We'll link those both in the show notes, but that will give you a baseline knowledge about.
Cycle sinking. Having your lifestyle cater to the fluctuations of your hormones and what each of those phases means and what goes on in those different phases. So I think that that will be really helpful for you if you haven't listened to both of those episodes or at least one of them yet. , So feel free to pause now and go listen to one of those or listen to it right after and put it on the queue.
But I hope y'all enjoy this conversation. Kim is. So amazing, and she is doing amazing things for the kingdom. Let's dive in.
[00:02:00]
Hello? Hello y'all. I am so excited to be joined by Kim Garo. Hey, Kim. Hey. Hi. I'm so excited to be here. Thanks for having me. I am so excited to be back recording with you. This is, I know we always just have such good chats. Yes, yes. I am super excited for this and I just know it will be. So fruitful.
I know there's so many listeners that know you and are so excited to be listening to this. , But for the people that don't know, just give us a little bit of an [00:03:00] introduction of how you got to where you are today and running wholly and hormonal, both the podcast, your business.
Books. All the things. All of it. Yeah. Hey everyone. My name's Kim Gargano., I am a certified holistic hormone health coach. I'm also an author and a Christian content creator. I started this whole journey, honestly, just being submitted to the Lord. I got saved about three years ago, the Lord. Met me on the bathroom floor and was like, you're gonna switch all your social media to preach my name.
And I just never looked back and, started this journey when I was single in the pit out of a really bad breakup. My health was kind of all over the place, and now I'm married. I am, I don't fit the qualifications for a hormonal imbalance anymore, and I'm thriving and I'm healthy and happy. And yeah, I have a book coming out in 2026 that I'm excited about.
And yeah, the Lord has me on a really crazy journey. [00:04:00] Wow. I love that. It's amazing to see the work that the Lord has done in you in just three years. I know. It's, it's crazy. When I first came to the Lord, everything was expedited for me.
It was like boom, boom, boom, opportunity like. This person, that person, just like community, churches, the spiritual gifts, like I really was expedited so much with the Lord, and it's just been a theme throughout my life. Like I had a lot of health scares and the Lord had done radical healings in my life, and it, it's just crazy like what the Lord has me doing in these past three years, it feels like these three years I've grown in my faith, but also grown like in my mind, in my heart, just who I am as a person.
Like 10 years, like three years feels like 10 years. I feel like a whole new person and I'm just like blown away at the fact that I'm just here. I dunno, I feel like people can listen to this podcast and be like, oh, they just have it all together. Like, girl, no, I don't Like, I really don't still, I'm still [00:05:00] leaning on the Lord every single day.
I'm just like letting him be the lamp unto my feet and I'm like, okay, God, what do you want me to do now? What do you want me to do now? Okay, I'll be obedient. But it really is like, uh, I don't know. I'm very type B with Jesus. I'm not a very type A person, so I just go with the flow. Hey, we're here for it.
That's what we're supposed to do. That, that constant surrender. And I think you model that so beautifully of staying in that constant surrender. Yeah. Totally I feel like we resist it so much. Yeah. , I agree with our health. We rely so much on our own understanding or what else we see online versus going to the Lord.
Yeah, I'll sometimes catch myself going to like cha GBT faster than I'll like go to Jesus in prayer about something. I'm like, what is this symptom? Why do I feel this way? And I'm like, okay, wait. Where am I defaulting to? Am I defaulting to my own strength or am I defaulting to leaning on the Lord to give me the wisdom and the comfort and the healing that I need?
And so it's constantly a check, a checks and balances. But yeah, I do love me at cha GBT though. [00:06:00] I know it can be really convenient, but I, you know, I love James one five that when we ask the Lord for wisdom, he gives that to us generously. Mm-hmm. Just abundantly. Um, amen. Remember like, oh, okay, we gotta go to God for a second.
It's just an indication. Yeah. He says, asking and you'll receive. Mm. Yeah, exactly. That definitely is an indicator for our health as well. So how did you get into more of like the hormonal space and so yeah, since I first got my period, I really struggle with severe PMDD, which is premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
It's like PMS on crack, but it's not at the same time, it has a lot to do with like neuroinflammation. There's actually studies that show that women with traumatic childhood. They're more suscept to developing PMDD because there is a dysregulated response in the HPA axis, your adrenal glands, your stress response.
You're constantly in like a state of sympathetic nervous system, so fight or flight, and there's also neuroinflammation. So when your body is going through these [00:07:00] hormonal fluctuations in the luteal phase, your body kind of perceives these hormones as a threat versus something that like is working for you.
So when you have trauma. It's a little bit exasperated. So I was struggling with this for as long as I could remember. And when I was what, 13, 14, getting my first period, no one talked about periods in general. It was not a very talked about topic in my house whatsoever, and definitely not PMDD or any type of hormonal imbalance.
And I kind of just lived my life up until my twenties as like, oh, this is just what happens to me. I just get really, really, really angry. Like I get crying spells. I feel like I can't function normally. I feel like I'm losing all my friendships. I feel like I wanna walk away from my relationship like every single month.
Right before my period. I had no idea why. And I was just like, oh, I guess I'm just weird and normal. There's something wrong with me. And then when I gave my life to Jesus, I was [00:08:00] like, wait, this is affecting my faith. This is affecting my walk with the Lord. This is affecting my trust in God. This is affecting how I think God sees me.
And so I was like. I took to YouTube one day. I was just in the car. I was like really crying and having a bad day with my PMDD, my PMS, and I searched on YouTube, like periods, hormones, Jesus, just some keywords to see what would come up. And literally nothing came up. Like not one woman was talking about this.
I really needed like Lisa Harper. Or Miss VE to be like, you're not crazy. This is fine. And like no one was there when I needed them. And so I just felt the Lord be like, okay, now you're gonna be the voice for all these women. Like you're gonna be the one that when people look up periods, Jesus and hormones, like your videos are gonna come up.
Really? That's what we see. Yeah. Exactly. And so I was like, all right Lord. And then he just gave me the name Holy and Hormonal because it truly is what we are. Like we're holy girls, but we're also hormonal and we're figuring this [00:09:00] out. And yeah, it kind of just became like my burden to carry for women and it really is only the hand of God, because I wouldn't have done this in my own strength.
Like no way would you have told me. I'd be talking about like periods and vaginas and discharge on the internet in the name of the Lord. Like there's no way that would've been me. But this is so God's. Speaking to me and really desiring this type of ministry for his daughters and even for women that came before me, like the women who are going through menopause perimenopause who have no idea what they're doing, women who are postpartum.
So there's just such a need for it, and I just want to be a voice to kind of head like be like the leader of the herd in this in a way, and just open the conversation and open the floor for it. So that's what I've been doing the past like. Year and a half, two years. And the way that you do it, truly you, I mean, you just have all of the fruits of the spirit, but you say things in such a kind and gentle way, not bring about any guilt or shame and
it's, it's healing of any guilt [00:10:00] and shame that we have around our periods. Because I think a lot of the rhetoric is, that our periods are gross, that we're dirty, that we're unclean, but this is a very natural process. Yeah. Like this is how God designed. The female body and we are his daughters.
And it's not gross. It's not something to shy away from there is just a lack of education in this area. So I really am grateful for the work that you're doing, and I know it's been so healing to me, and I know so many listeners as well. Thanks. That's so sweet. Yeah. I really try to communicate it in a way where there's like no guilt and shame because listen, like I still struggle so much, especially with like body image and eating.
Like I still struggle in those things on a weekly basis. It gets worse when my period is about to come. That's kind of normal. Okay. It's normal. You will struggle a little bit, a little bit more. I'm not saying you will, but you will be more susceptible to those things when you're about to get your period because of where your hormones are at.
But I still don't have it figured out a hundred percent. Like some periods I'm like, man, I feel like I'm being wiped out [00:11:00] right now. I feel like I took 500 steps back. But then I just remember the faithfulness of God and then I remember the things that you can do to make yourself feel better. Like the lifestyle swaps and the diet and the exercise and the making sure that I'm getting enough sleep and like understanding where I'm at in my cycle helps me feel so much more free from things that feel like they're chains, if that makes sense.
Yeah, absolutely. And that's a. Place where I think more information is better. Yeah, exactly. Good thing to track. Instead of tracking every macro or your weight every single day, tracking where you're in your cycle is a good place to put that, that tracking energy and to have Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. I have a bad relationship with the scale.
But a healthy one now in the sense of I won't step on a scale unless I'm at the doctor's office and I need to, and even then I'm like kinda like looking around the room because I'm like, I don't want this number to like affect me in any way. But then I'm like, okay, you know what? I'm gonna track my cycle.
And if I see that I'm in the luteal phase, or I'm on my period, I might [00:12:00] know that I'm gonna gain a few pounds because there's water retention and there's a lot of inflammation going on in my stomach. So that's normal. And then when I'm. Feeling like when I'm in the luteal, when I'm in the follicular phase and I feel a little bit lighter, I'm like, okay, I know why it is because estrogen is like peaking right now and I don't have as much inflammation.
That is more of a marker of your health than a number on a scale or you tracking your calories, like understanding how your body is biologically working is gonna set so many women free. From eating disorders, from body dysmorphia, from hormonal imbalances, whatever it is, like knowledge really is power.
It's just like where are we putting that knowledge? Are we putting that into things that are gonna bear fruit or things that are gonna just condemn us and like keep us in our shame and our guilt? Right, because if you know where you're at in your cycle and then you realize like, oh, okay, the, you know, the scale is up a little bit, or, oh, I'm feeling a little bit more inflamed, or my pants are fitting a little bit tighter, just from where you're at at that time of the month, you know that you're not doing anything wrong.
You're not a [00:13:00] failure. Yes. Like you can give yourself grace and you have a logical reason for why those things are happening, and it's just temporary. Well, the biggest question that I get from people is how do I discern if it is PMS or if it's spiritual warfare? And how do I, especially in luteal phase, clinging to God and not keep turning either to, to food, to cope or numbing out in other ways.
And really, how do we. Optimize luteal phase and because is, is, am I just getting my period or is a spiritual attack? Sometimes it feels like both. So I know that this is a really nuanced conversation, but would love to hear your wisdom around it. Any scriptures that the Lord's been speaking to you.
In this area yeah, I wanna say that the two can exist at the same time, but it's quite rare. I mean, there are definitely seasons of your life where like you might feel like you're in the wilderness.
For months, and there can be spiritual warfare there that happen to line up with your period, but on an average cycle, I [00:14:00] think the one thing you have to keep in mind is like, are my symptoms cyclical? So are they happening at the same time every month? Am I having this? Same intrusive thoughts. Am I feeling the same ways about myself, about God, about the world?
Or is it happening throughout my entire cycle? Because going back to the tracking thing, like if you're tracking your cycle, also track your symptoms. Like there's great apps out there. I love Ovia. I feel like it's one that no one really talks about. I love the app Ovia so much. You can really like track so much in there.
And also like my flow is a great one, but if you're tracking your cycle. You can track your symptoms along with it and track your thoughts. So a lot of the times, the feelings of spiritual warfare and PMS can feel the same because a lot of it is psychological. A lot of it is having to hold every thought captive and like these negative, intrusive thoughts about my body, about how people perceive me, about where I fit in with the world.
What's my purpose? But. When is it happening? How long is it [00:15:00] happening? Is it starting the week before your period? Or is it starting the week after your period? Because then we can check like, is this hormone induced or is this really the enemy? Like trying to send some daggers. Hmm. So that's my first piece of advice is to really like study your body and study your symptoms and write everything down.
You could also keep it in a journal. If you don't wanna use a traditional period tracking app, that's totally fine too. And then the other thing is. When you're out of, when you're in the luteal, we'll stay with the luteal phase for a second when you're in the luteal phase. We all know that spiritual warfare.
Takes a lot to kind of like break through. So essentially if it's hormone induced, there are things you can do to alleviate the symptoms. Like if you load up on certain vitamins, if you switch your lifestyle habits, those can alleviate those symptoms. But if they're still persisting and they're getting worse and worse and worse.
Then I would think that it might be a [00:16:00] spiritual attack and let's like break down what spiritual warfare actually is. Because we can sometimes in our head be like, oh, my boss is just breathing down my neck. I'm so irritated, like the enemy's trying to get me. And it's like, no. Like that's a consequence of you not hitting your deadlines like right.
That's not spiritual warfare. Babes, I'm so sorry to inform you, but spiritual warfare. Is always going to be thoughts about your faith in God, your faith in Jesus as Lord, and how God sees you. Do you still feel like you're a daughter or a son of Christ? Spiritual warfare is always gonna come for your faith in Jesus Christ and your faith in general.
So when we're looking at the things that we're feeling, the symptoms that we're feeling, is it negative thoughts about. Life. Sure, that could be. There are definitely like demons running around on this earth trying to get people to not be on this earth anymore. But at the end of the day, like there's a deep knowing underneath it, [00:17:00] all of this spiritual warfare that is like, I feel like God doesn't love me.
I don't know if I truly even believe in this. that's what I would say is more of the spiritual warfare side versus the PMS where it's like, oh, I'm just super irritated. I'm angry. I feel like I'm struggling with my focus. Like those are normal, hormonal things, but when it's like I'm, I'm challenging my identity in Christ and I'm challenging if I even believe this, I'm feeling suicidal.
I'm feeling these dark, dark thoughts. That I would also say is a spiritual component as well. Again, when are these things happening? Are they happening throughout your cycle? Then I would definitely seek a medical professional because it sounds like there's more underneath that that has to be resolved.
But if it's happening in the two weeks before your period, it's likely. That you're just more susceptible what are the thoughts that I'm feeling and is this happening throughout my cycle, or is it localized to a specific phase?
That'll be the telltale sign [00:18:00] between the spiritual warfare and just having PMS and being a hormonal girl. Hmm. Yeah. Well I'll definitely wanna get into like for each phase how you seek God and especially in luteal phase, when we are more susceptible. And so things that we can do going into it to be more prayed up or more prepared. And
I know that there was a verse in Hebrews that. The Lord has been, putting on your heart lately related to all of this.
Yeah. So it's Hebrews 10 24 and it's, let us consider how we can spur each other on in love and good deeds. And I love this verse because it's all about community. At the end of the day, I think there's power in numbers. There's power in you being in community, in, being in a godly. Church surrounded by godly women who can help support you.
Like what we're doing right now. We're spurring each other on in love and good works, and that's like the Lord's heart for his women. And he knows that the enemy is gonna try to use us , when we're isolated. And he's really gonna throw these arrows when we're by ourselves and we're having these thoughts.
[00:19:00] There's so much power in community and really lifting each other up. So the way that I honestly love to seek the Lord throughout the cycle. We can split it up to the first half and second half because sometimes it gets confusing with the four, the first half. I just naturally feel like I wanna be more outside in nature and just like being more active.
I love to load up my social calendar in those two weeks before the luteal phase happens. So I love to serve more at church. I love to intercede in prayer for people. I love host. Sting more like we, we host our small groups. I always feel like I'm more ready to pour out in the first two weeks of my cycle.
Yeah, so those are the ways I like to do that in the first half. And then when I'm like downshifting, I call it like storing your oil in a way. Like I have to make sure that my reserves are full because I'm less likely to want to get it filled by the Lord when I'm in my luteal phase. Just 'cause I get.
Super lazy, or I just am like, yeah, there's other things I'd [00:20:00] rather be doing. I tend to numb out sometimes, like you mentioned. So understanding that that's coming and setting myself up for success before that happens. And that could even look more practically like meal prepping that week, because I'm gonna feel lazier and I'm not gonna wanna make a home cooked meal.
I'm gonna wanna opt for something really quick, or like a DoorDash or whatever. So. Optimizing my time when I'm feeling good to set myself up for success when I'm not feeling that great. And then when I'm in the luteal phase specifically, I really just take it easy. I give myself so much grace, like even with my workouts, even with how far I'm pushing myself, I will set boundaries with myself because I need them, because I'll cross my own boundaries all the time and then get mad at other people for my own decisions, you know?
So like if there's a family party. That happens to be when I'm like two days out from my period, I'm leaving that family party early and I'm not giving anyone a, sorry, I have to go home like this is, like I, [00:21:00] I have, like, if I stay, you're gonna get the worst version of me because I'm gonna be past my limit.
I think it's just understanding where I can bend and where I'm gonna break if I don't. Stop myself is really helpful and it helps me bear more of the fruits of the spirit because I know when I have to tap out and tap into Jesus. So it looks a lot like journaling. It looks a lot like. Being less active on social media, less scrolling.
I don't know. I just feel like it's the invitation to rest. It's the invitation of like the yellow light, you know, like Jesus saying, just come to me all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens and I'll give you rest. And I just like take his yoke upon me literally. And I'm like, God, you can fight these battles.
'cause like I don't have it in me right now. . And I really think it's a time to dive deeper in your intimacy with Jesus. So , get on your knees and, cry, like really like cry out to him and, . Pour your heart out on your sleeve and just be like, God, I, I just, there's a lot going on right now and I just need you to [00:22:00] fight my battles.
I'm just putting my hands up and I think that's really freeing. I hope that's freeing for women listening right now because you don't have to do it all. You're not designed to do it all. Right. You just can't. No. And I think the luteal phase is that reminder of , oh, I'm physically less capable of handling stress right now because of my hormones.
I might as well just let God carry this. Yeah, and I think luteal phase as much as people. Dread it or maybe even despise it, which I think that's an invitation that we need to heal our relationship with the different phases of our cycle. But that is God's grace. Luteal phase is God's grace. Mm-hmm. And it's a reminder that we have to keep checking in with him and that we can't do all of this on our own.
That we truly are dependent on him and my spiritual director once told me that rest is not us being passive. It's not necessarily, a lack [00:23:00] of action, but it's active dependence. Mm-hmm. And that is luteal phase. Yeah. Like Exodus 14, 14, the Lord will fight my battles. I need only to be still.
Mm-hmm. Amen to that. There's actually a quote, this reminded me of something that I saw the other day. It's not a biblical quote, but it's a quote about hard work and rest. So it goes, if hard work equaled success, then the donkey would own the farm. And I was just like, man, it really is true. Like we spend all of our lives like pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing, because we think that working, working, working is going to equal happiness success.
Whatever it is. But if that really was the case, then the donkey would own the farm. And it's like God is asking us to work smarter, not harder. He's like, actually, when you rest and when you take time to be with me, you'll go way further than you can in your own strength when you just do it on your own.
So I read that quote and I literally was staring at the wall [00:24:00] for like five minutes. I was like, what? This is crazy. Yeah. It's convicting though, like how often we're just on that hamster wheel. Going, going, going. Striving in our own strain thinking that we're gonna get somewhere, but, but we're not.
Yeah. And that really takes a renewing of our mind to see success. As obedience. Mm-hmm. Literally, I think that this is in First Samuel, where the Lord says he requires mercy, not sacrifice, and he's like, I just want your heart. I don't really care about the things that you're doing in my name. I mean he does, but at the same time, like it comes down to heart. Like we can do all the things in the world. But then scripture says like we could get to the to heaven, and Jesus is like. Like a depart from me. I never knew you, like I never knew your heart like you did all these things in my name, but like your hearts were so far from me and what will get our heart close to him is being obedient and really just being honest with him.
We have to talk to the Lord as if we're talking to a [00:25:00] best friend or like our parent or a mentor and just be like, God, I'm just being so honest with you. And being honest to the point of like, God, I'm so angry. I'm so angry right now. Like there have been times where I have gotten on my knees and be like, God, I'm so angry with how you created my body.
It's not working properly. I don't understand why you made me this way. I don't understand why I'm reacting these way to things like when everyone else is. Coasting. They're fine. Why am I the one struggling to do basic things? Yeah. And I would be so angry with him, but he just held my anger in his hands and he's like, it's all good.
My girl. Like, I'll take your anger from you and I'll give you peace instead, and I'll give you understanding instead. And that's the invitation that we have to grow an intimacy with him. And that's the luteal phase. That's the grace that you were just talking about. It's. An open invitation for the Lord to just hold space for all of your best, all of your emotions, and he just gives you peace in exchange.
Yeah, and if we don't give ourselves [00:26:00] room in luteal phase, time and space to be in intimacy with the Lord and to bring our anger to him, 'cause we're just going, going, going, keeping our social calendars full, not setting good boundaries, then we miss that opportunity to build that relationship with him and to actually receive his peace and the understanding.
Yeah, it's the typical Mary Martha story where Martha was just working, working, working, setting the table, making sure everyone was feeling comfortable and all in the right heart posture. She wanted to make sure that her people were taken care of, but Mary sat at his feet and Jesus was like, she chose the better thing.
Like, Martha, would you just come sit with me? It's the same invitation. Right. Right. And it's not that, like you said, not that what Martha was doing was bad, but it was out of order. It was the wrong time. Exactly. Yeah. And you've talked about before in your podcast like Ecclesiastes three, that there's a season and a time for everything.
Mm-hmm. And in luteal phase, in that season, in our fall, we need to fall back into the, into the look. Yeah. Wait. I love that. [00:27:00] Thank you. Thank you. Always bear. Uh, so good. Could you speak a little bit to, to body image and, um, because I know, I mean, it can be such a mind warp. What going through our phases and I feel like people's bodies can change so much.
I know you and I have both struggled with body image over these. I feel I still struggle. And so you know how your body image has changed over the years and maybe things that you do or things you remind yourself of, or practices that you have to keep seeing yourself the way that God sees you.
Yeah, no, I struggle with this a lot too, and thank the Lord. Less so now than before, but I still struggle, especially in the luteal phase where my brain is literally like confused and thinks that I look bigger in the mirror and I'm like, no, I don't like stop it. Hormones. Um, honestly, when I hit 25, my body changed.
My body changed, my frontal lobe fully developed. My hips were getting wider. I've always been [00:28:00] a curvier girl. Like my hip to waist ratio has always been like my hips are way larger than my waist, and it's something I always used to struggle with. But when I hit 25, I really started noticing my body change, but I stopped caring as much because I was like, wait, I'm be, I'm literally becoming a woman like I am becoming.
I'm growing into a body that hopefully, Lord willing, will one day carry life and deliver life. Why am I gonna sit here and beat myself up for my body biologically setting itself up to create and sustain life? Like the mindset shift changed for me, like in college and whatever, like I. Didn't really struggle with my body image all that much, unfortunately, a lot of my roommates that I lived with had eating disorders and they were all a lot smaller than me, so I was like the biggest girl in the group.
And me being at my biggest is still like healthy and happy. Like I, I felt good in my skin, but it's still got to me of like, all these girls are sharing skirts and like, it can't even go over my one thigh. [00:29:00] And it's just like those things started catching up with me over time. But really when I started.
Studying the body and studying my hormones and understanding how God created woman. I started understanding that a lot of this was just spiritual warfare too. Attacks of the enemy being like, God doesn't love you, no one's gonna love you unless you're a size four, a size two. No one's gonna love you if you have extra fat on your butt, on your thighs.
Like no one's gonna love you if you have cell. Like you have to be perfect. Like, it kind of like felt like the veil was being torn from over my eyes, like I was starting to. See things for how they actually were, and I was like, wait, am I happy in my body? That's the question I have to ask myself because I would have the type of self-talk where I would believe things that other people would maybe say about me, and I'm like, no one even said that to my face, but like I am assuming that people are saying these things and I'm believing that over what God says about my body.
And I was just like, [00:30:00] wait a second. Like how much power have I been giving over to the enemy? How many lies have I been agreeing with my whole entire life about my body that I have to break? So. Hitting 25 definitely changed things. I, I woke up and was like, I feel different. Like when that frontal lobe fully develops girls, I'm telling you, you are in for a treat.
It gets better with age. It really does. I do think, honestly, it gets a lot better with age every year that I'm growing. Like now I'm 27, I feel like I'm even more confident in my skin. And that also probably is a lot of like your world is expanding. You're building a family, or you're single, whatever it is.
For me personally, I'm like, I have so many things that I've been praying for. Why am I gonna worry about how much fat is on my body when like I have a beautiful loving marriage, I have a beautiful home. We're gonna start trying for a family soon. Like what's really important here in the grand scheme of things?
Right. And if my husband thinks I'm [00:31:00] beautiful, if I'm 500 pounds or 50 pounds, he thinks I'm beautiful no matter what. That's all I care about because he, his body is mine and my body is his. And so if I'm feeling okay with myself and my husband looks at my heart over how my fat jiggles on my body, then like, I don't care.
Because he thinks I'm beautiful and if he reflects the love of Christ, then Christ thinks I'm just as beautiful, if not more because he created me. So I think there's just a di a difference in mindset shift there. But I'd be lying if I said I still didn't struggle. You know, we're human beings. I think society has created this narrative that women are now suffering from.
And maybe will suffer with forever of this beauty image and the posters that we see and the people we follow on Instagram. I really had to cut out a lot of the things that I was watching and consuming too, because I would just compare myself all the time and I was like, Hmm, no, the devil's using this [00:32:00] against me.
I'm not gonna let him have it. So I would just unfollow people and stop watching. And I don't know, just being more selective about what I. Putting in my body at the same time. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Yeah. Not just with what you eat or whatever, you know, supplements or anything like that, but also through your eyes too.
And, I'm really studying Luke's Gospel right now, and there is one part where Jesus says , if your eyes are healthy, the whole body is healthy. So what are looking at and what are you letting in through that lens? Yeah. And even as like niche and as. Detailed as this is, but like when I'm doing workouts, I only wanna watch women working out that have my body shape and my body type.
Because if I'm looking at women who like literally have 0% body fat, they're so lean and they like look like they're not even struggling through their workout, I'm gonna feel worse about myself. So it even goes down to like what? Like, who am I leaning on to [00:33:00] support me through my fitness journey too? And it's not to say that women who are super thin and fit and don't have as much body fat aren't doing that.
That's wonderful. And there, there's such a space for it. And it's amazing to look up to that too and be like, oh, like that's such a, that's such a goal of mine. But at the same time, for me, I know my vulnerabilities and I know that's gonna lead me to comparison. So I choose to watch people who aren't super toned and defined that just have great, normal.
Mid-size bodies. And then I am like, okay, I like, I look like I'm watching myself work out. I love this more relatable. Yeah.
I think that's so beautiful and there's so many fitness professionals that I work with as clients that feel disqualified because they don't have the smallest body or they mm-hmm. Tone, but they're so strong and they're consistent and they have so much knowledge. So I'm always constantly trying to remind them that, that God has called you to this line of work, and people need to see your body shape in this space.
[00:34:00] Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. How thin a person is is never a marker of how healthy they are underneath the surface. Like, lemme see, you're lab work girl. You know what I mean? The outward appearance can look one way, but underneath that it's like. Alright. We really gotta like, are we striving for health or are we striving for skinness?
Because I wanna strive for health and I wanna be surrounded by people who also strive for health. And if skin, if you get skinnier in the process, wonderful. But like, that's not my goal anymore. My goal is how can I be the healthiest version of myself where I am right now? Yeah, absolutely. And to be able to carry out the good works that God has created you in advance to be able to do and to bear children like that is your goal now.
Mm-hmm. And I think that that's beautiful. And for me, I know I'm entering that engagement marriage season and it's just so hard because my whole feed now, which I've had to block so many people or on TikTok, like report not interested and things like that. 'Cause it can [00:35:00] be really, really tempting. Everything is sweating for the wedding, and I'm like, I don't, I wanna do that. I wanna steward my body well to carry me through a whole marriage. Yep. I wanna create a body that will be able to handle a lot of hard things in life.
I wanna create a nervous system that's regulated because one day we're gonna have to bury people that we love. We're gonna go through really hard stuff in life, and I wanna create a body that will be able to handle all of that. With grace and like with as much strength as I possibly can, that's more important to me than going down a pan size.
That's so true. When I was at my smallest weight, I was walking. A 10 minute walk from where I was going to grad school, back to my apartment in New York City, and, I would almost pass out every day. I would have hypoglycemic attacks every day. 'cause my blood sugar was so low 'cause I wasn't eating enough and I had.
Like a whole host of gut health issues. Couldn't keep any food down, it was absolutely horrible, but people would look at me and I was getting praised at that point for [00:36:00] how much weight I had lost and how good I looked. Getting a lot of attention from men, you know, being single in New York and , it warped my mind 'cause I'm like, wow, everyone's praising me, but I know how sick I am. I literally have these chronic gut health issues and I'm not physically healthy, but that's what society was praising. And I look back at that time, I'm like, I'm like, I don't wanna go back.
Mm-hmm. To that society wants me to and wants me to lose weight, but mm-hmm. Like that. Mm-hmm. A smaller weight for me was. That's when I was the most unhealthy. Yeah. And probably the most unhappy and unfulfilled too. Oh, a hundred percent.
Not, not a great time. And my nervous system was definitely not regulated. Very hard to do when you're living in New York City. Yeah. And also you're not giving your body the right nutrients. Supplements that it needs to thrive. Like there's so much to this conversation. And I also just wanna say too, like there's gonna be girls listening to this that struggle to put on weight.
[00:37:00] So like they're in the opposite bank and like, I just wanna acknowledge those women too, of like. Their experience is super valid as well. Like this, this struggle to be healthier and like wanting to put on muscle and like wanting to just grow more. Like that's so, that's such a struggle for women too.
It's, it all just comes down to like heart posture. Like the heart posture should always be how do I become healthier versus how do I go up or down in pan sizes. Yes. Like we really have to figure out what is the root and what is your why. What is your why is gonna be so important? Yeah, absolutely.
Because the Lord is going to use your healing in all of that. Whatever you need to heal from or be delivered from the Lord is going to use that to bring people closer to himself, to bring you closer to him. Not what size you are, but the healing in all of it. That's where the testimony is. Amen. Yeah. Yeah.
So good. Well, is there anything else that you feel like women need to know about [00:38:00] their hormones? Anything that the Lord is really putting on your heart right now in this season? I, I think the thing I wanna say to women is like, it's so cliche, but like, really be the change you wanna see in your life. Be the change you wanna see in the world.
Be the person to break the barrier and like start talking to your family about these things. If they're, if you haven't had an open relationship with your mom or the women in your family that you feel like you can be honest with. Talk to them about your struggles, like it's gonna be really hard, but change won't happen unless there's action behind it and your action will affect generations to come.
Mm-hmm. So like if you can bear the brunt and like the hardship of having these difficult conversations, or maybe just talking to your mom and be like, Hey mom, like how have your periods been when you were younger? Did you ever struggle with body image, like. I just wanna open up and be like, sometimes I really struggle around my period and I, and I kind of need support.
That's gonna be really hard for people [00:39:00] who haven't had that relationship with their family. But doing that has generational impact so that your kids will be able to. See and understand like, oh, we can talk to these things about people that we love and trust. Like we can be honest with people. We don't have to struggle by ourselves.
So just be the voice that you want to see change for future generations. Wow, that's so beautiful. And that's creating legacy and God cares so much. Yeah. About generations. He does. Oh, good. Yay. Well, where can people find you? I know where to find you. If you're interested in my podcast, I'm on Instagram at Holy and Hormonal Podcast, and it's also available on all streaming platforms.
And my personal Instagram and TikTok is Kim Gargano underscore, and I also have a website if you wanna connect with me there. I'm opening my coaching platform so I'll be taking some clients, if you're looking to. Get your hormones back into balance if you [00:40:00] wanna join me on over there.
That's where you can find me. Yay. And then Kim's book will be coming out in 2026, as you mentioned Yes. Beginning. I'm so excited to read that girl. No, me too. I can't wait. It's gonna be amazing. Well, thank you so much for such a fruitful healing conversation. Such an important conversation.
And I am just praying over the work that you are doing. It's really changing lives. So is yours girl. I'm so, I'm so happy that we're connected and that we're like linking arms running this race together because we just need more people doing it. And I just adore you and I love our friendship so much and I'm always rooting for you.
I'm just like really grateful to be here. Thanks for having me on. Thanks, Kim. Love you. Love you too.
[00:41:00]
