How to Eat for Your Menstrual Cycle

THE MENSTRUAL CYCLE PHASES

As women, we go through four phases: menstruation, follicular, ovulatory, and luteal. Typically our cycle lasts for 28-days, but it ranges between 23-36 days. Ideally, you track while you’re not on birth control as birth control disrupts our brains and ovaries’ communication.

Here is a brief overview of our hormonal phases:

Menstruation

This is when our period start, in which we shed the uterine lining. On average, your period can last anywhere from 3 to 7 days. Hormonal, this is when Estrogen and Progesterone are very low.

Follicular

The follicular begins the day you start your period and continues until you ovulate. The follicular phase is when Estrogen is increasing to grow a follicle to become an egg. Progesterone also begins to slowly increase, preparing for ovulation. This phase usually lasts 7-10 days.

Ovulatory

This is when your ovaries release an egg. It is a very short phase, 3-4 days, in which you can get pregnant, but sperm can last up to 5 in the body. 

Estrogen has peaked and begins to decline. At the same time, Progesterone starts to increase rapidly.

Luteal

The final phase begins right after ovulation and lasts for 10-14 days. Hormonally we see a little rise in Estrogen only to drop off again. However, Progesterone will peak at the midway point (5th or 7th day) of this phase. 

Then it will drop off like Estrogen if the egg was not fertilized. Then we start all over again with our period.

HOW TO EAT FOR YOUR MENSTRUAL CYCLE

Each phase has specific foods and supplements you can incorporate to help your hormones. However, having a whole foods-based diet is the foundation you want. Aim for high-quality animal meats, free-range eggs, organic vegetables and fruits, healthy fats, and nuts/seeds.

Aim to reduce processed foods, gluten/wheat, grains (if you can’t tolerate them), conventional dairy, and refined sugar. 

Menstruation

The major concern during our periods is the dip in energy levels. This is due to both Estrogen and Progesterone levels being so low. We also have the matter of the loss of Iron. This is when we want to provide our bodies with as many nutrients as possible.

Nutrition

• Increase your protein intake for iron and Vitamin B12 (salmon, red meat, almonds, liver)
• Limit the processed foods and high-sugar foods as it can make your PMS worse
• Snack on nuts/seeds, 75-100% dark chocolate, and fruit for those sugar cravings
• Increase Vitamin C to help with iron absorption (bell peppers, tomatoes, and leafy greens)
• Eat warm foods to warm the body and ease the digestive process

Follicular

This phase begins on the first day of your period. So for the first week of this phase, you’ll follow the menstruation recommendations. However, as your period ends, the more energy you’ll have. 

This is when Estrogen is starting to rise, and we become insulin sensitive (bring on the carbs!) 

Nutrition

• Eat a tbsp of flaxseeds and pumpkin seeds per day
• Eat enough calories in animal proteins, vegetables, and healthy fats to support hormone changes.
• Focus on the protein as this is when we can workout harder
• Eat carbohydrates around your workouts for energy and recovery.
• Boost your calcium to help reduce PMS in the luteal phase organic/raw dairy, leafy greens)

Ovulatory

During this period, we are very fertile. This is when Estrogen levels peak and begins to decline. The goal here is to support the change in hormones and energy.

Nutrition

• Focus on digestion as we need to detox the extra Estrogen
• Manipulate your fiber (do a combination of soluble and insoluble sources)
• Eat all the healthy fats for proper hormone changes.

Luteal

You will still follow the recommendations for the ovulatory phase for the first 3-4 days. However, the primary goal here is to prepare for our period and detox the excess Estrogen.

Nutrition

• Aim for good sources of Zinc (shellfish, red meat, cashews, almonds, chickpeas)
• Aim for good sources of Vitamin E (almonds, peanuts, leafy greens)
• Support the liver for detoxing (cruciferous vegetables, drinking plenty of water)
• Increase the carbohydrates (sweet potatoes, yams, apples, berries, honey)
• Add a tbsp of sesame seeds and sunflower seeds per day.
• Be aware of food cravings as they can point to nutrients your body needs.