PCOS

7 Easy Fixes for Period Pain

Ready to be let in on a completely world-changing secret? Healthy periods aren’t painful. Know what else healthy periods don’t have? Heavy or irregular bleeding, big mood swings, acne, and bloating. If you’re 28-day cycle comes with any of these symptoms, here’s the good news: you can biohack your way to a better period in as quickly as a month and a pain-free period in as little as three months. The most effective hack that will solve your period problems quickly is eating, exercising, and living in sync with your 28-day menstrual cycle. (More on that below.)But the first step is to understand why you have period pain (and other PMS problems like acne, bloating, mood swings, and migraines) in the first place.

Here’s are 7 reasons you have period pain:

You’re inflamed. Prostaglandins are hormone-like substances (technically called “lipid autacoids”) that control the body’s inflammatory response. This is a good thing when you need a quick hit of inflammation to trigger the uterine contractions that cause you to shed the uterine lining (bleeding) because you didn’t get pregnant that month. But when too many prostaglandins flood the system, you get too much inflammation—and all the quality-of-life-eroding symptoms that come with it. (Prostaglandin overproduction is why some women get relief by taking NSAIDs like ibuprofen. NSAIDs block the synthesis of prostaglandins.)
Your endocrine system is out of whack. The endocrine system is your body’s hormone system—and it is easily thrown off balance by, well, just about everything: high-sugar diets, environmental toxins, stress, lack of sleep, and medications (including the birth control pill), to name just a few. If your hormones are out of balance, your period will be riddled with symptoms.
You’re drinking coffee. Drinking coffee increases your risk of forming cysts and fibroids, and fibroids increase your risk of period pain and other period problems.
You’re still drinking coffee. Caffeine is broken down by the liver using the enzyme CYP1A2 and it turns out that only 10 percent of the population makes robust levels of this enzyme. Why does that matter for your period? CYP1A2 is also involved in the metabolism of estrogen, so if you struggle with PMS or an estrogen-dominant condition like PCOS, fibroids, or endometriosis, you have reason to suspect that you are one of the 9 in 10 people who don’t make enough of this enzyme. So if you drink coffee or other caffeinated beverages, you’re using up your precious CY1A2 resources on getting rid of coffee and not on getting rid of estrogen.
You have a hidden weight problem. Overweight and obesity are associated with a three-fold risk in experiencing PMS. So for women who struggle with weight loss resistance, adopting a healthy, sustainable approach to weight loss [read: NOT crash diets] can help with hormonal chaos and unwanted symptoms. But in the past two decades, research has shown that some people who present as a “normal” weight when they step on the scale actually have the insides of someone who is overweight or obese. The official term for this is “medically obese, normal-weight individual,” though a lot of practitioners refer this condition as being “skinny fat.” So you can’t just look in the mirror or step on the scale to know what’s happening on the inside. Your painful period might be telling you that you need address internal obesity (and when you do, your period symptoms will get better).
You don’t take stress reduction seriously. We live in a society that places a high value on always being busy. If you ask someone how they’re doing or what’s new and they reply, “I’ve been SO busy,” it often sounds as much like a point of pride as it does a complaint. But we need to reverse our stance on stress. Research shows that the higher the level of our perceived stress, the worse our PMS—and that stress reduction techniques might be effective non-pharmaceutical interventions for easing PMS. So grab your yoga mat, download that meditation app, or make more time for the leisure activity that relaxes you.
You’re not living in sync with your cycle. (This is the biggest factor in painful periods!) You’ve probably read about the importance of the 24-hour circadian cycle—how important it is to get high-quality, consecutive hours of sleep during the night, for example, and to get some safe sun exposure during the day, etc. But you probably haven’t heard about the importance of living in sync with your 28-day cycle—and, for women, that cycle is just as important to tend to as the circadian cycle. Research shows that our 28-day menstrual cycle affects our brain function, emotions, mood, sensory processing, appetite, and even our perception of pain. If you’re not supporting your body’s unique hormonal needs during each of the four phases of the 28-day cycle, you won’t have healthy, pain-free periods.

So what’s a girl to do? The answers are easy, straightforward, and doable right away today. And if you start right now, you can have a better period by next month—and a pain-free period within three months.

Here’s Your Period Rx:

Stomp out inflammation. Eat low inflammatory foods, like cruciferous vegetables, pastured eggs and pastured animal proteins, and nuts and seeds. Reduce the amount of sugar you eat or eliminate it all together. A high-sugar diet drives up the production of advanced-glycation end products, which contributes to inflammation. Two foods that have been shown to help specifically with prostaglandin reduction are the pomegranate the small, oily fish that contain high levels of inflammation-fighting omega-3 fatty acids.
Make “organic” and “clean” a main part of your life. When you’re standing in the grocery aisle or at the makeup counter and the clean products and organic foods are more expensive than the conventional option, it can be easy to make the wallet-friendly choice. But what you need to keep in mind in these moments is the true cost of the choice you’re making. The toxins in these foods and products come into direct contact with the body and alter endocrine function. You may save at check-out, but you are ultimately paying with your health.
Give up coffee. This piece of advice is self-explanatory and, after the first week of withdrawal, not nearly as hard as you think. Within a month you won’t even miss it. Skip caffeinated tea, too.
In case you’re tempted to skip tip #3, allow me to repeat myself: no more caffeine!
Improve your health from the inside out. You might look lean in the mirror, but if you don’t exercise (hence, you don’t have much lean muscle mass) and if you eat a high-sugar diet (and have wonky blood sugar), if you’re chronically stressed out and undernourished (that is, there aren’t enough phytonutrient-rich vegetables on your plate) you might have the blood work profile of someone with overweight or obesity. Looking lean is no guarantee that you will reap the benefits associated with leanness! When you start correcting what’s going on internally, you can see a reduction in symptoms
Find what relaxes you… and make it a regular part of your life. The time for stress reduction is now, not when you finish this big project or after that big presentation. Because guess what? When you finish those things there will just be more to do. The time is now. Your health depends on it.
Start Cycle Syncing. All of the biohacks I just mentioned will only get you so far if you don’t start to live in accordance with your cycle. Eating and exercising for each week-long phase of your 28-day cycle is the foundation of feeling better and having a symptom-free period. For too long, we’ve been living the same way day in and day out. This works for men, but not for women. Syncing your cycle will not only fix your period problems, it will help you find more happiness, energy, and success in life. Simply put, tending to your 28-day cycle is as important as tending to your 24-hour circadian cycle. If the idea of syncing with your cycle is new to you, I have an app and a treasure trove of articles on the blog to help you get started.

Always remember, that once you have the right information about how your body really works, you can start making health choices that finally start to work for you! You can do this – the science of your body is on your side!To your FLO,Alisa

Is Your Period Healthy?

How do you know if your hormones are healthy? The answer is in your 5th vital sign – your period.The color of your flow, frequency of your period, and symptoms you have each month can tell you a lot about your health. There are 5 different V-SIGN TYPES, and knowing which one you have will help you get healthy now and prevent disease in the future.Click here to take The V-SIGN TYPE™ Quiz NOW

Say Goodbye to “Period Underwear” Forever: Your Guide to a Lighter Flow

If you deal with heavy periods on a regular basis, you know how firsthand how frustrating they can be. You spend five to seven days (or more) doubling up on pads, changing tampons every hour, and soaking through your pajamas and staining your bedsheets. It’s exhausting, annoying, and potentially embarrassing. You might think that a heavy flow is your lot in life. You were just born that way, you think, so you’ve resigned yourself to a week of misery of every month.But! Overly heavy periods are not destiny. They are a symptom of underlying hormone imbalances—imbalances that can be fixed by looking at the big picture of your diet and lifestyle and making strategic changes that will help you have healthier hormone balance and eliminate heavy bleeding for good. In other words, you can biohack your way to lighter periods and less suffering. And if that sounds daunting, take heed! It’s not! The strategies for alleviating heavy flow are straightforward, and they include one of my favorites: using targeted supplements and key micronutrients to have easier, lighter periods.

Why Your Flow is Heavy

The first step in achieving a lighter flow is understanding why you’re bleeding so much right now. There are three root causes:

Excess estrogen. When your estrogen levels are high, the lining of your uterus can become thicker. Estrogen can also be much higher in the body relative to progesterone, which is the hormone that will keep your uterine lining intact for a longer period of time. Excess estrogen has many causes, including the foods we eat, exposure to environmental toxins, chronic and unremitting stress, poor sleep, and toxic cosmetics and body care products. Excess estrogen can also build up in the body when our detox pathways become sluggish (thanks to similar environmental factors). In addition to the heavy bleeding and clots, estrogen overload can also contribute to endometriosis, fibroids, ovarian cysts, or polyps.
Lack of uterine tone. Pregnancy can cause the uterus to lose tone, but so can a sedentary lifestyle. While this is primarily a physical issue, it is also influenced by the quality of nutrients you are getting through your diet.
Hypothyroidism. One of the signs that your thyroid might not be functioning optimally is excess bleeding. If you also notice you have a lack of appetite, are gaining weight, feel cold most of the time, and are easily fatigued, there’s a chance your thyroid function is below the normal range.

How to Biohack Your Way to a Lighter Flow

Fixing the hormone imbalances that fuel heavy bleeding starts with making strategic changes to your diet and lifestyle. Addressing what you eat (and when you eat it) and making other shifts in how you sleep, when and how you move, and what you put on your body is the absolute first starting place when it comes to alleviating heavy flow. Our 5-step protocol helps you build a solid foundation with your diet and lifestyle so you can eliminate excess estrogen, rebuild uterine tone, restore proper thyroid function, and help boost your detox pathways—with the ultimate goal of achieving a lighter flow. In short, your goal is to align your food and lifestyle with each distinct phase of your 28-day cycle. I call this cycle syncing and it is the only way to truly bring hormones into balance. Woman have unique, fluctuating needs during each week of their cycle and when you match your food and lifestyle to those needs, you start to have a better period.The next crucial step is maximizing the essential micronutrients that support a healthy period. Here are the micronutrients you should focus on to alleviate a heavy flow (and ease other period problems):

Vitamins A + C have anti-estrogenic effects on the uterus. One small study showed that vitamin C, in particular, helped 16 out of 18 women lighten their flow.
Probiotics help support the bacteria in the gut that metabolize estrogen and get it ready for elimination from the body. This is an essential part of the detox process and a safeguard against estrogen dominance.
B vitamins, and vitamin B6 in particular, help support healthy levels of progesterone and combat estrogen dominance. The Bs also offer adrenal support, which is essential for overall hormone balance and a lighter flow.
Magnesium to help you flush cortisol, sleep more deeply, support healthy progesterone levels — all of which help normalize a heavy flow.
Vitamin D helps support healthy ovarian function — and low levels of vitamin D are associated with irregular menstrual cycles. What’s more, vitamin D is critical for optimal thyroid function.

I designed my Balance Flo supplements to include all the micronutrients you need to support a healthy flow. Think of them as your personal insurance policy against all the factors that contribute to period problems. If you’re ready to have a better, lighter period—and you want an easy, trusted way to get all your key micronutrients in one place — I encourage you to check out the Balance Flo supplements. They will help you take your hormonal health to the next level!Always remember, that once you have the right information about how your body really works, you can start making health choices that finally start to work for you! You can do this – the science of your body is on your side!To your FLO,Alisa

Introducing the BALANCE by FLO Living Hormone Supplement Kit

You’ve been asking me for hormone-friendly supplement recommendations, and I finally have created a solution that I am so thrilled to be able to offer to you on your hormonal balancing journey:

Balance by FLO Living Supplements is a complete package that works together to keep your hormone levels healthy. They include a 2 month (2 cycles) supply of the following formulations so you’re never caught short in any phase of your cycle.When you take these 5 supplements daily, you’ll be giving your body excellent micronutrients to support healthier hormone levels. Which means that you’ll start to see your worst period symptoms get better… and even disappear after a while.

Click here to learn more about the BALANCE Bio-Hacking Supplement Kit.

Cycle Syncing®

Biohacking isn't just for Boys: The 7 Essential Biohacks for Women

Biohacking is all the rage these days. The idea that we can optimize our physiology with lifestyle and nutrition gets talked about over and over in expert health blogs and on popular podcasts. But you might have noticed that the vast majority of people who talk about biohacking are men. You may also have noticed that most of the scientific research on nutrition and lifestyle is done on men and/or male lab animals.

And that’s just fine… for men. Biohacking is the practice of using food, lifestyle, exercise, and targeted supplementation to enhance health. But men and women have different needs based on their hormones. So what works for men won’t always work as well, or in the same way — or at all — for women.

If you suffer from hormone-related health concerns—like heavy periods, severe PMS, bloating, acne, fibroids, PCOS, irritability, insomnia, low libido, infertility, irregular or missing periods, and/or hormone-related migraines — you can biohack your way to fewer symptoms and better health. But to get the best results, you have biohack for your unique female physiology.

Here are my 7 top biohacks for women who want to solve their period problems and look and feel their best.

Biohack #1: Cycle sync your food

Eating to ease period problems requires synching your weekly meal plans with your 28-day cycle. Women have unique nutritional and energetic needs during each week of the month—unlike men, who can thrive by eating more or less the same way everyday—and you will look and feel your best when you match the vegetables, meats, plant proteins, fruits, and legumes you eat to your shifting hormonal needs. Think of it this way: as your hormones change, so does your menu! If the idea of switching up what you eat each week feels challenging, start with my 4-Week Flo Food Challenge. And if you’re scratching your head (and maybe freaking out a little) because you don’t know what your hormones do or when, don’t panic! Use the MyFLO app to track your cycle and start eating cyclically.

Biohack #2: Cycle sync your exercise

To really optimize your hormonal health, you should shift your workouts to fit your cycle in much the same way as you do your diet. Your body is primed for different kinds of activity across your cycle, just as its looking for different kinds of nutrition through each of the four phases. Ready to get started? Learn what type of exercise is right for each phase of your cycle here.

Biohack #3: Detox the RIGHT way

If you suffer from hormone imbalances and period problems, it can be tempting to do an extreme detox. The severe restrictions and big promises (Lose 20 pounds overnight! Eliminate all the toxins from your body!) sound like a relief after suffering with hormone-related symptoms for so long. But deprivation plans and strict detoxes backfire for the vast majority of women. Severe calorie restrictions tax our already overburdened adrenal and endocrine systems—and make our hormone problems worse. Don’t get me wrong: a detox can be helpful, but it must be the right kind of detox, one that focuses on clearing the body of excess estrogen. Excess estrogen in the body (relative to progesterone) contributes to everything from severe PMS to PCOS. If you want to detox estrogen, don’t do a juice fast or a cleanse. Do a gentle detox that supports the body’s elimination process by giving it all the nutrients it needs. If you want even more support in doing a safe, nourishing detox, I designed a 4-day Hormone Detox to kickstart your hormonal healing.

Biohack #4: Be very careful with intermittent fasting (if you do it at all)

Most studies on fasting have been done on men and/or have shown mixed results for women. One study found that intermittent fasting helped improve insulin sensitivity in men, but women didn’t get the same benefit. (Good insulin sensitivity is essential for balanced hormones.) At the same time, the study showed that women’s ability to tolerate glucose actually got worse during intermittent fasting. Other research shows that fasting can have a negative effect on cortisol, insulin, estrogen, and progesterone— all the major hormonal players in your body! Studies suggest that intermittent fasting can be very helpful for women (and men) with compromised cellular health (individuals with cancer and/or those going through chemotherapy), but for women in generally good health who are working to balance hormones and heal hormone-related symptoms, I don’t recommend fasting.

Biohack #5: Don’t default to the ketogenic diet

The ketogenic diet, which is a high fat-low carbohydrate diet, is all the rage these days, but research suggests that it can mess with thyroid function— and thyroid health is absolutely essential for healthy hormone balance. Here’s where this biohack becomes sex specific: thyroid problems disproportionately affect women. It’s estimated that one in five women have a thyroid issue, and many of those cases are undiagnosed. If you’re trying to bring your hormones into balance, your best bet is to eat in line with your cycle—and leave the ketogenic diet for individuals with other health issues.

Biohack #6: Ditch coffee

Bulletproof coffee can work well for men, but caffeine is a no-go for women who want to optimize hormone health. Caffeine can increase the development of benign breast disease. For women with PCOS, fibroids, endometriosis, ovarian cysts, and fibrocystic breasts, caffeine is a guaranteed way to make more cysts. Plus, caffeine mucks up hormone health in other ways, too. If you’re trying to solve your period problems, don’t fall for the Bulletproof coffee craze.

Biohack #7: Supplement like a girl

Women have unique micronutrient needs, and we can’t expect optimal hormonal health—or optimal overall health—when we follow blanket supplement prescriptions. We need supplements tailored to our unique female physiology. Specifically:

While every woman should be supplementing with B vitamins, if you’re suffering from hormone imbalances, you’ll need to be extra aware of your intake. Research has shown that intake of vitamins like thiamine (B1) is inversely related to endometriosis. Another important type of B vitamin, folic acid, is known to be important in managing PCOS.
Magnesium is a must for women with hormone imbalances since it improves insulin sensitivity, which has widespread implications for the entire hormone system. And if you’ve ever suffered from hot flashes (whether you’re menopausal or not even close) magnesium has been shown to significantly reduce the symptoms.
If you’re suffering with fibroids or any hormone-related health condition, vitamin D is an absolute must. A study funded by the National Institutes of Health found that supplementing with vitamin D reduced the size of uterine fibroids. This may be especially essential for African American women since they’re 3-4 times more likely to develop fibroids and 10 times more likely to be deficient in vitamin D than white women. More generally, vitamin D acts like a master hormone in the body, which is what makes it so critical for all women with hormone imbalances.
Probiotics are a must: one study found that in just 12 weeks, probiotics s helped significantly reduced endometriosis pain. I designed my FLO Balance supplements with women’s unique micronutrient needs in mind. They contain everything you need to supplement strategically for optimal hormonal health.

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To your FLO,

Alisa

6 Signs You Have Uterine Fibroids (And How To Biohack Your Way Out of Them)

Endometriosis gets a lot of press these days, with celebs like Lena Dunham and Padma Lakshmi talking openly about their struggles with this painful hormonal condition. PCOS is also getting more recognition, thanks to Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley and a growing awareness of PCOS as a common cause of infertility for American women.

So if you struggle with period problems, but haven’t been diagnosed with endometriosis or PCOS, you might think that having heavy, uncomfortable periods is just something you have to deal with. Or maybe you're confused about the real root cause.

Your symptoms might actually be caused by uterine fibroids. Studies show that most American women will develop fibroids at some point during their lives. And while almost all of these non-cancerous tumors are benign (and some cases are asymptomatic), a lot of fibroids grow large and lead to a host of unpleasant symptoms — symptoms that you might otherwise chalk up to the idea that that’s just how your body works.

Do fibroids affect hormones?

Or, is it the other way around? In fact, fibroids are fueled by hormone imbalances (just like PCOS and endometriosis). So, you can take steps to balance your hormones and ease fibroid symptoms.

One of the most common imbalances when it comes to fibroids is excess estrogen. An overload of estrogen seems to make fibroids grow larger. Having too much estrogen relative to progesterone is a common hormone imbalance because so many things in our environment increase estrogen, including the foods we eat, the foods we don’t eat, exposure to toxins, poor sleep, stress, and other environmental factors. At times, it feels like the world is conspiring to make our estrogen go up. But you can take simple steps to biohack your hormones and bring estrogen and progesterone back into balance. Read on to learn how!

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‍Fibroid Symptoms

‍Fibroids give rise to some telltale symptoms. Here are some signs that fibroids might be at a root cause of your period problems:

Heavy flow. This is one of those symptoms that can be easily overlooked or assumed is "just how your period goes", but heavy flow can be a sign of fibroids.
Periods that last more than 7 days. If your period tends to run longer than a week, you might think that you just drew the short end of the menstrual stick. But overly long periods can also be a sign of fibroids.
Feeling like you have to pee all the time… but nothing comes out. You might never have thought of this as a symptom of an underlying hormone imbalance, but this too can be a sign of uterine fibroids.
Pelvic pain/pressure. Another potential symptom of fibroids.
Constipation. Constipation can strike for any number of reasons, many unrelated to hormones, but if you experience it in combination with other symptoms, it could be related to uterine fibroids.
Backaches and/or leg pain. Like constipation, a sore back and other aches might strike you as normal and not connected to your endocrine system. But in some cases, just like constipation, this can be connected to fibroids.

Fibroids are often diagnosed during a routine pelvic exam and confirmed with an ultrasound. If you suspect that you have uterine fibroids, consult with a trusted healthcare practitioner. And if you discover that fibroids are an issue for you, Western medicine will tell you that the cause is unknown and that the only “treatment” is taking hormonal birth control. But the Pill doesn’t address the underlying root cause of fibroids, which is hormone imbalance, and it can actually make hormone imbalances worse. In some cases, doctors offer surgery to remove fibroids, but an invasive procedure (with a high risk of generating scar tissue that can complicate future pregnancies) isn’t an ideal choice unless absolutely necessary.

Biohack Your Hormones and Fix Fibroids Naturally

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Happily, there’s a lot you can do with nutrition and lifestyle to address the hormone imbalances that underlie uterine fibroids, especially around the connection between estrogen and fibroids. Here’s how:

Understand your cycle. You can help bring hormones into balance by tracking your cycle and shifting what you eat and how much you move, so that your daily routine matches each distinct phase of your 28-day cycle. I call this Cycle Syncing®, and if you’re serious about biohacking your hormones and easing symptoms, this is the first and best place to start.
Eat to balance estrogen. Fibroids are affected by excess estrogen in the body, which makes them grow. (They often decrease in size after menopause, when estrogen in the body is lower). So it’s important to eliminate dairy and meat raised with synthetic hormones that can act like estrogen in the body, and to prioritize foods that help modulate and balance estrogen, like flax seeds, beans, whole grains, pears, and apples.
Balance your microbiome. The microbiome contains a colony of bacteria that helps metabolize estrogen. This colony is called the estrobolome—and when the microbiome is healthy, so is the estrobolome. But when the good and bad bugs in the microbiome are out of balance, the estrobolome can’t do its job efficiently and estrogen builds up. Ditching sugar, dairy, and gluten is the first step in healing the microbiome. (If you’re ready to give up those estrobolome-destroying foods, try my free 4-Day Detox.) Another key to building and maintaining a healthy microbiome is supplementing with a great probiotic.
Support liver function. The estrobolome metabolizes used-up estrogen. Then the liver gets it ready for elimination. So if your liver is sluggish (just like if your microbiome is imbalanced), estrogen can build up in the body. The liver thrives when we eat specific liver-nourishing foods—and it gets clogged and sluggish when we eat high fructose-containing processed foods and when we drink caffeine. You can also use targeted supplements to improve liver function. The supplements in my BALANCE Supplement Kit help support the liver.

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Remember that once you have the right information about how your body really works, you can start making health choices that finally start to work for you! You can do this – the science of your body is on your side!

Could it be fibroids? Take simple steps to biohack your hormones and bring estrogen & progesterone back in balance.

Beyond Probiotics: What your Microbiome Needs to Thrive

A healthy microbiome is essential for managing hormonal conditions. Specifically, there’s a group of bacteria in the gut known as the estrobolome that metabolizes and eliminates estrogen from the body. It’s critical that the estrobolome is in good health if you want to heal your hormones.It would be lovely if the balance of good and bad bugs in the gut took care of themselves if they just stayed healthy and in balance on their own. But a lot of unavoidable everyday things can throw a wrench in our internal microbial universe, from taking a necessary course of antibiotics to exposure to certain chemicals or eating a diet high in the white stuff (sugar, flour, dairy).So we have to tend the health of our microbiome (in order to care for our hormones) and this is where probiotics come in. The probiotics in supplements and in certain foods, like sauerkraut and kimchi, help keep the microbiome humming along. But there’s another key factor that supports a healthy microbiome: getting enough of the right micronutrients. Today I’m going to explain the why the microbiome is so important for hormone balance and how you can support a healthy microbiome by getting the right nutrients (in addition to taking a high-quality probiotic).

Microbiomes & Hormones

Your microbiome is the main player in regulating your hormones, especially your estrogen levels. Estrogen-dominance as a result of a poorly functioning microbiome can contribute to all the different symptoms of hormone imbalance, including infertility, PMS, low libido, cramps and heavy bleeding, and PCOS. Plus, it can make you far more susceptible to estrogen-led cancers like breast cancer.Approximately 5 lbs of bacteria live inside of you and the quality of their ecosystem— how diverse and well-balanced the bugs in your gut are – governs your health in many ways. Poor microbiome health has been linked to depression, anxiety, cancer, poor blood sugar balance and diabetes, and many other chronic conditions. Most significantly, when it comes to hormones, an under-functioning bacterial ecosystem caused by bad diet, exposure to chemicals, chronic stress, and micronutrient deficiency, will suppress the good bacteria, promote the bad bacteria, and lead to a toxic build up of hormones as well as other signs of systemic inflammation.Research shows us that addressing the microbiome holistically is the only way to get your immune system, digestive system and endocrine system working smoothly. That means making sure you’re getting enough pre- and probiotics in your food (and via supplements), as well as maximizing your micronutrient intake.

How do I know if I my microbiome needs help?

The term practitioners use to describe an imbalanced microbiome is “dysbiosis.” Here are some key symptoms of dysbiosis:

Bloating and gas
Acne
Funky pooping
Brain fog
Headaches
Frequent illness – from colds to yeast infections
Difficulty losing weight

That’s right: dysbiosis can lead to stalled weight loss. Gut flora is linked to your appetite, digestion, and how easily you feel full. Studies have shown that individuals with obesity have a less diverse microbiome than those who are slimmer, and as people who are obese slim down, their gut flora changes. You need healthy gut flora to break down fats and sugars and get them in transit out of your body, just like you need your gut flora to eliminate excess hormones.

The Micronutrient-Microbiome Connection

You know by now that probiotics are essential for microbiome health. But the microbiome needs micronutrients, too. There’s increasing evidence that sufficient micronutrient intake is important for the health of the gut flora and that micronutrient deficiency and malnutrition has a negative effect on the gut flora. Here’s what the research says about some specific nutrients:Vitamin B12 plays an important role in shaping gut microbial communities.Magnesium deficiency changes the amount of bifidobacteria in the gut.Vitamin D deficiency changes the microbiome in ways that can trigger inflammation.Zinc deficiency is associated with a less diverse microbiome and less bacterial activity.Selenium sufficiency is associated with increases in bifidobacterium in the gut.Malnutrition in children is associated with less healthy microbiome.These important micronutrients, which are essential for gut health and overall health, are part of my Balance Supplements. And even if you eat a healthy diet rich in these nutrients, you might not have optimal levels of the vitamins and minerals you need to promote gut health. Environmental factors beyond our control, from the mineral-depleted soil in which most of our food is now grown to shifts in growing practices that have reduced the number of vitamins and minerals in various foods, can leave us eating a perfect diet and still deficient in certain micronutrients.I include a probiotic in my Balance Supplements, too, because gut health is SO vital to your overall health. And I designed the Balance Supplements in the first place because the supplement industry has very little oversight and I saw so many women waste money on supplements that at best didn’t work and at worse contained dangerous ingredients. The supplement kit contains five formulas, rigorously tested, thoroughly researched, and perfectly suited to meet your gut and hormone health. After years of research, I’ve determined that these are the five essential micronutrients that women need in order to balance hormones, reverse symptoms, and look and feel their best. If you’re ready to feel energized, detoxed, replenished, harmonized, and gutsy, I encourage you to take your micronutrient needs seriously with food and supplements. You deserve to look and feel your best and make sure you’ve optimized your micronutrients is a key part of that equation. To your FLO,Alisa

Introducing the BALANCE by FLO Living Hormone Supplement Kit

You’ve been asking me for hormone-friendly supplement recommendations, and I finally have created a solution that I am so thrilled to be able to offer to you on your hormonal balancing journey:

Click here to learn more about the BALANCE Bio-Hacking Supplement Kit.

Sex & Libido

My Expert Opinion on Adaptogens for Hormone Health

Adaptogens are all the rage these days. You’ve probably read about these ancient herbs, like ashwagandha and reishi mushroom, and how they can benefit our overworked adrenal glands. The adrenals regulate the fight-or-flight response by producing hormones (like cortisol) and responding to (and being influenced by) other hormones in the body (like insulin). Optimal adrenal health is essential for optimal hormonal health. And research does show that adaptogens have a protective effect when it comes to calming the stress response and promoting adrenal health (and, hence, promoting hormonal health). But there are some important things to consider before you dive headlong into using adaptogens as a panacea for all your stress. Let’s take a closer look at how these herbs work, what you need to consider before taking them, and what you need to know about a few of the most popular adaptogens.

How Adaptogens Work With Your Endocrine System

The magic of adaptogens is that they don’t just do one thing. They can sense what your body needs when faced with a stressor and help balance your stress response. (They’re like the ‘smart’ devices of the plant world, able to read and interpret your needs and help meet them.) That means, generally speaking, that adaptogens help lower your body’s need to produce cortisol in response to stress.In other words, adaptogens are an outside source of stress support that don’t cause any strain on your body. That’s what makes them different from cortisol, which is produced to help us deal with stress but which (when produced in abundance) ages your endocrine and immune systems and negatively affects brain, sex drive, menstrual and reproductive health, and skin elasticity. When you take adaptogens, your endocrine system is freed from having to make cortisol and can instead produce more progesterone, estrogen, testosterone and human growth hormone. Cortisol can simply protect you from stress rather than harm you. Your whole endocrine system will work better, you’ll have healthy periods, fertility, and sex drive and won’t age prematurely internally or on the skin.

Two Cautions When it Comes to Adaptogens

One: some adaptogens are phytoestrogenic and some increase testosterone production, so if you are struggling with fibroids, endometriosis, cysts, pcos, you can certainly use them in short courses, but you may want to experiment with one at a time to make sure you don’t have any adverse reactions and take breaks as you feel you are in a less stressful period of time. Two: Adaptogens are a great tool in your stress-fighting arsenal, but they may not be the best first step if you’ve been stressed for a long time and your inner reserves are really depleted. When your tank is running on empty, your first best step is to make space in your life for self-care that promotes deep healing: eating the right diet for your body,getting 8 or more hours of high-quality, consecutive sleep every night; finding places in life to build better boundaries and practice saying “no” to things that don’t serve you; and tracking your natural, 28-day cycle and learning how to care for your hormones in each distinct phase of your cycle. Adaptogens can be wonderful—they can be a great addition to your hormonal biohacking strategy—but they’re not a substitute for deeper healing and hormone balancing, which is all about self-care and cyclical nutrition and exercise.

The Lowdown on 4 Common Adaptogens

If you’re thinking of trying an adaptogen, you’re probably considering one of these popular herbs. Here’s the skinny on how these four herbs influence your hormones.Maca powder. You may have heard that maca can solve all your period problems, but rarely is one herb or food (even when it is dubbed a superfood, as maca often is) a miracle cure for your hormonal woes. But maca root can help your body adapt to stressful life situations that might otherwise deplete your body’s hormone production and cause symptoms. I recommend maca powder as part of a wider hormonally-supportive diet in three situations (1) after coming off the birth control pill, (2) if you’re age 35 or over and experiencing symptoms of perimenopause and/or you are post-menopause, and (3) after you’ve had a baby and you’re done breastfeeding. In these three situations you might be experiencing several hormone-based issues that maca can help with, including:

Low energy levels
Low sex drive
Brain fog and poor focus or concentration
Mood swings and depression
PMS symptoms

Ashwagandha. This well-researched herb has been shown to reduce oxidative stress (also known as the internal process that contributes to cell damage and accelerated aging) and support a healthy stress response. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, ashwagandha was shown to improve stress resistance and participants’ self-assessed quality of life. When it comes to hormones, ashwagandha has been shown to safely improve sexual function and low libido for some women (perhaps because it supports healthy testosterone production). Other studies suggest that this herb can dramatically slow down cell division in estrogen-receptor positive breast cancers. I recommend ashwagandha if you struggle with anxiety and/or if you’re wrestling with low libido. Holy Basil. This herb supports a healthy adrenal response as well as helping stabilize blood sugar, which is essential for healthy hormone balance. In fact, I consider blood sugar balance one of the first and most important steps in solving period problems and easing symptoms like acne, PMS, fibroids, bloating, and hormone-related migraines. Research also suggests that holy basil can help protect the liver and support liver function. The liver detoxes excess hormones from the body and helps prevent estrogen dominance. For healthy hormones, you need a healthy liver. I recommend holy basil if stress and anxiety are an issue and you also wrestle with imbalanced blood sugar. If you have a history of taking over-the-counter or prescription medications, you may consider taking holy basil for liver and detox support. Reishi mushroom. Reishi is a powerful adaptogen that is also chock full of antioxidants. These mushrooms have been lauded for their anti-tumor, anti-androgenic, anti-aging, and immune-boosting effects. I don’t believe in superfoods as such — no one food or single intervention can be a miracle cure on its own — but if any plant comes close to deserving the title of a super food, I’d nominate reishi mushrooms. The antioxidant and chemopreventive benefits of reishi are well-studied, and when it comes to hormones studies show that reishi (and other cordyceps mushrooms) may help ease symptoms of PCOS, hirsutism, and acne by exerting an anti-androgenic effect in the body. I recommend reishi mushrooms if you’re struggling with acne, unwanted hair growth, or symptoms related to PCOS. Taking adaptogenic herbs is a generally safe practice that can ease symptoms and improve quality of life. But herbs should only be part of your stress-reduction and hormone-balancing strategy after you’ve addressed some of the bigger lifestyle factors that drive hormone issues, like sleep deprivation, exposure to chronic stressors, exposure to toxins, and being out of touch with your natural hormone cycle. If your tank is running on empty, and has been for a while, start with the big stuff. When you’ve made progress in those areas, it might be time to consider an adaptogen. Remember: Once you have the right information about how your body really works, you can start making health choices that work for you.Love and Ovaries,Alisa

Introducing the BALANCE by FLO Living Hormone Supplement Kit

You’ve been asking me for hormone-friendly supplement recommendations, and I finally have created a solution that I am so thrilled to be able to offer to you on your hormonal balancing journey:

Click here to learn more about the BALANCE Bio-Hacking Supplement Kit.

5 “Amazing” Acne Cures That Actually Do More Harm Than Good

If you suffer from adult acne, you might be willing to try anything to clear your skin. I know firsthand: I suffered from severe cystic acne for many years and I went to my doctor desperate for answers. I was offered one of the most common Western medicine “solutions” for adult acne: the pill. I was assured it would work like a miracle cure for my skin, so I gave it a shot. I was willing to try anything to say goodbye to acne forever. Well, two weeks on the pill and not only did it not help my skin, I was experiencing migraines, vision loss, and heart arrhythmia.

If you’re thinking, “Gosh, well, I’m glad there are other drugs and products I can try!” I have bad news: the other “miracle cures” in the Western medical arsenal fall into the same “do more harm than good” category. But don’t panic! There are simple steps you can take that are far cheaper, far safer, and far more effective than any drug or skincare product.

I want to save you the time and money that I lost—and the frustration I experienced—pursuing acne cures that don’t work. In today’s blog I’m going to walk you through six “miracle” acne cures that don’t actually work (and that almost always make your overall health worse)—and outline what you can do instead.

False Acne “Cure” #1: Hormonal birth control

Hormonal birth control is one of the popular physician-prescribed remedies for acne. Here’s how it works: the pill balances testosterone (and other androgens) in the body with estrogen and progesterone (which are contained in the pill in synthetic form). High levels of androgens can trigger oil production in the skin, so when estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone are in better balance, the skin tends to clear up.

But! This handy-dandy “balancing” act brought on by the Pill is all smoke and mirrors. The synthetic hormones in the Pill pave over the deeper imbalances—rather than address them at the root—and when a woman goes off the pill, all of those imbalances come roaring back. The acne comes back with it, often worse than before. At the same time, the pill causes other problems around the body. It disrupts your microbiome (a healthy gut is essential for bringing your hormones back into balance) and depletes you of important, hormone-protective micronutrients.

False Acne “Cure” #2: Antibiotics

Antibiotics are important life-saving drugs; we wouldn’t want to live in a world without them. But even a short course of antibiotics can wreak havoc on gut health, just like the pill. And considering that the average course of antibiotics for acne is three to four months, the impact on your gut can be much greater. So just like hormonal birth control, antibiotics might clear up your skin while you’re on them, but they’re ultimately making one of the root causes of acne worse. (If you need antibiotics for a necessary, non-skin related reason, always follow up a course of antibiotics with a course of probiotics.)

False Acne “Cure” #3: Spironolactone (Aldactone)

Spironolactone is a synthetic hormone that is prescribed to treat hormonal acne. It works by blocking androgens (male hormones) that can contribute to acne along the chin and jawline. If excess androgens play a role in your acne, spironolactone can bring about superficial results. But hormonal acne is always caused by more than one hormone imbalance in the body (as well as other factors)—and spironolactone, by blocking the action of one entire group of hormones, makes other hormonal imbalances (like estrogen dominance) worse.

Estrogen dominance is when estrogen is high relative to progesterone, and it is its own root cause of acne. So while you may experience results while taking sprionolactone, you are fueling a different fire beneath the surface, one that will make your acne come back when you stop taking it—and one that will ultimately make your skin worse. Plus, spironolactone is a synthetic, and just like I don’t recommend synthetic hormonal birth control, I don’t recommend spironolactone. It’s been associated with a long list of side effects—including irregular menstrual bleeding, breast tenderness, gastrointestinal upset, dizziness, headaches, dry mouth, lower back pain, breast lumps, and weight gain (to name just a few).

If you’ve read articles or seen research espousing the relative safety of spironolactone, consider this 2017 study that looked at ten randomized controlled trials on spironolactone safety and found that “all [the] trials were assessed as being at a ‘high risk’ of bias, and the quality of evidence was rated as low or very low for all outcomes.”

False Acne “Cure” #4: Isotretinoin (originally Accutane)

This drug is prescribed as a last-ditch effort to ease hormonal acne (though most conventional practitioners haven’t had patients try diet and lifestyle modifications before suggesting this drug). Isotretinoin is almost always the “plan z” option because its side effects are so severe. In fact, the drug is so toxic that it is only available as part of a registered distribution program called iPLEDGE, which mandates that all isotretinoin prescribers are registered as approved prescribers, all pharmacies that dispense it are registered as approved pharmacies, and all wholesalers that sell it to pharmacies are approved wholesalers!

Why this intense level of regulation? Isotretinoin causes severe birth defects, and even the smallest exposure can trigger changes in a fetus. For this reason, women who use the drug must simultaneously be on hormonal birth control to prevent pregnancy. (This fact alone should keep you away from isotretinoin.)

But the horrors of this drug don’t stop there. The drug has caused some patients to become depressed and suicidal; other studies link the drug to violent and aggressive behavior; and the original patented drug, Accutane, was pulled from the market when many users found that it caused them to develop Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBS). This drug may clear your skin while you take it, but the devastating side effects aren’t worth the risk.

False Acne “Cure” #5: External skin care products

While what you put on your skin is hugely important for skin health (and overall health), no product on its own will fix hormonal acne. That’s because, as the name implies, the root of the problem is what’s happening on the inside of the body. External products can never fully address internal problems and hormone imbalances.

What’s more, the toxins found in most conventional skincare products are endocrine disruptors, which make hormone problems worse. So it’s critically important that you shop for clean skin care and beauty products. Otherwise, your skin care routine becomes a lose-lose-lose situation: you’re not addressing the internal cause of your acne, you're loading your skin with toxins, and—in most cases—you are spending a lot of money on products that promise results but don’t deliver.

So what’s the real solution for acne?

The secret to clear skin is all internal, and it involves three key steps:

Biohack your hormones. Instead of using drugs to suppress symptoms, address the root causes by learning how to biohack your hormones with food and exercise. You’ll want to prioritize hormone balancing foods, understand and manage your blood sugar (poorly controlled blood sugar fuels all hormone imbalances), learn what foods to avoid if you suffer from hormonal acne, and sync your diet and exercise routine to the four distinct phases of your 28-day hormone cycle. If you’re not currently tracking your cycle, get started STAT! Download the MyFLO app to begin Cycle Syncing® your diet and lifestyle so they work for you, not against you.
Optimize your micronutrients. Micronutrient deficiency is one of the root causes of hormonal acne (along with a disrupted gut microbiome). Your vitamin and mineral optimization plan is two-fold. One, avoid things that deplete the body of important skin-health micronutrients—like coffee, certain medications (like the pill), over-exercise, and sleep deprivation. Two, replenish the micronutrients you’re missing. The five formulations provided in our Balance Supplements include essential micronutrients that promote skin health.
Avoid toxic exposures & opt for organic foods. I mentioned above that many conventional skin care products contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals. But these health-damaging toxins live in a host of everyday products, from household cleaning supplies and lawn chemicals to the pesticides and herbicides on non-organic food. Opt for organic food when possible and read labels very carefully. Even some “green” cleaners can contain dangerous ingredients. When you skirt dangerous toxins, you not only protect your delicate endocrine system, your body gets to spend less time detoxing—and more time balancing hormones and healing skin. It’s a win-win!

Debunk 5 popular acne cures that actually make your skin worse! 🤬

Birth Control

What to Do When Your Period Disappears

If you’re a young woman and your period has decided to take a summer vacation (or if it’s been gone for longer than that), you might be panicking. Where did it go? What does it mean that it’s gone? How can I get it back? You might be especially concerned if you hope to have kids one day, though that isn’t the only reason to take missing or problematic periods seriously. Ovulation, which is necessary for menstruation (bleeding), is an essential part of a healthy hormone cycle and a key indicator of a woman’s overall health. The American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists has called on clinicians to think of the menstrual cycle as a vital sign, like blood pressure and temperature.Plus, the symptoms that come along with light, irregular, or missing periods are uncomfortable at best and quality-of-life diminishing at worst. That’s because missing or otherwise wonky periods are almost always accompanied by hormone imbalances, which can give rise to acne, weight loss resistance, bloating, headaches, and mood swings.If this is happening to you, you’re not alone. Missing or irregular periods are common. They happen to a lot of young women, many of whom I’ve counseled in my practice—some of whom have missed periods for months and even years. (I worked with one woman whose period had been missing for 13 years, though by following the FLO protocol she got her period back within three months!)In today’s post, I’m going to outline the root causes of missing periods in young women and, most importantly, I’m going to give you three essential first steps on the journey to getting your period back.

Textbook Causes of Missing Periods

There are “textbook” reasons that periods go missing, including pregnancy, breastfeeding, and, of course, menopause. There’s also engaging in intense exercise everyday, which many women may not know is interfering with their regular menstrual cycle. It’s the same with being underweight. A condition called polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), in which cysts grow on your ovaries can also be a root cause for young women. One of the top triggers for missing periods is coming off hormonal birth control. Stopping the Pill doesn’t guarantee that your period will come zipping back. In fact, without making a concentrated effort through food and lifestyle modifications, many women who quit the Pill do not start bleeding again for months or years.

Hidden Causes of Missing Periods

That brings us to the less talked about (but no less real) causes of missing or irregular periods, including stress. Chronic stress raises cortisol and messes up blood sugar, which disrupts ovulation. Studies also show that women with stressful jobs are at double the risk for anovulation (not ovulating) and menstrual cycle variability. Other research shows that women with high levels of stress around the time of ovulation have a harder time getting pregnant. The other common but often overlooked cause of period problems? Blood sugar dysregulation. Imbalanced blood sugar is associated with infertility, and diabetes drugs like metformin are often prescribed to women with PCOS to trigger ovulation. If you are considering taking metformin for PCOS or infertility, I strongly recommend regulating your blood sugar levels with the FLO protocol and prepping your body for a healthy pregnancy ahead of time. You may discover you don’t need the drugs. (It’s also worth noting that, for many of the women I’ve worked with, Metformin hasn’t worked at all.)

So What’s A Woman With a Missing Period To Do?

Following the full FLO Protocol is important for any woman with a missing or irregular period. The FLO Protocol supports you through the hormone-balancing food and lifestyle strategies that bring proper hormone signaling back online. But there are some powerful first steps you can take today to start bleeding again. Here are my top three strategies for bringing your period back:1. Engage in extreme self-care. That’s right, your new goal is to think of yourself as an Olympic athlete in the sport of relaxing, because the more stress you face externally, the more you need to be intentional about quieting your internal stress response. If you’ve been meaning to get back to your Yoga or Pilates class, do it today. Make sure you schedule dedicated non-work time—write it into your planner if you have to!—and engage in leisure activities you love. If some of the stressors in your life are modifiable, consider making changes that would make life less stressful.2. Balance your blood sugar. The single best (and side effect-free!) way to address blood sugar problems is with food. Emphasize healthy complex (and non-gluten) carbs, eat enough healthy, high-quality fats and proteins, and make sure you front-load non-starchy vegetables in all colors of the rainbow. One great tip for keeping blood sugar steady all day is to eat a low-glycemic breakfast within 90 minutes of waking up. And remember: sugar hides out in a lot of processed foods—even ones you wouldn’t expect. So read labels carefully, and stick to whole foods when you can.3. Fight the urge to be a night owl.Hormones are hugely affected by sleep—or, more specifically, by lack thereof. The 24-hour circadian cycle has a direct influence on, and is directly influenced by, our bodies master hormones. When we’re short on sleep, it’s almost impossible to get our hormones balanced. So make sleep a priority tonight (and every night!).Bringing your period back online is something you can do with nutrition and lifestyle modifications. I’ve seen women who haven’t had periods in years engage the FLO Protocol and start bleeding in three to four months. With the right lifestyle and nutrition changes, this could become your story, too!Love and Ovaries,AlisaGood things come in threes:

I want to hear from you!

First, have you tried Cycle Syncing?Second, has your period gone missing or become very light or irregular?Third, everyone you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on socialmedia?

Monthly FLO: The Cycle Syncing System™

Put your period symptoms into remission. Discover how to live in your FLO and get it all done with embodied time management.

MonthlyFLO is the first-ever woman-centric health system that syncs with your unique rhythm. It gives you the foundation for solving any hormonal issues you may have over your lifetime.Using the principles of functional nutrition, MonthlyFLO is a specially-sequenced food therapy program that recalibrates your endocrine function. Over three months, you will be guided step-by-step to make simple, cumulative food and lifestyle changes that balance your hormones naturally.Click here to learn more about the life-changing Monthly FLO Program

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 4-day hormone detox and evaluation 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.I’ve designed a 4-day hormone detox and evaluation 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 FREE detox and evaluation.

The Easiest & Most Effective Post-Alcohol Hormone Detox

If you spent the Fourth of July celebrating with friends and family, you might still be feeling the warm fuzzies of spending time with your favorite people, hanging out by the water, and waving sparklers.

But if your holiday weekend included a celebratory drink (or three), you might not be feeling so hot physically or emotionally. You’ve got that familiar holiday hangover, complete with foggy thinking, exhaustion, headache, and feeling blue.

There’s no denying it: drinking can feel fun, relaxing, and sexy in the moment, but the aftermath isn’t pretty. You’re suffering, and so are your hormones.

‍Studies show that moderate alcohol consumption raises estrogen levels and lowers progesterone—a key hallmark of estrogen dominance, which is a common hormone imbalance for women. And estrogen dominance exacerbates a long list of hormone conditions, including PCOS, fibroids, and endometriosis.

In today’s blog post, I’m going to walk you through how drinking can mess with your hormones and how, if you’ve had a boozy weekend, you can recover quickly and reset your hormones. But before I do, I want you to know that I’m not here to make you feel guilty for the occasional glass of wine! Really! Holidays and special occasions are a part of life—and while regular moderate-to-heavy drinking can slow down your healing if you’re trying to improve symptoms that are related to estrogen dominance, the occasional glass of wine isn’t something to beat yourself up about.

Rather, my intention in this blog is to make sure you start feeling better faster and that your next period is unaffected by your Fourth of July festivities.

How Alcohol Damages Hormones

As I already mentioned, alcohol raises estrogen levels which worsens the symptoms associated with hormonal issues like PCOS, endometriosis, severe PMS, and fibroids. Here’s what else can get all mucked up when we imbibe:

Concentration of alcohol tends to be higher in women’s blood after drinking equal amounts as men. That’s because women have significantly smaller quantities of an enzyme that breaks down alcohol in the stomach, which results in women absorbing 30 percent more alcohol in their bloodstream when they drink the same beverage as a man! (Researchers aren’t sure why there’s such a big difference in this particular enzyme.) This means the physical impact of alcohol is much stronger and faster for women than for men.
Alcohol forces the liver to run through your store of vitamin C (and other important antioxidants) to break it down, which leaves you vitamin and mineral deficient. This is especially problematic if you know you are already dealing with a deficiency.
Although alcohol can make us feel giddy in the moment, it’s ultimately a depressant. Drinking alcohol drains the adrenals and makes you feel more tired and down.
Alcohol messes up steady blood sugar, which is so important to hormonal healing. So if you’re dealing with blood sugar dysregulation as a part of your hormonal health issues (and many women are) this is something to consider. What’s more, we don’t always make the best food choices when we’re tipsy, which makes the blood-sugar roller coaster even worse.

So if you’re still feeling the after effects of the Fourth of July, skip the greasy breakfast and try my One-Day Hormone Recovery Protocol instead. You’ll feel better sooner and you won’t be heading toward a terrible round of PMS with your next period.

Your 1-Day Hormone Recovery Protocol

First thing in the morning:

Take a B vitamin complex, and have a glass of warm water with lemon. This helps flush your liver.
Mix up a 16 oz glass of my favorite liver support juice. Combine a handful of spinach, one carrot, four stalks of celery, half a cucumber, half a bunch of cilantro, one-third a bunch of parsley, half a lemon with rind and half a green apple in a blender or juicer.
Eat a breakfast of two poached eggs, a half cup of quinoa, half an avocado and two tablespoons of sauerkraut.

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Middle of the day:

Eat a big lunch — brown rice, miso glazed salmon and kale or bok choy in soy sauce — to replenish missing micronutrients and balance sodium levels.
Take a high-quality probiotic and an omega 3 supplement.
Drink coconut water to replenish your electrolytes, and take a magnesium supplement.
Step out into the sun for 15 minutes, with no sunscreen, to boost vitamin D3.

Afternoon

Take a high-quality liver detoxification supplement.

Evening:

Drink bone broth or have chicken soup to soothe the inflammation from the booze.
Do yoga twists. These moves will help to detoxify your internal organs and prevent a backup of estrogen.
Head to bed early to detoxify your brain’s immune system.
Take a high-quality magnesium supplement to replenish this essential micronutrient and help promote healthy sleep.

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Remember: Once you have the right information about how your body really works, you can start making health choices that work for you.And if your hangover continues to hang around, or if your PMS is a serious issue every month, download my free 4-Day Hormone Detox to get rid of it for good.Love and Ovaries,Alisa

Is it Possible to Have a Perfect Period?

The world is full of fun myths that we know aren’t true but that we like to imagine could be possible— the genie in the bottle, fairies in the forest, the pot of gold at the end of rainbow, and the perfect period. Well, Ladies, I’m here to tell you that the perfect period ISN’T a myth. A healthy, easy period is not just real, it’s likely to be something that you (yes, you!) experience when you understand what your period symptoms are telling you and when you address those symptoms with simple actions and easy strategies. If you suffer every month with heavy bleeding, cramps, periods that go on forever, horrible PMS symptoms like moodiness and cravings, you might assume that women with an easy period are lucky (maybe they found a genie in the bottle and wished for a perfect period) or they won the genetic lottery. Because you’re pretty sure that everything about menstruation is a mysterious process—one that you don’t have any control over—and that you’re just one of the unlucky ones. It’s time to accept your fate and move on. But I can tell you from personal experience (as well as solid science) that you can shift your periods from horrible to healthy, normal and easy. Until I figured out how to eat and live according to my cycle, my period was a nightmare. Fast forward to today. My period is so seamless that I went on the Dr. Oz show to tell him (and the world) how great it is!Today I’m going to tell you what my period is like NOW, so you know what a healthy, normal period SHOULD be like. There is absolutely no reason you should suffer on your period. It is not necessary, inevitable, fated, or unavoidable that you have cramps, heavy bleeding, clots, long periods, irregular periods, or terrible PMS issues.You can have a better period. Actually, you can have a perfect period. Here’s what your cycle can look and feel like:

What is a normal, healthy, perfect period?

Your cycle should last 26-32 days – anywhere in between is fine as long as it is regular and consistent for you.
Your bleed should be the color of cranberry juice from start to finish, with no clots. A nice, strong, flow that isn’t inconveniently heavy and has you running to the bathroom every hour. Your period should really start first thing in the morning, without any brown stains leading up to the appearance of that cranberry red. And it should last 4-7 days, not longer or shorter.
You should be able to feel your uterus in action with some slight sensations or warm feelings, but there should not be any kind of pain that might have you reaching for drugs or hot water bottles.
After your period, leading up to ovulation, you should see the development of cervical fluid, which is an indicator of healthy fertility and necessary for getting pregnant. You might see this in your underwear or when you wipe after using the bathroom.
Rather than PMS, you should notice an increase in upbeat, social energy towards the middle of your cycle, and then, in the second half of your cycle, a more focused, determined energy to get things accomplished.

If you experience a period that is the opposite of this, check out my guide to interpreting and treating your period – this is where I provide specific protocols for each potential period problem you might be facing at this time whether that be clots, extremely light periods, brown staining, super short cycles, cramps, or PMS.Having your period isn’t synonymous with suffering. I want to shout it from the rooftops: You can have the perfect period! In fact, you can even have a better period by next month, and a period just like mine within 3 months. I’ve seen it happen time and time again with the women I’ve worked with through Flo Living. I think every woman deserves the kind of period they can truly brag about.Always remember, that once you have the right information about how your body really works, you can start making health choices that finally start to work for you! You can do this – the science of your body is on your side!Love and Ovaries,Alisa

We believe that no woman should suffer simply because she has a period.

Click here to book your counselor consultation

Click here to book your counselor consultation

Reversing Estrogen Dominance & Achieving Hormonal Healing...How Long Does it Take??

A Timeline for How to Heal

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You’re making the move from conventional to organic, you’re syncing your workouts with your cycle, and you’re taking the necessary steps to get your gut and hormonal health back on track. So when exactly can you expect to see a payoff from all that dedicated effort?

If you’ve finally committed to resolving your menstrual symptoms, you’re probably anxious to see results. After all, if you’re like most women dealing with issues including PMS, PCOS, endometriosis, or otherwise problematic cycles, you’ve been struggling with symptoms for way too long and you’re frustrated that you haven't found the cure. Trust us, I get it. Our founder Alisa Vitti suffered through years of painful symptoms before doctors diagnosed me with PCOS. Even then, she had to tell them that she thought it was PCOS before they diagnosed her. It was her own extensive research that led them to the answer! That was her first clue that conventional medicine didn’t hold all the answers.

With a hormone-related diagnosis in hand, Alisa was offered conventional medicine’s most common answer to all hormonal issues: synthetic birth control. After experimenting with every other option, naturopathy, acupuncture, elimination diets, she finally decided to try it even though her gut was telling her not to take the pill. Maybe it will help, she thought?Turns out, it can hurt A LOT. After ten days, she was having a heart arrhythmia and migraines so severe that she would temporarily lose her vision! Alisa quit the pill immediately and never looked back.

Today we know—and research shows—that the pill actually causes a host of hormonal issues. It does the opposite of solve hormonal problems. The fact is, once you have the right tools and you start taking your hormonal healing seriously, you can absolutely see results fast. True, lasting, permanent change takes time and patience, but there’s nothing as encouraging as seeing evidence that things are moving in the right direction. If you commit to the FLO protocol, here are some of the amazing results you can expect to see—and when you can expect to see them.

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In 1 week: You can reduce the endocrine disruptors in your body by up to 90%

How long does it take to restore hormone balance? There are many benefits to healing your hormones that show up quickly, even in just 1 week. We've long encouraged women to follow an organic protocol in every area of their life at least 80% of the time. Now, science is finally catching up to this wisdom, with research revealing that switching to an organic diet reduces the harmful, endocrine-disrupting pesticides in your body by nearly 90 percent.

‍Researchers found that participants’ urinary dialkyl phosphates (DAPs) — a common method of assessing exposure to pesticides — were 89% lower when they ate an organic diet for a week compared to a conventional diet for the same amount of time. Why does pesticide exposure matter so much for hormonal health? Pesticides add synthetic hormones to your body (like xenoestrogens), congest your liver, making it harder for your body to process and eliminate excess hormones, and confuse the hormonal conversation your body needs to have to create balance and avoid symptoms. What’s more, too many pesticides in the body can impair fertility, make the growth of fibroids worse, interfere with regular ovulation, and damage thyroid function.

So if you’ve ever thought that eating organic doesn’t matter, think again! It is a foundational piece of balancing your hormones and erasing your symptoms. And the fact that you can reduce your pesticide load by almost 90% in a week is seriously motivating, right?

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In 9 days: You can improve your blood sugar (and other important biomarkers)

How long does it take to reverse estrogen dominance? When it comes to dietary offenders, there few more hormonally-disruptive bad guys than sugar. When you consume too much of it, it sends your blood sugar and insulin levels soaring and then crashing, which can stop your hormones from triggering ovulation and producing progesterone. This leads to estrogen dominance, the most common culprit behind a slew of hormonal conditions.

‍Research suggests that eating less sugar can stop the blood sugar roller coaster in just 9 days. This is the fastest proven way to reset your hormones. When researchers modified pubescent participants’ food intake by reducing the portion of their diet they typically filled with sugar (from 28% to 10% of their daily calories), and swapped it for starch, their fasting blood sugar levels dropped by 53%, along with the amount of insulin their bodies produced. Participants’ triglyceride levels, LDL levels, and the amount of fat in their liver, also dropped.

The takeaway? Balanced blood sugar—which can be achieved in under two weeks—protects against estrogen dominance and all the devastating symptoms that come with having imbalanced estrogen levels, including irregular ovulation, severe PMS, acne, weight gain, and painful fibroids. If you’ve been dragging your heels on giving up sugar, consider how much better you could feel in a seriously short amount of time!

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In 2 months: You can improve estrogen metabolism and reduce PMS symptoms

Estrogen dominance is at the root of most hormonal conditions, so flushing the excess hormones from your body is essential to maintaining your overall health. One critical way to do a hormone flush is to fix your gut.

Your digestive health is deeply connected with your hormonal healing. The gut contains a colony of beneficial bacteria called the estrobolome, which produces an enzyme that helps metabolize estrogen. Having a healthy gut means having a healthy estrobolome—and a healthy estrobolome efficiently eliminates used hormones from the body, preventing estrogen build-up (and all the problems that come with it). But in our modern world, everything from a sugar-rich diet to overuse of antibiotics (and even the birth control pill) can throw your gut bacteria off-kilter, increasing your chances for estrogen dominance. There is great news here, though.

Studies have shown that what you eat matters, and your diet can start having a major impact on the composition of your gut bacteria quickly — in some cases, as quickly in a few days. One study showed that microbiome composition changed detectably within just 24 hours of initiating a high-fat/low-fiber or low-fat/high-fiber diet. And the research indicated that the longer participants adhered to specific food plans, the more significant the changes to the bacteria were, which should show you that committing to a hormone-healthy diet for the long haul is your best bet for continued success.

Another study found that increased dietary fiber intake elicits a wide range of physiologic effects, not just locally in the gut, but systemically — something we talk about often at FLO Living. Specifically, fiber helps support the liver, a critical organ necessary in the detoxification process that helps prevent and heal estrogen dominance. One great, easy, Harvard and FLO-approved way to start making major changes: eat fermented foods and use probiotics to help heal the gut.

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In 4 months: You can lower stress and improve menstrual regularity

Stress isn’t just something that’s out of your control or something that requires a variety of meditation principles to cope with. It turns out that the intake of vitamins, particularly the B-vitamins including B6, B9 and B12 may have a number of positive effects on mood and stress.

In a double-blind placebo-controlled study, 138 adults (aged 20 to 50 years) were administered a multivitamin containing B-vitamins versus placebo over a 16-week period. Researchers found that compared to the placebo, 16 weeks of supplementation was associated with a trend towards an increased Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR) — an increase of about 50% in cortisol levels occurring 20–30 minutes after waking. One interpretation of that elevation in CAR associated with multivitamin supplementation is that the supplements helped healthy participants develop an adaptive response to everyday demands. And when stress goes down, that means ovulation regularity and fertility go up.

‍Food is, of course, an amazing source of B vitamins — bananas, wild-caught tuna, spinach, poultry, sweet potato, and more are chock-full of it — but supplements are an important insurance policy to ensure you’re getting the right amount. An easy way to assess whether you’re experiencing the net effects of all these dietary changes is to actually examine the color of your blood. It’s true — just taking stock of your menstrual flow can help you see the progress you’re making and confirm the fact that food is clearly the best medicinal approach to dealing with problematic periods.

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Long-term: Continuing to eat in a hormonally-supportive way over time can slow down aging and protect fertility

Healing is truly all about balance. The New York Times recently covered emerging research that supports everything we stand for at FLO Living! Using the health and behavioral data of 914 women who went through menopause naturally, British researchers found that women who ate an additional two-and-a-half-ounce daily portion of fresh legumes (like peas or beans) were able to delay menopause by about one year, and women who ate an additional three-ounce daily portion of oily fish delayed menopause by about three years.

On the other hand, eating refined rice and pasta, was associated with an earlier age of menopause. This information should inspire and empower you to look at the FLO protocol as a hormonally-supportive way of life (not to mention, we’ve been talking about how to avoid premature hormonal aging years before scientists caught up). No diet, pill, patch, or surgery can address and resolve the root of your endocrine imbalance the way a total lifestyle overhaul can. Learning to eat, exercise, work, love, and play in a way that keeps your hormones happy will change your whole life — and the positive changes may come sooner than you think!

Need more inspiration? Check out these testimonials from real clients below:

" Thanks to FLO Living, my PCOS symptoms are so much better! The feeling when you really start believing in yourself is so so powerful! I just want to tell to all the woman with hormonal imbalances to not give up. The answer is closer than you think. Be patient and start step by step. You will get there!" — Lavinia

"It in many ways changed the trajectory of my life, health and skin. I am happy to say that my skin has cleared, I have a handle on my PCOS symptoms and I now know and respect my body better than before. I now see my struggles as a blessing. WomanCode is a book that I recommend to women a lot and it even served as the foundation of starting one of my now closest friendships. The MyFLO app is an essential and daily companion I now use to keep track of my cycle and FLO Living is a place of community and empowerment and I am eternally grateful for the knowledge that Alisa chose to share with the world and women through WomanCode. I’d hate to think where I’d be right now had I not found that interview that lead me to Alisa’s work." — Jamie

"My cycles are regular again! There’s an inner peace that comes with predictable cycles throughout the month with a deep understanding and respect for my body’s natural ability to function in a state of wellness." — Kelsey

"Alisa Vitti, her team and the FLO Living movement inspire me every day to listen to my body and its intuition, live and love in my feminine power and to pass on cycle syncing wisdom to the world!" — Amber

"I'm totally in and I feel amazing! Anemia is gone. I haven't had another sonogram to confirm the fibroids are gone, but my periods are regular and because of rituals and synced workouts I actually look forward to each phase. My body is looking svelte and stunning with the delicious recipes and food list. Sex is better than ever, my husband loves his emails from MyFLO, work is syncing like never before due to scheduling my life around my hormonal strengths. I'm telling everyone I know about MyFLO." — Nicole

“Having PCOS, confirmed having anovulation, and having spent several thousands of dollars at fertility clinics to try to get to the root of things only coming up with the possibility of having to take Clomid (which doesn’t guarantee ovulation, and ovulation doesn’t guarantee pregnancy), I was searching for a more natural way to regulate my body and make it function ‘like a normal person.’ I implemented the diet and lifestyle protocol 100%, even getting everything organic because I was fully ready to be fully committed to do WHATEVER it takes. About a month later I had confirmed ovulation and then from the same cycle confirmed positive pregnancy test. I am now 2 months pregnant for the first time ever! I will say, based on how much this makes sense, I fully expected to be pregnant at some point this year, but was shocked when it happened so fast.” — Nate.
“This got me pregnant at 43! I had FSH levels of 15 and was told IVF was the only way to go. After following this protocol, after 3 months, they were a 7.5! We then got pregnant naturally 3 months later! Every woman should start living this way as soon as possible to avoid any hormonal health problem ever.” — Diane.

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Using Flo to fix your hormonal imbalances leads to amazing changes to your health, but when can you expect to see results?

The New PCOS Study: What You Need to Know

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) affects one in 10 women in the United States (and an estimated one in five women worldwide) and it’s the leading cause of female infertility. So when a new study claims to have found a pharmaceutical cure for PCOS, it makes a big splash in the headlines.When I was younger, I might have jumped on this story as a beacon of hope. I suffered from PCOS and a crushing list of symptoms: severe cystic acne on my chest and back, depression, weight gain, and irregular ovulation. I would have done pretty much anything to stop them.If you find yourself today where I was a decade ago, you might be intrigued by this recent study. One pill might solve all your symptoms! But the secret behind this new PCOS “cure” is that it’s not really a cure at all. First, the body’s hormonal system is far too intricate and environmentally sensitive to have one root cause (and, hence, one solution). “There are a lot of things that can upset the balance of what’s going on hormonally,” professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern, Lauren Streicher, MD, tells The Cut. “We wish with all medical conditions that we could have a one-cause, one-effect sort of thing, but that’s just not the nature with most medical conditions.”Second, the study was done on mice—and what news reports often ignore is that mice aren’t people. Knowing what worked for mice is a far cry from knowing what might help human beings.Finally, the “cure” is a drug. While drugs have an important place in the Western medical arsenal, sometimes they can do more harm than good when it comes to hormonal conditionsTake hormonal birth control, which is commonly prescribed for PCOS. The pill can have serious side effects and it doesn’t solve the core hormonal imbalances at the heart of PCOS. It merely covers them up. It’s too early to tell if the same is true for cetrorelix, the drug used in the study. I put my PCOS into remission with food and lifestyle changes. You can, too.

What You Need to Know About the Study

Researchers at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research suspected that PCOS might be triggered in utero by overexposure to a specific hormone (called anti-Müllerian hormone). They tested their theory by injecting anti-Müllerian hormone into pregnant mice and observing symptoms in their female offspring.Indeed, the daughters of the mice injected with anti-Müllerian hormone showed many of the same symptoms as women with PCOS: irregular ovulation, delayed pregnancy, and fewer offspring. Then the researchers treated the symptomatic mice with cetrorelix, a drug that is commonly used during IVF, and the symptoms reversed. Naturally, the idea that a drug could reverse PCOS generated a lot of excitement. But treatment in humans is a long way off, the side effects and long-term consequences of the drug require more research, and the body’s intricate hormone system is unlikely to be thrown off balance—and brought back into balance—by one single intervention.But the best news of all? You don’t need drugs to feel better. You can find the answers to easing your symptoms in your home, on your plate, and in your supplement drawer. Best of all, when you make lifestyle and nutrition modifications, you address the root hormonal imbalances that give rise to PCOS, something a drug can’t do. Your Food & Lifestyle Rx for PCOS. PCOS is still best addressed with food and lifestyle. Ready to feel better without drugs? Here’s your step-by-step plan:Get some healthy protein and healthy fat at breakfast.You want to get some of both macronutrients for your first meal of the day, which you should eat within 30 minutes of waking up, to help keep blood sugar steady—and keep you feeling full—until lunch. Eggs and avocado make a good combo. Consider adding some leafy greens or other veggies so your plate is brimming with inflammation-fighting and detox-promoting phytonutrients.Don’t overdo animal protein.A Harvard study showed that women improved their chances of fertility when they got more of their protein from vegetable sources than animal sources. For the absolute best sources of protein for your hormones, click here. (Spoiler alert: eggs are included. They appear to be the exception to the rule when it comes to animal protein!)Don’t fear carbs. Not all carbs are created equal. While some carbohydrates are notoriously bad for health—think baked goods, white bread, pasta—others are important for hormonal harmony. Most women with PCOS struggle on a low-carb diet, like Atkins or Paleo. I recommend making rice, quinoa, buckwheat and millet part of your regular diet. Ditch caffeine. Caffeine is a catastrophe for your hormones. So many studies link caffeine with impaired fertility (which is a hallmark of PCOS) and hormonal discord that it’s hard to keep up with them all. Here’s just a few: research shows that drinking 3 cups of coffee a day (consumed by either men or women) increases the risk of miscarriage by 74%. Coffee is considered equal to drinking alcohol and smoking in terms of impairing fertility. And coffee depletes the B vitamins that are so necessary for healthy ovulation and hormone balance. If you suspect you’re low on B vitamins, you can find the formula I recommend in my Balance Supplement Kit. Steer clear of toxins. Many of the everyday chemicals we’re exposed to through cleaning products, conventional health and body care products, and lawn care products and household pesticides are endocrine disruptors and are known to to have negative reproductive, neurological, and immune system effects. The Environmental Working Group lists 12 of the worst endocrine offenders. Read labels on cleaning products carefully or, better yet, make your own products with vinegar, baking soda, and essential oils. A study commissioned by the independent research group, Women’s Voices for the Earth, found that a large number of popular cleaning products contained toxic chemicals that weren’t listed on the labels.Sync your life to your cycle. When you live your life in accordance with your natural hormonal rhythms, your hormones are happier—and so are you. It’s as simple as that. Sync your life with the MyFLO tracker, the first ever hormone balancing app. Tend your microbiome. A healthy microbiome, the group of bacteria that lives in your gut, means a healthy estrobolome, the colony of bacteria in the microbiome that help metabolize estrogen. Hormonal healing is impossible if your gut is out of balance. The best way to bring your microbiome into balance is to supplement with probiotics. Patch up nutrient deficiencies. Micronutrient support is critical for women with PCOS. Our bodies need the B vitamins that can help with mood and progesterone production; the liver support that helps detox estrogen; the magnesium that helps balance the production of progesterone, estrogen and testosterone; the probiotics that help heal the gut; and vitamins D, K1, and K2 to support healthy immune function and regular ovulation. You can find all these supplements together in the Balance Supplement Kit I created specifically to bring hormones back into balance. Always remember that once you have the right information about how your body really works, you can start making healthy choices that finally start to work for you! You can do this – the science of your body is on your side!to your FLO,Alisa

Monthly FLO: The Cycle Syncing System™

Put your period symptoms into remission. Discover how to live in your FLO and get it all done with embodied time management.

MonthlyFLO is the first-ever woman-centric health system that syncs with your unique rhythm. It gives you the foundation for solving any hormonal issues you may have over your lifetime.Using the principles of functional nutrition, MonthlyFLO is a specially-sequenced food therapy program that recalibrates your endocrine function. Over three months, you will be guided step-by-step to make simple, cumulative food and lifestyle changes that balance your hormones naturally.Click here to learn more about the life-changing Monthly FLO Program

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 4-day hormone detox and evaluation 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.I’ve designed a 4-day hormone detox and evaluation 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 FREE detox and evaluation.

There’s a Right Way To Quit the Pill: Here’s What You Need to Know

If you’re considering quitting the pill, congrats! You’re taking a huge step toward reclaiming your health, happiness, and hormones. And you’re not alone. Surveys suggest that 70% of millennials have ditched (or are thinking about ditching) hormonal birth control.

Seriously—the list of birth control’s harmful effects never ceases to amaze us, and yet it’s the most common Band-Aid solution doctors rely on to spot-treat deep-seated endocrine issues. Many doctors recommend the pill to “solve” symptoms, but the pill doesn’t solve anything. Symptoms disappear because the pill covers them up. Meanwhile, the root causes of your symptoms continue to simmer beneath the surface—and the longer they go unaddressed, the harder they are to treat. Not only that, the pill can damage the microbiome, increase inflammation, suppress ovulation, and lead to micronutrient deficiencies.

So yes—quitting the pill is one of the most significant things you can do in the process of hormonal healing. But saying goodbye to the pill without knowing how to protect yourself from rebound symptoms can cause them to return with a vengeance—especially if you give up the drugs cold turkey. That’s because your body suddenly has to manage and balance its own hormones for the first time in months or years, and it goes through a re-education process as your natural hormone cycle comes back online. Luckily, there are smart strategies for coming off the pill. We've developed a foolproof plan for quitting synthetic hormones once and for all, and sidestepping the unpleasant symptoms that can come with it.

The Surefire Plan to Transitioning Off the Pill Without Symptoms

Discuss it with your doctor. Before you take the plunge, let your doctor know that you’ll be coming off the pill. A good doctor will help you find alternative, natural methods of contraception & support you through the change.
Start the FLO protocol ASAP. A lot of women don’t realize that they need to lay the groundwork for hormonal health before they quit synthetic hormones. Cycle-Syncing® your diet and exercise while you’re still taking the pill can make this transition much gentler on your endocrine system and ease post-pill side effects like acne, insomnia, mood swings and irregular cycles. Moving into a FLO lifestyle will enable your body to begin the process of detoxification & recalibration, readying it for a pill-free lifestyle.
Identify and address nutrient deficiencies. Synthetic hormones deplete your body of vitamins and minerals, especially B vitamins, vitamins C and E, and the minerals magnesium, selenium, and zinc. If you’re considering coming off the pill, consider taking a high-quality supplements now to make the transition easier. The FLO Living Balance Supplement Kit contains all of these key nutrients.
Start tracking your period. If your periods return quickly and they become regular, great! If not, then it’s likely that there is an underlying health problem that we recommend you address naturally with food changes. Many women do find it takes months for their period to show up and even then it is sporadic. Tracking your cycle before you stop the pill, and using our eating plan during the transition, will help you avoid this. If your period still isn’t back in six months, investigate potential underlying causes with your doctor. You’ll want to rule out insulin resistance, PCOS, thyroid troubles, vitamin D deficiency (as well as the deficiencies mentioned above), and severe food sensitivities like celiac disease (though we recommend avoiding gluten no matter what).
Re-establish a healthy gut. The pill ravages your internal microbial ecosystem. The longer you’ve been taking it, the worse the impact on your body. When you’re on the pill, eating good, clean, healthy food is the best way to start the healing process, but in order to fast track your healing, you’ll need a powerful probiotic to replenish the balance of good gut bacteria. The probiotic in the FLO Living Balance Supplement Kit is a highly-concentrated dose that helps balance flora, support mood, improve digestive function and nutrient absorption, and reduce the chances of getting yeast infections and bacterial vaginosis.
Make more of your own hormones. Vitamin B6 is essential for making progesterone. Include whole foods that are rich in B6 in your diet, like bananas, spinach, sweet potato, garlic, chicken, grass-fed beef, and salmon. Supplements are also key here. The Energize formula in our Balance Supplements Kit is a powerful B vitamin combination that supplies most of the B vitamins in their coenzymated forms. Incorporating lots of good quality fats and amino acids in your diet is essential, too - they’re what hormones are made from and what your body needs to start making more of its own and fast. If you can and do eat animal protein, have fish and organic poultry as well as pasture-raised eggs (including their yolks), olive oil, and avocados. It’s particularly important to get enough high-quality omega-3 fats. Omega-3s are less abundant than other types of fats in our modern food supply, so supplementing is often necessary. The Harmonize formulation in our Balance Supplement Kit contains fish oil that’s ultra potent and delivered in the form found in nature, to support hormone production and healthy ovulation.
Do an estrogen detox. A lot of women are hit with a condition called estrogen dominance after quitting the pill—the most common cause of all hormonal dysfunction. Leafy greens are the absolute best way to combat this problem. Tuck into kale, chard, spinach, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and more (at every meal if you can!). To speed up estrogen detox, supplement with the Detox formula in the Balance Supplement Kit. It offers liver support for overall detox function and supports healthy detox of excess estrogen, which is essential to regaining your hormonal health.

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You have the power to learn & decide every move.

The 6 Natural Supplements To Stop Hormonal Acne

Looking for Vitamins for Hormonal Acne?

Let's face it, hormonal acne is frustrating. You’ve suffered through the skin issues of adolescence only to discover that adulthood comes with its own host of blemishes! Or perhaps you had great skin in your youth and only NOW is it plaguing you. So unfair, right? Trust me, our founder Alisa Vitti has been there.

Before Alisa created the FLO Living protocol, it took her an hour and a half just to leave the house. Her face and back were covered in cystic hormonal acne that she covered with heavy makeup just to feel confident enough to carry on with her life.

So, if that painful scenario sounds even remotely familiar, then you’ll really want to pay attention. Your skin shouldn’t rule your life and diminish your self-esteem. By learning to heal your endocrine system (the system responsible for hormone production) naturally, you can regain control of your beautiful face and body and learn to love your skin again. And Flo Living is living proof of that!

Why Hormonal Acne Happens

Hormonal acne can accompany natural shifts in the menstrual cycle—for example, when you’re moving from your ovulation phase into your pre-menstrual phase. It can also be triggered by high levels of androgens (male hormones) and stress.

‍Research suggests that the oil-producing glands in the skin can act as their own independent endocrine organs, responding to messages from hormones like testosterone and the stress hormone cortisol. Women need androgens for optimal health (they just need less of them than men), some stress in life is inevitable, and hormonal fluctuations during the month are not just normal but important. You want them to happen! But here’s what’s NOT a sure thing: acne.

Acne isn’t an inevitable side effect of normal hormonal fluctuations and life stressors. It’s a sign of endocrine dysfunction and a big SOS: your hormones are in trouble! And this can happen any time in adulthood: during your 20s and 30s, during pregnancy, after baby, and even during perimenopause.

The good news is that sending help to your hormones, including using supplements to help heal and balance them, is easy.

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Why the Conventional Acne Treatments You’re Using Aren’t Working

When Alisa Vitti had acne, she tried everything that her doctor would give her, desperate to improve the way her skin looked and the way she felt about herself. Maybe you can relate: going through a list of potions and pills, hoping each would work for you.

Alisa personally tried a long course of antibiotics to stop the acne, which permanently stained her teeth slightly yellow (to this day!) and destroyed her gut microbiome so badly that she spent my entire freshman year of college with viruses, yeast infections, and flu-like symptoms.

She tried Retinol-A cream and Salicylic Acid and Benzoyl Peroxide thinking she could heal my skin from the outside and just fix the surface of the issue. Needless to say, none of those things worked.

There’s a reason these commonly prescribed medications don’t work — and most even come with dangerous side effects:

‍The birth control pill: The pill disrupts your microbiome, endocrine system, and micronutrient levels – all systems essential for keeping your skin clear. You may have clear skin while you’re taking it, but not without added side effects that can worsen issues like PCOS, plus increase your risk of some reproductive cancers. Once you decide to stop using hormonal birth control, a common symptom of the withdrawal period is acne, often worse than you’ve had before because of the internal disruption that has occurred as a result of the medication.
‍Antibiotics: Antibiotics do incredible damage to the microbiome because they don’t distinguish between good bacteria and bad bacteria—they just kill all of them—and robust gut health is important for clear skin. As with hormonal birth control, when you come off the antibiotics, the acne may not only return, it can be much worse than it was before because of the microbiome damage.
‍Spironolactone/Aldactone: Just as we don’t recommend synthetic hormonal birth control or meat and dairy that contain synthetic hormones, we don’t recommend the steroid medication spironolactone. This steroid is nothing like the hormones your body produces on its own. It disrupts your body’s production of testosterone by confusing your body with a synthetically similar steroid. Plus, spironolactone use can trigger one of the most common hormone imbalance issues (and a cause of acne)—estrogen dominance—as well as depression, blood clots, and increased risk of some cancers. Spironolactone is not safe to take long-term and is not going to prevent acne beyond the point that you are using it.
‍Isotretinoin (originally Accutane): If you’re prescribed Isotretinoin, then you are also prescribed hormonal birth control, because Isotretinoin causes birth defects. That in itself should be enough to dissuade you from using this medication. There are other side effects—including an initial worsening of acne—and severe depression. The original patented drug, Accutane, was removed from the market after many users developed inflammatory bowel disease and use of the drug was associated with increased risk of suicide. Usually this medication is offered as a last resort, but rarely have diet and lifestyle changes been part of prior acne-treatment protocols.

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The problem with all of the treatments for acne that you’ve probably been offered, or tried already, is that they don’t address the root cause of an adult woman’s acne issues: hormone imbalance. In fact, antibiotics and the birth control pills only worsen the hormonal imbalance that triggers acne. And no shade to dermatologists, but most of them are not really focused on a systemic approach or gut health. A cascade of (seemingly unrelated) health problems fuels the development of hormonal acne: a damaged and depleted gut microbiome leads to estrogen dominance, testosterone sensitivity, and a deficiency in key micronutrients necessary for skin health. Or you could say: hormonal acne starts in the gut.

But we promise, there’s great news here! The microbiome is super responsive to treatment—and prevention and healing are both attainable by shifting the way you eat and embracing specific natural supplements. With the right use of natural supplements, you can see your acne disappear in just a couple of months.

Once Alisa Vitti figured out how to eat and live to support her hormones, her skin cleared up (and a lot of other great stuff happened, too). Her skin’s been clear ever since and she has helped many other women achieve the same lasting success.

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The 6 Natural Supplements You Need to Stop Hormonal Acne

Food is always the most powerful weapon in your arsenal to combat hormonal dysfunction, but natural supplements are essential for speeding up the process of healing and recovery. Using the best natural herbs and supplements every day can get you to where you want to be much faster than using food alone.

Ready to recover your glowing complexion and regain your confidence? Here are our top 6 natural supplements for preventing and healing hormonal acne:

Magnesium. Magnesium is an important nutrient for fighting inflammation (acne is inflammatory). Calcium is part of the body’s tissue matrix—comprising bones, cells, and skin—and is important for skin cell renewal. Taking magnesium with calcium combined in supplement form can reduce inflammation and acne.
Omega-3s. Getting enough omega-3 fatty acids from fish, algae or flax oil can improve skin significantly. With these oils, many women see improvements in their skin (as well as stronger hair and nails) in just a few days.
Zinc. Zinc deficiency is a common issue for many women. When we’re deficient in zinc, our pores become easily irritated by bacteria and show redness. Research has shown that zinc supplementation can be very effective in easing acne, even when compared to commonly prescribed antibiotics.
Probiotics. We need probiotics for a healthy gut. Common symptoms of a damaged and depleted microbiome are acne and other skin issues like rosacea. Probiotics are particularly important with hormonal acne, as your microbiome assists your body in processing and eliminating excess estrogen. If you’ve been on the pill or antibiotics for any length of time, probiotics could be key to getting your skin back on track.
B Vitamins. Your skin needs B-vitamins to regenerate and renew, as they provide the energy all of your cells need for fuel. Taking a good B-complex every day that includes a high level of B6 will target hormonal or premenstrual acne. B6 prevents skin inflammation and overproduction of sebum (the oil your skin produces that can create acne issues).

6. Milk thistle - Liver detoxification is crucial for getting to the root cause of healing acne. Milk thistle aids in supporting the liver to detoxify and eliminate excess estrogen from the body.

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Understanding hormonal acne shouldn't be hard. Learn what works, what doesn't, and before/after photos

The Little Known Issue Almost All Menstrual Problems Have In Common

Have you ever wondered about the cause of all your hormonal problems? Every thought about the origin of the miserable symptoms affecting your weight, skin, fertility, health, and happiness? What if I told you that no matter what kind of hormonal dysfunction you’re dealing with — be it endometriosis, PCOS, PMS, or something else —you’re almost certainly struggling with one single cause? And that all it takes to overcome your issues once and for all is to understand how to outsmart the problem?It’s true: The most typical root cause of hormonal dysfunction is a poorly understood (overwhelmingly common) condition called estrogen dominance. Everything from an inadequate intake of micronutrients to an abundance of stress to uncontrollable environmental toxins can throw your hormonal balance off. And when that delicate system is disrupted, estrogen often dominates, causing just about every hormonal problem you can think of. I see it all the time: Women of all ages, histories, and “official” diagnoses complaining of the exact same symptoms. Whether they’re dealing with ovarian cysts, fibroids, or conditions like PCOS or endometriosis (or they don’t know what they’re dealing with), they’re battling the same hormonal issues every day — from PMS and hormonal acne to crazy periods and weight gain, and more. Does any of this sound familiar? If so, you’re unfortunately in good company and you’re dealing with an unbelievably common, root cause of hormonal dysfunction called estrogen dominance.

What Is Estrogen Dominance?

You probably know that estrogen is the female sex hormone and it’s mainly produced in the ovaries thanks to your fat cells and the adrenal gland. It’s a super important chemical messenger that — when in balance — helps regulate your period. It also plays a big role in pregnancy, bone formation, blood clotting, and more.So yes, estrogen is a beautiful thing when it’s in balance with your other hormones. But when too much of it builds up in the body or there’s too much in relation to progesterone, it results in a condition called estrogen dominance. There are lots of reasons your levels of estrogen can be tipped in this way, including stress, poor sleep, the use of synthetic estrogens like the birth control pill, pesticides in your food, and chemicals in your environment. And even if you do your best to ensure absolutely stellar self-care, you may still be exposing yourself to all sorts of excess estrogens because we’re all constantly surrounded by endocrine disruptors – in everything from our furniture to our nail polish. Scary, right?

Why Is Too Much Estrogen Bad For You?

Again, hormones are all about balance. When your levels are thrown off in any direction, it inevitably initiates a dangerous chain reaction that can have devastating effects on your health and happiness. In the case of estrogen dominance, the imbalance can cause all kinds of unpleasant symptoms like irritability and fatigue, but it’s also been linked to major, permanent problems like infertility and even cancer. if you have estrogen dominance, there are long-term health effects for those struggling with this hormonal imbalance. Over the years and decades, a persistent estrogen overload increases the risk of many diseases and health issues including:

Female cancers, particularly breast cancer
Hypertension
Diabetes

Symptoms of Estrogen Dominance

Once you discover the symptoms of estrogen dominance it’s hard not to see the signs all around you – in your own cycle experience and the difficult, uncomfortable PMS and period symptoms of your friends. That’s because many, many women are experiencing estrogen dominance, because their bodies are not equipped to cope with the incoming estrogen overload. Here are some of the signs of estrogen dominance:

PMS – premenstrual symptoms from moodiness to bloating
Fibroids
Ovarian cysts
PCOS
Endometriosis
Weight gain
Infertility
Heavy periods
Irregular periods
Early onset puberty (before 12 years of age) in yourself and/or your daughter(s)

How Estrogen Dominance Happens and Why It’s Happening to You

Women simply aren’t taught to properly care for their delicate hormonal ecosystem. As a result of inadequate micronutrient intake, a disrupted microbiome, and an inability to deal with unnatural levels of toxins, many women are operating with a subpar elimination system that simply can’t process and eliminate excess estrogen efficiently. A body nourished with nutrient-dense and hormonally-supportive foods has a better chance of coping with and managing the synthetic estrogens we’re surrounded by, but many of us are not eating in a way that supports and bolsters our elimination system. This leads to a toxic build up and hormonal soup swimming around your body – throwing your delicate hormonal balance out of whack and triggering symptoms.The other side of this coin here is progesterone deficiency – if you have too much estrogen in your bloodstream, your progesterone levels will be low in comparison.

What Your Doctor Can Do To Treat Estrogen Dominance

There’s a reason your doctor hasn’t told you about estrogen dominance and why this may be the first time you’ve ever heard about it: The condition really only has one medically-approved “treatment” and that’s birth control. When you visit an OB/GYN, they don’t often tell you exactly why you’re experiencing these symptoms — and when it comes to how to deal with these symptoms, their answer will always be birth control.Of course, the path to you getting better begins with understanding why this is happening in your body. Even if you now know (or you’ve long known) that you have estrogen dominance, the most helpful part of naming the problem is knowing that you now need to take immediate action to address the root causes. Addressing the root causes is the key to moving past symptoms and feeling better. And birth control does not address the root causes. It is only a Band-Aid for those symptoms — it may help to stop some symptoms or manage them some of the time, but when you eventually come off it will leave you even more sensitive to excess estrogen, setting you up to experience the same problems and potentially at worsened levels. Still not convinced? There are a slew of other reasons you should quit the pill ASAP and—if you’re a longtime user—watch this to learn how to deal with something called Synthetic Birth Control Syndrome.

Men Deal With Estrogen Dominance Too

These days we also see a lot of men dealing with the symptoms of estrogen dominance. They’re exposed to the same environmental factors as us and their bodies are often no better equipped to deal with the excess estrogen and eliminate it efficiently. For men, this brings about low testosterone levels (instead of low progesterone levels). You may have seen ads on TV for “Low-T” treatments for men. Men dealing with high estrogen and low testosterone will also gain weight, experience moodiness and irritability, get bloated…all of those issues we usually associated as only “female” in nature! Men also need to nourish their bodies so that their elimination system works at an optimum level and to increase their testosterone levels (especially as they age).

3 Natural Ways To Overcome Estrogen Dominance

The natural treatment for estrogen dominance is also the most effective and the longest lasting. This is because it gets down to the root cause, changes your hormonal ecosystem, and supports your elimination pathways. Following the Flo Living protocol sets your body up to combat all that incoming estrogen and helps it to deal with some of the unavoidable sources that inevitably come your way.

Eat more fiber. There are three foods that contain a good amount of fiber as well as the other vital vitamins and minerals – such as glutathione, B vitamins, and C vitamins – that you need to help your liver process the excess estrogen so that it can be transported to the large intestine and then eliminated quickly: Broccoli, flax seeds and pears.
Support your microbiome. A set of good gut bacteria and certain bacterial genes, called the estrobolome, produce an essential enzyme that helps metabolize estrogen. Your microbiome is part of the elimination system that is vital in ushering hormones out of the body. Eat fermented foods daily like kimchi and sauerkraut and take a probiotic. And be sure to add a trusted probiotic to your daily regimen, like the one found in the FLO Living Balance Supplement Kit.
Love your liver. Eggs, glutathione-heavy vegetables like carrots, spinach and asparagus, plus cilantro are all great liver detoxifiers and boost the whole elimination system’s function. Try my special cilantro-based juice once a week. The Detox formula in the Balance Supplement Kit also provides liver support for overall detox function and supports a healthy, natural detox of excess estrogen.

Cycle Syncing™ Is the Ultimate Key To Overcoming Estrogen Dominance

In addition to nourishing your body with all the necessary nutrients, you need to establish a cyclical lifestyle that supports your endocrine balance. The foolproof way to do this: cycle syncing. By not only eating in a way that encourages optimal hormonal production and elimination at each phase of your menstrual cycle, but also tailoring everything from your workouts to your work activities to perfectly complement and enhance the assets of each phase of your cycle, you ensure you’re doing everything to keep elevated estrogen in check. It’s a must-do holistic approach to completely overcoming estrogen dominance, and it works. One major consequence of estrogen dominance that so many women struggle with is weight gain. Many of my clients at FLO Living come to me with this issue – and these are women who see themselves as healthy living, conscientious about eating right, and who exercise regularly. But there’s a piece missing to their method. They are not tackling the estrogen dominance head on and it’s stalling their weight loss efforts (and sometimes even exacerbating the issue). Cycle syncing is the way to beat the root cause of unwanted weight gain and here’s why:

Your body demands different kinds of workouts at different times of the month. Rather than doing hardcore cardio all month long, change how you work out to match what your hormones are doing. This means choosing different kinds of exercise depending on if you’re in your follicular, ovulatory, luteal or menstrual phase. High intensity workouts during your luteal and menstrual phases can lead to estrogen dominance, because of the stress put on your adrenals.
Your nutrient needs change from phase to phase. Counting calories doesn’t help a woman who’s is gaining weight because of estrogen dominance. Fasting, cutting calories, and dieting as deprivation will actually worsen estrogen dominance and cause you to put on more pounds. You need to feed your body the micronutrients it needs to process the excess estrogen and manage the xenoestrogens that contribute to the overload. You need to support and bolster your liver and microbiome, these are your friends in combating the toxic soup of estrogen dominance. The best way to do this, long-term, is to cycle sync your diet.
Your self-care routine shouldn’t be static. Unless you’re engaging in self-care that takes your cycle into account, you won’t get all the benefits you’re looking for, and in some cases, you may even be making your estrogen dominance worse. That’s because while certain times of the month call for smoothies and super intense workouts, these same activities at other times of the month could mess with your blood sugar, jack up your cortisol, make a mess of your hormones, and subsequently, result in too much estrogen. That means the very things you think you’re doing to feel your best could be impeding your success.

If you’re ready to overcome estrogen dominance once and for all and put your period condition into remission naturally, stop spot-treating the symptoms and start healing the root cause of your issue. Sign up for Monthly FLO to get an easy, accessible plan for cycle syncing your diet, download the MyFLO period tracking and cycle syncing app, and order your Balance Supplement Kit to ensure you’re supporting your brilliant body from top to bottom all month long.Love and ovaries,AlisaGood things come in threes:

I want to hear from you

First, what is the consistency of your period like?Second, is your period problematic – how so?Third, everyone you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social ?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.

When you purchase Balance by FLO supplements this week, you’ll get the 4 Day Hormone Detox free!

Clear out estrogen and support your liver with a spring cleanse and Balance by FLO supplements. They’re 5 formulations working together to help your body have healthy hormone balance.

B vitamins give you more energy and adrenal and cortisol support
Probiotics balance your microbiome for healthier digestion and mood-boosting
Magnesium helps you flush cortisol, sleep more deeply and relax
Omega 3’s offer healthy, mood-boosting support
Vitamin A + C and other antioxidants detox you from excess estrogen

I’ve designed a 4-day hormone detox and evaluation 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. The 4 Day Hormone Detox includes recipes, a shopping list, menu plan, and complete instructions for feeling better in just 4 days! Get your free gift with purchase here!

The 5 Ways Stress Affects Your Period

Stress causes late periods by the way it disrupts your hormonal patterns. Your hormones need to meet certain levels and follow certain patterns in order to trigger both ovulation and your period. If stress gets in the way this can disrupt the cycle. Stress causes a rise in stress hormones — specifically cortisol — which affect the production and interaction of other hormones. Your hormonal cycle is a chain reaction. If one stage of your cycle does not occur as it should, the following stages will not receive the correct triggers. When your ovary releases an egg, the ruptured egg sack produces progesterone. The increase of progesterone in your body encourages the buildup and eventual release of the lining of your uterus, aka your period. When cortisol is elevated, this gets majorly interrupted. Here are the 5 specific ways stress can affect your period:

Disrupts Insulin - Stress raises cortisol levels and disrupts your blood sugar which, in turn, disrupts your ovulation and period.
Lowers Progesterone - The stress hormone cortisol blocks progesterone production and lowers progesterone levels. Your body actually uses your progesterone to make more cortisol to react and respond to the stress. This not only messes with your cycle, but it can make it difficult for you to conceive.
Delays Ovulation - If you experience stress around the time you typically ovulate, the increased levels of cortisol can delay or even prevent ovulation. This one makes sense evolutionarily – a pregnancy on top of a stressful period in a person’s life is not ideal. Your body in a way is trying to keep your energy available to address the stress before conception takes place.
Changes timing of your Period - Stress post-ovulation can cause a hormonal imbalance too. If you do ovulate and stress comes later in your cycle, it can potentially cause spotting, an early period, or a period that looks or feels different than your norm (in consistency, color, length, or symptoms like cramping).
Period can go missing - Even if you do eventually bleed, a late period may not be considered a period at all – it’s more of a breakthrough bleed. You didn’t ovulate, so it’s not a physiological period – however, your uterus still needs to shed the lining it has built up.

How to Outsmart Stress And Finally Fix Your Hormones

Your body is brilliant and your late period isn’t just a nuisance you can ignore; it’s your body’s way of telling you that it’s under constant or chronic levels of stress and unable to operate optimally. In order to perform all the countless functions it needs to do to keep you alive, it shuts down ovulation in an effort to conserve resources and energy. If you’re not trying to conceive, maybe you think this lack of ovulation is no big deal. But think again: when your body doesn’t ovulate, it sets the stage for more hormonal symptoms and period problems – everything from PMS, to acne, to cramps. A late period is more than just an inconvenience — it’s a precursor to a long list of other serious health issues.I’m an advocate for listening to your body and a late period is your body saying something loud and clear, but what exactly is your body trying to tell you? A stressed out cycle is a message. It’s a call-to-action from your body. Once you period is late, there’s not much you can do to make your period come when you want during that cycle. But you can avoid future late periods by taking action today. How? Simple. Your body isn’t just brilliant; it’s resilient. By nourishing it with the proper micronutrients and lifestyle support, you can absolutely heal your hormones, eliminate your symptoms, and get your period back on track. When you eat in a hormonally-supportive way, you soothe and support your adrenal glands, which turns the dial down on cortisol production and breaks the stress cycle. Not to mention that eating nutrient-dense foods at the right times of your cycle will boost your metabolism, digestion, and help you lose weight with blood sugar balance, regulate your cycles, detoxify your system, and increase your energy.If you’re ready for the type of in-depth guidance necessary to kick stress to the curb and reclaim your hormonal health, it’s time to sign up for MonthlyFLO, a three-month program that will show you how to tap into your body’s unique rhythm, feed yourself at all four phases for optimal hormonal balance, and get more done with less effort. Get started now and stop letting all those daily stressors mess with your beautiful body. Love and ovaries,Alisa

Monthly FLO: The Cycle Syncing System™

Put your period symptoms into remission. Discover how to live in your FLO and get it all done with embodied time management.

MonthlyFLO is the first-ever woman-centric health system that syncs with your unique rhythm. It gives you the foundation for solving any hormonal issues you may have over your lifetime.Using the principles of functional nutrition, MonthlyFLO is a specially-sequenced food therapy program that recalibrates your endocrine function. Over three months, you will be guided step-by-step to make simple, cumulative food and lifestyle changes that balance your hormones naturally.Click here to learn more about the life-changing Monthly FLO Program

The 5 Thing Every Woman Needs to Know About Her Period

The sad truth is that just about every woman you know — from your childhood best friend to your favorite coworker — is dealing with some sort of hormonal imbalance. Whether that imbalance manifests as PMS, uncontrollable acne, weight gain, or a full-blown endocrine disorder like PCOS or endometriosis depends on a host of factors. But the basic root of all these conditions is the same: hormones gone haywire. So how is it possible that the vast majority of women are suffering like this? And why isn’t anyone doing anything about it? It all goes back to our education. Think back to your middle school health ed class. How much did your teacher or your textbook talk in-depth about the phases of the menstrual cycle, female hormonal patterns, and the lifestyle factors that can optimize or impede these things? My guess is that the most you ever got on this topic was a cursory mention of periods and what they have to do with making babies; it’s unlikely that you ever got a true education in how your body works, and that’s unfortunately the case for most women. If you think things have changed in this social-media-savvy age, think again. Sure, there are thankfully scores of outspoken feminists trying change the cultural landscape and improving society’s concept of female health. But doctors are still doling out birth control as a “treatment” for all kinds of period problems and ignoring the underlying root causes of endocrine issues ranging from cramps to cysts. There are far too many women and girls suffering needlessly and in silence because they don’t know how to heal themselves. Let’s stop the silence now. We can demystify menstrual issues for all women if we start spreading awareness and education to our close circle. Whether you’re dropping knowledge on your mom, sister, daughter, niece, or best friend, you have the power to start making a change. Here are the five must-discuss topics to start with:

1) The color of your period matters — a lot

Think of checking your flow every month like being able to access free lab work for your hormone levels. Knowing the color tells you exactly what hormones are in and out of balance. The most important thing we’re not told as women is that we can absolutely change our periods for the better. And you’ll know right away if your eating is on track with your hormones because your period color will change as you get back in balance. Your period, your fifth vital sign, provides genius biofeedback for you! Use this quick guide to decode your period and discover the ways you can get your hormonal health back on track.

2) PMS isn’t normal — period

PMS is the result of a hormone imbalance and it’s absolutely not something you should expect to be part of your period. In fact it’s a warning sign that something is majorly off in your endocrine system. It’s not something you should have to endure, put up with, or get through on a monthly basis. You can, should, and deserve to live a PMS-free life! All that crabbiness, agitation, anxiety, irritability, and moodiness that you’ve come to expect can actually be put in the past, once and for all. Talk honestly with your girlfriends about PMS and learn how you can help yourselves conquer the endocrine dysfunction at the root of it.

3) Birth control pills aren’t fixing your problems — in fact, they’re probably making things worse

Not only do birth control pills simply mask the causes of hormonal conditions and lull you into a false sense of normalcy; they come with a host of side effects that are very likely wreaking havoc on your entire body from your microbiome to your ovaries. This Band-Aid strategy isn’t a solution for any kind of hormonal imbalance and if your best gal pals are all on the pill, it’s time to talk about why transitioning off is a good idea.

**4) You can get a handle on cramps naturally**

Ready for this truth bomb?: Your body is not designed for period cramps. In fact it is perfectly, beautifully designed for you to not have period cramps. It just needs a little support from you to return to that wonderful state. Women who have period cramps have higher levels of prostaglandins, which constrict blood vessels and make the uterus contract, than women who experience little to no period pain. Luckily, there are plenty of natural ways to manage and prevent the pain — be sure your girlfriends know about them!

5) No matter what kind of hormonal condition you have, it’s totally within your power to fix it

The most important thing you can discuss and share with your female friends is this: hormonal healing is absolutely, totally within your power and control. Whether you’re struggling with minor symptoms or you’ve been diagnosed with a full-fledged hormonal disorder and feel hopeless, know that there are natural, simple solutions to bring your body back into balance and harmony. Not sure where to start? Take the free Period Type Quiz and figure out what your period is trying to tell you. Then download my new MyFLO app to start tracking your symptoms and learning the right actions to take at each phase of your cycle. The Balance by FLO supplements can help your endocrine system have the right building blocks to balance your hormones. And when you’re ready to combat your symptoms once and for all, it’s time to check out MonthlyFLO.Love and ovaries,Alisa

Monthly FLO: The Cycle Syncing System™

Put your period symptoms into remission. Discover how to live in your FLO and get it all done with embodied time management.

MonthlyFLO is the first-ever woman-centric health system that syncs with your unique rhythm. It gives you the foundation for solving any hormonal issues you may have over your lifetime.Using the principles of functional nutrition, MonthlyFLO is a specially-sequenced food therapy program that recalibrates your endocrine function. Over three months, you will be guided step-by-step to make simple, cumulative food and lifestyle changes that balance your hormones naturally.Click here to learn more about the life-changing Monthly FLO Program

Is it really possible to put your period problems into remission naturally?

When I launched FLO Living over a decade ago, I knew it had the potential to change lives. After all, I’d lived through my very own hormonal transformation as a direct result of the protocol I was now ready to offer women all over the world. I went from weighing 200 lbs, covered in cystic acne, and suffering from all the emotional and physical turmoil of a PCOS diagnosis to living a healthier, more vibrant, and fulfilling life than I ever thought possible. I shed the weight, fixed my skin, and most importantly, recalibrated my endocrine system through a sustainable method I knew millions of other women could benefit from.I’ve been humbled and inspired by the countless accounts from women throughout the world about how FLO Living has healed their hormones and completely changed their lives. These personal success stories are what fuel the mission of FLO Living and motivate our team to continue establishing a new ‘normal’ of womanhood: a reality where easy periods, a juicy sex drive, a halted aging process, and tons of energy are par for the course.

What You Don’t Know is Holding You Back From Healing Your Symptoms

If you’re considering starting your own hormonal healing journey, you’re in the middle of your process, or you know someone who needs a nudge, the personal accounts of FLO Living graduates are the best sources of inspiration you’ll find. Maybe you’re curious about the program but you don’t really believe anything like this is possible. You may be on the Pill (or IUD or ring) and you’re scared of the long-term consequences of hormonal contraception...but you’re even more scared to suffer the rumored side effects of quitting. Perhaps you’re worried about your fertility now or in the future, or you’ve been struggling for years with a condition like PCOS, endometriosis, or fibroids and you’re sick and tired of sinking your hopes into “treatments” that continue to fail you. I want you to know that above all, your body is designed to perform optimally. It’s not luck—it’s science. You weren’t pre-programmed for endocrine dysfunction simply because you’re a woman. And when it comes to your period, you absolutely can get your body to perform better naturally. That’s why it’s so important for you to see and hear the stories below—because you’ve been conditioned to believe your body is broken, your period is a painful sentence, and there are simply no solutions for the burdens of being a woman. These are total lies that not only unnecessarily prevent you from achieving total health, but they also keep you from realizing your full potential. Now that we all recognize the menstrual cycle as a fifth vital sign (as important an indicator of your health as your blood pressure is), it’s time to take charge and correct the hormonal dysfunction you’ve been taught to silently accept. Beyond signifying your baseline health, your healthy cycle powers your overall wellbeing, your creativity, your productivity, and more. You want to smash the patriarchy? Fix your period.

How Do You Actually Get Rid of your Period Symptoms Naturally?

How do we do this at FLO Living? The FLO Protocol as described in the book, WomanCode, and detailed in the premier digital program, MonthlyFLO, works to address the root causes of your symptoms, whatever they may be. And because in my research, I uncovered the correct sequence of approaching the endocrine system to turn it’s self correcting mechanisms on and the micronutrients it absolutely needs to function optimally, the protocol works regardless of your symptoms or your diagnosed condition. What FLO treats is the endocrine system, not the symptom — this is why it’s so effective for so many women with totally different symptoms and diagnosed menstrual conditions. In order for your symptoms to resolve, you have to address your blood sugar, your stress, your estrogen overload, your micronutrient deficiencies, and your lifestyle. Once you start supporting your hormones with the right foods and self care, within two to three cycles you can expect to see shifts in your symptoms.One of my most significant discoveries I made in my years of research was the fact that you and your body have cyclical needs. They shift as your hormones shift in your regular cycle. And they shift as you move from your teens to your twenties to your thirties and forties and beyond. In order for you to live at your most vibrant level at any stage, you have to feed yourself the things that nurture and protect what makes you uniquely female — your hormones. Everything that’s inside allows you to manifest outside. There’s absolutely no reason you should suffer needlessly with hormonal imbalances.

Here's What Happens When You Put Your Conditions and Symptoms Into Remission Naturally:

For years, women have written to me detailing the most incredible, permanent, lasting improvements to conditions they were told were “incurable:” PCOS, endometriosis, fibroids, and more. Women who’ve struggled for years with irregular periods, debilitating cramps, intolerable mood swings have told me they’re symptom-free. And I truly, wholeheartedly believe this kind of full hormonal recovery is possible for every woman. If you’re still skeptical, read to the stories below....You can quit the pill without any crazy side effects. “Flo Living was my birth control rehab. I looked you up and bought your book. I read it, but I needed more of a step-by-step, hold-my-hand, and give me feedback experience and that’s why I signed up for Monthly FLO. It worked completely. I dropped the NuvaRing. I quit and my skin stayed completely clear....I think if I could go back and tell myself anything it would be to do this program 7 years ago instead of hiding and medicating the problem using birth control. I would have done it earlier.” - Shawna...You can overcome infertility and become a first-time mom. “In reading Alisa’s book the WomanCode, immersing myself in the program (January-March 2016) and using much of the info that was given to me I was able to get almost a normal 28 day cycle...The combination of it all finally led to me writing you to let you know I got pregnant at 38 years old!! I’m so excited that after a little over 3.5 years of hoping, my dream for me and my husband has come true!! I only hope this story can inspire others to know that your body is amazing and that it has so much power to heal. Many blessings on all of your journeys!!” - Cortney...You can beat “incurable” diagnoses like PCOS. “I was diagnosed with PCOS three and a half years ago. I had horrible cystic acne that kept getting worse no matter what I did. I couldn’t seem to lose the 5-10 lbs of weight after my last pregnancy. My periods were always irregular and I had strong pelvic pain in my left abdomen. I felt trapped because every book I read said that there was no cure for PCOS and that other than taking strong medications certain symptoms would not be relieved. In Monthly FLO, I surprised myself by not only meeting all the goals that I wanted to achieve, but also accomplishing things I never expected. My skin cleared up, my ovarian pain diminished, I lost the rest of my baby weight, and most importantly I found an amazing sense of peace in my life overall – peace with body image, having another child, my work. My sexual relationship with husband has blossomed. I feel more productive in my life – even in everyday chores. Life is more fun! I am completely letting go and couldn’t feel more free and light about doing so!” - Alexandra...You can put your endometriosis into remission. “The past 5 years have been utter misery for me because of endometriosis. There were times that the pain was so intense that I could not walk. I came to fear and despise my period, my entire cycle. I was on birth control pills the whole time (trying all kinds until I found the least damaging one) and they didn’t help at all. I couldn’t predict what kind of period I would have, couldn’t understand what was going on in my body, didn’t even want to start trying to understand… And this made me sad, even depressed. I’ve been on the FLO protocol for the past 6 months, after coming off birth control… I FEEL PERFECT. And by perfect I mean, not only have my endometriosis pains vanished almost completely (once in a while when I’m ovulating I feel a 1 or a 2 out of a scale of 10 for pain), but I am truly aware of what is going on in my body all the time. I am 95% of the time acne-free, bloating-free, PMS-FREE, refreshed and energized and when I do have these symptoms, even a little bit of them, I immediately know what caused them.” - Natalia...You can learn how to sync with your body. “Before FLO Living, I never paid attention to my body. I bought tampons, and that was the extent of it. I never had very extreme periods before so I didn’t think about it. Now I am really paying a lot more attention. I’m in the luteal phase right now and I feel a little less sociable. I know I can take a few minutes of silence for myself. I am careful not to eat sugar. It’s really cool to recognize what’s going on inside.” - Ashley...You can ease your perimenopausal symptoms. “Not only did I learn not to fear my body during this process, I also learned that I could have a transition that leaves me better than before! I’ve lost weight, my periods are over, my sex drive is the highest it has ever been in my life, and I’m excited about my life again.” - Lori

What’s Your Story

The stories I read every day from FLO Living graduates confirm the gut feeling I had all those years ago when I founded the company: building a place where women can get information, support, answers, and effective care for their period problems. These stories are what make all the work we do at FLO Living worthwhile. Sharing your story with us keeps us going and lights us up. If you have a story of FLO transformation, I’d love to hear it. Share it in the comments below. If you know someone who is struggling with her period and hasn’t heard the good news that you can recover from menstrual issues naturally, share this article with her! You taking the time to share could help motivate someone who’s struggling or unsure of her next step. If you are someone struggling with your period, now you know that change is possible! We’d love to hear what you’re struggling with and we’d love to help. Email us at support@floliving.com to connect with us for a consultation. You’ll get symptom analysis and feedback and direct, actionable tips to take your hormonal healing into your own hands. Love,Alisa

We believe that no woman should suffer simply because she has a period.

Different Diets and Effects on Hormones

New year, new you, new diet? If you’re like almost a quarter of last year’s New Year’s resolution makers, then you’ve made a vow to lose weight and improve your eating. When the new year comes around, so many women feel prompted to throw themselves into detoxes, fad diets, and get-fit-quick plans in an effort to undo the damage of holiday indulgence. But do any of these trends actually work? While every diet that comes across your social media feed this month will undoubtedly promise to transform your life, it’s important to understand how these diets affect your hormones. This is important if you’re trying to lose weight and you’re struggling with PCOS, Fibroids, Endometriosis, or any other menstrual or fertility issue.

Different Diets and Effects on Hormones

It’s really important to look at your whole hormonal picture when trying to figure out how best to lose weight. If you’re struggling with any of the menstrual conditions we treat at The FLO Living Hormone Center, then focusing first on restricting calories instead of reducing estrogen levels is going to result in no weight lost and worsening of your symptoms. You likely already know this from trying so many different diets to lose weight, and thinking that your period issues weren’t tied into it, and not achieving lasting results. I myself know this personally, as a former PCOS sufferer weighing over 200 lbs. I tried all the different diets and exercise plans and not only couldn’t get the scale to budge, but also continued to see my symptoms get worse. What I learned is that the whole premise of separating out weight, skin issues, period issues, mood issues or anything else for that matter is beyond inefficient. They body is encoded with a pattern that requires specific support and then like magic, things start to hum along the way they should and you don’t have any more struggle.So, let’s look at all the different diets, and their impact on your hormones, so you can make the right decision for you.

The Ketogenic Diet

This low-carb plan is intended to put your body into ketosis, a natural process that occurs when you restrict glucose and start burning fat as a fuel source. People on this type of diet usually eat less than 50 grams of carbs a day. Think of it as an even more carb-restrictive, fat-heavy form of Paleo or Atkins, which both glorify protein and fat and villainize carbs. Upside: You’ll be less likely to consume processed junk if you’re seeking out fresh, whole foods, and you’ll likely feel satiated thanks to the ample protein and fat, even though most carbs will be off the table. Hormonal Downside: There is conflicting information on the effects of this diet on your thyroid health and much of it concludes that it affects T3 production. With so many women struggling with hypothyroidism, it’s important to know this can adversely affect you.

Raw Vegan

Just about everyone needs to consume raw fruits and veggies on a regular basis, but a true raw vegan diet means that none of the plant-based-only foods you eat can be heated over 104-118 degrees F, and absolutely nothing should be pasteurized, refined, treated with pesticides, or processed. Advocates of raw veganism believe cooking food destroys important enzymes and reduces their nutritional content. Upside: Loading up on organic, fiber-rich fruits and veggies is always a good idea! An abundance of these can improve your digestion and improve heart health, reduce cholesterol and inflammation. The influx of antioxidants can clear your skin and, according to some research, contribute to cancer prevention. Hormonal Downside: Studies have linked strict raw food diet to amenorrhea. If dysbiosis is present, (if you’re using any synthetic birth control, then your gut microbiome is out of whack) you will not absorb your nutrients from raw foods as well which can lead to a micronutrient deficiency due to leaky gut. This can compromise your entire hormonal system and present with a whole host of symptoms from missing periods to mood issues to weight gain. Additionally, according to Chinese medicine, this type of diet is too cooling which can make the reproductive system more sluggish. This means your tendency for delayed periods can be worsened, you can have delayed ovulation, or even heavier bleeding as a result.

Grain-free

The wheat in proteins known as gluten has gotten a particularly bad rap in recent years, and for good reason: it’s not good for your hormonal health, which is why I recommend removing it from your diet when you follow the FLO Living protocol. But many diets advocate removing sometimes all grains for the purpose of dropping LBs. Upside: Some people believe cutting grains can alleviate brain fog, and others turn to the restrictive diet to drop pounds fast. Hormonal Downside: If you struggle with cravings and binge eating, going grain free is going to set you up for major cravings and make you vulnerable to more binge moments of irregular insulin levels, which can throw off ovulation and wreak havoc on metabolism and fat loss.

Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting involves cycling between periods of time when it’s okay to eat and when food is off the table. There are various ways to do it (for example, allowing food for an 8-hour window during the day and fasting the other 16), but proponents claim it can help regulate blood sugar and burn fat. Upside: People drawn to intermittent fasting have likely read of clinical studies examining its ability to lower the risk of various diseases and promote new cell growth. Hormonal Downside: Doing this incorrectly and simply skipping meals is not good for your hormones. Depriving your body of nourishment for extra long stretches of time can negatively impact hormones like cortisol, insulin, estrogen, and progesterone, which, of course, can completely throw your cycle off kilter.

**What Really Leads to Results?**

Do all these disparate diets have benefits? Of course — but if you’re a woman, as you’re seeing, you’re not getting the half the story that pertains to your biology. The cyclical nature of your biochemistry isn’t cut out for rigid food plans that call for the same foods day in and day out. And to nourish your body adequately, you certainly aren’t meant to restrict or eliminate essential macro and micronutrients, which is what so many of these diets do. Any diet plan — no matter how flexible it may seem — is by nature restrictive. And when you restrict food groups in any way, you’re in danger of creating a micronutrient deficiency, which can be exacerbated if you’re microbiome is out of whack, you’ve been on the birth control pill, or you’ve experienced any kind of hormonal imbalance. And restricting in one area generally means overdosing on another, which can throw your body off balance as well (for example, veggie-heavy raw vegan diets typically lack the adequate amino acids necessary to produce sufficient hormone levels and animal protein-heavy diets can lead to liver congestion and estrogen dominance, the biggest culprit in hormonal dysfunction).

Eating Right For Your Hormones to Achieve Optimal Weight

I’ve talked so much about how I’ve lost 60 lbs twice over (once when I healed my PCOS and once after my pregnancy) and did it by harnessing my hormones and supporting my metabolism, not by restricting and struggling. You have to work with your body’s internal weight management system - a.k.a. hormones - to get results. But as women, when it comes to all of the diets marketed, they totally ignore our cyclical, fluctuating hormones. It’s never mentioned. You are essentially given information that is really only totally appropriate if you have male 24-hour hormonal patterns. It is only in that situation that eating the same way day in and day out makes sense. Well, you do not have male hormonal patterns, as you well know. But because so many of us don’t know what our hormonal patterns are in the first place, we don’t know that we’re being short-changed in the world of diets. What you do need is a way to eat foods that support each phase of your cycle because of course you have different micronutrient needs each week as your body is doing something very distinct each week inside the world of the ovary and uterus. Your body isn’t the same every day and your diet shouldn’t be either! I created this phase-based eating concept 15 years ago to support the function of the hormones produced in a specific time frame throughout the cycle.

The Cycle Syncing Method™

Eating specific foods each week of your cycle and changing that selection of foods as you change phases of the cycle to support optimal hormone balance and metabolism. Upside: Provides the most variety of micronutrients to support overall hormonal balance. Provides key foods at critical times to help break down excess levels of estrogen that can cause breakouts and PMS. Improves the quality of your bleed. Improves fertility, sex drive, energy and mood.Hormonal Downside: You’ll realize how much time you have lost feeling bloated, fat, fatigued, moody, and crampy when you never had to. You’ll enjoy a wide variety of cuisines - macrobiotic, raw, ketogenic, mediterranean, some intermittent fasting and not ever get stuck doing one day in and day out for academic reasons. The true differentiator for the FLO protocol, whose fourth step is The Cycle Syncing Method™, is the integration of you and your body’s needs into the plan itself; in order to restore and reclaim your hormonal health, everything about your diet and lifestyle should be relevant and relative to your female biochemistry. No singular diet trend or food plan will give you that — only FLO will. But the key is that the foods you consume change from phase to phase — that means you get access to the most beneficial aspects of all of these different diets and you avoid forcing your body to do the same thing each and every day in the same way. That kind of monotonous, one-sided diet plan just doesn’t reflect the physiological shifts taking place in the female body, and it doesn’t set you up for success.

Eat Like a Woman

If you’re ready to be done with yo-yo diets, raging symptoms, and total hormonal chaos, it’s time to commit to a long-term lifestyle that works with the elegant ebbs and flows of your hormones. MonthlyFLO is the first-ever woman-centric health system that syncs with your unique rhythm. It gives you the foundation for solving any hormonal issues you may have over your lifetime. Over three months, you’ll be guided step-by-step to make simple, cumulative food and lifestyle changes that balance your hormones naturally. Make this the year you make a sustainable change and achieve real, lasting success. Alisa

Monthly FLO: The Cycle Syncing System™

Put your period symptoms into remission. Discover how to live in your FLO and get it all done with embodied time management.

MonthlyFLO is the first-ever woman-centric health system that syncs with your unique rhythm. It gives you the foundation for solving any hormonal issues you may have over your lifetime.Using the principles of functional nutrition, MonthlyFLO is a specially-sequenced food therapy program that recalibrates your endocrine function. Over three months, you will be guided step-by-step to make simple, cumulative food and lifestyle changes that balance your hormones naturally.Click here to learn more about the life-changing Monthly FLO Program

The missing key to unlocking your best sex

It’s hard to not think of love and sex this week, and whether you’re coupled up or flying solo, it’s a great time to reacquaint yourself with what self-love is all about. One major way so many of us are missing out in that department? Denying ourselves the pleasure of our biggest, best, most mind-blowing orgasms imaginable. What if I told you that by simply adding one lifestyle tweak to your routine, you could gain game-changing insight into the exact kind of stimulation that will get you off and leave you satisfied and sexually fulfilled every day of the month? The solution isn’t complicated, and you owe it to yourself to unlock the secret.In so many ways, the tide finally feels like it’s starting to turn in favor of female empowerment. But there’s one (okay, more than one) major unspoken burden that continues to be placed on women, and it’s a deep-rooted mythology surrounding the female sex drive. Thanks to a long lineage of patriarchal norms and a society steeped in pornographic images catering to male pleasure, we’ve all been fed a big lie: you should feel the same level of desire and need the same kind of stimulation any day of any month, and that your sex drive is entirely separate from your period. Before I totally tear this myth to shreds, I have to preface it with this disclaimer: If you have a hormonal imbalance resulting in an unaddressed issue like PMS, PCOS, or a host of other endocrine problems, then yes, you may absolutely be experiencing a lower-than-normal libido. But those issues all have a simple fix one you find the right information. And yes, it’s also true that the stress of work, parenting, relationships, and more can all take you out of your sexy zone. But they can do that to men too...and yet you rarely hear about men grappling with these same struggles.

The One Piece of Info That’s Dampening Your Sex Drive

This isn’t a trivial topic, ladies: in our patriarchal, porn-obsessed culture, women — and men — just aren’t taught to understand female physiology. And that’s a big deal because our bodies don’t work on the same 24-hour clock that men’s bodies do. Our needs, emotions, energy, and desires fluctuate from week to week of each cycle, and you better believe those hormonal ups and downs have a major effect on sex drive and performance.We’re about to get real here, so listen up: we all know there’s nothing more frustrating than having a mismatch in your sex drives and moods. For example, imagine a time when your partner is all raring to go and wants to have the kind of hot and heavy, fast and furious sex that would be great if you were in your ovulatory phase, but you’re not; you’re in your way more lowkey luteal phase and you’re biologically craving long, drawn-out, sensual sexy time (think: a half-hour make-out session followed by all the heavy petting and clitoral stimulation you can get). This situation is not win-win, your choices are to go along for the ride and risk not enjoying yourself the way you want, or to say no to the advance all together. Told you. #RealTalk.This scenario isn’t fun, and it often leaves you frustrated. But I guarantee if your partner knew which week it was according to your cycle and what exactly her or she had to do in advance of your sex session to help you enjoy the moment, he or she’d get to business! Not only would you both get exactly what you wanted out of the interaction, but there’d be no emotional baggage, no blaming, no passive aggression or overt aggression — basically, you’d both avoid all the bad kind of friction and only get the extra good kind of friction.

Female Sexuality Isn’t Static; It’s Cyclical

This insight isn’t just essential for couples though — understanding your cycle can completely transform your solo play experience (which, by the way, is crucial to good hormonal health). There’s this expectation that we should all feel the same and be turned on the same way and have the same kind of response that we do in our ovulatory phase (when our sex drives are soaring) every day of the month. But that’s just not biologically accurate or sound and it’s a totally unreasonable standard to hold yourself to. All that unrealistic expectation does is disconnect you from your sexuality — again, not cool. Your body has a cyclical pattern and you need to acknowledge that in the way you’re self pleasuring. Each week of your cycle, your hormones change and you need to approach your sex life accordingly. One week, you might just need a few minutes of quick stimulation to get off, and other weeks, you might need to break out the lube and read something that really turns on you. Your specific desire depends entirely on what’s happening with your hormones, and knowing that information will empower you to access the right tools in your arsenal at the right time.

Meeting Your Sexual Needs Matters More Than You Think

If you think these are trivial details, thing again: by omitting the female physiological experience from the sex drive conversation, women are made to constantly feel at fault for failing to rise to the occasion. If you’re not feeling super hot and ready for action, you can’t help but feel like there’s something wrong with you or you’re falling short in some way. This only perpetuates the inner critical voice that further disconnects us from our bodies and denies us the right to get our own needs met. This perspective doesn’t make any sense, and once you become tuned into the very real hormonal fluctuations that affect your drive and desire (and the strategies for working with them, not against them), you won’t believe you ever spent a minute feeling bad about your own biology. Knowing your body and making choices that complement its inherent wisdom will embolden you with profound confidence — a quality that’s infinitely more sexy than any piece of lacy lingerie.

The Solution to the Sex Drive Disparity

So what’s the solution here? It’s simple: Download the MyFlo app now and watch everything fall into place. If you’re trying to set up a more cycle-friendly solo play schedule, the app will get to know your unique cycle and offer suggestions for how to make the most out of everyday activities — including self-pleasuring. And if you’re coupled up, count on the one-of-a-kind Partner Sync feature. It actually sends timely emailed updates on where you're at in your cycle so they always know how you feel and what you need. I've been cycle syncing my marriage since the beginning and can tell you...it's a game changer. Let go of the guilt and get the love you deserve, ladies — it’s time! Love and ovaries,Alisa

Do You Know the Easiest Way to Fix Your Period Symptoms?

You don’t need to keep suffering with annoying symptoms that drain your energy for 1-2 weeks every single month. In fact, you can start having a better period as soon as your next period.MyFLO is the first-ever functional medicine period tracker that ALSO helps you fix your symptoms. MyFLO will help you understand why you have symptoms and what to do to improve them with food. It will also teach you how to Cycle Sync™ the 5 main areas of your life: food, exercise, work, relationships, and sex.Have a Better Period with MyFLOWhen you follow MyFLO’s weekly recommendations, you’ll get rid of frustrating symptoms and learn how to optimize your energy to be more productive and have better relationships.Click here to get MyFLO for iPhone Click here to get MyFLO for Android

The 5 Supplements You MUST Have To Increase Sex Drive

It can happen to just about any woman at any time...

A 20-something career woman busting her butt on the job and seeing her period problems escalate the higher her stress levels rise.
A new mom who’s just freakin’ tired and feels like she never quite got back to her old self after baby.
A chronic worrier coping with the early effects of perimenopause in her late 30s despite a pretty regular period—everything seems fine with her flow, but she can feel herself aging way too fast and way too soon.
A long-time birth control user who’s now noticing some major side effects after quitting the pill.

What do all these ladies have in common? A zero-mile-per-hour sex drive that’s left them feeling flat, frustrated, and completely out of touch with their femininity.Maybe you recognize yourself in one of these women, or you have a friend, family member, or romantic partner struggling to feel sexy. No matter which one of these scenarios you connect to, the bottom line is that they’re all rooted in reality and a missing libido isn’t just a figment of the imagination—it’s a concrete phenomenon that’s unfortunately an all-too-common consequence of endocrine dysfunction.

Why are so many women dealing with low sex drive?

There are so many overlooked factors that can contribute to hormonal chaos and low sex drive, but few medical experts will ever dare broach the topic. And it’s important to spell out what we mean when we’re talking about “low sex drive”: you could either be dealing with a lack of desire for sex or a lack of sexual responsiveness (i.e. mind-blowing orgasms—or any orgasms at all). Both scenarios are a problem, and both qualify as low libido.

Here are a few reasons your sex drive might be stalled:

You’re beyond stressed. Don’t discount the profound physical effects psychological factors can have, especially on your libido. Everything from stress, anxiety, and depression to poor body image, low self-esteem, and history of abuse can significantly impact your sex drive.
You’ve been on birth control for any length of time. A study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine revealed that women who have taken the birth control pill may find that, as well as having had low sex drive when on the pill, that this side effect persists even when they stop taking it. The researchers discovered that the impact the birth control pill has on women’s testosterone levels can cause them to have a permanently suppressed sex drive when compared to women who have never used the birth control pill.
You’re over 35. Perimenopause has a profound effect on your entire endocrine system, and can spin your sex drive out of whack. Before 35, your desire is driven primarily by the biological impetus to reproduce and your libido peaks around ovulation each month. After 35, as your hormone levels start to shift, your body just isn’t not as strongly driven by that natural instinct and it will require external direction in the form of nutritional and physical cues.
You have an endocrine issue like PCOS. Women with PCOS typically either experience low libido as a result of low testosterone levels and high sex hormone binding globulin levels (SHBG) or a high libido (along with acne and hair loss/unwanted hair growth). Either imbalance of masculine and femininity can create a disconnect between your emotions and your libido, making sex a struggle, even if the desire is there.

The 5 Supplements You Need to Support Your Sex Drive

When it comes to healing hormonal dysfunction, food is always your best ally. But let’s be real: if your libido is lagging, you’re already tired, stressed, and dealing with one too many things on your plate. Fixing your eating habits will be crucial, but at this moment, you’re in crisis mode. You need tools that will fast track your healing so you feel motivated and empowered to keep making the right self-care choices. The easiest way to do that? Supplements. Here are the five you’ve gotta have on hand in order to kickstart the sexual healing:

‍1. B Vitamins support your adrenal glands by preventing the breakdown of too much dopamine and serotonin during stressful times, leaving enough for us to remain buoyant and energized.

2. Zinc helps to boost your testosterone production and prevents testosterone being turned into estrogen by blocking the enzyme responsible.

‍3. Omega-3 fatty acids help balance out your progesterone and estrogen levels, which in turn will increase dopamine, which will, in turn, help you produce more nitric oxide. This is absolutely essential for the dilation of blood vessels and tumescence that leads to bigger and better orgasms.

‍4. Magnesium makes it harder for your testosterone to bind onto proteins and allows for more of it to remain “free” in your bloodstream – which is exactly how you want it to be for a higher sex drive. Higher levels of free testosterone makes for more desire. Magnesium also combats anxiety and prevents depressive feelings, helping you enjoy yourself more.

‍5. Probiotics may not directly affect your sex hormones, but they do impact your mental health, which—as you already know—directly affects your sex drive. Studies have linked psychiatric disorders like depression to imbalanced gut bacteria and probiotics have the power to restore microbiome balance.

‍

Love and ovaries,

Alisa

The Top Must-Read Articles of 2017

2017 has certainly been a big one here at FLO Living! We released a one-of-a-kind app, made it possible for you to test your hormones from home with your saliva, launched an innovative line of supplements, reached unprecedented milestones, and helped scores of women finally, permanently achieve total hormonal harmony. I’m so proud of the life-changing work we’ve done this year, and so thrilled to see how many of you are enthusiastically enjoying our content!Whether you’ve been a loyal FLO Living fan all year or longer or you’re brand new to the site (welcome!), I hope you take advantage of this list of our top articles in 2017 so you can easily access the material that matters most to our clients. Think of this as your year-end review and go-to resource to refer back to again and again.If FLO Living has made a difference in your life this year or ever, please spread the love and share this post with anyone you feel might benefit from our blog and programs! And don’t forget to leave a comment on this post to tell me what kinds of hormonal health topics you’d like me to cover in 2018!

Our top 10 must-read FLO Living essential articles of 2017

The best magnesium-rich foods for you cycle: If you have PMS, PCOS, fibroids, ovarian cysts, hormonal acne, irregular cycles, or any other endocrine imbalance-related issue, magnesium is one of your most important tools for full hormonal recovery. These are the top foods to add to your diet right now.
5 facts you need to know about PCOS: If you have PMS, PCOS, fibroids, ovarian cysts, hormonal acne, irregular cycles, or any other endocrine imbalance-related issue, magnesium is one of your most important tools for full hormonal recovery. These are the top foods to add to your diet right now.
Can you bio-hack your period?: Biohacking is simply the modification of micronutrients, diet and lifestyle to optimize the functions of the body’s biological processes. So can you biohack your way to a better period? Read this to find out!
5-period myths busted: Your first health ed class, biology books, glossy magazines, religion, family hang-ups: with all those factors, it’s nearly impossible to come out of young adulthood with a good opinion about your body and the female reproductive system. Here are five period myths you may not even realize are totally wrong.
Why you need to do a hormone detox: I’m no fan of a quick fix, but I do believe in detoxing the right way. Learn the difference between a fad diet and a true hormonal reset.
Natural remedies for HPV & cervical health: Getting an abnormal pap result can be scary, but in most cases, you can actually reverse your HPV diagnosis, treat it, and get rid of it — naturally. Here’s how.
How to be successful at work - the secret is your cycle!: Women are cyclical in nature, and how we feel, as well as our strengths, desires, talents, and behavior shifts with our changing hormone patterns. Here’s how to make your hormones work in your favor.
What can the color of your period blood tell you about your health and fertility: Menstruation is an overlooked, underutilized vital sign and just like blood pressure, can tell you a whole lot about the state of your health. Here’s what your flow says about your well-being.
The 7 hormonal phases of your life: Many women expect their periods to be the same month after month, year after year, but in fact, there are seven hormonal phases you’ll experience over the course of your lifetime — here’s what to expect.
Are you a health nut with wacky periods?:Paleo? Raw? Vegan? Gluten-free? And still having period problems? Check this out to learn why and what to do about it.

Please leave me a note below and tell me what hormonal health topics you’d like me to cover in 2018 – what would you like to know more about and what are you curious to know of living in your FLO?Always remember, that once you have the right information about how your body really works, you can start making health choices that finally start to work for you! You can do this – the science of your body is on your side!to your FLO,Alisa

Introducing the BALANCE by FLO Living Hormone Supplement Kit

You’ve been asking me for hormone-friendly supplement recommendations, and I finally have created a solution that I am so thrilled to be able to offer to you on your hormonal balancing journey:

Click here to learn more about the brand-new BALANCE Supplement Kit.

Pantone’s “Ultra Violet” is the Ultimate Feminine Energy Color for 2018

Every year, I check the Pantone Color Institute’s announcement of their anticipated color of the year. I find it’s a reflection of the collective vibe of the moment and an interesting source of inspiration for the year ahead. This year, I loved their color choice, but also their description, so I wanted to share it with you to see how it might inform your focus for 2018. Pantone’s official color for 2018 is “Ultra Violet,” a gorgeous, glowing shade of purple that’s mysterious, electric, and — as coincidence would have it — totally in line with the color palette here at FLO Living! The hue itself was enough to get me fired up, but the beautiful language the company used to describe its significance seriously gave me goosebumps: “Complex and contemplative, Ultra Violet suggests the mysteries of the cosmos, the intrigue of what lies ahead, and the discoveries beyond where we are now. The vast and limitless night sky is symbolic of what is possible and continues to inspire the desire to pursue a world beyond our own.”This is exactly the power that you hold in your body, uniquely as a woman. From the fertile void of your imagination, like the fertile void of your womb, you can envision new realities and nurture them into existence. This is what I see women doing everywhere these days, using their power to fearlessly dive into uncharted territory, and reimagine the world with love and nurture that new vision into existence with persistent action. Pantone’s color choice is a connection to feminine energy that deserves high praise. Things are changing and I hope you feel it. It’s undeniable that in general, women have faced incredibly difficult circumstances, both in the public eye, and behind closed doors. But there’s been a major shift and there’s now light emerging from the darkness. I have been inspired and awestruck by the actions of brave women throughout history and this year found no shortage of examples of change agents in action and I wanted to share a few with you to embolden you to pursue your vision. We are reimagining power and our relationship with the patriarchy and not just asking for change, making change happen. I cried when I read this New York Time’s story on the unprecedented number of women who entered public office this year, and felt the deep healing of the #metoo movement, that brought air and light to a long festering wound. We are rising to pursue a new reality that will remake society for the better with love and compassion and community. Glennon Doyle Melton, with a simple social media push, organized countless women to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to support a woman-created haven for mothers and children struggling with opioid addiction. And have you heard of Alyssa Carson, a 15-year-old girl who has been pursuing becoming an astronaut, colonizing Mars, and creating an alternate ecosystem for humanity since she was 3 years old? I have zero doubt that this incredible young woman, and so many other focused, passionate young women will change all of our lives for the better. These examples all share in common the path to change - a clear vision of what needs to be brought into existence and the dogged determination and effort to bring it forth from the void. In this context, Pantone’s choice of Ultra Violet is by no means accidental and speaks perfectly to the female led revolution happening now. Purple represents power, spirituality, and creativity. Harnessing strength from the color red and integrity from the color blue, purple is the color that represents the union of the body and the soul, the balance of physical and spiritual energies, and the integration of thought into action. Pantone’s particular violet choice for 2018 represents also selfless and unconditional love, sensitivity and compassion, and sensitivity to what isn’t right that needs to be healed. I would say no color better represents feminine energy than this,I chose purple for the FLO Living brand over a decade ago because of this symbolism and because I too saw a problem that needed solving and wanted to solve it using feminine energy. I can’t tell you what it feels like to see so much of what I’d originally envisioned 20 years ago when I was suffering from my hormones and found nothing to support me, finally come to fruition. 2017 was a big one, we launched MyFLO, Hormone Testing at Home, and the Hormone Balancing Biohacking Supplements. With these new products, I have made into reality the vision I have had since I was 22 - to build a platform where every woman could access the necessary tools to address her hormonal dysfunction outside the conventional medical system that has failed her repeatedly. This by no means suggests our work is done — we’ve got so much more coming for you in 2018! But I’m so proud that we’ve successfully managed to put the structure in place to help women all over the world resolve her endocrine issues naturally so that absolutely nothing could possibly hold a woman back from accessing the health and energy to tap into that purple creative energy we so desperately need to heal the planet right now. It’s the first week of a new year, and I know that the typical convention is to become consumed with self-improvement. But as you formulate your resolutions, I invite all of you to focus on finding an issue that stirs something in your heart. Something that takes you out of focusing on the ‘ME’ and instead on the ‘WE’. You contain within you all the energy of the Great Mother, and everywhere you look, there is enough to break your heart and ignite your soul into action, fueled by your particular vision and passion to do, to create, to effect real change. But in order to do that kind of monumental work for the world, you have to have the physical, psychological, and emotional well-being to rely on as your foundation. If your health is suffering and you need to regain balance, like I once did, in order to take on the things you’re passionate about, please, please take advantage of this site, these tools, this resource center that’s here for you. This is why I’ve dedicated my career to building this platform. I can see too from social media that we want something different for ourselves this year - you’re tired of making the typical resolutions around losing weight or getting clearer skin — those are awesome goals, but they’re so easy to attain and simple consequences of finding your FLO. And what I’m seeing from you online, is that you want deeper healing and wellbeing, pleasure not struggle, and community. And of course, if these are significant issues for you, sign up for one of the programs, book a consultation, order the supplements — you can and will realize those physical changes and you’ll do it fast. But once you’re back in balance and ready to join the revolution, envision something that’s greater than yourself and go for it — because we need you out in the world right now, and that’s why we do the work we do at FLO Living; to build a sisterhood of change agents to heal the planet. Thank you for being part of my community, for allowing us to take care of you, and for inspiring me everyday to keep working for my purple-hued vision of a world where women get the hormonal and menstrual health care they deserve. Happy New Year and to finding your FLO in 2018!Alisa

We believe that no woman should suffer simply because she has a period.

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