Welcome back!
My name is Samantha Linden,
Also known as the Blissful Soul.
This is our series,
Happy Hormones,
A 30-day gut reset for women.
If you haven't started from day one yet,
I highly recommend doing so to maximize your success and understanding.
Today,
We will focus on the last 10 days of your monthly cycle.
Remember,
We've been exploring how different fasting patterns can help balance your hormones throughout the month.
But for these 10 days,
We will give fasting a break and let our bodies rest.
As we've talked about before,
We've adjusted our eating windows to align with our hormonal needs.
This keeps our bodies from getting stressed out from things like OMAD or one meal a day.
When we do OMAD for too long,
Our bodies can slow down their metabolism,
Thinking they don't know when the next meal is coming.
It's tempting to keep fasting when we see such positive changes in our well-being and weight loss,
If that's your goal.
But please resist that urge,
Especially if you've started doing longer fasts.
You might get good results in the short term,
But it can strain your hormones and put you back where you started.
Your body will start losing its metabolic flexibility,
Which means it can't switch between fasting and eating windows as easily.
As I've said before,
I couldn't do long fasts because of my chronic fatigue,
But I could switch between fasting and eating phases easily.
Knowing the benefits of longer fasts,
I wanted to try them to heal faster.
We all want quick results in our fast-paced world,
But when I push myself,
I notice my body would gain weight the following week.
That was my body's way of saying it wasn't ready for that yet,
After all the stress I'd put it through over the years.
Pay attention to the signs your body is giving you.
During these next 10 days,
We're not fasting,
But we'll still talk about ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle and support your hormones during this phase.
Everyone's menstrual cycle is unique,
So if you still have yours or start it again while following this program,
Start the same fasting calendar we did on Day 1 with 13-hour fasts.
Some may have a 28-day cycle,
While others may have a 31-day cycle.
Just stay in this non-fasting period for now,
And when your cycle starts again,
You can resume fasting following the same approach we've been using.
This way,
You can continue nurturing your body and hormones.
If you don't have a cycle,
You can consider following the lunar calendar to keep track.
It's a belief that the moon's phases influence our hormones.
You can find lunar calendars online to help you track it each month.
During this non-fasting period,
Focus on eating whole natural foods over processed foods or net carbs.
This is because progesterone,
Which becomes more dominant during this phase,
Responds well to higher glucose levels.
But that doesn't mean you should indulge in pizza,
Ice cream,
And cake for 10 days.
Instead,
Opt for starchy foods like beans and potatoes that come from the earth.
These will nourish your body and support hormone repair.
Tomorrow,
We'll dive deeper into embracing progesterone during this phase.
In the meantime,
Keep nourishing your body with natural foods,
And I'll chat with you soon.
