The Female menstrual cycle

As a nutrition practitioner specializing in women health, I use women’s cycles to help them learn their body, and most importantly, to see how their body is communicating back to them. I believe we can use food to support the body and balance hormones. In order to do this, we have to know how our monthly cycle works.

During each phase of our cycle, our body has different hormones that in increase of decrease.

1.    Menstrual phase

This is also known as Period bleed.

It marks the first day of your menstrual cycle.

Normal length of this phase is 3-7 days.

Periods can start off as heavy but they should tapper off from the 3^rd day.

During this period, it’s normal to have less energy levels, low appetite and feel to internalize things more than actual doing of stuff.

Overall hormone levels are at their lowest.

What isn’t normal;

Ø  period that come with pain, spotting prior, heavy clotting, breast tenderness, headaches, anxiety and irritability.

Any of these symptoms is normally as a result of progesterone to estrogen ratio or estrogen dominance.

Ø  Digestive issues like constipation, diarrhea or bloating could be a sign of excess of prostaglandins.

 

2.    Follicular phase

This is also known as the pre-ovulatory phase.

Normal length is 10-23 days.

During this phase there’s release of Follicle stimulating Hormone (FSH) which stimulates your ovaries to produce follicles which eventually matures into a healthy egg.

Estrogen hormone continues to rise and picks during ovulation. The significant of this estrogen hormone is to help thicken the lining of the uterus.

Testosterone levels also start to increase.

During this phase, there is increased energy levels and positive mood, increased exercise performance and higher stress resilience.

3.    Ovulation phase

Usually around day 15 of the cycle it varies.

The rising surge in estrogen also stimulates your pituitary gland to release luteinizing hormone which kick starts the process of ovulation.

Ovulation is when the ovary releases a mature egg, which then travels down to the fallopian tube in readiness for fertilization.

You only ovulate one day, but you are fertile anytime there is fertile cervical mucus. Cervical mucus goes with a typical pattern from creamy and white to stretchy and slippery. This pattern lasts between 2-7 days then dries up after ovulation.

Ovulation can be confirmed by a consistent rise in basal body temperature.

Ovulation can be delayed by alcohol, stress, travel and diet.

What is normal:

Ø  Feeling more energetic, sex drive increase and being able to do weight training or a higher endurance exercise.

Ø  Cervical mucus increases and is more noticeable when you wipe or use toilet paper.

Ø  Temperatures above 97.6 or higher.

What is not normal:

Ø  Not ovulating- This is a problem because you don’t secrete progesterone and this can impact estrogen dominance.

Ø  Delayed ovulation- this may be due to your body not feeling safe to ovulate. Feeling unsafe could be due to emotional stress, environmental stressors like alcohol, sickness, gut dysfunction. Your body needs to feel safe for you have balanced hormones.

 

4.    Luteal phase

This period normally lasts 12-16 days.

This is also known as post-ovulatory phase. This ends the day before your period bleed.

This is the period where your uterine lining thickens in readiness to pregnancy, however if this does not happen, corpus luteum dies, and progesterone levels drops, causing the uterus lining to shed and period begins again.

What is normal:

Ø  Cervical mucus should dry up. Sufficient amount of progesterone is what causes this to occur.

Ø  Energy levels should be higher in the first half of your luteal phase then goes down as progesterone rises. Progesterone is naturally a calming hormone.

Ø  Temperatures above 98.0 and higher.

 

 What is not normal:

Ø  Luteal phase under 10 days. This indicates low levels of progesterone.

Ø  PMS, breast tenderness, cramping, spotting and cervical mucus.

Ø  Feeling extremely fatigued also an indicator of low progesterone.

Ø  Feeling pain in the rectum