WomanCode: Unlocking Women's Health - A Holistic Approach to Hormone Balance, Fertility, and Wellness Through Nutrition and Lifestyle Changes

by Alisa Vitti

eating liver-supportive sweet root vegetables, like sweet potatoes, and leafy greens from the brassica family, like kale, during the luteal phase to make sure you are eliminating estrogen efficiently and keeping an optimal ratio of estrogen and progesterone for pregnancy maintenance • replenish your minerals during your menstrual phase by consuming sea vegetables, avocados, and/or some free-range animal protein to deeply nourish your endocrine system for the next cycle

Omega-3s, B complex, Vitamin D3, calcium, and magnesium are my top choices for women struggling with postpartum depression, exhaustion, and low sex drive as well as relying on the basics of the protocol to incorporate whole grains, good-quality fats, and fiber. These nutrients will help you improve serotonin production, nourish your overworked adrenals due to massive short-term lack of sleep, and will help promote healthy estrogen and progesterone balance.

Create Your Pleasure Recipe You can extend the initial arousal phase for hours before sex is even a question (and afterward, too). Working the activities listed below into your daily, weekly, or monthly schedule will infuse your days with pleasure and create a neurochemical balance in your brain that makes it easier to relish your experience in that first stage of excitement. • Remove things and activities that drain your adrenals. Take a break from stimulants, such as coffee, for at least a month and see how you feel. Aim for thirty to forty-five minutes of physical activity such as walking per day, but

avoid intense exercise such as kickboxing, or sprinting, which the body interprets as a stressor. • Take two supplements daily: vitamin C with bioflavonoids and ashwagandha. Both of these help heal the adrenal tissues and boost adrenal function. • Schedule five to ten minutes of relaxing activity before bed each day. Examples: apply skin care products, read, meditate. • Schedule thirty minutes of self-pleasure once a week. Try using only your hands and fingers for a better tumescent experience than using toys, in order to get the most nitric oxide benefits for your body. • Schedule thirty minutes to do nothing once a week. Minimize stimulation. Take a nap. Sit outside surrounded by trees and nature. • Add plenty of healthy fats to your diet. Try avocados, oils, nuts, and seeds to support the organs of your reproductive system. • Fill your diet with foods that nurture the adrenals. To recharge your energy, go heavy on blue/black and yellow/orange foods (see below), which represent water and earth in Chinese medicine—two important qualities for enhancing energy and libido.

On the company-wide level, we all agree on a monthly work plan that has us starting out in the first week of the month with initiating new projects (follicular phase inspired). The second week of the month we make sure to build ample collaboration, brainstorming time (ovulatory phase inspired) in to give each project the best chance possible to get completed by the end of the month. During the third week of the month, we check in on relevant reporting, systems, customer service, and operations (luteal phase inspired) to make sure everything is going well or to bring our focused energy to things that need our attention. And in the fourth week, we have a monthly wrap-up and monthly plan-ahead meeting (menstrual phase inspired) to evaluate our progress against our planning and to affirm the best next steps.