Ashley Lakin Nutrition

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Hoffman Estates, IL
Ashley Lakin Nutrition

As a licensed nutritionist and yoga instructor, I use my blended education to address the root cause of your symptoms from various angles.

I focus on utilizing whole foods, not just nutrients, to heal the body.

12/08/2025

There’s a reason why your menstrual cycle is often called the fifth vital sign. It’s a monthly check-in with your body and hormones, and your cycle can act as an early warning system if something is off with your health.

This is why it’s so important to pay attention to your cycle and take an active role in your health. At the very least, I recommend tracking your cycle using a journal or app. For a more in-depth analysis, I’ve been loving my tracker to see my hormone levels throughout my entire cycle.

Comment with any questions below!

*This is not intended as medical advice or to provide a diagnosis. Instead, use this as a starting point to speak with your medical provider if your cycles fit any of the patterns mentioned in this post.*

12/01/2025

I always ask my clients to get some foundational blood work when we start working together. It’s the best way for me to understand what’s happening in your body right now.

But sometimes that’s just not enough.

Blood work tells us what the “low-hanging fruit” are with your health: areas that need to be addressed before anything else. These include blood sugar regulation, inflammation, anemia, nutrient deficiencies, thyroid issues, and autoimmunity.

What it doesn’t always reveal is why these issues are happening. That’s when I turn to functional labs for deeper insights: tests like stool analysis, SIBO breath testing, urinary hormone panels, organic acid testing, mycotoxin tests, or even environmental toxin screening.

These are often not covered by insurance, so yes, there is an out-of-pocket cost, but I never recommend these unless I truly feel like this additional data is crucial for your care. My goal is to give you the most comprehensive, thoughtful support possible, and that means getting the clearest answers we can.

11/10/2025

It’s true! Your gut health has a direct impact on your hormonal health through something called the estrobolome.

Certain microbes in your gut play a huge role in your body’s metabolism of estrogen. These microorganisms are collectively referred to as the estrobolome. Many of these microbes produced an enzyme in your gut called beta-glucuronidase that is key to regulating estrogen levels in your body.

Let’s back up and run through the steps of estrogen metabolism real quick: estrogen is produced by the ovaries, circulates in your blood stream, and then needs to be detoxified by the liver and excreted. The main pathway for excreting estrogen is through the gut, meaning you have to 💩 it out. By the time that estrogen makes it to the gut, it has been altered by the liver to become inactive and bound to something called glucuronic acid.

Alright, now back to the role to the gut microbiome here! Beta-glucuronidase breaks this bond between estrogen and glucuronic acid, which then makes it possible for your body to reabsorb estrogen before it is fully excreted.

If you have lots of bacteria in your gut that make beta-glucuronidase, you will reabsorb more estrogen, allowing it to recirculate, and causing high estrogen symptoms like breast tenderness, menstrual cramps, heavy periods, PMS/PMDD, and even uterine fibroids. Additionally, if you aren’t have a bowel movement daily, this gives your body more time to reabsorb this estrogen from your gut as well.

Like or leave a comment if you want some tips on how to improve your hormones through your gut health!

10/27/2025

⭐️Client Testimonial ⭐️

Education should always be a major part of your healthcare!

I always joke with my clients that, as much as I truly love seeing them, my job is to educate so that they don’t have to work with me forever.

Book a discovery call with me if you want to learn more about what your own body needs (link in bio).

10/16/2025

✨I have some exciting news! ✨

Ashley Lakin Nutrition is now in-network with Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) PPO. This means that if you have BCBS PPO insurance, your visits may be covered, making it easier and more affordable to prioritize your health.

What this means for you:
- Potentially lower out-of-pocket costs for your appointments
- Easy insurance claims and billing
- More accessible nutrition care to support your wellness journey

If you’d like to use your BCBS PPO benefits for your upcoming appointments, please reach out to me directly or reply to this email so I can help you verify your coverage and guide you through the process.

I’m thrilled to make your nutrition care even more convenient and look forward to supporting your health goals!

08/25/2025

There are very few things that I say almost every person should have in their diet, but research has shown so many benefits to green tea consumption that I might just have to say that everyone should include it in their daily routine. It’s rich in antioxidants, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, and may even be therapeutic in hormonal conditions like PCOS and endometriosis.

If you want to know more about exactly how green tea provides all of these benefits, check out the link in my bio to find my latest blog post!

08/18/2025

⭐️Client Testimonial ⭐️

Proof that small, consistent steps really do add up. I love helping clients feel better in their bodies and their lives! Thank you for trusting me with your care!

06/11/2025

Perimenopause is a big topic in women’s health right now, and thank goodness for that! Most of us have no idea what perimenopause even looks like until we’re in it, and it’s so much harder at this point to do the real work that needs to happen to make this transition smoother. In reality, every person with ovaries should focus on healthy changes in their 30s (probably even 20s, too!) to help their body handle the changes of menopause.

Perimenopause is the period before menopause when hormonal changes start happening and ovarian function begins slowing down. During menopause, ovarian function fully stops. When this happens, the ovaries are no longer producing estrogen and progesterone as they normally would throughout a menstrual cycle. Before menopause, the adrenals glands act as a back-up supplier of estrogen. One the ovaries clock out from their shift, now the adrenals glands are the primary source of estrogen production.

Pretty cool, right? Well there’s one major problem with this….. the adrenal glands are also a major part of regulating our body’s stress response, which is a hugely important job. After decades of chronic stress that most of us experience, the adrenal glands are often over-taxed, so when they need to take on this additional work of s*x hormone production in menopause, they’re already maxed out.

When the adrenals glands can’t pick up the slack of s*x hormone production, this makes menopausal symptoms (hot flashes, mood swings, sleep issues, fatigue, etc.) more extreme 🥴

Fortunately, small changes in how you live your life today and make all the difference when menopause comes. I’ll be sending out my top 5 tips to prepare for menopause in my newsletter next week, so sign up if you want to check those out (link in bio)!

04/14/2025

I think it’s officially safe to say that we are in “false spring” here in the Midwest. The temperature is swinging wildly day to day, we’ve got rain, hail, and snow all in the same week, and the wind is cold and intense. All of this means that seasonal allergies are at their peak.

One of the main players in allergy symptoms is histamine. Histamine is a compound produced in the body from mast cells, a specific cell in the immune system, in response to some allergen. This can be a food allergy, pollen, mold, dander, or anything else you may be allergic to. Histamine plays a role in the inflammatory immune response that helps to neutralize the allergen that has been deemed a threat.

Chronic histamine symptoms (like congestion, itchy eyes, and skin irritations) happen when there is more histamine than the body can break down, and one main cause for this is insufficient levels of DAO, an enzyme that breaks down histamine.

Here are some nutrients and foods that I recommend prioritizing in your diet during allergy season to manage histamine:

Monounsaturated fats: olive oil, avocado, nuts, and seeds
Omega-3 fatty acids: salmon, tuna, walnuts, flax seeds
Quercetin: red apples, onion, berries, citrus, parsley, and green tea
Copper and Zinc: shellfish, beef liver, dark chocolate, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds
Vitamin C: citrus, bell peppers, strawberries, kiwi
Sprouted legume seeds provide a dietary source of DAO

If you deal with seasonal allergies and are looking for more natural relief options, DM me!

03/12/2025

“Unexplained infertility” has got to be one of the most unhelpful and frustrating diagnoses. Given how many factors affect fertility, it feels like this diagnosis is doled out what a doctor is just tired of actually looking for the root cause.

There is so much that can be done from a functional medicine perspective when working with a practitioner who knows that they’re looking for, but it does take some looking!

If you’re struggling to get pregnant, let’s chat! DM me or use the link in my bio to schedule a discovery call with me.

03/05/2025

If there’s any area of your health that is depleted, pregnancy and childbirth is only going to further deplete it unless you work on correcting this before becoming pregnant. This is why I recommend focusing on your health and nutrition with a preconception lens for a full year before you actually plan to begin trying to get pregnant.

This may seem like a long time to prepare, but a few small changes can go a long way!

Here are my top 5 preconception health tips:

1. Take a high-quality prenatal supplement. While I always recommend trying to get as many nutrients as possible from food, a prenatal supplement is a helpful tool to make sure you’re getting in some of the key nutrients needed daily for a heathy pregnancy. If your prenatal doesn’t include DHA, also add in a separate omega-3 supplement.

2. Eat 3 eggs yolks each day. Egg yolks are one of the richest dietary sources of choline, which is such an important nutrient in pregnancy for baby’s brain development.

3. Start tracking your cycle (if you aren’t already). This will help you understand when you ovulate in your cycle for when you actively want to try to conceive. This will also help you see if there are any abnormalities in the timing of your cycle which may indicate hormonal imbalances.

4. Avoid skipping meals. Regularly undereating or skipping meals entirely is going to wreak havoc on your hormones. Also, you want to focus on building up nutrient stores right now, and it takes a full 3 meals a day to do that!

5. Practice relaxation exercises daily. Excessive stress can reduce progesterone levels, which is the primary hormone responsible for conceiving and maintaining a healthy pregnancy.

If you’re interested in a more in-depth guide to optimize your fertility and have the healthiest pregnancy possible, DM me for more info!

02/24/2025

If you’ve spent even 10 minutes on social media in the past month, you’ve probably seen ads for a particular trendy colostrum supplement. I’ve had several clients as if it’s worth all the hype (and more importantly, the price tag!), so I’m here to share my thoughts!

But first, what is colostrum?

Colostrum is the term used to describe the first breastmilk produced by mammals after giving birth. Yes, this means that humans produce colostrum for our babies! Most supplement versions are bovine (cow) colostrum, which is important to note if you have a dairy allergy. Colostrum has been used in the functional health space for a while now due to its high levels of immunoglobulins and nutrients.

Many of the brands of colostrum you’ll find on social media claim to reduce digestive symptoms like bloating, IBS, and heartburn, improve skin and hair health, and enhance athletic performance.

If you want to read more about my thoughts on colostrum supplements, sign up for my newsletter (link in bio)!

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http://www.ashleylakinnutrition.com/

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