We’ve covered the topic of JET LAG and how to avoid it (I wrote out that entire protocol here.) The circadian piece worked exactly the way it was supposed to. No fog, no three-day recovery, no dragging myself through the week after.

Now, let’s break down how I’m supporting my gut post-travel indulgence, like the infamous midnight tiramisu that I would absolutely choose again in a heartbeat 😎

The gut pays for the trip first

Different water, different food, different timing, a week of eating on someone else’s clock, and hours in recycled air. Even a trip that goes perfectly is a stress test for your microbiome.

I also get asked each time I go to Europe if I’m actually eating the gluten, since many sensitive people do report significantly better tolerance overseas. For me, the answer is still no— simply not worth it. It’s challenge enough to indulge in specialty baked goods, even when GF. I just simply don’t eat that way very often, so the digestive impact is already there.

So the rebuild started the day I got home.

Enter: A new probiotic!

This is the one I’ve been folding in, and it’s the reason I’m writing this now instead of in three weeks.

Omni-biotic AB 10 is built specifically to restore microbiome diversity after antibiotics, travel, and various other exposures. Ten strains, and it comes as a powder sachet instead of a capsule. You stir it into about four ounces of room-temperature water, let it sit for a full minute so the bacteria activate, then drink it on an empty stomach.

Starting with one sachet daily for the first week, I’m now titrating up to 2x daily and loving it. No— it doesn’t taste bad either! There’s a hint of vanilla extract that makes it easy to go down the hatch.

I have to say, I’m so impressed by that one that I’ve added it to my list of troubleshooting protocols for clients as well. It’s in my practitioner-grade dispensary here, and everything in there is 15% off for you.

The peptide sandwich

I bracket my peptides around a trip. Before, during, and after, every single time.

BPC-157, oral, for gut support specifically. I start a week out and I’m still on it. The point is having gut lining support already in place when the disruption hits, instead of scrambling to repair afterward.

KPV for boosting histamine-handling. This one works like none other for helping your gut breeze through seasons of higher histamine intake (cough cough, champagne in France).

Not a peptide per se, but in my regular rotation: Ion Gut Liquid, clutch for helping maintain gut lining (yet not often strong enough for an actual repair job, in my opinion).

What’s next in the rotation

Two more from the same line are already in motion.

Omni-biotic Hetox probiotic is the gut-liver one, and it lands at my door this week. Omni-Biotic labels it for metabolic and GLP-1 support, which, yes. That is an entire post of its own and I am absolutely writing it soon as I trial. They also make a Stress Release blend I’m curious about for a maintenance formula, so stay tuned.

Rebuild first. Then maintain. Same order I’d give any client.

In a perfect world

I’d run my gut protocol, Biome Bootcamp, start to finish. Waiting on my calendar to permit going deep into this again, for a full real-foods reset. It’s based off the Joel Greene Immune Centric Fat Loss methodology, but “Lindsey-fied” and is yours for free when you subscribe as an annual member here!

Sinus side-note:

I came home with great energy, zero jet lag, and yet with a sinus flare that feels pretty pissed.

So I followed up with my local ENT. Another CT scan. Completely clear. No infection, no evidence of one, essentially the same picture as my scan ten years ago. Which means the antibiotic and the steroid pack were never going to work, because you can’t treat an infection that isn’t there.

What my ENT landed on is eustachian tube dysfunction. It feels like pressure sitting deep in my head, and it shifts sides when I roll over at night.

Tomorrow I have an appointment with a second opinion, and I’m hopeful he’s going to produce some new options for resolution. Meanwhile, doing all the things at home from a holistic perspective, including incorporating advanced homeopathy with a dear friend who’s in training.

Back to Gut Stuff: Where to Begin??

If you’re reading this thinking about your own gut, I’ve created a tool to help!

The Biome Decoder is my free gut compass. Three quick steps, and it maps what you’re actually dealing with to where you should actually begin. Run the Biome Decoder here.

After working with hundreds of clients and solving complex concerns for many years, this tool will help get you going with what’s actually going to move the needle.

Need more support?

Did you know I have a private community inside for paid subscribers? It’s called LYFE Lab, and I’d love to have you. If you’re running a post-travel reset of your own, or you’ve been stuck in your own version of GI loops, come tell me in the LYFE Lab chat. That’s where I actually hang out, and it’s where the good questions come from 💗

Love,

Lindsey Strong

P.S. Everything I named is in my practitioner-grade dispensary at 15% off. Join as an annual member and get my Biome Bootcamp course as a gift to keep!

I just got back from a week in Paris, and the thing people keep asking me is how I walked off an overnight flight and went straight into a full day like a functional human. So today I'm giving you the whole scene, start to finish. Because beating jet lag starts way before you board. It starts when you book!

Step one: schedule the flight like a biohacker

This is the single highest-leverage decision of the entire trip, and it costs you nothing.

Flying east, I booked the 8 p.m. departure out of the U.S. That put us in Paris around 10:30 a.m. local time. An overnight flight means the plane ride can be a full night of sleep, and a morning arrival means you land with a full day of sunlight ahead of you to anchor your body clock. It was perfect. C’est magnifique!

Flying home, I did the opposite. We got a solid night of sleep in Paris, took a 2 p.m. departure, and landed in New Orleans around 9:30 p.m. Yes, that makes for a 16-plus hour travel day. Yes, it's long. But you land, you shower, you fall into your own bed, and you sleep all night. We both woke up the first morning home feeling decent, which after a transatlantic flight feels like a superpower.

Step two: don't eat on the plane

This is my rule, and this trip I broke it, and my digestion paid the price. So learn from me.

Your gut runs on its own clock. Digestion essentially goes offline at altitude: you're sedentary, cabin pressure causes gas to expand (hello, plane bloat), and your body is under low-grade stress the entire flight. Food sitting in a system that isn't moving is how you land puffy, sluggish, and blah.

Meal timing is also one of the strongest signals your body uses to set its internal clock. Skipping the in-flight meals and eating your first real meal on local time at your destination tells your body, clearly and quickly, what time it is now. Fast on the flight if possible, or at least keep it light and pop some digestive enzymes for support. Hydrate like it's your job. Eat breakfast in Paris. Et voila!

Step three: sleep aids, even if you don't normally use them

For the overnight flight, take something. Plane sleep is hard enough without leaving it to chance, and one strategic assist can be the difference between landing rested and landing wrecked.

Melatonin works if you want to keep it simple, but my personal pick for at home and on-the-go is the CBN Dreamy Melts from Mary & Jane, and code DESIGNERGENES20 gets you 20% off. Small, travel-friendly, and they do the job. I’ve turned so many clients onto these who report the best sleep they’ve gotten in years!

Step four: compress everything

I flew in my Heat Healer lymphatic compression leggings (they now live under the brand's new apparel line, CEAN) plus basic compression socks, and the difference in how my legs felt on landing was real. Long flights are rough on circulation and lymphatic flow, and compression keeps things moving while you sit still for eight hours. On the way home, after a week of gluten-free croissants and a late-night birthday tiramisu, I upgraded to stronger knee-high compression socks. No regrets on the tiramisu. Minor regrets only on the bloat.

And on my feet: my new Alo Sunset Sneaker Mules, the best travel shoe I have ever owned. I snagged these last minute before we left and ended up wearing them so much! Slip on, slip off at security, comfortable through a 16-plus hour travel day, and they go with practically everything I packed. They earned their carry-on real estate and then some.

Step five: land, and get outside immediately

Sunlight is the master reset button for your circadian rhythm, and the first hours after landing are when it matters most. We dropped our bags and got outside as fast as possible. As much light exposure as you can get, especially in the morning, tells every clock in your body to shift to local time.

This matters extra for me. I know from my own DNA that I'm someone whose circadian rhythm does not adjust easily. If you've ever wondered why your travel companion bounces back in a day while you drag for a week, that answer is written in your genes. It's exactly the kind of thing we map inside Body by Design® testing.

The rest of day one:

• No nap. I don't care how tempting the hotel bed looks.

• We booked an afternoon spa session with sauna and cold plunge rounds. A luxury, absolutely. Also a legitimately great way to shake off the travel bloat and the blah.

• No alcohol on day one. Give your body one clean day to find its footing.

• Early night. We called it around 9 p.m. local and slept like champions and hit the cobblestone streets early the next day.

During the week: protect the rhythm you just built

Keep caffeine and alcohol moderate. Walk everywhere, which in Paris is not exactly a hardship, and soak up daylight. Keep your meals and sleep on a somewhat consistent local schedule.

A quick word on wine, because you're not flying to Paris to skip it. Support your body while you enjoy it. Wine is one of the most histamine-rich things you can drink, so I take a DAO enzyme with it. DAO is the enzyme that breaks histamine down, and it makes the difference between a lovely glass with dinner and a flushed face with a 2 a.m. wakeup. Then after a night that includes alcohol, I take Blowfish, my DHM liver support, which helps your body clear alcohol more efficiently so one great dinner doesn't cost you the next morning.

And my favorite piece of advice: stop calculating what time it is at home. Get your brain on board and your body will follow. Your body is here now. Let it be here. The peptide layer: my AM/PM travel stack

On top of all of that, I ran a deliberately split peptide protocol the whole trip, and this is the part I'd tell my PepSquad gals to pay attention to. What made it work was the timing as much as the ingredients.

Jet lag is a timing problem, so I treated my stack like a timing tool. Morning got the "wake up, we're on Paris time" signal. Evening got the "wind down, repair, we sleep now" signal. Same logic as the sunlight and the meal timing, just working from the inside.

The AM mix: NAD+ and Lipo-C. NAD+ is your cellular energy currency, and travel absolutely drains the account. Long flights, disrupted sleep, and time zone whiplash all tax your mitochondria, and NAD+ meets that demand head-on. I paired it with Lipo-C, a B12 and carnitine blend that supports energy production and metabolism. Together they did on the inside what my morning sunlight walk was doing outside: telling my body, clearly, that it was GO time. No dragging through the day. No 3 p.m. wall.

The PM mix: GLOW with KPV. Evenings flipped to repair mode. GLOW is the recovery and skin-support blend I've written about before, and KPV is a little anti-inflammatory workhorse I love for travel, when your gut and your immune system are meeting a new country's worth of food, water, and airplane air all at once. Remember that broken no-eating-on-the-plane rule? KPV was doing cleanup on that mistake. This is the stack that let me eat gluten-free croissants all week and not be totally wrecked on the flight home.

That's the concept: energize the morning, repair the night, let the rhythm do the work. If you want the how, the pairings, and the protocols built around your own biology, that's exactly what we go deep on inside PepSquad. And if you're curious what actually travels in my pouch, I broke that down in my Packing for Paris post.

The flight home: stay awake, land, crash properly

For a daytime return flight, your job is the opposite of the way out: stay up the entire flight so you're actually tired when you land at night. Don't overcaffeinate to get there. I used King Coffee strategically, since the reishi spores and mild caffeine kept us moving without wiring us past bedtime. These are great because you can mix with hot or cold water, and they’re quite tasty! Even boyfriend approved. No jitters, no naps… Landed at 9:30 p.m., slept all night, woke up home and human.

One more trick for the flight home: wear an analog watch, and set it to home time first thing that morning. Remember how I told you to stop calculating what time it is at home? Travel day is when you flip that switch back. Early that day I started thinking in New Orleans time: okay, it's 6 a.m. at home, and I'll be in my own bed by 9 p.m. Suddenly that 16-hour travel day sounded like one long, completely doable day instead of something to survive. Your brain starts adjusting to your homecoming hours before your body does.

Back home: the protocol keeps going

Jet lag has a second act nobody talks about: the week after you get home. I'm writing this from New Orleans, still running the same AM/PM peptide rhythm and the same sleep support, because re-entry deserves the same strategy as departure.

I had a cold plunge planned for Wednesday, my first full day back. I came home to a literal tropical depression instead, so the plunge became a cold shower at home. Same idea, zero appointments needed. Cold exposure is a beautiful mitochondrial support tool, and in the morning it delivers exactly the kind of wake-up energy a recovering body clock wants.

And the biggest one, because I know my own patterns: minimize your screens. Heavy screen time is my number one jet lag trigger, historically and right now, every single time I come home from an international trip. Your body clock is already working overtime to find its footing, and hours of blue light and mental stimulation pull against everything the sunlight, the sleep schedule, and the stack are trying to rebuild. So I take a couple of days off from heavy screen time when I land. Light phone use only, no marathon laptop sessions, no scrolling in bed. Just be. Unpack slowly, sit outside, let your brain land the way your luggage did.

The sleep schedule stays locked too: in bed around 9:30 every night this week, and I'm happy to report I'm sleeping straight through. That's the protocol working.

That's the whole scene, start to finish! Book smart, fast on the flight, sleep aids up, compression on, chase the sun, energize your mornings, repair your nights, and don't fight your own biology on the way home.

Want to hear more Paris favorites? I’d be happy to share some of our highlights from my favorite place on Earth.

Love,

Lindsey Strong

P.S. I rounded up everything from this protocol that lives on my shelf, the Dreamy Melts, my DAO enzyme, the Blowfish, and my favorite travel gear, into one Travel Essentials collection on ShopMy.

Here’s my rule when I travel. I don’t stray too far from my day-to-day. My daily supplements are custom blended for my DNA, so they’re already doing exactly what my body needs, and I’m not about to swap that out for some random travel multivitamin. What I DO crank up is how seriously I dial in my gut. Travel is hard on digestion. The food is different, the wine is flowing, and my system always knows when it’s off its home turf.

So here’s everything coming with me.

Quick note before we get into it: I’m not a doctor and none of this is medical advice. I’m sharing what I personally do. Do your own research and work with someone you trust.

BPC-157, starting a week early

I start dosing oral BPC-157 about a week before I travel and keep it going the whole trip. It’s one of my favorites for supporting the gut lining and calming down food sensitivities, which matters a LOT when I’m about to eat my way through a different country. Bonus: it helps with muscle soreness (we are going to walk our buns off in Paris) and it’s a lovely general anti-inflammatory.

Digestive enzymes, heavy on the DAO

I always up the ante on digestive support when I travel. My everyday digestive enzymes come with me, and I get especially heavy-handed with DAO for extra histamine support, because I will be drinking wine and champagne and building a charcuterie board into a personality trait. Upping my enzymes, especially the ones working while I sleep, makes a real difference in how I feel the next morning. The exact lineup coming with me: NOW Super Enzymes, HistaGest-DAO for extra histamine support, and S. boulardii as my travel gut insurance.

Mary & Jane sleepy dream melts

For the overnight flight, I’m bringing my Mary & Jane sleepy CBD/CBN dream melts. They’re my go-to for actually sleeping on a plane instead of staring at the seat back for eight hours.

In-flight support

A few things I keep in my personal item for the flight itself:

Relyte electrolytes. These go on the plane with me and stay in rotation the whole trip. Flying is dehydrating and I would rather get ahead of it than chase it.

King Coffee: Organic freeze-dried instant coffee + reishi spores. Great for clean caffeine without the crash! I travel with it every single time.

Everyday Dose protein coffee. I just got these new protein coffee packets from Everyday Dose that were gifted to me, and they are absolutely coming along. 10g protein + adaptogens!!

Amare Happy Juice. A splurge— I ordered a box of this for the trip. It’s a nice little energy boost and a probiotic in one, which is exactly the kind of double duty I want when I’m living out of a suitcase.

Bonjout Beauty Le Balm. I am obsessed with this one and it is coming with me. It lives on my nightstand as my overnight lip balm and actually stays on till morning, I swipe it over my cuticles, and on the plane I use it as a facial moisturizer, the same way I do at home in the dry winter months. It is a solid serum, so it packs in my carry-on with zero liquid drama. And the packaging is très chic, which never hurts.

CorneaCare eye masks. Self-heating warm compresses I keep in my personal item and throw on during the flight. They feel incredible on tired, dry eyes at altitude.

Keeping it organized. My supplements travel in my supplement organizer, and my peptides ride along in my BINK bottle.

Now, the peptides.

Let me tell you the thing my comments section cannot handle: I travel with my peptides. I always have. I have a whole viral reel of people arguing with me that you can’t take peptides on a plane, especially on an international flight. I’ve done it many times. I’ve done it to Paris specifically. It’s fine, y’all. 💉🧬

My top tip is simple: pre-dose your syringes for only as many days as you’re traveling. For a trip of a week or so, that’s a week of pre-drawn syringes and nothing extra. I wrote a whole article on exactly how I do it, and it’s easier than you think.

Okay, but what am I actually packing for Paris this time? My exact travel stack, morning and night, is below: outlined and linked!

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That’s 14.7 years younger than the number on my license, and it isn’t a typo, a filter, or a good-lighting situation. It’s a real lab result. My body is running almost fifteen years behind my birthday, and it’s moving the right direction.

Here’s the part people don’t expect: I did not get here by being lucky.

At my actual calendar age 29—I was sadly over 300 pounds. Even after losing 150 of them, I had IBS so debilitating I walked away from a corporate career because I couldn’t be that far from a bathroom. Add years of hormonal chaos, lipedema diagnosis, a full hysterectomy, and a stack of surgeries most people don’t know about, and you get a body that spent a long time working against me.

So when a 29-year-old biological age shows up next to that history, I need you to hear what it actually means. This is aging in reverse. On purpose. With the exact same strategies I use for every single client.

What biological age actually is

Your biological age isn’t how many birthdays you’ve counted. It’s how your body is functioning underneath: oxidative stress, inflammation, metabolic markers, the quiet chemistry that decides how fast you’re really aging. Function Health pulls it straight from your bloodwork. And it isn’t a one good day on camera. A number like 29.2 reflects what’s been happening in my body consistently, over time.

So let me say the thing my comments section always jumps to: I wasn’t born with good genes. I learned how to work with the ones I have.

The two things that got me here

They work as a pair.

The first is my DNA.

Methylation and detox pathways get tossed around as wellness buzzwords, equal parts hype and fear. Strip the noise away and they’re some of the biggest levers there are on how fast your cells actually age.

So I don’t guess at mine. I know which foods inflame me and which ones my body handles just fine. I know the nutrients I can’t convert well in their standard forms, so I take the forms my body can actually use instead of the ones on the shelf. I know which detox and hormone pathways need a little backup and which ones already run smoothly on their own, so I put my energy where it counts. Every food, every supplement, every decision runs through my own genetic blueprint first. That’s the whole premise of Body by Design®: roughly 500 genetic markers from one cheek swab, turned into a plan built for your body instead of outdated averages.

The second is using peptide therapy.

Here’s the quick version of why they work so well. Peptides are basically designed to mimic the innate compounds your body already makes on its own, the same signaling chemicals it produces less and less of over time. (Cough, cough, aging.) By replacing those key messengers, I’m literally handing my cells the commands they need to perform better.

Once I understood what my DNA was asking for, peptides became a big part of the precision tool for delivering it. Gut repair, recovery, metabolic support, the things my history left me needing more of.

For the past 5 years, I’ve been sending my cells the signals for healing all of the above, and with the performance chemistry of a 20-something 💅

Starting by reversing signs of autoimmune dysfunction due to leaky gut (think food allergies galore and snowballing sensitivity to all things enviro-chemical), then turning up hormone receptors to function more normally than they ever would alone, to finally mega mitochondrial cleanup following surgeries and an overall lifetime of poor decisions in decades past. All the things that can cause literal DNA damage, reversed.

These two are a powerhouse together, but each stands on its own. My DNA hands me the map of what my body’s actually working with. Peptides give my cells a direct signal to perform. I lean on both because both move the needle.

What this actually looks like day to day

It’s a lot less dramatic and micro-managed than you’d think.

It looks like strategic supplementation. Not 78 new bottles crowding the counter, just the specific nutrients my genetics say I need, in the forms my body can actually absorb. This is like the “easy button” for so many clients, and a big step toward optimization with foundational daily chemistry balancing, so you feel it ‘round the clock.

It looks like protecting my gut. After years of it being the thing that ran my life, I keep it intact by staying away from the specific foods my DNA says I get more inflamed from. Not a trendy elimination diet. My list, from my chemistry. Supplementing strategically when I can’t control the minutia or just need a night out.

It looks like keeping my hormones, my sleep, and my stress chemistry steady with basic daily habits, because I know exactly where those systems need attention and where they don’t. I’m not trying to optimize all the things at once. I focus on the handful that actually move the needle for my body and let the rest be.

That’s the part I want you to really hear. When your plan is built from your own chemistry, you do less and it lands harder. Less guessing, less white-knuckling, less money thrown at protocols that were never designed for you. Fewer, smarter moves. Bigger payoff. More fun.

My body isn’t clocking in at 29 because I got lucky. It’s 29 because I finally stopped guessing.

Now I know that I’ll never “look” like I’m in my 20s. I love following fitness influencers in their 50s and 60s and find them SO inspirational! But after losing 150# I’ll always have loose skin, even after a bit of cosmetic body work, and I’m ok with that. Lipidema is an ongoing connective tissue disorder that means I’m constantly managing my legs in particular, and even after having surgery to remove the fibrotic fat, my legs are a big point of acceptance.

But no matter what, I’d rather continue to have my longevity markers rankings top the charts, if I had to choose. Because that’s what I’m really doing this for, any of it. To continue to feel GOOD in my body for as long as humanly possible. Not through punishment, restriction, or micro-managing. But from a few simple strategies that help me work smarter.

If you’re in your 40s and doing everything right:

And your body still won’t cooperate, I want you to know the problem was never you. You’ve just been handed a generic plan for a body that was never generic.

Start with your blueprint. Body by Design® maps your 500+ markers and hands you the actual manual: what to eat, what to supplement, how to support your hormones, where your body needs backup. It’s the thing my clients come back to year after year, because your DNA doesn’t change, but everything you ask of it does.

I’m going to walk through exactly how this works over the next few posts, the DNA side and the peptide side both. If you want the full breakdown and the behind-the-scenes, that’s what I save for my paid subscribers inside LYFE Lab. Paid members get the full diary, the private member chat where I actually get specific with your questions, monthly live calls with me, and the Mixing Lab Peptide Calculator tool. Subscribe to annual and Biome Bootcamp (my anti-aging gut reset protocol) comes free; founding members get my PepSquad beginner peptide course on top. It’s where the reversal stops being a headline and starts being a plan.

You’re not falling apart. You’re not too late. You’re just getting started with better information.

Love,

Lindsey Strong

You know what’s better than Prime Day? Peptide Promos 🤓💉🧬🏋🏼‍♀️

But before you start asking me for links– please read!

For my newbies: I started studying peptides in 2019, completed my certification the following year, and went really deep by 2021, both in my own personal use and in my private coaching practice. The world of peptides today is unrecognizable from what it was five years ago. Some of that is good, and some of it is not.

When I first launched my PepSquad course in the summer of 2024, I had no idea how popular it would become, and it’s been one of my favorite things I’ve ever gotten to share with the world. With that popularity has come a whole influx of inquiries:

❌ People looking to buy peptides

❌ People asking me for dosing advice in my DMs

❌ People trying to send me free peptides

The list goes on and on. So I thought I’d clarify a few things right here.

First: I don’t sell peptides. I never have. What I do is teach people how to use them safely and source responsibly– for an affordable price, without sacrificing quality. So when I don’t just paste a link into your DMs, there’s a reason for this: INTEGRITY. Yep, the thing I get asked about most, sourcing, is exactly where this whole industry has gotten the messiest.

You may have noticed that the peptide world, at least as we know it on social media, has gotten a bit out of hand, with everyone suddenly claiming to be an overnight expert. While I love that everyone is sharing their passion for peptide therapy right there with you, it’s a little bit alarming the rate at which this industry has shifted.

Over the past year or two, I’ve watched peptide companies pop up overnight, faster than I can even keep track of, as more and more people get comfortable using peptides. The sourcing side of all this has gone absolutely bananas.

And somewhere in there, people started feeling like they can just order shit at the cheapest price and it’s fine. Well, it’s not fine. The cheapest vial on some brand-new site tells you nothing about what’s actually in it, whether it’s dosed right, or whether it’ll even show up. Quality and consistency are everything with peptides, and that’s the first thing that gets lost in a race to the bottom on price.

Then there’s the other end of it. The social media side of peptides has turned into a straight-up MLM. Influencers everywhere dropping their telehealth provider links, collecting big kickbacks on every sign-up, recruiting their audience like a downline, yet most of them have zero educational background in any of this.

Sorry, y’all, this ain’t an MLM.

Here’s something worth knowing: a big chunk of what you pay through those influencer links is their marketing fee, baked right into your price. Peptides get a lot more affordable when you’re not funding somebody’s inflated markup. That said, cheaper does not mean you should sprint to the rock-bottom price on whatever random new site popped up this week. There’s a smart middle here, and it starts with a vendor you can actually trust.

I take this seriously enough that I turn down free product all the time. I get DMs constantly from companies trying to send me free peptides so I’ll promote them, and it ain’t happening over here. I’ve used the same couple of vendors for years now, and rarely strayed. They earned that loyalty.

So why don’t I just hand out links?

Because with research peptides, the link is only the very beginning. These don’t show up ready to use. They have to be reconstituted and mixed correctly, and dosing is not black and white. There’s no universal “order this, do that.” Every peptide behaves differently, and every single person responds differently. There’s a real learning curve with each one. What it does, how to mix it, how to dose it for your body, how to know if it’s even working.

Handing someone a link with none of that behind it is not the responsible way to share this information. That’s how people get hurt. So instead of dropping links flippantly, I teach all of it inside a full course, where there’s actually room to walk you through it.

And I want to be clear about where my heart is on this. I don’t want someone ordering something powerful (even sourced reputably), having no idea how to use it, turning to Reddit or ChatGPT, and getting hurt. Keeping you safe is the whole reason I do this the way I do.

What I do have is a very short list of vendors I’ve trusted and ordered from for years, the ones I’ve personally vetted and would put my name next to. With that said, two of my primary trusted vendors, the same ones I’ve ordered from for years, are having blowout 4th of July sales right now.

Both of them clear the same bar, the one I will not budge on: personally vetted by me for years, with third-party testing and a Certificate of Analysis (COA) on every batch, plus thousands upon thousands of orders without a single issue. That is what earns a spot on my short list.

So here they are— And the timing right now is kind of wild, because they’re running their biggest sales of the year including BOGO and up to 30% off. 👇

Read more

Quick heads up before we dive in: this is my personal experience and research, not medical advice. I’m not your doctor. Always check with your own provider before you put anything new on — or in — your body.

I can’t tell you the last time I actually had a professional-grade facial treatment.

Over the past 10 years I’ve tried a lot of treatments — many of them $$$$, but none to really write home about, tbh, looking back. But nonetheless, there was a time when I was constantly on the cutting edge of in-office anti-aging: a long list of lasers, handfuls of vials of Sculptra, and dabbling in anything remotely promising without going too radical.

Even when it came to topical serums, moisturizers, treatments, creams, etc. — I spared no expense and, as a former beauty exec, had a blast trying all the trends.

Then life got… life-changing these past couple of years. The kind of seasons that reorder everything. And somewhere in there, I just didn’t have the capacity to think about doing anything major to my face. The lasers, the appointments, the whole production — it all quietly fell off the list.

Here’s the plot twist: turns out maybe I didn’t need all of it after all.

Because this is a needle-free face. No injectables, no downtime, no recovery — just a little serum I mix myself on my bathroom counter in about thirty seconds. I’ve been on it for about a year, and, if we’re being honest, my skin looks better than ever.

So here’s what’s actually been holding it all together, with a mixing video tutorial to boot! Plus my honest $.02 on Botox:

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Heads up before you read: this is my personal experience and research, not medical advice. I’m not a doctor. Always consult your healthcare provider before applying anything you read here to your own body.

I just got off a call with my HRT provider, and what she told me was actually pretty exciting 😎

We reviewed the labs I had drawn back on April 15th — this round through Function Health (whole post on that one coming soon). That draw landed almost exactly a year out from my total hysterectomy last February. If you’re new here, I’ve written about the who, what, when, where, and why of that decision — go back and catch up if you want the full story.

This past year has been anything but steady, on so many levels. But one thing is for sure: it has been a major blessing and a relief to not be fumbling with horrendous cycles, bleeding all the time, and pain. You know the drill.

I’ll say it again — I am forever grateful to my OB/GYN for presenting the best solution for me, which was the total hysterectomy.

Going into that procedure, I had real reservations about how my body would respond afterward — whether I’d just be trading one circus for another when it came to balancing hormones. And I’ll still tell you it was the best decision I’ve ever made, even while riding some major waves of stress and life change: a divorce that followed almost immediately, a relocation, and the list goes on.

So meeting with my provider today was refreshing. It confirmed that, hormone-wise, I actually know what I’m doing. Here’s a little backstory on what’s happened over the past 12 months.

My 12-month hormone timeline

• I started HRT immediately post-surgery and found my favorite pretty quickly: a topical estradiol spray. After about six months, I met with my telehealth HRT provider to reassess (my OB/GYN had retired by then, and I’d moved out of state).

• Physically I felt pretty well, but my levels had settled at the very low end of the post-menopausal range. My provider suggested it might not hurt to increase my dosing to see if I felt even better.

• So I switched everything up — moving to injectable progesterone and estradiol on their standard starting protocol.

• I stayed on the injectables through Q4 and into early January. Then, seemingly overnight, I felt that familiar shift: my estrogen was climbing too high. Bloated, puffy, just generally not great. I’d also added the teeniest dose of testosterone a couple times a week — micro, micro dose — and suddenly my side effects were through the roof.

Turns out I’m SenSiTivE

Here’s where my DNA comes in. I already know — thanks to understanding my genetic patterns — that I’m a high-risk candidate when it comes to testosterone. My conversion pathways lean heavily toward DHT and the androgenic side (read: side effects), plus faster estrogen conversion. Turns out I’m quite the sensitive Sally when it comes to HRT in general.

As soon as I felt that system overload, I backed off and went right back to my topical. Within a couple of weeks I felt great again, as my levels settled back to the lower end of “normal.”

And then — of course, as it goes — something else threw me off-kilter this spring. I went hard with three consecutive weekly sessions of EBOO, an intense detox treatment that did my body a lot of good… but also seems to have bottomed out my hormones after the third pass. Suddenly I was waking up with hot flashes and night sweats, plus some pretty pronounced anxiety during the day.

Luckily, I knew exactly what to do. I started back on my injectables for fast relief to get my levels back up. This was right after my spring labs, so I had a clear picture of where things stood — and yep, the labs confirmed they’d tanked.

Where I landed

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But at the same time, it has felt like it all needed a breath of fresh air.

Since I started this journey professionally — full-time — in 2018, this has been the most beautiful evolution. And after all the life changes I went through personally last year, it feels only fitting to give this community the upgrade she deserves.

Maybe this is the lingering desire to hit reset on literally all aspects of life as I knew it exactly one year ago this week, as I’d just moved from my house in Nashville in search of healing and happiness in New Orleans, in my home state in Louisiana.

Makes sense I suppose, as when I need a change, I go BIG.

So for the past five months, I have found myself absolutely grinding the gears to breathe new LYFE into The Designer Genes Co.: Body by Design, PepSquad, Gene Pool, all of it.

Behind the scenes, everything either has or is about to be totally upgraded, and now I can finally share it with you in my little world!

Having a new community home felt like an absolute must and a deeply connected omen of the evolution.

I also can’t help but address how the landscape of the wellness industry (especially online) has changed so much in these years since 2018 and especially since 2020 and the years that have followed, with the explosion of peptides, which have been so revolutionary for me and so many of you. They have also nearly gotten me kicked off of Instagram, so there’s that. I’m most excited about having a fresh space to share my heart, my soul, and my deepest peptide secrets (lol).

As rewarding as it’s been to add peptide coaching and education into my practice and to the lives of hundreds of clients that desperately needed the support, it’s also been a swift kick in the pants to be so censored on the silliest conversations on Instagram and also to be met with so many fear-mongerers and just generally grouchy, argumentative people who are passionate about telling other people bogus information about peptides…

So, a safe space this will be. A fun place this will be, a place to navigate LYFE over 40 for you and me.

LYFE Lab was the most fitting name, one I started using for my LLC years ago and if you’ve been around a while, you may remember a brief group project that we did in 2023, but this acronym is something that I have kept near to my heart and as a North Star for many years because what does it really mean to live your fullest expression? Well, it means to be the most you that you could ever be, and that inherently has individual specifications. In order to live your fullest expression, you have to feel good, damn it, and it’s taken me a long time to figure out how to do that.

It hasn’t come easy, and in fact I feel like we’re truly just getting started, to tell you the truth. After low-key blowing up my life last year and starting over at 43, I can tell you here today that it was all worth it. As I’m rebuilding, I’m honored that you’re a part of it inside LYFE Lab.

Looking forward to growing together.

Love,

Lindsey Strong

Everything inside LYFE Lab — which tier is yours?

Free

My weekly essays, the science, and the diary — always free.

LYFE Lab — $22/month

Everything free, plus:

• The full diary — every paid post, including the behind-the-scenes of my own protocols

• The LYFE Lab chat — our private community

• Monthly live calls — bring your questions and get my eyes on what you’re working through. Our very first one is this Thursday at 2 PM Central, right inside the Lab (replays land there too)

• The Mixing Lab — NEW!! your reconstitution calculator + dose journal

Less than a lunch, every month.

LYFE Lab — Annual — $220/year

Everything in monthly, billed yearly (about two months free) — plus my favorite part:

• Biome Bootcamp ($297 Value) complimentary — my four-week gut reset protocol with rave reviews. Most women report averaging around 10 pounds. Regularly a $300 value, yours included.

LYFE Lab Founding — $375/year

Everything in Annual — yes, including Biome Bootcamp ($297 Value) — plus:

• The PepSquad Beginner course ($599 Value)— my entry-level course to get you started the right way. (It’s a course you learn from — the education and the how-to — not a product you receive.)

• First access to a refreshed, beginner-friendly live workshop coming next month

• That’s over $1000 value, plus a year of support and community!

Pick your tier below:

Subscribe now

Heads up before you read: this is my personal experience and research, not medical advice. I’m not a doctor — I’m a coach and a researcher who’s been doing this on my own body for years. Always check with your own provider before you apply anything here to yours. And since this one’s about travel: the rules change and they’re different country to country, so confirm the current guidance for wherever you’re flying.

Let me tell you the thing my comments section cannot handle.

I travel with my peptides. I have for years. Across the country, over oceans, red-eyes, layovers, the whole circus.

And every time I post about it, the comments light up like a slot machine:

”They’ll take those at security!!”

”You can’t fly with syringes!”

”Do you even declare them?!”

I shared how I travel with my peptides recently on Instagram, and — surprise — the internet has opinions. Almost 100k views, which is a LOT for me. Same outrage. Same certainty that the thing I’ve been quietly doing for years is somehow impossible.

So let me say it louder for the people in the back: it is so much simpler than you think.

This week I simply strolled right through security with my peptides in my carry-on, per yooj. Yet again. Cool. Intact. Completely fine. No drama, no confiscation, no sweating it out in a back room in my travel linens.

Here’s how I actually do it.

First, the part everyone panics about: security

The calm truth — injectable supplies move through security checkpoints every single day. Insulin. Fertility meds. GLP-1s. Allergy shots. Officers see them constantly. Syringes and needles are allowed in your carry-on when they’re packed with what they go with, and they don’t have to squeeze into that little quart-size liquids bag.

You don’t have to declare any of it — I don’t — but if it makes you feel calmer, you can say ”I have injectable supplies” before your bag hits the scanner. Either way: calm and organized beats panicked and rummaging every time.

And before anyone spirals on my behalf — we went and checked the current TSA rules ourselves. There’s no special protocol or secret restriction around flying with syringes and the rest of the kit; they’re allowed in your carry-on, full stop.

To be fair, I do roll with TSA PreCheck and Clear, so I’m not exactly crawling through the regular line — there may be a sliver of truth to that being a slight hack. But the rules don’t change based on which lane you’re in.

Carry-on or checked? (Please, carry-on.)

A few of you were sure checked is the way to go because the cargo hold runs cold.

Let me gently save you from this one.

The hold is not a refrigerator. It’s not temperature-controlled the way you’d hope — it can freeze things solid on one leg and bake on the tarmac the next. And checked bags wander. They get delayed, they get lost, they end up in Denver while you’re in Cabo.

Your peptides ride with you. For me? It’s carry-on, every time. They stay in a range you can actually control, and they never leave your sight.

The cold chain (a.k.a. “where’s your cooler from?!”)

This was the single most-asked question, and I love you all for it.

The whole game on the road is the cold chain — keeping your peptides in their happy temperature range from your fridge at home to the fridge at your destination. You don’t need anything fancy to pull it off. A small insulated case plus a frozen gel pack carries you through a travel day beautifully. Gel packs are allowed through security when they’re keeping something medically necessary cold. My exact tumbler, linked below— but any of them in your cabinet will do.

Do I declare them?

Nope. I don’t say anything to anyone about any of it — and imagine this: no one says anything to me. No labels, no production, no nervous over-explaining. You’re a grown woman traveling with your wellness supplies. Treat it like the non-event it almost always is.

Flying international? Slow down here.

This is where you do your homework — and I say that with love.

Domestic and international are two different conversations. Every country sets its own rules at its own border, and “it was easy flying within the U.S.” doesn’t automatically mean “it’ll be easy landing abroad.” (Hi to the handful of you flying out with Reta and GHK — this part’s for you.)

Before an international trip: look up the current rules for your destination, keep everything in its original packaging, carry any documentation you have, and keep it in your carry-on. A few minutes of research before you fly saves you a very long conversation at a customs desk in another language.

But again I’ll tell you: I’ve traveled to multiple countries over the past several years using my same methodology, and guess what? NO ONE SAID A WORD.

If you’re brand new and scared you’ll “mess it up”

First, breathe. A few travel days will not undo your work. Your body is not a sandcastle.

Consistency over time is what moves the needle — not white-knuckling a flawless streak. And if packing everything for a short trip feels like too much, it is okay to pause and pick back up when you land.

“Can I just take a break from them while I travel?”

You can. Of course you can — nothing falls apart if you skip a few days.

But why would you want to?? Especially when travel is one of the times your body needs the support most. Recycled cabin air and all the exposures that come with it. The mitochondrial hit of time zones, broken sleep, and sitting still for hours. The fatigue that’s stacked up before you’ve even reached baggage claim. That’s exactly the load these are helping me carry — so skipping them on a trip is a little like leaving your umbrella at home specifically on the rainy day.

So here’s what it really comes down to:

Travel is not a reason to leave your protocol at home.

Once you feel the difference — the recovery, the sleep, the steadiness — a long weekend or a two-week trip stops feeling like a reason to stop. You just pack them like the non-negotiable they’ve become. Toothbrush. Phone charger. Peptides. Done.

It was never complicated. It just needed someone to walk you through it once.

Which brings us to the question I get more than any other: okay, but what are YOU actually traveling with right now?

I’ll tell you. The three I never fly without — two of which aren’t even technically peptides (I can feel the purists clutching their pearls — eye roll). This is the cheat-code part, so it’s for my paid people. Come hang out behind the curtain with me. 👇

What’s actually in my carry-on this week

One quick thing before the reveal: we’re launching something here in June and price is going up from $9 to $22— join now and you’ll be grandfathered in, and you’re gonna want to be there for this. Sign up now and keep the $9 rate as long as you’d like!

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Quick update: this Substack just got a new name.

If you opened your inbox this week and saw Love, Lindsey Strong instead of The DNA Diaries, that’s me. Same writer, same audience, same diary energy. New banner, broadened scope.

Here’s what changed and why:

Since I started this account, this Substack lived under The DNA Diaries — which fit when most of what I was writing about was DNA-based wellness and the unfiltered process of becoming myself in midlife, especially as I was rebuilding most of it last year. That’s still a huge piece of what shows up here.

But the conversation has expanded.

Peptides have become a much bigger part of what I write about, what my clients ask about, and what my own protocol looks like as I get deeper into what works for women over 40. And the diary side of it — hormones, hysterectomy recovery, how my labs are shifting, what my workouts and kitchen and supplements look like at almost-44 — that’s not slowing down either.

So the new name is wider on purpose:

Love, Lindsey Strong Peptides, DNA, and the science of biohacking for women over 40.

Same diary, more of it, plus the peptide and biohacking content that’s been getting pushed out of every other platform I write on.

About that — there’s a real reason the rename is happening now.

Three peptide videos in three weeks have been pulled from my Instagram. Each one was educational. Each one was content women were actively engaging with and asking questions about. Each one disappeared.

Substack is the only place I can write about peptides without watching them disappear. So that’s where the deeper peptide content is moving.

If you want a sense of what that looks like, this is what just went live — the GHK-Cu video META pulled, posted in full with the troubleshooting tips women were asking about in the comments before the video came down.

Now — about the new paid tier.

For the first time, I’m opening a paid subscription option.

Free tier (what you’ve already been getting): occasional diary-style posts, lifestyle and biohacking essays, hormone and HRT content, the conversations that don’t depend on platform restrictions.

Paid tier: the peptide content I can’t put publicly anywhere else outside of my paid courses — troubleshooting tips, the things I’m testing on myself, behind-the-scenes of my own GLOW protocol, my labs, what I’m seeing with clients, conceptual deep-dives on how peptides interact with DNA. Things you can only get here because they can’t live anywhere else.

If you’ve been here through the DNA Diaries era, thank you for being part of this becoming. Love, Lindsey Strong is just the next chapter — and you’re already part of it.

The diary continues.

Love, Lindsey Strong

Three peptide videos pulled, flagged, banned, in just a few weeks. Each one taken down by Instagram for reasons I won’t pretend to understand.

The last one — the GHK-Cu walk-through I posted right before it disappeared — was getting real traction. Hundreds of saves. Comments stacked up with women asking the same questions I get every day from my clients: why is mine burning, should I be taking anything alongside it?

Then META pulled it before I could finish answering.

So here’s what we’re doing. Substack is where these conversations get to live now. No suppression, no shadow bans, no reach throttle every time I name a peptide.

Below this paragraph is the full GHK-Cu video — uncut, with all the troubleshooting I was teaching when Instagram decided you didn’t need to see it. If you’ve been reaching for GHK-Cu and running into friction, this is the one.

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So when it happens? You accept it graciously, you screenshot it immediately, and you lean all the way in. I am always here for the vanity metrics, and flattery? Flattery will absolutely get you everywhere.

My Oura ring just handed me a personal all-time record — and I’ve been giddy about it ever since. (this post is NOT sponsored— but I have a small referral code at the bottom if you’re in the market!)

I’ve been an Oura user for almost five years. And I want to be clear about my relationship with this ring, because it matters: I don’t let the data run my life or dictate my mood. I’m here for the science. The patterns. The feedback loop that most people never have access to. Over the years, learning my body this intimately — layered on top of everything I’ve uncovered through DNA testing — has given me a level of self-knowledge that I genuinely believe is what made this record possible.

My Oura ring has been with me through a lot. Post-surgery recovery — multiple times over the past several years. The full hormonal roller coaster that came with estrogen dominance and everything leading up to my hysterectomy (if you’re new here, that’s a whole story — I’ll link the relevant posts below). Fat loss seasons. High-stress seasons. And now, my midlife optimization era, which — for the record — is going extremely well.

Here’s how I actually use the data in practice: when my Readiness or Sleep scores dip below crown level, I treat that as a real signal — not a suggestion. It means lighter movement, a different level of support, more intentional rest for the day ahead. When scores are green and climbing, I know I have the biological runway to push. The ring doesn’t boss me around. It just tells me the truth, and I’ve spent five years learning to listen.

Now — here’s what I’ve been taking seriously lately: sleep.

I know. Not exactly the spiciest topic. But if you are chasing vitality, hormonal balance, fat loss, or honestly any goal that actually matters — a lot of it starts here. Sleep is not optional, and it’s not negotiable.

Here’s my personal wrinkle: genetically, I am not built for this. I’ve had a history of low-key insomnia for years, just like my mom (hi mom!). My DNA results confirmed long ago that my body really struggles with disruptions to circadian rhythm. So last week, when Daylight Saving Time hit and a work trip took me across multiple time zones in the same stretch, I knew it was time to flex and focus. That’s exactly what I did.

What followed was a record-breaking Oura score in a matter of days.

I do want to be clear: Exceptional doesn’t happen overnight. This score is the result of years of insight, testing, and optimization — knowing my blueprint well enough to know exactly which levers to pull. But here’s what I’ve changed most recently, and what I believe pushed me over the edge.

1. Zero alcohol. Full stop.

This is the one people always want to negotiate with. Just one glass. Just on weekends. Just on vacation.

I stopped negotiating. Alcohol tanks sleep quality in ways the data makes impossible to ignore — and when I made eliminating it non-negotiable, my scores started climbing almost immediately.

I still enjoy an occasional evening wind-down — there are some incredible herbal mocktails doing the rounds right now that do more for my nervous system than any glass of wine ever did, and without the recovery debt. You know the ones. 😏 I’ve got some of my favorites linked in my shop if you want to browse.

2. Alkaline water — and a lot of it.

Hydration is one of those fundamentals that sounds too simple to be significant. It’s not. Proper hydration supports every recovery pathway your body runs at night, and most of us are chronically under-hydrated in ways we don’t even register as a problem.

I made it a non-negotiable. Big glass first thing. Consistent throughout the day. More than felt necessary, every single day.

3. I actually rested when my scores told me to.

This sounds obvious. It’s not actually how most high-performers operate.

When my Readiness or Sleep score dipped below crown level, I took the cue seriously. Not as failure — as feedback. I modified my movement, pulled back on intensity, protected my recovery window.

Trusting the data enough to respond to it instead of powering through it? That shift alone changed everything.

4. Sleep supplements: CBN and melatonin.

I’m not a fan of throwing a dozen things at a problem. I keep my supplement stack intentional.

For sleep specifically, I’ve been leaning on CBN and low-dose melatonin consistently. CBN in particular has been a quiet favorite for the kind of deep, restorative sleep that actually shows up in your score the next morning. Everything I’m currently using is linked in my sleep collection here.

5. A consistent bedtime — aiming for 9:30 PM.

Your circadian rhythm doesn’t care about your schedule. It cares about consistency.

I’ve been anchoring my nights around a 9:30 PM target. Not hitting it perfectly every night — but having the target changes how I move through my evenings. I’m winding down earlier, stimulation goes off, the prep starts.

That rhythm compounds.

6. Sleep and sound meditations from Open.

There is a version of me who would have rolled her eyes at this. That version of me also had worse recovery scores.

I’ve been using the Open app for sleep and sound meditations consistently, and it has genuinely changed the quality of my evenings. If you haven’t tried it: a targeted sound meditation is a different experience than background noise. You can get a 30-day trial pass here.

BONUS— Your nervous system knows the difference: There’s even an Open x Oura integration now that shows your real-time biometrics during the meditations!!

7. Journaling with Rosebud — morning and evening, every day since January.

This one is personal, and I want to talk about it honestly.

I’ve tried a lot of journaling tools. Most of them didn’t stick because they felt generic — like they were built for someone who isn’t me.

Rosebud is different because I’ve trained it to be different. I’ve customized the way it speaks to me so that it aligns with my actual goals and my actual personality. And because of that, I actually want to show up for it. I voice note when I’m rushing, I text when I want to think slowly, and I’ve been doing consistent AM and PM check-ins since right after the new year.

The impact on my recovery data has been measurable. Stress is inflammation. Processing daily emotional weight before you go to sleep is a biological act, not just a mental health exercise.

Try Rosebud here

8. Anti-inflammatory support — the protocol I’ve been building for years.

This one I’ll keep intentionally vague because it’s not one-size-fits-all and I don’t throw out protocols for public consumption without the proper context.

What I will say is this: I’ve been supporting my inflammatory pathways deliberately for years. My current stack includes a high-dose run with my GLOW blend and a maintenance dose of a GLP-1 support protocol I’ve been on for some time.

The inflammation piece is often the missing link for people who are doing everything else right and still not seeing scores reflect their effort. Your recovery data doesn’t just reflect last night — it reflects the cumulative state of your biology.

The bigger picture:

None of these things alone got me to Exceptional.

It was all of them, stacked deliberately, held consistently, informed by years of understanding my own genetic blueprint. I know what my body prioritizes. I know what tanks my recovery before I even feel it. I know which pathways to support and which ones have been the hidden source of friction for most of my adult life.

That’s the real advantage of understanding your DNA. Not a one-time revelation — a permanent operating manual.

Want to know where your biology is leaving performance on the table? Start with our free quiz — it’s the fastest way to see which piece of your puzzle has been missing.

→ Take the free quiz here

Want to get an Oura ring and start tracking for yourself? Save 10% with this link (until it’s used a maximum number of times)

But here’s the thing about being a DNA-based wellness founder who’s also a certifiable biohacking nerd: I can’t leave well enough alone. 🙃

When “Good” Meets “Optimal”

This fall, I ran my follow-up labs to see where my hormones had stabilized post-hysterectomy. I felt good, but my levels were hanging out on the low side of what’s often considered “optimal” in functional medicine circles.

My brain immediately went: Well, if I feel THIS good at these levels... imagine how amazing I’d feel at slightly higher levels!

You can probably guess where this is going.

I decided to run an experiment in the name of science (and let’s be real, vanity and performance). I completely overhauled my HRT protocol—switched from oral progesterone and topical estrogen over to all injectables for three months. And because I apparently enjoy living dangerously, I reintroduced a teensy dose of testosterone too.

The goal? See if slightly higher progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone would unlock an EVEN BETTER ME.

Spoiler alert: It did not.

The Honeymoon Phase

For the first couple months, I felt incredible. Energy was up. Workouts were strong. Brain fog? Gone. I was convinced I’d cracked the code, naturally.

Quite pleased with myself, I pressed on. I even started to wiggle up the dose on my Testosterone and Estrogen.

And then... things started getting weird.

When “Optimal” Goes Rogue

The past few weeks, I started feeling puffy. Inflamed. Just... off. My jeans felt tighter. My face looked rounder. My skin started breaking out like I was 16 again. And the chin hairs? NOT. ON. MY. WATCH.

So I did what any self-respecting genomics nerd does: I went back to the drawing board. I ran progress report labs, since it had been 3 full months, and WHOOPS—

My testosterone had skyrocketed over 230 ng/dL. Now, some women feel absolutely amazing at these levels—I am not one of them. My body also has faster genetic conversion from T to Estrogen, so I knew this was risky to begin with. Cool, cool, cool.

Progesterone results were actually GREAT—it climbed from 0.5 to 4 ng/mL, which is finally a functional level. I’m keeping this win and sticking with injectable progesterone instead of oral.

But then there’s the estrogen situation. My levels tripled. Not inherently “problematic” by lab standards, but my body had opinions. Specifically, it decided to hold onto a burst of puffy, inflamed weight. Nearly TEN. POUNDS. 🤬

And here’s the part that genuinely scared me: my lipedema started flaring. For those who don’t know, I had lipedema surgery about a year and a half ago to manage the painful fat deposits in my legs. Seeing my legs swell again? HELL to the NO NO.

Now I know this is mostly fluid retention— but I’m not messing around.

The Course Correction

So here’s what I’m doing to unfuck this situation.

I’m switching back to topical estrogen at my previous dose. Turns out my body processes topical way better than injectable. Turns out I DO feel better at minimal levels. Who knew? Oh right—my genes did.

Now I could continue injectable Estrogen and titrate down, but here’s the concern. My starting dose was already quite small in number of units, and it’s dosed twice per week— not daily. I’m not confident that I’ll be getting consistent dosing if I’m aiming for just a couple of units twice per week. Even as a very experienced injector— we’re talking tiny amounts here, and I think it’s just going to be too strong and/or inconsistent for me personally. Back to my daily spray!

I’m keeping the injectable progesterone at the higher dose though. After years of struggling here, I finally got progesterone into a functional range, and I’m not giving that up. I honestly wish I’d started injectable much sooner— could have looked differently for sure, although I have absolutely ZERO regrets about my hysterectomy. Honey, I’m celebrating the past year of not having to deal with cycles or monthly fluctuations.

Testosterone? We’re breaking up. Sorry, T. You and I are done. Shelved indefinitely. See you NEVER.

And I’m temporarily adding DIM and CDG to support detox (per my genetic pathways) so I can clear out this estrogen excess. Thank God I know exactly which detox pathways to target based on my DNA—this is literally what our Body by Design testing is for!

The Real Lesson Here

Here’s the unsexy truth that nobody in biohacking likes to admit: Optimal lab ranges are not universal.

Bio-individuality still reigns Queen:

You can have “perfect” numbers on paper and feel like absolute garbage. Or you can be outside the “optimal” range and feel phenomenal. Your body doesn’t care what the chart says. It cares how it feels.

And this is where genomics becomes non-negotiable. My DNA tells me how I metabolize these hormones—fast, slow, or somewhere in between. It shows me which detox pathways I need to support, and what my inflammatory triggers and thresholds are.

Without that roadmap? I’d still be chasing “optimal” numbers while wondering why my jeans keep getting tighter and my face looks like a pepperoni pizza.

The Takeaway

If you’re navigating perimenopause, menopause, or post-hysterectomy HRT, here’s what I want you to know.

Labs are data points, not gospel. If you feel good at lower levels? Stay there. Don’t let “optimal” ranges gaslight you into thinking you need more.

True— it doesn’t hurt to explore a little because what if it had been great?! But having advanced biochemical insights to attempt to eliminate blind spots and prevent pitfalls is essential— as is frequent monitoring. If it hadn’t fallen during high holiday season (and my fabulous vacation to Mexico to ring in the New Year!) I would’ve tested a couple weeks sooner and likely avoided the intensity of the spikes.

Delivery method matters—a LOT. Topical, oral, injectable—they all metabolize differently in your body. What works brilliantly for someone else might be a complete disaster for you.

Your genes hold the answers. Seriously. If you’re guessing at HRT protocols without knowing how YOUR body processes hormones, you’re flying blind. And even if you think you’re educated on this stuff, you might be missing critical pieces.

Biohacking is a game of iteration, not perfection. I’m a literal genomics expert and I still screwed this up. The win isn’t avoiding mistakes—it’s catching them fast and adjusting before things spiral.

So here I am, almost one year post-hysterectomy, slightly puffy, slightly humbled, and significantly wiser. My legs are reminding me that hormones are not to be toyed with. My skin is calming down, TFG. And I’m course-correcting with the precision that only comes from actually understanding your blueprint.

Happy anniversary to me. 🧬✨

And if you’re thinking, “Damn, I wish I understood MY body this well”—that’s literally what I do. Let’s talk.

Not because I’m some purist who thinks modern medicine is evil—but because I’ve worked really fucking hard to build a body that doesn’t need them.

I’ve spent years healing my gut, optimizing my immune system, learning what my body needs at a cellular level. I’ve invested thousands upon thousands of dollars and countless hours into understanding my DNA, my detox pathways, my hormone metabolism. I’ve built a business around helping other people do the same thing.

So when I say I’m on antibiotics right now, you should know: this wasn’t a quick decision, but a gal’s gotta do what a gal’s gotta do sometimes. And this MARCoNS infection has been utterly MIS (btw, I wrote an article about it a few weeks back if you’re not familiar with what it is)… And it’s a bitch to clear.

Nutshell = It’s a biofilm-forming staph infection that lives in your sinuses and wreaks absolute havoc on your immune system, your gut, your energy—basically everything. It’s resistant to most antibiotics, which is why you often have to pull out the “big guns” to clear it. Cipro (or something equally nuclear) is often the only option.

Ciprofloxacin has some pretty gnarly risks of people developing nerve or tendon damage, oddly. When my doctor suggested it, I’ll be honest—I cringed. I know what they do to your gut microbiome. I know the risks with fluoroquinolones specifically: mitochondrial damage, tendon ruptures, complete microbiome destruction, magnesium depletion. I’ve seen clients struggle to rebuild after antibiotic courses that wrecked their systems.

But here’s the thing: sometimes you need modern medicine. Sometimes the holistic approach isn’t enough. Sometimes you have to make peace with the fact that you can do everything “right” and still need pharmaceutical intervention.

So I said yes to giving it a slow-and-controlled, mindful shot.

I decided that I’d take in one dose at a time and monitor closely, with all the support imaginable. I’m not just popping pills and hoping for the best. I’m going in with a strategy—because that’s what I do. And I figured if I’m going through this, I might as well share what I’m doing to protect my gut, my mitochondria, and my sanity in the process.

Happy to report: I completed one full week without ANY major side effects! By the end of the week I was feeling about 80% better… so today I called to discuss next steps (I *really* don’t want to backslide on the progress) and got a refill for another week. Insert cringeface. Ughh.

However— since week one was so non-eventful and largely feels productive, I’m focused on positively clearing this infection out of my system, once and for all.

Since I’m going through it, I figured I might as well share with you what I’m doing to keep myself as safe and strong as possible.

Here’s my protocol:

I’m taking it easy. Like, really easy. No intense workouts, no pushing through, no heroics. Cipro increases your risk of tendon rupture—especially your Achilles—and I’m not about to blow out a tendon because I couldn’t skip leg day. So it’s gentle walks, stretching, maybe some yoga if I feel like it. That’s it.

I’m also continuing my peptide therapy. Specifically, BPC-157 and TB-500. If you’re not familiar with these, BPC-157 is incredible for gut lining integrity and tissue repair—it’s basically like giving your gut a protective shield while the antibiotic scorches the earth. TB-500 supports systemic healing, tissue regeneration, and reduces inflammation. These are non-negotiable for me right now. My gut and connective tissue need all the support they can get.

I’m ramping up my drainage support with CellCore products. When you’re taking something as harsh as Cipro, your liver and lymphatic system are working overtime to process it. Think of drainage like opening all the exit doors before you start clearing out the trash. Your detox pathways need to be open, or you’re just recirculating toxins. So I’m making sure my body can actually move this stuff out.

I’m avoiding alcohol. Obviously. My liver doesn’t need extra work right now, and alcohol plus antibiotics is a disaster for your gut. Not worth it, even for one glass of wine. In fact, I’m working so overtime on hydrating and electrolytes that it’s pretty annoying going to the loo every 45 minutes - hour.

Finally, I’m prioritizing sleep like my life depends on it. Because honestly, right now it kind of does. Your body heals when you sleep. Antibiotics are incredibly stressful on your system—physically, metabolically, mitochondrially. I need deep, restorative rest. So I’m keeping my sleep hygiene tight: cool room, dark, consistent schedule, all the basics.

Here’s what I’m NOT doing:

I’m not taking probiotics during the antibiotic cycle. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but hear me out: the antibiotic is going to kill them anyway. It’s a waste of money and honestly, a waste of probiotics. I’ll wait until I’m done with the Cipro, and then I’ll rebuild with high-dose, multi-strain probiotics, spore-based strains, fermented foods, all of it. But right now? I’m focused on damage control, not rebuilding. That comes after.

The DNA piece:

This is where understanding my genetics really matters. I know my detox pathways—I have MTHFR variants, COMT variants, GST variants that impact how I process toxins and medications. I’m not just guessing at what support I need; I’m supplementing based on my actual genetic vulnerabilities. I know I need extra methylation support. I know my mitochondria are more sensitive to damage. I know my body doesn’t detox as efficiently as someone without these variants.

This is exactly why I’m so careful with drainage right now. This is why I’m continuing peptides. This is why I’m not just white-knuckling it and hoping I bounce back quickly.

The emotional reality:

I’m not going to lie—it’s super frustrating. It’s frustrating to need antibiotics after spending a decade avoiding them. It’s frustrating to know that even with all the biohacking, all the optimization, all the expertise—I still got sick enough to need pharmaceutical intervention. I’ve been battling this for months, and my next options include $$$$ insufflation machines that I really don’t want to deal with.

But I’m also not too proud to use modern medicine when I need it. And I think that’s an important distinction. I’m not anti-antibiotic. I’m anti-unnecessary intervention. This one? It’s necessary. And it’s working. And I feel shockingly fine.

I can honor my body and everything I’ve built, and still acknowledge that sometimes you need help from modern medicine. Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive.

What I’m watching for:

I’m paying close attention to how my body responds. Gut symptoms—bloating, changes in digestion, anything that feels off. Energy levels and whether I’m crashing mid-day. Sleep quality (is my HRV tanking? Is my resting heart rate spiking?). Any tendon or joint pain. Mood shifts, anxiety, brain fog.

I’m not powering through or waiting for things to get bad before I adjust. I’m tracking in real time and being proactive.

The bigger lesson:

You don’t have to choose between holistic wellness and modern medicine. Sometimes you need both. And the difference between someone who crashes after antibiotics and someone who navigates it strategically? A plan.

You don’t just take antibiotics and hope for the best. You go in with support. You protect what you’ve built. You mitigate damage where you can. And then you rebuild intentionally.

That’s what bio-individual wellness actually looks like. Not perfection. Not never needing intervention. But knowing your body well enough to support it through whatever it needs.

I’ll keep you posted on how this goes. And if you want to know the exact peptide protocols I’m using—dosing, timing, how BPC-157 and TB-500 actually work for gut protection and tissue repair—I have something up my sleeve for you here, launching soon!

For now, I’m just focused on getting through this without wrecking everything I’ve spent years building. And truly— I think I’m going to be fine. Better than I’ve been in months.

Like so many other things, analyzing my genetic patterns validated for me that yes, I can personally get taken OUT by time changes. Whether traveling, a late night out or early morning, and especially these semi-annual shenanigans, I get hit a little harder and have to up the ante on self-care and strategy.

We’ve all probably heard to get as much sun as possible, and this one’s legit. Especially at sunrise and sunset, if possible— this is the fastest and most potent way to signal to your brain via your eyes (so skip the sunglasses this week, seriously) the new schedule. I spent the majority of the day yesterday outside, soaking up the gorgeous weather here in New Orleans.

It’s equally as important not to $%#* it up though, by watching tv or doomscrolling this week. If you must, it’s a great time to break out the amber-tinted glasses post-sunset, which makes the scroll sessions so much less stimulating.

The other thing that might need a shift: eating schedules. Yesterday I did a bit of an intermittent fasting day, with one main meal around 3pm. Today, I woke up hungry with the sun. Perfect! I had a heavier-than-usual breakfast and a dinner so early it might as well have been the Blue Plate Special— setting my digestive system up for a gentle break and also sparing metabolic impact of the time change by stopping eating at sunset. And, of course, stopping caffeine intake at a reasonable time. I am aiming to consume more matcha than coffee this week, for what it’s worth.

Sensorial experiences are dialed in, including lighting candles and slipping into a relaxing bath. Yup, I’m pulling out all the Sleep Stops this week.

Next on my list: reading a book. Like, an actual paper page-turner. Haven’t decided which one yet, so stay tuned— but honestly doesn’t really matter. Nothing makes me face plant faster than reading; is it just me?

These things certainly won’t always be perfect, but especially this week, it’s an A for Effort as my body adjusts.

Are you sensitive to shifts in circadian rhythm? Not sure? Look for SNPs in genes like CLOCK, PER2, ARNTL, TRCA 🧬 as well as several for melatonin production, response, and metabolism. I’m a great match and big fan of supplementing, especially this week when you need a bit more systemic support.

What else is on your list? What are you doing this week to move into Winter Mode?

Even as a somewhat chronic sinus girlie, I had been struggling with intense nasal congestion more than seasonally since probably around the holidays last year. Yuck.

I had hoped that once my Estrogen levels stabilized into normalcy post-surgery, things would calm down— since there’s a major connection between elevated Estrogen and heightened histamine levels (file this under things women should know but generally don’t).

Unfortunately, things really didn’t budge, so once I got settled after moving to New Orleans, I did a nasal swab test (linked below) and sure enough— positive for MARCoNS. Side note— don’t blame New Orleans… this shit started months ago and is actually marginally better than it was in Nashville, despite the fact that mold exposure is part of life when you live somewhere below sea level where most centuries-old buildings and homes have flood history.

So what the heck is it?! Straight from Google:

MARCoNS is an acronym for Multiple Antibiotic-Resistant Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci, a type of bacteria that can live deep in the nasal passages. It is antibiotic-resistant and is often found in people with chronic health issues like Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) and mold exposure. MARCoNS can form biofilms that make it difficult to treat and may trigger chronic inflammation and a range of symptoms.

What MARCoNS is

• A subtype of staph bacteria that is resistant to multiple antibiotics.

• Typically found in the deep nasal passages.

• Associated with chronic illnesses such as CIRS, mold exposure, and chronic fatigue.

• Can cause symptoms like sinus headaches, chronic congestion, and fatigue.

How it affects the body

• Forms biofilms: These are protective layers of mucus that shield the bacteria from the immune system and antibiotics.

• Triggers inflammation: MARCoNS can activate inflammatory responses, leading to persistent inflammation.

• Lowers MSH: It can reduce levels of melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH), a neuropeptide that helps regulate inflammation and immune function.

What a bag of fun, right?! Well, here’s what I’ve been doing to address it.

Even prior to testing, I’d been using a custom nasal spray, which was really the only thing getting me through the congestion. They include a micro-micro-dose of the active ingredients in several top nasal formulas, including yes— a hint of Afrin, so it works super well at opening nasal passages and supposedly isn’t a large enough dose to be habit-forming. But when I realized I was reaching for this up to 3x per day, I knew I needed to go deeper.

After testing positive, I consulted with a telehealth provider for a prescription BEG spray. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this provider tbh— she was pushing hormones on me, including a DUTCH test, without even asking me a single question about if I had any hormonal concerns. Major red flag, but she did prescribe me the BEG spray, which is a commonly used antibiotic intervention that targets the strains of bacterias relevant in MARCoNs. We also decided to do a round of Ivermectin for deeper, systemic bacterial support… will probably have to do a whole story about my experience with it.

While I was waiting on the BEG spray and Ivermectin to be compounded, I started using a combo of Xlear nasal spray with xylitol to break up biofilms in my sinuses, alternating with an iodine spray linked below.

It’s now been about 3 months: 2 bottles of BEG nasal (which is pretty gross and makes my throat burn like crazy), 2 rounds of Ivermectin, and adding in systemic subcutaneous peptides… I want to say things are finallllyyyy improving, but there are still good days and bad, here and there.

As far as peptide support— I’ve been going Slow and Low with LL-37, one of the stronger antimicrobial peptides. I am rarely sensitive to ANYthing, but I could definitely tell when I was overdoing it and have only tolerated the smallest dose.

When I really started to turn the corner was when I started pairing LL-37 and KPV, which makes so much sense, since low MSH is associated with MARCoNs (mentioned above) and KPV helps tremendously to improve function in this pathway. I’ve also been heavily dosing the GLOW blend (BPC-157, TB-500, and GHk-cu), not specifically for this intention, but surely helps reduce systemic inflammation like nobody’s business.

Honorable mention to nasal breathwork— specifically Breath of Fire, which forces quick, powerful breaths in and out through the nose. I’ve used breathwork for years and swear it’s better than anything for helping open the sinuses and wake up the brain— thanks to the Nitric Oxide boost from nasal breathing, which I genetically need support with!

I’m planning to retest in a couple of weeks and go from there— if I need further intervention, I’m looking into getting an Ozone machine with nasal insufflation, or perhaps even a Brown’s gas machine (at the suggestion of a client who’s battled MARCoNS— hi Liz :) )

I’ll also be doing a cycle of VIP peptide nasal spray to help rebuild nasal tissues after having blasted them for months… so wish me luck, and let me know if you find this interesting and want updates!

Links for Sinus Support & Testing for MARCoNs

In fact— traveling makes a case for one of the times you may even NEED peptides the most— during times of increased stress response and exposures to taxing conditions.

If you’re new here or new to peptide therapy— we’re talking about clinical peptides, these miraculous little amino acids that deeply improve cellular signaling and upregulate your body’s performance in a wide range of chemical categories… namely immune response when it comes to my personal picks for travel support.

Peptides are typically given via subcutaneous injection with little insulin needles, so traveling with these can feel far more intimidating in the beginning that it really is.

This past week I had a trip to Nashville to a 2-day in-person event with the business mastermind I’ve been a part of for the past 6 months. Just an hour-ish flight, so I packed up my peptides for support and thought I’d share how easy it was, since I always get tons of questions about traveling with peptides.

As far as logistics, the main priority is keeping your peptides temperately cool… or at least “not hot” — that’s literally about it.

In my experience, TSA doesn’t give 2 cares about what you’re carrying on or checking— and yes, I’ve done both, both domestically and internationally. I’ve literally never been stopped for peptides or accouterment, so I simply don’t overthink it!

For peptides that don’t have compounded preservatives involved, you mainly want to keep them away from heat for extended periods of time, so depending on the length of your flight, precautions will vary— but for quick flights and short trips, here’s my methodology:

• single-dose prefilled insulin syringes

• small insulated cup (currently obsessed with this one)

• cold pack that will fit inside said insulated cup

For this 3-day trip, I had prefilled 2 syringes of GLOW peptide blend (TB-500, BPC-157, GHk-Cu) for general inflammation support, since travel in general can be particularly stressful. For me, being back in Nashville (where I recently blew up my old life and had to quickly relocate for reasons of personal safety and sanity… yeah, a story for another day) was more emotionally triggering than I had anticipated, tbh. So I was happy to have the bonus peptide support because I FELT this in my body.

So I packed my peptide cup in my carry on backpack, went right through TSA (I do have Precheck, but don’t believe it matters), and my peptide pals were safe and comfy cool until I reached my AirBnB that afternoon. Easy, peasy!

When I’ve traveled on much longer flights, depending on the peptide— it can sometimes be advantageous to take peptide vials before they’ve been reconstituted, since they’re more resilient to changes in temperature before they’re mixed. This really depends on the length of stay and how many doses per vial… it would make sense to only travel with as many doses as you need, if that makes sense.

Hope this helps encourage you to pack your peptides! No more worrying about feeling well when you’re on the go— it’s adventure time, so have at it!

To learn more about peptide therapy, check out our beginner-friendly course that teaches you how to safely source & start your peptide journey at home, with no prescription necessary— for a fraction of the cost of wellness clinics.

At the end of last year, I’d started having some really heavy, ongoing cycles… like INTENSE, for 10 days sometimes, every 14 days at one point. To say things were bad is an understatement of the nightmare of which I’m incredibly grateful to be relieved.

Mostly I was frustrated because while this wasn’t the first time I’d had a round of this exact experience, things had been the most stable they’d been possibly ever— until they weren’t.

Now I’ve had a literal lifetime of hormonal BS to be clear— starting from puberty, growing DD breasts seemingly overnight, starting my cycle pretty young, gaining an insane amount of weight when I started taking birth control shots, to most recently experiencing lipidema (a highly estrogen-driven connective tissue disorder that causes your body to deposit fibrotic fat… fun).

Genetically speaking, I’ve got quite a few hurdles when it comes to estrogen metabolism as well as receptors— which explains literally all of the above.

By the time I learned about how to support myself genetically through lifestyle and supplementation, I’d already had a long history of imbalance and struggle. One from which it was going to be difficult to ever fully recover.

In January I visited my OB/GYN and had an ultrasound to discover a sizable fibroid on my uterus. Since this wasn’t my first rodeo (we’d seen one a year prior but didn’t take action) we started to discuss options.

Also during this time, I’d developed some pretty miserable fibrotic tissue in my breasts, and was having a lengthy series of exploratory monitoring— multiple mammograms, ultrasounds, and probably working my way through the list to start biopsies.

On top of that, I was just 6 months out from having a major lipidema surgery to remove extremely painful fibrotic tissue from my legs, which included wearing compression garments for as long as I could stand and the mounting pressure to keep Estrogen levels balanced.

I was already taking up to 400 mg Progesterone, but still my body was struggling to absorb it, so my Estrogen levels continued to be rocky— directly contributing to the fibroid, fibrotic breasts, lipidema regrowth, and cycle misery.

So when my doctor advised me that many women who struggle with fibroids and have them surgically removed, often have recurrent surgeries… I knew that wasn’t the fix for me.

Especially when perimenopausal hormonal imbalance can last up to another 10 years… it’s a NO from me, dawg. I couldn’t even fathom continuing that battle for another ONE year, much less potentially 10.

There was no way in hell that I was going to sit around and watch the rest of my body go up in flames— with the potential of breast surgeries or worse, lipidema progression, or a plethora of other scaries all associated with extremely imbalanced Estrogen levels.

You see, I was also walking the plank with so many things personally that absolutely contributed— far more looking back than I realized at the time. Stress levels were off the charts last Fall due to several personal events, but what’s even worse is that the layer of dysfunction in my day-to-day life was getting thicker by the week.

The part that I wasn’t telling anyone is that I’d spent the last 5 years mostly managing a very misfit relationship, and I was spending most days in a state of constant fight-or-flight. I already knew it was time to do something. I had been trying literally everything I could to make things better, yet things continued to get so much worse.

The constant, prolonged stress was preventing my already shoddy hormones from stabilizing. All the liver support and peptides in the world can only get you so far when you have Epigenetic factors that are causing biological roadblocks. I knew this well, because I often talk to clients about this when they’re in similar boats.

By the time my doctor and I were discussing my best options, I didn’t have it in me to wait it out and continue with more conservative treatments. I was about to go through an even bigger battle, and I needed to feel better fast.

And feel better fast, I did.

We decided that a total hysterectomy made the most sense for me, because I wasn’t having a child, and I had a lengthy list of increasingly risky reasons to take aggressive measures to stop the ongoing Estrogen dominance. Since most of a woman’s Estrogen is produced by the ovaries, they were coming out, too.

Of course, we discussed long-term risks and weighed the options of waiting, but without a doubt I knew that by pulling the plug on my natural production, I’d logically have a more stable future once I dialed in my HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy).

I went in for surgery at 7:30 AM and was home by 11:00AM, resting on the sofa with my Dottie girl. Almost immediately upon returning home from the hospital from surgery, my ex’s snide comments further confirmed what I knew to be true— that I needed to get OUT of there as soon as I could.

Recovery wasn’t bad at all, thanks to a deep peptide stack— and about a week later, something magical happened. I woke up feeling more like MYSELF that I had in recent memory. My mind, body, and soul had shifted, for the better. I knew that I was on my path to deep healing, and I knew that I had the capacity to get up and get the hell out of there.

In the weeks that followed, I began officially separating and closing my marriage. I’ve had to do an absolutely immense amount of processing this year, and I gotta say… having the hysterectomy was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I am truly grateful for a doctor who gave me the option and helped me make the correct choice.

I’m beyond words thankful to be DONE with the hormonal struggle. I truly don’t have words big enough to express how much this has given me my life back. It really saved me, and I wish for all women to be supported through informed decisions when it comes to our bodies and hormones especially. We struggle SO much it’s ridiculous, without answers or access to support. I hope by sharing my story, it helps others to stand up for themselves and consider making the best choices that they can, feeling hopeful for better days.

Besides the whole putting ink into your skin forever and the likely valid concern of exposures to metals commonly used in said ink, tattoos also create scar tissue on the skin and potentially impact the lymphatic system.

Yet we also see industry leaders like Dr. Gabrielle Lyon and even Huberman himself rocking significant ink— and looking great in it, might I add!

I got my first tattoo at age 18 (sorry Mom and Dad). The year was 2000 and I naturally got a tribal butterfly on my back— though not in a traditional “tramp stamp” placement… mine’s off to the side. So creative.

I paused there until I was going through a devastatingly hard time in my mid-20s. I had ballooned up to over 300 pounds, found myself in a toxic marriage and divorced after just a year and a half, and soon found out he was involved with my best friend.

My world was shattered, and I’ve never felt worse about myself.

So I got the bright idea to get a tattoo— and it did something for me.

It scratched the itch of my rebellious nature, and it helped me feel a little more like a badass, if I’m being honest. And then it happened— the addiction they all warn you about.

One led to another and before you knew it, I had a bit of a collection going on.

I was able to feel a connection to control over my identity again, for better or worse.

Looking back now and knowing what I know about my chemistry, thanks to my DNA— I have a strong tendency toward dopamine-driven behaviors… and this felt good.

Even though I didn’t get any really visible ones until a few years down the road, it changed me. Looking back, it was a big way that I felt like I could make a statement to the world for everyone to know that I wasn’t the stereotypical Southern girl who wanted the stereotypical Southern life. That part was actually an understatement.

Once I got my first substantial work, right there on the front of my forearm: a pinup girl… there was really no going back. Shortly thereafter, I began filling my arm with bright, lively traditional pieces that were mostly just for fun and fit the look that I thought was truly Lindsey-core.

During the time I was getting my visible work done, I was living in LA, where it’s far more normalized and really commonplace, especially compared to back home. Never would I have imagined that one day, namely recent days, that it just wouldn’t feel like ME anymore.

This year, after yet another life-altering series of events that have pushed me to reconsider who I am and how I’m showing up in the world, I decided to investigate making some changes to said brightly colored arm. I got a referral to a local artist, and two lengthy consults later, we devised a plan that felt like a deep, soul YES to overhaul the whole damn arm.

So that is what we are doing— 2 sessions down, probably at least a few more to go.

Am I concerned with increasing my toxic load? Yes.

But what’s potentially more toxic? Living inside a case of outgrown identity? Nope, can’t do it. Not in any way, shape, or form.

It must be said that I use my DNA to understand my individual sensitivity to toxins like metals— and mine’s not awful. I also support systemic detox with daily foundational supplements and habits to improve methylation and other chemical processes that help to naturally clear exposures out of your system.

My personal experience: yes, the right side of my body *does* seem to hold more fluid, suggesting lymphatic impact. But from my perspective, there’s no going back— so I might as well wear something that I feel good in… while I continue to support my lymphatic system like a BOSS.

So here’s how I’m hacking it:

• Taking a Biotoxin Binder (I like Cellcore brand) for a couple of days post-session

• Red Light Therapy sessions (ongoing, but especially during the healing stage)

• Peptides for tissue repair, inflammation, and skin regeneration (shoutout GLOW— IYKYK)

• PEMF mat session day after getting inked to help signal recovery mode

• Sauna sessions once it’s healed

• Lymph work on the daily— have done this for years and absolutely swear by it (think breathwork, walking, dry brushing, self massage, herbal supports— also Cellcore)

Last but not least, I’m focusing on the gratitude of getting a redo that already feels beautiful and aligned with my evolution. Instead of spinning out over the potential for side effects, I’m choosing to make an informed decision that feels right for me.

And I’m also never doing this again, once my arm overhaul is complete. You have it in writing.