Most women go through life completely unaware of the shifts in hormones and therefore the fluctuating needs through the month. Despite medical advancement, focus on women’s health and especially hormonal issues are in very nascent stages.
At Inaari, our goal is to help women balance their hormones and resolve health issues and problems with food, fasting and lifestyle changes. The first step for any woman in balancing her hormones is learning that the body’s needs and requirements change with the fluctuating hormones through the month. Knowing what your body needs during each phase of your cycle is key not only to hormonal healing but to your health overall.
This post explains what a woman requires during her bleed or her menstrual phase.
Your bleed
Menstruation is natural to women (even in cases when they do not menstruate, fluctuations happen within the body during the cycle of your month) but pain- do you believe that the nature that made you gave you pain to deal with for the most part of your life?
The scientific and holistic answer to that is NO.
If you’ve been facing pain through your menstrual cycle, you must be wondering what this babble is about. Before you negate the idea, here’s our explanation: pain, any pain you suffer, is your body’s way of communicating. Just like a baby that can’t talk establishes communication through crying, your body is trying to get your attention on the issue that’s giving you pain.
What happens in the menstrual phase?
Your menstrual phase starts on the day of your bleed. You start to bleed because the egg from the previous cycle is not fertilized and so, the uterine line that was thickened in preparation for a baby is of no use for your body now. This shedding of the uterine line, vaginal discharge and the egg is what makes the blood of your periods.
Caring for yourself in menstrual phase
During this time, due to low estrogen and progesterone levels, your body asks for a break so it can help the cramping uterus that is shedding its tissue and reduce the pain. It’s also the time when both the hemispheres of your brain are in communication.
Your inner journey: This phase is perfect for setting goals for yourself while you take a time-out from social entanglements and sit down with your true self.
Menstrual phase offers you the comfort and wisdom to some insightful goal-setting and this awareness can take away the pain of cramps.
Dietary support: stay hydrated to recover from the liquid loss, opt for food like cucumbers and watermelons. Leafy greens that have abundant phytonutrients like Quercetin that can fill-in for the lack of estrogen during this phase. Fill up on good fats and proteins as per your daily calorie intake
Lifestyle and exercise: Opt for restorative workouts and stretches. A light walk, yoga sessions, workouts that do not involve a lot of jumping or lifting heavy weights are best during this phase as you don’t want to add any extra exertion to your body.
The practise of supporting yourself and listening to your body as per the phase of your menstrual cycle is what we call cycle align. While each woman has her unique cycle, we at Inaari have devised a calculator that can not only help you chart your cycle but also tell you what your body needs in terms of food and how you can support holistic healing through it. Check out our mobile app and log in your details. Visit the homepage or contact us for more information.