Quick Fix - Your Menstrual Cycle
A series of short, to-the-point chats with the industries best. No intro, no small talk, no wasting your time, just the answers you want & need to ensure you feel, be & look your best.
With Nutritionist & Female Embodiment Coach, Kara Ivy
EC. Not only are you my mentor, but you are mentor to thousands of women worldwide. Having said that, I’d love you to share your knowledge about the female menstrual cycle. More specifically, ways in which we can adapt our nutrition and movement to work with the 4 different phases of our cycle. Let’s start with nutrition - are there particular foods or methods of consuming foods, (eg. consuming raw foods versus consuming slow-cooked foods) that you would suggest during the 4 different phases?
KI. With both nutrition and movement, what I feel is important to look at first, is tuning into what our body needs. A lot of women I work with have different styles of eating that work well for their body. I have clients who follow a plant-based diet and clients who thrive on a diet that is essentially higher in fats and a little bit lower in carbohydrates or vice versa. So, what I would say here is the general consensus of what we look at when we look at the foods that we're consuming. It sounds generalised, but it is - it’s about consuming a variety of foods so that we are eating a balanced plate.
When we work with our cycle and when we start to really fuel our body, particularly when it comes to ovulation and during menstruation, we start to notice the foods that we are craving. For example, complex carbohydrates are really important during ovulation. Women need 150 to 200 grams of carbohydrates around ovulation. I always encourage macronutrients like carbohydrates, proteins and fats to be really balanced around our entire cycle, but especially prioritising carbohydrates during the mid-phase of our cycle, which is ovulation.
We can get quite specific with types of foods and types of nutrients to include too. For women, iron and B12 sources are really important. These are foods such as legumes and red meat. Slow-cooked meats or warming foods as well around menstruation is really supportive because when we look at our womb from a Chinese medicine perspective, we look at the quality of our blood and menstruation is a phase that does need deeper nourishment. So, getting these minerals into our body through slow-cooking is going to allow bioavailable vitamins & minerals. Also, it’s a really beautiful way to take the time to rest by putting a meal in the slow-cooker and eating that over a few days.
EC. Do you agree with needing to increase the amount of food that you are eating to support menstruation?
KI. Yes, absolutely - also, around the luteal phase and even ovulation as well, because we’ve just had a big rise in progesterone. Just after ovulation, we tend to have quite a lot of energy in our body and we often use more energy as well. So, we do have an increased demand or food, energy and calories. This is when it’s really important to listen to those cravings and to eat more food during those phases. It can be adding an extra egg, having an extra piece of toast or a bit more avocado with your breakfast - this can set the tone for your whole day because you're feeling full and you're going to feel more nourished as well.
EC. Leading up to your menstrual cycle, what would you suggest in terms of fulfilling cravings, but allowing yourself to also explore what it is that you really want?
KI. I like to use a technique called the ‘HALT Technique’ which involves taking 10 minutes to pause completely before fulfilling a craving. Is the craving something you can become more curious about? I often get my clients to set a timer for 10 minutes.
It's taking a moment to reconnect with the body - maybe going for a walk and tuning into it what type of hunger it is that you're experiencing. Is it emotional hunger? Is it coming from your head where you're not physically hungry, but it's driven by something else? With emotional hunger, we often go on autopilot. So can we bring more awareness to this? Can we see what is causing that stress or dysregulation in our system and use some techniques to help with this? I really love to use embodiment to release and process whatever that may be. Is it taste hunger? Perhaps you love chocolate and you just want to taste a bit of chocolate after your meal? If so, enjoy it. Bring your full attention to it and bring that mindfulness into food. Is it true physical hunger where snacking won't do, you actually need to eat a meal?
So, that's when I definitely suggest having tools & techniques to use such as adapting your lunches & dinners or bringing dinner forward if that's what your body wants. Listening to your body is really helpful for managing cravings and understanding the difference between head, mouth and true physical hunger is really helpful in adapting what your body is needing in that moment as well.
It’s a similar concept with movement - rather than feel the pressure to live in tune with our cycle or adapt our menstrual cycle as if it’s something else we have to do, I like to see it as an opportunity to connect with ourselves deeper. It's almost like a meditation. It's almost like a spiritual practice.
Yes, it's nice to have a bit of a framework that we can use during the different phases, but if we can come back to listening to our body - eg. waking up every morning and having an intention to do a workout, but the ability to choose what that's going to look like, that is hugely beneficial. It then takes away the rigidity of feeling like during ovulation, you should be doing high intensity workouts. You can, but it's an option! Hormonally, our body is better suited to higher intensity exercise during ovulation but what's your cycle saying? What is actually happening in this moment, on this day?
I like to look at the menstrual cycle as more of like a spiritual practice, rather than being another to-do list and I feel that it can be such a beautiful place to connect even deeper to yourself by tuning into your cycle.
EC. I could not agree more and I truly feel like as a Personal Trainer, this isn't spoken about enough. We talk about this a lot in the Squad - that the science-backed evidence is lacking, but I truly feel that if you implement these strategies yourself, you will notice the difference. If I push myself too much during those later phases of my cycle by lifting heavy weights and increasing the intensity, my cortisol levels go through the roof and it's not a happy place to be.
When anyone joins the Squad, I am passionate about teaching them how to adapt my signature strength circuits to work with their cycle, but I wanted to ask if you have found anything to be effective in terms of making sure that our hormones remain happy throughout the month?
KI. It’s interesting isn’t it, because whilst there is no real scientific evidence around this, I just want to say that if you are a woman and you haven't tried supporting your hormones, you have to try it! You have to at least start tracking your cycle because the science is going to take years to catch up and it will … women have been excluded from studies because their hormones are so “complicated”. These effects go beyond the scientific research, it's how you feel as a woman. The proof is in the pudding. The proof is in the embodiment of listening to your cycle.
So, the first phase, which is menstruation (when you are bleeding) would be the most important time to take the rest your body needs and consider gentle exercise. If you are exercising, including more rest may be supportive during this phase too. During your ovulation phase - aim to increase working time a little more. You might like to add some extra reps or include strength-based training during ovulation as well.
EC. It's funny you say that about the clinical studies because I was only at an event last night with 2 Dietitians and they were talking about how it takes 17 years for these studies and literature to catch up and to be published for society to hear the news. So, what we know to be true today (or what we can feel to be true today), probably won't come out as evidence until another 15+ years.
KI. Yeah, absolutely and that's why it's so important to first and foremost, trust what's happening in your body. Listen to that, have the education on how to adjust things and take it in your own hands and ask yourself - what feels right for me? How does this feel in my body?
EC. I like to teach my members that just because something is in your calendar, doesn't mean that's what you need to do. If you have a strength circuit programmed that day, but perhaps you’re in your luteal phase - for consistency sake, move your body in a more gentle way. Like you've said, do a full body stretch or some non-linear movement, which I know you are hugely passionate or do some dancing for intention sake. Try and move your body in the best way that feels good, because I can’t stand the notion of having to push through because something is set.
KI. That's why a lot of the work I'm doing is moving more towards supporting the menstrual cycle, because I really want to put the power back in women's hands. These are the guidelines, but I really can't stress enough how important it is for us to listen to our own body.
Listen to your own body as this wisdom and guidance. Also, taking moments to utilise techniques like breathwork, mindfulness or free movement is great. These techniques move energy through the body, which then allow us to connect deeper to elements within ourselves and insights begin to trickle in. How do things feel beyond the mind, beyond us knowing things? How do they sit in our body?
EC. The male cycle is generally classified as the 24 hour cycle and time-wise, yes we are on a 24 hour cycle, but it can be really effective also to tune into the different phases of your cycle, but further to this - during the Follicular phase when you've got that energy burst in the morning, perhaps do your workout then? Towards the end of your cycle, consider having a bit of a sleep in and doing your workout towards the later part of the day when you have more energy. What are your thoughts on this?
KI. Yes, changing timings can be very supportive as well, especially when we have higher amounts of stress or big events happening in our life. I think it's really important to change things up based on how you feel in your body, how regulated you feel or how connected you feel to yourself as well.
Just start in the smallest way. It might be starting with a gentle sway of the body, and then that allows you to determine how your physical body is feeling. Sometimes we do actually need to begin moving the body, to even know what we need. Once you start moving and once you start getting that feedback, it can really change the trajectory of your workout or how your day unfolds.
Follow Kara Ivy on Instagram - @karaivy_