FLO Living Blog

Today I want to address one of my most frequently asked and important questions - how to choose a doctor. Here at FLO Living we believe in working together with doctors as part of your healthcare team. There are, of course, certain procedures, tests, and tools that you can only get from your doctor so it’s important that you work with someone who is respectful and understanding of your desired health goals. I think that there are 3 essential questions every woman must put to her doctor before sealing that on-going relationship. Those 3 questions should provide you with vital insight as to whether this is the right doctor for you, as well as establishing an open communication at an early stage in this important relationship.I know I’m making it sound like dating! But that’s because you should meet with a few doctors before you settle on the one, in that you don’t want to pursue a second, third, or fourth date and invest that time and energy with someone who isn’t going to give you what you need and is clearly signalling this fact early on. Cut the confusion and overwhelm by being direct-to-the-point and taking logical steps to establishing a long and nurturing relationship! The fact of the matter is that unless you are currently seeing a functional medicine gynecologist or obstetrician - and there are, unfortunately, few of those around - then you need to set your expectations appropriately and come from a point of open eyes and ears. It might take a little searching to find the kind of doctor you need. Most conventional doctors are trained in a particular way, that is to prescribe medication or recommend surgery to deal with symptoms and diagnoses. The issue with chronic menstrual conditions is that those two courses of treatment don’t address the root causes and create real recovery. You should expect a well trained physician to offer these two options up every time it’s relevant. And many doctors work from the belief that the majority of people will not be compliant to anything more complicated than a drug protocol (and even then they doubt you’ll remember to take the pill every day). So, they are often cynical about a patient’s ability to change their diet or lifestyle long term. And, I know it’s really tough to feel confident about and stick to a new lifestyle approach when your doctor is being unsupportive of your efforts. Not every doctor is like this. Many doctors embrace a wellness practice, believe in the power of food as medicine, actively pursue exercise and meditation and know that real health is achieved by many small daily practices done consistently over time. You want to find a doctor who shares your lifestyle and values!So, how to find a doctor who will believe you can treat your own hormonal health issues with food and supplements? One that doesn’t push for a medication or surgical procedure you might not want to pursue? One that does listen to you and wants to work with you as part of your larger health care team, along with us here at FLO Living?

Choosing the right doctor for you: the 3 questions you need to ask

1) What’s your personal health care regime? How do you take care of yourself?

This might seem a little personal at first, but it can be so very insightful! Asking how your doctor approaches his or her healthcare on a day-to-day basis can show whether they will be open to self-care through food and supplements plus lifestyle changes. It can reveal whether they think taking good care of yourself in what you eat, what you do, and the choices you make can have an impact on your health goals. Finding out now whether they’re open to or resistant to the impact of diet on health outcomes is so important.

2) I’m really involved in my own self-care. Do you like to work with patients who come with their own research to discuss?

If your doctor’s response to this question is anywhere along the lines of -- “You can’t believe everything you read on WebMD” or “Google is not better than my medical degree” -- or if they are patronizing or condescending towards the idea of you wanting to actively engage in your own health care, preventative care, and attaining your health goals, then I’d suggest moving on after the “first date.”

You need a doctor who is happy to work with you in your plan to avoid medications or surgery and treat your hormonal health issues from a functional nutrition standpoint. They can be there to monitor the success of your plan along the way and provide the necessary support. They ought to feel that the more involved you are in your own health care the better your health outcomes will be. They should want their patients to take an active interest in participating, knowing that this will always yield the best results.

If there’s a specific goal you have in mind at this time - i.e. you want to transition off the birth control pill, you should feel free to ask your doctor if they will support you in this. If they immediately pepper you with reasons not to make a decision you’ve clearly spent much time researching and considering, or if they are outright dismissive - then it’s time to look elsewhere for your doctor.

3) Check in with yourself: How do you feel in the presence of this person? Do you feel relaxed and calm? Or tense and fearful? Does he/she allow you to speak freely?

This question involves listening in to how you feel when you’re at your appointment. If you feel rushed, talked-over, pressured, patronized, or ignored - then this isn’t the doctor for you. In order to get the important healthcare you need, you need to feel safe and calm in your doctor’s presence. You should never feel uneasy about making the appointment or dread an upcoming examination. Tune in to how your doctor behaves when you’re speaking and whether you’re given room to share and ask questions.

Overall, you need to be a strong self-advocate for your own needs and health goals. If you feel you need support in asking these questions - take a friend or family member with you to your appointment. Take notes if you feel you want to look over the conversation at home. All-in-all know that your doctor needs to be someone who is open to your desire to pursue a natural treatment protocol and respects, even admires, your proactive and engaged interest in good health. 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

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

And we also know that it’s not always possible to get access to functional and holistic healthcare solutions — sometimes they’re too far away and most of the time they are way too expensive.That’s why we offer phone and Skype consultation sessions with our FLO coaches.All of our expert FLO coaches have been trained by Alisa on top of being certified health coaches and licensed acupuncturists. And they are all qualified to help you find the right next step for you in getting out of hormonal chaos and into your FLO. Work with a FLO Coach and find your customized plan to solve your period symptoms.

Click here to book your counselor consultation

Endometriosis is rooted in both an autoimmune reaction within the body and a hormonal imbalance of estrogen excess. My protocol for women with endometriosis addresses these core issues by strengthening the immune system and re-balancing hormone levels through boosted liver function. While I always, always have a “food first” mindset when addressing the symptoms of endometriosis, and any reproductive health issue, I have found supplements can supercharge the work of food in the body and speed up the process of symptom management and recovery. In previous blog posts I’ve detailed the right dietary approach to endometriosis, including the foods you should avoid, and the strategies to adopt, as well as diving deep on the emotional root of the problem. Once you have these elements of the protocol underway, it’s time to look at the best supplements to add to your daily routine.

The best supplements for endometriosis

1. Milk thistle - this herb contains the antioxidant

silymarin, repairs the cells in your liver and protects cells from damage (thereby regenerating the strength of the liver to detox the body of excess estrogen), and it is anti-inflammatory. So, this is one powerful herb for endometriosis!

2. Evening primrose oil - an essential fatty acid in Evening Primrose Oil called gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) is anti-inflammatory and acts to inhibit tumor growth in those with endometriosis. GLA is actually converted into prostaglandins that work

against the pain-causing and tumor stimulating prostaglandins. There are 3 types of prostaglandins – PgE1,2, and 3. PgE2 is the one that causes uterine contractions and pain. Then there are two – PgE1 and PgE3 – that counteract the contractions and are antispasmodic i.e. natural pain killers. The goal is to increase your good prostaglandins to offset the effects of the bad prostaglandins.

3. B6 - an excess of estrogen can be re-balanced with an increase in progesterone and B6 is the best vitamin for boosting progesterone production. B6 supports the development of the corpus luteum, which is where all your progesterone springs from. B6 also specifically works with liver enzymes to remove excess estrogen from the body and boosts the immune system to prevent autoimmune response.

4. Probiotics - a healthy microbiome is essential for management of endometriosis. There’s a community of gut bacteria and specifically bacterial genes, called the estrobolome, that produce an enzyme that supports the metabolization of estrogen. Your gut is an important part of the elimination system that is vital in ushering hormones out of the body.

5. DIM - diindolylmethane supports the body in eliminating excess estrogen. DIM is derived from cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower and broccoli. It metabolizes estrogen into components easily assimilated and removed by the body, and avoids the development of estrogen dominance.

**NOTE - use EITHER the Milk Thistle OR the DIM, but not both at the same time!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

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

And we also know that it’s not always possible to get access to functional and holistic healthcare solutions — sometimes they’re too far away and most of the time they are way too expensive.That’s why we offer phone and Skype consultation sessions with our FLO coaches.All of our expert FLO coaches have been trained by Alisa on top of being certified health coaches and licensed acupuncturists. And they are all qualified to help you find the right next step for you in getting out of hormonal chaos and into your FLO. Work with a FLO Coach and find your customized plan to solve your period symptoms.

Click here to book your counselor consultation

We all know that how we feel can have an affect on our physical health - but what does this mean when it comes to female-specific health issues that are often chronic or recurring? The emotional root of PCOS (Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome) is something I have real life experience discovering, confronting, and then working through to the other side. Putting my PCOS into remission was definitely down to changing my diet, and Cycle-Syncing my lifestyle, but I also had to work on the emotions I held about living in a female body.In past posts in this series we’ve looked at the psychological connection when it comes to fibroids, functional ovarian cysts, and endometriosis and each has a different aspect, yet they all come back to one throughline - what it means to be a woman in a female body, living and moving in this world. It all comes back to that collective female experience. Your first period and PCOSWhen it comes to PCOS, it goes right back to your first period. Many of us experience this in a negative way because we don’t have the right cultural context to celebrate, enjoy, or be happy about starting menstruation. It can cause a certain amount of trauma, especially if you’ve not even had the conversation that this will happen prior to the day your period arrives.The unconscious response to this develops into a belief that your female body is a burden, a problem, and going to only hold you back. It doesn’t set up a positive foundation to what it means to be a woman in the important, formative years. Having PCOS adds another layer of confusion to this - as secondary sex characteristics will come slower, with breast development and body shape changes all coming at a later point for the PCOS-suffering teen than for other young women. You’re already, at such a young age, set up for feeling your body doesn’t work how you have been told it’s supposed to be working. That feeling is internalized and it’s really tough to shake. Finally, you don’t get your period when you should. Or you get it, but then the next one doesn’t come for a long time. You feel in your life like your ovary functions - starting but not finishing ovulation and the cycle. It was amazing to me, after I put my PCOS into remission, to see a whole other pattern emerge in my behavior around beginning and finishing projects. I thought I always had issues with procrastination, but really, I was struggling, like my ovary, to follow through. Once my ovulation and cycle were back on track, so was my productivity. But before I got back in my FLO, all of this had me thinking that on some fundamental level, I wasn’t good enough. The physical impact of negative self-talk I recall growing up feeling divorced from my body. Divorced is the best word I can think of to describe that sense of disconnect, that sense of not feeling like it was the best idea to connect with being female. That somehow it would hinder my ability to be successful in life. I couldn’t connect to anything about myself that was female in a positive way. My body was not developing like other girls around me. It was very confusing. It was simpler for me to live completely in my head and just ignore everything from the neck down as best I could. Over time this relationship to the body and the self can become a pattern of self-critical thinking. The world is telling you that your body is flawed, you are flawed, and so you think negative things about yourself in anticipation of this and as a way to take control. Negative self talk is proven to have detrimental effects on your physical health and well-being. Stopping the pattern of self-criticism that drives many of us, and not just those of us who suffer with PCOS, was part of my personal process in managing my PCOS and putting it into remission, and it’s part of the process I help women through here at FLO Living. A constant stream of negative self-talk creates the opposite of harmony for your physiology. This self-talk might be “I’m fat” or “I’m not pretty enough” or it might be “I’ll have PCOS forever” or “My body will never work like it’s supposed to.” You say these things to yourself, internally, and your body listens and hears. Your body reacts with a stress-response and this is how those words become obstacles to your body’s healing and recovery. What you think about your body shows up in your periods. Of course, with PCOS, diet and lifestyle changes are also essential components of treatment - and I’ve previously detailed here on the blog the best supplements for PCOS, the right foods for managing symptoms, as well as the worst foods for triggering symptoms. Plus, I have outline the PCOS spectrum and the confluence of causes from microbiome issues to inflammatory response. How women with PCOS feel about their bodies is just one factor, but it’s a factor I think deserves attention.One woman’s storyThe same day I was thinking about writing this article I had a call scheduled with a woman with PCOS. Once we got on the phone she immediately told me, “I don’t feel like I’ve really been doing a good job.” She was immediately critical of her efforts to adhere to the diet changes and the Cycle-Syncing lifestyle. She sounded down and frustrated. However, as I asked her more specific questions, she revealed that a) her period was on time for 3 months b) she’d lost more weight in 2 months than she had lost in 3 years and c) friends had told her that her skin was glowing! This had happened in just a few months on the FLO Living protocol after years and years of little progress! But she couldn’t see these victories, these causes for celebration, because she was mired in negative self-talk and habitual critical thinking.Once I pointed out to her how well she was doing, she felt she had permission to embrace those victories and feel good about herself. But it took unpacking the psychological root of her perspective and turning the mirror on how she was writing her story to get her to that place. Once she could see these victories she had the strength and power to carry on and keep making gains. And that’s key because she was about to stop trying. The perfect PCOS energetic trap - starting, but not finishing self-care due to self criticism.Sometimes you struggle with your health for so long that you come to believe deeply that there might be no way out and that each avenue is just a series of can’ts and won’ts. This means that once you do start to regain your health, it can be hard to recognize right away. And of course, sometimes you actually need to see your body responding positively to your best efforts to feel more positively towards your body. That progress can become a bridge, leading to stopping the pattern of negative self-talk and re-connecting mind to body. 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

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

And we also know that it’s not always possible to get access to functional and holistic healthcare solutions — sometimes they’re too far away and most of the time they are way too expensive.That’s why we offer phone and Skype consultation sessions with our FLO coaches.All of our expert FLO coaches have been trained by Alisa on top of being certified health coaches and licensed acupuncturists. And they are all qualified to help you find the right next step for you in getting out of hormonal chaos and into your FLO. Work with a FLO Coach and find your customized plan to solve your period symptoms.

Click here to book your counselor consultation

Uterine fibroids are one of the most common reproductive health issues. In fact, a study from the National Institute of Health discovered that the majority of women will have fibroids at some point during her life. So, what’s going on? What is causing so many women to develop fibroids? The cause of this health issue is both physical and emotional. Fibroids are a product of your internal environment, but also a consequence of the external environment we all live in. There are certain experiences, challenges, and feelings that many women share that can bring about fibroids.

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The physical root of fibroids is estrogen dominance - this is when your body is overloaded with estrogens from both an excess taken in via plastics, pesticides, and synthetic chemicals and from a liver that is not working at its optimal point to process that excess estrogen. However, chronic stress contributes to this estrogen soup. Levels of the stress hormone cortisol, plus low levels of progesterone, and elevated estrogen interplay - create an ideal environment for fibroids to develop.

The feminist psychologist

From another viewpoint - women hold a lot of emotion in their womb-space. This is why, from a Traditional Chinese Medicine angle, the uterus is known as the “second heart.” In the 1980s, feminist psychologist Marion Woodman, a student of Carl Jung, created the concept of “feminine psychology.” This described the impact of the mind-body connection on women specifically, drawing on their shared experiences as differentiated from how men move through the world, to understand female health issues. You can read more about this in my previous posts on the emotional connection with endometriosis and ovarian cysts.

When I work with women at FLO Living to address fibroids, we start by tackling diet and lifestyle to strategize around lowering estrogen levels in the body, reducing the amount of fuel available for growth and development of fibroids. Then we layer in the emotional factor and this comes quite organically in the process. Supporting women in overcoming painful, difficult health issues is intimate work and inevitably we share so much about our personal lives, our hopes, and our fears.

Fibroids and your feelings

The development of any reproductive health issue can be understand as your body talking to you, urgently and loudly, to take action. With the growth of fibroids, a specific internal environment of estrogen dominance is being flagged. But fibroids also reflect an emotional experience - specifically fibroids reflect the anger and frustration many women hold as a direct result of their day-to-day lives.

To give you an example, I once presented at the health fair for a large, successful law firm on Wall Street here in NYC. Almost every woman that came to talk to me at this event was dealing with fibroids that were causing serious health problems - pain, bleeding, discomfort. These women were making their way in a workplace populated in the majority by men, and heavily influenced by masculine energy. They were coming against roadblocks, obstacles, and the glass ceiling as they forged their careers, overcoming them but still taking on much frustration and stress. They were having to bend and change their core selves to fit the male expectations and compete in the only way that was encouraged and rewarded. They were working in this “bear cave” of men and while they were doing very well, it was coming at a personal cost. Why? Because patriarchy demands we live like men in this man’s world, and not honor our female nature, instead suppressing this part of ourselves as though it were a weakness.

That said, it’s not just lawyers who are susceptible to fibroids - it makes sense that this is one of the most common menstrual issues.  Many women, of many different races and ethnicities beyond career type are fibroid sufferers due to experiencing the patriarchy and experiencing racism simultaneously. Many women feel a daily sense of anger, frustration, and emotional exhaustion in struggling against their own tides. All women are constantly working to overcome aggressions large and small that undermine their worth, value, and abilities.

An opportunity for change

Understanding this aspect of your reproductive health can be eye-opening and life-changing. It may not feel like it to you today, but consider this viewpoint - your uterus is offering you an opportunity to reflect on your feelings, how you process them, and what you will do about them in the future. You are not alone in this experience, there are women in circles around you, near and far, who are experiencing this alongside you - whether they have fibroids, ovarian cysts, or endometriosis. Your reproductive organs are pointing you in the right direction for your life as a woman and for the lives of all women.

This is why cycle-syncing™- living according to your cyclical patterns - is so healing. This is the 4th step of the MonthlyFLO Protocol and has been at the core of my work for over 15 years.  Practically - it will help address the functional causes of your fibroids.  Psychologically, it will give you the structure and practice to help you step out of a masculine paradigm and into your own feminine energy - allowing you to reduce the sense of friction and frustration that underpins fibroids.

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

Research of the mind-body connection is gaining ground in mainstream science, no longer relegated to “alternative” medicine. We are coming to understand - in a deeper and more detailed way - how thoughts and feelings can directly impact our physical health and well-being. We are seeing the empirical evidence mounting when it comes to how physical symptoms can manifest in connection to emotions. This is a concept I think we all understand instinctively, and often relate to in our own lives. It’s good to see the science supporting a shared experience. Endometriosis is a serious reproductive health issue with debilitating symptoms. When a woman comes to me at FLO Living with endometriosis I share guidance on dietary triggers for those symptoms and potential lifestyle changes that can rid her surroundings of exacerbating chemicals. Endometriosis is a complex condition that needs a comprehensive strategy for management, tackling the ecosystem of the microbiome, liver health, inflammation in the body, and excess estrogen. All of these elements I view from a functional medicine standpoint, and have utilized to help hundreds of women overcome endometriosis symptoms - in example, Natalia is just one. For women with endometriosis it’s vital that we work together to prevent symptoms as soon as possible, and shifts in diet, adding supplements, and removing certain triggers can be very effective, very quickly.Just as in my previous post I looked at the emotional root of ovarian cysts, in this post I’ll be looking at the emotional connection for endometriosis sufferers. The emotional patterns behind hormonal and reproductive health issues are experienced by many, many women. Addressing the emotional aspect of health issues like ovarian cysts, endometriosis, fibroids, and PCOS can be an important part of the healing process. While these problems and their symptoms create their own emotions in women (depression, anxiety, stress, worry), they also come from emotions that many women hold. I believe that understanding the emotional root can lead to more compassion for ourselves, for other women, and an individual and collective recovery.This is something I see often with the women I work with through FLO Living, we will be in the process of working on her health issue from a functional medicine standpoint and eventually we’ll organically reach a point of discussing her life, her past experiences, her feelings about herself, and about the things that have happened to her. It’s not all that surprising, it’s intimate work, and when women treat women outside of the doctor’s office, there’s a tendency for the mind-body connection to come up in a way that you might not see happen elsewhere. It’s deeply frustrating that many female-specific health issues are under-researched, under-discussed, and often neglected. This is often the case with endometriosis, although I’m glad to see that recently more attention is being brought to this condition through advocacy and education.

The feminist mind-body connection

Think about your female reproductive organs (uterus, ovaries, vagina) acting as a “low heart” and as such holding many of your unconscious, deeper emotions that the “high heart” is not yet ready to process. The emotions are held here, only to be released once a person has processed the source of these held feelings. There’s actually a deeply feminist history to the mind-body connection and how it relates to the female experience. A student of psychologist Carl Jung, Marion Woodman, developed a concept of “feminine psychology.” Her work details exactly  how unconsciously held emotions, feelings, and thoughts can affect the female body. It’s important to note that as science progresses we are seeing more and more empirical evidence to support and back up this perspective. Woodman investigated how women feel about their bodies. Many of us are brought up to be fearful and distrustful of our bodies, and she believed this has a significant impact on our health. She believed that the unprocessed trauma experienced by many women - as the result of individually experienced acts of abuse and violence, and as the result of cultural oppression - could manifest itself in physical symptoms, especially those relating specifically to female biology.

Your emotions and endometriosis

Looking to endometriosis specifically, the emotional connection can be found it something common to many women - that is, taking care of others more so than yourself.  The uterus seems to mirror the behavior, by having the material of the womb, the endometrium, the first maternal embrace an embryo receives, to grow outside of the womb, in an attempt to mother the woman who isn’t mothering herself.  This way, by creating a symptom you would have no choice but to pay attention to, would lead you more quickly to evaluate this situation of unbalanced mother behavior that is leaving you depleted. We’ve all heard the saying, “you cannot pour from an empty cup,” and we’ve heard it because so many of us continue to put others first always and ourselves last. That can mean caring for our partner, parents, siblings, or children at the expense of our own health and well-being. It’s wonderful to care for others and cater to their needs, but when we do it in such a way that puts ourselves a very poor last on the list, this can be detrimental. We might feel frustrated, angry, resentful, or just plain stressed and exhausted by the practical requirements of living that life. The expectations put on all women to be the care-providers, to put others first always, to do the “emotional labor” of supporting those around them can be oppressive. Does this resonate with you? Do you ever feel like you’re keeping everyone else happy, stable, and cared-for, but that you’re not attending to your own needs and desires? Do you long for someone to take care of you? There’s a burning desire there for self-nurturance as well as connection with other women and community-centered support. These pressures can come out in the body and manifest as symptoms. The emotional root of endometriosis is by no means the only root cause of endometriosis, but it’s an element that I have found to be important in my work with endometriosis sufferers at FLO Living. As I’ve said before, this has nothing to do with your personal choices in your life, and everything to do with the position of women in society, and how we are conditioned to organize our lives and act towards ourselves.  Your uterus is offering you a gift, an opportunity to reflect on your patterns and revise them for not only better health, but a happier life.  A very loving act indeed, even though it doesn’t feel like it at times, your reproductive organs are always lovingly pointing you in the right direction for your life as a woman.  

Compassion and community

Sadly, many women experience trauma in their lives and many of us also go through experiences we are unable to fully emotional process because the topic is considered taboo or we just don’t get the support we need to talk it out. Shared experiences between women include our first period, a miscarriage, abuse, rape, sexual harassment, domestic violence, aggression, as well as the compounding experience of living in a society that often presents us with misogyny and sexism. I’d like us to start by communicating our thoughts and feelings as women, together, and from there I think we can create an opportunity for individual and collective healing. 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

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

And we also know that it’s not always possible to get access to functional and holistic healthcare solutions — sometimes they’re too far away and most of the time they are way too expensive.That’s why we offer phone and Skype consultation sessions with our FLO coaches.All of our expert FLO coaches have been trained by Alisa on top of being certified health coaches and licensed acupuncturists. And they are all qualified to help you find the right next step for you in getting out of hormonal chaos and into your FLO. Work with a FLO Coach and find your customized plan to solve your period symptoms.

Click here to book your counselor consultation

We've previously discussed the potential impact of emotional stress on your menstrual cycle, like how it can make your period late, delay or even suppress ovulation, as well as contribute to hormonal health issues such as PCOS and PMS. Here, let's delve deeper into the mind-body connection and how our emotions, feelings, and the energy we hold can play a part in the development of reproductive health conditions.

There is a neurological, endocrine, and immunological conversation at work in every one of us that is reflective of our emotional state.

While it’s very important to look at the root causes of conditions from a functional nutrition standpoint, the emotional aspect also needs to be addressed at the same time for long-term recovery. The emotional patterns behind ovarian cysts, fibroids, endometriosis, and other conditions are common for many, many women and very much a shared female experience.

Understanding this aspect is an opportunity to have compassion for ourselves and for other women. For example, one particular client was experiencing continuous spotting. We had addressed her diet and lifestyle, but during one conversation it became apparent that the spotting had been happening since her father had passed away earlier that year. We suggested that her womb might be holding her unprocessed grief, resulting in the symptoms, which were a literal weeping from the womb. Once she made that connection, she was able to release her emotions - have a good cry - and begin to free herself from the cycle.

‍Your emotions and ovarian cysts ‍

We’ve looked at effective food and supplement-based natural treatments for ovarian cysts in the past.

Distinct from PCOS - which is indicated by multiple cysts on the ovary - single functional ovarian cysts are fluid filled sacs the size of almonds that grow on the ovaries, often cyclically and in connection with your hormonal shifts.

There are two kinds of functional ovarian cysts – follicle cysts and corpus luteum cysts.

1. Follicle cysts happen when the ovary follicle does not open to release an egg and instead stays closed, filled with liquid.

2. Corpus luteum cysts is when the follicle does release an egg, but does not then seal and close off afterwards.

Functional ovarian cysts are very common - many women have them at some point during their lives, but not all will have symptoms.

It’s possible for a cyst to grow very large if left untreated and even burst, requiring immediate surgery. A health condition like ovarian cysts can convey a message of the kinds of emotions being held there in the reproductive organs. This thinking is rooted in Jungian psychology, specifically the mind/body connection. A student of Jung, Marion Woodman, developed the concept of “feminine psychology” and her work details how unconsciously held emotions, feelings, and thoughts can affect the female body.

One element of Woodman’s work focuses on how women feel about their bodies. Many of us are brought up to be fearful and distrustful of our bodies, and she believed this has a significant impact on our health. She believed that unconscious trauma experienced by many women - as the result of individually experienced acts of abuse and violence, and as the result of cultural oppression - manifests itself in physical symptoms.

When it comes to ovarian cysts specifically, especially those that are symptomatic and recurrent, they are delivering the message of unfulfilled creative expression. Many women experience these feelings - we hold down full-time jobs, do more than our fair share of housework and childcare, and often start second or third shifts every evening. Do you ever feel like you really want to start a creative project, but you just don’t have the time? Do you have a friend who cannot give themselves the time and space to express their creativity and that causes them frustration?

Energetically speaking, ovarian cysts tend to represent blocked creative desire, or ideas that don’t fully blossom in one’s life. This is nothing to do with your personal choices, and everything to do with the position of women in society, and how we are conditioned to organize our lives.

Mind-body connection and compassion

Whatever symptoms you’re experiencing, the takeaway should be compassion, and the need to find compassion for yourself, your body, and for what other women are going through. Many, many women experience trauma in their lives, whether directly or indirectly, and we all live with a heavy weight of expectation, limitation, and judgement on our shoulders. Many, many women also experience ovarian cysts, as well as other hormonal health issues.

We believe that the way forward is to bring these topics out into the open, to talk about our traumas, those things we don’t normally share openly - like our individual experiences of miscarriage, postpartum depression, abortion, sexual abuse, rape, assault, domestic violence, and our collective understanding of sexism and misogyny.

Releasing these emotions can mean we no longer hold them silently within ourselves, where they continue to do harm. At Flo Living, we're here to support you, every step of the way.

Here’s a stat that will blow your mind: the average woman will use 10,000 tampons over the course of her lifetime. Ten. Thousand.If you’re like many of us, the first thousand of these 10,000 tampons you’re on track to use were nabbed directly from your mom or sister’s stash. The brand? Whatever pink box was on sale (sidenote: why was the box always pink?). We never really stopped to think about what tampons were made of — they look like cotton, so they must be just cotton, right? Well… not exactly.

What’s in a tampon? It’s not so easy to find out

I was set up with my now co-founder Jordana by a mutual friend who had a hunch we’d be fast friends. Over drinks, Jordana asked me a question I’d never thought to ask myself before: “have you ever wondered about what’s in your tampons?” (I hadn’t.) But once I started questioning the ingredients in this product I’d used month after month for over a decade, I couldn’t get the thought out of my head, and it turns out I couldn’t find a good answer, either.If you look at the side of a box of tampons, you’ll see a little blurb that says the tampons “may contain” a list of different materials which usually includes rayon, polyester, or fragrance. Why are the labels so vague? The FDA, the government agency that regulates feminine care, classifies tampons as a “medical device”, a slush-bucket category of products ranging from electric wheelchairs to condoms. The FDA doesn’t require tampon companies to provide a complete list of ingredients and additives that go into making these products, so many don’t. So, if there were more ingredients than what’s listed on the side of the box, we’d really have no way to know.Admittedly, it was kind of crazy that we never really thought about the ingredients of a product that goes into our vaginas, which we’ve since learned is the most absorptive part of of a woman’s body. We paid close attention to the ingredients in everything else we were putting in or on our bodies… but why not feminine care?This led us to wonder, have other women thought about what’s in their feminine care products? Do they care? Together Jordana and I spent months asking women if they knew what was in their tampons, and, like us, most women hadn’t given it any thought. But, once they did and found out that there hasn’t been much, if any, clinical research into the long-term safety of the synthetic materials and additives in tampons, all of them cared. We — and the women we talked to — noticed that we care quite a bit about using all-natural products when it comes to our beauty and food choices, and it makes sense we should carry over this discernment when it comes to our feminine care, too. In the absence of hard research or long term clinical studies on synthetics, we’d always prefer a natural product with known ingredients.

Creating a better tampon

So, we decided to create a better feminine care brand. Enter, LOLA. Many tampon manufacturers opt for synthetic materials because they’re cheaper and more readily available. Our tampons only have one ingredient: 100% organic cotton. Full stop.Being informed about the materials in tampons wasn’t enough for us — we also wanted to update the experience of buying these products to make it more convenient. It seemed like we never had tampons on hand when we needed them, forcing us to trudge down to the corner bodega to buy a box of whatever they had on hand. Why was it that in New York City — a city where you can get anything delivered — women couldn’t get tampons in the same way?We decided to fix that. With LOLA, you can customize your box to have the exact number of light, regular, super, and super+ tampons you need and get them delivered to your door exactly when you need them. Want a box once a month? We’ve got you covered. Want two boxes every other month instead? No problem. Need pads and liners, too? We got you!It’s time to demand more from our products, and here at LOLA we are making it our mission to lead the way. We’ll always be transparent about what goes into our tampons, no matter if you’re using one for the first time or the 10,000th.To Your FLO,Alex FriedmanAlex is Co-Founder at LOLA and spends most of her time focused on growth, brand development, customer experience and team-building. She is a native New Yorker, adventurous eater, and recently celebrated the 19th anniversary of her first period.

There are several types of PCOS on what I like to call “the PCOS spectrum” and these types fall under three banners - synthetic-hormone induced PCOS, insulin-resistant PCOS, and inflammation-based PCOS. While there are specific treatment protocols I advise for each type, there are still crossovers between, and certain supplements benefit every woman suffering with PCOS.I’ve had my own PCOS in remission for some 20 years using my FLO Living protocol. Food is the foundation of this protocol, but supplements super-charge the benefits of those hormone-supportive foods. I personally had a combination of the PCOS types mentioned above and I was able to roll back the symptoms and regain my health and fertility with the Cycle Syncing lifestyle. Micki and Judith are just two of the thousands of women I’ve helped reverse their own PCOS since teaching the FLO Living protocol to women. In previous posts I’ve explained in detail why the two most commonly prescribed PCOS treatments you are most likely to be offered - that is, Metformin and the birth control pill – are not actually effective and moreso “band-aid” solutions that sidestep the root cause and don’t tackle the issue long-term. Briefly, Metformin is only right for women with insulin-resistant PCOS, and even for these women I still recommend only short term use of the drug, and always paired with proactive changes to diet and lifestyle. The birth control pill masks the problems associated with PCOS. It may suppress some of the symptoms short term, but they usually come back once you go off and can be exacerbated by compounded hormonal imbalance. The pill exacerbates many of the root causes of PCOS, including insulin-resistance and inflammation.The 5 best supplements for PCOS These 5 supplements will be beneficial to all women with PCOS, addressing the root causes of this common hormonal health issue.

1. Cinnamon - taking this warming spice as a supplement is proven to stabilize blood sugar, which is essential for all hormonally-sensitive women, but especially those with PCOS. I recommend New Chapter for a cinnamon supplement, but you can additionally shake cinnamon on oatmeal, eggs, or enjoy cinnamon tea, like Tazo’s Cinnamon Apple Baked. Getting blood sugar balance under control is so important for moving beyond PCOS.
2. Magnesium - most women are deficient in magnesium and magnesium is vital for hormonal balance. Magnesium is proven to improve insulin resistance, it’s anti-inflammatory, and it redresses adrenal hormones - all essential actions for managing PCOS symptoms and treating the root causes of PCOS.
3. B6 - one root cause of PCOS is estrogen dominance, which is inextricably linked to progesterone deficiency. B6 is proven to increase progesterone production and is actually one of the best vitamins to boost this hormone. You can do this with B6 rich foods like bananas, grass-fed beef, and garlic, but you can also take a daily supplement.
4. Selenium - this nutrient is essential for your liver, helping to detox excess estrogen and environmental estrogens like pesticides. It also boosts progesterone along with B6, supporting the development of the corpus luteum which creates all your body’s progesterone. As such, selenium is a double whammy for tackling the root causes of PCOS.  
5. Zinc - this mineral balances testosterone. Whether your testosterone levels are high or low (both possible with PCOS), zinc will have a positive affect. Several studies have shown how beneficial zinc supplementation can be for women suffering with PCOS, with relatively rapid results.

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

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

And we also know that it’s not always possible to get access to functional and holistic healthcare solutions — sometimes they’re too far away and most of the time they are way too expensive.That’s why we offer phone and Skype consultation sessions with our FLO coaches.All of our expert FLO coaches have been trained by Alisa on top of being certified health coaches and licensed acupuncturists. And they are all qualified to help you find the right next step for you in getting out of hormonal chaos and into your FLO. Work with a FLO Coach and find your customized plan to solve your period symptoms.

Click here to book your counselor consultation

Endometriosis has seen an increase in awareness this year with the release of the documentary “Endo What?” and Lena Dunham’s continued crusade to draw much-needed attention to this health issue. I am glad to see endometriosis take the spotlight at last and hope this allows more women to find the care and treatment they need to manage their symptoms. In past posts I’ve looked at the commonly prescribed treatment options for women with endometriosis. I’ve also discussed how best to approach an endometriosis diagnosis with your doctor. Plus, we’ve looked at some of the diet changes you can make - specifically the foods and supplements to add into your daily routine - that can help manage symptoms. In this post I want to look at the food triggers for endometriosis and highlight those foods that you can choose to avoid in order to address the root causes of health issue. The key to controlling endometriosis via your diet choices lies in the role of estrogen and prostaglandins in the body. The body can produce a variety of prostaglandins - both good ones and bad ones. Prostaglandins are what stimulate your uterine muscles to contract and create discomfort. There are 3 types – PgE1,2, and 3. PgE2 is the one that causes uterine contractions and pain. Then there are two - PgE1 and PgE3 - that counteract the contractions and are antispasmodic i.e. natural pain killers. The goal is to increase the good prostaglandins to offset the effects of the bad prostaglandins. With the right dietary choices, we can increase the good prostaglandins to soothe and calm the body and reduce those contractions. In terms of food choices, this translates to avoiding the foods that increase the bodies PgE2 levels - those painful prostaglandins.You can also use the right foods to balance hormones and cut down on excess estrogen in the body. One key to reducing estrogen is to boost liver function so it can break down and eliminate estrogen. Endometriosis is foundationally a inflammatory disease with symptoms that are triggered by hormonal imbalance and excess estrogen. The first key step to symptom management from a functional nutrition standpoint is removing inflammatory foods. Imbalance prostaglandins and estrogen contribute to inflammation in the body leading to symptoms like pain. The 5 worst foods for endometriosis These are the foods and food-types you should try to remove from your diet to alleviate symptoms of endometriosis

1. Dairy - specifically dairy contain A1 casein. Dairy has been shown again and again by research to trigger the symptoms of endometriosis via an inflammatory response. Dairy is bad news for all hormonal health issues, but it’s especially concerning for women suffering with endometriosis. The majority of dairy products contain growth hormones and antibiotics, adding to the toxic load that exacerbates the root causes of this health problem. However, dairy containing A1 casein has been shown to cause higher levels of inflammation than dairy containing A2 casein. For many women A2 casein dairy is not a trigger for symptoms. A2 casein is found in the milk of Jersey cows, goats, and sheep.

2. Alcohol - alcohol impairs liver function and increase the amount of excess estrogen circulating in the body. Limiting your alcohol intake can minimize your symptoms relatively quickly, according to the research. If you don’t feel you can cut alcohol out altogether, just cut back, choose red wine over all else, and take steps to counter-act its impact.

3. Gluten - gluten is an inflammatory agent that causes an overall inflammatory response in the body. Gluten is also often laden with pesticides (see the point below). Research shows that 75 percent of endometriosis-sufferers will see improvement after 12 months on a gluten-free diet. Replace gluten-based foods with whole grains and follow my step by step process to detox.

4. Pesticide-laden foods - pesticides are bad for us all, but they’re particularly dangerous for women with endometriosis. Pesticides add synthetic hormones to your body and compromise your liver - leading to estrogen excess and exacerbating symptoms. Going all organic for just two weeks straight has shown to have an immediate positive impact on the body. I recommending trying to eat organic 80% of the time, leaving 20% for those times you don’t have control over where your food has come from and can’t stress about it.

5. Red meat - many studies link red meat, inflammation, and endometriosis symptoms, but in one significant study compared 504 healthy women and 504 women with endometriosis, finding that women who ate beef every day were nearly twice as likely to have endometriosis, while those who got seven or more fruit and vegetable servings a week were at least 40 percent less likely. Not only does this study show the importance of cutting back on red meat, but also the importance of what you do choose to eat on your symptoms. With the FLO Living protocol red meat is in the monthly mix of food options, but it only comes up at the time in your hormonal cycle that is right for the body. Not only is red meat inflammatory, but it often comes loaded with synthetic growth hormones, antibiotics, and from animals fed with pesticide-laden crops. You need to be conscientious about the red meat you do choose to eat - make sure it’s pasture-fed and organically raised.

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

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

And we also know that it’s not always possible to get access to functional and holistic healthcare solutions — sometimes they’re too far away and most of the time they are way too expensive.That’s why we offer phone and Skype consultation sessions with our FLO coaches.All of our expert FLO coaches have been trained by Alisa on top of being certified health coaches and licensed acupuncturists. And they are all qualified to help you find the right next step for you in getting out of hormonal chaos and into your FLO. Work with a FLO Coach and find your customized plan to solve your period symptoms.

Click here to book your counselor consultation

Beyonce’s golden, glittering performance at the 2017 grammy’s brought me to tears. A friend tagged me on Facebook to ask me what I thought about this much talked about performance. It was such a rich piece, that I’ve needed some time to digest it. Not just because it’s never been done before - a pregnant woman performing a political piece like this on a mainstream global platform, and not just because I too have felt the majesty that comes with being pregnant. It was moving and history making to see this one piece of performance art perfectly encapsulate the central themes of fourth wave feminism today. And with the intersection of the greatest feminist tool known since the printing press - the internet - connecting our struggles and our visions for a better future as women around the world at the speed of thought - changing us, making us stronger, more fearless, stoking our appetites for change and expanding our expectations of what should be, Beyonce’s performance asks us all to get in the game.We have ‘come a long way baby’ in a way that truly honors all the sacrifice and dedication of all the women that came before us. That our collective consciousness has shifted into this 4th wave is only possible because we have been raising approximately three generations of girls (only 3) that have seen a growing population of women be educated, be safe, and be engaged in career and politics as a result of the past feminist accomplishments. Here’s a quick overview of your history, because you know, ‘they’ just don’t teach this stuff in school. The first wave of feminism (1500-1930) was about contract and property rights - the right to vote, to work.The second wave -1960-1980 - was about broadening the conversation to include workplace safety, pay equality, reproductive rights, domestic abuse, rape and set new expectations for the moral compass of our gender relations. The third wave - 1990 - 2008 - was about including all races, ethnicities, classes, sexual identities to the first and second wave’s political and economic gains.We have been in a fourth wave since 2008 - that in the environment of online social media has flourished geometrically and is poised to be the most swiftly moving wave of feminism yet - we are focused on global social justice, intersectionally representing women of all ages, races, sexual orientations, and classes, of a spirituality that includes a reflection of the feminine and a psychology that centers on self-actualization through pleasure. This is a logical next step in the feminist consciousness and embracing of the definition of feminism as well as a logical conclusion to the conversation, begun millennia ago, of a patriarchal political paradigm and as a way forward to protect all of human life and that of the planet. (Now that I think about it, we’ve done the majority of this work since 1800 really - only 200-ish years of work to heal the millennia of oppression, another great example of how much woman can do when they collaborate.) This 4th wave just came into clear focus with Beyonce’s performance. To say it simply, we are no longer simply fighting for a seat at the table, for the opportunity to be considered equal, or for the chance to prove ourselves to men. We have experienced our own capacity, we have witnessed each other’s creativity and courage, we have connected ourselves with women around the world and we are not in any way in the dark about any of the issues facing us. Beyonce asking ‘I am a woman, I create life, I am a mother like your mother, and then asking how can you hurt me?’ points to this fundamental question - that must be resolved by society as having it both ways is causing individual psychological damage to men and women and global and planetary damage. As women in their collective consciousness quantum leap out of the psychological and physical effects of millennia of oppression claim, love, and honor themselves, we see clearly that a society that is based on love, compassion, and inclusion is the only sustainable way forward.The performance art was replete with historical and feminist symbolism: -The triple goddess hologram - maiden, mother, crone - we are part of the most powerful creative lineage on the planet, we do not have to reinvent and discover everything each generation, we can build upon our heritage, and every age and stage of woman is sacred.-The goddess outfits - whatever your creed, my physical form is powerful and awe inspiring, my body is sacred, my sensuality is my own. -The halo headdress - religion tells a story to purposely oppress us into thinking we are subordinate and that the planet is also to be used and dominated for personal increase, but we feel our connection to divine and to the planet, and religion should reflect that equality too.-The many dancers in the four colors of flowing dresses - strands of DNA -ACTG - an ocean of genetic material that connects us all as one family.The most powerful though was the section I’ll refer to as ‘the seat at the table’. She is seated on a birthing chair (in itself reclaiming the power position during birthing and over our own reproductive sovereignty) surrounded by her midwives. She is at the head of the table. She gives birth to all of humanity, and instead of being thrown off the chair - by virtue of having her body and her reproductive function demonized and devalued culturally - and cast off from having a seat at the table all together, she must not only be placed at the head of the table, but also be exalted on top of that table and therefore included in the spiritual conversation as well as the political and economic one. Also extremely powerful imagery was the fact that she barely danced - her stillness spoke volumes - she simply stood, walked, or sat and demanded to be looked at and to be acknowledged and honored and admired not for doing anything, but simply by being. We as women are intrinsically potent by our very beingness. Beyonce speaks for women globally today in that performance, and dare I say the most important female performance art piece of our time, because in this performance she gave visual display to what we are feeling now that we have become so interconnected with each other and because there was absolutely no sexual pandering. There is no room for this antiquated thinking of separation and oppression and violence. We know our power, our worth, our intrinsic value, and it cannot be diminished by religion, policy, rhetoric, or the scientific mythology that I’m so passionate about dismantling around our biology and cycles, and our nature will never again be contained. Beyonce’s performance calls us to meet each other out past the earlier feminist positions of “I can do, therefore give me economic access and basic human rights” to instead, like DesCartes’ axiom ‘I think, therefore I am’, more of a philosophical position, I am a woman, therefore I am - life,love, the sacred, the future. This is an important shift, because it’s powerful enough to pull the developed world and the developing world into a new paradigm. We’re not asking for permission anymore. We have all realized that we are equal and worthy - all of us - every color, religion, class, and sexual orientation - we deserve by simply being, to be safe and free. And make no mistake, a new paradigm is needed to move forward. And not just for ourselves as women, but for future generations and for this planet.I see you, young passionate women, of all ethnicities, classes, and sexual identities, who find yourselves in this historical moment, and realize that you have a divine sacred purpose to your life - to be a missionary if you will - to tap into your passions and creativity and go out and build businesses, non-for-profits, and be engaged politically locally and internationally - to literally build the architecture of the future that future generations of humans can safely inhabit. What other work is there to do, when you logically assess our current situation and intuitively feel into what’s needed? I think we can all agree that contorting ourselves to fit the ‘status quo’ is definitely not what’s needed to survive nor the way to flourish.Thank you Queen Bey for the courageous, thoughtful, provocative, prescient performance and for sending out the official invitation for each woman to claim her sovereignty, and pursue the sacred purpose of her life in every way she can. The future is female and feminist and the future thanks you. All Hail Ourselves as Queens.Photo Credit: www.beyonce.com

The end of a year has one extra bonus for me, on top of the family-time, gift-giving, and catching up with friends, and that’s the announcement of the top health and wellness trends for the year to come! I love both discovering new self-care opportunities and seeing some of my personal healthy pastimes hit the mainstream. This year was the best yet, as Well+Good invited me to comment, as a board member, on one of their chosen wellness trends - menstrual realness! I was so happy to see menstrual taboo-breaking and cycle health brought to the forefront by their influential and much-discussed list. I’ve been bringing the menstrual realness for years, so it was absolutely wonderful to be recognized as a leader in this category and to see that we’ve reached that crucial tipping point when more women will get to know the benefits of living and loving their menstrual cycle.I was quoted in their menstrual realness category, “With less effort spent hiding the “shame” of a natural bodily function every month, more attention can go to listening to what our periods say about our overall health, says Well+Good Wellness Council member Alisa Vitti, a women’s hormone expert. Our culture “would have us believe that cravings, cramps, and out-of-control emotions are inevitable parts of womanhood,” she says. “I’m here to tell you: It’s just not true.””I look forward to all women having a meaningful and healthy relationship with their menstrual cycle that is free from dysfunction. Not only that, but we’re ahead of the curve here at FLO Living for talking about other 2017 wellness trends for some time, including anti-inflammatory ingredients like turmeric and natural, toxin-free beauty products.I thought I’d share my thoughts on the other wellness trends for the upcoming year that I’m excited about, enjoy and hope to see gain momentum in the future. There are also some of my personal predictions for 2017.

1. Natural beauty takes over - I love that women are viewing their beauty products with more scrutiny. I’ve been seeking out toxin-free cosmetics and skin care for nearly 20 years now and I am thrilled to see this trend go mainstream with stores and websites like CAPbeauty, Follain, and Credo. I have so many choices now, and so do you! And they’re more affordable than ever. We’ve gotten so conscious about the chemicals in our food, this is the next step. And the #nomakeup trend is a part of that - an understandable reaction to years of piling on chemical-laden products that may make us look good but don’t, longterm, make us feel good. I hope to see more spas and wellness centers incorporate natural products into treatments, like chemical-free facials. Here in NYC, there are a few places that do this, but it’s still difficult to get the treatment you want using all-natural products. I love HeyDay right now, which provides super affordable facials with a standard of using products that are free from parabens, sulfates, and artificial fragrances.
2. Woo-woo meets science - Research continues to validate many long held natural health theories from the brain body connection to electromagnetic field effects. As we come to understand more about the natural world and the importance of connection with natural elements for our physical and mental health, it only makes sense that what we once saw as woo-woo is getting validated by scientific research. Many things that feel good to women instinctively, but were once out of reach to those who felt the feelings too new-agey to explore fully, are now socially acceptable. It’s why crystal healing is a trend, but it’s also why more women are looking to connect with moon energy by observing the moon’s phases and practicing rituals on the new and full moons. We’re coming back to the body and, I think, our renewed interest in our female connection to nature can only lead us to see the importance of the menstrual cycle.
3. 360 degree wellness - From restaurants, to vacations and retreats - I love that indulgence has healthy options! It’s now relatively easy to find a great restaurant in NYC that has nutrient-dense dishes, free from dairy, gluten, and sugar, that also feel indulgent, luxurious, and delicious to enjoy. Once going out and indulging was a trade-off, now it’s a balance - you don’t have to resign yourself to only home cooking and avoiding date nights and girls’ nights out to avoid the health-hazards. Even bars are providing non-alcoholic elixirs and amazing tonics as an alternative to cocktails. Plus cafes have healthy options like turmeric lattes and chai teas so you can “meet for coffee” without the coffee. Women now want 360 degree wellness - that is, wellness is every aspect of their lives, whether that be at work (think standing desks and walking meetings), or in their leisure time. We, rightfully, want to have our cake and eat it too - as long as it’s gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free! That demand is driving the market to create restaurants, bars and bistros around, rather than in opposition to, our health goals. My current favorites are Cafe Clover, where my favorite dish is quinoa tagliatelle with beet greens and maitake mushrooms, and the organic fare at Juice Press. Plus, more women are now choosing to experiment with their hang outs by meeting friends to share infrared sauna time, sound baths, or even cryotherapy! I love these adventurous ways to spend time with your besties. It’s a way to feel moved, to feel different and new, without partaking in anything that will give you a hangover the next day. In fact, you’ll feel vibrant and refreshed instead. We’re even seeing the return of women’s circles that reflect Red Tents as more places pop up for females to gather together for collective support and self-care.
4. Female centric workouts - I’ve long been a proponent of seeking out workouts that speak to your body and work with your natural energy levels. Workouts that incorporate movement and dance, that encourage connection to our grounding feminine energy are becoming more popular. Instead of driving yourself to run a certain distance or do a certain number of push ups, this feels more holistic and attends to both your physical and mental health. S Factor, Buti yoga, TheClass, Qoya are all wonderful options for those seeking to do more than sweat it out.

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,AlisaGood things come in threes:

I want to hear from you!

First, which wellness trends do you hope to embrace in 2017?Second, what does “menstrual realness” mean to you? Third, everyone you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social ;)

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

When the new year comes around we often feel prompted to both detox and lose weight, or, we detox simply because we feel we need to lose weight. This means that the idea of detoxing has become implicitly connected with cutting back on calories, cutting out food groups, eating very little, and even fasting. The thing is, a real detox is not a crash diet and a crash diet does nothing to help your body really detox or keep that weight off. January is the detox and diet month, but the best way to “diet” is to detox in a real way. Detoxing in a real way does not mean deprivation. By all means, do a dry January and don’t touch a drop of alcohol, but feed yourself and feed yourself well if you really want to lose pounds, and get that glow.You need to feed your hormones if you want to rev a sluggish post-holidays metabolism. You can end the war with your body and instead develop the kind of healthy, supportive relationship you need that will have the added bonus of always keeping you in your best shape.In Traditional Chinese Medicine detoxing is reserved for Spring and Fall. Spring is actually when your liver is available for a full detox. According to the Five Element Theory, your liver is most active in the Spring and needs special support. Winter is not the right time for a concentrated liver detox, and of course, you’re always better off not letting yourself get to the point where you need a detox to recover. That means not bingeing on unhealthy foods and alcohol in the first place. We instinctively know that Spring is the time for cleaning house and purging all our unwanted possessions, but we still always try to force a detox in January after the holiday fun.Instead, in January, focus on eating a nutrient-dense diet, full of good fats, greens and high-quality proteins. Your liver needs the fuel to process the excess hormones and toxins and eliminate them from your body. The FLO Living protocol is packed full of cleansing foods that address your liver, intestines and lymphatic system. In fact, the third central pillar of the protocol is supporting your organs of elimination. Your elimination organs require nutrients to breakdown toxins, and you get nutrients from food. You do not and will not get enough nutrients from a juice fast or cabbage soup diet!

How your liver detoxes your body:

Phase 1: The liver breaks down toxins into smaller components by using nutrients such as glutathione, B vitamins, and C vitamins stored in the liver from your food. These smaller components are free radicals and actually more toxic now they’re broken down, so they need to ushered out of the body ASAP.Phase 2: These free radicals are combined with the selenium and amino acids in the liver - again, sourced from your food - and they become harmless and water-soluble through the process. Phase 3: The water soluble molecules or waste finds fiber in the large intestine with which they combine and leave the body.Phase 4: You wake up in the morning, have a glass of water, and have a bowel movement shortly afterwards. Toxins are also eliminated via your skin and your lymphatic system.

How your liver affects your weight

If these phases are not completed successfully, because the body doesn’t find the nutrients or fibre it needs to process the toxins then:

1. Those toxins get absorbed back into the bloodstream and recirculate
2. Your body houses the toxins in your fat tissue
3. This makes it harder to lose weight, because your body then does not want to let go of that toxin-full fat, knowing that then it would become polluted with all those built-up toxins that now have nowhere else to go. Your fat keeps a hold of your toxins and your body keeps a hold of the fat.

So, when you don’t detox effectively and instead opt for crash dieting or fasts which deprive your liver of the nutrients it needs to process toxins, you set yourself to actually retain fat and subject yourself to a toxin-soup that causes all kinds of problems with your health and hormones.

My new year detox recommendations

If you feel the need to detox in the new year, then boost your intake of the nutrients your liver needs and assist and support your body in eliminating toxins naturally. It’s all about eating MORE not LESS. Let’s let go of this idea of punishing ourselves and instead focus on nourishing our bodies.

• Eat more glutathione-heavy vegetables like avocados, carrots, broccoli, spinach, apples, asparagus and melon. Add two additional servings a day
• Eat more selenium-full foods such as oats, eggs, and Brazil nuts.
• Eat more fiber from nuts, seeds, lentils and peas. Add flaxseeds to your breakfast eggs and lunch salad.

You can also speed up the elimination process and get those toxins out your body fast with a couple of simple lifestyle hacks.

• Sweat - encourage your lymphatic system to get in on the game of releasing toxins by giving it a gentle movement massage. Workout in a way that makes you sweat, whether that’s a home dance workout or a hatha yoga class.
• Soak - draw yourself a bath full of epsom salts, the ancient and highly effective way to detox via your body’s largest organ - your skin.

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,AlisaGood things come in threes:

I want to hear from you!

First, do you feel like you need a detox? Second, what are your post-holiday symptoms? Third, everyone you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social ;)

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

As 2016 comes to a close and we turn over to a fresh chapter with 2017, I want to take a moment to look back on the articles from our blog that have really struck a chord with you all.I know that these days the amount of information we receive is overwhelming. It can feel tiring just to try to keep up when there’s simply so much to read, absorb and take in. I hope you’ve found the FLO Living blog to be a place you can get the information you need, with clarity, concision, and care for your health and well-being. I appreciate you reading, sharing, and commenting on these articles, and providing me with great feedback. I wanted to put together this list to provide an easily accessible way for our established readers to have a reference to useful articles you can refer back to again and again, and for new readers to discover the core information we provide here. Feel free to share this post with anyone you feel might benefit from FLO Living’s blog and programs. And I’d love it if in the comments below, you’d tell me what hormonal health topics you’d like me to cover in 2017 - what would you like to know more about and what are you curious to know of living in your FLO?

Our top 10 must-read FLO Living essential articles of 2016

10. Top 5 Foods To Prevent PMS - PMS is one of the most common hormonal imbalance issues, but it’s completely treatable and avoidable. PMS is not inevitable or necessary and no woman should have to just put up with it. This list provides the foundational building blocks for eliminating PMS from your life.

9. The Worst Foods For Your Hormones - there are some big surprises on this list that will make even the most health-conscious reader reconsider their food choices. Sometimes what we believe to be healthy is actually harming our hormones.

8. B6 And Progesterone Deficiency - a knowledge-packed article describing the signs of progesterone deficiency, and outlining the path to hormonal balance. The signs obviously rang true for many of you and I’m glad to be able to provide insight into how to resolve this deficiency and eliminate them. Let me know if you upped your B6 intake and felt the difference.

7. 5 Foods To Avoid If You Have PCOS - as a PCOS sufferer myself, I have learned a lot in my journey to creating the FLO Living protocol, discovering how to manage my PCOS symptoms and avoid the acne, the weight issues, the hair issues, all that usually comes along with this diagnosis. Eliminating these 5 foods is a foundational step in successfully overcoming PCOS for yourself.

6. Getting Your Period Back After Baby - as I learned the ropes of new motherhood I’ve shared more and more about how I’ve fused the FLO Living lifestyle with pregnancy, the postpartum period, breastfeeding and beyond, and how I’m communicating this way of life to my daughter. I plan to share more in the coming year, let me know what you’d like to learn!

5. The 3 Rituals I Do When I Get My Period - I have been so happy to see the period revolution that’s built over the past year and now Well+Good has declared a 2017 health trend to be “menstrual realness” - I can’t wait. I’ve been giving menstrual realness for years and it's wonderful to have more open ears and hearts, more women sharing and more women listening. Not only that, but what they call “woo-woo” wellness is going mainstream - more women are embracing the benefits of rituals, visualization, healing crystals and getting back to nature. I love it!

4. The Benefits Of Avocado Oil - it was one of 2016’s hottest foodie trends, avocado oil. I’ve been preaching the gospel of avocados for a long time - they are one of the best superfoods for your hormonal health. Avocado oil provides a perfect way of getting more of these benefits into your everyday meal choices.

3. The Health Benefits Of Turmeric - this article includes my favorite golden latte recipe. I’ve been sipping turmeric lattes for years, but once Gwyneth Paltrow got on board with this anti-inflammatory, tasty alternative to coffee, I knew it was time to share my personal recipe. Now you can get versions of this health-boosting drink at so many cafes, but I still enjoy the ritual of brewing a batch at home.

2. The Right Way To Use Vitex For Your Hormones - this ubiquitous herb can be easily misused. Herbs are powerful and potent - and Vitex can be as harmful as it can be helpful. It’s key to know exactly how and when to use this tool in the hormonal health kit. What has been your experience with Vitex? Let me know.

1. The Benefits Of Maca Powder For Your Hormones - this adaptogen has a great many benefits for our hormones. Maca has come into its own in the last year as more women have discovered it. I’m not someone to suggest there are quick fixes or cure-alls for hormonal health problems, but maca is a useful supplement that can supercharge your efforts with the rest of your diet and lifestyle. If you’ve used and liked maca, let me know how it helped you.

Please leave me a note below and tell me what hormonal health topics you’d like me to cover in 2017 - 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,AlisaGood things come in threes:

I want to hear from you!

First, what have you learned this year from the FLO Living blog? Second, has our advice made a real difference to your health? Third, everyone you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social ;)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

For those of us who are hormonally sensitive postpartum depression can be a real concern once you’re pregnant. If you’ve experienced depression before, as part of hormonal imbalance issues like PCOS or PMS, then it can be worrying to know that you might be more susceptible to depression as part of the hormonal shifts post-birth - I know this worried me. I had experienced depression as part of my PCOS and knew I would have to be extra-vigilant to keep the baby blues at bay for myself. I had additional concern because my own mom suffered from clinical postpartum depression after her third and final pregnancy.Clinical postpartum depression is defined as a new mother having feelings of harm for herself or her child, and this is the case for many sufferers and requires medical intervention. For many other women, however, who do not fit the above definition, they experience the mood altering effects of rapid, ongoing, and long term hormonal fluctuations which results in not feeling like yourself, having mood swings, and low energy - in effect it’s mild depression, postpartum. This is a less obvious mild and functional form of depression, which is not classic or clinical postpartum depression, and can linger long after the official postpartum phase has ended, affecting a woman for years. The combination of hormone changes, changes in sleep, and not eating properly for your new mom life, can leave you vulnerable and become something more permanent if self care is compromised. I get how challenging it is to fit it all into your intense schedule. After the postpartum phase is considered over however, you would then just be categorized as having depression or anxiety, and perhaps even be recommended medication. I think it’s valuable to see the root cause of this situation you may find yourself in so you can address it properly - with food and lifestyle changes. While there is a drop in hormone levels postpartum, combined with hormonally disruptive sleep schedules that come with a new baby, there are steps you can take the support your health and safeguard against depression during this time. With new understandings about mental health, from pioneers like my colleague Dr. Kelly Brogan, with her book, A Mind of Your Own, we know that feeding your brain can keep it performing optimally and protects your mood balance. Being aware that you might be susceptible is important, as is having a handle on your hormonal imbalance issues before you even decide to conceive. I recommend to my clients to prep for pregnancy at least a few months (ideally a year) prior to trying to get pregnant if they are already dealing with irregular cycles, problem periods and other hormonal health issues. That said, if you are pregnant reading this and concerned about postpartum depression there are still actions you can take once baby is born. Going into a pregnancy hormonally healthy without unresolved health issues is ideal, but not absolutely essential for avoiding postpartum depression.Anyone can be at risk from depression postpartum. By leveraging good functional nutrition basics, you can give yourself all the support possible to keep yourself balanced during this huge transition.

The causes of depression postpartum

Clinical postpartum depression can be triggered by the rapid hormonal fluctuations post pregnancy and you should seek medical support if you need help. Mild depression postpartum also needs support and I think it’s important to look at all of the functional causes that might make this worse for you and to think about ways you can be proactive about avoiding as many of these as possible.

1. There is a rapid drop in estrogen in the first few months after birth which affects mood, verbal skills, and even socializing habits.
2. New moms are always coping with sleep deficiency, which leads to imbalance in the adrenal gland and thyroid hormone levels.
3. New moms are often micronutrient deficient. Making a tiny person extracts as much nutrients from your body as physically possible. If you have a history of dieting, restriction of calories or food groups, then you may already start your pregnancy state with a deficiency - leading to higher levels of deficiency postpartum. This is not good for the baby or you. Low levels of micronutrients contribute to low hormone levels too.
4. Prolonged breastfeeding keeps estrogen levels low and can dramatically impact your mood. Stopping breastfeeding can create an additional hormone and therefore mood shift and is best done slowly over 2-3 months.
5. Many new moms stop their prenatal supplement routine too soon, even though you need to continue this into (and well past) the 4th trimester.
6. Many women feel they want all their pregnancies close together - especially if they’re starting in their mid-30s, in order to “get it all out of the way”, to have siblings close in age, or capitalize on their fertile years. If your next pregnancy and birth is very close to the prior, you must be even more vigilant about nourishing your body, restoring micronutrient levels, and not focusing on postpartum dieting to lose baby weight, but prepping your body for another request to 3D print a new tiny human!
7. There are many environmental factors that can be at play with postpartum depression. A not very supportive spouse, lack of childcare, and financial strain. Birth and a new baby can trigger anxiety that feels very primitive and primal - it’s more intense because you badly want to do right by your child. It can make for a very emotionally charged time. And it’s not always easy to tackle what can be an isolating experience if you’re not surrounded by a supportive community of friends and family who are truly there for you.

It’s harder to maintain hormonal balance when grappling with a new schedule, but it’s not impossible. It takes awareness of what your body needs to maintain peak physical and mental health. And of course, we all desire to be as healthy as we can in order to take care of a new baby, so this can be a great motivator in making the necessary commitments to self care. It’s also important to be aware that clinical and mild postpartum depression doesn’t always happen the day you get home from the hospital, it can be after 3 months or even later. That’s why during the 4th trimester it’s so important to take care of yourself as much as your baby. If you’re breastfeeding it’s even more crucial that you eat well and take care of your health, for as long as you’re breastfeeding and for several months beyond.

What to eat postpartum to avoid depression

After the birth of my daughter I concentrated on eating a diet with high nutrient density, a lot, and frequently. This is not the time to crash diet or worry about baby weight. Eat well and the pounds will fall away naturally. They did for me - I lost the 50 lbs. I had gained in a few months, without depriving myself in a way that would have only triggered hormonal imbalance. This is a sample of how I ate during my 4th trimester and beyond, as I continued breastfeeding. Note that lots of snacking and small meals throughout the day are excellent between nursing, napping, and recovering from labor and delivery.Breakfast – Steel cut oats with black sesame seeds, coconut oil, flax, cinnamon, goji berries Snack – 2 eggs scrambled in coconut oil with turmeric Lunch – Salmon and quinoa with lentils and fermented sauerkrautSnack – Avocado on black rice breadDinner – Bison/lamb/beef burger with green beans and sweet potato baked ‘fries’Snack – 2 Dates or dried figs with 3 Squares Dark Chocolate with Mother’s Milk TeaSnack - Macaroon or gluten-free llactation cookieSnack - Bone Broth with black rice bread and chicken liver pateEating this way supports each of the areas of health that can be off-balance post-birth: - your micronutrient levels- your microbiome- your hormone production My specific FLO protocol for the postpartum phase emphasizes these nourishment goals:

• Increasing the use of warming, drying spices like cinnamon, cayenne, and nutmeg.
• Holding off on the raw vegetables, cold smoothies, raw juices, and raw fruits for the first 40 days postpartum. Then only slowly reincorporating them back in.

These tenets are sourced in Traditional Chinese Medicine which emphasizes the importance of restoring Yin energy post-birth. It’s also great for the baby’s own digestion as most newborns can’t actually tolerate even cooked veggies in a mother’s milk at first. The book “The First Forty Days” is an excellent resource on postpartum nourishment to enhance your health and the health of your baby.This nourishing food supports each element to provide a strong foundation. If you have this foundation laid down it is much easier to deal with sleep deprivation and stress. Your body will not respond as dramatically to your changing way of life. The food provides the strength you need to take on this new challenge. It also supports you as you potentially prepare for another pregnancy.I like to call this “active recovery” - instead of assuming your body will spring back or assuming that once you’re physically healed that the work is done, know that you have to be active in your post-birth recovery every single day. Don’t see it as an additional responsibility, see it as something you’re doing to excel at taking care of your child.

Finding support to avoid postpartum depression

I chose to have a postpartum doula as well as a labor and delivery doula. She didn’t just check up on me right after the birth, but carried on doing so several times throughout the rest of that first year. If you’re able to have doula support, I highly recommend it. It goes above and beyond the 6 week postpartum check up you’ll get from your doctor (where you may not yet be presenting symptoms). Doulas take the time to see you in your home environment, spend time with you, listen to you, cook for you and care for you, as well as the baby, as they know how vital it is that a new mom is healthy and happy. Although this may seem like a luxury, it's actually not that expensive and many doulas now work on a sliding scale too. In most European countries, 1 year of post-partum doula visits are government-subsidized, so every woman gets the care to ensure she is well postpartum - something we should fight for here in the US, too. 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,AlisaGood things come in threes:

I want to hear from you!

First, are you struggling with eating well as a new mom?Second, are you struggling with mild depression? Third, everyone you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social ;)

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

t’s that time of year again, the holidays are here and so is my holiday gift guide. It’s packed full of health conscious, hormone-friendly, and affordable gifts for everyone you love and for yourself! I love to give the kind of gifts I know will bring joy for a long time to come - and what does that more than the gift of good health? There’s nothing that says “I care” or “I love you” more than giving gifts that cherish and support the health and happiness of your friends and family. It shows deep respect and love for those around you. I also love to share the products I have discovered with those close to me. It’s like sharing a special secret for how to feel good. Remember, if there’s anything here you want to try for yourself, simply forward this list to friends, family, or your partner when they ask what you would like this year. Believe me, people love it when you make things simple for them - and they can still surprise you by picking from one of the many recommendations I have here.

My health conscious, hormone-friendly holiday gift guide

For you (and your favorite girlfriends) Support the women around you by helping them support their health. It always feels good to share body positive, health positive choices, especially when they can ignite a conversation between friends about the deeper issues of life. Let’s talk periods and hormonal health with our nearest and dearest.

• WomanCode - a bestseller for 3 years, this makes a great gift for your friends who have yet to discover how to fix their periods, improve their fertility, and make their hormones happy.
• Beyond Yoga Clothing - as a curvy woman, I really appreciate the body positive design and self-love mission of this brand! Use the code FLOBEYOND for 20% off all full-priced products.
• Thinx period panties - these fashion-forward, comfy, and sexy-looking panties are made just for your period days. They absorb menstrual blood and let you feel free and easy. You don’t even need to wear a tampon or pad. Purchase one pair from a range of styles or build a “cycle set” to cover the entire menstruation week. Use our

• special code Floliving5 for $5 off your purchase for the next 2 weeks!
• RMS Beauty Lip2Cheek - hormone-safe cosmetics are hard to come by, especially the kind that really work and have the full range of colors and options comparable to regular cosmetic brands. RMS Beauty leads the pack and this one-stop-color for lips and cheeks is perfect for your purse.
• Vintner’s Daughter face serum - this award-winning facial serum is something I personally use every night. Seriously after the first night of use, my pores were smaller, redness was gone, and my skin was firmer. My skin craves it! I notice when I don’t use it that my skin just isn’t as glowing, clear and fresh looking. Totally worth

• the splurge.
• ZenBunni chocolate - I love my high quality dark chocolate and this new brand is biodynamic and flavored with wildcrafted spices, foraged berries and amazing health-boosting herbs. The cacao is carefully processed to keep all its essential nutrients. No wonder they were recently featured in Vogue. It makes treating yourself feel extra special. The Rainbow collection has a flavor associated with a different chakra and it even comes with a beautiful quartz crystal!!
• Crio Bru coffee alternative french roast and light roast - this is my new favorite hot chocolate alternative, a blend of fairtrade organic cocoa beans, without ANY sugar! Super fast prep in your french press or coffee maker at home. It’s a pure dark chocolate drink - have it straight or add some coconut milk and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. Perfect for chilly winter nights or brunch

• at home.
• All of my Lov herbal tea collection - I have been collecting tea all of my adult life. As someone who had to stop drinking caffeine early on, I’m always on the hunt for delicious hot drinks to enjoy. The caffeine-free set lets you and your girlfriends avoid the harmful effects of caffeine on hormonal health and get the benefits of unusual and unique tea blends like fennel-anise, linden-rose, pineapple-mint, and almond. A perfect excuse for a tea date every week.

• Gaia Golden Milk - I’ve shared my recipe for this in the past on the blog, but now you can get the benefits of turmeric lattes or golden milk when you’re busy and on-the-go. The year’s hottest healing drink now comes in easy, ready-to-make mix form from Gaia, with no additives. It would make a lovely stocking stuffer or hostess gift for those holiday parties.
• John Masters Organic Orange & Rose Hand cream - the most delicious, insta-happy scent, I keep it in my bag for the winter season to beat the dry skin with the great formulation and the winter blues with the aromatherapy.

For your partner Get your man on the same page as you with these health conscious, creative ideas that gently introduce a new way of life that will make him feel, and look, good.

• A Thrive Market subscription - this one-stop-shop for all healthy snacks and pantry items, discounted and auto-shipped straight to his door. It’s Costco style pricing on food that will keep him healthy and happy. So much easier than schlepping to the store on those cold winter evenings.
• Daily Burn workout streaming service - sign him up for a streaming service that delivers a whole range of workouts right to his living room. It’s hard to get to the gym when it’s snowing outside and we all tend to go into hibernation-mode. A workout streaming service like Daily Burn let’s you get much needed exercise without going out, whenever you need it. Plus, never get bored, because there’s way too many workouts and experts and regimes to choose from.

• Meal delivery service - get your man signed up for a meal delivery service trial. There are many to choose from, like Sunfare and The Ranch Daily that will help him meet his health goals, stay nourished, and avoid ordering unhealthy takeout pizza and chinese every night. If he likes to cook, meal kit boxes are the way to go - like Sunbasket, which lets you pick from a variety of meals the week ahead for 3 nights of perfect romantic dinners.

For your kids and all the kids in your lifeMy daughter is now just over 2 and my nieces are older, but my principle of gift-giving is still the same - I want to inspire and encourage!

• The Woman in Science - I love the idea of filling my daughter’s bookshelves with books that have an empowering, positive, and feminist message for her as she grows older. This beautifully illustrated guide to women who were pioneers in science is perfect for her to discover when she’s older. Building a library year-to-year can set up her with a perspective that will support her throughout her life.
• Goldiblocks - this company provides positive role models and creative projects for girls that go beyond princesses and pink. They integrate into their toys science, technology, engineering and maths principles to support the glass-

• ceiling crashing STEM women of the future.
• Roominate - for young inventors and future creators, Roominate produce building-based toy sets that allow girls to create houses, fairgrounds, vehicles and anything their mind can imagine. They encourage thinking outside of the box, no matter what’s in the box. I love these sets for my older nieces.

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,AlisaGood things come in threes:

I want to hear from you!

First, which of these gift ideas inspires you? Second, which of these gifts will you buy for yourself? Third, everyone you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social ;)

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

A missing or late period can be stressful. Or when it's late, delayed and taking its sweet time to start! "What's wrong?" "Am I pregnant?" The questions can feel endless. Even worse, stress alone can delay or alter your period. Do you think that stress may be delaying your period? Read on to learn about the connection between cortisol and menstruation.

Learn how to improve your diet and other methods you can take to reduce stress

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If you weren't planning for pregnancy, this can create some stress and panic. This begins a vicious cycle, as periods are directly impacted by stress! So when your stress levels rise - particularly for a prolonged period of time - your period can be negatively impacted. This stress might be from what you’ve experienced earlier in your cycle or even the stress you’re experiencing waiting for your period to arrive - and both can actually make your period arrive late.

If you’re breastfeeding, have PCOS, are entering perimenopause or menopause, have a thyroid issue, or if you’ve recently come off hormonal birth control, those factors can also impact your period. If none of these reasons are present, it's definitely time to assess your stress levels.

How long can stress delay your period? Well, that depends. Stress causes late periods because of how it disrupts hormonal patterns. Your hormones need to meet certain levels and follow certain patterns in order to trigger both ovulation and your period. So if stress gets in the way, this can impact your cycle. A rise in stress hormones, specifically cortisol, affects all other hormones, the levels that are produced and their interaction.

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5 things to know about stress, anxiety, and your period

If stress and anxiety have been delaying your period, we've got you covered. Once you learn the causes, you can learn how to get your period "unstuck." Stress has more meanings than just emotional stress. Physical stresses on your body can also delay your period in similar ways. Read the following 5 facts related to late periods caused by stress:

1. Stress raises cortisol levels and disrupts your blood sugar, which disrupts your ovulation and period.

2. The stress hormone cortisol blocks progesterone production and lowers progesterone levels. Your body actually uses your progesterone to make more cortisol, in reaction and response to the stress. This can not only mess with your cycle, but make it difficult for you to conceive.

3. Stress around the time you normally ovulate can delay or even prevent ovulation. Cortisol can suppress ovulation. This makes sense - 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.

4. Stress post-ovulation can cause hormonal imbalance. 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 to your norm (in consistency, color, length, or symptoms like cramping).

5. 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.

Here's the reality: 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.  

We 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 messed up cycle is a message. It’s a call-to-action!

Your late period can signal that you are under constant or chronic levels of stress. To restore ovulation, lowering stress levels is key.  Lack of ovulation is not only an issue if you want to conceive, it also sets you up for greater hormone imbalance and period problems - everything from PMS, to acne, to cramps. A late period is more than just a nuisance or inconvenience, it’s also going to come with a bunch of other health issues.

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 absolutely avoid late periods in the future by taking action today! It's not "too late" to get yourself back on track.

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4 steps to avoid stress-delayed periods

1. Take a Healing Bath - Stressors can be unavoidable, but your response to stress is in your hands. This can mean a deeply relaxing bath 3 times a week with epsom salts and essential oils. It can mean reading a good book before bed each night. It can mean getting creative - taking a painting class, starting a project that inspires you, or even coloring at home. You can use your menstrual cycle to sync your schedule to your hormonal patterns - making everything feel easier and less like an uphill battle. It can also mean making time for more pleasure in your life, and not just sex. Or it can mean all of the above and then some, which is all-encompassing self-care, and the most effective.

2. Go on a Sleep Diet  - Poor sleep or an inconsistent sleep schedule (staying up past midnight and waking up late) creates a burnt out, stressed-out situation. Physiologically bad sleep will cause high levels of stress hormones. But it also leaves you feeling like you're constantly behind. When you’re in bed earlier and waking up earlier, you will naturally have more time in the morning to get centered and ready for your day. This will help you feel more grounded and clear. Put yourself on a “Sleep Diet” to have this sleep schedule every day for 21 days.

3. Try Maca - When we’re stressed, we often have the knee-jerk reaction of reaching for coffee first thing in the morning, (we think it’ll help us get everything done!) and alcohol at night, (we think it’ll help us unwind!). Both of these things raise cortisol levels and actually make you feel more stressed in the long run. Detox from coffee and manage your alcohol intake to avoid chronic stress. Try maca root powder for the energy boost you’re seeking - this adaptogen can give you pep without harming your sleep schedule (try adding it to your smoothie or oats).

4. Focus on Micronutrients - Micronutrients are absolutely essential when it comes to balancing hormones and resolving symptoms like PMS, weight-loss resistance, acne, mood swings, bloating, cramping, missing periods, and painful, heavy periods. The micronutrients you need more of when it comes to hormone balance are: Vitamin D3, Vitamin K, B vitamins, Magnesium, as well as Micronutrients that support liver health, and Compounds and nutrients that support gut health. These micronutrients, in the right amounts, will help you get back on track hormonally and bring relief from your symptoms.

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Love & ovaries,

Alisa

Not all women with a hormonal imbalance have irregular periods, or crampy periods, or acne. But there is one sign that is a sure indicator that you have a hormonal imbalance and it’s actually unrelated to your cycle. If, despite your best efforts, you cannot lose weight and find yourself putting on the pounds when you even glance at a cake, then you are probably dealing with estrogen dominance. Estrogen dominance feeds a vicious cycle of weight gain for women. Too much estrogen in your body that’s not being broken down and eliminated effectively by your liver actually programs your fat cells to store more fat. The more fat these cells store the more estrogen they then give out. This creates more estrogen in your body, which then, of course, programs your fat cells to store more fat. This leads to consistent and easy weight gain and makes it super hard to lose weight. If you:

• Have been steadily gaining weight for a few months or years
• Cannot lose weight even when you cut back on food and eat healthily
• Find exercise seems to have little impact on the numbers on the scale

Then you likely have estrogen dominance, and your weight problems are a symptom of this hormonal imbalance.Estrogen dominance is a metabolic condition which necessitates that you use a very different approach to weight loss. You need to manage your hormonal imbalance, bring your estrogen levels down and back in check, and eat in a way that will rev your metabolism and satisfy your appetite. 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).

How to lose weight when you have a hormonal imbalance

• Cycle Sync how you exercise - instead of 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.
• Stop seeing dieting as a calories in/calories out equation - 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 (xenoestrogens from the likes of nail polish, shampoos, household cleaning products). 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, longterm, is to Cycle Sync your diet, and eat the FLO Living way, choosing your meals based on where you are in your cycle. You can start simply with greens as these are absolutely vital for combating estrogen dominance.
• Supercharge your diet with supplements - once you are nourishing your body with the FLO Living foods, you can add in a layer of supplements that will supercharge your efforts and help you rev your metabolism and lose weight faster. But I’m talking truly effective, natural supplements, and not the sort of “miracle cures” you see in magazines and on TV. These will assist you in balancing your blood sugar, calming your adrenals and supporting your thyroid - targeting exactly what your body requires to lose weight.

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,AlisaGood things come in threes:

I want to hear from you!

First, are you gaining weight? Second, do you find it hard to lose weight? Third, everyone you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social ;)

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

For me, the holiday season is all about the sugary treats that are everywhere you look. I can easily and simply make my Christmas day dinner and even my holiday party appetizers healthy and hormone-friendly without a hitch, but the sheer ubiquity of sugar this time of year truly tests my willpower and triggers those cravings. While the rest of the year a couple of squares of good quality dark chocolate can cut it, when the holidays are here I need something a bit more. I need to prepare and make sure I have everything on hand to satisfy that nagging sweet tooth. A little indulgence every now and then is an important part of self-care and the run-up to Christmas is the worst time of year to self-punishment and deprivation. I say - enjoy yourself, but in a way that will make you feel good for longer than it takes to clean your plate - which means making healthy, hormone-supporting choices.The best way to avoid unsafe and toxic ingredients is to make your own treats at home. There’s no need to scrutinize packaging and decode labels that suggest something is healthy when you know it’s probably not. Make your own, for your family, friends and for yourself and you’ll bring the Christmas cheer while taking care of your cravings.I love the idea of introducing my friends to sweet treats that are nourishing and good for your body. I wholly recommended turning up at a party with my favorite sweet potatoe brownies or challenging your friends to a Christmas cookie swap that keeps the white sugar, the gluten, and the dairy at bay. In fact, healthy sweets are one of the best ways to recruit fellow health warriors to your side and get some co-conspirators to Cycle Sync with! They’re the perfect gateway “drug” to a new way of life.Take a look at my guide to the best kinds of sweeteners to use instead of the white (or brown) stuff before you get to baking.

Keeping it simple with sweets

I’ll be sharing my favorite recipes here, but I’m also a fan of keeping things simple, which for me means stocking up on easy, convenient products that help you get your sweet fix without too much fuss. I love the Crio Bru cocoa grounds you fix in your French press. Add some almond milk and nutmeg with cinnamon sprinkles and you have the best dark chocolate drink. I put it in my Holiday Gift Guide for a reason.I love to use Zema’s Madhouse baking mix to make breakfast pancakes and waffles - it’s cocoa, the ancient grain teff, and a superseed mix you can feel really good about giving to yourself and your kids. Try the black bean brownie bites, sweet potato baking mix, or apple cinnamon muffin mix - all are super nutritious, satisfying and so delicious. The company’s tagline is “treat yourself - well” and i couldn’t agree more. I’m an advocate for healthy eating, not deprivation.  The wonderful thing about these mixes - it means you can definitely have more than just the one cookie!I have a ready-made, go-to list for candies that are free of toxic, hormonally-disruptive ingredients including replacements for my favorites like peanut butter M&Ms and Reese’s Pieces. It’s so simple to source healthy alternatives these days and have them delivered straight to your door. ‍

My favorite healthy, but sweet holiday recipes I have some go-to websites I love for inspiration for home baking. My current favorite in Bon Jon Gourmet. Many of the recipes from this ex-pastry chef are gluten-free or vegan, and so dairy-free. Many also avoid refined sugar completely. Bliss! Like this sugar-free, gluten-free, vegan no-bake lemon, berry and coconut cream tarte or these sugar-free, gluten-free, vegan no-bake hazlenut ganache brownies. Here are some of the sweet treat recipes I’ve perfected for myself over the years.

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‍Chocolate Sweet Potato Brownies

‍Ingredients: 1 raw medium sweet potato (purple skin/white flesh) – 2 1/2 cups when grated, 2 whole eggs, ½ cup melted coconut oil, ⅓ cup honey or coconut nectar, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, ½ cup raw cacao powder, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 2½ tablespoon coconut flour, ¼ tsp pink himalayan salt

Instructions: Preheat oven to 375 °F. Combine wet: grated sweet potato, eggs, vanilla, honey and coconut oil oil in a large mixing bowl and stir together until well incorporated.Mix dry: cacao powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and coconut flour. Combine wet into dry and mix well.Pour the mixture into a 9 inch square baking tin lined with parchment paper. Cook for 25-30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before carefully removing the brownies from the tin.Serve with raspberries or strawberries and maybe some coconut yogurt to be extra decadent.

‍Winter Cobbler

‍Ingredients: 4 pears, cored, sliced½ bag of frozen blueberries, juice of ½ lemon, ½ tsp cinnamon, pinch of salt, 2 T coconut oil, 1 tsp arrowroot

Instructions: Combine all the ingredients in a 14 inch casserole baking dish.Sprinkle gluten free/sugar free plain granola on top (like Purely Elizabeth’s).Cover with aluminum foil.Bake at 350 for 30 min covered.Let sit 15 minutes uncovered and cool.Serve with fresh mint and coconut yogurt or a drizzle of honey.

‍Coconut Almond Bark

‍Ingredients: 2 cups shredded coconut, 1 cup toasted almonds, 8 ounces dark chocolate, Himalayan sea salt

Instructions: Line a baking sheet with parchment paperCombine 2 cups finely shredded coconut and 1 cup toasted almonds in a large bowlPlace 8 ounces dark chocolate in a double boiler (or a bowl placed over a bit of simmering water) and melt it. Pour the chocolate over the coconut mixture and stir to combine.Let cool a few minutes and then drop by the tablespoonful onto baking sheet. Finish with a few grains of salt on top of each. The mixture will be a bit crumbly, but will set as the chocolate cools. If your kitchen is on the cool side, the clusters will set over the course of an hour or so. If you want to speed up the process a bit, pop them in the refrigerator.

‍Snow Balls

‍Ingredients: ⅓ cup unsalted almonds, Dried apricots, Dates, Coconut flakes

Instructions: Pulverize 1/3 cup unsalted almonds with a food processor and set aside. Then blend a handful of dried apricots in a food processor, adding a drop of hot water to blend easier. Do the same with a handful of dates (take pits out first). Mix apricots, dates, and almonds together to form a paste. Form into balls and then roll in coconut flakes. Makes 12 bites.

There is not just one kind of PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), in fact that are several types and knowing which PCOS type you have is key to knowing the right treatment protocol for you. Every type of PCOS is given the same name, even though the root causes are actually quite different. Of course, in mainstream medicine, every type of PCOS is also managed with the same suggested treatments, even though these treatments only work for some women, some of the time. Different types of PCOS also have different symptoms - not all women with PCOS are overweight, or have acne, or have excess hair growth - and this confusion can delay diagnosis, and therefore delay proper treatment and support. I personally had the type of PCOS that is rooted in insulin and food sensitivity. I’ve been able to put my PCOS into remission with the FLO Living protocol for almost 20 years now. It has meant I no longer struggle with my weight, my skin, my hair, or any of the other symptoms I used to have. However, it’s ongoing, I am mindful of my PCOS every day and I’ve created a lifestyle around what helps me to feel good despite this diagnosis. There are a few types of PCOS, and different causes behind them, as well as varied symptoms. The way you’ll know which you have is by looking at symptoms, and following up with blood tests or an ultrasound to look for cysts on the ovaries. The first sign for all women is irregular cycles and missing periods. If you know you’re not ovulating and your cycles are messed up, the next step is to figure out which PCOS you’re dealing with exactly.

The 3 types of PCOS on the spectrum

• Insulin-resistant PCOS - this is the most typical and common PCOS type. High insulin levels stop ovulation in its tracks, causing irregular cycles and symptoms. The insulin resistance is brought about by diet. The symptoms are weight gain or obesity, acne, hirsutism, mood swings, and lack of periods. Women with this kind of PCOS are usually considered borderline diabetic.
• Inflammation-based PCOS - this is the kind of PCOS that can be seen in women who are not overweight, but normal weight or even underweight, and don’t feel they have any of the classic symptoms of PCOS. The inflammatory response that stops ovulation and causes irregular cycles comes from the body’s response to foods like gluten, dairy, sugar, soy, or from overexposure to endocrine disruptive chemicals whether it be from chemical lawn spraying or frequent use of the dry cleaner. There are multiple influencers that can cause suppressed ovulation and irregular cycles. It could be an over-reliance on artificial sweeteners (I’m talking too much Diet Coke or Stevia-based products). It could be due to poor diet, especially if you’re eating very little, only vegan, only raw, or no carbs whatsoever. The lack of ovulation will cause symptoms, but it won’t necessarily look or feel the same as common, insulin-resistant PCOS.
• Synthetic Hormone-Induced PCOS - this kind of PCOS is common for women who have been on the pill or other hormonal birth control like the implant, shot, or ring, for a long time. They will come off and see their periods do not return. The synthetic hormones shut down communication between the pituitary gland and the ovaries in order to prevent pregnancy and often times this can be challenging to bring back online.

It’s also possible to have a combination of these types of PCOS, as I did, or for the root cause of your PCOS to change and develop over time. This is why the FLO protocol is uniquely supportive for the PCOS “spectrum” that exists as it addresses all the root causes.

Common treatments for PCOS

Once you’ve got to grips with your PCOS type, the next step is to consider your treatment options. I’ve explained previously why the two most commonly prescribed PCOS treatments - Metformin and the birth control pill - are not very effective. Metformin is only effective for women with insulin-resistant PCOS, and even then I recommend only short term use paired with changes to diet and lifestyle (https://www.floliving.com/metformin-for-pcos/). I have assisted many women for whom Metformin did not work to manage and control their PCOS symptoms using the FLO Living protocol. The birth control pill just acts to mask the problems with PCOS. It may suppress symptoms short term, but they will return when you stop using it and they could be even worse than when you started. The pill happens to exacerbate many of the root causes of PCOS, including insulin-resistance and inflammation.

Natural treatments for PCOS

Vitex is not a good option for all women with PCOS, even if you are looking for a more natural treatment. Women with inflammation-based PCOS may find Vitex helps them, but if you have a different type, Vitex will worsen your symptoms.The FLO Living protocol works for all the types of PCOS I’ve mentioned here to address the root causes. For all PCOS types I recommend this 3 stage strategy for natural treatment:

1. Stabilize blood sugar
2. Eliminate endocrine disruptors
3. Improve estrogen metabolism

Women with all types of PCOS can benefit from:

• Magnesium supplementation
• Good quality sleep
• Eliminating sugar
• A focus on strength training

Other thoughts for your type of PCOS:

• Insulin-resistant PCOS - Focus on your blood sugar stability -  lots of cinnamon for blood sugar regulation, in supplement form and/or sprinkled on your meals, plus brisk exercise after eating to prevent an insulin spike, like a walk after dinner.
• Other types of PCOS - if you don’t have the common symptoms of insulin-resistant PCOS, because you’re normal weight or even underweight, with clear skin - then you need to look carefully at whether you’re feeding your body enough and the right kinds of nutrients for it to make hormones. The communication between the pituitary gland and the ovaries has broken down and needs to be reestablished. Whether you came off the pill last month or last year you can follow my protocol for that transition to help jumpstart your ovaries. You can also realign with what would be a regular cycle by syncing your diet and lifestyle to the moon phases. This heightened awareness coupled with a gentle progression towards living in your FLO can bring back your period.

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,AlisaGood things come in threes:

I want to hear from you!

First, do you know what kind of PCOS you have? Second, have you tried the pill, Metformin, or Vitex already?Third, everyone you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social ;)

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

I haven’t had cow dairy for some 20 years. The signs that dairy wasn’t right for me were there from when I was a kid. I had recurrent tonsillitis and ear infections and major constipation issues. This inflammatory response was caused by my body’s inability to breakdown the A1 casein in the regular dairy that I was consuming through the cheesy and buttery Italian fare that was the daily diet of my whole family. When I developed the FLO Living protocol, I was able to understand that dairy in my diet was a trigger for my PCOS symptoms - the acne, depression, and weight gain. Since then more and more research has revealed the problems with the A1 casein that is in the majority of dairy we consume here in the US (and many other countries). Now I recommend that my clients - whether they have fibroids, or endometriosis, or PMS, or heavy periods - go dairy-free as an essential step in managing and eliminating their health issues.

How dairy is hurting your hormonal health

1. Dairy creates inflammation in the intestinal tract which can hinder your fertility, disrupt ovulation and create irregular cycles and missing periods.
2. Dairy can throw off your body’s own estrogen production by introducing artificial growth hormones. Most dairy cows are injected with genetically modified growth hormone to produce more milk than they would naturally.
3. Dairy containing antibiotics will negatively impact your microbiome to prevent effective estrogen metabolism. It will also negatively impact your own immunity.
4. Dairy cows are invariably fed with GMO corn and soy which sets you up for estrogen overload. GMOs are endocrine disruptors, as is processed soy.
5. Dairy depletes your magnesium stores which throws off your pituitary and adrenal glands.

How to make the transition to dairy-free and my favorite dairy-free alternatives

Dairy isn’t just bad news for women, it’s bad news for everyone, which is why neither my daughter nor my husband have cow dairy. I feed my daughter a little dairy and only the kinds which do not contain the problematic A1 casein. Dairy isn’t her main source of calcium, however, as there are many other better sources, including sardines, figs and greens. We needn’t feel reliant on dairy for our calcium needs. Although during my pregnancy and early months of breastfeeding I enjoyed goat’s milk yogurt a couple of days a week, I am back to being dairy-free completely. At the time, my body signalled to me that it wanted and needed a little dairy and I listened. But I know that even a little dairy, of any kind, for me can trigger sneezing and congestion in my sinuses. A 2014 study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported that the inflammatory impact is not found with dairy that contains A2 casein rather than A1. A1 casein is found in the milk of the Holstein Friesian cows used for the majority of industrial dairy farming. A2 casein is found in the milk of Jersey and Guernsey cows, Asian and African cow breeds, sheep and goats.You can purchase milk, cheese and yogurt from Jersey or Guernsey cows here in the US. My favorite brand is St Benoit, which is an organic range including milk, yogurt and cheese, produced in Sonoma County, California. But in my household the dairy that is mostly on offer is goat’s, partly because it’s much easier to get a hold of and you can be certain is does not contain A1 casein. Organic and grass-fed goats is a perfect dairy alternative for children and it’s what I give my daughter in addition to a rotation of home-made nutmilks. Despite being a cow dairy-free household we still have ice-cream in the freezer - my husband’s favorite brand is LaLoo’s Goat Milk Ice Cream, but I love Coconut Bliss. My husband enjoys cheese occasionally and so we keep on hand a sheep’s milk manchego. When it comes to milk alternatives for cooking and drinking - I like to get nut varieties because you get a higher nutrient content with those than you’ll find with grain-based varieties. It’s ideal to make your own nut milk at home as you’ll avoid the acidic acid found in most store-bought kinds. I personally like to rotate with almond, cashew and coconut. My personal favorite is the Native Forest coconut milk. 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,AlisaGood things come in threes:

I want to hear from you!

First, are you already dairy-free? Second, do you have PCOS? Third, everyone you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social ;)

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

Vitex can be a great help for women with a number of different conditions and in a number of different situations. However, we do not recommend Vitex to  those who have been diagnosed with PCOS, except in one specific circumstance, which we will explain below.

Vitex is a fantastic tool - it’s well-researched and evidenced as being helpful for women with problematic menstrual cycles - but, as with any herb or supplement, it does not have a chance of helping you if it’s the only thing you choose to change about your daily routine. Any kind of period or cycle-related problem needs to be addressed from a functional medicine perspective - food first, then supplements, then specifically targeted lifestyle hacks, which means living in your FLO. Supplements of any kind are best seen as a way to super-charge your other efforts with diet and lifestyle changes. They are never a solution in themselves.

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Why most women with PCOS shouldn’t use Vitex

Vitex increases progesterone levels by increasing LH (luteinizing hormone) levels, and it suppresses prolactin levels. The result is increased ovulatory cycles. This sounds like a perfect scenario for PCOS sufferers, but there’s a problem. Vitex can actually worsen PCOS for some because their LH levels are already high. If you know your LH level is high (if you don’t know, ask for a hormone panel blood test from your doctor), you should not use Vitex. Most women have the kind of PCOS that is insulin-resistant and comes with high LH, and should avoid Vitex.

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When you should take Vitex if you have PCOS

If you have PCOS with normal LH levels and high prolactin levels, you might consider using Vitex. You can have your prolactin levels tested by your doctor. This kind of PCOS has a different root cause, usually inflammation from allergens like dairy and gluten, or as the result of using the birth control pill. Vitex in this case can help to suppress prolactin levels and increase ovulatory cycles.

But Vitex is a slow-acting herb. You will need to commit to taking it for up to 3 months to see any change in your cycles or improvement of symptoms. Be sure to purchase Vitex from a reputable, long-standing supplement company like Gaia, so you know you are getting a potent formulation, without fillers.

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What to take instead of Vitex to manage your PCOS

There are several kinds of PCOS, but these two supplements will work for any woman with the condition. They will work best in conjunction with the FLO Living diet and lifestyle protocol.

• Cinnamon - we suggest taking the cinnamon supplement from New Chapter. Cinnamon is a proven natural treatment for insulin-resistant PCOS. You can also add cinnamon to your oatmeal, eggs or beans and make it part of your meals.

• Magnesium - Try a topical form of magnesium, like those created by Ancient Minerals, or you can opt for the powdered form from Natural Calm. Magnesium is an essential mineral that most of us are deficient in, but it’s a proven treatment for improving insulin resistance.

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You might be surprised to hear that I got a head cold this month. It was a surprise to me too, because it had been 3 whole years since I was last sick. When was the last time you were sick? I got this head cold from my daughter who, with a still growing and strengthening immune system, is susceptible. I’m more susceptible myself right now, not just because of close proximity to my daughter’s cold, but because my immunity is slightly suppressed from breastfeeding and sleep interruption - you know, living with a two year old! Having kids can make you more likely to get sick - it’s not just that they go to nursery, pre-school and school with a bunch of other kids, but also that you’re often finding yourself losing sleep, not eating properly, getting stressed - all the kinds of things that can weaken your immunity. But as the seasons change, with the shift in temperature to cooler days and cold nights, everyone’s body experiences a phase of down-regulation of metabolism which if you’re already on toxic overload and decreased immunity can make you susceptible to catching what’s going around. That’s why instead of waiting to spot treat illnesses as the come along, it’s always a good idea to be well-prepared with an immune-strengthening diet and lifestyle in every season.So, what did I do when I got sick? I took really good care of myself by reaching for my favorite immunity-boosting supplements. I dosed myself with these, plus bone broth and large helpings of sauerkraut. I kept myself well hydrated. And you know what, I fought that head cold off fast! I already had my medicine cabinet packed with natural remedies that support my body’s own immunity strengths.

The 7 best immunity-boosting supplements

Remember that no amount of supplements will prevent you from getting sick unless you eat a diet every day of the year that consists of foods that boost your health, and avoid immunity-sapping activities like drinking too much alcohol, coffee, not getting enough sleep, and not practicing self-care. These supplements are very effective, but only as a part of a wider daily, year-round effort to support your body’s needs.

• Vitamin C - you immune system cells need vitamin C to perform at their best. Research has shown that those who suffer with stress or are in high-energy positions (like every mom I know!) can see a significant reduction - up to 50% - in the number of colds they get and the severity of those colds by taking vitamin C supplements.
• Echinacea - this herbal remedy is proven to protect against colds and lessen the severity of cold symptoms.
• Zinc - zinc plays a central role in the immune system. One of the first signs of zinc deficiency is increased coughs and colds. Zinc is one of the most researched nutrients in terms of its importance to our immunity.
• D3 - vitamin D deficiency is one of the most common nutrient deficiencies there is and it’s best supplemented with sun exposure. If you live in a part of the world that’s dark most of winter, consider booking a sunny break. Be sure to maximize your sun time when it is summer, prior to the winter months setting in.
• Probiotics - the more we come to understand the immune system, the more we come to realize much of our health lies in our balance of gut bacteria. Sauerkraut, kimchi, pickle juice, or a good quality probiotic supplement are essential throughout the year to maintain strong immunity.
• Elderberry - this herbal treatment is a great way to stimulate and enhance your immunity, as well as fight off the colds that you do end up with. It’s even good at fighting flu symptoms. Consider using this supplement before and after you know you will be exposed to other people’s germs, for example when you have a flight home for the holidays or a work party.
• Fermented cod liver oil - this supplement gives you those essential fatty acids that are critical to health. It also contains a good amount of vitamin D and another immunity-boosting nutrient, vitamin A.

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

Good things come in threes:

I want to hear from you!First, do you often get colds? Second, do you take supplements and what kind? Third, everyone you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social ;)

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

The best way to avoid overindulging on Thanksgiving is to keep your own needs front and center throughout the holidays. That doesn’t just go for Thanksgiving either, but also all the holiday parties and celebrations to come.

When you have been working to restore your hormonal health and have committed to your goal of banishing your PMS, or managing your PCOS, or preventing your horrible period cramps each month, then a desire to overindulge, binge, or eat hormonally-toxic foods is less likely to come from within you, and more likely to be down to pressure from family and friends to do as they do and forgo your health for the sake of preserving tradition. It’s hard enough to turn away the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes covered in marshmallow, the cookies, the cocktails, but it can be even harder when you’re a lone health ranger in your family.

There’s no need to hurt yourself with food. The holidays are about coming together and spending time with those you love. Be a good “host” to your body during this time. Don’t feel pressured to be a good guest or a good host to others by eating and drinking in a way you know will cause you suffering later.

As women we tend to be socialized to be people-pleasers. I’m here to say, you don’t need to make everyone happy at the expense of yourself. You deserve to put yourself and your health goals first, whether that’s your desire to conceive or your desire for clear skin - if it’s important enough to you that you’re here reading this, it’s important enough that your friends and family support it. It’s a great opportunity to practice holding firm healthy boundaries and compassionately sharing your new point of view with those willing to hear.

That said, I want you to feel good even if you have overindulged this Thanksgiving! So here’s how to detox from 3 of the most common holiday experiences.

Carb Overload

You’ve eaten too much white bread, mashed potatoes, or pastry-heavy desserts. The gluten and the sugar are endocrine disruptive and you need to off-set your exposure if you want to avoid symptoms like an irregular cycle, missing period, acne, mood swings, cramps and more.

How to detox

Have a “Paleo day” post Thanksgiving to prevent a cycle of carb-cravings and limit the damage to your hormones. For breakfast, have eggs with coconut oil. For lunch, have some of that leftover turkey with avocados and greens. Have a cup of bone broth, too. Steer away from the grains and gluten-free carbs today and give your gut the break. Take a fiber supplement to sweep out the white flour residue. It’s always a good idea to take a brisk walk right after eating carbs - it’ll help your body use up the glucose for fuel.

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Sugar High

Sugar causes hormonal havoc - mood swings, PMS, missing periods, infertility. There’s not much good I can say about the white stuff.

How to detox

Resist reaching for “the hair of the dog” sugar-wise and eating some dessert for breakfast. Sugar is highly addictive, so you’re best to turn to the “methadone-like” alternatives of sweet potatoes, butternut squash, parsnips, and yams to curtail your cravings and bring you down gently without the withdrawal anxiety, moodiness and stress. Interval training (fast walking followed by a slower pace) will help you today.

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Excessive Alcohol

A glass of good red wine won’t hurt you, but 3 or 4, or even worse, hard alcohol cocktails, and your body’s hangover will continue way beyond the headache. Alcohol raises your estrogen levels, and makes liver function more sluggish, leading to estrogen dominance - the root cause of many hormonal health issues.

How to Detox

You’ll want to concentrate on detoxing your liver so it can go back to processing your hormones and avoiding build-up. Take a B vitamin supplement and a high-dose vitamin C supplement in the morning. Drink lots of coconut water throughout the day. You can also whizz up my liver detox juice: combine a handful of spinach, 4 stalks of cucumber, half a bunch of cilantro, one-third a bunch of parsley, half a lemon with rind, half a green apple, and a small carrot in a blender or juicer. A hatha yoga class will help you sweat it out.

This Thanksgiving will be the first that my daughter (now just over 2 years old) will eat a real Thanksgiving meal. I just know she’ll be curious and excited to try everything on the table. And I’m looking forward to introducing her to some of my favorite recipes and the tradition of giving thanks and gratitude. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because it allows me to indulge in amazing food that’s totally hormone-friendly and hormone-supportive. I can take a whole bunch of my favorite ingredients - like sweet potatoes and organic turkey - and make some really nutritious, nourishing dishes. I like to keep it simple cooking-wise, so I can spend more quality time with my family, as that, to me, is what this holiday is all about.In last year’s Thanksgiving post, I highlighted for you the importance of eating breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. Many of us are inclined to skip it. But, as much as you can, you should try to stick to your normal eating routine of three meals per day, instead of eating nothing or snacking on appetizers until a big, oversized, Thanksgiving dinner at 4pm. Eat a good breakfast, and serve your meal at the normal time - like 1pm. Then, later that day, you can have the dessert or a second plate of leftovers. This pattern is essential to maintain blood sugar balance, and, as a result, hormonal balance. You’ll enjoy the day more too as you’ll avoid that hangry feeling as well as the post-binge bloat.

My Thanksgiving meal plan

I make the entire Thanksgiving dinner the day before. The day of Thanksgiving I just put my turkey in the oven at 6.30am and then later on, warm up all the delicious sides in the oven. That way I can concentrate on enjoying my time with my family. Plus we get to eat at 1pm, rather than waiting until late afternoon. We’ll start our meal with a cup of homemade bone broth. Check out my recipe. It’s really the perfect Thanksgiving appetizer.Dinner will consist of: An organic turkey and, instead of mashed potatoes, a special sweet potatoe smashed roots recipe, and instead of green bean cassarole, my green beans dish with fennel. I’ll have a side of stuffing made from from buckwheat, apples, onions and herbs. My cranberry sauce recipe is so easy - just cranberries, juices, and honey. Plus a little helping of sauerkraut to help the microbiome along with this larger-than-normal intake of food. For dessert (which usually I save for the evening), we have apple cobbler made with coconut oil and cinnamon. My daughter will happily try out all of these dishes - she’s already a fan of green beans! What will you be eating this Thanksgiving? Share your recipes in the comments or on social media with #FLOholiday 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,AlisaGood things come in threes:

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