Blog Five: Birth Control and Cycle Syncing
Women’s Ovulation Cycle is really not taught in school. I honestly didn’t know the details about it until I decided to research everything. First, there are multiple phases of your ovulatory cycle. The phases happen because of the hormones your body produces. The main players in this cycle are luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), estrogen and progesterone. LH and FSH are hormones being excreted by your brain, whereas estrogen and progesterone are produced by your ovaries. They all play a large role in your cycle and producing a viable egg, but for now we will only focus on estrogen and progesterone. Estrogen is the high energy hormone, making your libido increase and become more confident, hypothetically for your body to get ready for baby-making time. Progesterone is the low energy hormone and typically spikes in order for your body to rest, making you “lazier” and tired, hypothetically for an egg to implant.
Day 1-5ish: Menstruation
Menstruation is when your body sheds the inner lining of the uterus. You may feel slower, lazier, and quiet. Your body needs time to rest and heal, think of slow movements like walking, yoga, swimming, and stretching. Estrogen has slightly higher levels than progesterone but both hormones are stable. The goals during this phase would be hydration, iron replacements, anti-inflammatory foods, and mood stabilizers. Foods to incorporate during this phase are dark leafy greens, red meat, dark chocolate, broccoli, chickpeas, cucumber, teas, avocado, salmon, flaxseed, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, and beats.
Day 5-11: Follicular
During this phase, your body is recovered and has higher energy after the resting period. You may feel energetic, confident, and flirtatious. Think of high energy workouts, outdoor time, strength workouts, HIIT, and cardio. There is a large estrogen spike during this phase. The goals during this would be energy supporting, hormone balancing, antioxidants, and omega-3’s. Foods to incorporate would be quinoa, brown rice, oats, chickpeas, yogurt, turkey, salmon, eggs, spinach, carrots, berries, oranges, flaxseed and chia seeds.
Day 12-17: Ovulation
During this phase, your body is “dropping” the egg. This phase also has the highest estrogen peak, allowing you to be confident and energetic. Think of activities like sports, cardio, and creativity (long nature walks, drawing, singing, etc.) The goals would be for hormone balancing with foods like berries, eggs, spinach, seeds and nuts.
Day 18-25 Mid Luteal
During this phase, estrogen is still pretty high but lowering quickly. Progesterone then spikes. You usually feel pretty well rounded and “normal” until estrogen dips, then you may feel low energy. Goals would be to balance hormones, antioxidants, and balance energy levels. For activities, think walks, strength training, pilates. Foods like dark leafy greens, nuts, quinoa, brown rice, chickpeas, carrots, broccoli, apples, berries, dark chocolate, salmon, and dates.
Day 25-28: Late luteal
During this phase, progesterone and estrogen drop. You may feel mood swingy, grumpy, irritated, and sleepy. Goals would be to alleviate cramps, reduce inflammation and bloating, mood and energy stabilizers. Activities like sauna, walking, and salt baths are good. Foods like sweet potatos, bananas, ginger, avocados, apples, berries, teas, dates, berries, tumeric, eggs, chicken, turkey, and beans.
This may all be different for every person. And this will drastically change if you are on any form of contraceptive. Listen to your body, take notes on what you feel and what day of the cycle you are at.
Xoxo, hads
Sources:
I have scoured the internet looking for the “correct” things to do and scientific explanations on your cycle. The best resource I have used is “This is Your Brain on Birth Control” by Sarah E. Hill, PhD.
