In the Flo: Unlock Your Hormonal Advantage and Revolutionize Your Life

by Alisa Vitti

The taboos and myths surrounding menstrual periods are outdated, false, and a tool of patriarchal oppression that holds us back. Hormones affect everything beyond our periods—our moods, creativity, energy, and more. Our menstrual needs are not being effectively addressed by conventional health care services. Our hormonal cycle is not being adequately factored into emerging conversations in functional medicine and biohacking, or medical research.

Thiiiiiiis

After menstrual mainstreaming, women deserve more: more transparency in information about birth control side effects, more health care options for menstrual problems, more gender-tailored biohacking suggestions and research. We deserve better. We deserve to live on our own terms and on our own time.

Yes

Science shows us that PMS symptoms arise only when there is an imbalance of estrogen and progesterone during the luteal phase. This imbalance can be triggered by diet choices—such as coffee, sugar, dairy, dieting, juice fasts, and low-fat fads—or by the more insidious suppression of feminine energy—the energy of change.

You may be surprised to discover that the placebo week found in most birth control packs was created as a marketing ploy. In the early days of the pill, manufacturers thought women would be so disturbed by the idea of not bleeding at all that they wouldn’t want to use it. That’s how the placebo week was born. For real menstruation to occur, you need to be ovulating; but the pill prevents this critical phase of your cycle. Without ovulation, your gorgeous hormonal cycle gets stuck in a static low-hormone phase and can’t create a period.

Do you ever feel like you aren’t the same person day to day—that at certain times during the month you feel energetic and efficient, whereas at other times you feel more inwardly focused? You aren’t imagining this. As estrogen and progesterone levels rise and fall throughout your cycle, your brain changes in response.

Yes

This means you’re likely to feel more social, verbal, and outgoing in the first half of your cycle as estrogen is increasing. In the second half of your cycle, when estrogen falls, those connections in the hippocampus decrease and serotonin levels fall, causing a shift in your cognitive focus.

Wow

Any time you don’t feel good, you need to stop, examine what’s going on, and start troubleshooting. This is the guiding principle behind female biohacking—to be in a deep and continuous observation-and-response mode about your own body, or what I like to call active listening and compassionate response.

1

In the 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. But science shows us these foods are likely to exacerbate your PMS symptoms. For example, gobbling a bag of salty pretzels to satisfy your PMS cravings makes your body retain water to counteract all the additional sodium swimming in your bloodstream and ends up bumping up the bloat factor. Giving in to your cravings for cookies, pastries, or candy can feel like a quick fix for a mood boost because the body uses carbs to produce serotonin, but the quick fix is followed by a sharp decline in blood sugar levels and energy.

Pms no no

Each phase of your menstrual cycle correlates to a different set of proteins, grains, vegetables, fruits, and other foods that support the hormonal changes your body is experiencing. Certain foods are included in specific phases based on their ability to metabolize estrogen, support progesterone production, or stabilize blood sugar levels.

Eating with your cycle

the foods in the follicular phase are reflective of our inner spring. These foods tend to be lighter, which fits with this phase when metabolism is naturally a bit slower. Follicular foods also have a bit of astringency, making them particularly good for liver function and detoxification. In the ovulatory phase, which is our inner summer, the foods help our bodies balance out the spike in estrogen and support the heart. In the luteal phase, which corresponds to our inner fall, the fiber-rich foods support the large intestine to increase transit time, which is critical during the luteal phase, when progesterone levels increase and slow digestion. The nutrient-dense foods here also correspond to the fact that your body’s metabolism naturally speeds up in this phase. During menstruation, which reflects our inner winter, it’s important to stock up on micronutrients that build up the blood, because you are losing blood as you shed the lining of your uterus. These foods also support the kidneys and help balance hormones as their levels drop during your monthly bleed.

Why we eat what during each stage

Processed soy is one of the worst foods for women. Soy products contain high levels of phytoestrogens that mimic the body’s natural estrogens.

So we dont like soy

For example, even though you’re only in the ovulatory phase for three to four days, your body is still in transition for a few days before and after, so it’s okay to dedicate a full week to the foods that support ovulation.

I was wondering this

Follicular: steaming, sautéing Ovulatory: raw foods, salads, juices, smoothies, steaming, poaching Luteal: roasting, baking Menstrual: soups and stews

How you prepare your food matters!

It’s the gift of the luteal and menstrual phases, when you align with and let yourself be guided by the energies of those phases, to heal you from this toxic concept that you must have the same “doing,” masculine energy every day.

This!

Low blood sugar can also make you feel nervous, anxious, irritable, impatient, or confused, among other things.

Lbs

FLO-approved biohack: Eat lots of leafy greens (my fave breakout buster is cilantro) and root veggies to up your vitamin A intake. Vitamin A is fat-soluble, so be sure to eat your greens with healthy fats, such as olive oil or avocado. Add more zinc to your diet by eating whole grains, sunflower seeds, and tree nuts. Consume more essential fatty acids by adding flaxseeds to your meals, and take fish oil and evening primrose oil supplements. Worst foods for hormonal acne: Dairy, soy, peanuts, vegetable oils (canola, sunflower, and safflower), caffeine, and gluten.

Acne

In the days leading up to your period, do your breasts feel sore and painful? If so, you’re one of legions of women who experience this common PMS symptom. Premenstrual breast tenderness, which is known as cyclical mastalgia, can be a sign that you have excess estrogen circulating in your body. When you have estrogen dominance, it leads to swelling of the breast ducts. If your breasts feel lumpy before your period, it could be a sign of fibrocystic breast disease and might merit a trip to the gynecologist. FLO-approved biohack: Load up on foods that are high in vitamin E, including almonds, sunflower seeds, spinach, chard, kale, avocado, mango, and kiwis. Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that calms the inflammation that causes breast tenderness. Consider taking an essential fatty acid called evening primrose oil, which acts as an anti-inflammatory agent. Worst foods for breast tenderness: Kick all forms of caffeine to the curb—including coffee, black tea, and green tea—and dump dairy. PMS biohacking guide: www.FLOliving.com/pms-guide.

Tender breasts