Nicci Wilhoite, FNP Restorative Women's Health

07/06/2020

I was live!!! Want to know more about what I do and why I do it?! Check out my IG q&a with

06/06/2020

I spent today at the virtual Birthfit Summit. This year’s focus was on postpartum, so I was super excited to tune in and I wasn’t disappointed. ⠀
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Did you know that you should actually be intentional and plan for your postpartum healing? ⠀
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Many cultures across the world recognize the first 40(ish) days after giving birth as a “lying in” period. This means that mom takes care of baby and herself. That’s it. No laundry, no vacuuming, no cooking etc. Mom is taken care of by birth workers or family members. She is really pampered with herbal teas and baths and belly wraps. It’s a time to heal and bond with baby.⠀
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In our modern, fast paced American society we don’t honor the postpartum period. We’re subtly or not so subtly encouraged to “get back” to our normal life. I’m here you tell you that.doesn’t.work. We have a 20% rate of Perinatal Postpartum Mood and Anxiety Disorders in this country. In Malaysia, where they have amazing postpartum traditions and a respected lying in period, the rate is 3%...⠀
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Birthfit is offering their Lying In program for FREE! I’d love to share it with you ⠀
https://birthfit.mykajabi.com/store/4... ⠀
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I’d love to chat if this resonates with you or if you have questions. ⠀

05/03/2020

Maternal mental health is a HUGE reason why I started Restorative Women’s Health. Join Postpartum Support International in celebrating Maternal Mental Health awareness week May 4-8th.

Here are 2 things to be really excited about:
1. Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week starts May 4th (next week!!)
2. World Maternal Mental Health Day is on May 6th!!

Postpartum Support International along with The Blue Dot Project and 2020 Mom are bringing you a fun week of stories of hope, inspiration and ways to get involved virtually!

Each day from May 4th to 8th have different themes:

- May 4th: Post a black and white selfie and share your story.
Take a new photo of yourself or make an old photo black and white and share a part of your mental health story. Encourage your partner to share too. Mental health complications cam take the color out of their lives too!

- May 5th: Giving Tuesday Now! Share your Climb fundraising link- Tag PSI! It’s $10 Tuesday. It’s also in response to Covid-19. Use the opportunity to share your Climb Page- encourage folks to sign up even if they don’t plan to fundraise this is a great way to get connected to virtual hangout events.

- May 6th: It's World Maternal Mental Health Day! Join PSI and 2020 Mom for a free webinar and come feel connected to something bigger than yourself.

- May 7th: Decorate your space! Grab some sidewalk chalk, or whatever supplies you have on hand and give your space some color!

- May 8th: It’s Homemade Climb Day! Celebrate YOU! Take a selfie in color! Post it! Make your own climb by taking a walk with your family. Take some time outside for yourself. And Celebrate your Climb Out of the Darkness!

04/30/2020

“Birds of a feather flock together.” ⠀
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Has anyone else found peace in just watching nature lately? I certainly have. While the rest of the world is unsettled, the sun comes up each day and the animals seem to know no different. Guess what...they have studied this phenomenon! ⠀
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A small study published in Frontiers in Psychology found that “A NE (nature experience) resulted in a 21.3%/h drop in cortisol beyond that of the hormone’s 11.7% diurnal drop. The efficiency of a nature pill per time expended was greatest between 20 and 30 min, after which benefits continued to accrue, but at a reduced rate.” Basically this means that spending time in nature is a fantastic stress reliever! ⠀
The best part is that it’s free and readily available. Oh and an abnormal stress response negatively affects your immune system. Maybe time in nature each day, keeps the doctor away? 🌲🌿🐇🌷🌞 :26-27 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00722/full?utm_source=fweb&utm_medium=nblog&utm_campaign=ba-sci-fpsyg-nature-pill

04/15/2020

Ever heard that you should “eat the 🌈”? Not to be confused with candy and “taste the rainbow.” Polyphenols are what gives flowers, fruits, veggies and herbs their bright and attractive colors (1). The plants produce polyphenols in response to stressors such as UV rays, insects, viruses and bacteria (1). ⠀
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🍆🥬The cool thing is that these polyphenols also help to support our bodies.🍇🥦🍎⠀
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They have been shown to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor properties (1). Research has repeatedly shown that diets high in polyphenols are associated with lower rates of chronic disease like heart disease and diabetes (1). ⠀
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Polyphenols help to create balance in our immune response. We think that something called the NRLP3 inflammasome is being activated by the virus and isn’t being turned off appropriately. Death of damaged and diseased cells can be a good thing, but they think that this process is being hijacked by the virus causing excessive cell death. Chronic NRLP3 is also seen in diseases such as Alzheimers and type II diabetes(4). ⠀
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There are several polyphenols that may be particularly helpful in preventing viral infections and help stop the collateral damage from the immune response. ⠀
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• Resveratrol- in red grapes and red wine. There is evidence from test tube studies, that it can prevent replication of MERS-CoV and improve survival of affected cells (3). ⠀
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• Quercetin- found in many fruits and veggies including onions, apples, red raspberries and black tea (4). Shown to decrease viral replication, promote viral eradication or inactivation as well as modulating NRLP3.⠀
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• Curcumin- found in the spice turmeric, has been found to modulate the NRLP3 inflammasome and may reduce symptoms of a viral infection (4). ⠀
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• ECGC- found in green tea, modulates the NRLP3 inflammasome and helped prevent influenza in one study (4). ⠀
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We do not have the research that says these things are effective against the current pandemic. Many feel that the best thing we can do right now is improve our resiliency. Eating the 🌈 is a fantastic way to do this. Try cooking with purpose and crafting your meals around the things your body really needs right now.

04/06/2020

I typically like to start with what to add to your diet, however I think it's important that we start with the one thing I would remove right now and that’s SUGAR. I’m not talking about the small amounts of sugar in things like vegetables and sweet potatoes. I’m talking about the simple refined sugars found in cakes, cookies, candy, soda, etc. Too much fruit can also have an adverse effect. I know, I can hear the grumbles but seriously there is good evidence to support this. ⠀
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■ Large Sugar intake Decreases Activity of Immune Cells. ⠀
The effect of sugar on the immune system has been known for decades. A paper published in 1973 showed that “Oral 100g portions of carbohydrate from glucose, fructose, sucrose, honey or orange juice all significantly decreased the capacity of neutrophils to engulf bacteria.” The dysfunction lasted up to 5 hours. So they are basically saying that sugar, in large amounts in pretty much any form, compromises your body’s immune system at least against the bacteria that they studied. ⠀
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100g of carbs may sound like a lot, however consider that a 30oz soda contains about 80g of carbs all from sugar and if you eat a candy bar with that then you’re well over 100g. The average American consumes nearly 1/2 lb of sugar a day which is equivalent to about 226g. So, most people are eating enough sugar every day to suppress their immune systems. Now, we don’t know if this is true if you eat the sugar in combination with other macronutrients (fat or protein) or if eaten over the course of a day. The study did point out that starch did not have this effect. ⠀
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■ Sugar competes with vitamin C for absorption. ⠀
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Another reason why you might want to skip the sugar is that it competes with vitamin C for entry into your cells. The sugar actually “obstructs” the receptors from receiving vitamin C. A review article that I think suggests this same point looked at diabetes, a disease characterized by high blood sugar and vitamin C levels. They reported that those with diabetes have 30% lower levels of vitamin C than those who do not regardless of intake. Interesting. ⠀
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References are in the comments. See part 2 for more on sugar. ⠀

04/04/2020

So I’ve been convicted by one of my fellow coaches at CrossFit180 It kept me up last night. He basically asked, why isn’t anyone talking about nutrition while we’re knee deep in a health crisis!? ⠀
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Dang, as a nurse practitioner who practices functional medicine I happen to know a lot about nutrition and how it effects your immune system. I talk to my patients about it all the time. I follow a bunch of other healthcare providers on social media who talk about it all the time. I believed the lie that I told myself “Everyone knows that nutrition matters. I don’t have anything to add.” ⠀
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His comment hit me because clearly there ARE people out there who don’t know or don’t fully understand that nutrition is important and now, more than ever I need to share what I know beyond my own exam room. ⠀
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So, here I am offering what I know with the hope that it helps someone out there. ⠀
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Dr. Mark Hyman, MD so eloquently writes above from his book “Eat Fat, Get Thin,” ⠀
⭐️⭐️”Food is information.”⭐️⭐️ ⠀
We’ve somehow gotten to the point that we think about food only in terms of calories or macros or what makes us fat or thin. It is SO.MUCH.MORE.THAN.THAT.⠀
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Another thing I love about what he says here is ⭐️⭐️ “It works fast and in real time with every bite.” and “Food affects the expression of your genes.”⭐️⭐️⠀
How empowering is that?! You may not have control over much right now, but at this point we still have control over our next bite. So, whether you are diabetic or everyone in your family has diabetes, you’ve have had a heart attack or have lung disease you can make a difference in your health with your next bite. It’s time to take your health seriously. ⠀
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I hate to end this post without an actionable step, so I’ll leave you with some simple instructions from Crossfit founder Gregg Glassman. “Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar.” (And yes, I realize everyone is different, but this is a great place to start for most.) I would add, choose organic and nonGMO as much as possible. ⠀
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Stayed tuned for more nutrition facts that can help keep you healthy and hopefully spark a new way of thinking about food.

03/28/2020

Box jumps. ⠀
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Today my workout included box jumps and it occurred to me that 3 years ago I tore my ACL doing this very movement (and my workout attire is not ready for social media😳🤣) I was 8 weeks postpartum. I know now that MY body had no business doing box jumps at full height and intensity at 8 weeks postpartum. ⠀
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I have 2 thoughts. 🔸1st if you really wanna do box jumps but you are at home because there’s a pandemic, use whatever you have to make it happen. Somehow I ended up with the perfect 20” log🤷🏻‍♀️ ⠀
🔸2nd if you happen to be in the first YEAR postpartum listen to your body and get advice from professionals who understand the postpartum body. You can’t rush your recovery and “slow is fast” . Listen to your intuition. Mindfully check in with yourself. If you have a workout planned but all you want to do is sleep because your baby was up all night- you should sleep. You know when you’re making excuses and when you really need to rest. Or maybe you had planned yoga but HIIT intuitively feels better that day, then go for it. Actually, I think this goes for any stage of life. ⠀
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⭐️⭐️Think about adding a pelvic floor physical therapist and a functional medicine NP who is passionate about moms (like me!) to your healthcare team to help you with your postpartum recovery. As with most things, prevention is the best medicine so think about this even if you’re just considering trying to conceive. It can be a game changer and it’s never too late to start.

03/24/2020

Hello FB! I finally linked my Instagram account to my FB page so you should be seeing more posts from me here😁.
I want to let every know that I am still taking new patients and follow-up visits virtually! Schedule by call or text 317-440-0599 or visit my website www.restorativewomenshealth.com

02/18/2020

Check this out! If you know me very well, you know I love lifting weights! This article explains some of the benefits and myths around women and strength training.
I coach at CrossFit 180 in Lebanon at 530am on Tuesday’s if you need a place to start or visit the BIRTHFIT website for programming during pregnancy and postpartum. I’m working on getting live BF classes going as well.

Training for life will give you the tools to be the best version of you in every stage of your existence moving forward. This is where the benefits of lifting weights for women come into play.