Energy

What is the infradian rhythm? The infradian rhythm is one of your body’s two internal time keepers. (The other timekeeper is the circadian rhythm.) In this post, I’m going to give you a sneak peek at your infradian rhythm, explain why no one else is talking about it, outline why the medical establishment largely ignores it, and introduce you to The  Cycle Syncing® Method, which is the revolutionary phase-based self-care practice I developed based on years of research and working with women all over the world to help them erase period problems, reverse hormone conditions like fibroids and PCOS, and live happier, healthier lives. The infradian rhythm influences six different systems of the body: brain, metabolism, immune system, microbiome, the stress response system, and reproductive system. Examples of the influences from your infradian rhythm are times during the month when you need more rest or when workouts are more difficult. In addition to in depth examples, this article covers the frequency and advice about your second clock so that you can then nurture your unique female biochemistry with phase-specific self care.

Why Learn About Your Infradian Rhythm?

Because people with female physiology can only look and feel their best when you eat, exercise, and live in ways that support your infradian rhythm. Just look at the past 10 years: There’s been an explosion in online wellness content — new diet protocols, new fitness programs, new ‘extreme’ biohacks like cryotherapy and infrared saunas — but women’s hormone and autoimmune conditions have jumped nearly 50-percent in that same time period. That’s because most medical research ignores the unique needs of people with female physiology.

Medicine has ignored the infradian rhythm, how it operates, and what it means for women and all people with female physiology. My new book is all about the infradian rhythm and how learning to live in line with our bodies’ ‘second timekeeper’ can help erase period problems, balance hormones, and help us live without symptoms like acne, bloating, cramps, missing or irregular periods, and heavy periods. Here’s what you need to know about your infradian rhythm and how to eat, exercise, work, and live in ways that support it.

What is the Infradian Rhythm?

The infradian rhythm is one of two internal timekeepers experienced by people with female biochemistry. It is a 28-day cycle that regulates the menstrual cycle. The infradian rhythm powerfully affects six different systems of the body:

• Brain
• Metabolism
• Immune System
• Microbiome
• Stress Response System
• Reproductive System

The infradian rhythm is also referred to as the body’s ‘second clock.’ The body’s other innate timekeeper is the 24-hour circadian rhythm, which is experienced by both men and women. The infradian rhythm is only experienced by people with female physiology.

How Does the Infradian Rhythm Influence Your Body and Brain?

Here are some facts about the infradian rhythm that will help you understand the cyclic nature of your mind and body. Did you know that:

• The infradian rhythm creates a 25% change in your brain chemistry over the course of the month?  
• Your metabolism speeds up and slows down predictably across the month and that you need to change what you eat and the intensity of your workouts each week in order to optimize your metabolism?
• Your cortisol levels are higher in one part of your infradian cycle, so pushing yourself through an intense workout bumps up cortisol levels even further, adding to your stress and inflammation, disrupting your hormones, and making you feel anxious and unfocused?
• People with female biochemistry need more sleep than men because we have a more complex brain and it needs 20 minutes longer to clean itself and reset for the cognitive day?
• People with female physiology tend to need less in the way of extreme self-care practices because we have more efficient biology.

As this list shows, your body and brain change significantly throughout the course of a month. Specifically, we move through four distinct phases within the course of 28-days. They are:

Phase 1: Follicular (the 7 to 10 days after your period)

Phase 2: Ovulatory (the to 4 days in the middle of your cycle)

Phase 3: Luteal (the 10 to 14 days between ovulation and your period)

Phase 4: Menstrual (the 3 to 7 days of your period)

During each of these four phases, you experience normal hormonal fluctuations that influence your body temperature, skin elasticity, sleep cycle, energy, emotions, and cognitive function. What’s more, your 28-day cycle (infradian rhythm) works in close concert with your 24-hour cycle: a dysregulated infradian rhythm will mess with your circadian cycle—and a wonky circadian cycle will negatively influence your infradian cycle. In this way, using phase-based self-care not only supports your month-long hormone cycle but also your 24-hour sleep-wake cycle. This makes practicing The Cycle Syncing Method™ even more powerful in promoting hormone health and overall health.

Why Most Wellness Protocols Don’t Work For the Infradian Rhythm

People with female physiology benefit when they eat, exercise, and work in ways that support their infradian rhythm, as opposed to following diet, fitness, and work trends that disrupt it. It’s precisely because so many women try to follow the ‘same-thing-everyday’ plans that work for male physiology that 50% of women are suffering with hormonal imbalances, while men don’t suffer them at the same rate.  

You’ve probably heard of the circadian clock, or the 24-hour biological rhythm that is inherent to all of us, men and women, old and young. This internal timekeeper directs many of the body’s internal processes, from when we get our get our deepest sleep (around 2:00am) and when we’re at our most alert (around 10:00am) to when we’re the most coordinated (2:30pm) and when we have the fastest reaction time (3:30pm). The circadian clock also helps regulate our body temperature and metabolism. Men's testosterone production  is organized around the circadian rhythm (and so is the vast majority of fitness and nutrition research and advice; more on that below). But people who menstruate also follow the infradian rhythm, which is linked to the menstrual cycle. And when you understand your infradian rhythm and how it informs your unique female biochemistry, you can become calmer, happier, and healthier, as well as more productive at work and more satisfied in your relationships. Your hormones will stay balanced and you can live symptom-free.

The Book on Infradian Rhythm

In the Flo is all about unlocking the secrets of our “second clock” and leveraging the power of phase-based self-care not only to erase period problems, but to live healthier, happier, more productive, and more fulfilling lives. The book details everything you need to know about living in sync with your cycle.

You can, for example, schedule important meetings at work during the phase of your cycle when you’re primed for communication. Or you can plan your workouts around your shifting biochemistry throughout each infradian cycle, doing high-intensity workouts when your body will make the most of them—and avoiding them during phases when a heart-pounding workout will do your body more harm than good. For optimal health and performance, you need to learn as much as you can about your second clock and then nurture your unique female biochemistry with phase-specific self care.

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Why Doing the Same Exercise Routine Everyday Hurts the Infradian Rhythm

Our bodies and brains are different during each phase of our cycle, so our food, exercise, and self-care should be different each week, too. If you’ve been living in a ‘same-thing-everyday’ way, you’re not alone. There is a widespread cultural belief that we are supposed to repeat the same rituals every 24 hours — have the same morning routine, for example, or exercise the same way each week. But this insistence on doing the same thing day-in and day-out caters to the male hormonal biological rhythm. Men follow the same predictable pattern everyday: the 24-hour circadian clock and the 24-hour circadian clock.

People with female biochemistry having shifting hormones and shifting needs all month long. This manifests in a lot of different ways, but you can get a good sense of what I mean if we look at one specific example. Take exercise. During your follicular and ovulatory phase, your metabolism is SLOWER and resting cortisol levels are LOWER. As such, you need fewer calories during these two phases, and when you couple that lower caloric intake with cardio and HIIT workouts—30 minutes is sufficient, but you can go longer if you are healthy—it creates a metabolic situation in which you use your glucose stores for energy, fat burning, and building more lean muscle without disrupting blood sugar or increasing cortisol, which would trigger inflammation and fat gain—the exact opposite of what you want to happen.

You don't have to avoid any specific workouts during this phase, but the ones that will net you the results are cardio and HIIT. During the luteal and menstrual phase, your metabolism is FASTER and resting cortisol levels are HIGHER. So you’ll need MORE overall calories each day (around 250 extra calories) and when you eat carbs they must be complex carbs to keep blood sugar levels stable. If you don’t increase your calories during this time, it will interfere with hormone balance and trigger fat storage. What’s more, because your cortisol levels are higher, you need to limit workouts to 30 minutes only and stick to simple strength training, pilates, or yoga without a high intensity cardio component.

Why Don’t People Know About the Infradian Rhythm?

Historically, medical research has has not prioritized women’s health issues and/or not included women in medical research. Precisely because of our unique 28-day hormone cycle. When putting together clinical trials, many researchers have decided it is simply too complicated to include women as subjects because our monthly hormone cycle is too complicated. It has been perceived as too complex to control for all the hormonal shifts women go through every 28-days, so instead of trying to account for those fluctuations, researchers have just left women out and focus on men, whose predictable 24-hour circadian cycles do not vary from day to day.

Another reason? When women go to the doctor, women’s concerns about their health are often dismissed as psychological. Women are told that their symptoms are in their head, or that they are imagining their pain, or that they’re overly concerned about their physical well-being. Studies back-up this theory: one report found that almost half of those who went on to be diagnosed with an autoimmune condition (the majority of people who experience autoimmune conditions are women) were originally told that they were too worried about their health. This is all to say that when medical professionals have the chance to explore women’s symptoms in more detail and understand the root cause of their symptoms, they often don’t.

Medicine doesn’t know a lot about women’s health, explains author Maya Dusenbery in the book "Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick", and it doesn’t pay serious attention to their symptoms. There is a gender bias in medicine and if you have experienced period problems like acne, bloating, cramps, heavy or irregular periods, missing periods, PMS or other hormone-related symptoms and not been helped by traditional interventions, you know this firsthand. But you can break the cycle of symptoms, and look and feel your best, when you ditch the idea that you are supposed to live the same way everyday and start living in sync with your cycle.

The Cycle Syncing® Method 101

Once I uncovered all of this about the infradian rhythm and our specific needs, it was clear that we needed a diet, fitness and lifestyle program that would help us support our biological rhythm.  This is why I created The Cycle Syncing® Method. Practicing The Cycle Syncing® Method is easy. It starts with deepening your familiarity with your 28-day hormone cycle—something you can do with the MyFlo app—and then tailoring your food, movement, supplements, and lifestyle choices to your unique strengths, weaknesses, and needs during each phase of your cycle.

That might sound daunting. It’s not. Before long, you will develop an intuitive sense of how your body feels during each phase of your cycle and what it needs to maintain hormone balance. You will begin to naturally shift your food, movement, and schedule as your hormones fluctuate. With time, making phase-based self-care choices will be second nature. What type of phase-based choices am I talking about? Here’s a closer look at the different ways The Cycle Synching® Method is used in practice:

• Do you have certain cravings during different weeks of the month?
• Do you feel hungrier at different stages of your cycle? If so, you already have an embodied sense of your shifting needs each month.
• What about libido and having a more satisfying relationship and sex life without the drama and frustration?
• Are you fatigued or do you wish you could spring out of bed in the morning and maintain your energy throughout the day?

Practicing The Cycle Synching® Method with food starts by choosing specific foods that will support optimal hormone balance in each phase. Sometimes, even if you’re eating perfectly, supplements are necessary to deepen your phase-based self-care plan, erase your period problems, and feel your best. If you are deficient in any of the five essential micronutrients required for hormone health, you will never fully resolve symptoms like acne, bloating, PMS, cramps, menstrual migraines, missing or irregular periods, or cyclical fatigue and moodiness. Planning your workouts in sync with your cycle will allow you to achieve your fitness goals with less effort. It also makes your workouts easier because you are not trying to do a workout that is ill-matched for your hormones during a specific time. Using The Cycle Synching® Method for exercise is a win-win.

Let me be clear, and the research confirms - you as a woman, can do ANYTHING ANYTIME. The research also shows that as hormones stimulate the brain in different ways throughout the month, that you are more interested and more naturally at ease with certain tasks at different times of the month. The same is true of men of course, their brains are stimulated just over the course of one day and they do arrange their work to be optimally productive based on their hormonal patterns.  So when we plan our schedules accordingly—for example, when we schedule important meetings or interviews when we are primed for communication—we may find even more success - and more importantly experience less overall stress on your body.

Sixty percent of women are sexually unsatisfied because we don't understand how our infradian rhythm affects our sexual desire and changes our requirements for physical stimulation in each phase. Once you get the right key, the ignition will work every time and you don't ever have to think something's wrong with you again. Nurturing a healthy, balanced relationship takes work, and using your infradian rhythm to organize the activities you might want to do with your partner can be a helpful way to bring in a wider variety of experiences. From trying new things to going out with friends, to romantic date nights, to Netflix and chill nights at home — timing these according to your biological rhythm increases pleasure, positive connection, and decreases stress!

My book In the Flo will help you achieve all this — and more. If you’re ready to harness the power of your unique female biochemistry to look and feel your best, grab a copy of In the Flo and get ready to look, feel, and perform your best.

Women are hit particularly hard by stress. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in America, affecting 40 million adults in the United States or 18.1% of the population every year. But women are more likely than men to report having a great deal of stress, and almost half of all women say their stress has increased over the past five years (compared to 39-percent of men).

Worst of all, stress is uniquely hard on women and our reproductive hormones. Here’s what you need to know about how stress affects your menstrual cycle and how you can protect yourself from the damaging effects of stress.

Stress & Your Menstrual Cycle

When you’re stressed, your adrenal glands pump out adrenaline and cortisol, which gets your body ready to either fight or run away from a real or perceived danger in your environment (the fight-or-flight response). This hormonal cascade is a natural process — and, in instances of grave danger, an extremely useful one. But when this happens over and over again, triggered by everyday stressors like deadlines instead of life-or-death threats, it depletes your cortisol reserve, leaving your adrenals unable to respond properly to stress.

A woman’s stress response is also different based on where she is in her 28-day hormone cycle, called the infradian rhythm. Cortisol, the stress hormone, is naturally at different levels in the first and second half of the infradian rhythm and it is important to tailor our self-care and exercise routines accordingly so as not to further disrupt cortisol and cause even more hormone imbalances. This stress response, paired with lack of appropriate phase-based self-care,  has a lot of negative effects on your hormones. Here are the ways stress damages your hormones and negatively affects your well-being:

1. Stress messes with blood sugar. Stress raises cortisol levels and disrupts your blood sugar which, in turn, disrupts your ovulation and period. Imbalanced blood sugar harms your hormones. One of the foundations of the FLO Protocol is using food and supplements to balance blood sugar. Improving your blood sugar is one of the single best things you can do to balance your hormones and heal period problems like acne, PMS, bloating, cramps, heavy or irregular periods, and missing periods.
2. Stress lowers progesterone. The stress hormone cortisol blocks progesterone production and lowers progesterone levels. That’s because your body uses progesterone to make cortisol and respond to the stress — and the more stress you experience, the more progesterone your body will ‘steal’ to make cortisol. This messes with your cycle by lengthening your luteal phase and makes your periods start of slow, with a lot of brown spotting and brown blood before your regular flow.
3. Stress delays ovulation. If you experience stress around the time you typically ovulate, the increased levels of cortisol can delay or even prevent ovulation. Stress’s negative influence on ovulation makes sense evolutionarily – a pregnancy on top of a stressful period in a person’s life is not ideal. By stopping ovulation, your body is trying to preserve energy to deal with the stress before conception takes place.
4. Stress changes the timing of your period. A period of stress after you ovulate can throw your hormones off balance. If you experience a high level of stress after you ovulate, you may experience spotting, an early period, or a period that looks or feels different than your norm in terms of  consistency, color, length, or symptoms like cramping.
5. Stress can cause your period to go missing. Intense stress can cause anovulatory cycles, or months when you don’t ovulate at all. This means no period, or a small bit of ‘breakthrough’ bleeding (which isn’t a real period, but rather your uterus still needing to shed its lining).
6. Stress causes vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Excess cortisol from stress depletes the body of essential vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients. B vitamins, magnesium, and omega-3 fatty acids are especially susceptible to stress — and are especially important for soothing your overworked adrenal system. Stress causes you to lose the micronutrients you need the most to help calm your fight-or-flight response!
7. Stress disrupts up your gut. Stress can interfere with the balance of good and bad bacteria in your gut — and a healthy gut is critically important for any woman who wants to balance hormones and erase period problems. That’s because the gut flora, and specifically a colony of bacteria called the estrobolome, help process and eliminate excess hormones from the body — and when your elimination system is sluggish, your hormones will get out of balance.

Why Most Exercise Plans Don’t Work for Women

Women are the biggest consumers of wellness-industry products and protocols. Yet most of the research behind these strategies is conducted on men, and women’s bodies work differently than men’s bodies. Women have unique biochemical needs that go unaddressed by exercise plans built around male-centered research. That leaves women to try different exercise plans, be disappointed, and then try some more. It’s a cycle that causes untold stress, energy, money, heartache, and sanity.

The fitness industry has good intentions. (Many people don’t talk about the gender bias in wellness research. I’m here to change that!) But when different exercise strategies are sold to the public as great for everyone, it can leave women feeling like it’s their fault if they don’t get the results they want. We  can start to feel like we must not have done it right or tried hard enough or that we lack willpower.

Lack of willpower is not the problem.The problem is that women, all too often, are following exercise protocols that benefit men more than women — or, in some cases, protocols that actively work against a woman’s hormones and sabotage her health and fitness goals. Times up on the gender bias in the diet and fitness industry. As women, we’re biochemically different than men. When we adopt approaches that are designed to work with our unique biological distinctions—when we stop biohacking with the boys—we will start to see results.

The key to biohacking your unique female biochemistry is to understand your 28-day cycle and to match your food and exercise to your natural hormonal shifts. When you sync your self care with your cycle, you’ll experience easier periods, less PMS, reduced bloating, clearer skin, and improvements in weight and body composition. By acknowledging your hormonal reality, you’ll finally be able to look and feel your best.

Is Burnout a Real Thing? What Does it Mean for your Hormones?

That exhausted, depleted, frazzled feeling you have every Friday night (or every night) after work)?It's burnout. And it’s a real, diagnosable condition.That’s according to the World Health Organization (WHO), who last month declared burnout a legitimate occupational phenomenon. Burnout is a result of “chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed,” said the organization, and it negatively influences one’s health.The condition is characterized by three things:

1. Feeling depleted or exhausted
2. Feeling cynical or negative about one’s job, or feeling increased mental distance from one’s job
3. Being less effective and productive on the job

This news will come as no surprise to anyone with a demanding job or other workplace stressors, like a difficult boss, unsupportive co-workers, an unhealthy work environment, a long commute, and/or the expectation of “being on” 24-hours a day. As the speed of work picks up, and as more of us work around-the-clock, burnout has become a way of life. But women have a key advantage when it comes to battling back against burnout. We can tap into the natural rhythms of our 28-day hormone cycle and use our natural strengths during each phase to work more efficiently, be more productive (without feeling overburdened), and find more satisfaction—and less stress—in our jobs.

The Hormone-Burnout Connection

The idea that your hormones could help you have an easier and less stressful experience at work might seem far-fetched, but I’m not making this up!Research shows that our hormone cycles have a direct influence on our mood, energy, creativity, and worldview. So when we plan our activities in accordance with the natural flow of our hormones, we can be top-performing, high-achieving women with energy left over at the end of the day—no to-do list app necessary. (Though we benefit greatly from knowing where we are in our cycle, which is what I designed the MyFLO app to help you do.)If, however, we ignore our hormonal patterns and force ourselves to work in a 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week time construct (one that works for men because of their more quotidian hormonal patterns), we’re more likely to experience burnout—and, as women, that chronic stress shows up in our our cycles, fertility, sex drive, and mood. In other words, working the same way, with the same rhythm, day in and day out makes period problems worse… and that prevents us from taking advantage of the solution, which depends on a healthy cycle!It’s a bit circuitous, I know, but that is exactly what it is: a vicious cycle. When we don’t practice The Cycle Syncing Method™, our hormones fall deeper into imbalance—and that makes it harder to use our cycle as a powerful tool for escaping burnout.As women, our strengths, desires, talents, and behavior shifts with our changing hormone patterns each month. Having female hormones does not mean you lose a week a month to PMS and your period. It just means that by noticing these shifts and then working with your hormones, you can make your hormones work for you.

Heal Workplace Stress By Learning To Work With Your Hormones

To harness the power of your hormones, first you need to know what your hormones are doing and when. That’s where the MyFLO app comes in. It allows you track your cycle and tune into which phase you’re in at any given time.Once you’re familiar with your cycle, you’re ready to practice The Cycle Syncing Method™, which is the method I developed for engaging in phase-based self-care. The Cycle Syncing Method™ involves working with food, movement, and time management to feel and perform your best (you can learn more about every aspect of the practice here), but for today I’m going to focus on how you can engage The Cycle Syncing Method™ specifically to battle workplace burnout.Here are the four phases of your 28-day hormone cycle and how you can harness your natural strengths during each one to perform better at work, while stressing less!

Follicular Phase

• When: The week after your period ends
• What’s happening hormonally: Estrogen is on the rise
• What to do: Set your intentions for the coming weeks, clarify your vision and purpose at work, organize what you want to accomplish next. Get moving on new projects. This is a time to really lay the groundwork for what comes next.

Ovulation Phase

• When: Mid-cycle for 3–5 days
• What’s happening hormonally: Estrogen is at its highest point
• What to do: Share your intentions with colleagues, collaborate with like-minded folks, schedule meetings, connect with others, brainstorm to find solutions. This is a time to bring others on board with your vision and to work as a team.

Luteal/Premenstrual Phase

• When: About 10–12 days before your period begins
• What’s happening hormonally: Progesterone is at its highest point
• What to do: This is your ‘get it done’ time! You are at your most organized during this phase and you love getting granular about the details. Make this phase all about accomplishing the activities and goals you outlined during your follicular phase.

Menstrual phase

• When: The days when you are bleeding
• What’s happening hormonally: All of your hormones are at a low point
• What to do: Slow down, reflect on what’s happened over the last month, and practice gratitude for all the good things you’ve accomplished. Think back on any areas of your work life that feel less than optimal or that need more attention and use them as a starting point for setting intentions during your next follicular phase.

I guarantee that if you start to prioritize projects at work in line with your cycle, you will experience less stress and greater productivity. Burnout will no longer be a way of life.And if you really want to transform your work life, you’ll engage the other aspects of The Cycle Syncing Method™ in combination with the changes you make at work. This involves food, movement, supplements, and self-care. If you put all these changes into place, you will be unstoppable at work — and you will experience far less stress in your day-to-day life.

How to Outsmart Stress And Heal Your Hormones

Don’t let stress hijack your period. If you are experiencing period problems and stress is playing a role in your symptoms, it’s time to take stress management seriously. A stressed-out cycle is a message. It’s a call-to-action from your body.Here are my top strategies for healing stress and solving your period problems:

FLO Stress Strategy #1: Focus on food

Your first step is to eat hormonally-supportive foods in a phase-based pattern, which helps soothe and support your adrenal glands, turn the dial down on cortisol production, and break the stress cycle. Not to mention that eating nutrient-dense foods at the right times of your cycle will boost your metabolism, support digestion, blood sugar balance, regulate your cycles, detoxify your system, and increase your energy. You can leverage food in multiple ways to combat stress and balance hormones, but I recommend starting by emphasizing healthy fats, like avocados and olive oil, to calm your nervous system, and making sure you’re eating a lot of fiber and fermented foods to help support the microbiome. You can read more about using the The Cycle Syncing Method™ with food here.

FLO Stress Strategy #2: Eat a good breakfast

A nutritious and filling breakfast will set you up for a day of stable blood sugar and balanced hormones. It should also bring in all those essential de-stressing vitamins and minerals like magnesium and B vitamins. I have a whole lot of great (and easy) ideas for breakfast for you right here. If you can make a natural probiotic like sauerkraut or kimchi part of your first meal of the day, even better, as that will help heal your gut. Use coconut oil along the way to boost your body’s intake of good fats.

FLO Stress Strategy #3: Exercise

Exercise is one of your best weapons when it comes to battling stress, but only if you do the right type of exercise at the right times of the month. If you’re doing high-intensity workouts during the wrong time of the month, or if you force yourself to workout the same way every day, you will make hormone balance and period problems worse. To get all the details about exercise and your cycle, go here. But the brief takeaway is this: The first half of your cycle is the ideal time for high-intensity workouts. The second half of your cycle is better suited for slower, more restorative workouts. In your luteal phase, shift from high intensity bouts of exercise to activities like yoga, walking, and easy bike rides.

FLO Stress Strategy #4: Sleep

Get some! No matter which phase of your cycle you’re in, getting enough high-quality sleep is hugely important in easing stress. Studies suggest that women need more sleep than men. Think of sleep as one of the essential micronutrients you need for a healthy period — and don’t skimp on it!

FLO Stress Strategy #5: Make time for pleasure

Whether this means self-pleasure or spa treatments to you, do what makes you feel good at least once a week. I have some tips for better orgasms and hormone-safe spa treatments including the best recipe for a long, indulgent bath for a relaxing night in. Start scheduling times for self-care into your working week as though it were a meeting or gym session and don’t flake on feeling good. You’ll reduce excess cortisol hormone this way and see the benefits fast.

FLO Stress Strategy #6: Supplements

Anti-anxiety mediations and SSRIs are often prescribed for stress. These drugs are designed to block or manage symptoms, not address root causes, and they do not work for everyone and have a long list of side effects. It’s always preferable to address stress-related symptoms like fatigue, depression, and anxiety with food and natural supplements before turning to pharmaceuticals.Here are the botanicals I recommend for stress and anxiety:

• Cinnamon – have it as tea, or sprinkle it on your oatmeal in the morning or take it as a supplement. Cinnamon is an excellent blood sugar regulator as it slows down the speed at which your stomach empties after you’ve eaten a meal.
• Holy Basil – you can take the adrenally-supportive Holy Basil as a nourishing, soothing tea. Holy Basil actually functions as an adaptogen, which means it enhances the body’s natural response to physical and emotional stress.
• Oatstraw – take this supplement as a liquid tincture in your tea. Oatstraw is cortisol-calming and adrenally-supportive.
• Ashwagandha – another adaptogen, Ashwagandha is the perfect herbal supplement if you suffer with anxiety. It is well-researched and respected for its ability to lower cortisol levels and prevent stress.

But remember: these supplements will only work effectively to reduce anxiety as part of a broader strategy to support your adrenals, address blood sugar, and balance your hormones. And here are the micronutrients that I consider absolutely essential for combating stress, balancing hormones, supporting healthy menstrual cycles, and boosting fertility:

1. Magnesium: This powerful mineral calms your nervous system and helps balance cortisol. When your stress system is in balance your levels of progesterone, estrogen, testosterone, FSH and LH will follow suit. Magnesium also helps to control insulin production, which reduces sugar cravings and blood sugar spikes, and it helps you get a great night’s sleep.
2. B5: Also known as pantothenic acid, this vitamin is crucial for theadrenal glands, the organs responsible for pumping out cortisol. Studies have shown that supplementing with B5 helps stimulate adrenal cells, which in turn, helps regulate your body’s stress response.
3. Omega-3s: Research suggests that omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation (which is an internal stressor on the body) and help improve mood.

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If you’re ready to stop living with daily, debilitating stress, then it’s time to seek out natural solutions that will support your adrenals, balance your mood, and empower you to take on everything life throws your way. You can’t always control the external stressors around you, but you absolutely can better manage your internal responses. Why not arm yourself with the most effective, safe, and natural tools available?

Stop spot-treating your symptoms and white-knuckling through your anxiety: Order the Balance Supplement Kit and get the daily dose of essential vitamins and minerals you need to kick stress to the curb, once and for all.

The 24 Hour Cycle vs 28 Day Cycle

Some weeks you’re on - you’re crushing it at work, you’re killing it in the gym, and you have energy after work to meet up with friends or to engage in leisure activities you love. But other weeks? Not so much. You have to drag yourself out of bed, you feel like you’re phoning it in at work and during workouts, and after work, you crash on the sofa and stare at the ceiling.

If that describes you, you’re probably (and rightfully) frustrated by these swings in mood, productivity, and energy. And being the wickedly intelligent woman that you are, you’ve probably set out to try to fix them.

Maybe you’ve tried the Bullet journal or a to-do list app.  Maybe you bought an inspiring day planner, hoping that the beautiful pages would zap you into action. Maybe you read one of the million books out there on time management or productivity secrets. . But none of those things have worked—or will work in the future.

Why?

Because traditional time management strategies don’t work for women. These external “solutions” force us to follow the 24-hour circadian cycle and they ignore a woman’s natural, 28-day hormone clock. We’ve been taught to plan our lives on the 24-hour circadian schedule, which works well for men—but not for women.

With most time management systems, we’re expected to make to-do lists, check things off as the day goes by, and then wake up the next day and repeat. Every day, every 24 hours, the same thing. But when women are forced to function as if their natural 28-day hormone clock doesn’t exist, we miss out on the superpower granted to us by our hormones.

We have different strengths during each of the four phases of our 28-day hormone cycle, and when we align our activities with our strengths during each phase—instead of keeping the rhythm of our lives the same, day in and day out— we can accomplish more, with less stress. When we understand and sync our lives with our hormone cycle, all of a sudden (and with very little effort!) we have plenty of time to do all that we want and need to. We have more spaciousness to get things done.

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Really? This all sounds a little woo woo….

Now, you might be thinking Wow, that sounds great. Far-fetched and totally made up, but great! But this isn’t theoretical at all. Research shows that our hormone cycles have a direct influence on our mood, energy, creativity, and worldview. So, when we plan our activities in accordance with the natural flow of our hormones, we can be top-performing, high-achieving women with energy left over at the end of the day—no to-do list app necessary. (Though we benefit greatly from knowing where we're at in our cycle, which is the reason our MyFLO app was designed!)

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Leverage your hormones for productivity

As women, our cyclical nature means we can and should work differently, (and plan our food and exercise differently), depending on which abilities are amplified by our hormones, during each phase of our cycle. When we start to get familiar with our different strengths during each phase, we become more predictable powerhouses at work and in life, instead of believing we’re victims to our hormonal fluctuations.

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Time Management for Women: Step into your power

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Step 1

Your essential first step is to sync your diet and exercise with each phase of your cycle. Research shows that your body has different micronutrient needs each week, and that, hormonally speaking, you are better equipped to handle intense workouts during the first half of our cycle. When your system gets the nourishment and movement it needs when it needs it, you will feel energized, creative, and naturally more productive.

Step 2

The second step? Respect your feminine energy. Now, when we say “feminine energy”, we're not talking about how you dress or behave. We're talking about connecting with your unique cyclical nature as a woman, and recognizing the natural shifts in energy and focus that come along with each part of your cycle.

These natural shifts are not vulnerabilities. When we learn how to use them in a way that benefits us, they become strengths. Harnessing the power of these shifts is the secret to achieving your personal, professional, and romantic goals. There is a timing and seasonality to your life—and when you use that knowledge to your advantage, you’re doing what I’ve coined as, Cycle Syncing®. Practicing Cycle Syncing® allows for greater creativity and productivity, without greater stress.

Through Cycle Syncing®, you can accomplish more of what really matters with ease, grace, and less stress. Cycle Syncing® isn’t mysterious or made-up. It’s a practice that starts with understanding the delicate (and often off-kilter) balance between estrogen and progesterone, and how those hormones shift during the month.

After that, it’s about structuring your life around the ebbs and flows of those hormones. It's actually quite simple! In practice, Cycle Syncing® is a totally doable and intuitive way to live.

Step 3

The third step is when things really get exciting. This is when you start to embody Cycle Syncing®, by learning about the four phases of your cycle and aligning your activities with your strengths in each phase. This is the magic that will help you do more of what matters to you, without burning out.

‍The follicular phase

• ‍When: The week after your period ends
• What’s happening hormonally: Estrogen is on the rise
• What to do: Set your intentions for the future, clarify your vision, spend time journaling (or otherwise recording your feelings and thoughts), organize what you want to accomplish in the coming weeks

‍The ovulation phase

• ‍When: Mid-cycle for 3–5 days
• What’s happening hormonally: Estrogen is at its highest point
• What to do: Talk about your vision, collaborate with like-minded folks, schedule meetings, connect with others, embrace your desire to be social during this phase

‍The luteal/premenstrual phase

• ‍When: About 10–12 days before your period begins
• What’s happening hormonally: Progesterone is at its highest point
• What to do: This is your do, do, do time! You are at your most organized during this phase and you love getting granular about the details. Make this phase all about accomplishing the activities and goals you outlined during your follicular phase

‍The menstrual phase

• ‍When: The days during your bleed, when you're on your period
• What’s happening hormonally: All of your hormones are at a low point
• What to do: Slow down, reflect on what’s happened over the last month, and practice gratitude for the good things that have occurred and all you’ve accomplished. Think back on any areas of your life that feel less than optimal or that need more attention, and use them as a starting point for setting intentions during your next follicular phase

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Cheers to your Cycle Syncing® journey! 

A 4-Day Detox can't fix everything, and you know I’m no big fan of the quick fix. If you know me, you know I advocate for making good choices every day, creating sustainable lifestyle shifts, that last for the long term. It’s an evidence based, results-driven perspective and it really works. And for those of you who don't know me yet, nice to see you here! I do recommend the right kind of detox, at the right time. It can be a great way to get started as well as a method for reaching new milestones.

Who is a hormone detox for? A detox is for someone who already needs it! For example, if you're feeling the desire for a reset- after a long summer, or the overconsumption of alcohol, extended periods of indulgent eating, or even just an intuition to get back into balance...then seize that impulse to take better care of yourself and do a hormone detox. Let's be entirely clear about one thing: this detox is full of food and fuel and supportive nutrition.

‍Many health issues - including fatigue, acne, depression, anxiety, brain fog, mood swings, and weight gain (the kind of things that might make you want to do a detox in the first place) are attributed to too-high estrogen levels or a condition we call “estrogen dominance.”

‍Estrogen dominance drives the most common hormonal health issues too, from PMS to PCOS. Detoxing your body of excess estrogen has many immediate and long term benefits. If you feel the need for a detox, it’s likely because your liver is running at a sub-optimal level, it’s overloaded with caffeine, alcohol, pesticides, sugar, etc. and you are sensing the need to cleanse. A hormone detox is not a crash diet, juice cleanse, or fast - that won’t achieve the goals you’ve set out. If you want to feel energized, refreshed, boosted in body, mind and spirit, as well as shed some excess weight and get glowing skin - you need nutrients, minerals, and resources to make this happen.

The Flo Living 4 Day Hormone Detox will have you eating fresh, nourishing food for 3 meals a day, plus snacks. You won’t feel hungry, depleted, or deprived. You will be prepping food to start and then you will be eating frequently throughout the day, instead of watching the clock for your next juice. The foods you’ll be eating will fill you up and support your liver function. ‍Your liver needs the fuel to process the excess hormones and toxins and eliminate them from your body.

You can download it for free here: 4-Day Detox

The 4 Day Hormone Detox is packed full of cleansing foods that address your liver, intestines and lymphatic system. Your elimination organs - especially your hard-working liver - need lots of nutrients to breakdown toxins, and you get nutrients from food. You do not and will not get enough nutrients from a juice fast or cabbage soup diet for your body to detox!

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There are so many good reasons to do a hormone detox - acne, bloating, sore breasts, PMS, funky periods, feeling sluggish, unable to focus, lacking creative juices - but I want to tell you how our 4 Day Hormone Detox can make you feel. Because sometimes the problem isn’t enough to prompt us to take action, perhaps because you’ve been living with it for so long that it feels like nothing will work. Sometimes you need some positive inspiration!

If you’ve tried detoxing before and it just hasn’t worked out the way you wanted, read on to hear what you need to make detoxing something you will actually look forward to! In fact, many who practice Cycle Syncing® do this detox once every few months.

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Why do a hormone detox?

Your skin will glow:

During the 4 days of the hormone detox you will eliminate entirely all the central adult and hormonal acne triggers like dairy, soy, caffeine, sugar, and gluten. You will also increase the amount of skin-clearing, hormone-supportive nutrients in your diet - especially the vital omega-3s and B vitamins. Excess estrogen and the resulting hormonal imbalance leads to acne, by increasing sebum production and preventing skin healing. If you are particularly prone to acne around your ovulation days or before your period, this detox is for you. You’ll also detox more than just your body - our hormone detox has an additional layer that you won’t find with most detox plans. You won’t only be detoxing your diet and concentrating on what you eat during the day, you’ll also be detoxing your home - the products you use, everything from kitchen cleaning products to cosmetics. This is so essential. We often focus entirely on what we put in our bodies when we detox, but we don’t think of what we’re putting on our body in the shower in the morning, or on our skin when we wash the dishes or do the laundry. Women especially are exposed to so many endocrine-disruptive chemicals throughout the day. It’s just as important to detox and cleanse your personal environment.

Your mood will soar:

If you’ve been experiencing anxiety, low mood, depression, or just a sluggishness and demotivation, then this detox will turn that around in 4 days. You’ll feel emotionally lighter, as well as physically lighter. The root cause of mood swings and many female-centric mood problems is destabilized blood sugar. This detox is not a fast, will not leave you hungry in the evening, and should keep you satisfied and stable throughout the day. Most women experience their worst moods as a form of PMS, which is the result of high estrogen/low progesterone. This detox will sweep your body of that excess estrogen and leave you in balance. You’ll be eating lots of B6-rich foods and B6 is progesterone’s favorite micronutrient.

You will shift your relationship with food:

After 4 days you’ll no longer feel bloated, and it’s very likely you’ll shed a few pounds of weight. With excess estrogen, many women store weight around their midsection. For our detox, you will be eating anti-bloat ingredients in your fruit salads and green salads at every meal, plus you will be eliminating many sources of weight gain - sugar, caffeine, dairy. You will also shift how you feel about food.  Our hormone detox includes guidance on how to approach food, not just from the practical perspective of prepping meals, but also in how you actually engage with and enjoy that food. The aim is to give you pause about how you may have related to food up until now - perhaps it's eating standing up with the fridge door open, on-the-go in the car, off your kids’ plates, etc. These lessons will carry with you beyond the 4 days.

You’ll feel creative and calm:

During the detox, you’ll be given prompts for how to process your experience at the end of each day. You’ll journal on specific topics that aim to expand your perspective, increase your sense of confidence and calm, and support you in connecting with your feminine energy and creativity. This will be a conversation with yourself and your body that will help you gain so much from this mini-retreat. A detox can be a transformational experience, and you can use that energy to make positive changes in your life long-term. The clarity of thinking and focus you’ll attain will help you to hone in on exactly what you want in all areas, personal and professional.

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Adding in a micronutrient boost with the right supplements can take your hormone detox to the next level. We highly recommend incorporating our Balance by FLO Living Hormone Supplements to your plan. Always remember, that once you have the right information about how your body really works, you can start making health choices that finally start to work for you! You can do this – the science of your body is on your side!

The end of a year has one extra bonus for me, on top of the family-time, gift-giving, and catching up with friends, and that’s the announcement of the top health and wellness trends for the year to come! I love both discovering new self-care opportunities and seeing some of my personal healthy pastimes hit the mainstream. This year was the best yet, as Well+Good invited me to comment, as a board member, on one of their chosen wellness trends - menstrual realness! I was so happy to see menstrual taboo-breaking and cycle health brought to the forefront by their influential and much-discussed list. I’ve been bringing the menstrual realness for years, so it was absolutely wonderful to be recognized as a leader in this category and to see that we’ve reached that crucial tipping point when more women will get to know the benefits of living and loving their menstrual cycle.I was quoted in their menstrual realness category, “With less effort spent hiding the “shame” of a natural bodily function every month, more attention can go to listening to what our periods say about our overall health, says Well+Good Wellness Council member Alisa Vitti, a women’s hormone expert. Our culture “would have us believe that cravings, cramps, and out-of-control emotions are inevitable parts of womanhood,” she says. “I’m here to tell you: It’s just not true.””I look forward to all women having a meaningful and healthy relationship with their menstrual cycle that is free from dysfunction. Not only that, but we’re ahead of the curve here at FLO Living for talking about other 2017 wellness trends for some time, including anti-inflammatory ingredients like turmeric and natural, toxin-free beauty products.I thought I’d share my thoughts on the other wellness trends for the upcoming year that I’m excited about, enjoy and hope to see gain momentum in the future. There are also some of my personal predictions for 2017.

1. Natural beauty takes over - I love that women are viewing their beauty products with more scrutiny. I’ve been seeking out toxin-free cosmetics and skin care for nearly 20 years now and I am thrilled to see this trend go mainstream with stores and websites like CAPbeauty, Follain, and Credo. I have so many choices now, and so do you! And they’re more affordable than ever. We’ve gotten so conscious about the chemicals in our food, this is the next step. And the #nomakeup trend is a part of that - an understandable reaction to years of piling on chemical-laden products that may make us look good but don’t, longterm, make us feel good. I hope to see more spas and wellness centers incorporate natural products into treatments, like chemical-free facials. Here in NYC, there are a few places that do this, but it’s still difficult to get the treatment you want using all-natural products. I love HeyDay right now, which provides super affordable facials with a standard of using products that are free from parabens, sulfates, and artificial fragrances.
2. Woo-woo meets science - Research continues to validate many long held natural health theories from the brain body connection to electromagnetic field effects. As we come to understand more about the natural world and the importance of connection with natural elements for our physical and mental health, it only makes sense that what we once saw as woo-woo is getting validated by scientific research. Many things that feel good to women instinctively, but were once out of reach to those who felt the feelings too new-agey to explore fully, are now socially acceptable. It’s why crystal healing is a trend, but it’s also why more women are looking to connect with moon energy by observing the moon’s phases and practicing rituals on the new and full moons. We’re coming back to the body and, I think, our renewed interest in our female connection to nature can only lead us to see the importance of the menstrual cycle.
3. 360 degree wellness - From restaurants, to vacations and retreats - I love that indulgence has healthy options! It’s now relatively easy to find a great restaurant in NYC that has nutrient-dense dishes, free from dairy, gluten, and sugar, that also feel indulgent, luxurious, and delicious to enjoy. Once going out and indulging was a trade-off, now it’s a balance - you don’t have to resign yourself to only home cooking and avoiding date nights and girls’ nights out to avoid the health-hazards. Even bars are providing non-alcoholic elixirs and amazing tonics as an alternative to cocktails. Plus cafes have healthy options like turmeric lattes and chai teas so you can “meet for coffee” without the coffee. Women now want 360 degree wellness - that is, wellness is every aspect of their lives, whether that be at work (think standing desks and walking meetings), or in their leisure time. We, rightfully, want to have our cake and eat it too - as long as it’s gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free! That demand is driving the market to create restaurants, bars and bistros around, rather than in opposition to, our health goals. My current favorites are Cafe Clover, where my favorite dish is quinoa tagliatelle with beet greens and maitake mushrooms, and the organic fare at Juice Press. Plus, more women are now choosing to experiment with their hang outs by meeting friends to share infrared sauna time, sound baths, or even cryotherapy! I love these adventurous ways to spend time with your besties. It’s a way to feel moved, to feel different and new, without partaking in anything that will give you a hangover the next day. In fact, you’ll feel vibrant and refreshed instead. We’re even seeing the return of women’s circles that reflect Red Tents as more places pop up for females to gather together for collective support and self-care.
4. Female centric workouts - I’ve long been a proponent of seeking out workouts that speak to your body and work with your natural energy levels. Workouts that incorporate movement and dance, that encourage connection to our grounding feminine energy are becoming more popular. Instead of driving yourself to run a certain distance or do a certain number of push ups, this feels more holistic and attends to both your physical and mental health. S Factor, Buti yoga, TheClass, Qoya are all wonderful options for those seeking to do more than sweat it out.

Always remember, that once you have the right information about how your body really works, you can start making health choices that finally start to work for you! You can do this - the science of your body is on your side!to your FLO,AlisaGood things come in threes:

I want to hear from you!

First, which wellness trends do you hope to embrace in 2017?Second, what does “menstrual realness” mean to you? Third, everyone you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social ;)

Is Your Period Healthy?

How do you know if your hormones are healthy? The answer is in your 5th vital sign - your period. The color of your flow, frequency of your period, and symptoms you have each month can tell you a lot about your health. There are 5 different V-SIGN TYPES, and knowing which one you have will help you get healthy now and prevent disease in the future. Click here to take The V-SIGN TYPE™ Quiz NOW

So, you’ve been feeling less than great lately – maybe the first sign was irregular or heavy and painful periods, or maybe it was some weight gain and acne – either way, you know something is wrong and you want to feel better.

You’re thinking it might be hormone-related. What now?

Many women take a trip to their OBGYN and ask for a hormone test. This is a great first step towards treating your health issues. But the results can be confusing and concerning without a little background information and preparation. Knowledge is power! There’s no need to be mystified.

Remember: no result received is static, the diagnosis you get can and will change with the right kind of treatment.

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Here are our tips on how to get what you want and need out of hormone testing.

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Your visit to the OBGYN:

• Get the test taken during the first few days of your cycle (when you have your period), if possible.
• Ask your OBGYN for a hormone panel test that includes estrogen, progesterone, FSH and LH (follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone).
• Ask additionally for a thyroid test, blood sugar test (using a glucose meter at home preferably) and Vitamin D3 test. These are also important indicators for hormonal health.
• Ask that they also run a general blood test (the kind you’d get at an annual exam) – you want to be checked for iron saturation, anemia, and C-reactive proteins particularly.
• Ask for a print out of your results to take home if they are not made available online for you to access.

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Assessing the results:

• Your hormone levels will fall within a range, indicated on your bloodwork panel.
• If the results come back within the “normal” range, you will want to compare your numbers within the ranges. A number on the higher or lower end of the normal range will be cast as “normal” by your OBGYN, but that number is still the reason you’re experiencing health issues. It means it is not out of range enough to alarm the OBGYN and trigger a medication prescription, but you will be symptomatic regardless. The good news is that you can do something now, before you cross that threshold into “abnormal,” to avoid worsened symptoms and to avoid having to use drugs or devices with side effects.
• Most hormone-related issues women deal with are the result of too low progesterone, too high estrogen levels and excess androgens. This is what is happening when you have PCOS, endometriosis, PMS, and problematic periods, more generally.

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Three questions to ask your doctor in the most common scenarios:

1. Everything here seems to be normal, but I am experiencing significant symptoms. Where within the range am I falling that might indicate I am moving towards having a hormonal imbalance?
2. It looks like my calcium, Vitamin D3 (also other vitamins and minerals) are at a low level. What can I change about my diet to help them improve?
3. I see you have recommended I use birth control pills/a Mirena IUD/implant to control my symptoms. I would really like to try giving myself 3-6 months to improve the situation first. What kind of changes in my blood work would you like to see so that I wouldn’t have to use these options?

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What next?

• You can follow up on your blood test by using a home saliva testing kit from DiagnosTechs or Phamasan. Testing your hormone levels over a 30-day period via saliva provides far more accurate results than a blood test taken on a single day, and it can help better pinpoint the exact problem. A naturopath or acupuncturist can provide you with a test kit and facilitate you receiving the results. Or you can ask to receive the kit directly from the company and return it yourself for the lab testing and results.
• You can start taking your BBT (basal body temperature) at home to understand if and when you are ovulating. You can learn more about this from Toni Weschler’s, Taking Charge of Your Fertility.  An example for charting your temperature is here. A fertility awareness instructor can help you interpret your chart for a diagnosis of your hormonal health issues.

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And then:

Once you finally have your results, it can be so motivating. By following the FLO protocol, many women have addressed their hormonal health issues and returned to their OBGYN to receive vastly improved results, without the use of drugs or devices. Click here to watch their stories!

‍Food should be your first form of self-medication. Once you know where you stand, give yourself 3-6 months to heal your body at home through dietary and lifestyle changes.

Today I have news that might be shocking to you: it’s time to turn off the vibrator.

Using vibrators to self-pleasure might seem like the easiest, quickest way to reach the big O, but there are a few very important reasons why it’s not doing your entire body justice.

To help explain why, it’s important to know the 4 stages of sexual response, as originally outlined by scientists Masters & Johnson in the 1960s. You might also recognize them from Chapter 8 of my book, WomanCode: Initial Arousal: the excitement phase, lasting anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. Sex organs become engorged with blood and glands in the vaginal walls secrete lubricating liquid to make you feel wet.‍

Plateau: a continuation of arousal, when tissues swell and breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure continue to rise. You may even make a moaning sound at this point.

‍Orgasm: vaginal lubrication increases, muscles in the vaginal wall constrict, and overall pleasure increases. If you climax (which is not always a given), you’ll experience quick cycles of contractions in your pelvic floor muscles.

‍Resolution: After climax, your muscles relax and your body releases from its aroused state.

When you use a vibrator, you’re skipping a large part of the Plateau stage and moving right into climax. This means you’re also missing out on some of the most hormonally-healthy, natural chemicals your body produces during this Plateau phase! For instance, one of these chemicals, nitric oxide, is what Viagra is manufactured from. The more you can generate it naturally, the more you’ll experience its anti-aging benefits, increased sexual response, as well as adrenal health which you’ll read more about below.

Especially if you’re working on your fertility, trying to get your sex drive back, or managing your periods, having a bigger Orgasmic Plateau phase is the way to help.

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Here are 3 ways vibrators impact you:

1. You miss the benefits of nitric oxide and oxytocin. Using a vibrator forces your body to bypass a large part of the Plateau and Orgasm phases, which cuts down on your exposure to oxytocin and nitric oxide. These natural chemicals provide you with better immunity, improved cervical mucus, and regular ovulation patterns.

‍2. You limit your orgasmic potential. Quick vibrator-induced orgasms lengthen what we call the refractory period between orgasms. This means the sensitive nerve endings get fried by the strong vibrations, so you have to wait longer until you’re ready again for your next orgasm. Essentially, this means you can only have one orgasm at a time, maybe two if you’re lucky. Bummer.

‍3. You deprive your body of the stress-reducing benefits. The bigger and better the orgasm you experience, the more cortisol gets flushed out of your system. Cortisol, if you don’t remember, is one of our body’s main stress hormones that contributes to adrenal burnout, blood sugar whackiness and that extra layer of belly fat that doesn’t seem to go away.

When you skip the orgasmic plateau, you lose out on the stress-relieving, waist-slimming benefits of sex!

“So what do I do without my vibrator, Alisa?” So glad you asked!

First of all, be sure you’re setting aside at least 20 minutes for your self-pleasuring sessions. This might seem like a lot, so make sure you’re getting into bed a little bit earlier or doing what you need to do to make it possible.

Next, be sure to use lubricant - Aloe Cadabra is the only one I use and recommend. When you’re using your hands to get the party started, you’ll need to be lubricated. I think you’ll be amazed at what happens to your orgasmic experience when you go au natural.

When I’m talking with women about their fertility, one of the most common questions I get is this:

“I’m not ready to get pregnant now, but how do I know I’ll be able to in the future?”

If you’re in the same boat in your 20s or 30s - not exactly ready to put a bun in the oven but considering it for the future - then it’s time to get real about the signs your body is telling you now. Every woman should be able to get pregnant naturally when she’s ready, but in today’s hormone harming environment, we have more working against our fertility than ever before. If you find yourself, like so many other women, ignoring symptoms that might seem insignificant and even unrelated now, we here at FLO Living want you to be able to evaluate if these symptoms are early warning signs that your future fertility might be problematic. You must understand how they could affect you down the road, and you must not make the common mistake of waiting to address these symptoms/issues until you actually want to get pregnant. From our experience over the past 12 years - this is a recipe for fertility stress.Today I want to share with you 4 specific symptoms you might be experiencing that are indicators of potential compromised fertility. It’s not meant to frighten you, but rather to empower you with the information you need to start evaluating as soon as possible the action steps you need to take immediately to improve your fertility in the future. (And if you’re actively trying and feel you’re out of time, we’ll have more tips for you in the coming weeks!)

So here are 4 signs your fertility is compromised:

1. PMS (Pre-Menstrual Syndrome) - Experiencing monthly mood-swings, cramps, headaches, and more before your period are signs of PMS. This indicates that there is something off with the critical balance between estrogen and progesterone in your system, and most often progesterone is too low. Since this is the hormone that allows you to hold on to the embryo once you conceive, it can make conceiving difficult and potentially increase your risk of miscarriage.
2. Lack of cervical fluid around ovulation - If you haven’t been noticing any changes with cervical fluid or vaginal discharge throughout the month, it’s time to start paying attention! One of the biggest indicators of healthy ovulation is having a very wet, uncooked egg-white-like mucus (called cervical fluid) for 3-4 days mid-cycle. This paves the way for sperm to make it to your eggs, and so if it’s not happening it could interfere with the process.
3. Irregular cycles - Whether or not you have a diagnosed condition like PCOS, if you’re noticing your cycles are not regular each month it will become a huge problem when you’re trying to get pregnant. When you address the irregularities now, you will have an easier time making sure you are timing sex correctly for conception and you’re body will be more fertile and ready later on when you want to conceive.
4. Adrenal issues - Experiencing insomnia, anxiety, stress, low energy, and sugar addiction are all signs that your adrenal glands are suffering. This unfortunately not only makes you feel lousy, but it indicates a high cortisol and low DHEA ratio that compromises ovulation regularity and diminishes egg quality, both essential factors in your fertility.

Take a moment to evaluate your own symptoms -

Can you identify with any of the 4 we listed? Are some more extreme than the others?

Think of your fertility factor as a 1 to 10 scale, 1 being fertility compromised and 10 being fertility optimized. Based on your evaluation of the 4 signs listed above, where do you fall on the scale?

Please share in the comment box below. I want to know exactly what you’re dealing with so that we can continue to help you in upcoming blog posts and classes.

It’s time to bump your fertility factor up to a 10 so that you can be as ready as possible when the timing is right!Your body can do what it’s meant to do naturally IF you feed it the right foods in the right sequence. Let us show you how.

Are You Trying to Conceive?

If you want to do everything in your power to improve your chances of becoming a mom—then we want to help you optimize your fertility.Whether you are just starting to think about having a baby, or have already tried naturally or have been trying with IVF, our Fertile FLO Program will help improve your chances of conception.Click here to download my FREE guide, The 5 Health Foods to Avoid to Get and Stay Pregnant.

My friend, Gina DeVee, is hosting The Divine Living World Tour - conference that will rejuvenate your mind AND help you bring clarity, focus, and purpose to your life and business! I am so honored and thrilled to be a part of Gina's amazing vision by speaking at her conference.Join me and Gina for the Divine Living World Tour, in New York on March 22 – 23, and/or London on June 7 – 8!! - Click HereYour experience in these vibrant cities will give you so much more than a fresh perspective on your life.During the Divine Living World Tour Gina DeVee is going to help you…

• Get completely clear on your vision so that it is like NO OTHER
• Receive clarity on what you want and why you want it to make sure that it’s connected to your purpose.
• Create a solid plan that makes sense for where you’re at in business (if you’re just starting, or going to the next level).
• Know exactly what to work on when you leave the event.
• Learn to use feminine principles in creating wealth and your desires

At the NYC event I’m going to be speaking on how My Ovaries are my Success Management System - you do NOT want to miss this talk!

Join us in…

New York on March 22 – 23

London on June 7 – 8

Early Bird Price of $197!!!

Xoxo -Alisa and the FLO Living TeamP.S. 2012 is the year of Women’s Empowerment. Make it your year to start prospering by living your purpose, on your own terms! Learn how for ONLY $197!!! (and bring your friend, spouse, or colleague for $99!)