Diet Adjustments: Tuning Into Your Phases
Aligning your diet and exercise routine with your menstrual cycle will help balance hormones, stabilise mood and maintain steady energy levels. It’s not about rigid rules but tuning in to your body’s changing needs throughout the month. Here’s a guide to help you make supportive adjustments across your cycle.
Follicular Phase: The 'Advancing' Phase
In the follicular phase (Day 1 of your period to ovulation), your body benefits from stable blood sugar, good insulin sensitivity and natural motivation due to rising oestrogen levels. This is the time for more active days, but be mindful not to overdo it as this can lead to irritability or energy crashes.
When well supported and balanced oestrogen is your social hormone, designed to help you attract a mate!. Think wanting to spend time with friends, enjoying social events, being motivated for new projects. We also tend to be better able to deal with stress, caffeine, less sleep and alcohol. Although constantly pouring from this cup all the time will start to switch into unbalanced, unhappy oestrogen situations.
This would then turn that social butterfly into an overstimulated, anxious, irritable and erratic version of itself. Which we would like to avoid.
Dietary Focus:
- Nutrients: Many women favour a more protein, fibre rich vegetable and health fat centric diet here with carbs in the form of root vegetables, lentils, beans and pulses
- Example Meals: some text
- Breakfast - Herb omelette with feta or cottage cheese and seeds or tofu scramble with vegetables and avocado
- Lunch - baked potato with mackerel, sundried tomatoes, capers and parsley, or roasted carrots and lentils with grilled chicken and greens
- Dinner - gnocchi with pesto, edamame and prawns, or grilled lamb chops, herb sauce and butterbean mash
Luteal Phase: The 'Consolidation' Phase
During the luteal phase (ovulation to your next menstrual bleed), progesterone becomes dominant and your system slows down a bit. You actually become less insulin-sensitive and need more energy in the form of easily accessible carbs as a result.
Women who feel tired, constipated, lacking in motivation, have sugar cravings or cravings for fats in this part of their cycle are usually under-fuelling and still trying to exert themselves as they did when oestrogen was dominant.
A simple switch to a slightly slower pace, and a slightly more carb centric and lower fat style of meal will remedy this nice and swiftly.
Dietary Focus:
- Nutrients: Protein intake stays the same, but increase grain-based carbs (rice, pasta, noodles) and slightly decrease fats.
- Example Meals:some text
- Breakfast: Baked protein oats with yoghurt or toast with sardines, roasted tomatoes & spinach
- Lunch: A grain-based dish like rice or pasta with roasted vegetables and a protein, or a hearty sandwich. Tofu or chicken with pesto, hummus, roasted veg and salad.
- Dinner: Stir fry with prawns or tofu, rice or buckwheat noodles and a mix of vegetables.
Exercise Adjustments: Tuning Into Your Phases
Your exercise routine doesn’t need a complete overhaul, but tweaking the intensity will align better with your body’s needs. This then gets rid of issues with feeling bloated, puffy, water retention, fatigue and mood changes.
Follicular Phase: Higher Intensity
This is when you’re naturally more energetic and motivated. Think of this as the ~14 days when you build new levels of fitness.
- Use heavier dumbbells or add ankle/wrist weights to workouts.
- If you want to add some conditioning then sprints at the end of a session work nicely.
- Opt for brisk uphill walks and/or add a weighted vest or wrist/ankle weights.
Luteal Phase: Lower Intensity
This is not when you stop moving, this is when you consolidate on the progress of the follicular phase. Opting for consistent but gentler forms of movement will nourish the body, keep you feeling mentally balanced and prevent issues with constipation, bloating and PMS.
- You can do the same strength/weight training as in the follicular phase but stick to the same weights or lower them by 25%.
- Avoid sprints and prolonged endurance cardio activities.
- Alternatively move towards bodyweight exercises, or prioritise lower weight but higher repetition style training.
- Mobility focused sessions are a great option here to release tension in the pelvis which can be a major cause of period pains.
- Aim for 1-2 strength sessions and 2-3 mobility-focused sessions per week.
- Walk for gentle, mindful movement rather than uphill intervals or using weights. If you aren’t doing any weighted training during this phase and want to use weights when walking instead that is fine.
Online recommendations:
- Caroline Girvan - YouTube weight/bodyweight training
- NourishMoveLove - YouTube weight/bodyweight training.
- Shape Pilates - online live + on demand classes of varying lengths that can be adjusted in terms of intensity. My personal favourite
- Yoga with Adriene - YouTube variety of yoga forms & lengths
These adjustments are about learning your body’s rhythms and making supportive choices that feel nourishing, not restrictive. Whether it’s your diet or exercise, be flexible and listen to your body’s feedback.
