Women’s Health: Days 20- bleed

Ah, the phase we are all programmed to hate. PMT. PMS. Moody, bloated, sad for no reason, wanting to eat chocolate - oh and cramps and back pain. We all get varying degrees of symptoms - but actually, the more we work WITH our hormones - the less symptoms we should get. Personally, I did a month of loosely working WITH my hormones through fasting and nutrition, and hands down without a lie I had ZERO symptoms during this phase. My mood was pretty balanced, and I didn’t even have a twinge of a cramp. I’ve been lucky enough to never suffer greatly from symptoms but I would regularly get a sore back and cramps. But no, this month - my period ambushed me without warning, and I was quite happy about it (albeit it was a little early!)

Let’s crack on…

What actually happens?
This is the second part of the luteal phase. Also known as the Nurture phase which starts from around day 20 until you bleed (so if you have a regular cycle, it could be anything from 25-30 odd days, and then you start the cycle again). Progesterone is our best mate in this phase, and she is responsible for calming us. What we want to avoid in this phase is spiking our cortisol, as this can affect the production of progesterone. How many of us just steam through this week (I know we often have no choice), and feel burnt out and like absolute shit - it’s because we’ve inhibited progesterone which our body desperately needs at this time.

How should I eat?

• During this phase, the body focuses on metabolising hormones, so aiming for foods that help to detoxify the gut and liver will be helpful.

• The reason we all crave sweet stuff in this phase is because our mate progesterone needs glucose! This is a good time to eat more starchy foods such as allll the potatoes, lentils, citrus fruits, tropical fruits, berries, brown and wild rice & quinoa.

• Fasting wise (if you fast), do not fast at all. This is because any small spikes in cortisol (the stress hormone) will affect progesterone production.

• Dr Mindy recommends what she has named ‘Hormone feasting’ type foods. They are all listed in her book, but ensure to keep protein intake good, healthy fats and good, complex carbs in the system!
  
  How should I train?

• Although I often don’t feel ,much change training wise here, if I do feel a bit weaker, I know why. If you weight train, I would still weight train but just know that it may not feel as good as usual (although this isn’t a rule so do you if you feel good).

• The reason why we are told to yoga/hike/take it easier here is because if we do super high intensity training, it can deplete our progesterone stores (and also can cause a bit of stress = cortisol). But I very much believe if you are a person who has trained for a long time and know your body, you can probably train at a higher level without inducing too much stress etc. So this is a personal preference and a case of ‘you know your own body’ and when you’re pushing it too much.

• Maybe take an extra rest day!
  
  I hope these little snippets have helped a little. If anything I just want women to know their own health and have the information to use to the best they can. I will be writing an update of my first month of loosely following fasting and nutrition protocols set out by ‘Fast Like a Girl’ by Dr Mindy Pelz - in detail soon.

  Always keep researching your health, because no one else will do it for us.