Navigating Your Menstrual Cycle and Weight Loss with Ashlee Sorensen [Ep. 72]

Lisa: 0:00

This is the. I think, well, live well podcast. I'm Lisa Salsbury, and this is episode 72. Navigating your menstrual cycle and weight loss with Ashley Sorenson. I find one of the biggest factors for my clients. When they report to me that it was a tough week was because they were on their period. I wanted to really dive into this issue since the vast majority of my clients and listeners are women and understand from an expert how the cycle affects our weight loss and hunger levels and appetite. Ashley Sorenson is a certified menstrual and hormone coach and is here with me on today's episode. Uh, to give us an overview of our cycles. It's way more than your period week and all the rest of the weeks. You'll understand much more about your emotions and honestly, just yourself. After listening to this episode, women are cyclical in nature and getting in tune with that is going to help you, even if you've been menstruating for decades and thinking you're probably about done with it. Stay tuned to the end because I will also let you know about a bonus clip that Ashley and I recorded. Just about your teen daughters. So get that information at the end of the episode. Welcome to Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well; the podcast for women who want to lose weight, but are tired of counting and calculating all the food. I'm your host, Lisa Salsbury. I'm a certified health and weight loss coach and life coach, and most importantly a recovered chronic dieter. I'll teach you to figure out why you are eating when you aren't hungry, instead of worrying so much about what you are eating. I am thrilled to have Ashley Sorenson here she is a certified. menstrual and hormone coach. So I am delighted to finally be talking about the menstrual cycle with my listeners with such a qualified professional. So Ashley, welcome, please introduce yourself and let us know a little bit about what you do. Thank you.

Ashlee: 1:52

Okay. Thank you so much, Lisa. Thanks so much for inviting me to talk about my favorite subject. And that is the menstrual cycle and hormones. So yes, I am a, a menstrual and hormone coach. I, has certified in, functional nutrition. So really using our nutrition, to help our bodies heal. And in this case, Particularly we're, we're using nutrition to support our hormones. I have always had problems with my hormones. You know, I struggled with painful periods, really bad PMS. And so it's always been kind of like the forefront of my life. And, I just found that, you know, I'm 43 years old and I've never, Really had the support that I have longed for throughout my life. it's always been like, here's the birth control pill, take that, it'll regulate, it'll fix things. And it wasn't until I got well into my 30s that I realized that that isn't the case. And I started doing my own research. And studying, on the topic of, women's hormones. And that's really led me to my schooling and now here. So, I love what I do. I love helping women, guiding women, through. Understanding their hormones and, really learning to kind of decipher or, interpret their symptoms, because we look at symptoms as a big problem, as an inconvenience, when really they are there for a reason, and that's to let us know that something is off and that something needs attention,

Lisa: 3:21

Well, in so many times, especially with all this women's health stuff, we just figure, well, it happens to everyone. And I I've said this a thousand times on the podcast, just because it's common, doesn't make it normal.

Ashlee: 3:33

right? Yep. Amen to that. Like, yeah, everybody is suffering. How sad is that?

Lisa: 3:39

Right? It's terrible.

Ashlee: 3:41

Yeah. And it's like, I just feel very passionate that God did not create women to suffer. And when we are suffering, then we're not able to really fulfill our purpose. And be instruments in God's hands and, and do the work that we're here to do. And so I want to help women feel their very best so that they can do whatever they feel called to do.

Lisa: 4:07

Perfect. I love that. Okay. Well, let's jump right in. First of all, let's get a little educated About the menstrual cycle. I think most. Women are fairly familiar with, okay, like, I know that like week one is when I bleed, but past that, I don't think we're as educated on the four exact cycles. It's just like the cycle week. And then the non cycle weeks is how most women I think kind of measure it. So tell us about those four phases.

Ashlee: 4:36

Okay. So yes, there are four phases to the menstrual cycle and I love to compare them to seasons. Like nature seasons, and I'll explain a little bit more about that as I kind of move through the cycle here. So, yeah, it kind of starts and ends with the bleed. You know, we begin bleeding this it the first day that we experience full flow. This is day one of our cycle. Okay. And so I compare this to winter. So I call it inner winter because our hormones are low. There's not a lot going on as far as like hormones go, right? Like it's, as far as our sex hormones go, everything is at its lowest point. And so because of that, because estrogen namely is low and testosterone is low, we experience lower energy levels. We feel more of this introverted energy. We want to be alone. We want to do quiet things. We, you know, want to stay home and be by ourselves or read a book. We don't feel like going out and doing all the things. And so, that is inner winter. And I, I like to call it inner winter because that's kind of what winter is like, at least here in Utah, just not a lot going on, right? Like it's, it's pretty quiet. and we feel like more desire to stay home. Be cozy and do the introverted activities. So then we move into the follicular phase, which I refer to as inner spring. And, this is when the egg is maturing and getting ready for fertilization. And we start, and estrogen is starting to climb, so we start to feel more energy. We want to get out more. you may have noticed that like you start to feel more desire to create or you're having a lot of ideas come to you.

Lisa: 6:29

And sorry, let me interrupt for a Okay.

Ashlee: 6:33

it depends on how long your cycle is. So usually it's days six through 11. If you have like a 28 ish day cycle, but this is why one of the reasons why it's so important to track Lisa, because if you don't know, like, if you're not tracking your symptoms, you're not going to know what phase of the cycle you're really in. The only 1 that's really telling is the menstrual phase, because you get the bleed, right?

Lisa: 7:00

right. Okay.

Ashlee: 7:01

so, so yeah, so we're talking here about like these seven ish through 13, somewhere around there for inner spring and estrogen is climbing, it's rising and so we feel that rising energy come up for us as well. And like I said, the creativity, the motivation, this is a great time. Like if you want to start a new goal, this is a great time to do it because your energy and your motivation are kind of supporting that. And then we come into the ovulation phase. So this is where most women experience the most energy, because testosterone peaks during this time as well. And that gives us a lot of energy, a lot of drive, Our libido, usually we get a spike in libido. So we have more desire for intimacy. we have more of that extroverted energy. We want to get out and do stuff, be seen, have fun. It's kind of feels like the natural thing to do. So this is inner summer. Everything is like carefree, easygoing, super fun. You wonder why there was ever a problem at all. Then after ovulation, you come into inner autumn. So this is the luteal phase. And this is You know, usually a danger zone for a lot of women because so many women deal with PMS and

Lisa: 8:14

before

Ashlee: 8:15

this is the week before. Yeah, the week before the bleed, and we come into this phase shortly after we ovulate. I like to think of ovulation like a full moon. And as soon as ovulation occurs, that moon starts to get smaller. So when we experience a full moon in nature, like, it's not like it's full one day, and then it goes to a dark moon the next day, right? Like, it's a gradual waning process. And that's kind of how our energy is going to be after ovulation. It's going to slow down. We are going to slow down. Our mood is going to change. Our energy level is going to change. The, the things that sound fun to do are going to change. And that's all because progesterone, the hormone progesterone comes on the scene in the luteal phase and estrogen dips down low. And so we feel more of that introverted energy. And then we start right back again with interwinter.

Lisa: 9:13

Okay, so I thought progesterone was our kind of more of our calming feel good hormone. Is that correct? So you're saying when it comes on, we're still not, what did you say about

Ashlee: 9:26

the problem with, so yes, progesterone is the calming hormone. It is calming, but the problem arises because We are not living in a way that complements that hormone. So because we have this progesterone that's like calming and it's also a little bit, more introverted, kind of like the stay at home type of vibe going on, we don't really honor that. We don't live in a world that honors that. So we keep going on business as usual, doing all the things, having a full schedule, and that's when we run into a problem. We're not slowing down our schedule. To accommodate for this decline in estrogen, this peak in progesterone. So if a woman comes to me with really bad PMS symptoms, that's the first place we look at is her schedule during the luteal phase, because it's usually some tweaking that needs to happen there that really solves the majority of the problem.

Lisa: 10:26

Okay, so here's like where my mind is going. Well, how does this even work? Because most people do have a job that's the same every single day. How do we support our minds, our bodies and all of this in each phase? And Still be a mom every single day and still be, you know, whatever your work is every single day, whether that's in the home or out of the home. In addition to children, if you don't have children, you're still going to have these phases. Like there's just so many things that we do that are expected, that are the same every single day, that it feels hard to me. Every time I've looked at Ashley's content, I'm like, I don't know how

Ashlee: 11:05

Yeah.

Lisa: 11:06

I don't know how to change my things based on the cycle. How do you do that?

Ashlee: 11:11

yeah. And I think that that's a very fair and valid question because like I said, we're not living in a world that supports. A woman's cyclical nature. We're living in a man's world for lack of a better term. Like we are this, this schedule that we have, it runs on the circadian rhythm, which is perfect for a man. It doesn't honor a woman's fluctuating hormones because that's way too quote unquote complex. And so as women, it becomes. Then our kind of responsibility to decide or figure that out, like, how, how do we do that? And so that's what I love to help women figure out. if I could offer one piece of advice, a good place to start. Is if you can just find a way to slow things down during days one, two, and three of your bleed. I'm not saying go to bed for three days. I'm not saying cancel all your plans. I'm not saying, you know, give your kids away to the neighbors for three days. Like that's like life goes on. Like we have, like, we've got to go to work and do all the things. And so how do we do that? We just slow it down a little bit. just allow more white space in your calendar on days one through three, because your body is calling for rest during that time. And I think it's so beautiful, Lisa, because it's like, we are given this perfect container of time during the cycle where we can rest, like our body, our hormones are supporting that rest. But we over. Rule it because we think, Oh, we can't like the world's going to fall apart. If I slow down

Lisa: 12:54

Well, then we wonder why we're so tired in the

Ashlee: 12:56

exactly like this

Lisa: 12:58

Why am I so tired?

Ashlee: 12:59

right. This is why so many of us feel exhausted, burnt out, overwhelmed. Like we're not enough. We can't, we don't do enough. We'll never catch up. It's, it's honestly, because we, we haven't been taught how to live in a cyclical way to honor our, our menstrual cycle. Nobody ever taught us that. And I think it's so unfortunate. So if you can just decide, and every woman is different. Everyone woman has to decide what that looks like for her. How can you slow things down just a little bit? Is it a half an hour in your bedroom, reading a book, laying on the bed? Is it an hour to go for a walk? Like what is it? And and then deciding what that looks like for you, and then delegating if needed, asking for help if needed, but it's not completely wiping your schedule clean. You know, it's not going to bed for three days. Like I said, it's just slowing down to allow your energy storage to replenish I compare it to like an arrow, like you pull back like a bow and arrow when you pull or a slingshot, when you pull back, it's that slow, steady pull that allows for momentum going forward. And so. You know, it propels the the arrow further, faster, and that's what we're doing for ourselves is we're slowing down so that we can preserve energy for the rest of the cycle so that we could have a really awesome inner summer. You know, if we're rushing, rushing, rushing and not honoring inner winter and inner spring, we aren't going to experience an inner summer. We're going to be robbed of really like the most fun part of the cycle for a lot of women. And so that would be my first advice is just how can I slow things down?

Lisa: 14:52

I'm thinking for like a working woman looking at your calendar and just kind of blocking off like these aren't the days for heavy, big meetings. These aren't, if, if at all possible, you know, reschedule those things just Be like, I'm, I'm not available for those types of meetings. And in these days, I can really see how, like, for me, for example, I shouldn't be doing podcast interviews where I need to be like high energy, you know, interacting. I should block those off on my calendar and plan for more quiet activities. in my work. So I don't know what that looks like for, you know, nurses or teachers other than is there some amount of like, okay, if we can pre-plan, like for those days, you know, for teachers, like, okay, let's get lesson plans done ahead for those days, or just anything you can do to pre-plan. Would that be helpful?

Ashlee: 15:46

So yes, absolutely. I mean, like you said, you and I have flexibility with our business, right? We can kind of plan it how we want to do it. when I used to do consultations, I just did not do consultations during certain times of my, cycle. Like it, it didn't feel good. It wasn't fun. I didn't enjoy it. There are times in my cycle when I don't record podcast episodes, because again, it feels really hard. It takes me twice as long, but before I had this business, I worked as a nurse. And when I started to practice menstrual cycle awareness, I was like, what does that look like for me? Because, you know, a day in the life of a nurse is nonstop. Like, you barely have time to go to the bathroom or eat your lunch. So what does slowing down look like for me working as a nurse, working 10 hour days? And what I found through some trial and error was it was usually a walk around the block. I could usually find time in my day to do that. If it wasn't a walk around the block, I would just go outside, like just step outside of the building and breathe the fresh air I needed to have that disconnect. From the hustle of the clinic from my patients from my coworkers, all of these things that were taking so much energy from me. I needed to put some separation between myself and them so that I could kind of replenish my energy storage. And so for me, that's what it looked like. and because during my premenstrum, I felt very irritated. My coworkers drove me nuts, you know, and I wanted to, I wanted to just break down and cry sometimes. I felt so overwhelmed. And so if I just decided, you know, if I can get around the block or I can get outside for a minute, that will do wonders for me. And so that would be my.. advice there. I would also offer that, like you said, you know, preparing ahead of time. That's 1 of the gifts of the luteal phase or our inner autumn is we know our period is coming, right? Like, we know winter is coming. The snow is going to fall eventually, and we need to be prepared for it. So what does that look like? I want you to think of, like, you were forecasted to, like, expected this huge snow storm. How would you prepare yourself? You probably go to the store. and get some essentials, right? Like get all the food that you want. maybe have like your favorite movies ready, you know, prepare for your bleed in that way so that when your bleed comes, you are all set up where you can rest. So for some of my clients that looks like preparing meals ahead of time, like they'll prepare them. freezer meals, put them in the freezer so that when they're on their bleed, they can just pull out the meal or their husband or their kids and put it in the oven and they don't even have to think about it because those things feel time consuming, hard and annoying when they're bleeding. They don't want to deal with it.

Lisa: 18:43

I feel like even that, even just having meals prepared ahead would be somewhat of a rest for me. The other thing I was thinking, as you were talking about that, like just getting outside and just bringing some fresh air. I think there's even some amount of just acknowledging, Oh, this is okay. What I'm feeling, just being aware of your cycle and what happens and saying what I'm feeling right now. Is totally normal and, and it's okay. And it's how I'm supposed to be feeling. Nothing has gone wrong. I, I find that thought helps me so often when my brain is screaming, like, what's wrong with you? Like nothing,

Ashlee: 19:21

Yeah. Yes. Like you're a human being, right? Having a human experience.

Lisa: 19:27

Yeah. So even if you are more tired and you're like, okay, I can't figure out how to slow down. on this day, just saying like, it's okay that I'm more tired. I know what's going on kind of actually go a long way in giving your brain, that rest of beating yourself up

Ashlee: 19:44

we're sure because it's that kind of that expectation that we put on ourselves that makes the inner autumn or the luteal phase that we before our bleed so terrible is because we are expecting ourselves to be the inner summer, Lisa, the inner summer, Ashley. And it's like, geez, no wonder we feel burned out. the expectation is so high that we're always a certain way. And. So it's not that the expectation has to be lowered. It needs to shift. It needs to shift. And I think that that is one of the biggest gifts that a knowledge of the menstrual cycle can give a woman is like, Oh, like grace. I can give myself grace because like you said, nothing has gone wrong. This is okay. You know, unless you're dealing with debilitating PMS in the luteal phase, which is not normal. You know, it's normal for your mood to change. It's normal for your libido to change, for your, your interest and motivation to change. And that's okay. Like, what would happen if you let yourself change if you leaned into that?

Lisa: 20:55

Yeah. Yeah, totally. So shifting gears just a little bit, I noticed with my clients, when, when we first start a session and I say like, okay, you know, what went well or what were challenges this week, being on their cycle, being on the bleed week is frequently listed as a challenge for my weight loss clients. They tell me like, I couldn't stick to my plan, which of course then they're beating themselves up. Or like, I just felt hungry the whole time. And So some things that we talk about is like, what we just mentioned is preparing, tracking your cycle so that you know, when it's coming and preparing a couple of days in advance. And so we have things that we want to be eating, like with our higher brains, that kind of wanting to be eating, right. Not just wanting to eat everything in the house, but with regards to maintaining our weight loss efforts, how does that fit in with the cycle? And what do you suggest there? I think this is also one of the reasons why we don't see consistent weight loss every single week, that it's the same for women. I only have one male client right now, but boy, his weight loss is consistent

Ashlee: 22:13

Yeah. Yeah. I believe it. I believe it because their hormones are the same every day.

Lisa: 22:18

every day.

Ashlee: 22:20

Yeah.

Lisa: 22:21

How would that be anyway,

Ashlee: 22:23

So, yeah. And I think that this is such a good question because so many women don't really, I didn't realize this before I studied the menstrual cycle in depth, how, and I'm a nurse, like how our insulin changes throughout the menstrual cycle. So surprise, like nobody's going to be surprised by this, that when we are in that week, when we're in the luteal phase, that week before our bleed comes, we are less sensitive. To insulin. So, we are not as insulin sensitive. And so we need to be very aware about what we're putting in our mouth and how that's going to affect our blood sugar.

Lisa: 23:02

let's. review too, when you say we're going to be less insulin sensitive, how does that affect what the body is doing? Like, basically explain that I haven't talked a lot about insulin sensitivity lately.

Ashlee: 23:13

Okay. So yeah, so the way that you eat, like you could eat a meal in the luteal phase and eat that same meal in the follicular phase. And you may get a different reaction. So, because you're less insulin sensitive in the luteal phase, if you have, let's say, like, a baked potato, that can spike your blood sugar higher in the luteal phase than if you were to have that baked potato with the same things on it, the same size potato, the exact same thing, in your follicular phase.

Lisa: 23:46

Okay.

Ashlee: 23:47

And so, really, you kind of, you need to shift. You would be smart to kind of play around with food and see how it affects your blood sugar. Again, this is like trial and error. We got to try it and see, there's lots of hacks that you can utilize for stabilizing blood sugar. you know, as far as like going for a walk after you eat and some apple cider vinegar before you eat starchy and sweet foods, those are really good hacks to utilize, especially when you're in the luteal phase and you're Not going to be as sensitive to insulin and so, so yeah, like food is going to change the way or our hormones are going to change the way that the hunger that we feel the way that we eat serotonin is something that we reach for a lot when we are in. The luteal phase, because we're usually filling a little bit. I don't want to say down, but that introverted energy makes us think that something is wrong. So we're kind of looking for something to cheer us up. So we get the chocolate, we get the salty chips, something that's going to give us serotonin. And so one of the ways, like one of my favorite hacks that I love to utilize is drinking brewed cacao. So cacao is Like, the cocoa bean that you, like, I drink Creo brew and so you just brew it like coffee. It is not caffeinated, but it, it gives you that serotonin. And interestingly enough, there has been a link between magnesium deficiency and PMS symptoms. And with brewed cacao, it is high in magnesium. And so it can help with PMS symptoms, plus it gives you that little boost of serotonin. and because that magnesium deficiency has been linked to PMS symptoms. I usually tell women to take about 300 milligrams of magnesium every day to support that. But I think it's just really good to know kind of what to expect. Like, I know that my hunger is going to be different next week. Like, maybe in my luteal phase, and I know that I'm going to be wanting all those things, and I'm going to be reaching for sugary things. And. Carb loaded foods to make me feel better. So I need to have a plan in place. I need to utilize some of these hacks, learn some of them, utilize them. get my happiness, chemicals from other things besides food and support myself, support my body with stable blood sugar. And that means no skipping meals, no intermittent fasting during the luteal phase. It's so, so important that we're eating three balanced meals luteal phase, some women are like, but I'm not hungry, but then they're eating all the things. Right. And so like, they're reaching for. Granola bars

Lisa: 26:50

It's the snacking all day, the grazing and stuff that happens during this cycle. Yeah. And, and I have clients tell me like, I don't know, it was just like a hungry day. I just felt like hungry all day. And I'm like, okay, so did you ever sit down like at a table with a plate and, and eat a whole meal? And it's typically no, because they end up like a little bit hungry and a little bit full. Cause they're just like snacky all day.

Ashlee: 27:15

Yeah. Yeah. And snacking is one of the worst things that you can do for your blood sugar because it never gets your blood sugar back to baseline. And so it's just constantly going up. You're on the roller coaster all day long and it's really hard to get off of that once you're on it. And so, you know, if you can really, you know, eat the balanced meals where you've got half a plate full of veggie. You've got your starch, you've got your protein and, you can keep your blood sugar levels stable that way. that will really support you and you won't feel like you're quote unquote falling off the wagon every month and then having to start over again with every cycle. And so, yeah, like it can be done, right? It definitely can be done. You can lose weight as a hormonal woman. It's just, it just takes a knowledge of the cycle, what your hormones are doing and having a plan in place, some strategies.

Lisa: 28:11

I think for some women, like I've just noticed like some clients, their cycle really affects them. It really affects the way they're eating. And for others, they don't notice it as much. So if you're like, I don't know, I've never really felt like it affected my eating. That's also normal. I feel like. Because. It's also okay if you're like, I don't, you know, feel as hungry or whatever. That's okay. We can honor our hunger throughout the cycle as well. But I love that, like thinking about having three meals and yeah, it's not the time to be fasting.

Ashlee: 28:45

It's really not like your, your hormones need the nourishment. And I will say, like, I, I do love the, the intuitive eating principles. but I will say that, you know, sometimes. A lot of women will experience very low appetite as their bleed comes and estrogen starts to rise because estrogen is a natural appetite suppressant. And so that's something to be aware of. Because you may be like, well, I'm not hungry, but it's also really important for women, especially women coming into perimenopause, that you are getting enough protein every day and you're not going to get that by skipping meals. So that is something that I would keep in mind.

Lisa: 29:31

it's such a problem with intermittent fasting is getting enough protein when you're only eating two meals a day. Yeah. Because. As my listeners know the base of your meals, protein, fiber, and some healthy fat, which is exactly what Ashley was describing in that plate anyway. So yeah, it's always the, the base is really thinking about what protein you're getting in. So, I, I didn't really want to get into perimenopause with Ashley today, even though I think we might talk about it another time, but one of my problems with perimenopause is. The erratic cycle. And so as we're talking about this menstrual cycle, those of us that are still in the peri part, like we haven't had the cessation yet. We're not in menopause. I was having like this calendar year. I just. I feel like all of the perimenopause symptoms like came at me with a vengeance and it got to the point where I was like having a 1718 day cycles. So I'm on some hormone replacement therapy now which has been helping, but for those that are still figuring that out or just feeling like even my hormone replacement therapy isn't. Working to regulate my cycle. how do we figure that out? and honestly, this is one of the other reasons why I haven't done a good job with like really looking at my menstrual cycle, because I feel like I'm just not that consistent.

Ashlee: 30:52

Mm hmm. Yeah, it's easy to kind of just be like, Oh, forget it. Because like my cycles all over the place. Like, am I really in a season? Like what's going on? I do absolutely still encourage you to track. So I'm currently, I was just looking at my calendar. I'm currently on day 26 of my cycle. I have no idea. This cycle could be 40 days, you know, last month it was 21 days. You never know. That's part of perimenopause. whether you're doing HRT or not, you just. You don't know. it reminds me of that real. It's like, surprise, surprise, right?

Lisa: 31:25

Yeah.

Ashlee: 31:25

just,

Lisa: 31:27

Totally.

Ashlee: 31:27

here I am the most inconvenient times. but I still think that it's really, really smart to track where you are and track your symptoms. because I Yeah. I do still see patterns in my own schedule or my own cycle and my clients do as well. I think that you know, I track myself like in the seasons and then after day 28 I kind of consider myself like in the void. I don't know like all the seasons all the seasons just come in, you know, like I have i'm just kind of out there like I don't know what's I could be really happy today. I could be really sad. Like, we don't know. And so perimenopause has been a really big lesson in self compassion for me and also for other women. Like, I feel like I look at other women differently that are like. Not just my age, but mostly like around my age. I'm like, Hey, I'm right there with you. Like learning to wait this, you know, cause it's tricky. Like, as you know, like our sleep can be, I mean, I don't know anybody our age that's getting a good night's sleep. That isn't like, unless you're taking progesterone, you're just not sleeping. Right. And so I think that, you know, it's been a really good lesson for me to learn how to just. Yeah. You know what, Ashley, it's okay. It's okay. If you did less today than you had hoped, it's okay. If you don't check off everything thing off the list, it's okay. That's the season of life that we're in right now. And you've never been here before. So of course, you don't know all the ins and outs of it, but I'm learning. And I'm, I've just decided ahead of time that I'm going to love my body through this process because it does no, does me no good to be mad at it and resentful toward it. So that would be my advice is to keep tracking,

Lisa: 33:14

Like the best you can.

Ashlee: 33:16

the best you can. I mean, at least I would track what day of your cycle you're on and then like your mood and energy. I think that that's smart to do.

Lisa: 33:27

And do you have a recommendation app wise? Like, are there certain apps that you think do a good job of that? I'm just using the health, like the Apple one that comes in the health,

Ashlee: 33:36

oh yeah.

Lisa: 33:37

It's not fancy.

Ashlee: 33:38

Yeah, it's not fancy. It's basic. And that's fine. You know, I guess it depends on how much, how intense you want it to go. You know, I look at it as like your own me search when people are like, how much track, like, what should I track? And it's like, well, what do you want to track? What do you, what are you curious about? What, you know, if you're getting chronic headaches or migraines, I think it'd be really smart to track that. Because depending on where your migraine is showing up in your cycle could mean different things. And

Lisa: 34:08

by the way, I was shocked when I started tracking my headaches like a year ago I was like so weird how I keep getting headaches. I like didn't used to and I have a Mirena IUD right now, so I don't have a strong flow and So it took me months to realize That the headaches were coming on those days that I just had like a little spotting and that was like my entire period Finally went to the doctor and I was like so I think this is what's happening and like they don't respond to any Medication that I've tried and she's like, oh, yeah, that's called a menstrual migraine. I'm like what? It's like totally shocked

Ashlee: 34:50

Yeah. So, it, it does matter. Like, you know, when your symptoms show up in your cycle, It matters. And so and you're not doing this for anything like you're not trying to get a grade, right? Like you're doing it for yourself. And so what do you want to track? What would be useful for you? Maybe you want to start tracking your sex drive so that you can plan a vacation with your spouse around that time, right? Like that would be really fun. When are you getting your family pictures taken? You probably want to have those done during your follicular or ovulatory phase because that's when your confidence is high. And we have less wrinkles. And so. Schedule your family pictures during that time. Like it's helpful. And for me, and so I do recommend tracking. And as far as apps go, I like the one flow it's got like a, the logo is like a feather, a pink feather. I think that that one is really good. and me, like, I just use a paper, like a calendar and like, just because an app, I, I wasn't very consistent, so there's no right or wrong way to do it, just find a way where you can be consistent.

Lisa: 35:58

which is the same with all of the other tracking we do with food and exercise and all the things you're trying to figure out. So good. Okay. Well, this has been so informative. Is there anything else that we've missed on the menstrual cycle that you would like to share for my clients and listeners?

Ashlee: 36:16

Oh, man, there's so much that I could share about it, you know, but I think that the thing that I, I just want women to know is that your menstrual cycle isn't. A problem. It doesn't have to be a problem. for many, many years, I felt like my menstrual cycle, my hormones were a problem because I experienced so much pain. And then I had PMS on top of it, but nobody taught me how to deal with it all. And so I felt like it was starting to affect my mental health. So my advice is to learn everything that you can about the menstrual cycle to really understand your body so that you can learn how to support it. Nobody taught us that either. Nobody taught us how to support our body. And so we kind of have to look for that information ourselves. And that's the whole reason why I'm just going to put in a little plug here, Lisa for cycle strategy one on one.

Lisa: 37:17

Yes, please. I want you to tell people how to find you anyway.

Ashlee: 37:20

yeah, so if you, if you want to learn. The basics of the menstrual cycle, you know, more going more in depth about the four seasons of the cycle. Take my online course called cycle strategy 101. it is all online self paced. It comes with an ebook so that you can really learn this information. Because each phase of the cycle, we didn't even get into this Lisa, but each phase of the cycle comes with its own innate superpowers. And so there are traits that we all have that are heightened during different times of our cycle because of what our hormones are doing. And so in cycle strategy, one on one, I explain what those superpowers are and the self care practices that are going to help you tap in to those superpowers. So. learn what you can about your body and about hormones so that you know how you can support your body and your hormones. It's going to create so much more ease in your life if you do it.

Lisa: 38:15

Perfect. I love that. Okay. So where can people find that and where else can they find you online?

Ashlee: 38:20

Sure. So I am always on Instagram except for days one through three of my cycle. I always sign off on Instagram days one through three of my cycles. That's one of the ways I slow down during my bleed. So there's an example for you. so I am at, Hey, Ashlee, Noel, it's A S H L E N O E L. So you can find me there. And, I'll give you the link for cycle strategy one on one so that your followers can sign up for that and I'll give them 10 percent off when they sign up.

Lisa: 38:51

Perfect. Okay. Well, we'll put all that in the show notes. Thank you so much for being here. It's been an absolute pleasure to learn about all of this.

Ashlee: 38:59

thanks so much, Lisa, for having me.

Lisa: 39:01

So I've got a special bonus for you, Ashley and I kept chatting after we hit stop on the recording. And we got to talking about teaching this to our teen daughters. I ended up hitting record again, and if you want to hear that bonus five minute conversation about how to help your teen and probably even your young adult daughters with this. The link to get that special bonus. conversation with Ashley and I about teaching this information to our teens is in the show notes. If this episode has helped you in any way, all I ask is for you to share it. Share it with one friend or share it on your social media tag me. And I'll give you a shout out as well. I have been getting a lot of comments lately about how beneficial the free content is that I have been putting out in the world and sharing it can really help someone else. You can also leave a five star rating on apple and Spotify and review the show on apple podcasts. That also really makes it easier for other people to find it because apple loves that and then they push it out to more people. So your review actually helps other women. Have a great week and as always, thanks for listening to the Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well podcast.