At Kroma, our mission is to help people change their habits and lives with delicious, highly functional wellness products that are easy to enjoy. Kroma Conversations puts our customers and their stories of transformation in the spotlight.
When fifth-grade teacher Natalie W. started experiencing hormone issues in her early 20s, she pursued holistic avenues to heal herself. To find out how replacing her daily coffee with our Beauty Matcha Latte helped her bring her body back into balance, read on.
Growing up, both my parents were total foodies. We bought local, we cooked local foods, and it was all whole foods. As a kid in that environment I would see my friends with Pop Tarts or cereal and I was like oh my gosh, I want that, but now that I'm older and I look back I'm so grateful and appreciative that they brought me up in that environment. It’s bled into how I see wellness and how I practice my health now.
Now that wellness is trending, I’ve tapped into a lot more modes like acupuncture and seeing a naturopath to really understand the root cause of some of the issues I have health-wise. I like trying different wellness brands, but I make sure to vet them to make sure they are reputable. I definitely have that lens of what is real and what’s just marketing. Any company can grab onto the next big thing. So I look at ingredients. I’ll look for those hidden additives like cane sugar and [other] inflammatories. If I see [a product] that has pretty reputable ingredients I’ll look into the people I really trust (like Dr. Will Cole) and vet them that way. And then I’ll always check in with my doctor just to make sure.
I was diagnosed with PCOS, which is very common in women to have that hormone imbalance. I was on and off birth control throughout my life — I got on it when I was 18 and got off of it when I was like 20, and then I didn’t have a natural period after that. So I was like, what is going on with me, this is not natural. I was going to the gynecologist and using Western medicine, and they basically said, you have PCOS, it’s a hormone imbalance, here’s birth control, this is going to mask your symptoms and then when you want to get pregnant come back and we’ll do IVF. I was like no, that cannot be the only option. I just want to be able to experience natural hormones instead of masking it with a Band-Aid.
So that’s when I went into more of a holistic approach. I went and saw a naturopath and changed minor things, lifestyle changes, because I was kind of following the track of being able to fix this all holistically. It’s a slower progression because it’s not a quick fix or a pill that you take. But I’ve been seeing her for over a year now and I would say that within the first six months I started seeing changes. I started getting my period back naturally. It was so helpful to have that approach…just fine-tuning and tweaking some things.
[Giving up coffee] was a huge component because [my naturopath] said it would spike my cortisol levels which is such an issue, especially with women with PCOS because we already have high cortisol levels and androgen levels and coffee is basically completely contributing negative attributes to all of that.
It was hard for me because as a teacher, I was like there is no way I can give up coffee. You’re crazy. I was like, I’ll do everything else but not the coffee!
[My naturopath] was very realistic. She was like, it’s fine, when you’re ready to do it you do it. But just know you don’t have to cut it cold turkey, you can incorporate matcha into your routine, there’s different ways you can do this. Right when I heard “matcha” I was like, ok, I can get on that bandwagon, because I enjoyed matcha prior to, it just wasn’t my everyday regimen.
I heard about Kroma on The Skinny Confidential through Dr. Will Cole, who I also follow and absolutely love. That’s really when I started trying [Beauty Matcha Latte]. I noticed first of all the taste, which I loved, second of all the benefits I got from it… I realized the coffee was making me more tired!
When I was able to have the Matcha I was like, oh my gosh, this is way better. I don't even enjoy coffee at this point. It’s become such a ritual. I’ve probably been having it for like three months now, it hasn’t even been that long, but the benefits I’ve seen from it outweigh everything. I have noticed my cortisol levels have gone down, I have been sleeping better at night which has been helping with my hormones as well.
The adaptogens in the ingredients are super beneficial for my hormone health. They’re all great. I showed my naturopath too and she was like, I love this, everything about this is great.
"I showed my naturopath too and she was like, I love this, everything about this is great."
My morning ritual. I wake up every morning, I go into the bathroom, I tongue-scrape, take my probiotic, finish getting ready, come right back out and it’s like, high protein breakfast, matcha. Those are my two non-negotiables.
My husband will make fun of me for it and my mom even — she’ll be like, don’t screw up Natalie’s morning routine, that’s not something you wanna mess with! I’m up way earlier than I have to be so I can get it all in because if I miss that it totally does throw me off for the entire day.
These are the tangible things I can do that set me up for success so I stick with that.
Constantly throughout my life it’s going to ebb and flow and I have to be ok with that. I’ve gotten to a point in my life where I do feel like I’m at my strongest, my most positive and vibrant self.
Of course I’d take my breakouts away and I’d take all my bloating away, those little things, but I think on the whole I feel strong, I feel confident, I have a routine that I’ve gotten down that I feel like I’m on a good trajectory for. Right now I do feel really strong and I see it continuously getting better.
This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before changing your diet or healthcare regimen, and never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.