In the FLO: A 28-day plan working with your monthly cycle to do more and stress less

by Alisa Vitti

gentle hormonal ups and downs can swing wildly.

Out-of-control ...

first...

overdo it with all-nighters at work, start too many projects at once, or expe...

secon...

brain fog, leave you in a funk, and make you feel like you can barely crawl ou...

do nothing to reverse this self-perpetuating situation.

painful periods also lower your ability to perform complex tasks, reduce your attention span, and are associated with abnormal changes in the brain’s gray matter,

hormonal imbalances that primarily impact two areas of the brain: the PFC, and the limbic or emotional center.

drop in levels of the feel-good neurochem...

good-bye to mental clarity, good judgment, and stable emotions and hello to forgetfulness, trouble concentrating, impulsivity, aggression, m...

openness to new things, creativity, and beginnings.

you want

set your inte...

verbal and social centers of the brain are stimulated by hormones.

Talk about what you want with everyone

good time for important con...

enjoy being m...

chemistry is optimized for task and detail orientation and bringing projects to completion.

first half

energy to spend wit...

second half, focu...

taking care of y...

boundaries—otherwise you may become irrit...

hormone levels quickly decline to their lowest concentrations,

greatest communication between your two brain hemispheres—

best able to synthesize how you feel about situations with the facts and determine t...

analysis and review and think strategically about where you want to go in terms of the...

turn inward to journal or reflect on where you are now.

“surefire solutions” simply didn’t work

Those solutions are especially unhelpful for any woman trying to lose weight.

we are not the same biochemical creatures as men.

addition, because of our hormonal fluctuations, we are not even the same creatures from day to day ourselves.

symptom-free period, enhanced productivity, better overall health, happier moods, more creativity, and more loving relationships—and you can achieve these results in a very short amount of time.

replenishing your micronutrient levels and syncing your diet, exercise, and lifestyle with your cyclical nature.

your body is the container for the experiment; you are the citizen scientist interpreting the results of those experiments.

energy levels, performance at work, moods, and hormonal symptoms are the experiment’s results that will guide you through the process.

even if you change only one food per phase or focus only on adopting the foods recommended for a single phase, you

can start to see some big payoffs.

tailoring her meals to the phases of her cycle.

what you eat provides the foundation your body needs to keep your hormones balanced.

meat, caffeinated drinks, sugar-sweetened sodas, and beverages—with artificial sweeteners to an earlier age of menarche,

late luteal phase just before your period arrives, falling estrogen levels can cause a drop in serotonin levels, which can ratchet up your cravings for simple carbs.

these foods are likely to exacerbate your PMS symptoms.

for cookies, pastries, or candy can feel like a quick fix for a mood boost because the body uses carbs to produce serotonin,

sharp decline in blood sugar levels and energy.

foods with higher amounts of calcium and vitamin D had less of a risk for PMS than women who got less of these micronutrients from their foods.

get hot flashes right before their monthly bleed begins.

its biggest dip in estrogen

you can have a temperature change that bumps up ...