How To Do Life Around Your Hormones | Dr. Mindy Pelz & Kate Northrup

well what else can we cycle to a woman's menstrual cycle and I've been talking about well why aren't we cycling a woman's productivity why are we not giving women an understanding of when their brains are going to be working the best and when they need to rest and we can start to cycle a woman's whole work calendar around that and then this morning I went to look at your Instagram and you have done that Dr Mindy here your body is in a war zone this is different parts of the brain get activated depending upon how stressed you are when you look at it from that inflammatory it's interesting I mean that has some Merit to it for sure and you can't control everything I'd say and what about the a woman who is not pregnant okay so let me start I will convenient to the resetter podcast Kate so happy that you're here I'm so happy to be here thank you so one of the interesting things about the fact that we are doing this today is that I've been out talking to the world about cycling food and fasting to a woman's menstrual cycle and in that conversation has come the question of well what else can we cycle to a woman's menstrual cycle and I've been talking about well why aren't we cycling a woman's productivity why are we not giving women an understanding of when their brains are going to be working the best and when they need to rest and we can start to cycle a woman's whole work calendar around that and then this morning I went to look at your Instagram and you have done that so please start off with the question of why are you cycling your work calendar to your menstrual cycle I love this and I'm just so excited to be talking to somebody who gets Cycles on such a deep level possibly more deeply than I do which is so exciting so I love all the things so the reason that I organize my works like my workflow and my calendar according to my menstrual cycle is the very same reason that one would organize their food and their fasting according to their menstrual cycle and that has to do with our hormones our hormones effect of course our digestion our you know all of the are fat burning our Energy Systems all the things they also impact our brain and our Attention our attention and our focus and I will I am on day two of myself I'm just gonna say articulate it just so you know words are going to be tricky but I'm gonna I'm gonna pull it through and so when we can organize ourselves or at least so here's what's really important I'm I'm getting already to the objections that I hear one of the objections I hear frequently and this is a living breathing example right now is well I can't just like you know podcasts are scheduled months in advance or you know this speaking gig or this pitch at my work or whatever what have you has been scheduled I can't just like not show up because I have my period or because you know this or that and the other thing you can just like reorganize your calendar right obviously that is true so what I recommend is not only doing our best to organize our tasks according to what were primarily hormonally primed to do but also organize the way we approach our work so it's not necessarily what we're doing though yes of course if we can get that organized great and we can talk about that but actually the thing we have always have control over is how we're approaching that given week um based on what's going on with our hormones or if you're in perimenopause or your postmenopausal or you're pregnant or you're nursing or you don't have a menstrual cycle for whatever reason or if you're on hormonal birth control then which is a whole other conversation which we could talk about but um then you want to just use the lunar cycle because that's super consistent and very regular and far easier to track quite frankly I've had so many of the perimenopausal women and menopausal women ask me like with fast like a girl they're like well how do I time this and I always go to the lunar cycle as well and what's really interesting on that subject is and I'm curious your opinion on this is that I think because we have so much blue light and so much synthetic light we're all out of sync with our menstrual cycle lining up with the lunar cycle but if we took all that away we probably all would cycle according to the known with the day one being a new moon and ovulation being the full moon would you for the most part I think that's true it was actually funny in college I spent a semester um at Sea as part of the crew of a schooner where we had very little artificial light and we were out at sea for like two weeks at a time without seeing land and we didn't really have lights and anyway uh there was one woman who was the youngest of the crew she was 16 and she had always cycled with the new moon and all of the women on the boat started to cycle with her um which was really cool the only thing to say on that though is that actually there was always at least a couple women cycling on the full moon when the rest of the women were cycling on the new moon so that we could be organized with division of labor and there were people to take care of the ladies who were bleeding and then other people who could take care of the other ladies who were bleeding so um anyway that's a fascinating topic wow that yeah that's all I'm bringing you back just to talk about that because you know one of the things that I've been really emphasizing on all the podcasts I've been on is how important connection is for women um and we can say that oh yeah of course we see women connect with each other but what we don't realize is that in that connection um we're actually hormonally changing ourselves yes and and that is what's so profound so so let's do this I'm going to actually kind of do a what everybody does to me with food and fasting so walk me through uh the the menstrual cycle and explain our productivity level based off our hormones and oh my God I'm just gonna sit back with a ton of dopamine rushing through me right now as you expect I love that and please you know insert any extra scientific data because you are the doctor um okay so the first well you know it's a cycle so I hesitate to always to say first but anyway we'll start with the menstrual phase of the cycle which is the time that you're bleeding so the during that time your brain interestingly enough is actually the most cross-wired between the left and right hemispheres so this is the time when we feel the most inward we feel the least kind of out there social at least for days one or two day one would be the day that you start bleeding day one two some of us start to kind of emerge on day three I always feel like a massive energy shift on day three but this is the time when we're the most intuitive and we are the most in touch with what's inside us it's the time to look within and it's also a really good time to make decisions because of that cross-pollination between the left and right hemispheres we actually have access to a deeper level of wisdom than we have during the rest of the month so I really recommend that if you you have something you've been struggling with if you have something you've been deliberating on to really bring it into the menstrual phase of your cycle and you'll often get clarity on it very quickly even if you've been just obsessing about it for days so profound and something that I've thought a lot about with that transitional time and I and I when I go back and I look at what I wrote in fast like a girl there's a part of me that wishes I could have put more about the transition in and out of the different moments where our hormones are up and down because you know as we get all the way through the cycle something I've been thinking about is that when we are right before we bleed is also a really interesting intuitive time and we don't look at our menstrual cycle as a shedding of everything from toxins to thoughts to Old patterns there's so much if we got in touch with the the what the symbolism of the it actually means that we could use every month as an opportunity to keep improving all aspects of ourself and so I my question on what you just said is as we're shedding the old are we because of the cross-pollination are we also more receptive to the new when you say it's the most intuitive time okay so here's what kind of screws with my brain I'll just be honest and I've been studying this stuff in some ways you know since I could read but but but seriously you know focused on it for about oh my gosh seven years and so here's where it gets a little when we talk about the lunar cycle the new moon is a time of planting seeds and putting out your desires and setting intentions the full moon is the time of release and letting go of anything that's standing in the way of you and and and the completion or the fruition of those seeds you planted the menstrual cycle even though the new moon is aligned with the the phase of bleeding and the menstrual phase actually physiologically like we are having an experience of shedding during the menstrual cycle it is a time of release and then at ovulation we are the most fertile literally and energetically and so we are actually the most open to um new information new people New Opportunities and so I find it like there's sort of two different things going on at the same time which is a great reminder and I don't know if this aligns with what you teach but I always tell women like all of this stuff matters and tracking matters and also like put away your protractor because sometimes we can get so obsessed with like doing our cycle right and if I'm not doing it right then I've completely failed which is a complete trauma response right all or nothing thinking is a trauma response perfectionism is a trauma response and so it's just interesting to think about yes physiologically it is obviously a time of shedding and then within a couple of days of your period starting we are ramping up into that follicular energy and of course the follicular phase technically starts at the same time as your menstrual phase which also I find confusing but anyway that molecular energy of the first half of your cycle is New Beginning energy for sure and it kind of climaxes at ovulation which is like when the egg is ready but at that same time if you think about your psycho metaphorically speaking right there's the time of shedding and release it can also be a time of grieving you know certainly is trying to get pregnant getting your period may be a time of grieving but also just that feeling of like what projects what initiatives what things in my life are not going to be coming to fruition this particular cycle there's going to be more Cycles but what can I let go of and then around the time so then there's that weekend but then you stop bleeding then there's the week in between where you are in that follicular New Beginning phase you know kind of days like six through 10 11 12. um and that is the time uh where you're the most primed energetically to start new stuff yeah so it's like you know let me try a new workout let me initiate a new project especially if you're somebody who has trouble getting going on things yeah that's the week to really lean in like if you're a procrastinator that's the week to start your to to get going on your book proposal to you know whatever it is that you want to get do get going maybe um and then ovulation is kind of like the two three days before and after you actually have the moment of ovulation which is a moment in time that's the time that you're just like the juiciest the most fertile the most verbally fluent the most attractive literally and energetically it's a great time to socialize it's a great time to send Outreach it's a great time when I'm in ovulation I always like notice who I feel called to reach out to it doesn't even have to be a formal pitch but people will just pop into my mind so I'll send them a DM I'll shoot them a text I'll just like reconnect because I always trust that and then ludial I think is our most probably well they're all powerful but luteal is probably our most misunderstood phase from a hormonal mental emotional perspective ludial is like the 10 to 14 days before you start your period that is as you talk about a nurturing time and it is also the time when our negativity filter is the uh strongest meaning we just you know life will just be Pokey we don't have the hormonal to soften the edges and so it's great information because what we are noticing during our luteal phase what bugs you during that time what feels like it's not working is great information and and I always like to say we can trust our feelings at that time we just can't necessarily trust the volume of them so it might feel like the linen cabinet being disorganized is a massive problem yeah it's probably not going to ruin your life but um but you may notice like oh actually that's good information for me now I know that as I head into the next cycle putting attention on the organization and systematic systemization and Beauty in my home is actually going to be a priority for me because whatever's bugging you in ludial is a really good thing to put on the to-do list for your next cycle oh my God that was brilliant you have I have so many things I want to say on this so what we could do is when our cycle starts those first couple of days we could ask ourselves what am I what do I need to let go of what no longer serves me so if I had a job if I had a relationship if I had a habit really if I want to let go of it in the in in congruence with my hormone and my energy those first three days would be the time just like the shedding of the blood correct absolutely absolutely now you'll probably know what it is because it was just bugging you really badly in the few days before you started your period okay great so let's go back to that week before so when that week before everything is agitating you I think what I've really and I agree with you this is the most misunderstood part of the cycle and you know people around us don't understand us we don't understand ourselves but whatever's like biting at you poking at you I love that poking at you and agitating you is information yes and if we can listen to that then we start to bleed now we can let go of whatever that is and it might be like unfor you know I do want to point out if it's your husband it's not like okay husband's got to go maybe it's the thought pattern around your husband or or a way of communication that's not working for you or it could be a habit around your marriage that's not working for you so yeah it's it's definitely like yeah I mean my children irritate me during that time but I'm not like getting rid of my children right I'm thinking about okay are there patterns around parenting are there parts of our schedule that aren't working for us are there you know those sorts of things and so the menstrual time is a beautiful time of release but then very quickly it's a beautiful time of new beginnings and it's a wonderful like the menstrual cycle gives us this little capsule every single month that's an opportunity to be reborn and an OP opportunity to tend to our life it's like an entire year in 28-ish days that we just get to over and over again have this opportunity to begin Anew and it's such an incredible gift and by the way you don't have to have a menstrual cycle for that to be true because the lunar cycle does the same thing so everyone gets to play yeah you know it's interesting though I was sitting this how I even got into like the Nuance of fasting and eating for your cycle was I was sitting on a panel with a bunch of fasting experts this was like five years ago they were all men and they were talking about how you have to cycle like a weekly cycle you know you got to go in out of feast famine cycling and it hit me in that moment like oh my gosh we are so blessed we have culturally looked at our menstrual cycle as is like negative and we [ __ ] and we moan about it but when I in that moment it was like a lightning bolt hit my head and I was like all women have to do is think about timing food and fasting to a cycle they've already been given they don't have to come up with a with another cycle like men do and you're right they could go do the lunar cycle for the men but what I I don't want women to lose is the gift oh my God stop bitching about it it's a gift it's such a gift and the same thing applies so whether it's your fasting and food or whether it's your productivity I had a very similar moment in 2016 where it was I was like wait a second my body is doing this thing anyway and it's like the greatest time management system of all time why would I if this is good enough for the earth to follow to create all life perhaps it might be good enough for me and my business right right so okay so and and I want to get into the business aspect of it too um but so just want to make sure everybody heard that check in with yourself the days leading up that like week before your cycle what agitating you what habits need to let go first three days you have that opportunity as you're shedding to let that go and then we move into what do we want to bring into our lives yes exactly and on the first day of my cycle I always sit with a journal and um some some oracle cards oh my God I wanted to call them ovulation cards wow today today is called an oracle deck and I sit with a deck and I pull a card that's going to be the theme I just say what's the theme what's like the energetic theme of this cycle and so I pull a card for that and then I just do some journaling like I get I call it my menstrual download and I just get you know what do I need to let go of what do I need to be putting my attention on this cycle and then yes what seeds am I planting and those seeds I'm not gonna really do anything for a couple of days because the menstrual phase is really a time of rest and reflection it's not like a super doing phase um at least not for the first couple of days I get a lot of doing energy on day three but each woman really needs to pay attention to her own experience so that she knows what is happening with her I can't tell you what each day is going to feel like I think that's where this gets confusing is we want to look for an absolute but when you're dealing with the feminine body if the female body is there are no absolutes so and the cycle we can give sort of big pictures but with then we have to get into what works for you so I'm super happy you said that and Kate I'm going to task you with doing a journal and oracle cards that is not on my book writing list but I I'm hoping it's on yours I do have I did create a do less planner actually it's right here so so it kind of systematizes the whole thing around your cycle and planning your productivity um but I don't have a deck yet so perhaps that'll be worth coming okay I'm gonna put we'll link that planner because I know we're gonna get a lot of questions on that so the other quality of of estrogen as estrogen is building in those first 10 days that I think it doesn't get talked about enough the first we've talked about how the first couple of days it just takes some us a little bit of getting going but estrogen's like an extrovert to me she is like I you know if if she was at the party she'd be the one like socializing with everybody like dancing on the table like that's the energy of estrogen gen so when new ideas come in around day 9 day 10 pay close attention to those and as women estrogen also loves for us to verbally process so if we could chat through them with a friend or or talk them out loud then we move into ovulation and I have said for for the through the whole pandemic I was like we just need to put all the ovulating women in one room and they're gonna figure this [ __ ] out so so because we are so wickedly powerful at that time so talk to a little bit about day 11 to 15 what can we create I called it the manifestation phase I loved that you call it the manifestation phase so I call it visibility it's really the time to bring your ideas not all of them but like the ones you're focusing on this Michael from idea phase initiation phase into actually like visibility so meaning maybe maybe the pitch meeting is actually happening maybe you're actually picking up the phone maybe you're actually going live on a webinar or on Instagram maybe your podcast goes live or maybe you're batching a ton of podcast episodes because you will be very articulate during that time and just really magnetic and have way more energy you know I know for example during that time days 11 to 15 I can do way more more zoom than I can like on a day like today I have two Zoom calls at the end that's enough but on on an ovulation day I can totally do five and and also feel super psyched and energized to play with my kids and like also go out to dinner with a friend like plenty more is more at that time um I don't do less at that time I do more yeah and then I know that during the back half of my cycle you know starting for me it's like around day 20 I'll be curious of your thoughts about that but like on around day 20 certainly I just like kind of go into a cave and I can feel myself uh ascending into the underground and so that the back end of my cycle is like now I'm now I am doing less certainly of the outward things but anyway that ovulation time is like 11 to 15 days 11 to 15. make it visible put it out into the world you know it's it's it's more masculine energy right that's when we have our testosterone we have testosterone like that's the time to lean into your Healthy masculine and take the action steps and make it visible and manifest like you said yeah oh my God I have chills right now because this is what I've been out there talking about and I've been wanting to geek out with somebody about that because testosterone I believe get it it just like estrogen I feel like we have the wrong uh interpretation of it so you say in testosterone and everybody thinks libido sure it has that piece but testosterone's motivation and drive so what I have been telling people is that a little you know I agree with everything you just said but it's also the time that you've got the best verbal skills because you have estrogen you have a little bit of progesterone so you're a little bit calm and you've got all this motivation and drive so projects like you said are great but I also think if there's something that like a conflict you really need to address in your life that's the time you're hormonally the best to do it and I've actually been teaching men this as well and and I've I've talked to several men and said if you have a challenge with your wife find out when ovulation you know her ovulation period is because she is going to have that hormonal superpower to be able to really constructively break down that conflict don't come at her the week before her period you are going to shut out do not do that but yeah communication skills if there's a difficult conversation you need to have or a crucial conversation you need to have I love the idea of doing it around ovulation because we don't want to do it when our negativity filter is high we just really don't it's not I mean whatever because sometimes you have to but yeah yeah but right exactly so but then I don't know how old your kids are but uh five and seven five and seven oh a boy girl two girls two oh perfect okay so so you're gonna have to report back to me in about five six years but what I've been really expressing to parents even is once your daughter goes starts her period it's a really interesting time because often parents get feel like they are shut out and what I'm encouraging parents of teenagers to do is know your teenage daughter's menstrual cycle and love on her like I taught a guy the other day I'm like if you just put your hand on your daughter's shoulder the week before her period and just say I'm here perfect then walk away don't tell her she didn't do her homework don't tell her you know come at her strong because she left something at the bottom of the stairs save that for ovulation and then when in during ovulation now you're gonna end up with a human that's much more receptive to being able to deal with the conflict that she might need to to to know to be able to walk through with you 100 what do you think of that I love this so much and it's something I really look forward to with my girls because knowing someone's menstrual cycle is like having a user's manual yeah like and really having a guidebook to how to relate to them in the best way where you're going to get the best results and I'm I'm so excited to pass this along to my girls and you know to be able to hopefully have like as beautiful as possible of a teen experience with them and also to teach them this because I will say like my mom sort of tried to teach me but I really wasn't available for it for whatever reason yeah um and so I learned in my early 30s which was also wonderful I just taught myself yeah yeah right well yeah you know it's done like like the perfect teenager you know like anything your mom's into you're gonna you're gonna resist thank you yeah my my daughter is 23 and has done the same thing and yet I will tell you they're like really proud mama moments like um like the other day she was having a stressful moment and she said to me um I just need to go get some oxytocin I'll be right back and I was like yes she got it she got it that that was the master hormone that could start to change all other hormones so I do believe like conversations like we're having right now are massively important on so many different different levels so people can understand us but I also want to say to the women listening this is the language in which we can talk to those around us so do you do you do that when you're like talking to your husband do you what about your your team do you I mean just like we started this off you're like I'm on day two yeah oh yeah I mean I have you know I mean people will say like oh maybe this is TMI and I'm like no yeah right definitely not um yeah the day I start my period I let my husband know I also um let him know a few days leading up just so you know I'm in my prickly time and um he's like okay great good to know and then yeah then I let him know and even my girls like they were like Mama let's run to school and I was like not today Mama's on day two of her period I am not running but thank you for asking they were like MiMi ran with us and I'm like well Mimi is 65 and killing it he's got it dialed in you can run with me um but anyway yeah I I love using it as it's really our our user's manual for our own bodies Our users manual for our relationships letting people in on how to how they can meet our needs I mean that's such a challenge for women historically is even accepting that we have needs not to mention asking for them to be met and this gives us such a beautiful way to do that and also to know that you know on uh days you know let's just say days like four to fifteen or whatever you you decide for yourself but like those are the days you're also going to be really available to be of service to others so to know that too that like I'm gonna have so much more bandwidth to be like fold all the towels make all the meals do all the play dates do the crafts you know all of those things on and so I'm going to lean heavy on that while I know I'm hormonally primed to do that so that when I'm not I'm not having this whole story about guilt that I'm doing a terrible job being a mom or a wife or a or a business owner or whatever like we can organize it so that all the stuff that needs to happen gets done and it gets done at the right phase when we're primed for it so it takes a lot less energy and then when we don't have the energy for it we've already done it and we can lean into for example during the luteal phase we're actually incredibly detail-oriented so I'm not a naturally detail-oriented person so I keep a list of tasks like call Citibank about like like all the little doodads that I just really don't want to do most of the time I do them during that time when I just want to shut the door you know days 20 through 28 or whatever it is for for for me but those tasks that I'm just like I really need to have that Prime for details the other thing I'll do during that time which is particular to me but I think people listening will have something that's like this for them I actually do my best writing during my ludial phase because I don't care as much what other people think that negativity filter actually serves me at that time I'm much more inwardly oriented so my filter is less and so therefore I'm not doing so much self-editing and my writing is more spicy and it's just more powerful so that's an example of you know when we track this for ourselves we get to know oh if I have a lot of writing to do get it done during that time because I'll be faster because I'm not self-editing oh my gosh I I this is where I wish I had a cycle I'm six months into my menopausal journey and I'm like ah the more I learn the more I wish I could go back to my younger self right I'd rather I just turned 40 and I'm thinking like all right I don't know how you know of course we don't know how many more years we have um but I I want to lean on it hard because it is fun it's fun it's fascinating and you know yeah yeah so from a workflow standpoint that starting about day 19 day 20. um what do you do so you know you're supposed to go in are you we know you have this negativity negativity bias how do you set up your work day do you less meetings you said less Zoom calls sure less meetings like so all go heavier on meetings from days like four through like I said maybe 16 17 18 that I know I'm gonna have capacity for that um but once day yeah 1718 certainly 20 hits um I'm finding people very irritating and so and by the way like what I'm discussing right now is not PMS so just to be clear like PMS is premenstrual syndrome it is like a set of symptoms that are not an indication of a healthy cycle yes and so I am talking about very low grade subtle shifts in my energy saying that you're PMSing because you're in your ludial phase is inaccurate if you have premenstrual symptoms that's a whole other conversation I actually don't I just feel a little annoyed which is normal and healthy and I actually think very helpful because of the cyclical nature and understanding like oh what bugs me during this time is what I may want to tend to next cycle but just to be clear I'm not talking about like symptoms that I need to do something about so I think you bring up a really important point because there's like a new term that's getting thrown around right now called pmdd and I always say to myself what you know what when I was 25 we didn't have the term pmdd so just because we have a new term for it doesn't mean that every woman has to experience that what I actually think is going on for women right now is that we are not doing what this what you and I are talking about so we are working out of accordance with our hormones and when you eat out of accordance with your hormones you work out of accordance you've you work out diff against those hormonal profiles you're gonna have PMS and pmdd but if you don't want that you want to master what we're talking about for sure and like pmdd and PMs are symptoms of hormonal imbalance and obviously if people fast like a girl they can work on that exactly exactly exactly so that's where you would want to lean in but um so during this time I know that I'm just gonna you know life is gonna be Pokey so I try to spend more time by myself um I'm not gonna go do a bunch of social things at night I often will just want to like pull up the comforter up to my chin and read a book alone and take a bath and I just really lean into that like there's I don't judge myself about it I'm like this is my inward time I'm a really social person I'm an extrovert so I lean pretty hard on ludial and those times I want to be by myself because it is pretty short um and there's nothing wrong with it like it's beautiful I love spending time by myself and I get great information when I am willing to have that quieter time it's also a great time to get projects over the Finish Line so it is sort of the tail end of our cycle so of course hormonally we would be primed to finish things so it's the time that I want to tend like I'll notice I wanna I wanna declutter my house I wanna like get my email inbox cleaned out I want to get all the things on my to-do list checked off and that is organized because during the time where bleeding is really the best time to do as little as possible so it's very similar to the nuts Gathering I mean the squirrels Gathering nuts before winter winter time is the same as the menstrual cycle like menstrual is winter and so you want to be that little squirrel Gathering the nuts clearing the decks you know sweeping the front front porch all of those things so that you can go in and have a good rest and so as much as you can do that as much during luteal as I can to clear the decks that's what I think about close the door clear the decks and then it gives me the space to go into my bleed and just like have a minute oh my God I just it's Perfection what you're saying I hope everybody take information and just runs with it um I say progesterone is an introvert so if s if estrogen is the extrovert progesterone progesterone is the introvert and what's beautiful about being a woman is we can be both extroverted and introverted so I'm like you I'm an I Am Naturally an extrovert but if I don't get some introverted time then I become a really cranky extrovert as I've moved through menopause I it's been I it's been really interesting to try to get to know myself through other lenses and I keep saying to myself I got to just understand the personalities of these hormones so one of the things I do is the if I wake up and all of a sudden I'm famished that day and I want to eat a bunch of carbs I go oh progesterone's here okay she needs me to tend to her so let me do all the qualities that I know that's going to soothe progesterone so she can really do the little bit of progesterone that I'm getting how do I help support her on this day whereas on the days that I have like I want to chat with everybody I could fast all day I want to work out a bunch I'm like okay this is estrogen so this I can do all the principles that I know that's going to love on estrogen and so I think that's how as we go through perimenopause and menopause we just need to get to know the personalities and look at these hormones like they're our friends yes I love this so much I'm so excited that I have your resources for when I make that transition right we'll bring it back so one question I have for you is then do you change your workouts during your monthly yes so it's so interesting so I've just read um fast like a girl and also women food and hormones by Sarah Gottfried and also young forever so like I'm on this thing right now yeah got a lot you got all the best books like really going for it I'm my husband calls it project 120. it's like my my uh you know I'm gonna live until um so I've been shifting a little bit and just actually last night doing a little bit more research about this typically on days one and two of my cycle I don't exercise if anything I'll go for a walk but honestly I'm just like tired yeah and I'm just like you know what it's okay um and then of permission that's right give myself permission to just kind of not do anything by day three again like I'm usually kind of ready to go back to the gym but I'm not gonna go the heaviest hardest um first of all I mean maybe this is too much information for people but like if I'm lifting a lot of Weights like I'm actually it's gonna like make me bleed a whole bunch in that moment and then I'm gonna have a situation at the gym so yeah and that's no good I will you know all moderate um and probably not gonna do like hit workouts or Tabata while I'm bleeding yeah um just for me like again um I also know from my yoga teacher training like inversions would be not optimal um but then yeah I mean I'm going like right out of the gate in follicular like days you know six on and then uh coming into ludial I might switch it more into more walking yoga Pilates um but I really do a lot of strength training and the hit workouts you know kind of like days five to twenty yes and the other ones slow it down or maybe do nothing for a few days exactly so um this I've also been talking about and I'm actually pairing up do you know Tony Horton P90X yeah okay so I I was I did P when in my when I was in my early 40s I did P90X yeah I know totally P90X I did it every day for three years which is like I know but it wasn't really the what we're talking about was against get one against that grain um so Tony and I are actually filming a set of workouts that will allow women to be able to time their workouts to their menstrual cycle so we're going to be bringing that to the world in October but what I've told him was why don't we use testosterone to our weight lifting Advantage so day 10 11 you know 10 11 to 15 you have the most amount of test last round so why don't we go stronger with our weights now what's interesting is we also have to be aware that estrogen is at her Peak and estrogen makes ligaments really tight and makes and makes tendons really loose so you're pretty prone to injury during that time so if you're going to lift heavy you want to do slow heavy wraps and now you're matching all the hormones that are coming in right again why do women have a weekly workout plan why don't we have a monthly workout plan it really should be I mean really everything should be monthly if you're if you are some and and I and I really love I have to say I really loved and fast like a girl how you were like if you don't have a menstrual cycle right now just start on day one like I just I don't think that we probably in you tell me from a hormonal perspective but I don't think we stop being cyclical it just the nature of our cyclicality switches and maybe it's a little more subtle it's more subtle and and I that's also why I'm like the backup is to get to know your the personality so you know we've got a lot of women one of the things I that really shocked me with fast like a girl is how many 30 year olds have reached out and are like I don't have a period I'm newly married I want to get I want to get pregnant I've been on birth control since I was 13. and their hormones are all off so the new group that I'm really teaching how to get in touch with their with who they are or the 30 year olds so cool so we but we've got to know the personalities and then we've got the other thing is we have to give ourselves permission so I love how you explained the week before your period because in all honesty what do we do as women we [ __ ] and moan because I just want to sit on the couch I don't feel like working out I want to eat a a tub of ice cream and a box of pizza and if you put some chocolate there I'm happy yeah because that's that's what progesterone is asking you to do now not the ice cream and the pizza we can do it in a healthier way but what I want everybody to hear and in your story that's so brilliant is you're giving yourself permission to slow down and that is not a weakness that is actually a strength that we need to lean into a hundred percent and it supports so here's what I love about the metaphor of fertility when we are leaning in and eating those hormone feasting foods and nurturing ourselves and slowing down during the time when that's what we feel like doing it only supports our fertility now you and I are not trying to get pregnant right but if you yeah for sure let's just be really clear well I can't remember however however metaphorically speaking energetically speaking we're totally trying to get pregnant like we're making new stuff all the time and so if we think about this whole idea of productivity the toxic form of productivity is I'm doing [ __ ] all the time and I'm on all the time and like I mean you know and then the the healthy form of productivity is the metaphor of pregnancy which is like we are fertile to the degree that we are caring for ourselves and we can create and incredibly healthy babies when and we can be available for that when we are slowing down we are supporting our progesterone we are having hormone feasting Foods we are nurturing ourselves that's the only way we can be ultimately productive in a healthy way and So for anybody who's thinking like I can't slow down I have too much stuff to do or if I slow down you know my life is going to fall apart I would really invite you to look at the pregnancy metaphor for the ultimate productivity which like I I personally definitely creating two humans is like the wildest thing I've ever done you know I think it will be forever yeah and so that's always my model of like what did it take to do that okay I'm going to use that same wisdom for whether it's I'm writing a book whether it's that I'm you know planning a five-year-old birthday party like yeah right now oh my gosh just don't do it the week before you're I hope you I hope you time them well I guess it's a it's a birthday you yeah time it birthday it is what it is but you know what so it's interesting I was uh I was planning it in sort of like the time that would not be optimal um so I called in a lot of extra help excellent because I was just like this is not the time for me to be this is not a good solo act time so um yeah so just have you know mother-in-law helping out and a former Nanny and some help amazing I think that so that's the beautiful piece that I want everybody to hear is that if the timing is not right then at I love that bring support in or maybe if you're like I have this huge work event and it is timed completely wrong then what else can you let go of during that time so can you let go of and also how can you add in support for yourself yeah so it's not so much yeah like what can you let go of is there anything that can be canceled is there anything that can be moved out and then also like okay maybe you're just gonna go to bed earlier maybe you're going to not watch a show and instead take a bath maybe you're gonna walk slower from school pickup to your home you know like it could be little yeah I love that you know that when we went to look at the fasting cycle I was looking at the different names of each of each of the phases and I was going to originally call the week before uh our periods the chill out phase and then I was like no there if there's a deeper Essence that I want women to know which is where I came up with nurture it was like and and really it's about nurturing ourselves although for the men listening and I hope men listen to this this is a great time to nurture us you know if you want to connect to us and and really you know let us feel your support nurture US during that time that's that's been my Mantra but but leave us alone but nurture us totally can you nurture me without touching me thank you oh my God that is so that is so true and so confusing for bed I don't know yeah but that's exactly right like you just just keep asking me if I you know if I need anything like I'll let you know but if you just keep a little distance that's good too you want to throw a hug in every once in a while for some oxytocin I'm all good but don't expect a lot from me during that time don't expect a lot yeah yeah and I think that's really key okay now here's another like elevation of of what we're talking about that I'm trying to think about how culturally we can do this so um we live in a patriarchal world and I one of the things I've been saying about our Health Care system is it's so patriarchal and we need to bring the matriarch back into it we got to bring the feminine back into it which is what we're talking about here and so what the work world is also that and you know a lot of women are like you know the Rosie the Riveter like you know I Am Woman Hear Me Roar and I I gotta tell you I have a picture of Rosie the Riveter in my house and during my 40s there were many times I looked at her and I was like I don't think you had it right Rosie I think you only had part of the of the equation the other part is how do we let others know around us like thank you for that work task thank you for bringing me that problem I'll answer you in five days is it do we have a world where we can show it as our as our strength not a weakness to be able to stand up we don't have to be like oh my God I'm on day 21. get away from me you don't say that to your boss your co-worker but you could say that's really interesting and I'm gonna sit on it and I will let you know in a few days they don't have to know that you're waiting for estrogen to start to come in no they don't I mean different work cultures are going to be different I certainly know uh you know primarily female companies where actually the day and phase of your cycle is totally common to talk about wonderful but that's not going to be the norm right so yeah I think that in general all of us man woman no matter your gender identity no matter your age would really benefit from shifting our culture so that things that are non-emergent remain non-emergent um where it is completely normal and acceptable to take 48 hours to respond to somebody where somebody else's emergency does not become our emergency and where we really ask ourselves like is this does this require a response right now and and and what is the real timeline and so we need to look at how are we creating all kinds of false urgency in that is because we live in a culture which has addicted us to immediate feedback and you talked about the dopamine in your books you know that we have this tendency to just want it fast and we need to perhaps do a dopamine reset fast and really like look at where am I creating emergencies as a way of um as essentially a stimulant in my life and how how could I create aliveness in other ways so that I'm not using emergencies and pressure and stress as a way to make me feel alive so well said that so yeah that is that is that's I feel like the plight of the Modern Woman is that we are living in an evolutionary mismatch where the modern world has us addicted to all forms of dopamine and has us addicted to all forms of crises and we are not hormonally matched to that totally and unfortunately the more we ascribe to it the more our hormones get out of whack right and we have all these other problems Downstream and so I really like to have company agreements so something now I run a small business but we have enough people and enough you know players to have agreements about what are our expectations around communication how fast what is urgent what is non-urgent what's the boundaries so that we all really can work in a way that is very healthy so no matter what if you work in a department like maybe you could lead up right setting departmental communication agreements that are in support of the health of the company because whatever is healthy for the workers is every single time healthy for the company we've just been brainwashed to think that what's good for our bodies is bad for the bottom line but one of my mottos is body first business second because when you put the body first pro productivity increases absenteeism decreases turnover decreases and joy increases and profit increases the data is unequivocal it's just the way it works amazing so I was just talking about this this morning with one of my team members I was like we have to think about how it was like another elevation of thought for me of how am I taking care of my cycling women that are on my team what kind of support can we give them to be able to to understand this conversation in fact I'm going to have them all listen to it but then what kind of um like space are we giving them like the week before their period and how are we using their brains when they're ovulating this is where you could start to really take our superpowers and turn them into profit and into business ideas now I think you're gonna have the patriarch listening a little more closely if they understand exactly what you just said that body first business second and with that will come your profits that you're so deeply wanting totally incredible ah okay well I could talk to you forever I I have one last question I ask everybody but one before I go there we're going to bring you back to talk finances but do we have spending habits do they differ with our menstrual cycle oh yes I mean we can get very spendy in the ovulation phase because there's that like that it's very like well and really with the whole estrogen it's like you know it's lipstick and Handbags that's like a total stereotypical thing but what it might be running shoes for you it might be yoga tights I mean we can get like because it's like all juji like you know it feels fun and sexy um which is not a problem right it's not necessarily a problem but it's just to know these things about ourselves that um one of the things I teach in my program relax money is actually a whole segment on aligning your financial management with your menstrual cycle because it's amazing very specifically because if you can lean into your hormonal experience then you can get a lot more bang for your buck out of your budgeting out of your bookkeeping out of your spending plan out of your investing and like you said at the beginning of this conversation why would we not align every single area with our cyclical nature so why not our finances right and I love thinking about I love thinking about that um you know like during your luteal phase is a really wonderful time to analyze your spending and say what am I spending that's in alignment with my values and my goals and what am I spending that's not because it's just going to be really obvious because your brain is more analytical and detail-oriented at that time so I mean that's just one example right and maybe you go see your financial advisor during ovulation yes not the week before your period probably not especially if you don't want him or her to you know tell you something you don't want to hear that might not work well for you yes amazing amazing okay well we could we could go all day and I just uh this is like a glass of water on a very thirsty day for me this was incredible so thank you for that and I I always end my uh all my uh podcasts with a question and I always have a theme uh each year so this theme this year is self-love and uh and it's also I'm really trying to especially women to to get women to brag about their superpower so tell me what your daily self-love practice looks like I think we just heard a monthly one and what is your superpower that you bring to the world okay great so my daily self-love practice is um I take an extraordinarily long time to get my day going which is a new thing for me like I don't I don't book anything before 10 A.M and I luxuriate and I work out and I do my red light therapy and I do outdo detox things and I lie on my Biomat and I just like move at the speed I feel like moving and that is so revolutionary because I spent the first 40 years of my life rushing um so that's my daily self-love is a slow morning nine times out of ten and uh my super power is making seemingly complicated or unrelated things related and digestible and practical and doable I would absolutely agree because we just witnessed that so amazing how do people find you what's what I know you have some courses and new stuff coming up but I just hope everybody listening goes and and dips into your information because it's revolutionary thank you the best place to find me is over on Instagram at Kate Northrup that's the place I hang out the most um all all my stuff is is there my website is Kate northrup.com so those would be the two spots amazing amazing well Kate this again this may have been the highlight of my year just to have this conversation with somebody who's putting into action that's thought about it so you know I just so appreciate you and keep up keep all the great work up so thank you for coming on and I can't wait to do it again we're gonna do it again so I would love that thank you so much yeah thank you

Channel: The Resetter Podcast

Views: 11,201

Keywords: kate northrup do less, kate northrup money a love story, kate northrup money, kate northrup husband illness, kate northrup planner, kate northrup mother, kate northrup origin, kate northrup relaxed money, fasting and hormones, mindy pelz, mindy pelz intermittent fasting, hormonal imbalance, intermittent fasting, hormone balance, mindy pelz fasting, mindy pelz autophagy fasting, mindy pelz menopause

Id: Z5HEdZE99zk

Length: 58min 1sec (3481 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 17 2023