Real Happy Mom

Practical tips and encouragement for moms

Your Menstrual Cycle Matters! What Your Flow and Your Foods Do to Your Energy and Burnout

LISTEN: APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY | STITCHER

Do you ever feel like your period is a curse?

I know I did! Not until I learned that being a woman and having a menstrual cycle is our superpower. It may sound crazy but stay with me.

Once you understand that our menstrual cycle is broken up into periods of extreme productivity you will see why I say it is a superpower.

Trying to operate at 100% every day during the month is a sure way to set yourself up from exhaustion and burnout. Listen to this episode with my guest Dorit to see how understanding and managing the energetics of your menstrual cycle will help to increase your productivity and profits while decreasing how much you work.

The four phases of the menstrual cycle are menstruation, the follicular phase, ovulation, and the luteal phase.

In this episode with talk about:

  • The things that we need to understand about our bodies to begin to unlock this superpower.
  • The different stages of our cycle.
  • What is happening to our body during each stage of our menstrual cycle
  • What foods to eat to support us and sustain our energy during each stage of our cycle.

If you are ready to unlock your superpower and learn how to work with your cycle to prevent burn out and fatigue, this episode is for you.

About Dorit

Dorit Palvanov is a registered holistic nutritionist, cycle-syncing expert and femininity mentor.

Through her work and podcast, Confident, Energized and Sexy Mama she empowers women to embrace their menstrual cycles as a framework to create flow in their homes, align energetically and ditch the millennia-old story that women are destined to struggle, burnout and sacrifice their health, relationships and careers if they want to ‘have it all’.

When Dorit isn’t being a typical mom by schlepping her kids to and from, you’ll find her curled up on the couch with her husband talking long hours about life or singing to his guitar.

Connect with Dorit

Links Mentioned

Subscribe & Review in Apple Podcast

Have you subscribed to the Real Happy Mom podcast? If not, I’m encouraging you to do it today.

I don’t want you to miss any upcoming episodes. I plan to add some bonus episodes that you won’t find on this website, and if you’re not subscribed, you might miss out on those. Click here to subscribe to Apple Podcast!

I would be so happy and grateful if you left me a review on Apple Podcast too. Reviews help Apple Podcast to know that this is a podcast for other moms so that other moms can find this podcast. Plus, it makes my day to read the reviews.

Just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and let me know your favorite part of the podcast. I really appreciate any help you can provide.

Don’t have Apple Podcast? You can subscribe to the podcast Google Podcast, Anchor, Spotify, Breaker, Castbox, Overcast, RadioPublic, and Stitcher.

Related blog posts

 

 

Could you leave me a message about this episode?


Transcript of this episode

Real Happy Mom 0:00
Hey there, Mom, are you juggling all the things in motherhood for managing your time getting healthy meals on the table, to being a present wife, all while making yourself a priority without feeling guilty? I get it. It’s overwhelming. And guess what? The fact that you need support doesn’t make you a bad mom. And that’s why I created the Real Happy Mom podcast. I’m Tony and a wife and a mom of two little boys as well as a general dentist and reservists in the Navy. And I get it when it comes to being a busy working mom. On the Real Happy Mom podcast. I’ll interview real moms to chat about real life experiences. These guests and experts will help you to navigate the motherhood journey by providing answers to your questions and concerns surrounding raising children, self care time management, and so much more. So if you’re ready to get rid of the overwhelm, and start being a Real Happy Mom, join me inside the Real Happy Mom podcast. Hey there, and welcome back to another episode of the Real Happy Mom podcast. This is episode number 115. And today I have a really awesome guest. I have Dori who is going to be sharing with us some ways that we can better understand our cycle, so that we can actually live a really awesome life without feeling like our cycle is a curse. Now there is a registered holistic nutritionist, cycle thinking expert and a fertility mentor. Through her work in her podcast, she is empowering women to embrace their menstrual cycles as a framework to create flow in their homes align their energy and ditch the millennia old story that women are designed to struggle, burnout and sacrifice their health relationships and careers if they want to have it all. Now in this episode, like I said, we are talking about our menstrual cycles. And the reason why I wanted to have three on on this particular episode is because I have been practicing living a more Intune life with my cycle. And this came as a result of me just being sick and tired of being on birth control. Because it all began back when I was a teenager and I had severely bad cramps like, it was almost debilitating. I remember laying on the floor like all day, like it was bad bed bed. And I honestly just thought I was supposed to suffer for a week. Because not only was my cycles really painful, my parents were very heavy. And I was miserable. And I honestly thought we were all designed to just suffer like this. And when I brought it up to my doctors, they were like, Oh, yeah, pretty much the only way you can control it is if you get on birth control. So that was one of the main reasons why I did get on birth control was to control my cycles more so that it wasn’t so painful. And yes, getting on birth control did help with making my cycles less painful, but it still didn’t make the pain go away. And I almost felt like I was like a zombie at some point. Because I was like, I didn’t feel like my body was being able to do what it was naturally supposed to do. So I finally got to a point where I was like, I don’t want to be on any medications, I want to be completely off birth control, I don’t want to have to deal with that. And I want to naturally, you know, just be in alignment with my cycle. So I stopped doing the birth control. And it was pretty scary. But I must tell you that now I don’t have these ridiculously painful periods anymore. Now I can pinpoint when I’m going through different stages in my cycle. And when it’s time for me to scale back into rest, which is the key thing that I’m learning is I need to take more time to rest. And when I need to go all in and just stay up all night and, you know, do all the things. So it’s really been a learning experience for me. But I feel like in order to get to that place, you need to understand the basics. And that’s why I brought my guests on today, she is going to be sharing with us the different stages of our cycle, what happens during these different stages and how we can eat certain foods to support us during these different stages. Now, if you’re ready to get to the point where you can get in control of your cycle, you don’t have to have these painful periods or, or acne or PMS, whatever it is that you’re suffering with when it comes to having your menstrual cycle. This is the episode you need to start with. So let’s go ahead and jump on into this week’s episode. All right, welcome to the podcast. I’m excited to have you.

Dorit 4:33
Thank you for having me. It’s such an honor.

Real Happy Mom 4:35
Yes, I have been looking forward to this because this is actually a topic we haven’t really gone into pretty much for I think the entire time we’ve had the podcast so I’m excited to have an episode finally to talk about our menstrual cycles. So thank you so much for coming on and chatting with me about this. And before we get into our topic for today, I just wanted to share a little bit about you and what you You do?

Dorit 5:01
Yes, thank you. toniann. So my name is Doreen Silva, Nov, I am a mom, I have three daughters. I’m a wife. And I am also a business owner, my husband and I, we own a web web agency where we help clients to succeed online. And my other kind of like piece where this work about women and understanding female bodies, that’s, I call it my passion project. But really, it started for me, when I hit complete rock, rock bottom, in my you know, in my own life, I was completely burnt out, I was exhausted, I was overweight. That was when I was 33 years old. It was about four years ago, three kids, and I just felt like life has been completely sucked out of me. And I just couldn’t understand it. And now, what’s interesting is I come from a family of mostly women. So I thought, okay, that I’m just gonna ask, and, you know, surely, you know, they will help me to cope with this. Because I mean, for sure. It’s not just my problem. It’s not only hard for me. But you know, I went to my mom, I went to my grandmother’s, I went to my mother in law, I went to, you know, my Auntie’s, and all the women in my community, and everybody was suffering. Everybody were suffering toniann. But the problem was that they were suffering in silence. And the, the, I guess the the message that I received was that suffering is normal. And it’s acceptable. And you should just, you know, shut up and continue. Because that’s how it is. And there was just something in me that could not live with this answer, or with these answers, because I believe in God, and I believe that God would never set us up for such trajectory of just, you know, not on happiness. I mean, how in the world can I raise emotionally, some children when I’m a complete emotional wreck? How on earth am I supposed to cultivate this beautiful, exceptional marriage? When night after night, I am choosing Netflix over sex and intimacy. And so that was my complete bottom. And I realized that you know, what? Maybe the answers are not, you know, in the women in my community, but I know that there are women out there who know the answer. And so that started the quest for me, I started a podcast, and I started inviting women who, you know, who wrote books and who have dedicated their lives to finding the the, the secret sauce, or the you know, the ingredients to, to, to thrive as a woman not just to survive. And that’s how I started learning about the female body and the female hormonal influx, and that I was just blown away, blown away by the simplicity of this whole, you know, framework. And I realized that this is so great. And why don’t more women know that as women, we are cyclical beings. And there is a cycle for everything, and there is a season for everything, why don’t why didn’t I know that? Why didn’t my mom know? And the thing is, when we don’t know these things, we begin to you know, just waste our, our human potential for for really, for really not good reasons. I feel like it’s it’s a massive human potential that is just lost, because we are our current, educated and aren’t trained to understand ourselves. And the problem is, it’s not just us who suffer our children suffer our partners or suffer our work in the world is being affected by it. And so that’s, that’s who I am. That’s my work in the world. I am actually a professional storyteller. I’m a copywriter. And that piece of understanding female bodies and female hormonal influences is it’s a huge add on to my service, as I mostly work with women.

Real Happy Mom 9:48
Awesome. I love everything that you’re just talking about. And I love how you’re saying that. You’re just blown away by the simplicity of things when it comes to understanding our bodies and Are cyclical being is you describe it, because I will tell you, I grew up having the worst cramps ever. Like, I know a lot of women talk about having like back pain and stuff like my pain would go down my legs like it was the craziest thing ever. And I literally feel like I was paralyzed and couldn’t move. So it was really, really bad. And I always felt like it was a curse being a woman, because we had to deal with these things. But I started reading a book called in the flow, which is something I’ll definitely make sure to link in the show notes. And I know you’re familiar within the flow, but I got to see how our cycles can be actually our superpower is women. And I just want to share, like, what are some of the things that we need to understand about our bodies to begin begin to actually unlock this superpower that we have?

Dorit 10:48
Yes. So one of the things and thank you for bringing up Alisa Vitti, because she was definitely one of those, you know, of these women who I reached out to and who helped me immensely in my journey, through her books, and through her, you know, Facebook Lives and all the education that she was putting out there in the world. So the thing that we need to understand, like I said earlier, there was a season for everything, right? If you think about, you know, the Four Seasons of the world, and there’s, you know, there are four distinct seasons, and the world changes in accordance with the seasons, right. So I realized that as women, we also have four seasons. And I mean, like, there is a little bit of like a spiritual aspect to it as well. Because as women we are, you know, I mean, we all know about Mother Earth and you know, as the nurturer and as the, you know, the one who provides nutrients and so, seasons are actually it’s a very feminine energy that happened in the world and we are all affected by it. Right. So the seasons, the moon and the sun and all the beautiful synergy that happens between them. And and that is also true with each and every one individual woman that is born actually individual feet, I should say individual female that is born in the world. And I love this so much, because that is the one thing that is common. And and and like the common denominator between all females, we are all born with a menstrual cycle, whether it is healthy or unhealthy. That’s a conversation for a different podcast. But the truth is that we are so different, right? Our character is different. Our personality is different. Our thoughts and beliefs and our culture, like all of those things are they could vary. But the fact that we all share this monthly experience, it’s something that is common to all of us. And so one thing that we need to understand and I think we have to start we have to begin have a changing our mindset from like you said, right, it’s not a curse, it is a blessing in disguise. Because when you understand that there is a season for everything. There’s also time for everything, energetically speaking, there is a time and we’ll dive a little bit deeper into this as we you know, as we kind of like unpack and peel off the onion layers, but really important as women to understand that the world especially the modern world we live in, is really designed for men. Because like let’s just stick an example the nine to five and I think Alyssa he talks about that in her book too. You think about the nine to five workday, okay. It is designed for a men to succeed energetically, again, bringing this back to energy, because the the male hormonal system, it it responds to the sun. So when I talk about male hormonal system, of course, men have many different hormones. But the one hormone we all are familiar with, and is associated with males is to start strong. Now what’s interesting with the stone stone it is that it responds to the sun and to the ups and downs of the sun. So when the sun is up to start stone starts to write rise in the body when the sun starts to wean down. Sorry, when the sun starts to wean down, the saucer arm starts to wind down as well. And now isn’t it interesting that this happens around nine to five.

Dorit 14:46
And so this has been created to allow men to be more successful at let’s say the workplace, right so Sun goes up and it’s at its peak around nine o’clock in the morning. You know, the mail is up and running and they’re ready to go. And around four, five ish sun is starting to wane down, that’s when men usually have their energy kind of like being a beginning to, you know, to drop. And that’s when you know, the work day, the the traditional workday is over. Now what happens with women when we try to fit into the nine to five. And that’s, by the way, actually, one of the biggest reason whether it is consciously or unconsciously, where so many women are leaving corporate, it’s because we are understanding that this just doesn’t work, especially when we are becoming moms. Right? Because you’re realizing that Oh, my gosh, my energy is just like, it’s, it’s so low all the time. Right, we are really understanding the value of time we’re under starting to understand the value of energy. And what happens is we become, we start creating boundaries. And sometimes it is out of like, really like in my case, for example, that was like after a hitting rock bottom, I realized that no, like, I cannot continue like this anymore. I need to have downtime, I need to have quiet, I need nobody to talk to me, I need nobody to ask me stuff. And I deserve to go away. And I deserve to retreat and leave my family just for a couple of days, even if it means that I’m in my home, but I just closed the door, and I just I’m alone in my bedroom. Right? So it’s almost like it was like a reclamation of time for me and reclamation of my value and my worthiness. And so that is what I want all women to understand that there’s a season for everything. And I want you to understand about your body that you are not you don’t you are not a less hairy men, you are a female and as a female, we have a cyclical nature of actually, the female body responds not to the sun as much as it responds to the moon. And isn’t it interesting that the moon is on a cycle of 29 and a half days, it’s so similar to the menstrual cycle right to the average menstrual cycle. And so just there, I was like, I was blown away. I was like, Oh my gosh, that’s amazing. What am I doing, trying to pretend that I can be in my life, just like my husband can. It just didn’t work for me, right. And it started for me Actually, it started for me in the kitchen. It started with food for me, because my husband could eat whatever the heck he wanted. And he would be the same. But I had to be careful with gluten, I have to be careful with alcohol, I have to be careful with so many things. Right? Even when I started, for example, you know, I wanted to continue with green shakes, like I really wanted to stick to this habit of green shakes every day, every day until I would start. And that would be really, really strong. And then I would like oh my gosh, I just don’t feel like it. Right. And right away. The first thought that I that crossed my mind was What’s wrong with you? Like, why can’t you just stick to things. And that’s so wrong. Because I didn’t understand that as a woman. My energy and my hormones are changing all the time. And they’re and it affects my cravings. So I know we’re going to talk about food today. But I just want us all of us a women to understand, especially to me, what’s the you know, what’s dear and near to my heart is women who are raising daughters. It’s time for us to understand and really embrace the fact that we are different. And being different doesn’t mean being that we are inferior. No, we’re just different. So let’s stop comparing ourselves to men and let’s stop pretending like we can do what they do. And just give ourselves permission to just be different. And and and really celebrate that.

Real Happy Mom 19:25
Absolutely. I agree with everything that you’re saying the whole time like Mm hmm. Because in the book Yes, one of the things that blew my mind in the book in the flow is how she was explaining the difference between a man and a woman and just like how you said you know, the the world and everything is kind of set up for men and a lot of studies like especially like scientific studies about you know, food and certain things. It’s all like based off of men like although majority of the studies on men not on women and I was just like man, like, you know, everything’s kind of been rigged for Man to win. And so I really love how you’re just explaining to how we just need to understand that we’re different. And we have these different seasons or stages. And that’s the thing that I wanted you to help us unpack is to talk about, you know, the different states or different cycles or stages of the cycles that we have, and then break down what is happening each one. So you could give us an overview of the four and then we can just start breaking down each one of them.

Dorit 20:28
Yes, let’s do that. So like I said, there are four seasons. So I, I like to correlate those seasons with the seasons of you know, of the weather. So let’s start with the follicular phase. follicular phase is correlated, if you think about it energetically, it is it feels like spring, because it is like one Oh, before I go, I get into that I want everybody to I want to introduce you guys to a practice that is called MCA, and that it stands for menstrual cycle awareness. So every single woman must begin to practice MCA and what it is, it’s super simple. Again, remember, it’s super simple. It’s just to start tracking your cycle. So day one of your cycle, it would be the first day of administration of heavy bleed, and then all the way to the next one. Okay, so Day One is the first day of your of your ministration. And so the follicular phase, it roughly begins around day six. And so what happens to to the female hormonal system is that progesterone starts to wean down, and estrogen is starting to pick back up Now, the important thing to understand is that we are as we are traveling around the cycle, the energy that we are talking about is we are talking about the difference between menstruation which is the the, the blog, this is where when we are shedding the menstrual lining, and that is going to be exactly if you think about a circle and the menstruation is going to be at the very bottom of the circle, right? But let’s talk about like, let’s correlate it to the clock. So that’s 6pm 12am is going to be oscillation, okay, so oscillation stands exactly parallel to to the menstrual time. And what that means is just energetically There are so different menstruation is when you are the most in your feminine energy. And of ulation is when you’re actually the most at your masculine energy, right, that’s the energy of Go Go Go of that’s the energy of putting in effort and creation and really bringing your vision into the world. Okay, and the follicular phase as as well as the luteal phase. These are the transitional phases in between menstruation and ovulation. Now, this is important because the spring and the fall are also the transitional seasons between summer and winter. Okay, so the spring is going to be

Dorit 23:29
the it has the energy of emergence, you know, when things when the flowers and everything that is alive is just starting to kind of like budge, right and, and emerge from a deep, deep, deep sleep energetically, that means that all of a sudden you are beginning like for example, as a mom, all of a sudden you have this desire to spend more time with the kids and with the husband and maybe start you know, cooking meal and like to just like be more with people. And that’s slowly slowly starting to build up all the way to ovulation. But what’s happening hormonal II, again, super simple, is that estrogen is slowly slowly slowly starting to pick back up until it reaches its peak in ambulation. Okay, so the body doesn’t work. And like it doesn’t just shoot estrogen in one time, it slowly builds up. And that’s actually great because it gives us the space and it helps us to pace ourselves energetically. So we reach of ulation. And again, emulation is the summertime that is full bloom. And if you think about it biologically ovulation is when your body is primed for conception. And another thing I want to say about that is that we as a society, I feel like we’ve been conditioned that menstruation, right the bleed is actually the main event of this whole cycle. But it’s so wrong because actually The cycle culminates it kind of like closes and rounds up with them and stration. But the star of the cycle is population. I mean, if you think about it, the whole point of ministration is to get you pregnant. Right. So that is the energy of oscillation energetically. I mean, I’m just thinking about myself, that is a time when my body just is it produces these, like,

Dorit 25:33
like hormones to help my my partner to, like, just be so attractive to me, and I have an A barely have to try and do anything, right. But it just, that’s the energy when you might feel like you want to like put your hair down or put some, you know, really nice earrings and put some makeup on. And maybe you have that feeling of like dressing a little bit more feminine. And that’s, that happens when you start understanding. And you’re like, Oh, that’s what’s happening. Right? Um, and it’s all normal, by the way, that is a time when your husband’s socks on the floor are not gonna bother you as much, that’s when you have the energy to, you know, to eight to work for, like, I don’t know how everlong You, you, you want to work and go pick up the kids and, you know, maybe throw in a load of laundry here and there and cook the meal, if you we just have the energy for that. And so what I would like us women to do is we I would like for us to use that energy. And and and, and and set our life in alignment with these energy changes, as opposed to constantly feeling like we’re pushing this huge, humongous Boulder, you know, up the up the mountain, because that’s how life feels for a lot of women. Right? Especially moms, it feels life feels hard life feels uninspiring life feels just like you just have to suck it up and continue. But it doesn’t, it just doesn’t. Right. And in many cases, yes, this means that we have to ask for help, which is a huge, huge challenge for women, especially, you know, in the in the Western world, because we are taught to believe that we’re supposed to do it all all by ourselves. And that’s another thing I want to ask women to understand is that it is a lie. It is a lie. It is not true. It takes a village to raise a child. But it also takes a village to raise a woman and a mother. And so we have to you know, if we don’t get that from, you know, if this is not built in and quotes into our lifestyle, then we have to take action and to create that village and that system of support for ourselves. So, and that is important, especially for the luteal phase, which Tonia I know, this is where you are at right now. And actually me you were both we are both in the luteal phase. So this support system that by the way, we don’t create that support system. When we are low in energy, we obviously use the energy of the follicular and ambulatory phase to kind of slowly set this up. So what this means is, for example, you know, realizing that and I realized that actually after COVID, that I hate the spies, I just cannot stand driving my kids to school every day. That takes an hour of my time every single day. I just cannot stand that. I think that’s such a waste of my of my energy and time until I realized that okay, what can I do again, because I’ve already reclaimed my my worth, right, my worth for just like to ask for help. I reclaim that. Now it’s about being resourceful and figuring out how who can help me. Maybe it’s my mother in law, I actually, I have a 20 year old sister who my husband and I, we’ve hired her to drive the kids back home. And again, I could not ever I wouldn’t be able to do it, let’s say even three years ago, because I was so stuck in believing that I have to do it all like, I just have to like figure it out. I just have to do it all by myself. Right? Because we are conditioned that while our moms did it. our grandmothers did it. Yes, it’s true. Now look at them. Do you want to be done? I don’t want to be done. Almost every single woman in my community and my family. Once you know menopause hit, it’s a disaster. Everybody’s suffering. So and why does it happen? It’s because we haven’t been taking care of ourselves. throughout this whole time, and so No, we’re basically screwed because our adrenal, our adrenals are sapped our ovaries are also exhausted, our our body isn’t producing any, you know any more progesterone. And we’re screwed. And again, we are conditioned to believe that this is normal. So what that means, again, we’re coming back to the beginning, Tony, I, like you said, I felt like you felt like you were cursed as a woman. And that’s, that’s a experience many, many women have, whether it is conscious or unconscious, but it is just the truth. And I didn’t want to live like that. Right? So I decided that, Okay, I’m gonna enroll my my family members into my health mission. So I’m going to have the conversations with my husband, I’m going to have the conversations with my kids, I’m going to hire whoever I need to hire during the times when energetically I’m low. You know, I’m going to ask my mother for help, I’m going to ask my mother in law for help. I’m going to even ask my neighbors, anybody, anybody who can help? I’m going to say yes. Okay. And it’s a big process. And I realized that it takes time to create our village. But right now where I am in my life is I can, by six o’clock in the evening, when I am already reaching my menstrual time, I can close the door, and know that everything is taken care of. And I can give myself that break that we are so craving, right, we’re just talking about how we both are so ready for the weekend. So So that’s how we work. So that’s, you know, oscillation is, is the time when we have so much energy. But there is this illusion that this energy, we can have it all the time, right that we can invent, be invincible all the time. Because what happens is, and it happens, Tony, and it happens in a day, and for sure, surely, you know you have that experience to from the way I talk about it is that the change the switch between oscillation to the luteal phase, it feels almost like you’re changing overnight from being a Mary Poppins, into Cruella de Vil. And it happens, just you know, an instant, all of a sudden, you just like food, like you just lose it, the energy drops, and you just like the kids high peach is driving it crazy. You don’t want to engage with it with anybody, you don’t want to engage with the husband, you don’t want to engage with the world. I don’t want to have you know, sales calls like I just don’t want to By the way, this is why I never schedule my interviews for you know, like the late luteal phase administration because I know that I’m not going to do I’m not going to give my best. Also, what happens in that switch is our brain, actually the left and right hemispheres, slightly separate. So what that means is that we lose our communicative skills, abilities, and we dive deeper into ourselves. So even spiritually, this is a practice that every single woman, you know, if we pay attention, we can benefit so much, because that’s the time when we can be more reflective, this is the time when we can really like look into our life. It’s like we’re getting this bird’s eye view on our life, what’s working, what isn’t working. And that’s the energy we need. Right? It’s a great time to maybe be a part of a circle of women, where you are only in communion with with somebody who gets you, right, there’s such a difference between talking to men about this stuff and a woman it’s almost like for me, even to my husband, I feel like I constantly have to prove myself, I constantly have to like give him data and and and and and just like back it up with like science. Whereas with a woman right you and I we can just like do you know that feeling when you just like when you just wish, you know that that moment from that movie? How is it called the robot, the robot movie where they get the baby and the baby starts to cry and they have this little little like volume switch and they just like put it all the way low to not hear the baby cry. I feel like I really like when I’m in my luteal phase. That’s what I want. I want just everybody to shut up. Be quiet and leave me alone. And when I say that to a woman, you get me right because you feel that too. And so that is a great time to be in the luteal phase it’s a great time to be in connection with other women to just share our experiences yes there is value in commiserating yes there is value in in complaining.

Dorit 34:57
Not you know all the time but but just Give yourself that space to, to to share. Okay, so the energy of the luteal phase, it’s it’s the energy of, like I said, it’s Corella, DeVille we kind of like lose touch with our masculine side, and we slightly begin to shift into the feminine energy. And in order to do that smoothly, we need space. We need space when we need time, and we need to be able to breathe. And so if our life is constantly, you know, go, go go. And there’s so many things we’re juggling all at once. It’s just not going to happen. Right? So again, the part of Reclamation is saying no, I’m, I’m worthy, like, I’m worth this, and I need this for myself. And I need this for our marriage to be good. I need this for my parenting to be amazing. I need this to be able to produce the level of you know, the quality of work that I want to produce. So the luteal phase, it’s the time when. So again, like I said, in terms of seasons, that’s the fall, that’s when you know, you get stormy inside of your body. Yes, you might get cramps, PMS, pain, all of those things. Again, they’re typical, but they are not normal. And in order for us to heal from these, you know, from this pain, like you said, you said, you had pain shooting all the way down to your legs. If we don’t have this space to take care of ourselves, then what we do very often and especially in this culture, we are conditioned and we’re actually encouraged to take the pills right pop the Advil, Papa, you know, the the Tylenol, just ignore the pain, just I don’t have time to be in pain right now. Right? Take the flu shot, like do ignore it, ignore pretend like it’s not there, I don’t have time to take care of myself. And so that kind of Outlook, that kind of mindset, that kind of behavior and habits. They have a cost. And the cost is and ladies listening. It’s very clear. The cost is our health. We live in a time when it is that it is just an epidemic of how many women are suffering in their health in their bodies. And this is not the way it’s supposed to be. And the only way I believe for us to shift that. And to change that is that if we start living our life cyclically, and we start organizing our life in alignment with our cycle, and we start creating that support system for ourselves and be in connection with women, so that we can learn from one another, so that we can really thrive and not just survive as females. So that is a quick overview of the cycle. I think we all know what happens in menstruation. That’s when we shed, and that’s when our energy is at the lowest This is our winter. And yeah, let me know if you have any other point. Yes,

Real Happy Mom 38:25
yes, yes, no, this was good. So I just wanted to kind of recap. So I know when you first started talking, we talked about the follicular phase. And you’re saying that is when we feel more like spring if we’re comparing it to seasons in so you gave us some different things during that time. And as well as the other stages as far as like oscillation from like the summer. And then on the luteal phase being like fall. So now that we kind of gotten the seasons and the different stages and things like that, I wanted you to touch a little bit more on the food aspect, because that is one thing that has been really key for me was the food and rest are the two big things that once I started, you know really paying attention to that, then I don’t have to pop the Advil for my cramps, then I don’t have PMS. And then you know, I’m not having you know breakouts right before my cycle and things like that, because I’m paying attention now more to my cycle. And I’m starting to know, okay, like, Okay, if I’m starting to feel this way, then that means I may be deficient in this. So I need to eat more of this particular food. And in the app that I have has been really helpful in directing me on with things to to really consume more on so that I can keep everything in balance. So I just want you to touch a little bit on that because I know a lot of times our cravings sometimes get in the way and some of those cravings can sometimes lead us into more damage. So I just want you to help us out with that. Yes.

Dorit 39:52
So that’s actually again, it’s super simple. If you understand the cycles excuse me, any you understand The cyclicality and you understand the seasons of the cycle, right and how they’re changing, then food, it only makes sense that it would be like that. And the interesting thing is that, yes, cravings and having your body already kind of like intuitively desiring certain foods provided you already have taught yourself to like certain foods, and I’m going to explain what what why why I say that and what I mean, then it’s, it’s really going to be super easy. So let’s start with actually I want to start to administration. When you menstruate toniann, what kind of foods do you naturally crave,

Real Happy Mom 40:44
naturally crave sweets, and salty, crunchy? So?

Dorit 40:49
Yes, yes. So when I asked women this question, I often hear burgers, pizza, chocolate. So that is actually, in terms of like the cravings, that’s exactly normal that this should happen. Because when we obviously what happens is the body would crave comfort, right? So energetically, we want peace, we want quiet, right? So we crave all the foods that give bring us comfort. Now, if you’ve been if your relationship with food is not the greatest, then that that would mean that you would crave things that are junk here. And again, no judgment. I’ve been there too. But that is the reason why it happens. Now, this doesn’t mean again, this doesn’t mean that this is normal or healthy. No, I mean, I’m sorry, I’m going to take it back. It means it’s normal. It’s just that it’s not healthy. So when we menstruate, actually, the body needs replenishment of minerals. One of the biggest reasons why women crave chocolate during the menstrual time is because we are being depleted of iron and magnesium. And isn’t it interesting that chocolate is really high in magnesium. So in menstruation, you want to be loading your body. And really again, this is like self care one or two. You want to be loading the body with foods that are high in their mineral content flow. Now what foods are high in mineral content, anything that is cooked for a long time, bone broth, soups, Chili’s, that that sort sort of thing. The body usually especially no wintertime wouldn’t crave cold foods, although somebody did mention I crave ice cream. But that’s again, that’s only because your body craves comfort, it doesn’t necessarily crave the sugar at have in the in the ice cream, it just wants to feel comforted. So instead, start practicing with eating foods that are high in their mineral content such as, like I said, bone broth, soups chilies. And then slowly start paying attention. Do you have the cravings still for you know sweets and, and cakes and cookies and ice cream and that type of thing. And you will see it will take about usually takes about three cycles for the body to fully reset until you feel a difference. So give yourself the permission to just you know, make the mistakes to you know, to commit the sin.

Dorit 43:41
And just like just be gentle with yourself if you’ve you know, make that you know, delicious, big bone broth. And I actually advise you to start cooking. Start batching your meals in the beginning of your luteal phase so that you don’t have to deal with cooking because energy energetically were low to begin with. So make these foods for yourself and then start asking do i do i feel like you know sweets do I feel like chocolate do I feel like you know the ice cream. And you’ll see that the body is so wise it’s so smart. It wouldn’t mean that like I am right now where I’ve been practicing this, I don’t know three and a half, four and four years almost. And I just like it’s just clear as day to me. I just want soups, and I just want you know the slow cooker meals and it just works wonderfully to me. I don’t need chocolate anymore. I don’t need you know, burgers. I love burgers with French fries. So I don’t longer need that. I just don’t crave that anymore. So that’s the energy in terms of food. That’s the energy of menstruation. Now if you think about this in terms of the seasons, what’s interesting is that and that’s actually a great way for you to remember when you’re grocery shopping The foods that are highest in their mineral content are usually going to be root vegetables. And isn’t it interesting that in the wintertime, these are the only vegetables that are available to us. I mean, I come from Canada. And here what we have available is squashes and carrots. And we have parsnips, and turnips, and all that stuff. So these foods are really high in their mineral content because they grow under the ground. Right. And then as we are as we eat was as we’re emerging, emerging from the winter, from menstruation, that’s when we’re starting to get that craving back for something more fresher. So that’s a great time to eat foods that are not so cook more raw. Things like green juices and salads and green smoothies, you know, because what’s happening in the body, you’re starting, you don’t longer need minerals as much as you need vitamins. But and vitamins when you cook them, when you cook vitamins, they’re they get destroyed in high heat. So vitamins in order for them to stay alive. they they they cannot be cooked, you know, high temperature kills it. So um, so that’s, by the way, that’s one of the reasons why so many of us, me included, we cannot stick to greens shakes and green vegetable juices all month around it just because our body doesn’t need that. So again, there’s nothing wrong with you, you know, stop feeling guilty and ashamed that you you know, you can stick to things. It’s just like give your body the permission to change and shift, right the only the only constant is change. And it’s so true with the menstrual cycle as well. So that is the time for salads. That is the time for fresher food. No, you think about the loot the follicular phase as spring. That is the time when we’re going to have more abundance of green right in nature, all the way to ovulation, which is summer, which is full bloom, this is a time when your body actually would crave the least food. And it will look if you really start paying attention what’s happening because you’re ovulating. ovulation also requires energy. So because they just it takes up takes takes about 80% of energy, it requires about 80% of your energy of your you know, body energy just to digest what you’ve eaten. That is the reason when we obviously we don’t have that, you know, craving for like heavy meals. You know, that’s why so many women are going to do really well with like a solid and maybe a little sandwich. It’ll all decide. And that’s again, that’s normal, give yourself you know, provide that for yourself. And then in the luteal phase when you know energies are shifting, that is when again, you’re going to start craving more warmer foods more foods that are cooked. So maybe it’s going to be a combination of some salad with with a soup or something, you know, maybe thicker than that.

Dorit 48:08
But again, it’s it’s and if you think about the luteal phase as the fall that is harvest season season, right, that’s when you’re going to have abundance of everything in nature. And, and also specifically root vegetables, they’re going to be really abundant. So that is how it’s done. It’s really simple. I mean, I know you can complicate that with science. And we’d like names of different nutrients. But I don’t like to do that. I just like to keep it really simple. And really tap into your common sense. And just understand if you think about what you eat in terms of seasons, it makes it easier, it makes it more relatable. If you’re in a simulation, that’s fresh food, raw food, vegan diet, that’s gonna work great. But that is the reason why so many women cannot stick to like a food dogma, or to I don’t know, maybe a different health regime that, by the way was written by a man. But that aside, we are cyclical beings, and we need change. And when we provide that for ourselves, that’s when we can truly try,

Real Happy Mom 49:23
right? Yes, yes, I am loving all of what you’re saying, sharing because you making it so simple for us and taking the complexity out of it. So it’s so easy to see now how we can support our bodies in make the whole cycle a lot easier for ourselves and given us that permission to just relax. So I believe you’ve given us so much and like you said this is a kind of like self care 102 I love how you put that because once we understand how to take care of ourselves during those cycles, then we can really start to really boom in and not get burnt out in Things like that. So I’m loving everything. And I feel like we’ve gotten so much from you. And I need to bring you back again, to go over some more so, but before we signed up, I just wanted you to share with us either a motivational quote, or some words of encouragement for us. Well, happy moms. Oh, I

Dorit 50:16
love that. Actually, you know what, Tony, when when, when I saw that question, I was like, Oh my gosh, there’s so many quotes that I would love to share. I love anything Marianne Williamson. And so if I have to choose this one quote, that really speaks to me, it’s this. Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are. And that’s just touches me on so many levels. Because for so many years, I’ve been in this go, go Go and you know, achieve and like, you know, try to make things like, like the Johnson Johnson’s have, you know, like, get the cars get the house like, no, my kids need to be dressing, you know, in a certain way. You know, there was such a difference. I heard that Brenda brown say that, I guess it’s another quote, she said, there’s such a difference between feeling like you belong, and feeling like you just fit in. And I feel like for women, for millennia, we’ve been just conditioned and thought taught to just fit in, to fit in into the world of a med. Right. And it’s, it’s, it’s a lie. What I want is I want to feel like I belong. And one of the ways for me to do that is to create the, the container, the incubator for women to gather, and to be a part of, you know, a community where we can truly witness each other in our, you know, happy moments, but also in the dark moments, and just know that we are not meant to go through life alone. So yeah, that’s my, these are my quotes.

Real Happy Mom 52:09
Nice. And thank you for sharing those. Now. If we want to find you online and connect with you and learn more about you, where can we find you?

Dorit 52:19
Yeah, so the best way to find me is on Instagram. My handle is at Dori palmanova coaching. My podcast is also a place where you can get a little more of me and you know, this whole system. And also listen to my interviews with these amazing women. It’s called confident, energize and sexy mama podcast. And also if you want to be a part of a circle of women who are ready to share their story story and be witnessed in their story, then I would love for you to join my membership community, you can find it over at triple W dot direct palvin.com forward slash circle. It is $30 a month it’s super affordable. And we meet monthly on a zoom. And we just hold each other we meditate we journal we learn together. And the the the really important thing for me is that no women woman should ever feel like she’s alone struggling alone in the world. And if you want to join me on Facebook, my facebook group is called confident, energize and sexy Mama’s Village, I’m not too too active, they’re the best. The best place to find me is on Instagram.

Real Happy Mom 53:41
Absolutely. And I will make sure to include all of those links in the show notes. So thank you so much for coming on and sharing all this with us. This has been a really, really helpful.

Dorit 53:52
Amazing thank you so much for having me.

Real Happy Mom 53:55
Now that does it for this week’s episode to find all the links that were mentioned in this episode go to Real Happy Mom comm slash 115. And if you’ve enjoyed this episode, do me a favor and rate and review this podcast on Apple podcasts. This helps me out more than you know and helps other moms see that this is an awesome podcast to listen to. Now I really enjoy seeing the reviews that you are writing. And I will start to read more of those here on the podcast. So definitely leave a review and you never know you might be having your review read here on the podcast. Now. Do me a favor. Stop the podcast right now and go over to the Facebook group, if you haven’t already joined is the Real Happy Mom community. And in this community, I’m kind of carrying everything over that we’re talking about here on the podcast into the community so we can have more discussions, have more encouragement, and just have fun, honestly. So join me there at the Real Happy Mom community on Facebook. That’s it for this episode. Catch me next week for another full episode. Take care and we got to love

error: This content is protected.