Hey, y'all welcome back to the Be About Being Better podcast. Super excited for today's topic. Today, we are talking about nutrition for your menstrual cycle; nutrition for your period.
I want to first dismantle a myth. A lot of people believe that their period consists of just the time that they're actually bleeding when they're on their period, but we're not just on our period or off our period.
The menstrual cycle is comprised of four distinct phases that last about 28 days on average. Some cycles are shorter, some are a little bit longer. But on average, it's about 28 days and there are so many hormones involved in our menstrual cycle. And over the course of those 28 days, our hormones change by 25%, which is very significant.
Small changes in our hormones and fluctuations can make a huge difference. So it just makes sense that over the course of the 28 days, we're gonna notice changes in our mood, changes in our metabolism, our digestion, our skin, our energy levels, our sleep quality, our libido, our creativeness, our motivation, so many different things because our hormones are changing and our hormones govern and dictate so many different things about our physiology.
So it doesn't make sense that we'd be eating the same way and exercising the same way and doing the same self care and everything the same day in and day out, when our body is not the same week to week, throughout the month. Our body is actually significantly different week to week. And we should be changing slightly what we're doing so that we're actually supporting our hormones during this time.
Actually a lot of the adverse period symptoms that you might be experiencing, whether that be irregular periods, heavy flow, nausea, vomiting, very severe cramps or cystic acne, to name a few. But you might also have diagnosed conditions like PCOS, PMDD or endometriosis.
You might be having some of these adverse period symptoms thinking that they're normal, when really it's a product of a hormonal imbalance. Today we're just gonna talk about the nutrition considerations, but there's things that you can change. And we'll talk about these in future episodes. About your exercise and your self care routines to cater to and go with the grain of your menstrual cycle so that you're really aligning your life and your hormone fluctuations.
If something is off with your nutrition or your lifestyle, it might be going against the grain of what your hormones naturally want to do. And it's causing these adverse period symptoms. Cause those things aren't normal, like yes, when we're on our period, we're shedding the uterine lining, right? Like it, it is an uncomfortable experience what our body is doing. Although it's a very natural experience.
It's uncomfortable, but it shouldn't be so severe where you're taking days off from work and you're just rivering in pain. And things are just so horribly painful that it's affecting your daily life and your daily living. And I know so many people are out there, just dealing with that and are just told to take Midol and suck it up and throw a heating pad on it. Throw some dirt on it and just, you know, get back out there in the game.
No, we shouldn't be suppressing these symptoms because they're not normal. We need to be looking to food as medicine and figuring out what we could be doing that's within our control to cater to our hormones and not have a lifestyle that's really going against the grain of what our hormones naturally want to be doing.
So that's what we're gonna be talking about today and definitely look out for future episodes, because we will be talking about the exercise considerations and the self care considerations.
Today, we're just gonna focus on nutrition. There's a few things that I wanna note before we really dive into each of the four phases and what specifically should be your thoughts in terms of nutrition for each phase. But before I dive into that, I want to say that our period health is our fifth vital sign, meaning that it's just as important as our blood pressure in terms of how it's a marker for how our body is functioning.
It's a marker for, are we healthy or not? Is something off or are things functioning well? So if you have very adverse period symptoms or you're not having a period, we might be thinking in society like, oh yeah, I don't have to deal with that this month, but in your head, you should be thinking, oh no, something is actually off.
I got very into period health and learning how to align my lifestyle to my cycle because I was on birth control for years and I was on a pill that was specifically made to make me have a period. Now I know when you're on a form of synthetic birth control and you have a period it's more like breakthrough bleeding. It's not actually a period. So I was on a pill that was supposed to make me have a “period.” And I wasn't getting that.
I'm like, what's going on here? Something is definitely wrong. So I weaned myself off of it and I started diving into research and discovered Alisa Vitti's work. She's the founder of Flo Living and she is the founder and creator of the cycle syncing method, which is what we're gonna be talking about today.
Her first book, Woman Code talks about her story with PCOS and cystic acne. She was definitely someone that was in a larger body and more in the overweight obese range on the BMI scale, which there's so many issues with BMI, but we'll get into that in future episodes too. She went to the doctor and was like, what's going on with me?
They diagnosed her with PCOS and they basically said, this is a death sentence. You're going to get ovarian cancer. You are gonna need to be on diabetes medication for the rest of your life. You are infertile. You're not gonna be able to have a family. Like this is basically a death sentence being diagnosed with PCOS.
But she ended up not taking any of the medications that they recommended and she walked out of the office. She was a college student at Johns Hopkins University at the time and she dove into research instead.
She started being her own patient, trying things out to heal herself naturally, without pharmaceuticals. What could she change when it comes to nutrition and exercise in lifestyle to realign her hormones? She ended up going back in for a scan, so much time later and after she figured all this out, she did not have any more cysts on her ovaries. She literally cured her PCOS. Absolutely incredible.
And she's helped so many other people do the same with her cycle syncing method and her company Flo Living. Her new book In The Flo talks more about the updated literature and the updated conversation of birth control in more of an applicable way to incorporate her cycle syncing principles into your life. So if you don't have PCOS, PMDD or endometriosis, I would definitely recommend her book in the flow. If you do have any of those, you know, diagnoses, I would recommend reading her book, woman code.
Both of her books are absolutely fabulous and that's what really got me [00:08:00] interested in period health. By following these nutrition considerations, as well as the other lifestyle ones, I was able to, when I got myself off of birth control, get my period back in two months.
That's almost unheard of. Most people are waiting six to nine months to be regular. And when I got my first period after being on birth control for so many years, it really wasn't that bad. You hear these horror stories of people having like the worst, most painful periods when they haven't for so long and their ovulation has been suppressed for so many years or a decade.
But it really wasn't that bad for me because my lifestyle was supporting the natural fluctuations of my hormones. So today, from a nutrition standpoint, we're gonna talk about how to do that.
And I want to make a disclaimer that y'all know that I am working to be a non-diet dietician. I definitely help clients cultivate a non-diet approach and get away from diet culture. So as you're listening to this, I do not want you to treat this like a diet! This is not a diet, and I'm gonna be talking about some specific foods that you could eat to support your hormones and why, at different points in your cycle.
But I don't want you to take that gospel, in the sense that these are the only foods that you can eat. You'll see in the show notes that I have a free guide that gives you a fuller list of foods that can support your hormones at each phase. We'll just talk about a few, but definitely download the free guide for a fuller list.
But I just want you to know that if I give you the foods for ovulation phase, those aren't the only foods that you can eat. That is just a list of the foods that have been shown to support your hormones best during this time. Pick a few of the foods that you normally like and see which ones are on that list for each phase. Maybe three to five foods to loop in at that time of the month that you like in your normal routine.
Those aren't the only foods that you can eat! And diet culture wants you to believe that you can eat this and you can't eat that. No, you can eat any food anytime. Here are just a few foods that you might want to weave in to your routine at different times of the month to support the natural fluctuations of your hormones.
I hope that that makes sense. And I really don't want people to treat this like a diet, which I find is easy to do and get confused if you are still very much immersed in diet culture. And if you don't already have a routine for meal prepping, a routine for grocery shopping, and a strategy for meal planning, and just a routine for healthy habits.
This is something I work on with clients all the time before we dive into aligning your lifestyle, according to your menstrual cycle. Whoa, whoa, whoa. We're first working on: are you eating regularly? Are you still skipping meals? Are you eating enough? Are you in the habit of grocery shopping, meal planning and meal prepping? Are you in the habit of drinking enough water? Right? Are you avoiding carbs or restricting in any way? We need to get these very foundational things handled first, before we can start aligning our foods to our cycle or else it's not gonna be sustainable.
And you will be more susceptible to treating this like a diet. Just keep that in mind that if you're thinking to yourself, okay, I don't have the best nutrition habits right now… consider taking our quiz and getting some personalized support around this because nutrition needs to be so individualized and you might need some accountability and guidance to help you weave through the nutrition confusion that's out there, so that you know what's best for you, your body, and your schedule to get to your goals. And then we can work on the menstrual stuff.
So I just wanted to make a disclaimer in the beginning of all of this, that we don't want to treat this as a diet. And you may also benefit from my free meal plan and prep guide if you aren't in the habit of meal prepping or planning. I go over my Be About Being Better method for meal planning and prepping in that free guide. So definitely download that as well!
So let's dive into this y'all! There are four phases of the menstrual cycle. The first phase that we'll talk about is the follicular phase. The follicular phase starts the day after you are done bleeding. So that is the menstrual phase, when you are actually bleeding. Once you're done bleeding and you're done with your “period.” Then you start the follicular phase. The follicular phase lasts about 7 to 10 days and each of the four phases are commonly compared to a season, so this is our spring.
Think about how you naturally feel after your period is done. It's like a cloud is lifted. Like, oh my God, I feel like a new person. You feel reborn. Even if you're naturally an introverted person, you're ready to socialize, you're ready to be more extroverted and social. You just naturally have more energy and confidence during this time.
Like cognitively, you just feel sharper, energetically. You just feel like you're in a higher vibe. So it's also important to note that during this phase, your metabolism, even though you're feeling revved up and more energized, has decreased a bit. So you can handle a slight caloric deficit better at this time.
And this is normally when people start a new health kick. So it's no surprise that when people are in a caloric deficit and starting a new meal plan or, or diet, whatever it is that their body responds well to it. Our body wants lighter foods during this time. So like salads and chicken, our body responds well to that.
We digest raw vegetables pretty well at this time. We want the poultry. We want citrus. It's a great time to put lemon in your water and we don't need as many calories during this time. So that's why our body responds well to a caloric deficit cause your body is like, you still need to be eating enough, but obviously, you know, your metabol is a little bit slower. Like you don't need as much and we'll see in other phases, and I'll talk about which ones, that's where you need to be eating a little bit more.
So those light foods, like I always put lemon in my water. I definitely make lemon pepper, chicken, rice, and broccoli. I have a lot of salads during this time. Turkey meatballs, great time for avocado toast with an egg on top. Normally I have that for breakfast. It's a really, really great time for that.
The next phase is the ovulation phase. This is our fertile window. It only lasts about three to four days, and most people are surprised to hear that they are only fertile for those three to four days. Obviously give yourself a buffer because not every cycle is regular, some people or a little bit longer.
In this phase, switching from follicular to ovulation, your estrogen level is increasing. It's reaching a peak because it needs that in case you're fertilizing the egg, right? This ovulation phase is equivalent to our summer season. So think about the natural progression from spring to summer.
Energy is even more increased. You're even more social, you're traveling, you're out and about. Even if you're an introverted person, you're normally doing more social things in the summer, you're feeling in a high vibe. That's just how summer is and that's how ovulation phase is. Because this is our fertile window, biologically, we are very attractive and we have this more magnetic pull. So libido is up and you're just feeling more naturally extroverted and, and social during this time. Now our bodies can also take a lot during the ovulation phase.
So it's actually the best time to have more endocrine disruptors, or hormone disrupting substances, like caffeine, alcohol, obviously be careful with alcohol with this being the fertile window, and processed foods. Endocrine disruptors can also be things like perfumes. Our body handles these things and breaks some down a little bit better during this time.
So it's a better time to have these things. In addition, raw vegetables, like normally we don't digest raw vegetables, super, super, well, it's very taxing on the system. It's not that vegetables are bad to have, but it's just a little bit easier if you put spinach in a smoothie that's already pre or you're steaming, sauteing, roasting foods, right? Like it's just a little bit easier to digest, a little bit easier on the system.
So we still want to keep foods light. We want to steam foods. We want to saute foods.We can have raw vegetables at this time. We still want to keep up with the citrus. And then, like I said, we can handle those endocrine disruptors a little bit better. So this is a relatively better time to have alcohol, caffeine, and processed foods. Things like that.
Next we get into the luteal phase, the luteal phase is about 10 to 14 days. It is our longest phase and the luteal phase is a little bit… it's a little bit moody. It's a little bit complicated. There's a lot of things going on because it is so long.
Now in the ovulation phase, I mentioned that estrogen is increasing and reaching a peak. What goes up must come down. So in the luteal phase, the beginning of it, estrogen is decreasing. And progesterone, another hormone involved in your cycle, is starting to increase. So your hormones are changing. Naturally things are going to shift biologically. Your metabolism is going to change. Your mood is going to change. Your energy levels are gonna change. Your wants and desires are going to change at this time because you're really having a drastic shift in your hormones.
Now, the beginning of the luteal phase kind of mimics the follicular phase, because as estrogen is increasing in the follicular phase, it reaches that peak in ovulation. It then starts to decrease at the beginning of the luteal phase. So the beginning of the luteal phase is very similar to the follicular phase.
So you probably still can handle a lot of the same foods, but after you're done ovulating, like after the first two weeks after your last period, even if you don't feel it yet, you want to start switching to the nutrition considerations for luteal phase and kind of start to get away from the follicular and ovulation because your body is starting to shift.
During the luteal phase and then menstrual phase comes after this. So the luteal phase is where our metabolism starts to speed up. Like I said, it was a little bit slower in follicular and ovulation, and it starts to speed up a bit. So we have an increased energy need, meaning that we need about 200 to 215 more calories.
Like how many of you feel more tired during your luteal phase? This is equivalent to our PMS phase. How many of you feel like you have no energy and you're moody all the time? This is very common. Because you're likely still eating the same and in that same caloric deficit and trying to eat the salads and chicken and do all of like, you know, the crazy hiit workouts and whatever, and just keep going, going, going, living this life at, you know, a hundred miles per hour. That's not going to keep up, your body's not going to respond the same way at this point in your cycle.
And because of our increased metabolism, we have a greater energy need. So we need more calories to keep up with our greater energy need. And it makes sense that our metabolism is increasing. It makes sense. Our body is doing more things. Our body at this point is either prepping the uterine lining for a pregnancy, or it's getting ready to drop the egg and actually have a period.Right?
So it's either a fertilizing an egg that happened during ovulation or it's prepping for a period. So a lot is going on down there. So it makes sense that we need more energy, calories, or energy for the body to fuel that process. And we also are craving more comfort foods during this time.
So you should make soups and stews and have things that are more comforting to you. This is as far as the seasons go, the luteal phase is our fall equivalent. And think about logically the difference between summer and fall. You're not as social during this time. You're not traveling as much. You're turning inward.
Maybe you're starting school or you're like, okay. Like I kind of blew through my vacation days. I'm ready to dive back into work. Or you're kind of RSVPing no more. You're trying to spend more time alone. And as the weather is turning, it's getting a little bit colder. Like you just want comfort during this time.
So from a nutrition standpoint, you definitely want soups, stews, comfort foods. And there are a couple other foods that can support you during this time because a lot of people in PMS experience a lot of negative and adverse period symptoms like bloating and they start to break out, headaches, fatigue, brain fog.
So we definitely want to have nutrition considerations that are supporting our body during this time. Sweet potatoes are absolutely incredible. During this time, sweet potatoes are like a vitamin A pill and vitamin A is great because it breaks down that excess estrogen. Because we want estrogen to come down and a lot of our adverse period symptoms or when we have estrogen dominance and there's too much there, it hasn't decreased enough to let progesterone increase to actually have a period. And so we need to be having foods that help us break down that excess estroge to prevent estrogen dominance.
But we also need to be consuming foods that are going to support progesterone production. So sweet potatoes are really great for decreasing excess estrogen and chickpeas are gonna be your new BFF. They are really, really great for increasing progesterone production.
Other good things to have during this time are bone broth. Bone broth is great for electrolytes. It has calcium in it. It has magnesium. It's definitely gonna help with your hydration status. It's gonna help improve your sleep. It's gonna help with bloating and helping build strong bones. And if you have a regular period or you have amenorrhea, which means that you haven't had a period in 60 days. So two months. If you haven't had a period in two months, you are considered to have amenorrhea.
And once you have amenorrhea, you're just not producing enough estrogen to support your bone health. So your bones start to get really weak, which is not good because our bone health really sets in in our twenties and thirties. That's when we reach a peak of bone strength. And then it starts to decrease from there.
So we need to be building as strong of bones as we can in our twenties and thirties, because then it just only goes down from there. Our period health is so important to make sure that later in our life we're less of a fall risk and we're decreasing our risk for osteoporosis and osteopenia. So we definitely wanna be doing everything that we can to make sure we're building strong bones now so that it can help us later down the line.
So having calcium during this time will definitely help, bone broth can help with that, as well as leafy greens. Greens have calcium in them as well as so many other vitamins and minerals which is really, really great for also breaking down estrogen. So it's great for the luteal phase because we're trying to get estrogen to come down and we're trying to increase the production of progesterones. So chickpeas are gonna come in for that. So that combination is great.
However, our body doesn't always respond well to raw vegetables during this time. So if you could, you know, throw some greens in a smoothie or put them in stir fry or a soup, or a stew, or roasting some green vegetables. Your body will respond better to that during this phase.
And then lastly, we get to a menstrual phase. It's about three to five days. Obviously everyone's a little bit different depending on how regular your period is, but on average for people, the bleeding should last about three to five days. And it's very similar to the luteal phase, in the sense that our metabolism is still increased because our body is literally shedding the uterine lining. So body's going through a lot. It has a greater energy need. So you still need about 200 to 250 more calories during this time.
And you might be thinking to yourself like, oh, that sounds like a lot. It's very easy to get 200, you know, 50 more calories in it. It really is. It's just like an extra snack, like another rice cake with peanut butter on it, you know, it's, it's really not that much.
And again, this is our winter equivalent, so you're naturally more of a recluse during this time. And you want warm foods. You want comfort. So, again, turn to soups, stews, anything that's comforting and what's normally comforting is normally more calorically dense. So I think that's why we crave that at this time as well, and things that are warm, like we wanna stay away from raw vegetables during this time.
We want stuff that's cooked, whether that's roasted or put in a stir fry, soup, or stew. That's what we prefer. Seafood is really great during this time, because it has omega three fatty acids in it. So those are antioxidants. It's gonna help to decrease bloating. And it's also a great form of protein. So that's gonna keep your blood sugar stable. And if your blood sugar is stable, that means that your mood is definitely more stable. You're not getting hangry. And grass fed beef is great during this time or any sort of meat, because as you're bleeding, you're losing blood, you're losing iron, so we need to replenish the iron. There's also iron in leafy greens as well.
Leafy greens are the best of both worlds because you are getting the fiber, breaking down that excess estrogen, which is gonna be helpful for you. And you're also getting iron and calcium, too. So many great benefits to the leafy greens.
So those are some, you know, nutrition considerations for each phase. But I also wanna speak to cravings because I hear all the time, and I definitely experience for myself too, that especially in luteal phase and menstrual phase cravings can be so, so severe and literally take over us. Like I remember in high school, I would, like clockwork every single month, going to McDonald's and getting a McFlurry and the medium fry and dipping the fries in the shake, because I needed that salt, I needed the sugar, I wanted the carbs, and I needed it now.
Now I've managed my cravings and I know what to look for. I know what my body needs, and I'm not racing off to McDonald's every single month because I am supporting my body nutritionally. It's not that I'm not allowing myself to have those treats because we definitely need a McFlurry here and there! But I'm not necessarily doing that every single month because I have a nutrition system and foods looped into my routine that are supporting my hormones. And I'm doing things to ward off these cravings and cravings aren't necessarily a bad thing. They are a clue into what your body is asking for. Our bodies are so, so smart.
So I hope this gives you a couple of places to start. And if you need more support with this definitely look to the show notes! We have my free guide that gives a fuller list of foods there. We have my free Meal Plan and Prep Guide that can be helpful for you if you’re not in the habit of meal prepping and planning. That is a really great place to start!
And if you already know that you need more personalized support with this, which I think most people do, definitely take my quiz and see which one of our health coaching programs could be for you. Because this is something that we work on with clients very directly, and we customize with them and I get to know, I really become an expert in their cycle. Nothing is taboo here.
My clients always message me when they have their period and we're adjusting things for them and talking about what foods could work for their cycle and kind of dissecting their cravings and their eating habits. And it really is so great to be able to do that with clients.
Sometimes we just need that, you know, extra support and accountability to kind of go back and forth with someone to get the customized support. And especially if you have PCOS, if you have PMDD, if you have endometriosis, or maybe you suspect you have these things, definitely take my quiz and see which one of our health coaching programs could be for you, because you likely will need this individualized support.
So thank you so much. And I'll see y'all in the next episode.
