FLO Living Blog

Snacking right is a great way to help your hormones to function better! Skipping meals and snacking on junk is a sure fire way to jack up your insulin, and stress hormone cortisol and throw off your hormones making your PMS, fertility, skin, weight and mood worse!Do you snack right? How’s your energy? Do you feel older than your age? Are you foggy headed? If you’re dealing with any of these problems, then why not try out some of my favorite snacks for balancing my blood sugar? They’re sweet, satisfying and there’s not a carrot stick in sight!I love snacking, in fact, I endorse it fully! For many women, when trying to lose weight, one of the first things they think they must stop doing is snacking. But here at Flo Living we believe snacking - with tasty, healthy food combinations, of course - is an important part of any plan to lose weight, look and feel better. I teach women that an essential part of your WomanCode is the blood sugar group of organs - the pancreas and liver. Along with your uterus, ovaries, and vagina - these two are also lady parts that deserve to be treated kindly. Unstable blood sugar is a core underlying cause of hormonal health problems. Whether you’re dealing with unbearable PMS, low libido, irregular cycles or difficult periods - balancing your blood sugar is the key to your healing journey. It’s also a must-have part of the process of coming off the Pill successfully and regaining your fertility. You need to use food to stabilize your blood sugar throughout the day. Doing so will give you the energy you need to power through your goals and improve your hormonal health as a whole. Choosing and eating the right kinds of snacks between your meals takes the pressure off your liver to deal with fluctuating blood sugar levels, leaving it more room for the essential work of eliminating estrogen and supporting your hormonal balance. This is why I make mastering blood sugar balance the first step in the Flo Living protocol.

The low-energy epidemic

Not one woman who has walked into my clinic has had well-managed blood sugar. Not one! And many, if not most of them complain of low energy. They’re in their 20s and early 30s but feel so much older - as they find themselves foggy headed at 3pm, falling asleep on the sofa at 7pm...Glucose is your brain’s primary source of fuel - you need it to feel bright, awake, and energized. Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar levels, is what makes you crash and feel low and depleted mid-afternoon, sleepy before bedtime, and unable to stay focused and energized throughout the day. You need sufficient and sustained food intake to maintain a blood sugar stasis in the healthy range. That means eating three proper meals AND snacking in-between, especially when you’re under stress or strain from work, family life, or just a packed schedule. These are the times when we tend to forget about feeding ourselves properly, when it should actually be the time we prioritize our food intake to function at our best.

My favorite energy-boosting snacks

You should be eating a snack two and a half to three and half hours after your lunch. If you eat breakfast very early, feel free to snack between that meal and lunch too. I know when you feel low the last thing you want to reach for is simply carrots and hummus, that’s why I’ve selected truly satisfying and sweet snacks that will give you the boost you crave. The secret is - we need that sugary fix! Our bodies crave it for a reason. As you know, I’m all about listening to what your body has to say. We all have what I like to call our “sugar gremlins.” And when your sugar gremlins come calling, you need to be ready to offer them the right kind of healthy snack that will satisfy their needs. This will help you avoid seeking out the junk food that will make your blood sugar soar and crash like a storm at sea and trigger the hormonal health issues we all want to avoid.

• I’ll put sun butter on anything, but I do enjoy it on toast with a little organic sugar-free strawberry jam. Along with a cup of chai tea in the afternoon - this is bliss.
• I find dates are to be little powerhouses of energy - two of them with a couple of squares of dark chocolate fix me up for the rest of my busy day.
• A little bowl of goji berries and almonds make up a tasty and healthful trail mix.
• A quick smoothie with half a banana, half an avocado, some mango, spinach and ginger. Whizz and your done.
• It’s good to have something decadent and sweet on hand that you truly love for those times you need some me-time pleasure - for me, right now that’s these organic Clif Mojo bars, especially the almond, coconut and dark chocolate kind

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, do you suffer with low energy?Second, what’s your favorite healthy snack?Third, many women you know are trying to conceive and struggling in silence – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social by clicking the buttons below ?

Need more Hormone Help?

If you’re needing some health upgrading, it’s time you started you looking into what’s going on with your hormones.I’ve designed a 4 day hormone detox and evaluation to help you understand exactly what’s out of whack and how you can start getting back to balance so that your hormones no longer have to suffer.Click here to get your FREE detox and evaluation!

In my years of helping women get pregnant, one thing I’ve noticed is how addressing a few key emotions makes all the difference when trying to conceive. I remember how I struggled with not trusting my body, feared that my body would always fail me, how I overly relied on masculine energy to battle my PCOS and applied type A/perfectionist behaviors to hopefully control for a more positive outcome. Sound familiar?I spend a lot of time talking to you about facts because I know that’s where we all start - we want to know what is wrong. An equal part of the FLO protocol, however, moves beyond nutrition, to the integration of your feminine energy and a healed relationship with your body from an emotional point of view.

This to me, in my own health journey, and for the thousands of women I have taken on that same journey to hormonal balance, is as essential as the food and supplements you take.This is especially true of improving your fertility. I’m now 9 months in to this motherhood gig, and let me tell you, it is a meditation on feminine energy and balanced masculine energy every moment! The energy I hold now is what I used to open me up to conceive. The emotions I had to work through to open that conception energy were a huge part of my journey to motherhood and I suspect they might be ones you might want to incorporate on your journey too.

Read on to learn more about how Nicole undid these emotional blocks using the FLO Protocol and is now 7 months pregnant after 1 year of trying.

“My body had everything it needed from years of healthy eating, I just needed to recognize the emotional blocks that were holding me back.”

Nicole thought she was doing everything right to get pregnant. She was following the WomanCode protocol independently for months in the hope that just eating in her Flo was all she needed to do to finally conceive. Then she had a breakthrough. She realized that good nutrition was just one aspect of her health and she needed to turn her attentions to her emotional well-being to start a family.Here she shares her transformative story with us...

My lifestyle was making conceiving difficult

Two years ago, I defined fertility as whether or not I was able to become pregnant. Like for many women, the journey seemed black or white: fertile or infertile, pregnant or not pregnant.When my husband and I first started trying, I experienced what many women do: stress and anxiety, partially brought on by a demanding job. I had also been commuting two hours a day for more than a year, and the chronic stress was starting to take a toll on my body, manifesting in physical symptoms like difficulty sleeping, night sweats, and irregular cycles. My colleagues and I were four months away from planning a large conference on the other side of the country, and the closer the event moved on the calendar, the longer my cycles became.

My body was so depleted that the month our event took place, I didn’t get my period. That was my first wake up call.I discovered WomanCode through the Facebook page and I had been eating in the FLO ever since just after the book was released in March 2013. Although my monthly symptoms gradually decreased and I had more energy, my cycles were still longer than average (32-34 days), and I wasn’t ovulating anywhere close to Day 14. It felt like my body knew what it needed to do, but just couldn’t get there every month.

The following month, I got pregnant, except I was only pregnant for five weeks before having an early miscarriage on Christmas Eve 2013.Over the holidays we decided to take a break from trying, but I spent the next year preparing my mind and body for conception, reshaping our lives to make space for the future family we wanted. I started weekly acupuncture treatments, found a new job, and we moved to a condo by the beach in a more relaxing neighborhood where both of us would have short commutes.

I wanted the magic supplement to get pregnant asap

Still convinced my hormonal issues were purely physical, I dove into supplements. There was a three month period I drank dong quai tea daily, but it didn’t reduce the length of my cycle. Then I ordered maca powder, assuming this would be the golden ticket to conception. I refer to what happened next as “the maca powder incident,” as it was the catalyst for my journey toward inner reflection and ultimately, getting pregnant.

It was September 2014, and I had been adding a small amount of maca powder to my morning protein smoothie for approximately three weeks. I usually experienced light cramping during my cycle, but nothing debilitating, so I was surprised to find myself unable to get out of bed the morning I got my period.

I thought back to my diet in the previous month. The only variable I could identify was the maca powder, but I couldn’t fathom that several weeks of mild use could have such a negative reaction in my body.

I realized I was using a masculine approach to access my feminine conception energy

I took the day off work, and decided to walk to the beach that afternoon while listening to a Fertility Revolution podcast interviewing Randine Lewis, author of The Infertility Cure.“People treat fertility as a problem to be rectified, but it needs a deeper pursuit of what’s going on internally,” she said. “We can’t be in a fear-based relationship with fertility, because fear contracts reproductive energy. You can’t bring life into the world when you’re fighting fear.”I learned approaching fertility like another thing on the to-do list (a habit of many women, particularly Type-A personalities), can actually block conception, because we’re not addressing the root cause of emotional resistance keeping us from unlocking our full fertility, body, mind, and spirit.The following day, I signed up for the FLO Living program. This was October, 2014.

‍The Flo Living program dives much deeper into the science and emotional side of hormone balance, which I hadn't been addressing up to that point. Within the first month of coaching I’d made efforts to nurture my feminine side through self-care practices that felt good to me. Until I read the materials Alisa suggested, I didn't realize how much my masculine side dominated a lot of my day-to-day.Through the personal reflection that is part of the FLO Living program, I experienced several emotional breakthroughs, the most enlightening being how a medical issue I had in high school informed my relationship with my body for more than a decade.

I forgot that I had stopped trusting my body in high school

In my senior year cross-country season, I started experiencing a strong, dull pain across my abdomen during daily runs. Even after myriad tests, including ultrasounds and painful physical therapy to loosen my tight hip flexor muscles, no one was able to identify the cause.Then, my mom took me to a physical therapist who incorporated eastern medicine into his practice and uncovered a severe vitamin deficiency. Finally armed with a diagnosis, I gradually began to heal, transform my diet, and embrace nutrition and wellness beginning with cooking for myself during college.

But although I was physically healthy again, I had stopped running out of fear of feeling the same pain. A mistrust had settled in my body that was so deeply rooted, I wasn’t even conscious of it until I walked on the beach 10 years later, ready to become pregnant. I realized that day, with sea salt blowing my hair, until I trusted my own body again, I’d never be able to carry a pregnancy to term.

I got pregnant finally after doing the emotional work in the FLO program

The following month, after starting the FLO program, reading Northrup’s book, and spending time in reflection, I ovulated on time and had a 28-day cycle (which hadn’t happened in at least a year).Three months later, I was pregnant. We’re expecting a baby boy this October (one year since I signed up to the Flo Living program).My body rejected the maca powder to offer an important lesson: nutrition wasn’t my obstacle. As it turned out, my body had everything it needed thanks to years of healthy eating, I just needed to recognize the emotional blocks that were holding me back.

Exploring this aspect of fertility can be harder than simply eating well and incorporating fertility-friendly ingredients into our diet, because it requires an intense vulnerability and openness to make connections between our early experiences, the messages we’ve received about our health, and our current circumstances.If I’ve learned anything on my journey to motherhood, it’s that fertility is more than our ability to physically become pregnant.

True fertility is the convergence of physical, emotional, and spiritual health, not only for conception and birth, but for our entire creative lives as women, and I’m finally ready to embrace it all.(To read more about Alisa’s “conscious conception” approach to achieving pregnancy naturally check out our two posts on prepping your body for pregnancy and the non diet-based secret to conceiving.)

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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,

Alisa

For those women who struggle with infertility issues and still trying to conceive, we are often so conscientious about our diet, lifestyle, indeed every choice that we make, in our commitment and dedication to getting pregnant that it can feel confusing when seemingly good advice doesn’t match up and correlate.There are 2 fundamental truths that I feel are entirely left out of the discussion, but which I know to be vital and important for pregnancy. When women come to Flo Living needing help with getting pregnant, staying pregnant, or maintaining a healthy pregnancy, this is what I always tell them from the start.

1. You must invest 3 months to a year preparing your body for pregnancy with diet and lifestyle changes before you will begin trying in earnest by any means (be that naturally or via IVF). Time is your real ally. Waiting until you become pregnant before you change your diet and lifestyle is not giving you or your baby the optimal chance for vibrant health.
2. Most reproductive endocrinologists are not looking at reproductive biology from a functional nutrition standpoint. When you will do anything and everything to get pregnant, it can be frustrating to know that you are likely not hearing the information that will actually help you to conceive.

Instead of trying to map out all the tips and lists and recommendations thrown your way, I find it’s much easier to focus on improving 4 areas of your health with simple proactive strategies. That way you know exactly why you are making a diet or lifestyle change or picking a particular path. You are in control. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, you get to feel empowered.

These are the 4 areas that need your focus:

1)Healing and supporting your microbiome. Problem: There’s no quick fix when it comes to the microbiome. First up, you need to be avoiding antibiotics as much as possible. You also need to come off the Pill sooner rather than later. These two medications severely disrupt the microbiome. Your microbiome is a main player in regulating your hormones, especially your estrogen levels. Estrogen-dominance as a result of a poorly functioning microbiome leads to every hormonal imbalance symptom or sickness you can think of, including infertility. A poor internal ecosystem caused by bad diet, exposure to chemicals and stress, will suppress the good bacteria, promote the bad bacteria, and will lead to a toxic buildup of hormones as well as other signs of systemic inflammation. Here are my tips for making friends with your microbiome. Just taking probiotic tablets is not enough when you’re dealing with a hostile internal eco-system, it takes a little more engagement and effort, but you can do it!Solution: Eat more jicama, radishes and artichokes which are full of good prebiotics. Jicama is the sweet root of the Mexican wild yam and a natural progesterone treatment. Radishes help with the processing of unhealthy fat and are rich in antioxidants. Artichokes are in fact powerful liver detoxifiers.2) Preventing inflammation in your body.Problem: When your microbiome is unhealthy, this triggers inflammation pathways in the adrenal axis, which is turn causes a body stress response, which then disrupts and prevents regular ovulation. When your body thinks it is physically under attack or subject to undue biological stress, it will decide this is not the right time for you to conceive and shutdown ovulation. It’s pretty smart like that. Your body wants to see you get pregnant when you have the best chance of maintaining a healthy pregnancy and having a healthy baby.Solution: Add turmeric and apple cider vinegar to your daily diet. The curcumin in the spice turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory. In India it is called “the holy powder” because of its health supportive properties. And 1 to 2 tablespoons a day of apple cider vinegar can prevent inflammation of the intestines.3)Managing micronutrient deficiencies. Problem: If you’re not eating in a way that is hormonally-supportive then you may not be producing enough hormones to conceive and maintain a pregnancy. You need to be eating lots of good monounsaturated fats to be making hormones and then balancing out your levels with foods that allow you to experience the hormonal peak required for ovulation to occur in any one cycle. You also need to eat foods that will help you eliminate excess estrogen efficiently and prevent the kind of buildup that can confuse the brain-ovary conversation. A high quality diet will limit internal stress on important organs that need the time and space to concentrate on helping you conceive. Something as simple as an iron deficiency has linked to potential ADD problems and poor brain development in the developing baby. Here are some of my favorite fertility-boosting foods.Solution: Eat for your FLO! The FLO protocol has you eating foods that boost all the essential hormone and fertility boosting micronutrients.4) Balancing your estrogen and progesterone levels. Problem: In order to stay pregnant once you conceive and avoid experiencing a miscarriage, you need good levels of progesterone. The first sign that you are suffering with worryingly low progesterone levels is bad PMS symptoms, but you’ll also see clues in irregular or heavy bleeding. You can get this hormone level tested by your doctor with a serum progesterone blood test one week before your period is due. If you have low progesterone levels, you might not be ovulating and need to focus on regaining your full fertility.Solution: Eat more fermented cabbage to help your body metabolize estrogen. By supporting liver detoxification fermented cabbage speeds up the elimination of excess estrogen and prevents estrogen dominance or overload, which is a key cause of infertility. Eliminating excess estrogen will help to support and boost your progesterone supplies.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, do you believe diet can improve your fertility? Second, what do you think is your fertility weak spot from the list above?Third: You know every one you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social by clicking the buttons below

Are Your 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 our FREE guide, The 5 Health Foods to Avoid to Get and Stay Pregnant.

Raphael Kellman, M.D. is the author of The Microbiome Diet: The Scientifically Proven Way to Restore Your Gut Health and Achieve Permanent Weight Loss. An internist and pioneer in holistic medicine, he is the founder of the Kellman Center for Functional and Integrative Medicine. Dr Kellman has practiced for 17 years and treated over 40,000 patients.

In this 50 minute video discussion between myself and Dr Kellman we will give you a crash-course in gut health and microbiome. We talk through the latest cutting-edge research about this important “ally” in your quest for good health. We discuss the surprising symptoms that come from poor gut bacteria balance. Plus, we reveal the best foods, probiotics and herbs to both clean and heal the microbiome.If you have been suffering with symptoms from anxiety to brain fog to infertility issues, but your tests results have returned “normal” and you’re feeling frustrated - you MUST watch this video.

Highlights from this fascinating discussion:

• Doctors are over-reliant on routine testing strategies to discover the source of a symptom. Regardless of your experience of poor health, often these tests will come back as “normal” and give no indication as to why you don’t feel at your best. This methodology leaves many women undiagnosed for years.

• Disease and health are a process or flow or systems that are interconnecting. Science confirms this model. We just have to see and interpret the information we are being sent by our bodies. Studies show there are links between diet, lifestyle, and environmental factors that play out in the systems in the body. We can take a leadership role in our health to get better health outcomes and healthcare outcomes.

• What are some of the symptoms of microbiome/gut health issues you should look out for? If you have depression or anxiety, but don’t notice any gut symptoms, you probably still have a microbiome-based issue. What we see as problems in our mind can actually be sourced in the gut.

• What should you do if you think your microbiome might be the problem? The diagnosis is not made by testing, but by understanding how to connect the dots. We must take a holistic view and an experiential view of the body and symptoms. There is no one better to figure out your health issues than you. Don’t doubt your inner voice and intuition just because there is no medical test result to “prove” you right.

• 90% of who you are is because of the bacteria in your body. Bacteria facilitated human evolution. It’s a symbiotic relationship. If we destroy their internal ecosystem - the microbiome - we will see the negative effects. Our friendly bacteria hold the master key to our health. If you have a health issue it’s likely your microbiome is playing a role and if you heal your microbiome you will likely feel better.

• Healing your microbiome can change the trajectory of your life. If you want to do one thing to change your life then investing in taking care of your body is so important. If you are experiencing even “minor” hormonal imbalance issues like PMS or cramps these are indicative of wider problems that will build over the years. Taking charge of your health destiny now will make a huge difference to your whole life.

• The health of the estrobolome within the microbiome is the key to your hormonal balance. A poorly functioning estrobolome can cause estrogen dominance that will set off the “stress axis” in your body and cause infertility at an early age.

• Many B vitamins are produced in the gut. If you have a B vitamin deficiency it is likely that your gut health is not good. A test for butyrate levels will reveal much about your microbiome. These tests should motivate you to make changes in your day-to-day diet and lifestyle.

• Your health is not dictated entirely by your genes. It’s only 2% of what is causing your health issues. The rest is mostly preventable through diet and lifestyle changes.

• The microbiome is an organ that impacts all of your other organs. It’s the most important organ in your body. There are foods that can help you help your microbiome. Dr Kellman shares exactly the kinds of foods that you need to be eating to clean and heal your gut. He also tells you which foods to remove from your diet to support your health. Your friendly bacteria don’t need a whole lot, but they do need enough to sustain them.

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, have you experience lab results that were “within normal range” but weren’t normal for you? Second, will you try any of Dr Keller’s suggestions for diet and lifestyle changes? Third: You know every one you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social by clicking the buttons below

Need more Hormone Help?

If you’re needing some health upgrading, it’s time you started you looking into what’s going on with your hormones.I’ve designed a 4 day hormone detox and evaluation to help you understand exactly what’s out of whack and how you can start getting back to balance so that your hormones no longer have to suffer.Click here to get your FREE detox and evaluation!

I don’t know about you, but I think that by the time you hit 35 you’ve just got to start being kind to yourself. Many of us spend our 20s feeling anxious and less than confident about our bodies. All that stress is so bad for us! The truth is however that as you get older, you start to make less hormones, e.g. your metabolism slows down, and the hormones you have are telling you to store fat and not burn it for fuel. The solution is not to restrict, it’s to eat more micronutrients that increase the production of youthful hormonal patterns.

Break the cycle

We are trained to view weight loss as an effort in control and restriction. We’re told that it’s a simple matter of eating less and so we starve ourselves. When we don’t see the results we are promised we get depressed. Then we binge on comfort food to feel better! It’s a vicious cycle.This kind of eating pattern does real harm to your hormones, especially as you get older. It puts stress on the body, which causes an inflammatory response. This inflammation creates an imbalance of your hormones and leads to functional issues like PMS, problem periods, and acne. I see at Flo Living how these kinds of health problems can make women feel really down on themselves, and so they are triggered to eat in a way that soothes them in the short term, but does more damage in the long term. I’ve been there myself, I know what it’s like! In addition, we also try working out really hard, and we do it without consideration for our hormonal patterns - we literally work against our fat burning system! (Click here to learn how to workout with your cycle.)

Calorie restriction, depression, and fat

The out of control hormones and erratic blood sugar levels that come from restrictive eating or extreme dieting rob your body and brain of micronutrients that they need to have balanced appetite control neurotransmitters and balanced metabolism boosting hormone levels. Your mood is going to take a hit, your metabolism is going to slow and you’re not going to fit into your skinny jeans.I always like to put dietary theory to the test, so just for fun, I recently decided to see what it would be like to follow a ketogenic diet, which is a high fat, but low carbohydrate protocol that is recommended for weight loss. After just two days I woke up in the worst state of hypoglycemia I’d ever experienced. I was shaking, sweating, feeling faint - it took me about 5 hours to recover. My body reacted poorly to me choosing to cut out carbs like the quinoa, oatmeal, and buckwheat I usually eat every day. Eliminating food groups like carbs and fats doesn’t give you access to key micronutrients that boost hormone production and can keep stubborn weight right where it is.The solution of course is to start eating the foods for each phase of your cycle to optimize the levels of nutrients your body needs to balance these hormones that keep your metabolism working properly!

Focus on how foods make you feel to lose weight faster

Food should make you feel AMAZING, vibrant, vital, energized, clear, and happy. If you eat things that make you feel anything but the above, try eliminating those items from your diet. I promise you, you’ll see the weight melt off. The foods that dampen your energy and mood are likely foods that are creating inflammation in your gut, preventing good micronutrients from being absorbed, increasing binge eating, disrupting your hormonal balance and not helping you achieve your ideal weight. Eating from a place of pleasure and enjoyment, rather than anxiety and restriction, will also boost hormones like oxytocin that help heal the adrenals from stress overload. We strive for mindfulness in many areas of life these days, and yet we still seem to have such a difficult relationship with food. Women who eat for their FLO know how food makes them feel and how they feel about food is all-important in a healthy eating plan.

4 days to transform your eating

I want you to experience what it’s like to eat foods that help you boost these micronutrient levels, balance your hormones, and make you feel amazing. If you’re ready to ditch diets forever, then download my FREE 4-Day Hormone Detox. This is the one that’s in my book, WomanCode, that women have been using for years to lose weight the right way, like me! As well as simple recipes and meal plans, I include a “Self-care reset” protocol that addresses how you feel. I encourage journaling and vision boarding to get in touch with your emotions, hopes, desires, and dreams. You need to take care of the body and the mind, together.My Flo Living grads report feeling lighter, energized, and even blissful after just a few days of following this transformative protocol. Not only that, but they have lost up to 15 lbs pounds! The results you want and a complete change of mindset. Isn’t it about time?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, are you finding it harder to lose weight after 35? Second, did you try my 4 Day Detox? Share with me your experience! Third, you know every one you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social by clicking the buttons below :)

Need more Hormone Help?

If you’re needing some health upgrading, it’s time you started you looking into what’s going on with your hormones.I’ve designed a 4 day hormone detox and evaluation to help you understand exactly what’s out of whack and how you can start getting back to balance so that your hormones no longer have to suffer.Click here to get your FREE detox and evaluation!

It might surprise you to know that I’m not much of a chef. That is, I don’t really like to spend a lot of time cooking elaborate meals. I don’t even really like to follow recipes! For me, preparing meals is all about nutritional value, not culinary skills or pretty plating, and so I like to keep it as simple as possible.The Flo Living protocol is based on this philosophy - simplifying your life, while amplifying your health!

How do I do this? It’s easy!

• Go with the Flo: I follow the Flo Living protocol and choose a short list of ingredients to work with each week depending on where I am in my hormonal cycle.
• No cook cooking: I only actually “cook” twice a week! On Sunday I prepare the core elements for meals for the next few week days, then if necessary, I do that again on Thursday.
• Stretch it out: I make my cooking go a long way - a whole roasted chicken goes into soup, sandwiches, and salads throughout the week. It also becomes a nutritious bone broth.
• Pare down: I keep my pairings simple - my meals have two or three key elements - salmon fillets, sweet potatoes and greens, for example. I bake, saute, boil or roast each and then I’m done.
• Go big for breakfast: I’ve mastered the healthful but simple breakfast, and I make that the largest meal of my day. Click here to get my favorite breakfast and brunch recipes.

Here I share my average weekly meal plan - this is how I save both time and money when I’m cooking for my family.I find it’s easy to feel inadequate when browsing through beautiful cook books. I am thrilled by the creativity and I get a lot of joy from the gorgeous photos, but I don’t let the complexity put me off. I never revert to packaged foods, pre-prepared meals, or take out when feeling pushed for time - I just keep it super simple, so that it’s always easy for me to stay healthy and on track.I have had a crush on Jacques Pepin since he first cooked his way into my heart with his heavy french accent on Julia Child’s show. The ethos of his “Fast Food My Way” cooking style is to prepare healthy, tasty meals super quick - it’s very french and super practical. When you’re hungry, you’re hungry, and having a meal ready in minutes stops unhealthy eating habits. I like my meals to taste great, but if I have to spend hours preparing them I just lose my appetite. So, don’t feel paralyzed by the idea of a healthy lifestyle change and swapping pre-prepared meals for real cooking. Cooking fresh ingredients at home shouldn’t be stressful or difficult to schedule. Give yourself a break and you’ll see the benefits to your health!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, what are your favorite cookery books?Second, what are your go-to simple meals?Third, you know every one you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social by clicking the buttons below

Need more Hormone Help?

If you’re needing some health upgrading, it’s time you started you looking into what’s going on with your hormones.I’ve designed a 4 day hormone detox and evaluation to help you understand exactly what’s out of whack and how you can start getting back to balance so that your hormones no longer have to suffer.Click here to get your FREE detox and evaluation!

I don’t know about you, but I love my food porn. I love looking at pretty pictures of artfully arranged dishes. Just this week I’ve been salivating over the Breakfast Criminals colorful and creative ideas for the first meal of the day. I love that they sell an Instagram-friendly heart shaped bowl too, which will make you smile over breakfast every day.However, I’m also a super busy lady. I have a baby to take care of and a business to run. So I don’t always have a whole lot of time to put into creating a beautiful breakfast for myself and my family. Sometimes I just need it to tick my top boxes - to be healthy, tasty, and sustain me until lunch. I’m a big fan of keeping it basic if it means that it’s easier and more efficient for you to make better choices. Simplicity is sometimes the key to getting what you need.

The benefits of a big breakfast

Research shows that starting your day with a big breakfast will improve your fertility and decrease hormonal imbalance symptoms. This study by Professor Daniela Jakubowicz in Tel Aviv proved that having a larger meal at breakfast was related to a reduction of insulin resistance in women with PCOS. Not only does this help with fertility, but it also can help manage other symptoms associated with the disorder, such as unwanted body hair, hair loss, and acne, as well as protect against developing type-2 diabetes.With this in mind, I want to share with you my personal favorite breakfast and brunch ideas. I tend to rotate through these throughout the week. On the weekends I get a bit more time to indulge. I teach my Flo Living ladies that breakfast time is when you want to go all out and eat as much as you want - really filling up will set you up for stable blood sugar and hormone levels the rest of the day. And, as studies show, it will also help you to lose weight.

Weekday ideas

• Avocado smashed on toast - I love to spice up this filling and tasty bite with chia seeds, turmeric, sesame seeds and Himalayan salt. I always use gluten-free black rice Food for Life brand bread.
• Tartines - I so enjoy a nice French-inspired savory open-faced sandwich for breakfast with wild salmon and hummus or egg and dairy free pesto.
• Fruit toast - My favorite nut butter is sunbutter which I love to spread on gluten free toast and top with fresh peach or strawberry slices when they’re in season.
• Eggs - I love eggs all ways for all meals of the day. Scrambled, poached, hard boiled. Check out the viral hashtag #putaneggonit for some scrumptious ideas. Everything can be improved by an egg, I say! One of my new favorites has to be an egg baked inside half an avocado - that’s just genius!
• Smoothie - I’m not a smoothie-only breakfast kind of girl, but if I do have a smoothie I whizz up ½ banana, ½ avocado, frozen blueberries, spinach, almond milk, flaxseed meal, and cinnamon.
• 3 Power Grains - I’ll have oatmeal, quinoa or buckwheat. I’ll either make it sweet with sunflower seeds, coconut oil, and fresh blueberries or I’ll have it savory with olive oil, Himalayan salt, steamed baby kale - and I’ll absolutely put an egg on it!

Weekend indulgences

Any of the above breakfast options are great for brunch for a relaxed, leisurely weekend breakfast time with my husband and baby girl. When I want to indulge though, I pull out a few other recipes which happen to work well as desserts too!I also just discovered and love the easy and healthful Zemas Foods sweet potato pancake mix.Check out my take on sugar, the best sweeteners, and get some healthy baking tips here.Chocolate Avocado Pudding on Toast (this beats Nutella!)Ingredients: 3 ripe avocados, 4 soaked dates, 1/4 cup coconut nectar plus 2T maple syrup, 1/2 cup raw cacao powder, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp pink Himalayan salt and then some good millet bread.Instructions: Add all to Vitamix or food processor and puree until smoothTaste and adjust for sweetness and texture with more sweetener and milk.Serve on millet toast for breakfast. Add sliced fresh strawberries as desired.Banana BreadIngredients: 3 bananas, 1/3 cup coconut oil, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/4 cup coconut nectar, 1.5 cups oat flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp saltInstructions: Mix wet into dry, pour mixture into a parchment lined loaf pan, bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 min and then let cool completely.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, what are your favorite breakfast dishes? Which ones hold you the longest until lunch?Second, try some of my ideas and share your photos on Facebook and Twitter with me!Third, You know every one you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social! ?

Need more Hormone Help?

If you’re needing some health upgrading, it’s time you started you looking into what’s going on with your hormones.I’ve designed a 4 day hormone detox and evaluation to help you understand exactly what’s out of whack and how you can start getting back to balance so that your hormones no longer have to suffer.Click here to get your FREE detox and evaluation!

I take my self care very seriously, I thought it was time I shared with you my favorite health-conscious and health-boosting beauty and spa treatments.I teach my Flo Living ladies how to detox their cosmetics bags and bathroom cabinets and how to replace their chemical-laden products with chemical-free and effective cleansers, moisturizers, masks, and shampoos. So it makes sense that we continue to be aware of potential endocrine disruptors when we choose our beauty treatments.I’m going to walk you through all my personal favorite beauty luxuries and how to make the best choices for your hormones in a way that will boost your fertility, sex drive, mood, and energy. I encourage you to take time out on the regular to indulge in relaxing treatments; it really is vital for your health and well-being.So sit back, relax, and let’s talk health-conscious and health-boosting me-time.

Manicures and pedicures

I love a nice pedicure! Since becoming pregnant I have opted out of nailpolish all together, but when I do go back, here’s how I polish safely:My tips

• Choose a salon that is well-ventilated with a door open to the street and/or plenty of windows. Ask to be sat as close as possible to the door. That way, even if others are opting for more toxic treatments (like gels and wraps), you won’t be getting the full onslaught in your breathing space.
• Most good salons give you the option of having your own personal nail kit kept on hand with nail clippers, nail files and so on, so you don’t have to share with anyone else. I personally bring my own utensils, lotions and polish. I love SpaRitual - they have a whole online shopping section for manicure/pedicure essentials including callous remover, cuticle oil, and nail files. All of their nail care essentials are formulated without DBP, toulene, formaldehyde or formaldehyde resin.
• Choose a salon that uses only organic product ranges, or bring your own. It’s not relaxing for me to have cheap, endocrine disruptive lotion rubbed into my feet and legs for 20 minutes, so I just bring my own favorites from home. Naturopathica makes amazing foot and leg cream!
• Most salons offer the formaldehyde-free OPI range of nail polishes, but you could also bring your own better choices like I do. I like the “5 free” nail polish range from Priti. These polishes are free from formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate (DBP), toluene, formaldehyde resin, and camphor. Great colors too!

Hair cut and color

Before I got pregnant I was very picky about my hair salon, but now I am breastfeeding I’m even more choosy when it comes to where I go! I like to choose a place that has a separate room for those getting a hair color treatment, that way I don’t have to be exposed to the fumes of those products while I’m getting my cut. If that isn’t available, then I am sure to be seated close to the window to get some fresh air.Here in New York City I like Salon 26 and Aveda because they offer chemical-free and organic hair products. Again you can bring your own products if you like. Personally, I use an aloe-based hair shampoo like Shikai Everyday Shampoo.My top beauty tip: Are you worried about grey hair? I’m 38 and I just started going a little grey at the temples (even though it’s in my genes to be completely grey by now!). My secret to slowing down the greying process is living by the Flo Living protocol, but especially eating plenty of black sesame seeds - they will turn your hair back to black they’re so effective!

Facials

As someone who used to suffer with acne, I’m not very comfortable having someone “work” on my face. It’s not a very relaxing experience for me. I prefer to pick great products, spend my money on those, and treat myself to facials in the comfort of my own home. It’s a great ritual I do for myself every menstrual week!I especially like the new online shopping experience of Credo - created by the founder of Sephora to meet the growing need for natural and chemical-free beauty products. They have my longtime favorite brands while also helping me to discover new must-haves.Naturopathica has two face masks that I love for my at-home facials – the Pumpkin Purifying Enzyme Peel and the Sweet Cherry Brightening Enzyme Peel. They are so clean and fresh you could literally eat them!

Massages

I have worked with the same massage therapist for 15 years! Establishing a healthy long term relationship with an amazing massage therapist is a must!The skin is our largest organ and absorbs everything and anything we put on it. A massage is a great way to detox, but not if you’re spending an hour soaking in endocrine disruptive chemicals. That’s why I bring coconut oil or jojoba oil for my massages.If I can, I like to relax in a dry sauna before my massage and a steam room after. If I can’t do that then I’ll warm myself up by doing bends and stretches to bring heat into the body. When I get home I take my washcloth and do a hot scrub in my bathroom to further the detoxification process.

Baths

My mother got me started on the natural bath track. She believes in using simple nourishing items in the bath like Epsom salts and essential oils. Not only is this just as relaxing as bubble bath, but it’s actually a mixture that’s beneficial to your hormones, vaginal microbiome, skin, and overall health and well-being as it is rich in magnesium.If you love beautiful products and gorgeous packaging, find a gorgeous apothecary style container from an antique shop in which to store the salts in your bathroom. It looks pretty and it makes the experience feel more luxurious. You don’t need to buy into spending a ton of money on pretty packaging that’s full of ingredients that mess with your hormones to have a special night in!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, what are your favorite natural beauty products?Second, which spa treatments do you splurge on?Third, you know every one you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social by clicking the buttons below

Need more Hormone Help?

If you’re needing some health upgrading, it’s time you started you looking into what’s going on with your hormones.I’ve designed a 4 day hormone detox and evaluation to help you understand exactly what’s out of whack and how you can start getting back to balance so that your hormones no longer have to suffer.Click here to get your FREE detox and evaluation!

A third of the many women struggling with infertility cannot figure out why they are faced with these problems conceiving - it’s a mystery to their doctors, the specialists, and all involved. New research suggests that the cause could be an MTHFR gene mutation. This is a mutation that affects men and women equally and it’s all about how you utilize folate in your body - a vital nutrient when it comes to your fertility. Those with the mutation cannot properly absorb and utilize folate.As we start to hear more about MTHFR in the media, I want to let you in on my perspective: if think that we should ALL act as though we have this gene mutation, regardless of whether testing shows that we do or not.  Why? Because our ability to metabolize toxins is already compromised due to increased chemical exposure, and taking the methylated form of folate can help your body manage all of this whether you have the mutation or not. Following the recommended guidelines for managing this problem can only come to good, in my view. My husband suffers with one of the signs of MTHFR gene mutation - IBS - and so he takes the methyl form of folic acid as a supplement and lives a lifestyle as free of toxins as possible,  just incase this is something he is dealing with. If you are trying to conceive right now, then acting as though you too have this gene mutation, regardless of the symptoms or signs you might experience, is going to help you and support the health of your future baby.That said, let me give you a little more information on what this gene mutation is, what it means, and why it’s important for your fertility.

What is the MTHFR gene mutation?

The faulty enzyme MTHFR (which stands for methyl-tetrahydrofolate reductase - what a mouthful!) is responsible for methylation, which is a core process that occurs in all cells that aids cell repair, detoxification, neurotransmitter production, and supports a robust immune system function.As part of the cell repair process, when functioning correctly, this enzyme helps to produce and repair DNA and RNA and ensures cells are created to do what they are supposed to do in the body. With detoxification and neurotransmitter production, this enzyme supports the conversion of amino acids into neurotransmitters. It is essential for turning our food into healthy, functional hormones. MTHFR also ensures immune system function via the formulation of red and white blood cells and platelets. A gene mutation will cause inflammatory build up in the body and this will become the source of many serious health problems.

How does this impact my fertility?

The most important piece of information to retain about this MTHFR gene mutation is that those who have it will find that they are super-sensitive to environmental and food borne toxins. They have a hard time getting rid of these elements through the normal detoxification processes in the body and this sets them up for major illnesses and diseases, including infertility, fibromyalgia, miscarriages, blood clots, migraines, mental health issues like bipolar and depression, and inflammatory diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, as well as breast cancer. MTHFR gene mutation has also been linked to children being born with Down’s Syndrome, Autism and Spina Bifida.People with the MTHFR gene mutation don’t make enough glutathione, which is a primary antioxidant and detoxifier. They instead accumulate toxins in the body that lead to premature aging, a poor functioning liver, a compromised reproductive system, and fertility issues.This may all seem frightening, but it’s not out of your control completely. As with many diagnoses of this kind, if you get into action today you can change the outcome. 5 diet and lifestyle strategies for those who have the MTHFR gene mutation (and even for those who don’t!)

1. Have lots of foods that are high in folic acid and glutathione - which means plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.
2. Do more juicing. This will help you to up your intake of fruits and veggies and also help absorption of the nutrients, as you won’t be having to process all that fibre as well.
3. Don’t use poor quality cooking oils - pick nutrient packed olive and coconut oil instead.
4. Do not overheat your food - choose to lightly steam or sautee when possible. This will help you avoid the toxins that can be transmitted from our commonly used cooking utensils.
5. Always eat organic. Eating non-organic even for just a week can have a profound impact on your body and your immediate health outcomes. Visit your local farmer’s market to get the best deals.

PLUS like my husband, take the active and most bioavailable form of methyl folate and a methyl B12 or B100 complex. You can’t take just any folic acid or folate supplement, if you do have this gene mutation folate in the unmethylated form is very difficult for your system to deal with.

How you can get tested

You can get tested for MTHFR gene mutation through a home diagnostics online service like 23andme.com and use Genetic Genie to interpret the mailed results.

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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,

Alisa

What’s this essential fertility nutrient? It’s Vitamin D - which is actually a hormone made from your skin’s exposure to the sun. Most foods, fortified or not, do not have therapeutic levels of this nutrient and most women are massively deficient in Vit D3.Studies have shown that 93% of women dealing with infertility issues are vitamin D3 deficient. We also know that most women suffering with PCOS have this deficiency. Scientists have discovered that women with higher vitamin D3 levels are 4 times more likely to conceive via IVF than women with low levels.The core issue here, from a hormonal health standpoint, is that a low concentration of vitamin D3 causes estrogen dominance. This hormonal imbalance contributes to a whole range of reproductive health problems for women (like endometriosis, for example) as well as the development of common estrogen-sensitive cancers.When working with women here at Flo Living, I spend a lot of time helping them figure out if they are experiencing a deficiency and developing strategies to boost their levels. I know that because of where and how we obtain our D3, it can often be the most neglected of the vitamins, even for women who are otherwise fastidious about their healthy diet and lifestyle.Vitamin D3 deficiency has actually reached epidemic levels in recent years and I believe this to be one of roots of many women’s struggles with fertility and fertile health.

The 5 ways vitamin D3 supports your fertility

1. Higher D3 levels help the body regulate blood sugar levels. Imbalanced blood sugar impacts whether you ovulate or not every cycle.
2. D3 supports the body’s immune response. Most infertility has autoimmune disturbances at it’s core. Vit D3 tells your body not to attack itself.
3. D3 supports a healthy gut microbiome and vaginal microbiome which improves your chance of conceiving and maintaining a pregnancy.
4. There are vitamin D3 receptors in all of your female reproductive organs - showing that the entire reproductive system requires D3 to function healthily.
5. D3 boosts progesterone levels which helps you to get and stay pregnant.

PLUS - for your partner - D3 is absolutely vital for maintaining his high sperm count and sperm motility. It takes two to make a baby so it’s always important for your man to keep an eye on his health too!The early sign of vitamin D3 deficiency many don’t spot As I mentioned already, if you struggle with infertility or PCOS, it is likely that you are D3 deficient. Other signs include a diabetes diagnosis and any gut troubles from IBS or Crohn’s Disease. However, there’s one early sign of a growing deficiency that is actually used by medical professionals to diagnose this problem in babies, that is:Excessive head sweating! Seems strange, but it’s true. So if you or your child wake up each morning with a soaked pillow, it might be time to take a vitamin D3 test and work on increasing your levels.How to test for vitamin D3 deficiencyAsk your doctor to give you a 25(OH)D test (aka a 25-hydroxyvitamin D test). The optimal level for vitamin D3 in your blood is now considered to be between 50 and 70 ng/ml. If you find you have a deficiency, don’t panic, you can change this number quite simply with modifications to your diet and lifestyle. The Flo Living way of life can boost, protect and maintain your vitamin D3 levels.

The best way to get your vitamin D3

The Sun! Lots and lots of sunshine is key. That’s why vitamin D3 is often called the “sunshine vitamin” - it is truly the best way for your body to raise your levels of this vital nutrient. In fact, I was so aware of this factor in my own fertility that during the winter I was hoping to conceive I booked myself and my husband a special romantic break in the sun, away from the New York City snowstorms and grey skies. We arrived at our destination on the last day of my period and spent my follicular week soaking in the sunshine. We conceived just after we returned home, by which time I was ovulating.I recently wrote about the dangers of sunscreen and how to safely protect yourself in the sun - click here to read more.Why D3 supplements aren’t good enough Unfortunately, it’s really very hard to get enough vitamin D3 with supplements alone. You would need to be taking in 8,000 IUs per day to be making a real difference to your health. As I don’t live in a very sunny area of the country and I am breastfeeding, I currently take 5,000 IUs per day, but I also try to get outside as much as I can for walks in the park with my husband and baby girl without wearing sunscreen.Getting plenty of sun, along with avoiding nutrient-zapping diet and lifestyle choices like too much coffee, alcohol or processed foods (as I recommend to my Flo Living ladies), should be sufficient action to get your vitamin D3 levels in the healthy zone.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, do you think you have vitamin D3 deficiency? Second, in what ways have you tried to increase your vitamin D3 levels?Third, you know every one you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social! ?

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.

Is adult acne really getting you down? We assume that acne is something we get to leave behind in high school, along with the bad fashion choices and the mean girls, but for many women acne can linger on or even reappear after your 30th birthday. It’s enough to make you want to throw a teen tantrum, it’s that unfair!Listen, I know your pain. I used to have painful cystic acne all over both my face and my back. I tried antibiotics, Retinol-A, Proactiv, every potion, lotion and late night infomercial miracle cure I could get my hands on, and none of it worked. In fact, take a look at this post to see how popular beauty products can actually be harming your health.It would take me forever just to leave the house as I carefully tried to cover my acne so I could face the world. Acne can give your confidence a kicking and be a real source of depression. It really isn’t fair, so let’s fix it together.There are three important pieces of information you need to make note of if you are going to heal your acne.

1. Your age. The root cause of acne is different depending on this factor - acne in your 20s typically suggests poor diet choices; in your 30s breakouts can be a part of the pregnancy hormonal rollercoaster or high levels of career stress; and in your 40s it all comes back to declining estrogen production.
2. Location. Where exactly it is that you get your acne - whether it’s on your back, your cheeks, your forehead, your chin - will tell you a whole lot about what’s going on inside your body. Each area is linked back to a bodily system, allowing you to pinpoint the flagging organs behind the breakout. Often the culprit is found to be hormonal imbalance, malnourished liver, or gut inflammation. The key is knowing where to start the curing process. “Face Mapping” is a hybrid of modern skincare expertise and Traditional Chinese Medicine ancient knowledge. Read on to learn more.
3. Timing. Noticing when you get acne is also a crucial tool for preventing breakouts. Is it before your period or when you’re ovulating? All acne is hormonal, but some is more integrally linked to our hormone cycle and can illustrate key imbalances.

I dig deeper on this topic and reveal the secrets to sussing out the causes of your acne and getting rid of breakouts for good in my acne webinar, Get Gorgeous Skin - Clear Acne Naturally! I’ll tell you about how different foods can be used in conjunction with “face mapping” knowledge to skillfully treat your skin issues. We'll also cover:

• What causes your hormonal breakouts vs persistent adult onset acne
• My 3 step skin clearing protocol
• Foods to keep the youthful glow and collagen levels of your skin
• The real deal on supplements and which ones are really needed

And to get you started before the webinar...

Here are my top three recommendations for healing acne:

• Probiotics. Take a good quality Jarrow brand probiotic. Supporting your gut microbiome will help your skin microbiome to heal by reducing inflammation. For more about making friends with your microbiome read this.
• Cod Liver Oil. It’s not a trendy supplement, but it works. Cod Liver Oil delivers the Vitamin A and D our skin needs to glow. It’s also packed with EPA and DHA essential fatty acids. Make sure you get the fermented kind of oil, because that retains twice the vitamins of processed oil. I swear by Green Pastures Royal Blue Ice Royal brand. **Top tip - capsules are easier to take than a spoonful of oil, because it tastes as bad as you might think!
• Cortisol flush. A good clean stress hormone detox in the way of a burst of sweaty exercise (I like jumping on a mini trampoline in my living room!) or even a really good orgasm will give you a dewy glow and help to banish stress related and hormonal acne.

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, do you get acne?Second, will you try my top three recommendations? How do they work for you? Third, You know every one you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social! ?

Need more Hormone Help?

If you’re needing some health upgrading, it’s time you started you looking into what’s going on with your hormones.I’ve designed a 4 day hormone detox and evaluation to help you understand exactly what’s out of whack and how you can start getting back to balance so that your hormones no longer have to suffer.Click here to get your FREE detox and evaluation!

If you want to do everything in your power to improve your chances of becoming a mom—then I want to help you optimize your fertility!This is so very near and dear to my heart because had I not gotten back into my FLO with all the hormonal challenges I faced, I know for certain I would not be the new mom that I am today.When I was 20, I was told I would never be able to have children naturally, and not even with the aid of something like IVF. I felt a deep sense of despair… but then my body told me loud and clear that there was another way. How could it be that my only hope was to be on medications, and that they would simply mask my symptoms, but never solve my conditions?Fortunately, I didn’t settle for the prognosis given to me. I took my health and self-care into my own hands and discovered how to solve the root of my issues. And at age 37, at “advanced maternal age”, I got pregnant at home after just 3 tries!Over the past 14 years with FLO Living I have helped so many women become mothers, and it has been a great joy to support these women and watch their babies grow up on Facebook. I feel like an extended part of the family and it’s a privilege to facilitate a woman accessing her creative expression of love in this way. I want to help you now improve your chances of conceiving too!I will guide you to optimize your Fertile FLO to help with conception, whether you choose to use IVF or conceive without medical intervention. This is a program for any woman who wants to conceive - women with PCOS, Fibroids, Endometriosis, idiopathic infertility, up to the age of 42, for women who have been trying for months, or years, and for women who have been trying IVF. This program will even address your husband’s potential suboptimal fertility.The research is in, what you eat determines how fertile you are. You can do so much to improve your fertility naturally and I want to show you exactly how.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 learn more and download my FREE guide, The 5 Health Foods to Avoid to Get and Stay Pregnant.To your fertile FLO,Alisa

Photo credit: Lola Melani Photography - Alisa at 8 months

I was recently showing my dentist a photo of me with my baby, and she asked who the woman was holding the baby - I didn’t understand - she said again - who’s that teenager? I was like - lady - that’s me - hair up and no makeup! She was shocked and so was I. I mean, I know my biological age is much younger than my chronological age, but I guess I didn’t realize how young I look and feel compared to other women my own age.With so many things disrupting our hormonal FLO, we’re increasingly at risk for aging too fast from the inside out. Added to this is the issue that you start to make less hormones around age 35. This lowered concentration of hormones is a big driver of the aging process. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could slow this down somehow? So we could enjoy our young sexy trim bodies, our firm skin, our hot sex drive, our vibrant energy levels, and our optimal fertility longer?I want to share my secrets to turning on your inner fountain of youth like me. We absolutely can thankfully because hormones are so responsive to food therapy.This process is perimenopause and it’s an important biological shift that is far less discussed than menopause itself. This means few women realize it’s happening to them, even when they’re suffering with the consequences.It’s critical to connect the dots with your new symptoms and the beginning of this process so you take the right steps to eliminate your symptoms and slow down the hormonal aging process.You go along for years with your hormones acting one way, and then seemingly suddenly things start changing and we don’t know it’s perimenopause. I see so many women spending time, money and effort trying to cure their newly heavy periods or missing periods, sleeplessness, sudden weight gain, moodiness, depression...with all kinds of detoxes and products and fixes and medications - and none of those things really work, because they don’t admit and address the root cause - shifting hormones. We try and spot treat each new problem, without realizing it’s all connected and if we eat foods that help our body make more hormones, our symptoms can clear up on their own.Learning how to tackle this hormonal inflection point head on will make it seamless and you’ll protect yourself from all the inflammatory diseases that can mar post-menopausal life for women who let their hormonal imbalances go untreated.

I feel fine/ I’m on the pill/ I want to have babies - maybe it’s not happening to me?

Perimenopause is the slow process of your pituitary gland making more and more FSH to cause you eventually after a decade or so to stop ovulating permanently. That’s the whole purpose of this transition - after that your period stops and you enter the post-menopausal chapter of your life.This should be a slow process, 10-15 years long, with minimal symptoms, but the problem is it’s happening much more quickly for women these days at younger ages. In fact, Premature Ovarian Failure is on the rise for this very reason.Going through this process too quickly is a form of premature aging and it means your fertile window closes sooner, your libido can evaporate, metabolism stall, and you can find yourself feeling like you have landed in a body you don’t recognize. The truth is however, that just like I keep telling you that PMS is a hormonal imbalance that you’re not meant to have, very symptomatic perimenopause is also not normal and treatable with food.The stereotypical symptoms you hear about only come when your other hormones get off balance due to diet.This should concern you because you are likely not eating for your FLO, if you are on the pill to manage hormonal imbalance already, you will feel the impact pretty dramatically, and if you want to have children like me in your late 30’s, then ignoring this puts your fertility at risk by aging you prematurely. Any woman going through IVF knows high FSH levels are terrible for conception.

Signs of Hormonal Aging

Often a change in your period - be that in length, heaviness, or the symptoms you experience around it like cramps and PMS - will be the first noticeable difference. It might start to look very different to the period you had in your 20s. You can also experience insomnia, headaches, night sweats, hot flashes, acne, mood swings and weight gain.The changes may not be anything dramatic, but the perimenopause process is going on inside your body, beginning slowly, as you start making slightly lower amounts of hormones than were produced in the peak fertile years.I know this discussion, the effects of aging, comes with a whole lot of emotional baggage. Us women get such a hard time about getting older - even though, in truth, men start going through andropause at 25! Yes, 25! That’s when their testosterone levels slowly go downhill and they experience their own set of similar symptoms.How much you feel the impact of this hormonal shift in your day-to-day life will depend very much on your diet and lifestyle. The less healthy and hormonally-supportive those are, the more likely it is that perimenopause will hit you hard right at 35. You’ll be producing smaller concentrations of hormones and you will really feel this.

What to Expect

Perimenopause is much like the luteal phase in that it has 2 distinct parts. At first you might not feel very different - in the same way that right after ovulation you tend to feel still very up and energetic. You’ll be busy in your career, starting a family, burning the candle at both ends and letting your self care around diet slip.If you enter part 2, which is like the PMS half of your luteal phase, in a depleted state, you will be hit sideways with all the stereotypical symptoms. Your hormones are off and this impacts your mood, how you look, and your energy levels. I say that 5 days of your luteal phase is the equivalent to 5 years of perimenopause experience. Those symptoms you may have brushed aside during your 20s will be difficult to ignore after 35.Working with Your GYN It’s so important to establish a baseline hormone panel around the age of 30 to see what is normal for you so you have something to compare this to as your hormones begin to shift during this decade. Talk to your GYN ahead of time if you can. Let her know you want to go through this process naturally and unmedicated.If you’re already in the thick of it, then it’s important to get that full hormone panel done to see what’s potentially the biggest issue. It could be low estrogen, low progesterone, low cortisol, low testosterone, or low thyroid. The only hormone that will change but cause you no issue is FSH - that will rise dramatically throughout perimenopause - that’s the whole purpose of this transition - to get you to stop ovulating.Should You Take Hormones to Lessen Symptoms?In my opinion, no. Just like I don’t recommend you go on the pill to fix your period problems, I don’t recommend you medicating your perimenopause. Why? Two key reasons: one - this is a natural process your body is designed to do, there is nothing wrong, nothing to fix, you can go through this naturally and drug free, and two - synthetic hormones mask the symptoms that motivate you to make the changes you need to clear up symptoms - it gives you a false positive that everything is okay with your health. Perimenopause is an opportunity to make sure you are set for a healthy future.Nonetheless, be prepared to hear the standard suggestion from your GYN, which is to just continue on birth control pills until about 45 and then transition to hormone replacement therapy. All of this synthetic hormone replacement has risks and you don’t actually need it. It’s up to you to decide how you want to go through your life in your body - naturally or medicated.

Make More Youthful Levels of Hormones with Food

The Flo Living protocol is a pro-hormonal eating method that actually slows down this biological aging process. You can delay the onset of perimenopause, and in turn the onset of menopause, by taking charge of your diet today. Hormones are our fountain of youth and the higher concentrations (in balance) that we produce, the younger and more vibrant we will look and feel throughout our lives.This, I think, is especially important knowledge for women to have when so many of us come to our baby-making stage at a much “later” point in life. Slowing the perimenopause process will make it easier for you to conceive and help you avoid miscarriage.3 steps to slowing down perimenopauseI’m in my late 30s, too! We’re all in the same boat and I promise this works. It’s helped me, it’s helped so many other Flo ladies.1 - Eat according to your cycle. This is key so you balance out your estrogen and progesterone and eliminate any reason you might develop symptoms. To get started with this idea in a very simple, quick, and easy to understand way check out these two 4 week introductory protocols - how to cycle sync your greens and your grains.2 - Eat enough protein and fat - to make enough hormones. So critical to avoid yo-yo dieting if you want to actually slow the aging process. You need to eat to make the hormones that keep you young - learn more about my favorites proteins here and fats here.3 - Take D3 and Evening Primrose Oil to keep hormones balanced. Both are well researched to have positive hormone balancing effects during this perimenopausal transition. You don’t have to have hot flashes if you’re prepared!

Your Future Self Thanks You

I know that what I do now - choosing to eat and live pro-hormonally - is going to have an impact on my life 20 years from now. It will shape the woman I will be and the body I will have when I’m in retirement! Just as my choice to work with my hormones 20 years ago has got me where I am today - a healthy, happy mother with a successful career and fulfilling life - how I work with my hormones today will bear fruit another 20 years down the line. I invested in my health to live a full and happy life and you can too, with me.I want you to be sexy, strong, happy and healthy when you are 50+ years old. Perimenopause is an amazing opportunity to make sure you are all those things as you age.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, do you feel like you might be approaching perimenopause? Second, will you try out my introductory 4 week protocols? Let me know how it goes!Third, you know every one you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social by clicking the buttons below

Need more Hormone Help?

If you’re needing some health upgrading, it’s time you started you looking into what’s going on with your hormones.I’ve designed a 4 day hormone detox and evaluation to help you understand exactly what’s out of whack and how you can start getting back to balance so that your hormones no longer have to suffer.Click here to get your FREE detox and evaluation!

Last week I was out walking with my husband and daughter in our local park. We came across a mom spraying down her whole family, including young children and a baby in a stroller, with an aerosol sunscreen spray. I have to say, I actually stood back and waited for that cloud of chemicals to pass before walking on by. I didn’t even want us to go near that mist.Of course, this woman was being a loving mother and trying to do the right thing for her family, protecting them from the sun, from sunburn and skin cancer. That’s a very good thing! But the specific brand she had chosen was also soaking them unknowingly in endocrine disruptive chemicals!

The Wrong Sunscreen Can Decrease fertility

All chemical sunscreens contain endocrine disrupting chemicals that sink into your skin and right into your bloodstream. Just two of the common ingredients - oxybenzone and octinoxate - act like estrogen in the body, are associated with changes in sperm production, endometriosis, and overall negatively impact the thyroid and reproductive systems.Putting a chemical sunscreen on to your skin is one thing, inhaling it in the cloud that comes from an aerosol can be even worse and such absorption can actually damage your organs. The link to cancer is so strong that national cancer prevention organizations suggest you wear a hat and stay in the shade instead of using chemical sunscreens.‍

Are we stopping skin cancer?

‍Most people these days are aware of the danger of too much sun exposure - they are vigilant about wearing sunscreen and slather it on every hour when out in the summer - as the result of nationwide awareness campaigns. Yet, cases of skin cancer are actually on the rise. It’s still the most common cancer currently contracted in the US. So what’s going on? Clearly the chemical sunscreen is not working.  

And it has a lot to do with diet of course!  What you eat affects the function of the skin, one function is to shield itself from photo damage!Researchers from John Hopkins University discovered that a component of broccoli called sulforaphane can prevent cancer when applied to the skin. They actually painted broccoli puree on to subjects skin to test this out! Lead researcher Dr. Sally Dickinson has also discovered that sulforaphane is highly effective at inhibiting cancer-causing pathways and at triggering chemoprotective genes like the Nrf2 gene. Such research suggests there are other ways to deal sensibly with sun exposure that bypass chemical sunscreens and their potential dangers.

3 Foods to Protect Your Skin This Summer

It’s very likely that a combination of the fact that we’re not eating enough skin-protective foods along with the increasing damage to the ozone layer from global warming has got us into this situation.   Here’s what you can start eating to restore the essential micronutrients for sun-savvy skin this summer - and of course - they are delicious, good for your hormones, and taste way better than that chemical spray sunscreen that gets in your mouth when the wind blows it the wrong way - blech!

‍Broccoli

‍Eating more broccoli and any other veggies from the brilliant brassica family, as well as more carrots and fresh fruit to increase your levels of vitamin A and C, will actually give you sun protection all summer long. You will be protected from the inside out, your body will set up its own defences. Of course, you also need to be sensible and not let yourself or your family burn by being out in the sun when it’s at its most fierce or for too long, but the right kind of diet will actually give you more time in the sunshine and prevent rapid sunburning.

‍Olive Oil

‍Vitamin E has massive skin protecting effects. Eating a more Mediterranean-style diet (or following the Flo Living protocol!) will improve your skin’s function and improve it’s response to free radical damage. Drizzle olive oil on everything, even directly on your skin! Tomatoes and basil also have sun protecting skin enhancing effects and the three together make the salad summer is made for! So, if you’re not vacationing in the Mediterranean this year (we wish!), you can bring a piece of that lifestyle to where ever you spend your sunny time out!

‍Dark Chocolate

‍OMG - chocolate actually doubles the amount of UV required to get a sunburn by increasing skin density, hydration, and microcirculation! I mean, there are SO many good reasons to eat dark chocolate every day, puree some raw cacao with some avocado and top with fresh strawberries for a skin protecting dessert! (Thank you chocolate gods for giving us the cacao bean - all praise!)

Unprotected skin, Hormones and Fertility

You do need a minimum of 15 minutes in the sun daily without any sunscreen to allow for production of Vitamin D3.  Adding in foods that are clinically shown to protect this skin can make you feel much more at ease with this practice. This method is better than just staying out of the sun, because we do really need sunshine.  We need that vitamin D3 that only the sun can provide as supplemental forms are less bioavailable.  In addition, vitamin D3 is essential for hormonal balance and optimal fertility.  There’s a bonus too - when we have enough D3, we are actually protecting ourselves against anti-oxidant skin damage.

‍My personal sun solution for me and my baby girl

‍I have a beach vacation in New England planned for this summer. My plan is to take my daughter out in the early morning sun when it’s less intense, so between 9am and 11am. I’ll have her wear a hat and a UV protective long sleeved swim shirt and little shorts. I will be using sunscreen, but only have to apply it to the areas not protected by the clothing. The sunscreen I’m choosing for my daughter is a physical barrier cream rather than chemical sunscreen. At the beach, when I’m not swimming - I personally wear this giant UV protective hat. I sit under an umbrella and if it’s super intense sun, I wear a tunic.

And I pack beach food that protects my skin - tomato, basil, broccoli, quinoa salad drizzled with olive oil and topped with walnuts. Cacao, avocado, strawberry pudding and fresh cherries for dessert.

Physical sunscreens are made of titanium oxide or zinc oxide and they sit on top of the skin. They act as a barrier against the sun’s rays, which are then either absorbed by the sunscreen or reflected away from the body. Physical sunscreens are usually opaque chalky white. You may have seen lifeguards or surfers using a physical block on their face. That’s because when you’re out in the sun all day, this is what is most effective and naturally water-resistant. They’re also hypoallergenic as a rule, which is great as most chemical sunscreens cause allergic reactions for  those with sensitive skin. Formulations are much better now - easier to apply and disappear into the skin.I have chosen the Badger brand zinc oxide-based physical sunscreen for our trip.

I LOVE summer! And I love that knowing how to eat right to protect my hormones also protects my skin - one elegant solution with food really does take care of everything! Say no to chemicals and say yes to broccoli! 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!  

I don’t blame you for feeling confused about supplements. With all the news headlines telling us we should be wary of big box brands, false claims, and lack of regulation in the supplement industry - it’s made a lot of people worry that buying supplements is, literally, like throwing money down the toilet. Even when I decided I wanted to get pregnant and started looking for a good prenatal multivitamin, it took me ages to find one that I knew would be both effective and safe. I looked at every single brand out there, before settling on the 3 - just 3 out of the hundreds of choices - that I liked and would happily take! I can appreciate how confusing and frustrating it is to figure this out.Those 3 prenatal supplement brands I like? Vitanica, New Chapter, and Innate. As well as avoiding fillers, these brands are low dose. Not many people realize that a too high intake of certain vitamins can actually be contraindicated for a developing baby.I read so many of your comments on the blog about this very subject - Which ones are good to take? How do I choose? How do I know if I need a multivitamin? So thanks to your questions, today I’ll be sharing the myths versus the facts. I’m going to break this down for you so that you don’t have to feel baffled by the shelves upon shelves of supplements in the health food store aisles or even better, so you feel like I’m right there with you in the store to shop!

Multivitamins - the myths versus the facts

Myth: A multivitamin can save you from an otherwise unhealthy diet.Fact: Supplements will not work right if you do not have a healthy internal ecosystem. Sadly, your body just won’t absorb the vitamins. First of all, the vitamins in multivitamins are less bioavailable than the nutrients we extract from food. So you’ll never absorb 100% of what’s in a supplement even if you’re perfectly healthy. But if your diet isn’t fostering a healthy gut environment, what you’ll absorb will be dramatically less. A great example of this can be seen in probiotics. Research shows that unless you eat a diet rich in prebiotics, then as soon as you stop taking your probiotic, those good bacteria will vacate an otherwise hostile area - your gut! If you feel like the supplements you’re trying aren’t helping you much, then you’re not imagining that to be the case. Your body can’t use them efficiently for the very support you want to incorporate them for.Myth: You can fix your symptoms by taking the right supplement.Fact: No one supplement will solve your PMS, PCOS, fibroids, infertility or acne. Just as the Pill doesn’t fix these issues, no other kind of pill will do it alone either. You CAN however use supplements to help address the underlying causes of these conditions. For example, if you have PCOS, or ovulation issues, you can use a cinnamon supplement along with dietary changes to improve your insulin response and that will help restore your ovulation. You see - you can’t take a pill to fix ovulation, but you can use a supplement with blood sugar balancing meals to help your body restore this process.Myth: All supplements are the same, so it’s fine if you go with the least expensive brand.Fact: Wrong - brands really matter. Recent studies exposed that big box store brands don’t contain what they claim and are packed full of fillers. Not only that - you also need to be vigilant about the ingredients in supplements from smaller, healthier-seeming brands too. Many of these are also packed with fillers including corn, gluten and dairy sources, stearates, GMOs and soy! Take a long look at the “other ingredients” on the label. You also should be aware of where the supplements are manufactured. Currently, there is no FDA regulation of supplements in the US and there is definitely also none anywhere else. You want to look for manufacturers that do their own testing and quality regulation. I have spent the past 15 years researching and trying different supplements. I am highly selective about which brands I use.Myth: The more ‘stuff’ in your multivitamin, the better.Fact: A basic multivitamin should have the RDA of all the vitamins and some minerals that you need. However, many brands also add other ingredients to make their multivitamin stand out, look healthier, or look like its worth more of your money - ingredients such as herbs, algae, grasses, powdered fruits and vegetables, and sprouted grains. In theory, this seem like a great mix of healthful elements, but in practice these additional ingredients can actually work against you. You may have sensitivity to some of these ingredients. In addition, not all ingredients interact well with each other or with other medications you might be taking. Herbs can be as powerful as pharmaceuticals and should only be used medicinally for a short period of time to treat a certain problem and not taken every day routinely. Phytoestrogenic ingredients like pomegranate seed extract can worsen a problem like endometriosis. Those with food sensitivities will find grains and grasses bring on symptoms. With many multivitamin brands you’re actually getting more than your needed RDA of some of the vitamins. That might not seem like an issue, but too much B12 can actually increase anxiety for example. Blood pressure can be raised by licorice extract. And, anyway, any surplus vitamins that your body cannot use will excreted through the urine regardless.

Should You Take Multivitamins Or Individual Supplements?

I think individual supplements when used for a specific reason to help boost low micronutrient levels and to help with a hormonal imbalance are essential. I hope I’ve made clear however, that you have to absolutely be using food to help get you all the way to your desired health goals. As far as the question about multivitamins goes, I never took one until I was pregnant personally. I instead prefer to use individual supplements to help with the function of my endocrine system. If you’d like to see what supplements I recommend for specific hormonal support - check out the supplement guide I created here!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:

Need more Hormone Help?

If you’re needing some health upgrading, it’s time you started you looking into what’s going on with your hormones.I’ve designed a 4 day hormone detox and evaluation to help you understand exactly what’s out of whack and how you can start getting back to balance so that your hormones no longer have to suffer.Click here to get your FREE detox and evaluation!

1 in 5 women have a thyroid disorder and yet this is the most underdiagnosed hormone issue.Do you feel like your weight gain, hair loss, fatigue and mood issues might be part of a bigger issue? Have you even gotten tested but it came back “within normal range”?This can be so frustrating and I’ve seen so many women in my practice at their wits end because they’re trying to feel like themselves again.Getting an accurate assessment of this hormone is critical when you are trying to resolve period, fertility, and low libido issues.I’d like you to be aware of what your thyroid is, does, and how it impacts your periods, fertility, energy levels and more before you find yourself in the doctor’s office. So, I’m going to run you through the basics and then talk about how to keep your thyroid healthy.

What Your Thyroid Does

The thyroid gland is the largest in your endocrine system and it’s actually located in the front of your neck. This gland is essentially responsible for making your energy by controlling and regulating your internal body temperature. The thyroid works in tandem with your adrenals in tandem. Together they are there to take care of many vital bodily processes, such as -

• Your metabolism and whether you’re a slow or fast burner of energy and whether you are gaining or losing weight
• Your mood balance
• The quality of your sleep
• Your digestion
• Regulation of your body temperature
• Your sensitivity to other hormonal shifts throughout your cycle

A sluggish thyroid that isn’t humming away as it should will show signs of this in your experience of your cycle. Here are some of the signs your thyroid is struggling to do its job -

• You are having multiple periods per month
• Your bleeds are heavy and full of clots
• You’ve experienced one or more miscarriages
• You find you’re having many anovulatory cycles (that means cycles in which you might bleed, but you don’t ovulate)
• You have unexplained weight gain despite eating well and exercising regularly
• You feel exhausted all the time
• You have cold or tingly feet and hands
• You have puffy eyes

The nutrients that make the thyroid hormone are Iodine and L-Tyrosine. 60% of the iodine we have in our bodies is held in the thyroid gland. Tyrosine is an amino acid that you need to synthesize what your thyroid creates.Testing With Your DoctorIt’s important that you work with your doctor to test your thyroid with blood tests and an ultrasound if you’re experiencing symptoms before pursuing treatment as certain protocols - such as increasing iodine intake - is good for some thyroid problems, but not all. Specifically Hashimoto’s disease, which is an autoimmune condition that causes your immune system to attack your thyroid, can worsen with an increased uptake of iodine. So work with your doctor to figure out the best move forward for your issues.You want to be tested for TSH levels, T4, T3 and T3 uptake - this will give you the best understanding of where your thyroid function is breaking down.You may need to be put on hormone replacement. If possible, going bioidentical is better - like Naturethroid, versus the synthetic Synthroid. Regardless of the need for medication, you will need to use food to support your thyroid health, so you don’t continue to experience symptoms of underactive thyroid and need more and more medication to get the same result. Food is your friend in all ways!

Natural Thyroid Support

The best way to improve your thyroid hormone production is by adding in certain foods to your diet that will support the thyroid and protect it from disruption. You can also choose to avoid certain substances that will have an adverse affect on your thyroid. And make sure you include some Iodized Sea Salt in your cooking as well!The three best ways to improve your thyroid function

1. Coconut oil is high in saturated fat, lauric acid and medium-chain fatty acids. Most of the oils popularly used in cooking, baking etc have a negative impact on the thyroid. Vegetable polyunsaturated oils have been linked to many thyroid diseases. Swapping out the other oils you use currently with coconut oil and getting two tablespoons a day into your diet will make a difference to your thyroid function. Click here to read more about the benefits of coconut oil for your hormones.
2. Sea veggies are a great concentrated source of iodine. A little goes a long way, so picking nori, which has comparably low iodine is a good choice, as it will support your thyroid without risking disruption. Steaming, frying or roasting nori are good options for preparation as they produce a moderate release of the helpful iodine content. It’s interesting to note that Japan has a very low rate of cancer and this can be partially attributed to their consumption of sea vegetables in the traditional diet.
3. A deficiency in Vitamin D has been associated with thyroid dysfunction. That’s because this vitamin is what’s called a hormonal precursor. If you’re not getting Vitamin D exposure from sunshine then you need to supplement with Vitamin D3 tablets. A lighter skinned person can just make sure they’re out in the sun for 30 mins, but if you’re darker skinned you may need up to two hours of sunshine a day to get the right amount of D. Just make sure you get out of the sun before your skin has the chance to burn.

Don’t Harm Your Thyroid

1. Avoid Fluoride and Chlorine - these chemicals are present in our drinking water and toothpaste so it’s best to get a filter that will take them out for you and choose flouride free toothpaste. Studies have correlated the amount of fluoride in our drinking water to an increase in underactive thyroid issues. Too much fluoride and chlorine can actually cause iodine deficiency.
2. Don’t Eat Raw Cruciferous Vegetables - Cruciferous vegetables like: broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kale, collard greens, bok choy and cabbage contain goitrogens which is a chemical that suppresses the function of the thyroid gland by disrupting and blocking the enzyme that lets your thyroid use the iodine in your body to make the thyroid hormone. If you have an underactive thyroid or hypothyroidism then eating raw cruciferous vegetables can suppress the thyroid function. These vegetables have many other nutritional benefits so you just need to limit your intake to two times a week and be sure to cook them before eating. Of course if you have normal thyroid function there’s no need to avoid these. Otherwise you can substitute with celery, romaine lettuce, beet leaves, cucumber and chard.
3. Manage Your Stress - Stress throws your cortisol levels off, which is turn impacts your adrenals and therefore your thyroid. Cortisol helps your thyroid work more efficiently and so producing just the right amount is very important for healthy thyroid function. If your cortisol levels are low because of stress-induced adrenal exhaustion the thyroid cannot regulate your energy and metabolism. Chronic stress causes too high cortisol levels.

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, do you feel like you might have a thyroid problem? What are your symptoms? What have you tried?Second, will you try out my suggestions? Let me know how it works for you!Third, You know every one you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social media ?

Need more Hormone Help?

If you’re needing some health upgrading, it’s time you started you looking into what’s going on with your hormones.I’ve designed a 4 day hormone detox and evaluation to help you understand exactly what’s out of whack and how you can start getting back to balance so that your hormones no longer have to suffer.Click here to get your FREE detox and evaluation!

I’ll be honest with you, I gave up alcohol about two years ago. I knew I wanted to get pregnant and I knew that my hormonal makeup plus my age meant it was the best thing to do. Now I’m nine months post-birth, I’m breastfeeding and in recovery mode, so I’m still not drinking and I can’t say I miss it!

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But, I’m not here to tell you that you have to do the same or to make you feel bad for having a glass of wine.

‍You can still have a glass of wine!

‍One big difference between the Flo Living protocol and the other diets and lifestyles out there is that I don’t believe in perfection. Instead I am all about each of us understanding how our body works so that we can make the best decisions to support our health and then make good course corrections along the way.

It’s not about choosing between “being good” or “having fun” - there’s a middle way that allows you to do both. It’s about taking microactions to balance out your indulgences before they hit and have a negative impact. You can be good AND have fun! I tend to take the 80/20 approach and I encourage my Flo ladies to do the same - you’re allowed to have lapses, what matters is what you do about them.

Because it’s all relative in the end - you have to take your own hormonal symptoms, their severity, and your overall diet into account when you make the choice to have a drink or two. If you’re at the very beginning of your healing journey then, just like with sugar, you are better off going cold turkey for two months at least and seeing how that affects you. If you’re trying to improve symptoms that are related to estrogen dominance then drinking alcohol frequently will slow your healing down.

You have to ask yourself how quickly do I want to feel better and how long do I want the recovery process to take?

In the spirit of body awareness and self observation, I’m going to fill you in on how alcohol impacts your hormones and then provide some useful survival strategies for cutting back and balancing out the effects on your body.

How alcohol impacts your hormones

• Women process alcohol at a much, much slower rate than men. We retain all fluids for longer, in fact, and we metabolize the chemicals in alcohol at a slower rate. This means the physical impact of alcohol is much stronger and faster for women than for men.
• Drinking alcohol forces the liver to use your store of antioxidants and vitamin C to break it down, which leaves you vitamin and mineral deficient. This is especially problematic if you know you are already dealing with a deficiency.
• Alcohol raises your estrogen levels which worsens symptoms of PCOS, fibroids and endometriosis - and any estrogen-dominant hormonal health issue
• Although we often reach for a drink because we want it to make us feel happy or sexy, alcohol is actually a depressant. Drinking alcohol drains the adrenals and makes you feel more tired and down.
• Alcohol disrupts your blood sugar function - so if you’re dealing with blood sugar imbalance as a part of your hormonal health issues, and many women are, this is something to be aware of. Often we will find ourselves making unhealthy food choices when we drink and the day after, which further exacerbates the problem.

What to do to offset alcohol consumption (a.k.a. my recovery protocol for a big night out)

It’s Saturday night and you have a big night out with the girls planned! You think avoiding alcohol completely is unrealistic, but you want to be health conscious and make good choices while still having fun. Here’s how to do it -

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‍Before you leave

• At lunchtime take a good B vitamin complex (so you can recover more quickly from dehydration), a dose of inositol (a nutrient that helps detoxify your liver), and vitamin C ester (which will combat the stress on your cells).
• Make a decision to only have two glasses of wine (red or rose are the best for you as white wine holds too much sugar).
• Eat a good meal before you go out or instead of just meeting your friends for drinks, meet a little earlier for dinner and drinks. Take a tip from the Europeans - don’t drink on an empty stomach. Choose a meal with a little fat in it (although nothing fried) as it will slow down the glucose uptake.

When you’re out

• See if you can have your wine served to you in a carafe with a bottle of seltzer water too. That way your two glasses of wine will magically multiply into four with the additional of the seltzer. One carafe then lasts you throughout the dinner. It feels more abundant and indulgent, and yet it’s still just two glasses!
• If you’re at a bar - order some guacamole or nuts for the table for those good fats. If you’re heading to a restaurant - Japanese food like sushi is a great choice for balancing out the effect of red wine.
• Remember - you don’t need to check out of your body to have fun. You can enjoy your friends with a glass of club soda in your hand! Even times when you’re at a bar can become part of your self-care routine - connect with loved ones, touch, dance your heart out to your favorite song. Giving over to the joys of life with a clear head is so rewarding and makes you feel truly alive!

When you get home

• Take another B vitamin complex to restore those vitamins your liver needs to break down the alcohol.
• Have a big glass of water with electrolyte enhancer (I like the Electro-Mix from the makers of Emergen-C).

The next day

• Have another B vitamin complex and take a drink of warm water with lemon to flush your system.
• Drink coconut water to replenish your electrolytes.
• Have three 8 ounce glasses of my favorite detoxifying juice - combine a handful of spinach, 4 stalks of cucumber, half a bunch of cilantro, one-third a bunch of parsley, half a lemon with rind, half a green apple, and a small carrot in a blender or juicer. So refreshing!
• Take a hatha yoga class to calm your adrenals. The twists involved will help detoxify your internal organs and prevent a backup of estrogen.
• Committing to a fresh start that morning and following these steps will prevent you binging on unhealthy foods and minimize the hormonal disruption from the alcohol.

My big secret to increasing the speed of weight loss is by increasing my fat intake. Yep - you heard me correctly - women have to EAT FAT to LOSE FAT (click to tweet).And yes, it’s certain fats, as not all fats are created equal. The fats I’m talking about are MCT’s - Medium chain triglycerides. The more of these you have, the better your metabolism works! And this kind of fat actually heals some of the underlying hormonal problems that are slowing down your metabolism to begin with! The best source of this is coconut oil and it’s my secret weight loss weapon! I make eggs with it, I put it in smoothies - I personally have about 2 tablespoons a day, plus a whole avocado a day - good fats keep your hormones sexy, slim, and young!Did you know that coconut oil isn’t just great for your skin and hair, it can also help you to heal your thyroid, lose weight, have more energy and fix your periods? And it only takes two to three tablespoons per day to have these wondrous effects on your health.I encourage WomanCoders to use coconut oil when cooking their greens, in place of butter on gluten free bread, and in their oatmeal, as well as replace moisturizers and makeup removers with this incredibly versatile substance.

How Coconut Oil Speeds Weight Loss

1. Coconut oil contains medium-chain fatty acids which are absolutely essential for building hormones (also known as medium-chain triglycerides). These fatty acids are not found in many other oils, making the coconut kind pretty unique.
2. These medium-chain triglycerides help balance out our progesterone and estrogen levels which leads to a boosted sex drive, regular and pain-free periods, no PMS, healthy fertility and great skin.
3. Hormones are stabilized in a lipid or fat ring. It’s in this lipid ring that they circulate around the body and reach their necessary destinations. Our hormones need good fats to develop this fat inner tube and float around the bloodstream. Coconut oil helps us make hormones and helps them get to where they want to go.
4. We’ve gotten used to thinking of oils as fattening, and many of them are, but coconut oil’s medium-chain fatty acids actually speed up your metabolism and promote increased weight loss. A 2002 study published in the Journal of Nutrition showed that coconut oil can increase energy, help with weight control and keep you feeling fuller and more satisfied for longer when compared to the long-chain fatty acids found in the likes of olive oil. Long-chain fatty acids are actually used to promote weight gain in livestock, so you can see where our oil fears may have started!
5. Coconut oil balances thyroid function as it has the ability to transform cholesterol into pregnenolone, which is one of the essential building blocks for thyroid hormone-making. It even increases basal body temperature, which is very important for those with low thyroid function.
6. Those who suffer from inflammation symptoms of the gut such as Crohn’s disease have found coconut oil to be healing - both in repairing tissue and preventing the development of harmful bacteria that can hurt your microbiome. The medium-chain fatty acids are actually a lot like a human mother’s milk in the way they act on the body and as such, just like with breast milk, they have amazing properties of the antibacterial and antimicrobial kind. Coconut oil contains lauric acid (more than any other substance), which protects against infection from viruses, bacteria, yeast, parasites and fungi. Lauric acid inactivates the unhealthy and harmful microbes in your gut that can lead to all kinds of hormonal issues (for more on this read my guide to your microbiome).

5 Ways to Get Coconut Oil in Your Diet Every Day

The great thing is coconut oil is super easy and simple to use! It can withstand high temperatures so can be used for roasting vegetables as well as sautéing greens without breaking down or degenerating. It can be kept at room temperature for up to a year with no concerns for it turning rancid. It’s both a solid and a liquid so it can be used in lieu of butter or in lieu of milk. The best kind to pick up at the supermarket is cold-pressed virgin coconut oil.5 cool ways to use more coconut oil every day:

1. Stir a tablespoon into your favorite hot drink to give you an energy boost and to make it taste smooth and almost creamy.
2. Add it into kale-based or date-based smoothies (or mix all three!).
3. Use it to cook your eggs and greens in the morning - it takes away the slight bitter taste of collards or spinach.
4. Substitute butter for coconut oil when baking breads and desserts.
5. Apply as a moisturizer anywhere and everywhere.

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, do you think you could benefit from eating more coconut oil?Second, will you try out any of the 5 ways of getting more coconut oil daily? How do they work for you? Let me know and share pics! Third, You know every one you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social media ;)

Need more Hormone Help?

If you’re needing some health upgrading, it’s time you started you looking into what’s going on with your hormones.I’ve designed a 4 day hormone detox and evaluation to help you understand exactly what’s out of whack and how you can start getting back to balance so that your hormones no longer have to suffer.Click here to get your FREE detox and evaluation!

The microbiologist Gregor Reid believes we all need to take better care of our vaginas (we do!). His research shows that your vagina is home to specific vagina-friendly microbes that have their own little eco-system going on. Any imbalance in the delicate production of both lactic acid and hydrogen peroxide can cause a problem called bacterial vaginosis. This causes chaos for your vaginal microbiome, but you won’t necessarily even know that it’s happening, because half of all women with bacterial vaginosis experience no symptoms. Reid speculates that around 30% of American women currently have bacterial vaginosis.‍

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The Vaginal Microbiome & Your Fertility

‍Your imbalanced vaginal flora can compromise your ability to get and stay pregnant. According to Reid, the resulting low-level inflammation from bacterial vaginosis is linked to the prevention of fertilization of the egg, spontaneous miscarriage, and a higher risk of preterm birth. In addition, bacterial vaginosis can also make women more susceptible to acquiring and transmitting STDs and HIV.

‍Your vaginal microbiome balance starts in your gut

If you follow the Flo protocol with your diet, avoid chemical-laden products, and only sparingly use unnecessary medications, then you are also minding your gut microbiome, and by minding your gut microbiome, you are taking care of your vaginal ecosystem. You can read more recommendations for supporting your gut microbiome, probiotic supplement and food recommendations (and the dangers of overuse of antibiotics) here.

‍Stop the antibiotics insanity

‍How many of you have tried taking antibiotics or antifungals, only to have the condition clear up temporarily and then come back? Or even worse, you take the antibiotic to clear up the BV or the UTI, and then you end up with a yeast infection! It’s a vicious cycle and it’s not what the body needs to clear up this imbalance. When you look at your microbiome as something that needs to be supported, then these conventional medicine based treatments make absolutely no sense, and in fact they actually make the situation much worse by destroying your gut flora balance and throwing off your body’s natural ability to keep bacteria and yeast balanced.

You’re not meant to nor can you ever actually get rid of yeast or bacteria - you have TONS of it living in you and on your skin - you need to feed the good bacteria so they keep the nasty ones in check!

We recommend making several changes to your lifestyle along with following our eating protocol - part of this includes switching to natural remedies, because conventional treatments not only harm the microbiome, but they don’t solve the root cause and those nasty symptoms return as a result. If you have used a lot of antibiotics and creams in the past to try and get rid of these problems, it’s likely you have a vaginal microbiome imbalance and compromised gut microbiome as well! Below are some natural remedy recommendations that will get rid of the pain, the itching, and are also vaginal microbiome-friendly.

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OUR FAVORITE NATURAL REMEDIES FOR YOUR VAG

Bacterial Vaginosis

‍Liquid chlorophyll taken internally to alkalize the body

‍Jarrow Femdophilous - clinically shown to restore the vaginal microbiome

‍Vitanica Bacteria Arrest Vaginal Suppositories

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‍Yeast infections

‍Vitanica Yeast Arrest Vaginal Suppositories will give relief and help support your vaginal flora

‍Jarrow Femdophilous - clinically shown to restore the vaginal microbiome

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‍UTIs

‍D-mannose

‍Baking soda in water to balance your pH

‍Jarrow Femdophilous - clinically shown to restore the vaginal microbiome

Consult a homeopath for the right remedies for UTIs.

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More tips for vagina care

Don't wash your vagina. (Say what?!) Wash it in the shower of course, but stay away from douches, wipes, and special V soaps! The fact that these products exist is ridiculous. Your vagina is perfectly designed to clean itself! You don’t need them and they can give you any one of the above 3 conditions!

Switch your menstrual products from the conventional to 100% organic cotton. Conventional products are laden with pesticides and bleach - which are not good for your vaginal microbiome. Opt instead for  100% organic cotton products from Natracare or Maxim. Often that itching, inflammation, and irritation we think is a normal part of our period experience, is actually from  the kinds of pads and tampons we’re using every month. Read more here on how conventional femcare products can be harming your health.‍

Learn your vaginal microbiome fingerprint. Imagine you have a UTI or a yeast infection, and you can take a probiotic that is totally individualized to your vaginal microbiome so that you can get the healthy bacteria flourishing fast! Science fiction you say? No longer! There is a company called Sweet Peach Probiotics. CEO and founder Audrey Hutchinson has invented a way to make personalized probiotics for your vagina just by analyzing a mailed-in swab sampling of your microbes. This is such a brilliant idea and we look forward to seeing what comes of it!

PLUS I share what kind of sex to have each week of your cycle to have your best orgasms every time!

These days it’s not just aging that can cause your sex drive to take a nosedive. All those factors of modern life that conspire to make our diet poor, our exercise minimal, our sleep unsettled and our stress levels high, not only mess with our menstrual cycle and our fertility, but also our libido. It’s all connected!‍

Why I want you to have more sex!

‍When we’re rushing around trying to do our best in all areas of life, sex is often the first thing to get majorly de-prioritized. I think that’s a real shame as sex is not only fun, it’s also great for your health! In fact regular sex plays an important part in regulating your cycle and sustaining your fertility.So, I want to share with you how cycle-syncing both your diet and how you have sex for the next 4 weeks can give your libido and enjoyment a big boost.

‍Your hormones and your desire

‍When you are living in your FLO and truly feeling cycle-aware, you might notice that how you feel about your partner, your energy levels, and your interest in sex changes depending what phase you are in at that time. This is perfectly natural. In the first half of your cycle you will feel a growing sense of desire that spikes around ovulation. Then, in the second half of your cycle, the closer you get to your period, the less interested in sex you will feel. That said, with my tips for engaging in the right sex for your phase you might find yourself with a much larger window of high desire.

However, please do remember, it’s okay to simply not feel like it, sometimes! It’s okay to want to take a break, just let your body be your guide.

The SexyFLO guide to turning yourself back ON in just 4 weeks

Follicular phase (before you ovulate, after your period)

Food: Honey. Here’s food you can actually use in and out of the bedroom, if you’re feeling playful! An ancient aphrodisiac, honey contains boron, which helps regulate your hormones, plus nitric oxide, which is released naturally during arousal.Bonus: I suggest having your partner eat celery at the start of each day, as this food makes him send out these crazy-attractive pheromones that will make you much, much more interested in him!

‍Sex: You’ll want to amp up the touching, massaging, and nonpenetrating foreplay to get mentally and physically readied for sex. Right after your period, your sex drive will be low, so you’ll need a lot of extra attention. This is also a good phase for trying new things, so make extended and creative foreplay a sexual frontier.

Ovulatory phase

Food: Strawberries and figs. Indulge in strawberries, the symbol of Venus, the Goddess of love, at this time. They contain antioxidants and phytochemicals that are nutritious energy support, plus their symbolic power can get you mentally in the mood. Try dipping figs in honey for a sensual treat. The fiber and potassium are great hormone balancers, plus they’ve been associated with sexiness since the times of Ancient Greece.

‍Sex: Your testosterone and estrogen levels are at their highest, hopefully making you feel very frisky. You are at your most fertile and your body is primed to procreate (so stay safe if you don’t want a baby!). You won’t need a lot of foreplay, so this is the right time for quickies and spontaneity.

Luteal phase (after you ovulate, before your period)

Food: Right after you ovulate try some recipes involving asparagus and artichokes. Asparagus contains aspartic acid, which can help prevent fatigue as well as low libido. Artichokes have an ancient connection to increasing sexual interest that might be sourced in how sexy it can be to dip and eat their leaves!As you get closer to your period try raw dark chocolate, full of desire-boosting magnesium, as it will satisfy your natural cravings, make you feel content, and give you a much-needed energy boost. Another one to bring into the bedroom if you are feeling experimental!

‍Sex: As you move towards menstruation, testosterone, estrogen and progesterone begin their descent to their lowest levels. You’ll be needing more stimulation now to climax. This is the time to utilize any toys that help you to increase sensation. Or try out my techniques for increasing arousal solo or with a partner.

Menstrual phase

Food: Avocados are full of bioidentical testosterone, which will aid you at this time when your own testosterone is at its lowest ebb. Aztecs believed avocados had the power to incite sexual passion and, in this way, they were not wrong!

‍Sex: Low pH levels in your vagina at this time can make those prone to infections more susceptible and we know there’s nothing sexy about a UTI! It’s okay to abstain from sex for a few days, regardless. However, if you suffer from period-related cramps or migraines then solo or partnered orgasms can really help as a pain-reliever. Finally, some women feel very turned on during this week due to the increased fluid pressure in the pelvic and pubic area. Go with your FLO and choose to do whatever is right for you!

‍Food as foreplay

‍When you’re eating these foods, whether alone or with your partner, I want you to really try to enjoy the experience. Slow down and focus on the pleasure and sensuality of eating. Make the meal a meditative process, even consider it to be part of your extended foreplay. This will bring more awareness to your body and relax your mind. Think about how you can make the most of these libido-boosting foods with your partner and involve him in this new way of engaging in sex and your sexuality.Remember: the potential sexual powers of these foods can only be activated if you are already living in your FLO and building a hormonally-balanced internal ecosystem. Only then will you really feel that buzz!

For many women wanting to get pregnant, IVF can seem like the fallback option if all else fails - an option that will bring that much wanted baby even when nothing else has worked. Perhaps this is because we hear of so many celebrities getting pregnant via IVF or read those attention-grabbing headlines about 60 year-olds with IVF triplets. It looks like IVF is a great plan B and bound to work. The reality, however, is very different.For the majority of women who chose IVF the per cycle success rate is 20-35%. Several rounds of IVF treatment is not only expensive, it also takes a toll on your health with Clomid working much like the Pill in reverse (forcing instead of suppressing ovulation) and bringing with it myriad harsh short term and long term side effects. Plus, the more IVF cycles you go through, the less likely you are to become pregnant as a result of the hormonal bashing your body is being subjected to.

The unspoken secret to IVF success

While your doctor may be honest with you about those disappointing average success rates, what you are not likely to hear is that there is a way to dramatically boost your chances of getting pregnant from IVF.Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health monitored the fat consumption of 147 women undergoing IVF treatment and discovered that those who ate the highest amounts of monounsaturated fat were 3.4 times more likely to have a child after IVF. They concluded that avocados contain the best kind of monounsaturated fat (and the least saturated fat, which was found to decrease the amount of “good eggs”).Another study, this time with 4,000 Danish women, found that women who drink five or more cups of coffee a day actually halve their chance of getting pregnant via IVF.What secret do these studies reveal? They show that what you consume has a direct impact on your fertility and your dietary choices affect your IVF outcomes. Knowledge is definitely power here!I believe you need to take a highly proactive approach with your own fertility and conception journey. It’s not about overriding your doctor’s advice, it’s about complementing their guidance with your own set of fertility-friendly choices you can make at home every day. You can work as a team with your medical practitioners to ensure your IVF cycle has the optimal opportunity to bring you a baby.So, I’m going to share with you my two-part strategy to increase your chance of getting pregnant with IVF. But, first, I want to share two stories with you about a woman who was told it was too late, but conceived naturally with FLO and the other about a woman who succeeded the first time in getting pregnant with IVF due to the FLO protocol. Once you hear their stories, I hope you’ll read on to learn my best strategies to increase your fertility.

Getting and Staying Pregnant with and without IVF

Although I have worked with women with the most discouraging fertility test results and helped them to reverse their prognosis, regain fertility, get pregnant and have a bouncing baby, all without IVF - just check out this Flo grad’s incredible story - I have also helped many women who have chosen IVF to be successful.Tricia shares her story with us:“A good friend gave me Alisa's book WomanCode when it first came out and, starting this January 2015, I decided to go all in with the Flo Living protocol. So I reached out for a FLO coach. My counselor has been incredible in answering all of my questions and really pinpointing the areas of the protocol that I should focus on. This past April, my husband and I did IVF for the first time and I'm now six weeks pregnant! We just heard the heartbeat, which was the most incredible experience. I know this was possible because of the FLO protocol and all of the changes I made in the three months from January through March. I know being on the protocol improved my egg quality. Now that I'm pregnant, I'm finding that all the nutritional advice I hear mirrors what I've learned through the protocol, so I feel great that it's already second nature to me.”

My two-part strategy for maximizing your chance of getting pregnant with IVF

I want to help you appreciate the ability you have to enhance your own fertility and improve your chances of success with IVF. It sounds like a lot of responsibility, but it’s also incredibly empowering.NB: In previous posts I have already shared the best fertility-boosting foods for you to enjoy and my secret to getting pregnant that has nothing to do with your diet.1.) Get nutritionally primed to optimize conception successIt’s best to start priming yourself for pregnancy six months to a year before you start the IVF process - that might sound like a long time planning, but, believe me, the better your body is prepped, the more likely it is to work first time!By following the Flo Living protocol you will be optimizing your weekly hormonal ratios, but there are four additional ways you can hack your eating plan to maximize the potential for pregnancy.

• Reduce inflammation: Incorporate sprouted and fermented foods during your follicular phase to deliver as many bioavailable nutrients as possible to the ovary.
• Energize your eggs: Consume the majority of your fruits and vegetables raw during ovulation to up egg-boosting glutathione levels.
• Boost Progesterone: Eat liver-supporting sweet root vegetables, like sweet potatoes, and leafy greens from the brassica family, like kale, during the luteal phase to make sure you are eliminating estrogen efficiently and keeping an optimal ratio of estrogen and progesterone for pregnancy maintenance and to reduce the likelihood of miscarriage.
• Boost your mineral stores: Replenish your minerals during the menstrual phase by consuming sea vegetables, avocados, and/or some free-range animal protein to deeply nourish your endocrine system for the next cycle.

2) Use Your Whole Body Fertility BarometerYour body has a myriad of ways it’s communicating with you about how fertile you are or how compromised your fertility might be. There are 3 systems that will tell you so much if you know what to look for. Those 3 systems are your cycle, your skin and bowels, and your vaginal microbiome. Check into each one to see what else you might need to do to boost your fertility.

• Observe your FLO: Observing the menstrual phase of your cycle is key to understanding how prepared your progesterone levels are to sustain a pregnancy through the critical first weeks. Look at the color, texture and number of days of your period. This is a fantastic way for you to assess each month how optimal your estrogen and progesterone levels are for conceiving and maintaining a pregnancy successfully. You can let your doctor know this information and they will support you in avoiding miscarriage. Click here to learn exactly how to interpret your period.

• Skin and Poop Check: Examine yourself for potential fertility obstacles beyond your cycle. I’m talking about healing your bowel movement health, which will improve your ability to absorb key nutrients like vitamin D3 and omega-3 fatty acids, which are both vital in stabilizing hormones.. Your skin health will show you how well your liver is doing and liver congestion will throw off the ideal hormone balance needed for baby-making. Inflammation is well-established as an obstacle to successful conception. If you have any symptoms of inflammation - from skin conditions, to IBS, to chronic illness and sleeplessness, you need to improve your internal ecosystem overall so that your ovaries get the green light for pregnancy. Read more about your gut microbiome here and of course make sure you are following the Flo Living protocol.

• TLC for your Vag: Chronic bacterial overgrowth and STDs are linked to decreased fertility rates. Address chronic BV (bacterial vaginosis), UTIs, and yeast infections by following my handy guide to natural remedies. Then get checked for common STDs like HPV and chlamydia that can create a less than optimal environment for an embryo. Both are highly treatable, so don’t fret if you find something.

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, are you going through IVF treatments? Second, which part of the fertility boosting plan do you feel you need to add to your conception journey? Third, so many women struggle silently with IVF – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social by clicking the buttons below :)

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.

Is soy safe? We've been led to believe that soy is a great health food - it's touted as being a great source of protein and calcium and low on calories. If someone is avoiding dairy, they might turn to soy milk, soy cheese, or soy-based meat alternatives and tofu to ease the transition. However, soy, or the most commonly consumed form of processed soy, is not healthy.

I’m so passionate about this subject that they built me a giant soybean to take apart on Dr. Oz! If you want to watch me and Dr. Oz discuss the soy situation - click here. You can also read about it here!

For some of the women, the amount of processed soy they’ve been eating has shown itself to be very harmful to their hormonal balance. Women with estrogen-dominant conditions such as PCOS, fibroids, ovarian cysts, infertility, and low libido are particularly sensitive to the effects of processed soy.

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‍The soy you can eat

‍Let's be clear - whole, organic, fermented soy is very good for you in small amounts - that’s miso, natto, tempeh, and soy sauce. Women living in Asian cultures who appear to have improved health and longevity only consume, on average, 2 teaspoons of fermented soy per day. It’s usually in the form of a condiment or a side dish - never the main meal. Fermented soy is really good for cancer-prevention and hormonal symptom reduction, but go easy on it.

‍What is “processed” soy?

‍Processed soy is actually something called soy protein isolate. This improves the texture of foods, increases moisture and it ups the protein level, which is what many people are looking for in these products. But to get this effect, they must strip away everything that makes soy good - the omega-3s, the fiber and the healthy carbohydrates. This soy protein isolate is added to foods in huge amounts.

‍How is it harmful?

‍Soy products contain high levels of phytoestrogens that actually mimic the body’s natural estrogen hormones. If your body is already struggling to break down what you have - and this is showing itself in estrogen-dominant conditions like the above - then processed soy will only add to the problem.

If a soy-based product is also GMO, then research shows this can be endocrine disruptive and can interfere with the fertility of both women and men. A 2009 Brazilian study exposed female rats to soy for 15 months and these rats showed significant changes in their uterine health and reproductive cycle. Second, they can inhibit thyroid function due to their high levels of goitrogens and the isoflavone genistein, which can be antagonistic to thyroid hormone.

‍Stepping away from bad soy

‍If you’ve felt reliant on soy for protein as someone who is vegan/vegetarian/lactose intolerant, be that in soy milk, soy ice cream, soy yogurt, soy cheese, soy protein powders et al, don’t worry as I’ve already outlined all the best sources of protein for you in this post. You can learn more about other fantastic sacha inchi, hemp and pea proteins.

If soy has been your dairy substitute, I want you to read up here on how you are right to give up dairy, but consider the alternative calcium sources I recommend instead.

‍Syncing good soy with your cycle

‍In the Flo Living protocol, you will see there’s little mention of soy products at all - that’s partly because we do not recommend a heavy reliance on any kind of processed foods and it’s also because just a small amount of fermented soy is enough.

During your menstrual phase is the time to indulge in miso, tamari, and black soybeans, as your body will best benefit from the nutrients and phytoestrogens.

‍The hidden source of soy you’ve never heard about

‍Supplements! Some popular brands of supplements contain soy in the form of soybean oil. Be sure to check the labelling on any supplements you buy. The good, reputable companies should provide clear dairy, gluten, and soy-free labelling on their products. It’s the last place you might think to find this, but consider how much you will be taking in if you take several supplements per day, every day. It adds up!

Many, many processed foods also contain soy. You’ll need to look out for these words and phrases as well as any other use of the word “soy” - texturized vegetable protein, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, soy lecithin, soy protein concentrate, and, as mentioned above, soy protein isolate.

‍How soy harms your family

‍For men and children, processed soy is even more harmful. As I’ve discussed in my previous post about low libido, the phytoestrogens build up very quickly in men and have a strong, rapid impact.

You should never, ever give your baby or child soy milk or any processed soy products. We are seeing that more and more young girls are experiencing early onset puberty - breast development, pubic hair development - some as young as 5 or 6 years old. Our dependence on processed soy might be one of the causes. The Breast Cancer Fund funded a study by Sandra Steingraber titled ‘The Falling Age of Puberty in U.S. Girls,’ that showed that 50% of white girls begin to develop breasts before they are ten, and 14% before they are eight. African American girls start even earlier than that. A documentary released last year, Little Big Girls, explores how we can best deal with this phenomenon.

Should you go gluten free if you struggle with symptoms like acne, bloating, weight gain, mood swings, fatigue, terrible PMS, infertility, and other period problems?

The answer is: Yes.

A wealth of research suggests that giving up gluten may help with a variety of symptoms, whether you have celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, or no identifiable symptoms at all. Going gluten free won’t heal your hormones all on its own, of course, but if you give up gluten at the same time as you engage in phase-based self care, you’re setting yourself up for hormonal success.

I’ve seen so many of the woman I work with benefit by giving up gluten. In particular, I’ve noticed that women who struggle with diarrhea, constipation, bloating, mood swings, irritability, and skin issues (like psoriasis and eczema), get better quickly by giving up gluten. But don’t just take it from me. Take it from the research.

What Research Says About Gluten & Acne, Bloating, Digestive Problems, and Other Symptoms

In a 2014 survey, over half of people who ditched bread and other gluten-containing foods (like pasta) reported improvements in their physical and mental health. And research suggests that even people who don’t have obvious symptoms after they eat gluten may benefit from giving up gluten.Groundbreaking research done by the Italian researcher Alessio Fasano found that gluten triggers the body to release a protein called zonulin. Zonulin has a negative effect in the body: it loosens the tight junctions in the lining of the intestinal tract. When the lining of the intestinal tract is “tight and right,” only the nutrients our bodies need to survive are allowed through the intestinal walls. When these tight junctions are weakened, other substances (like larger food particles and dangerous pathogens) are allowed to sneak through the intestinal walls. This “leaky gut” then triggers a host of other problems, like acne and other skin issues, bloating and digestive distress, mood swings, and always feeling tired.

How Gluten Affects Reproductive Hormones

Gluten fuels inflammation. Inflammation makes hormone imbalance worse. Specifically, gluten inflames and damages the villi (small, finger-like projections) on the small intestine. When the villi are damaged, the body has a harder time absorbing nutrients and food moves more slowly through the intestines. This slower transit time means excess estrogen stays in the body longer, contributing to estrogen dominance. Estrogen dominance is one of the most common hormone imbalances in the women I work with and it is responsible for so many of their period problems.Studies show that women with celiac disease, which is a severe immune-system reaction to gluten, have a greater risk of impaired fertility and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Research also links non-celiac gluten sensitivity with adverse pregnancy outcomes.Women with endometriosis who go gluten free report reductions in pain after six to 12 months of the diet, according to two separate studies. Eating gluten has also been shown to increase incidents of bloating and fatigue. And there is some evidence linking celiac disease and polycystic ovarian syndrome.

One More Reason Gluten Is Bad For Health

The health problems associated with gluten may be related to more than just the gluten itself. Studies suggest that some of the symptoms people experience after eating wheat—like diarrhea, skin rashes, and mood problems—might be caused by the herbicide glyphosate. Glyphosate is a main ingredient in Roundup and is often sprayed on wheat crops. Researchers suspect that glyphosate in the body makes it more difficult to absorb key micronutrients and that its presence may explain some of the reproductive and fertility issues associated with gluten.

The 4 Week FLO Living Gluten-Free Challenge—Do THIS First

I recommend any women who is experiencing period problems or digestive distress (or both) to try my cycle-based gluten-elimination plan. As the name of the challenge implies, the 4 Week Gluten-Free Challenge means you’ll be eating gluten free for four straight weeks. But I ask you to take the process one step further by eating specific non-gluten-containing grains during specific times in your 28-day hormone cycle. So the first thing you need to do is know where you are in your cycle.The easiest way to do this is with the MyFlo Period Tracking app. If you’re already tracking your period, great. If not, download the app and get started learning where you are each week of the month. The app will also teach you the best ways to eat, exercise, and practice self-care during during each phase of your cycle.Once you know what phase of your cycle you’re in, you can start the 4 Week Gluten-Free Challenge.

Your 4 Week FLO Living Gluten-Free Challenge

During each phase of your cycle, I want you to incorporate a different non-gluten-containing whole grain in your eating plan. Here’s what to eat and when:Follicular phase (before you ovulate, after your period)Oats (inherently gluten-free, although processing can sometimes include wheat, so those who are super-sensitive should choose oats that say “gluten-free” on the label)Ovulatory phase (when you’re ovulating)Amaranth, corn, quinoaLuteal phase (before you have your period)Brown rice, milletMenstrual phase (your period)Buckwheat (kasha), wild riceYou can do my 4 Week Gluten-Free Challenge for four weeks, but you might get even more benefit if you stick with it for eight or 12 weeks. Many women experience such impressive symptom relief by going gluten free that they decide to stay off this problematic protein indefinitely. If you reintroduce gluten after four, eight, or 12 weeks and feel okay, you may opt to have gluten occasionally going forward. But no matter what, it is best not to make gluten a staple food in your phase-based approach to eating.

One Final Note: Whole Grains vs. Pre-Packaged Gluten-Free Foods

When I first gave up gluten, there weren’t a lot of gluten-free products on grocery store shelves. Now there are many. It’s fine to try these out when you’re first transitioning to a gluten-free lifestyle, but be sure to read labels carefully. Pre-packaged foods usually contain a lot of additional unhealthy ingredients. You don’t want to give up gluten only to replace it with a raft of preservatives, sugars and sugar substitutes, and other gnarly ingredients. In general, I think it is healthiest to stick to whole, gluten-free grains like buckwheat and quinoa. I like to soak them in water with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar overnight before cooking. This way, you eliminate the phytic acid that can be harsh on the gut and improve your blood sugar stability.And if you find yourself feeling deprived in the initial phase of the FLO Living Gluten-Free Challenge (or anytime after going gluten free), don’t despair. I’ve got some great dessert and baked good recipes that will make you forget that anything is missing!Most importantly, get creative and have fun! Nearly all of the gluten-free grains included in the challenge make great additions to breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Hormones and the Microbiome

Turns out a certain set of gut bacteria and more specifically certain bacterial genes, called the estrobolome, produce an essential enzyme that helps metabolize estrogen. Your gut therefore is part of the elimination system that is vital in ushering hormones out of the body. This process, when working efficiently, plays an essential role in perfect hormonal balance. And of course, you’ve got to feed the internal ecosystem in the way that promotes the growth of these good bacteria that are there to help take care of you!

Meet your microbiome

This population of friendly bacteria or “gut flora,” as it’s also known, makes up your microbiome. Your microbiome is a main player in regulating your hormones, especially your estrogen levels. Estrogen-dominance as a result of a poorly functioning microbiome leads to every hormonal imbalance symptom or sickness you can think of - infertility, PMS, low libido, cramps and heavy bleeding, and PCOS. Plus, it can make you far more susceptible to estrogen-led cancers like breast cancer.Approximately 5lbs of bacteria lives inside of you and the quality of their eco-system - the healthiness of the microbial life plus the diversity - governs your health in so many ways. A poor internal ecosystem caused by bad diet, exposure to chemicals and stress, will suppress the good bacteria, promote the bad bacteria, and will lead to a toxic build up of hormones as well as other signs of systemic inflammation.Research shows us that addressing the microbiome holistically is the only way to get your immune system, digestive system and endocrine system working smoothly. Check out Missing Microbes by Dr. Martin Blaser to learn more.How do I know if I have a microbiome imbalance or ‘Dysbiosis’ ??Dysbiosis is a microbiome or gut flora imbalance. These are the first obvious symptoms and signs you will see if this is something that you suffer from badly:

1. Bloating and gas
2. Acne
3. Funky pooping
4. Foggy headedness and headaches
5. Frequent illness - from colds to yeast infections
6. Difficulties losing weight

That’s right - dysbiosis can lead to stalled weight loss. Gut flora is linked to your appetite, digestion and how easily you feel full and satisfied (aka satiation). Studies have shown that obese people have a less healthy and less diverse microbiome to those that are slimmer, and as people who are obese slim down, their gut flora changes. You need healthy gut flora to break down fats and sugars and get them in transit out of your body.

How to maintain a healthy microbiome for happier hormones

New research shows that unless we make a conscious effort, we in the Western world cannot maintain a healthy gut. The mainstream lifestyle works against our microbiome with what we generally eat and how we live. We have to decide to take control of our own health and make the right choices.There are Flo-fixes that will support healthy gut flora. Here are my Do's and Don'ts:Do's

1. DO get rid of the white stuff - that’s dairy, sugar and gluten by following the Flo Living protocol. Try out my free 4-Day Detox and see how much better you feel.

1. DO eat fermented foods rich in good bacteria like kimchi and sauerkraut - a couple of tablespoons a day will work wonders.

1. DO take a trusted probiotic supplement from a well-established company like Jarrow. Try their Stable-Dophilus formula as it doesn’t need refrigeration. Don’t waste your money or time on any big box store brands as there’s no regulation on the ingredients of their supplements.

The Pill Damages Your Microbiome as much As Antibiotics!Don'ts

1. DON’T ingest too many antibiotics. Avoid eating meat that contains antibiotics and avoid turning to antibiotics every time you have a cough or cold. Overuse will harm your estrobolome. As the antibiotics kill off the bad bacteria, they also kill off the good bacteria and it can be very difficult for the microbiome to bounce back from an aggressive course. More and more of us are becoming aware of the dangers of overuse of antibiotics as we see what happens when superbugs are created that are resistant to any kind of medical treatment. (Read more in Blaser’s book, which I mentioned above, Missing Microbes)

1. DON’T use the Pill. The Pill acts like an antibiotic in the gut, destroying the micro biome balance. If your doctor prescribes the Pill for PCOS particularly, you will find it will only worsen the problems of weight gain and insulin sensitivity, because of the impact on gut flora. Just recently new research linked Pill use to an increased risk of Crohn’s disease, a symptomatic disease of imbalance in the microbiome. Click here to read my guide to quitting the Pill. WomanCoders will have read that I don’t think it is an effective treatment for hormonal imbalance issues anyway and now we know for certain it will make your hormonal issues worse.

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, do you have any of the symptoms of dysbiosis? Second, will you implement any of my Dos and Donts? Tell me how it goes!Third, you know every one you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social by clicking the buttons below

Need more Hormone Help?

If you’re needing some health upgrading, it’s time you started you looking into what’s going on with your hormones.I’ve designed a 4 day hormone detox and evaluation to help you understand exactly what’s out of whack and how you can start getting back to balance so that your hormones no longer have to suffer.Click here to get your FREE detox and evaluation!

1. Birth Control Statistics.http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/wha/wha_contrace_crs.htm
2. Our Bodies, Ourselves. http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/excerpt.asp?id=24
3. Allen, Kim, “The Pill,” IO.comhttp://www.io.com/~wwwomen/contraception/pill.html
4. “New study widens pill risk for cancers,” Reuters, 10 Aug 2005. http://en.epochtimes.com/news/5-8-10/31022.html
5. Women, Heart Disease, and Stroke.AmericanHeart.org.http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4786
6. Borenstein, Seth, “Estrogen can bend gender of male fish living in water contaminated by birth-control pill residue,” Knight Ridder Newspapers, 27 Jun 2003. http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/press/2003/2003-0627-KR-estrogenizedfish.htm