Elizabeth Amos NP LLC

Choose carbs that heal, not carbs that hijack.

While carb control is important for blood sugar, hormones, and gut health… not everyone should eat the exact same amount.

Some people actually need MORE carbohydrates to support hormone balance, recovery, and nervous system regulation.
This includes:
• athletes and highly active individuals
• pregnant and postpartum women
• women with hypothalamic dysfunction
• those dealing with chronic stress, burnout, or “adrenal fatigue” symptoms
• people with poor sleep, high cortisol, or nervous system dysregulation

Why?
Because carbohydrates help signal safety to the body.

When carbs are too low for too long—especially during intense training, pregnancy, or chronic stress—the body can perceive this as a stressor.
This can lead to:
• elevated cortisol
• disrupted thyroid conversion
• lower progesterone
• poor sleep
• increased anxiety
• fatigue + burnout
• stalled fat loss
• menstrual irregularities

Sometimes the goal isn’t lower carbs-
it’s the right carbs in the right amount.

The key is still quality.
More carbs should come from:
• root vegetables
• squash
• berries
• fruit
• properly prepared starches
• whole-food carbohydrate sources
—not from:
• processed grains
• breads
• crackers
• cereal
• refined sugars

As Dr. Anna Cabeca discusses in The Hormone Fix, the body needs signals of safety to prioritize hormone balance.
And as Dr. William Davis explains in Super Gut, gut health and metabolic health are deeply connected, so your carb choices matter just as much as your carb amount.

Low carb can be therapeutic.
But too low for too long can become another stressor.

Healing isn’t always about restriction.

Sometimes healing means giving the body enough fuel to finally feel safe.

The truth is -functional medicine is not a protected term.

That means anyone can take a weekend course, read a few books, and start calling themselves an expert.

But when it comes to your health… that matters.

Because true functional medicine isn’t guesswork.

It requires a deep understanding of:

• Biochemistry

• Hormones

• Gut health

• Detoxification pathways

• Lab interpretation

• Root-cause investigation

This is why certification matters.

A practitioner certified through the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) has completed extensive training, clinical education, and testing to prove they understand how the body actually works — as a whole, connected system.

That means:

✔ More accurate root-cause identification

✔ Smarter, personalized protocols

✔ Less trial and error

✔ Better long-term results

If you’re investing in your health, don’t just ask what someone does.

Ask how they were trained.

You deserve expertise.

One of the biggest mistakes people make for hormones, energy, and body composition is eating too many carbs in one sitting.

Your body can only effectively handle so much glucose (sugar) at once before insulin has to step in aggressively to manage the excess. For many people, once carbs start pushing beyond roughly 30–35 net grams per meal (depending on activity level, muscle mass, and metabolic health), the body is more likely to store the overflow rather than use it efficiently for immediate energy.

This is where blood sugar spikes, cravings, fatigue, and stubborn fat gain begin.

Not all carbs are created equal.

Your carbohydrates should come primarily from:

• vegetables

• berries

• low-sugar fruits

• fiber-rich whole foods

—not from:

• bread

• pasta

• cereal

• crackers

• processed grains

Why?

Because the goal of carbs isn’t just “energy.”

The goal is to:

• increase fiber for gut health

• feed beneficial gut bacteria and support the microbiome

• reduce inflammation

• support detoxification and estrogen metabolism

• create a more alkaline internal environment

• stabilize insulin and cortisol

• improve hormone balance

Grains often do the opposite. Spiking insulin, feeding dysbiosis (bad bacterias in the gut), increasing inflammation, and contributing to bloating, SIBO, and leaky gut.

As Dr. William Davis discusses in Super Gut, and Dr. Anna Cabeca explains in The Hormone Fix, blood sugar control and gut health are foundational for hormone balance.

When insulin is high, hormones get chaotic.

When blood sugar is stable, the body feels safe:

• cortisol improves

• progesterone improves

• fat loss becomes easier

• cravings decrease

• energy becomes steady

It’s not about eating less—

it’s about eating smarter.

Choose carbs that heal, not carbs that hijack.

Most women are told they’re “fine” because their labs fall somewhere inside a massive reference range.

But let’s be honest…

Vitamin D: 30
Ferritin: 14
TSH: 3.5

…and no one even bothered to check Free T3, Free T4, B12, or homocysteine.

Then comes the classic line:

“Everything looks normal.”

No—it doesn’t.

It looks like fatigue.
It looks like anxiety.
It looks like hair loss.
It looks like PMS, painful periods, infertility, low progesterone, and hormone chaos.

The problem? Conventional medicine was trained to diagnose disease—not optimize health.

“Normal” is not the same as optimal.

A ferritin of 14 may be “acceptable” on paper, but your hormones disagree.
A TSH of 3.5 may not flag in the system, but your thyroid and cycles are already waving red flags.
Vitamin D at 30 is not thriving—it’s surviving.

Female hormones do not work in isolation.

Low iron impacts thyroid.
Poor thyroid function impacts ovulation.
Low B12 and methylation issues affect estrogen clearance.
Vitamin D influences progesterone, immune health, and fertility.

Everything is connected.

This is where functional medicine thrives—looking at patterns, asking better questions, and finding the root cause instead of handing you a prescription and sending you home.

Because “your labs are normal” should never be the end of the conversation.

Email me at ElizabethAmosNP.com if you want to come Saturday at 930am to the FREE round table discussion at Brew of Jesse Coffee in Melbourne. We will be discussing labs more in depth.

Yet so many women avoid it because they think it will make them “bulky.”

Let’s fix that.

Creatine helps:

• Support muscle mass for maintenance + growth

(Muscle is your metabolic insurance policy for blood sugar, hormones, and aging well)

• Improve energy production

(Your cells use creatine to make ATP—aka actual usable energy)

• Reduce period pain + improve recovery

(Better cellular energy and reduced inflammation can support easier cycles)

• Support fertility + reproductive health

(Egg quality and reproductive tissues require massive amounts of energy)

• Help regulate hormones

(Stable blood sugar, better recovery, improved stress resilience = happier hormones)

• Improve brain function

(Higher therapeutic doses can cross the blood-brain barrier and support cognition, mood, and mental clarity)

Women need creatine too. Arguably more than men during seasons of stress, training, pregnancy prep, postpartum, and aging.

And no-creatine does not make you gain “bad weight.”

It helps you hold water INSIDE the muscle, not as bloating under the skin.

Translation: stronger, leaner, more resilient.

Most women are under-muscled, under-fueled, and over-stressed.

Creatine helps all three.

This is your sign to stop fearing the supplement aisle and start supporting your physiology. Respond “Creatine” below and I’ll message you my favorite brands because quality is important.

June 13
930am
Brew by Jesse
5000 Stack Blvd
Melbourne, FL

Free round table discussion
📣 Be Your Own Advocate
☑️ Understanding your labs
☑️ Know the difference between normal and optimal
☑️ Labs that aren’t conventionally checked

RSVP by emailing [email protected]

Seats are limited to keep education and conversation optimized. 4 spots left.

✨ Free Hormone Quiz
✨ Free Electrolyte Samples
✨ Dark Chocolate Treats
✨ Ask a Functional Medicine NP
✨ Enter to Win a FREE 90-Minute Consultation
📍 Women’s Day Event
⏰ Sunday 11 AM – 4 PM