Eating and Moving For Your Cycle: Understanding Your Cycle to Live and Feel Your Best

By Kailee Karst, Heather Evans and Carly Teigeler

We wrote Eating and Moving for Your Cycle because we're passionate about education! There is a lack of comprehensive public education about the menstrual cycle and reproductive health and we believe that in order to optimize your well-being throughout your cycle, it is vital to become familiar with these stages and what they i

• Language: English
• Publisher: Eating and Moving, LLC
• Release date: Jan 9, 2024
• ISBN: 9781950306626

Kailee Karst

Kailee has her doctorate in physical therapy and currently sees patients in her clinic in Richmond, Virginia. Since writing the book, she has taken a deep dive into anatomy and physiology (including manual therapy for conditions like PCOS, endometriosis, and IBS) and loves pulling info from the book for her clients with PCOS, endometriosis, heavy menstrual bleeding, and period pain! On top of being a physical therapist, Kailee has been teaching yoga for over ten years. Knowing how much of a difference yoga has made in her life, she is passionate about helping people find a yoga practice that fits their own individual needs. Kailee is currently accepting new clients (online and in clinic), so feel free to reach out!

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Contents

Introduction

The Science Behind Your Cycle

Hormones: Our Bodies’ Chemical Messengers

Your Cycle And Nervous System: Why The Nervous System Is Vital To Well-Being

Stress And Your Cycle

The Gut: A New Division Of The Nervous System

Inflammation And Your Cycle

Your Cycle Explained

The Stages Of Your Cycle: The Sparknotes Version

The Hormones Of Your Cycle

Nutrition Overview

Gut Health Basics

Macronutrients

Carbohydrates

Proteins

Fats

Cholesterol

Micronutrients

Vitamin B6

Folate (B9)

Vitamin B12

Vitamin D

Vitamin E

Magnesium

Calcium

Iron

Zinc

Selenium

Iodine

Glutathione

Micronutrient Takeaways

Food Allergies And Intolerances

Stress And Your Gut

Movement Overview

Using Your Cycle To Optimize Athletic Performance

Exercise Research And Your Cycle

Macronutrients, Exercise, And The Menstrual Cycle

Exercise Recommendations

Muscle Soreness – Is It A Necessary Part Of Working Out?

The Benefits Of Exercise: Looking At The Whole Body

Eating And Moving For Your Cycle

Menstruation: Day 1 – End Of Bleeding

The Follicular Phase: Days 1 - 14

Ovulation: Days 12 - 14

The Luteal Phase: Days 15 - 28

Problems With Your Cycle

Emotional Fluctuations And Your Cycle

Pms - Is It Just Something We Have To Suffer Through?

Pmdd - How Is It Different From Pms?

Estrogen Dominance: The Great Balancing Act

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (Pcos)

Endometriosis

Heavy Menstrual Bleeding

Uterine Fibroids

Iron Deficiency

Missing Periods

Athletes And Period Problems

Fad Diets, Sugar, And Your Cycle

The Paleo Diet

The Ketogenic And Atkins Diets

The Mediterranean Diet

Vegetarianism And Veganism

Intermittent Fasting: The Truth About Fasting And Your Cycle

Sugar And Food Labels

The Basics Of Hormonal Birth Control

Oral Contraceptives (The Pill):

Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives

Effects Of Birth Control On Mental And Physical Health

Non-Hormonal Birth Control

Fam: Fertility Awareness Method

Non-Hormonal Iuds (Intrauterine Devices)

Condoms

Diaphragms

Sponges

The Withdrawal Or Pull-Out Method

A Note On Feminine Hygiene Products

Restoring Your Cycle

Nutrition

Nutrition Guidelines For Period Problems

Estrogen Dominance, Pms, And Pmdd

Pcos

Endometriosis

Heavy Menstrual Bleeding

Amenorrhea (Missing Periods)

Movement

Stress Management

Sleep

Community

Recipes

Interval Training Workouts For Your Cycle

Yoga Workouts

Endnotes

INTRODUCTION

Are you ready to make changes that will positively impact your health and how you feel throughout your cycle? Do you have painful periods, polycystic ovary syndrome, or endometriosis? Do you feel confused and overwhelmed with all of the contradicting health information available and are not sure where to start?

You are not alone, and we’re so glad you’re here!

This book is written to empower you to understand how daily decisions can create greater physical and mental well-being and radically impact how you feel. Citing over 800 peer-reviewed sources, this book is based on current science to promote evidence-based recommendations, emphasizing a holistic approach to health and well-being for individuals with a menstrual cycle. Our goal is to present information in a way that is easy to understand and integrate into your life.

While we focus on eating and moving to optimize your cycle and overall health, we want to remind you this information is meant to be educational and not diagnostic. We hope to help you become aware of which issues need to be addressed with your healthcare team and what questions may be relevant to ask.

This book focuses on the typical hormonal changes occurring on a monthly basis for individuals with a menstrual cycle, and we believe this information is useful for anyone and everyone!

If you have a menstrual cycle and want to use the information in this book, great! If you don’t have a menstrual cycle, there is still some research you might find interesting, and it may give you some ideas for healthy lifestyle hacks for you and your loved ones (because who doesn’t love a good bio-hack?). This book may also help you understand the physical and emotional fluctuations of your friends, family, and loved ones with menstrual cycles.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

We wrote this book to answer the questions we’ve found to be common among individuals with a cycle and to give an explanation of why you might experience period problems, sometimes without even realizing it. The book is divided into sections to help answer your questions about your cycle.

• Part 1 – The Science: This section focuses on the nervous system, sex hormones, and stress hormones.

• Part 2 – Your Cycle Explained: This section dives into the specifics of the menstrual cycle and is the foundational information about the monthly changes occurring in your body.

• Part 3 – Period Problems: This section covers topics including cramps, premenstrual syndrome (also known as PMS), estrogen dominance, polycystic ovary syndrome (also known as PCOS), endometriosis, and much more.

• Part 4 – Restoring Your Cycle: This section gives insight into healing our hormones with proper nourishment and healthy movement.

THE HEALTH PYRAMID

You will notice we love nerding out about science and the body, but it’s important to view health as a pyramid. Each person’s body and health needs are specific and unique, but there are general principles that play a role in establishing a foundation of health.

The bottom of the pyramid includes the basics: movement, nutrition, hydration, sleep, stress management, and community. All of these are vital aspects of health and well-being, and you may find it challenging to heal if each is not addressed.

So, before you reach for external answers (supplements, strict diet plans, cleanses, and detoxes) for your health problems, ask yourself these quick, simple questions:

• Am I getting some sort of movement each day, or at least three thirty-minute movement sessions per week?

• Am I getting five servings of fruits and veggies each day?

• Am I drinking half of my body weight in ounces of water each day?

• Am I getting a baseline of seven to nine hours of sleep per night?

• Am I able to handle the daily stress in my life?

• Do I have a good emotional and mental support system?

Once you have answered these questions honestly, you will hopefully have a better understanding of what your specific well-being needs are. You may want to start with some basic practices before reaching for flashy wellness gimmicks.

GIVE YOURSELF A YEAR

It’s important to remember that with all things, change takes time. When we realize the way we treat our bodies influences how we feel, it creates a mental framework, helping us make better choices for our bodies on a daily basis. These changes accumulate over time, affecting our overall health and well-being. If you started today, imagine how much progress you could make in one year. In the long term, think about what a difference it could make in ten years! When you start making small, positive decisions for your health by exercising, eating well, and maintaining healthy relationships, you will feel your very best.

So put away your scales, friends. Start thinking about how you feel on the inside instead of how you look on the outside. Weight does not define health or happiness. We celebrate all bodies as beautiful bodies, worthy of healthy nourishment, movement, and love. You’ll be surprised how this shift in mindset can help shape a healthy, happy life.

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHORS

New science is always emerging, and the research referenced in this book is by no means a complete overview of all the research conducted over the years. This is a compilation of some of the science we found to be relevant to hormone health and general well-being. We included the sources of our information and encourage you to look up any articles you think are relevant to you. It’s important to investigate when it comes to the questions you have about your health.

This book is full of general information and is in no way meant to diagnose or treat pre-existing conditions. If you relate to any of the problems we mention, please speak with a healthcare provider, and remember to consult with a provider before making changes to your current diet or exercise routine.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND YOUR CYCLE

FIVE MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT YOUR CYCLE

Misconception 1: Birth control pills, also known as hormonal contraception, are the only option for treatment of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, and irregular periods.

• We’ll talk all about birth control and how it affects the body, as well as other symptom management strategies, later in this book.

Misconception 2: You have a normal menstrual cycle if you’re on the pill.

• If you’re on hormonal contraception, you actually don’t have a true cycle!

Misconception 3: Bleeding through a super tampon or overnight pad in one to two hours is normal.

• This is actually not normal. You should let a medical provider know if you frequently bleed through your pads or tampons, or wear pads just in case when you’re using a tampon.

Misconception 4: It’s normal for healthy athletes to miss periods regularly.

• While some athletes do have healthy menstrual cycles, this isn’t always the case. Missing your period for any reason besides pregnancy is a sign that something is not right.

Misconception 5: PMS is a normal part of life.

• We’ll debunk this myth about PMS in the PMS chapter!

The goal of this book is to describe the best practices of eating and moving for a normal cycle, meaning one without the inhibition of cycling caused by hormonal contraceptives. Once you start paying attention to your body and using your cycle as a tool to optimize your well-being rather than inhibit it, you will be amazed at your hidden potential for living your best life. A big part of the process of transformation is listening to your body and making informed decisions about what is best for you when it comes to nourishing your body with food and movement and maintaining healthy relationships.

It’s important to understand the science behind the inner workings of your body so you can make the best, most educated decisions about how you take care of yourself. The ways in which you eat and move have an impact on your nervous system and hormone production, which both play a large role in just about every process in your body!

Note: If you’re not into science, you can skip straight to page 99, which focuses specifically on the menstrual cycle. We encourage you to read the following sections as we discuss the nervous system, hormones, and how these systems are intricately connected. If you’re like us and enjoy biology and anatomy, the Khan Academy has excellent videos on basic biology, anatomy, and neuroscience. TeachMeAnatomy.com has great review materials for human anatomy—and they’re both free! We encourage readers to learn as much about their bodies as they can. We all live in one, so the more you know, the better you can understand yourself.

HORMONES: OUR BODIES’ CHEMICAL MESSENGERS

Hormones are responsible for the changes occurring in our bodies during the menstrual cycle. While we usually think about messages being transmitted throughout the body by the nervous system, did you know hormones play a role in relaying messages, too?

Hormone production and activation is a dynamic system responsible for facilitating communication between different areas and systems within the body and creating physiological changes based on this communication. This system is known as the endocrine system.

You can think of hormones as little keys traveling throughout the body. They bind to specific proteins known as receptors, which are like locks. The matching receptors allow hormones to be effective and unlock actions in the body. Hormones can create an action in the location where they are made, or they can be secreted into the bloodstream to produce actions in other areas of the body. Hormones influence systems such as the reproductive, skeletal, muscular, cardiac, digestive, and immune systems.

We will go into the specific hormones of the menstrual cycle in the chapter Your Cycle Explained. For now, let’s take a look at our nervous system and how it plays an integral role in the health of our menstrual cycle.

YOUR CYCLE AND NERVOUS SYSTEM: WHY THE NERVOUS SYSTEM IS VITAL TO WELL-BEING

Nerves relay messages to different parts of the body, but unlike hormones, which create chemical messages, nerves transmit messages based on electrical impulses. The nervous system plays a key role in transmitting and processing information in the body and includes the brain, spinal cord, and all the nerves running throughout the body.

The nervous system is constantly adapting to what’s happening in and around our bodies. The ability of the brain to adjust to the world around us is known as neuroplasticity. Our brains and bodies are constantly changing, so why not shift this change in a positive direction?

Creating changes in our nervous system can be as simple as adjusting our daily habits. Research has shown variables such as diet and physical activity can produce changes in our brain and nervous system, meaning the choices we make regarding food and exercise can influence our nervous system response! This shows we do have some control over how we feel, and health is not something that happens to us but is a lifestyle we play an active role in every day.

In order to better understand the concept of neuroplasticity, it is important to understand the nervous system. Let’s start with the basics.

DIVISIONS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

The nervous system is divided into the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system. The central nervous system is located in the center of the body and includes the brain and spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system is composed of the nerves throughout the rest of the body, which can control both voluntary and automatic processes.

The somatic nervous system is the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls voluntary actions, like running down a soccer field or doing a warrior pose in yoga. These are actions requiring active thought.

The autonomic nervous system is the part of the peripheral nervous system that controls all of our basic and involuntary functions, including breathing, heart rate, and digestion. Thankfully, we don’t have to actively think about these processes all day long!

PRO TIP

While the autonomic nervous system functions without us thinking about it, one way to influence our autonomic nervous system response is by changing our breathing patterns.

THE LIMBIC SYSTEM: EMOTIONAL REGULATION AND THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

Did you know there are specific areas of the brain responsible for regulating emotional response, behavior, memory, and smell? And guess what? These areas of the brain are constantly adapting and changing the signals they send based on the environment inside and outside of our body. This system is known as the limbic system.

Estrogen is one of the primary hormones involved in the menstrual cycle, and certain parts of the brain involved in our emotional response have a high presence of estrogen receptors. This relationship between our brain and estrogen receptors may explain some of the differences in stress-coping mechanisms, learning, anxiety, and mood in menstruating people.

THE HPA AXIS: OUR MIND-BODY CONNECTION

While the limbic system is composed of the specific parts of the brain associated with emotion, smell, and memory, the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis, also referred to as the HPA axis, is the link between our nervous system, hormone system and stress response. The HPA axis connects the hypothalamus in the brain with the pituitary and adrenal glands, which are part of the endocrine system. This allows these systems to coordinate and create physiological changes in the body based on what’s happening in our internal and external environment.

The hypothalamus is responsible for merging information from the brain, spinal cord, and brainstem and relaying this information to the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland, known as our master gland, communicates with other glands to specify which hormones they should release. Glands create hormones that can be released into the bloodstream to be transferred throughout the body. The adrenal glands influence our response to stress, which we will talk about in the next section of this chapter.

FASCINATING FACT

A 1995 review found the HPA axis is heavily influenced by limbic system structures. If you feel afraid or think you’re in danger, this will affect the physiological processes in the body, including those that influence the menstrual cycle.

THE HPA AXIS IN ACTION

Let’s take a look at the limbic system and HPA axis in action. Imagine you are at the start of a trail that divides into two paths. One path leads you to a gigantic grizzly bear, which triggers your body’s fight/flight/freeze/fawn* response. The second path leads you past a peaceful meadow, which triggers your body’s rest-and-digest response.

*While most of us have heard of fight/flight/freeze, the fawn response is when individuals in high stress situations immediately try to please the people around them in order to avoid conflict.

The body sends signals to parts of the limbic system in the brain, such as the amygdala. The amygdala is a key player in our emotional response and is well known for its role in our perception of fear and response to perceived threats. The amygdala and other areas of the brain then send signals to the hypothalamus, which initiates communication with the pituitary gland to release different hormones, setting our body’s response into action. Do you need to run quickly away from immediate danger, or can you walk slowly, relaxing and enjoying the sunshine?

FASCINATING FACT

There is evidence that oral contraceptives and other medications may cause dysregulation of the HPA axis and lead to increased cortisol levels. Cortisol is one of our main stress hormones, which we’ll discuss in the next few sections. We want you to feel comfortable asking questions when it comes to what you are putting into your body because medications can have more consequences than just the desired effect.

STRESS AND YOUR CYCLE

Stress is a word commonly used in our modern culture, but what does it actually mean? Stress is how our body responds to changes in our internal or external environments. This response can be based on previous experience or our perception of safety. The concept of stress is particularly interesting in the present day because most aspects of our life are safe, but psychosocial and emotional situations can create feelings of unease and fear.

OUR CHEMICAL RESPONSE TO STRESS

Our biochemical response to stress can affect our cycles, which is one of the reasons we focus so much on addressing stress!

Stress can influence levels of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), potentially affecting menstrual problems like missing periods and lack of ovulation.

TYPES OF STRESS

We all experience stress as part of our normal lives. Daily activities such as caregiving, commuting and work, life changes including moving, marriage, or divorce, and things out of our control like natural disasters (and pandemics!) can all initiate our stress response. There may also be other things happening in the background, for instance, noise pollution, crowding, and air quality that may contribute to high stress levels without you even realizing it!

Short-term stress affects the body differently than chronic, long-term stress. The longer a person experiences high levels of stress, the greater the harmful consequences in the body.

Prolonged stress can increase risk of issues with your cardiovascular and immune systems and can negatively impact the gastrointestinal system, causing inefficient digestion of food, poor metabolism of nutrients, and bowel problems including constipation or diarrhea.

The good news is that there are a variety of tools we can use to change how we perceive and manage the stress we encounter.

CHANGING HOW OUR BODIES REACT TO STRESS AND FEAR

Did you know we can actively change how our bodies respond to stress and fear? Our bodies respond to stress as we perceive the environment around us. Changing how we view and internalize what’s happening in our surroundings can influence how our bodies physiologically respond to stress. This is why mindfulness practices can be so beneficial.

We often hear about mindfulness—but what is it? Mindfulness is simply paying attention to the present moment. One of the easiest ways to practice mindfulness is to be aware of your breathing or any physical sensations you’re experiencing in a given moment. Examples of mindfulness include:

• Taking a long breath in through the nose and exhaling through the mouth or nose, feeling the air as it moves in and out of the body

• Feeling sensations on your skin, such as the wind or air on your skin or the clothes on your body, like an itchy sweater or a soft cotton shirt

• Observing the smell of your environment, such as the essential oils in a diffuser, the woods you’re walking in, or the flowers nearby

One of the reasons we talk about mindfulness and yoga in detail is because these practices influence the nervous system. Something as simple as paying attention to your breathing can help regulate emotions through its effects on the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex, which are part of the limbic system. This may be why treatments including mindfulness have been associated with improvements in symptoms related to depression!

Along with creating positive changes in the areas of the brain responsible for emotional reactions, breathing exercises can also stimulate your vagus nerve, which aids in creating a relaxation response in the body. This means there are multiple benefits in the body when incorporating mindfulness and relaxation techniques into your routine. Keep reading to learn more about the vagus nerve!

THE VAGUS NERVE: THE BIGGEST PLAYER IN OUR REST-AND-DIGEST RESPONSE

The vagus nerve plays a key role in our parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for our rest-and-digest response.

The primary role of the vagus nerve is to sense the internal environment in the body. It has more sensory fibers than responsive fibers, which means it plays a huge role in our awareness about the internal environment in our body and gut.

The vagus nerve starts at the brainstem and has nerve endings in various organs in the body, allowing these organs to communicate back and forth with the brain. It has branches in the abdomen, influencing digestion and GI functions and may be one of the ways the gut and brain communicate, influencing the positive psychological effects of a healthy gut. Because of its positive influence on GI function, vagus nerve stimulation has even been proposed as a treatment strategy for irritable bowel syndrome, also known as IBS!

FASCINATING FACT

For those of you interested in current research, vagal tone is a measurement of the activity of the vagus nerve. Increased vagal tone is associated with our parasympathetic or rest-and-digest response. This means that by stimulating the vagus nerve, we can transition ourselves out of our fight/flight/freeze/fawn response and into our rest-and-digest response.

We are passionate about sharing the information in this book because simply changing the way we breathe can optimize our nervous system, leading to greater health. While medical treatments have been created to stimulate the vagus nerve by sending impulses through a medical device, we want you to understand that there are ways to naturally stimulate the vagus nerve. Check out our section Restoring Your Cycle to learn more.

THE GUT: A NEW DIVISION OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

Gut health is a major factor contributing to overall health and well-being, and it plays a critical role in every system of the body.

FASCINATING FACT

Did you know the gut has over 100 million neurons, which is more than the spinal cord and peripheral nervous system? These neurons can act independently of the rest of the nervous system, and because of this, it is now considered to be its own division of the autonomic nervous system! This new division is called the enteric nervous system. Some researchers have even nicknamed the gut as our second brain due to its influence on physical and mental health.

Your gut holds a collection of bacteria, viruses, and fungi collectively known as the gut microbiome. The gut microbiome plays an important role in the internal environment of your body, making it a vital player in how you feel.

Along with aiding in digestion, the gut microbiome influences the release of chemical messengers and markers of inflammation, and it may even impact cognition and mood through its influence on neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that allow nerves to pass signals to each other.

Serotonin is a particularly important neurotransmitter due to its role in mood, behavior, and memory. It’s estimated that ninety-five percent of serotonin is found in the gut, making gut health vital for emotional regulation and behavior.

This is particularly relevant to menstruating people because of serotonin’s role in mood and premenstrual symptoms. We’ll talk about serotonin and your cycle in our chapter on premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), but if you’re taking antidepressants in the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor family, known as SSRIs, it may be beneficial to add addressing gut health into your treatment plan. As always, talk with a medical provider about any changes you make, especially if you are on medications.

Another neurotransmitter relevant to mental and physical health is dopamine, and it’s estimated that fifty percent of dopamine is produced in the gut. Dopamine is associated with processes like cognition, motivation, reward responses, motor control, and reproductive behaviors, and may even play a role in the regulation of inflammation in the body.

Our gut influences the production of these key neurotransmitters and other chemicals associated with mood, cognition, and inflammation. A healthy enteric nervous system is vital to how we feel in both body and mind!

YOUR CYCLE AND DISEASES OF THE GUT

Gut health and mental health are intricately linked, making diseases of the gut important to understand and address. Irritable bowel syndrome (known as IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (known as IBD) are two common diagnoses among menstruating people, and according to a 2018 review IBS is more common in menstruating people.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a condition defined by abdominal pain or discomfort and changes in bowel habits with no known medical cause, making it a very frustrating diagnosis! Common symptoms of IBS include abdominal discomfort, bowel problems, bloating, and distention, and symptoms may worsen after eating. IBS can be characterized by loose stools and diarrhea, known as IBS-D; constipation, known as IBS-C; or both. IBS-C is more common in individuals who cycle, and we want you to know constipation is not normal or healthy, especially if you have a menstrual cycle or hormone problems.

IBS has been linked with anxiety, depression, and fatigue, which can negatively influence quality of life. Individuals with IBS may also be at a higher risk of developing psychiatric disorders, including depressive and sleep disorders, bipolar disorder, and anxiety within the first five years of diagnosis.

Because of the interplay between gut and psychological health, treating IBS may involve more than just treating the GI tract. A 2019 study found cognitive behavioral therapy, which is therapy focused on emotional regulation and behavioral changes, and Qigong-based exercises, which involve slow, mindful movement, may be a beneficial treatment strategy for management of IBS-D symptoms.

Who would have thought addressing mental health could be the first step towards creating a healthy gut? We are big fans of licensed clinical social workers, counselors, therapists, psychiatrists, and psychologists. We’re passionate about what we’re writing because physical and mental health go hand in hand, and both should be taken into consideration.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a group of disorders related to inflammation in the GI tract. The most common forms of IBD are Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. A 2013 study looking at patients receiving military-based health care found IBD to be more common in menstruating versus non-menstruating people, and a 2021 review found higher rates of Crohn’s disease in menstruating people, while ulcerative colitis rates seem to be similar between the groups.

Why does this matter? IBD may influence how you feel throughout your cycle. A 2020 study found higher rates of premenstrual and menstrual symptoms in individuals with IBD.

The good news? Sleep and physical activity may help with IBD symptoms! According to the CDC, low physical activity and sleeping less than seven hours per night may increase risk of developing IBD, so if you start to manage these health factors, you may positively influence your gut health and maybe even your menstrual health! Stress and smoking may also increase risk of developing IBD, making these important aspects of health to manage as well.

One of the goals of this book is to help menstruating people understand how menstrual health and overall well-being are intricately linked. Our nervous system, hormones, gut, and overall health are delicately intertwined, and what is healthy for those of us with a menstrual cycle may be different from what is healthiest for our non-cycling counterparts. We want to celebrate our uniqueness and give space to educate ourselves on how to best serve our bodies—they’re the only ones we get!

EXERCISE AND YOUR GUT

You’re probably starting to realize the importance of good nutrition. But guess what? There’s new research coming out about the positive effects of exercise on gut health.

According to a 2017 review, exercise may increase the total number and types of good bacteria in the gut while creating a better environment for beneficial bacteria to thrive. These changes in the gut microbiome can improve overall health and may even help slow the progression of certain diseases.

Cardiorespiratory fitness has also been linked to increased gut microbiome diversity, which means improving your fitness may improve your gut health. Because of this, exercise has been proposed as an effective adjunct therapy in combating health problems associated with microbial imbalances in the gut.

FASCINATING FACT

While many of us relate body mass index (BMI) with health status, we would be remiss not to mention our belief that BMI is not a good representation of overall health. In regards to the gut microbiome, a 2018 study analyzing first-year college students found BMI did not affect the number and diversity of bacteria in the gut. What did positively affect the gut microbiome was differences in physical activity and fiber consumption, both of which we address in this book.

Even though it’s easy to have a go-hard-or-go-home exercise mentality, even low-intensity exercise may be beneficial for gut health! A 2001 review found low-intensity exercise may have positive benefits on the GI tract, and exercise may reduce the risk of colon cancer by up to fifty percent.

Exercising too hard may have temporary negative effects on the gut. While the gut can normally meet the demands of exercise by balancing fluids, electrolytes, and nutrients, a review in 2000 found prolonged high-intensity activity may produce GI distress and tissue damage if a person is dehydrated. If you’re engaging in high-intensity exercise, hydration and proper nutrition are key!

To optimize the health of your enteric nervous system (and improve overall health), keep active and eat well. Remember, ninety percent of serotonin and fifty percent of dopamine are produced in the gut, so a healthy gut helps support a healthy mind. The Standard American Diet, SAD, is not ideal for gut health, which is especially important if you have a menstrual cycle since menstruating people may be more susceptible to certain diseases of the gut. Exercise may promote improved gut health, but remember, everything is best in moderation. While exercise is great, endurance exercise in the heat, especially if you’re not hydrating properly, may lead to unintended GI symptoms.

INFLAMMATION AND YOUR CYCLE

Inflammation gets a bad rap; however, it actually can be beneficial! Inflammation is a sign that the body is capable of responding to tissue damage or the introduction of pathogens into the body.

Think about an ankle sprain. Acute, immediate inflammation is helpful in the initial healing process. However, chronic inflammation, which persists for months or years after the initial injury or infection, can affect the health of