FLO Living Blog

Thanks for watching our video! We hope you're excited about taking control of your feminine health. Do you have any questions for us? Post your question in the comment section below.If you desire more engagement with Alisa and the FLO Living team, check us out on Facebook and Twitter. xoxo!

Notes from a Flo Counselor: Carol Fiorito-Borowsky

A little while back my shoulders were feeling like rocks and aching - I really had a pain in the neck! Of course, this was partially due to a heavy bag carried on one shoulder, and wearing tops that tie behind the neck, but I realized there was also another component: all the mental weight I was putting on myself to perform and be a Supermom.As a mother there's tons of pressure to raise kids who are perfect sleepers and eaters and polite social creatures. We "should" be cautious, but not overbearing, and find the ultimate so-called balance for ourselves between family life, career life and alone time. Or so it may seem glancing through the average Mom's magazine.For 10 years I've consciously chosen to release the tendency to take on the societal picture of what my life should look and feel like, and after being a mom now for 15 months I've been taking some time for self reflection on how I'm doing, and where I can further support myself.The conclusion I reached? After dropping a few parenting techniques and work related projects that weren't working for us as a family, I turned my focus to my self-care.Here are some ways my self-care choices have evolved this summer:

• Me and my family have been taking long weekends in NJ and my exercise is walking in the woods and swimming and stretching in the pool.
• I've turned down multiple invitations to BBQ's and nights out, and instead choose to have friends around where I'll already be.
• At the end of the weekend I accept my mom in laws care packages of food and ease into Monday knowing that there's food already prepared.
• At the heart of it I feel is the tendency to notice when my thoughts and actions have turned to striving and struggling for perfection and I've come back now to acknowledging the perfection that already is present in each moment.

It's a very feminine way to approach things, and that has been a tremendous weight off my shoulders!!;- )I love to support fellow mom's who are raising the next generation so much that I designed an exclusive program called the Hot Mama Stay-cation this summer!I’d love to hear from you mom’s out there and get this conversation rockin!XO,Carol

Remember that story I told you a couple of weeks ago? The one about my husband being the only one in a room full of guys whose significant-other didn’t suffer from PMS?Well I’m writing today to make a pact with you that I will no longer be one of the only ones who doesn’t suffer from PMS. Are you in?You see, the PMS-phase of the cycle – technically called the luteal phase – actually contains an amazing opportunity for you. When your hormones are working in a balanced way throughout your cycle and when your symptoms are not clouding your judgment, you’ll have this time of the month to practice prioritizing yourself. It’s an opportunity to really tune in to what you need most and then find a way to set the proper boundaries so that you can honor yourself while continuing to help others in your life.I’ve been practicing this for most of my menstruating years, and I can tell you that it only gets easier and more rewarding over time! But you have to start somewhere. Especially if you’re someone who gets moody and irritable before your period, you might find self-prioritization difficult. Perhaps you’re more likely to lash out at your love ones, or get overly sensitive and cry over small things. There are hormonal reasons behind these reactions, as well as emotional ones, and you need to be aware of both in order to prevent them from getting the best of you.

Here are the 3 types of PMS you might experience:

1.) Anxiety & Irritability2.) Feeling Sensitive & Depressed3.) Bloating, Breast Tenderness, HeadachesYou can have any combo of these three, but what’s important to note is that they are all affected by your overall hormonal performance and your endocrine system.The typical solutions – Midol, Prozac, coffee, to name a few – are not really working because they are not addressing the whole picture. You need a solution that goes beyond the quick fixes and addresses you as a whole person. That’s exactly what I’ll be covering later this week in my top selling audio class, Banishing PMS Forever.I want you to have exactly what you need so that you start feeling great all month long! Here’s what I’ll be covering: Why you have: mood-swings, sugar cravings, acne, bloating, and cramps How to get 2 key hormones balanced to end PMS for good The key supplements to take to banish PMS Prioritizing you – the real opportunity of the luteal phase In short, you will learn how to banish PMS for good!Good things come in threes:

Now, I want to hear from you!

First: What type of PMS do you experience? Second: What was your favorite tip from my audio class?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 quiz 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 quiz!

Alisa was recently featured on lifebyme.com. Life By Me is a really amazing project. Sophie Chiche, the founder of Life By Me, asks one question of the people she interviews: "What is most meaningful to you?" Then, she sits back and listens, she really listens. One original answer is featured every day on the website. We love this website (and Sophie)!So when Alisa was asked what is most meaningful to her, I know you won't be surprised when she answered "aligning with what's uniquely female about my body."Here's an excerpt of the interview (below) - to read the entire interview, and to explore the rest of the Life By Me site, CLICK HERE.I've derived my life's purpose and joy, my understanding of myself, connections and collaborations with others, and magical serendipitous opportunities from aligning with what's uniquely female about my body.It took getting slapped around by health issues to recognize my body's magic. When I was 19, my body broke down completely, from a hormonal standpoint. I weighed 200 pounds, was covered in acne, was severely depressed, and got my period twice a year, if I was lucky. At the time, I was studying at Johns Hopkins to become an OB/GYN. One night, I decided I couldn't take it anymore and spent the night in the medical library. I finally found a tiny article and a likely diagnosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome, which turned out to be confirmed by testing. My body had given me a clear, meaningful direction and I'd followed it.I asked my doctor, "Now what do we do?" Her answer was, basically, nothing. I'd be medicated and get used to dealing with things like diabetes, infertility, heart disease, and increased likelihood of cancer. But the cells of my body screamed a big NO at me. I said, "Thank you. I'm going to take my expensively trained mind and go figure this out." She chuckled and said, "Okay, well, when you need the meds, let me know."Over the next years, I explored alternative therapies and apprenticed myself with naturopaths, acupuncturists, applied kinesiologists, underwater basket weavers - you name it --- to read more CLICK HERE

Notes from a Flo Counselor: Stacey Nussbaum

Ladies, I have to share the recipe for the delicious pancakes I made this past weekend. They are too good to keep them from you! And they can be made as a gluten free meal : )How can these delicious flap jacks promote your fertility?This is no short stack of pancakes - they are chock full of protein (eggs and tofu/cottage cheese) and balanced with complex carbohydrates (rolled oats). This is the perfect balance of protein to complex carbohydrates you need in each of your meals and snacks to help lower insulin stimulation and increase your fertility!Not to mention, you can never get enough oats in you diet! They improve resistance to stress, help stabilize your blood sugar and support you being in a healthy state of balance.Who says you can't have your (pan)cake and eat it too!?!?

Pancake recipe for fertility:

Ingredients:3/4 cup rolled oats1/4 cup buckwheat flour (or an additional 2T oats)3/4 cup organic tofu or cottage cheese3 eggs1 T vanilla1/2 t cinnamon1/4 t nutmeg1 t almond butter1 t saltolive oilMix all the ingredients (except olive oil) in a food processor or blender until smooth.Heat frying pan to medium high and add olive oil to coat pan.Add batter to pan and cook until both sides are lightly browned.Serve with fresh or frozen berries and / or maple syrup!Are you looking for more ways boost your fertility naturally? Check out my special summer fertility program created just for you!Click here to preserve and maximize your fertility!You will enjoy many more delicious recipes like this one and learn all the ways to improve your fertility forecast naturally!- Stacey

How does dance affect the body and your hormones?

As you know, we here at FLO Living are always interested in the places where science meets women’s bodies. Here we share with you exciting research that shows how a more feminine mode of exercise - Dance - can affect your hormones in a positive way. (And it just so happens that a few of our core team members are dancers, so even more reason to love this topic!)Allow us to introduce you to Dr. Peter Lovatt, a psychologist and former professional dancer who heads the Dance Psychology Lab at the University of Hertfordshire in England.His research is exciting to us for 2 reasons:

1. It supports the fact that dance can actually improve our mental ability to problem solve and think creatively, which for us translates to the power of the body and feminine energy to support the mind and masculine energy.
2. It demonstrates another way that women’s changing hormonal patterns throughout the month actually do affect the way we act and move. The more we are aware of this, the more we can learn to live in tune with our cycles and utilize our energy in the best ways possible.

Check out Dr. Lovatt’s TEDx talk below, where he shares these fascinating findings and some pretty awesome dance clips:(Skip to the 18:50 mark for the real good stuff!)

So this week, we hope you dance at whatever phase of your cycle you might be in!Has dance ever affected your hormones in a positive OR negative way?Share with us below and read on for a dance- and health-inspired story from Jessica, one of our counselors whose journey with dance went from health-damaging to healing and life-changing.Find out how we can help you get in the FLO with your body and hormones!

The defining moment for me came 12 years ago, when I decided to go on the pill at the age of 20. I was suffering from a hormonal imbalance called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, or PCOS. At my worst, I weighed 200 pounds, I had severe cystic acne on my face chest and back, I was deeply depressed, and I had my period only about three times a year. It was quite traumatic.

I didn't even know what I had for quite awhile. Doctor after doctor suggested that maybe I had a slow thyroid, or an endocrine problem, or even candida, but all their tests came back inconclusive. I finally diagnosed myself with PCOS after tremendous research on my own. And that's when I was hit with even worse news: PCOS is considered incurable by Western medicine.

The one thing my doctors agreed on, after finally performing the right diagnostic testing with my guidance, was that I should start taking oral contraceptives. They all believed that artificially regulating my hormone levels would reduce my unpleasant symptoms, even though they didn't know what the cause was. The pill never felt like the right option to me. But after saying no repeatedly, and not getting any other answers, I realized I had to take a scientific, experimental approach to my situation. I had to admit that, having never tried the pill, I didn't know how it would affect me. So I went ahead and tried it.

Less than two weeks later, I knew my original intuition to say 'no' was absolutely right. I was having ocular migraines, which caused me to lose my vision temporarily, in addition to the searing migraine pain, fluctuating body temperature, and heart arrhythmia. I realized that my body was not reacting to the artificial hormones in the pill the same way it would to hormones produced naturally in my body. The simple solution prescribed by all my doctors just wasn't going to work for me.

In that defining moment, I finally realized that it was up to me to empower my own healing process. If I had had access to the best medical thinking on these issues, as I was myself planning to be a GYN while studying at Johns Hopkins University, then what were women to do who didn't have my access for this condition and other GYN castaway conditions?

So that's what I began to do. I started studying everywhere and anywhere I could. I felt that there were answers available outside of Western medicine, so I apprenticed myself to alternative healthcare practitioners. I studied the whole gamut of herbology, naturopathy, homeopathy, acupressure, elimination diets, and tried everything. I used myself as a guinea pig to see what could be done.

During these experiments, I found that the only thing that worked on powerfully impacting my own body chemistry was food. When I found the right combination of medicinal foods to heal hormonal imbalances, I saw tremendous positive changes in my health. I lost 60 pounds, my skin cleared up, and my depression lifted. Best of all, I have had regular menstrual periods for the last decade. Out of all of this experimentation came an understanding of what the true underlying causes of hormonal imbalances are and the discovery of what has become my 5 step healing protocol and foundation of my company.

After completing my studies in Integrative Medicine and Nutrition, I formalized my protocol and opened up my center Laughing Sage Wellness, now FLO Living - in midtown manhattan. At first I began reaching out to other women with PCOS to let them know that their condition was not incurable. In those early years of my practice, I realized something very critical - the underlying causes of hormonal imbalances are very similar, and my protocol was effective for all the GYN castaway conditions.

Fast forward to today, I have a 10 year old center in Columbus Circle Manhattan, I have worked with many hundreds of women in the US and in four continents to heal naturally from these conditions, I educate ten thousand readers weekly through the LSW Newsletter, I hire and train other health counselors to deliver this protocol, and my company is poised on the precipice of major expansion.

The protocol I designed, which uses the science of food (nutrigenomics) to manipulate a woman's hormonal biochemistry, is now the study of a year long clinical trial spearheaded by a brilliant reproductive research scientist and physician from Columbia University in conjunction with the Sher Institute for Reproductive Medicine. It should be noted that the lead physician for this study spent 10 years in his lab researching the effects of turmeric on the vascular health of ovaries!

I have been a woman on fire with a mission for a long time and now my vision for revolutionizing the way women's healthcare is delivered is coming to fruition. FLO Living was founded to treat women with chronic GYN issues such as PCOS, PMS, Fibroids, Cystic Ovaries, Thyroid Issues, Adrenal Fatigue, IBS, Amenorreah, Dysmenorreah, and HPV. If you've gone to the GYN and have discovered one of these issues and you've heard the following options given to you: drugs, surgery, or we'll see you in 6mos - then you need to know about what's possible for you at FLO Living.