#learningtobehuman Part 2

When I first thought I should start blogging again, I never in a million years thought Id be blogging about periods...

Yet here I am. But the reason I chose to is because, if you refer to my previous post #learningtobehuman, a lot of my continued anxiety and stress can be pinned to that single aspect of my life...Not cycling, not only made me gain weight and worry about my health, but it also made me feel strange in my own body. A period is a powerful symbolic part of being a woman, having your period requires knowing about your bodies phases and processes and losing that made me lose myself a little I suppose. I thought i'd write about it because a lot of girls have messaged me or expressed there experiences with similar problems and im hoping that it will help them as much as its helped me.

Being of a very scientific driven mind, I always thought the mind and the body were two different entities, and their health required different treatments. This, at the age of 26, I am finding out isn't so. So when I found out the cause of all my health issues related back to the health of my mind, it was obviously quite shocking; that and I really didnt have a grasp of what was maximum stress load for a individual and what was my bodies responses when I had reached that load. That in its self was a slap in the face, I thought I knew myself well and I thought I knew what I was capable of. But I guess it goes back to having a overly high expectation of myself and feeling the need to maintain it in the presence of others.

Once I was encouraged to practice the methods in cognitive behavioral therapy, the more I became aware of how my mind was doing these things to cope and how my body was responding to it. I was in 24/7 survival mode...my predator was stress and everything I didn't need was shut down. Crazy huh? But on a evolutionary basis...survival stress vs. modern stress, our bodies don't know the difference...it just knows "stress" which made sense. When I started reaching out to friends, when I practiced relaxation, when I ignored the thoughts, when I enjoyed things I had chosen to do and felt no guilt...all practices done in the mind, I began to see complimentary changes in my body too. Days that I wasn't overly stressed, I wasn't bloated either, I started to see some signs of normal sexual hormone function (girls you know what i mean).

In conjunction with through the roof pumpkin cravings, last Thursday I was pretty sure my left ovary exploded (lol). I didn't want pin too much hope in these things, I simply observed they were happening and made a note of it (I had gotten into the habit of doing that every time I saw what I thought was a sign in the past), then this week I observed that my strength had decreased from the previous week and I had less energy. Come Wednesday night I got the first sign of my period. Even that I didn't buy into too much, because it had happened before then went away. But sure enough, exactly a week after my ovary "exploded"...I began the Menstrual phase of my cycle...and wholly shit was I happy...period party and only I was invited.

Now the party phase is over, im fully aware that this doesn't mean im fixed and ill have a regular cycle from here on end. But what I am doing to help it, until I see the endocrinologist, is practicing hormonally intelligent training...using a load and deload cycle in sync with my different hormone releases. For example, in the follicle phase straight after the menstruation phase, you have a release in testosterone causing a surge in energy and decrease in insulin sensitivity, this is a great time to carb up and hit some PR's in a load week/ fortnight. The following Ovulatory Phase sees the last of that test release and the beginning of some carb or dairy sensitivity (you may bloat up when you usually dont) due to high estrogen (also may see a sex drive increase in case you wanted to know, as this is the most fertile phase of your cycle). This will last 3-5 days before you move into the Luteal Phase, this when you may notice cravings for sweet things...for most people its chocolate, however if your a little more intuitive you may crave what your body is really needing...for me its roasted pumpkin...because its sweet and has lots of vital nutrients and vitamins. This will last 10 - 14 days, you may find a find surge of hormones will make you strong right before your menstruation, and this is usually the time your cravings will be strongest also and you may feel the release of your egg (cue ovary explosion). Lastly, the mense phase which is self explanatory, what you may not know is that you have to be a little kinder to yourself, you will be weaker and your usual intense cardio should take a more low intensity approach to help keep your body from going into stress. It may also help to eat lots of nutrient rich watery greens, because the shedding and replacing process is actually very energy taxing on the body. 

So there you have it, a quick guide to something you thought you knew....your body. I certainly didn't. But using this hormonal support method in your training may help keep your hormones balanced and believe or not...they are the primary driver for you metabolism and every other function in your body.

So look after them.  

All the best,
Nikki

Ps. here are the books that really helped me through this process if your interested.
"The reality slap" by Dr. Russ Harris
"The woman code" by Alisa Vitti
"Intuitive Eating" by Elyse Resch