Beginning your Cycle Living Journey + My Top 3 Tips
Cycling Living and Overcoming Societal Perceptions
Cycle living, hormone balancing, cycle syncing…it has many names, but in my opinion it ultimately means tuning into the power and magic of being a woman. Leaning into it, owning it, celebrating it. Looking at our bodies and every single thing we experience throughout our health journey as powerful and important. But before all of that, let me go back to the beginning a bit.
Hormone health has been clouded in misconceptions and biases for years. For the better part of my life, I never gave my period or the hormonal birth control I took for 14 years a passing thought (read my blog on taking my first steps and transitioning off hormonal birth control). I even remember thinking how convenient it must be that the hormonal IUD actually allows you to skip your period altogether. Our society taught us that are periods are something to either be feared or to ignore. How many of you hid your tampon up into your sleeve on the way to the bathroom? That us being “hormonal” and “emotional” was this negative thing we experienced because we were women. And even if you were lucky enough to miss some of the fear and hate circling your period, I doubt you were taught to admire it- to cherish and celebrate the ebbs and flows of our hormones throughout our menstrual cycle. To look at it as an advantage.
Let's pause- think about that. Women are very literally the source of life, and that is about the closest thing to magic I can imagine. On top of that, we experience these magnificent changes in hormones throughout our 28(ish) day cycle that allow us to tap into different parts of ourselves. Like igniting our creativity for a time, and then sliding into a phase of productivity to bring those ideas to life. Imagine if women everywhere could shed the weight of society and release the perceptions that keep us down- that make us small, that ever made us think that something natural we experienced could be bad.
I myself learned the names of the four phases in my cycle at 27 years old…almost 30, and I had no idea how my body truly functioned. While it was quite a journey leading up to this moment and quite the journey following my educational awakening, I look to one book as this catalytic moment: In the FLO by Alisa Vitti- functional nutritionist, hormone expert, and founder of Flo Living and the Cycle Syncing Method™. I read this book and became obsessed; I transitioned off hormonal birth control and started creating a plan for how to begin my cycle living journey. Alisa Vitti details her patented Cycle Syncing Method thoroughly in her book, and I can’t stress enough how important it is to read this book in order to understand what approach you want to take. I am not here to tell you what to do, but rather share with you what I did so you can start your hormonal health journey.
Understanding if Cycle Living is Right for You
At this point, you are maybe wondering if this is right for you. Thinking that you don’t have any symptoms or diagnosed hormonal imbalances, and so this might not be for you. Let me stop you right there sis! Because we weren’t taught to honor our cycles or have a reverence for the hormones in our bodies, we weren’t taught to look for the symptoms. And cycle living isn’t just for someone with a diagnosed hormonal imbalance- it is for every woman. Every. Woman. For every woman that wants to find her highest health and honor her natural body.
It took me reading this book and going deep into my hormonal health to realize that the things I experienced on a daily basis were even symptoms. Let me give you a little taste: acne, bloating, inability to lose weight, hair thinning, unexplained weight gain/weight loss, digestion issues, fatigue, low sex drive, anxiety. Any of these ring a bell? I know I raised my hand to many of these, and so did my friends. And for years, I thought it was just something I was doing that I needed to change or work harder at. That I needed to go to the gym more and eat less, that I needed to find the perfect skin care regimen with 10+ products, that I need to meditate more and bring down my worries, that I needed a sleep doctor because I was always exhausted. I didn’t understand, until now, that many and possibly most of these thing were because of my hormonal imbalances.
My Top Tips That Guided My Journey
So now that I have (hopefully) convinced you that cycle living is a path you want to explore, I want to assure you that it is easy to get started and something you can absolutely do. Diving into cycle living can be overwhelming- there are lots of new terms, many guidelines and ways of living, and that can seem like a huge undertaking. Well, here is the first and most important thing you should know: it is a journey babes.
It is a day-by-day, one foot in front of the other process. There is no need to rush it. Giving yourself grace and love throughout the process is more important that eating every food right and curating your schedule perfectly. There is no magic switch you can flip to immediately make everything right, so there is no need to put pressure on yourself to do everything right, right away.
Which brings me to my second tip: take cycle living in bite sized pieces and add on over time. Look across the cycle living recommendations and understand what feels digestible to you. What makes the most sense? What are you drawn to? Start there. Pick just a couple things and see how it feels to incorporate those, and then you can slowly start to incorporate other elements over time. For me, I started with the workouts- I changed up what exercises I did for each phase just a couple times a week and listened to my body. Then, I started to incorporate the recommended fruits, then vegetables, then whole meals. This process took me months and months, and my journey is still not over (nor will it ever be). Give yourself grace and move intentionally.
My last tip: follow your intuition. Yes, that seems like a non-answer. A vague thing without real guidance, but I promise it is just as important as any food you consume or exercise you do. Listen to your body, your mind, your soul and let them lead. If a food in one phase doesn’t feel good to your body, don’t eat it. If you are craving a different workout in one phase, tune into why your body is asking that and follow your truth. Cycle living is not a diet or workout regimen, there is no hyper strict equation you have to follow or else you aren’t doing it right. Remember, it is tuning into your natural powers of being a woman, which also means you need to listen to your own truth.
A Quick Guide to Creating your Cycle Living Journey
Generally, there are three main components to cycle living that I leverage and change throughout my menstrual cycle: 1) food, 2) exercises, and 3) life structure/timing. I won’t go into every detail in this post, but let’s break it down from a high-level.
The Food. In each phase (follicular, ovulatory, luteal, and menstrual), there are different foods you can eat to help balance your hormones and reach your highest mind and body health. Even a quick google search of “menstrual phase food guide” will give you plenty of charts to use as a guide. Here is what I thought was the trickiest part: it is a list of foods and ingredients, not meals. Which can be tricky and brings me back to my tip of taking it one step at a time. Pick a couple foods for each phase that you want to incorporate, and then with each month as you revisit each phase you can work in more and more. Fruit is easy, so start there! Then leverage the vegetables, grains and proteins to make a couple easy lunches and dinners. The last, and most complicated, element is the way you cook the foods. For example, in follicular think raw and light whereas luteal is roasted and warming. I believe that food is medicine, and that the majority of our health can be tracked back to what we eat, so make sure that food is an integral part of your 60-90 day cycle living plan. I also hope to start releasing and sharing my own easy, healthy cycle living recipes soon to make your journey easier- so keep a look out! Note: I am a dairy-free, pescatarian, meaning I eat fish on some days but am mostly vegetarian/vegan. But I promise the meals are delicious (my fiancé can testify) and easy for anyone who is just venturing into healthy eating.
The Exercises. In my experience, this was the easiest to quickly incorporate into my life. When cycle living, I found myself working out less, slowing down more, and seeing more positive changes in my physique that I have seen since I was 18. For as long as I can remember, I have been trying some new workout, pushing myself to the limit, and seemingly seeing no changes, until cycle living. I thought that in order to see progress I could never slow down or take days off, but that is not the way our bodies work best. Let me break it down. The follicular phase (the first 7-10 days) is cardio based exercises such as running, biking, HIIT, and yoga sculpt. The ovulatory phase (next 3-4 days) is intense workouts like HIIT, spin classes, and power vinyasa yoga. The luteal phase (next 10-14 days) is focused on strength training like lifting, strength pilates, and slower vinyasa yoga. The menstrual phase (your period, 3-7 days) is for rest, and I am serious- only restorative activities like yin yoga, walking, and breath work. Try incorporating a couple cycle living compliant workouts into each phase and most importantly, rest during your menstrual phase. Also, I have a big surprise/release coming out in the new year all around this, so also stay tuned for that goodness!
Life Structure and Timing. This was the hardest. This is the one that continues to trip me up and that I have to work on the most. Across your phase, different parts of your personality and life light up based on the hormones flowing through your body and leveraging these nuances can help you bring parts of your life to light in new ways. For example, in the follicular and ovulatory phase you are creativity, open to new beginnings, adventurous and social, whereas in your luteal phase you are task oriented, productive and inward focused. While you may not be able to bring these directly into all elements of your life such as work and school, you can try your best. For example, I create new, inspired yoga flows in my follicular and ovulatory phase. In my luteal phase I crush through my to-do’s like mapping out blog posts, working on my website, and planning new projects. In my menstrual phase I slow down and reflect on what I am doing and the paths I am taking. It is up to you to decide what and how much you want to structure your life.
Taking Your First Step and Celebrating Yourself
Mentally committing to honoring yourself and framing your actions in the light of that decision is the first step towards cycle living. And if you are here reading this, you have likely already taken that plunge. The journey is what you make it and that has endless possibilities. Celebrate yourself and the decisions you have made to put yourself first. There are boundless tools at your disposal to help find the success that you crave with cycle living. And if you feel like you need more support, a nurturing environment to bring those aspirations to life, and a mindful approach to this new undertaking- I am here for you. Whether that is a quick chat or deciding to formally work with me, reach out. I would love to hear from you and even more, be a part of your journey that I believe holds the potential to be entirely transformational.
With Love,
Lex
