What is Vitex?

The herb Vitex is also known as Chaste Tree or Chasteberry, and it originates from a small shrub that grows in the Mediterranean. The fruits of this shrub have been used for more than 2500 years as a natural treatment for female fertility and hormonal health. Vitex is a popular herbal supplement commonly used by women to regulate their menstrual cycle and alleviate symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS).

As a result of the many studies that have proven its effectiveness, Vitex has now become one of the most popular herbal remedies for hormonal imbalance. If you’re seeking natural treatment for PMS, infertility, PCOS, or Endometriosis - it’s likely that you’ve come across Vitex. It is most readily available to us in an herbal supplement tablet or tincture form.

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Does Vitex resolve hormonal imbalance or help infertility?

Vitex supports your pituitary gland to produce progesterone and luteinizing hormone - both of which are necessary for your body to ovulate, for regular menstrual cycles, and for you to avoid symptoms of hormonal imbalance like PMS.

When a woman is progesterone deficient (or estrogen dominant, to put it another way) and has what is known as a luteal phase defect, Vitex can support her endocrine system to create more progesterone, encourage regular ovulation, and help develop a healthy cycle. This will help balance out the estrogen dominance that is at the root of many of cycle issues.

The pituitary gland is also called the “master” gland and it talks to the ovaries, letting them know how much hormones to make. Vitex works on the pituitary gland's functioning, enhancing its ability to do this work. So, Vitex can be an effective and often successful natural treatment to have at your disposal when facing cycle problems. However, Vitex is a short-term solution to some hormonal imbalance issues. It can act like jumper cables to the pituitary gland and stimulate it to make the right level of hormones again.

However, Vitex alone will not fix a hormone imbalance or issues like infertility, PMS, PCOS, or Endometriosis long-term, if you do not also change your internal hormonal ecosystem with nutrition, which includes micro and macronutrient therapy. If you don’t address your hormonal ecosystem as a whole, you may see changes within the prescribed timeframe (although Vitex is less likely to be successful), but when you come off of it (which you will eventually want to), your symptoms and problems will return.

Supporting your whole system by eating the right foods at the right times (aka The Cycle Syncing® Method), and taking the right nutrients to address the root causes of your unique hormone imbalances in the first place, will provide your body with the building blocks it needs. Take our free hormone health assessment to get a report of your current hormonal health along with a personalize care plan.

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When should you use Vitex?

There are certain times in a woman’s life when Vitex can be very helpful as part of a hormonally-supportive diet and lifestyle.  

‍1. After using the birth control pill, Vitex is effective at supporting the body’s return to natural hormone production and cycling. If you come off the birth control pill and find your periods do not return within a few months, Vitex is an effective natural treatment option.

‍2. When you are entering the second stage of perimenopause and find that your cycles are becoming more irregular, Vitex can help to regulate your cycles and  decrease the symptoms associated with perimenopause in your 40s. When you have PMS symptoms like acne and breast tenderness as the result of a progesterone deficiency and estrogen dominance, Vitex can boost the body’s production of progesterone and ease these issues.

3. When you’re trying to get pregnant, Vitex supports regular ovulation. If you’re experiencing frequent annovulatory cycles, you can take this natural treatment to support the return of your fertility.

‍4. When you’re suffering with the symptoms of mild Endometriosis. In some European countries, Vitex is commonly prescribed for this hormonal health issue.

5. When you want to breastfeed. For many years, Vitex has been used to increase the production of breastmilk post-partum, although you would only use it short term.

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How should you use Vitex?

How long does it take for Vitex to start working? Vitex is a relatively slow-acting herb, therefore you need to commit to taking it for up to 6 months to see any change in your cycles or improvement of symptoms. This is also a reason why Vitex is not an easy treatment option compared to food therapy, as you have to take this herb every day for such a long time and that can be tough to remember to do. If you do want to try this route, we advise taking Vitex for up to 6 months and then see how you feel without the Vitex. FYI, It is normal to take Vitex even when on your period.

You should not use Vitex if you are currently on hormonal birth control (it won’t have any impact on your hormones, as the synthetic hormones from birth control replaces your body’s natural hormone production and suppresses the endocrine system).

You should also not take Vitex if you’re using IVF drugs already as this can cause over-stimulation to the ovaries. It is less commonly known and important to understand that using Vitex when you have a history of depression can cause your depression symptoms to worsen. So, be cautious if your PMS commonly includes feeling really low and depressed, rather than anxiety, irritation or fatigue.

Be sure to buy Vitex from a reputable, long-standing supplement company like Gaia so you know you are getting a potent formulation, without fillers. Vitex will not be a successful natural treatment for you if it is the only thing you change about your daily habits. If you do not feed your body with hormonally-supportive foods and avoid processed products, alcohol, caffeine, sugar, dairy and gluten, then Vitex cannot work miracles! As far as how much Vitex to take, follow the instructions and guidance on the bottle and from your healthcare provider.

We recommend that you have the Flo Living protocol already in play when you start using Vitex as an additional booster. Always remember, that once you have the right information about how your body really works, you can start making health choices that finally start to work for you! You can do this - the science of your body is on your side.

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How to Know if Vitex is Working 

If a woman is taking Vitex, she can tell if it is working by monitoring her menstrual cycle and PMS symptoms. Vitex typically takes a few menstrual cycles to start having an effect, so it is important to be patient and consistent with taking the supplement. If a woman notices a decrease in PMS symptoms such as bloating, breast tenderness, and mood swings, and an improvement in the regularity and length of her menstrual cycle, these may be signs that Vitex is working for her. It is always recommended to consult with a healthcare provider before starting any new supplement regimen.

PMS is not normal. I can’t say it enough. PMS is not normal. PMS is not something you have to just live with, put up with, or get through on a monthly basis. You can live a PMS-free life! All that crabbiness, agitation, anxiety, irritability, and moodiness can be put in the past. Women have come to accept PMS as part of our lot, but that’s just not true. PMS is a symptom. It’s a symptom of a hormonal imbalance that is perfectly treatable. Better yet, it’s perfectly treatable with the right kinds of food at the right times, and the right supplements.If you’re here I’m guessing you already know that the most common “treatments” for PMS either don’t work or make the root causes so much worse and come with lots of unwanted side effects. You’re looking for natural treatments that really work.Now, I’m not a big fan of supplements in themselves, just because I think you need a foundation of micronutrient dense and hormonally supportive foods first. Food is always first. No one supplement is going to solve your PMS alone. That’s just not the way our bodies work. But, there are some supplements that will, when used in conjunction with the FLO protocol, particularly the specific foods that support your body during the luteal phase, that can speed up the process of alleviating PMS symptoms and preventing future PMS.So, once you have your PMS-fighting foods sorted out, as well as your PMS-preventing nighttime routine and PMS-banishing morning routine, you can start with the natural supplements.

The Best Natural Supplements to Prevent PMS

• Dong Quai - this adaptogen is known as a general tonic for all women and called the female ginseng. Dong quai has muscle relaxing effects and is pain relieving for all those pre-period cramps and aches. Please note though that this powerful supplement should not be used during pregnancy, breastfeeding or if you have a family history of female cancers.
• Calcium - this nutrient will help with the mood swings, fatigue, headaches and acne that can come pre-menstrually.
• Magnesium - many women are deficient in magnesium because of our on-the-go busy and stressful lifestyles. Magnesium balances the cycle, eases bloating, encourages good sleep, and alleviates anxiety.
• B6 - B6 helps your body produce more progesterone. Progesterone deficiency can cause a lot of PMS-related symptoms. A low level of B6 can make estrogen dominance more pronounced, when you have too much estrogen in your blood stream and not enough progesterone.
• Evening Primrose Oil - this supplement has been extensively researched as an aid for hormone balance. Evening primrose oil can help with cramps, aches and pains, and headaches in the luteal phase.
• Vitamin E - this vitamin specifically helps with premenstrual breast soreness. As an antioxidant it protects breast tissue from inflammation.
• Vitex - this powerful supplement has been in use by women for a long time. Vitex increases production of hormones in the luteal phase and offsets estrogen dominance. Vitex helps your pituitary gland make more progesterone on its own.

Always remember, that once you have the right information about how your body really works, you can start making health choices that finally start to work for you! You can do this - the science of your body is on your side!to your FLO,AlisaGood things come in threes:

I want to hear from you!

First, do you suffer with PMS?Second, have you tried Vitex? Third, everyone you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social ;)

Need more Hormone Help?

If you’re needing some health upgrading, it’s time you started you looking into what’s going on with your hormones.I’ve designed a 4 day hormone detox and evaluation to help you understand exactly what’s out of whack and how you can start getting back to balance so that your hormones no longer have to suffer.Click here to get your FREE detox and evaluation!

If you have PCOS and have looked around for natural treatments to take care of your symptoms, like the acne, hair overgrowth, hair loss, weight gain, and mood swings, then you’ve probably come across natural progesterone cream. The idea behind using natural progesterone cream to treat your PCOS is that you will increase your progesterone levels and rebalance your estrogen levels. You make progesterone after you ovulate, if you ovulate, in the second half of your cycle. If you don’t ovulate regularly, as is common with PCOS, progesterone deficiency can cause many unwanted symptoms. Progesterone cream is one of the ways to help your body deal with this lack of progesterone, but it’s not an ideal treatment and I have some caveats about progesterone cream that I’d like to share to help you choose when and how and if to use it as a natural treatment for your PCOS.

What is progesterone cream?

There are two kinds of progesterone cream - the kind you can purchase at Whole Foods (the most popular and respected brand is Emerita Pro-Gest) that is naturally derived from plant sources, and the pharmaceutical-grade progesterone cream (there are several brands including Progestelle and ProFeme). I never recommend using the pharmaceutical-grade progesterone cream, which is synthetic hormone-based and therefore has the ability to disrupt your body’s own hormone cycles in a way that will cause many adverse effects. Plant-source natural progesterone cream is the better option, or the only option I would recommend. Phyto (plant-based) progesterone is more easily processed and assimilated by the body, and as such it has less adverse effects. However, even natural, plant-sourced progesterone cream is a powerful supplement and should be used with an educated caution.

Can natural progesterone cream “cure” PCOS?

If you’re in a place currently where all of your symptoms of PCOS are so acute that you feel you need immediate relief, then natural progesterone cream can be a short term solution. If I meet a woman in a critical state with her PCOS-related health issues who just feels really, really bad right now, then I believe that natural progesterone cream can be a good choice for her, for one to three cycles.However, using natural progesterone cream is just a way of adding plant-based phyto progesterone into your body to replace the progesterone your body is lacking. This can bring short term relief and give you some respite from difficult symptoms, but it’s not a real treatment that gets to the root cause of PCOS. Not to mention that there’s a vicious cycle here when you are estrogen dominant, as that itself over time can suppress progesterone production. So merely increasing progesterone alone will not address why your body isn’t making the right amount in the first place. This is why Cycle-Syncing™ is so effective because it balances out estrogen and boosts progesterone throughout your cycle. Adding in too much hormone of any kind to your body will have a cumulative effect and cause side effects - in the case of progesterone - it can accumulate in your fat tissue and increase your tendency toward depression. Also, over the long term, the effectiveness of the natural progesterone cream will decrease. Natural progesterone cream overrides the body’s hormone production, rather than supporting the body to produce its own progesterone. Supporting the body to balance its own hormone production with the right food choices and lifestyle choices is the best way forward for all women with PCOS.

How to use natural progesterone cream

You use natural progesterone cream only in the second half of your cycle, which is when your body would normally be producing its own progesterone. Start placing progesterone cream on the back of your elbow or knee on day 16 of your cycle (16 days after your period). Do this every day for 10 to 12 days and then stop. If you have acute symptoms of PCOS currently you can start as soon as you need to. You likely will not know where you are in your cycle and may have not seen your period for some time, so counting the days will be difficult. Follow my guide to understanding your cycle to get back on track and then use progesterone cream for half your cycle for just one to three cycles maximum.If you are in the second stage of perimenopause, this is another time when I do recommend progesterone cream as a natural supplement. If you’re already taking good care of yourself (ideally following the Flo Living protocol), but have found your period is more irregular post-45 as you head toward your very last period ever, then natural progesterone cream can act as a boost to your body, which is naturally and normally experiencing a decline in hormone production. Again, only use progesterone cream for one to three cycles to alleviate the symptoms of lowering hormones and irregular cycles. Even when you’re in perimenopause, this is not a long term solution and will not prevent perimenopause or prolong fertility.

How to increase progesterone naturally with food

As I’ve said here, progesterone cream does not support your body to make its own hormones and it’s not a long term solution for PCOS, perimenopause symptoms, irregular cycles or progesterone deficiency. The best way to support your body to produce its own progesterone (and therefore alleviate symptoms of low progesterone from mood swings to acne to weight gain) is through your diet and eating the right kinds of progesterone-boosting foods. The Flo Living protocol is designed to assist your body to produce healthy levels of progesterone and estrogen and to treat the root cause of hormonal health issues like PCOS. Giving your body the micronutrients it needs to produce its own hormones is the best choice. There are also some foods that women with PCOS should completely avoid.

The best progesterone-boosting food sources

• B6-rich foods - including walnuts, poultry and chickpeas. A low level of B6 can make estrogen dominance more pronounced, when you have too much estrogen in your blood stream and not enough progesterone.
• Vitamin E-rich foods - including almonds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. Several studies have shown that women who take vitamin E see a significant increase in overall progesterone levels.
• Vitamin C-rich foods - including bell peppers, leafy greens, berries and citrus fruits. Vitamin C boosts both progesterone and estrogen production in the body and helps with hormone processing and elimination of excess.
• L-arginine-rich foods - found in high protein food sources like pork, beef, poultry, as well as salmon, halibut and trout.

Always remember, that once you have the right information about how your body really works, you can start making health choices that finally start to work for you! You can do this - the science of your body is on your side!to your FLO,AlisaGood things come in threes:

I want to hear from you!

First, do you have PCOS? Second, have you tried progesterone cream? Third, everyone you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social ;)

Need more Hormone Help?

If you’re needing some health upgrading, it’s time you started you looking into what’s going on with your hormones.I’ve designed a 4 day hormone detox and evaluation to help you understand exactly what’s out of whack and how you can start getting back to balance so that your hormones no longer have to suffer.Click here to get your FREE detox and evaluation!

Boost Your Metabolism and Improve Your Period SymptomsIf you’d like to lose weight, then boosting your metabolism is a great way to drop those extra pounds. The best way to boost your metabolism is not by cutting back on food and restricting your diet, but by eating more of the kinds of foods that treat the root cause of your slowed and sluggish metabolism. The key to boosting your metabolism is about balancing your hormones! Just like knowing what your period tells you about your hormone balance, understanding where you gain weight is an important key to boosting your metabolism. Your hormone-body type reveals the reason you’re putting on the pounds (or having difficulty losing weight) and the best way for you to boost your metabolism successfully. Your body type can tell you which hormonal imbalance issue you are experiencing that is driving your weight gain. Addressing the root hormonal cause of your weight issue will have the added benefit of clearing up your period symptoms as well!

How To Use Food to Boost Your Metabolism

Eliminating foods from your diet - especially carbs and fats - will prevent your body from producing the hormones it needs to keep your metabolism humming along and burning effectively. You need to feed your metabolism the right kinds of foods to fuel its functioning. It does not help to punish yourself with a starvation regime or crash dieting or even too much heavy exercise - many of the actions we have come to believe will help us lose weight are actually going against our fat-burning system. Not eating enough and over-exercising plays havoc with your blood sugar levels and stresses out your adrenals. This means the fat doesn’t get converted into useful, functional glucose, and instead goes straight into your cells - padding out your figure.Which Diet Boosts Metabolism Best?Many of the on-trend, current diets you hear a lot about (think Paleo, Ketogenic, Macrobiotic, Vegan…) rob your body and brain of the micronutrients that you need to create balanced appetite control-neurotransmitters and balanced metabolism-boosting hormone levels. In comparison, the Flo Living protocol supports appetite control and boosts your metabolism, because it increases essential micronutrients and balances your hormones.Boosting your metabolism isn't about revving up the body to work harder, it's about balancing hormones to help your body work smarter! AND the effects are not just being slimmer, it's about being your most vital self. When I was obese, I used to think losing weight was the goal, but then as I started to understand how my hormones ruled everything, my goal changed from weight loss, to hormonal optimization.

The 4 Hormone-Body types and How to Boost Your Metabolism

What I mean here by your “body type” is how and where you gain the most pounds and store your fat. This information indicates the root biological cause of your weight gain or inability to lose weight. Knowing where you hold the majority of your weight can help you unlock the secret to losing pounds all over. A combination of the right food and supplements can boost your metabolism and help you to burn fat in the best way that works perfectly for you. Where you hold your weight and how to boost your metabolism:

• Estrogen Type - Hips & Thighs & Butt - storing your fat in your thighs reveals an estrogen dominance in you body. Your progesterone is low and your estrogen is too high. Period Symptoms: heavy bleeding, irregular periods, moodiness, PMS. What to eat: Focus on adding more cruciferous vegetables into your diet (like kale, collards, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and brussel sprouts) - try to get a serving in at every meal. What to take: The supplement DIM (Di-Indolyl-Methane) extracted from cruciferous vegetables, helps the body to metabolize and process excess estrogen.
• Cortisol Type - Belly - packing on the pounds in your gut tends to point to stress and the production of too much of the stress hormone cortisol. Period Symptoms: anxiety, insomnia, PMS, skipped periods. What to eat: Bell peppers for the vitamin C - more than in oranges! Vitamin C is very effective at helping the body manage stress. What to take: The adaptogen Ashwagandha will soothe your adrenals to the point that they program your cells to burn fat.
• Insulin Type - Muffin top - love handles are a sign of a poor efficiency of insulin use in your body. Unstable blood sugar will make your body store more fat. Skipping meals and eating junky diet foods can cause high insulin levels that send the pounds straight to your middle. Period Symptoms: PCOS, skipped periods, fatigue. What to eat: Instead of bingeing on sugary snacks and white bread, rice, and pasta after a day of little-to-no real food, pick good fat-burning carbs like sweet potatoes, quinoa, buckwheat and brown rice. These foods will improve your insulin resistance. What to take: The supplement Cinnamon Force from New Chapter is great for stabilizing blood sugar. At study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics revealed the potential of cinnamon supplementation to help those who are overweight and obese.
• Testosterone Type - Upper arms - storing fat in your upper arms/shoulder area suggests you have a sensitivity to testosterone or too low testosterone levels. You need testosterone to burn fat and build muscle mass. Period Symptoms: PCOS, irregular cycles, hair issues, irritability, low sex drive. What to eat: Good fats like avocados, which are also a great source of bioidentical testosterone. What to take: Add Maca root powder to your routine, which gently and safely boosts testosterone.

Always remember, that once you have the right information about how your body really works, you can start making health choices that finally start to work for you! You can do this - the science of your body is on your side!to your FLO,AlisaGood things come in threes:

I want to hear from you!

First, do you want to lose weight? Second, have you tried all the trendy diets? Third, everyone you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social ;)

Need more Hormone Help?

If you’re needing some health upgrading, it’s time you started you looking into what’s going on with your hormones.I’ve designed a 4 day hormone detox and evaluation to help you understand exactly what’s out of whack and how you can start getting back to balance so that your hormones no longer have to suffer.Click here to get your FREE detox and evaluation!

We take a look at the types of ovarian cysts, their cause, and effective natural treatments.

In this post we'll be discussing functional ovarian cysts, as opposed to the ovarian cysts associated with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) or the ovarian cysts associated with endometriosis. Functional ovarian cysts are fluid filled sacs the size of almonds that grow and develop on the ovaries, often cyclically as related to your monthly hormonal shifts. Ovarian cysts like this can come and go, get larger and smaller, and are very responsive to natural treatments.

Your body is designed to deal with ovarian cysts, if it is working at an optimal level of health. However, if you are experiencing hormonal imbalance, this can prevent ovarian cysts from shrinking, cause them to grow larger, and then potentially rupture with a lot of pain and complication involved. ‍

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The symptoms of functional ovarian cysts

Many women don’t realize they have ovarian cysts until they start experiencing symptoms. Once you have symptoms like those detailed below, you may want to ask your OB/GYN for an ultrasound exam to confirm that ovarian cysts are the cause. The common signs of ovarian cysts are:

• Lower abdominal pain
• Pain during sex
• Pressure on the bladder/need to urinate more frequently
• Bloating
• Indigestion
• Irregular cycles and anovulatory cycles (when ovulation does not occur)

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A ruptured ovarian cyst will cause you high fever and pain. Often women who experience this will go to the ER and will often be checked for appendicitis first. It’s best to be aware that a ruptured ovarian cyst could also be the cause of such pain, if you have experienced the above symptoms prior to this happening.

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Types of ovarian cysts

There are several kinds of ovarian cysts, but functional cysts, as described above, are the most common. There are just two kinds of functional ovarian cysts - follicle cysts and corpus luteum cysts. Follicle cysts happen when the ovary follicle does not open to release an egg and instead stays closed, filled with liquid. Corpus luteum cysts are when the follicle does release an egg, but then does not seal and close off afterwards.

Other kinds of ovarian cysts include:

• Endometriomas - tissue that normally would grow and develop inside the uterus can migrate outside the uterus and attach to the ovaries. These cysts are associated with an Endometriosis diagnosis. They can grow large and rupture just like functional cysts.
• PCOS - with a diagnosis of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome a woman has multiple cysts on her ovary or ovaries (sometimes said to look like “a string of pearls”). PCOS can cause infertility by producing extremely long, irregular cycles without ovulation. This lack of ovulation, the hormonal imbalance, and the enlarged cyst-covered ovary has its own set of symptoms that vary from woman to woman, but can include weight gain, acne, hair overgrowth and hair loss, anxiety, and depression.
• Dermoid cysts - these cysts grow on the ovaries and contain hair, teeth and other substances.

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Treatment for ovarian cysts

Most commonly women are offered the birth control pill to “treat” ovarian cysts. The Pill replaces your natural hormonal changes and cycle with a synthetic hormone stasis. Considering the side effects while using the Pill, and the fact that once you come off the ovarian cysts will probably return and may be worse as a result, we never recommend this as a method for combatting cysts. The birth control pill can make the root causes of ovarian cysts much, much worse.

The Pill is a band-aid for all women’s health issues and in the case of ovarian cysts when natural treatment can be very effective it is completely unnecessary. Natural treatment alone can shrink and resolve cysts, as well as prevent their return relatively quickly.

If you find you have a proclivity for cysts we recommend following our natural treatment protocol and then returning to your doctor every 6 months to monitor them.

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The cause of ovarian cysts

The central cause of ovarian cysts is estrogen dominance. This means your body holds too much estrogen and not enough progesterone to create balance. The estrogen your body is creating is not being processed and eliminated correctly. Plus, you are taking in excess estrogens from outside of your body via synthetic estrogen-filled shampoos, cosmetics, nail polishes, household cleaners, femcare products, plastics and pesticides. This creates an estrogen overload situation. If your body is not functioning optimally then it won’t be able to get rid of the excess estrogen as it needs to, efficiently and quickly. The Flo Living protocol is designed to reverse and prevent estrogen dominance and all of the symptoms that come with this hormonal imbalance.

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The best natural treatment for ovarian cysts

Cycle Syncing® your diet is the best way to manage ovarian cysts. Eating the right foods for the right phase of your hormonal cycle will keep your hormones in check and prevent excess estrogen or low progesterone. There are also certain foods you can frontload in your daily diet to make this protocol even more effective for shrinking, managing, and preventing ovarian cysts long-term. We at Flo Living firmly believe that fibroids and ovarian cysts are best treated naturally.

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These three types of foods can help shrink and even get rid of ovarian cysts:

• Cruciferous vegetables and DIM - Vegetables like Brussels sprouts, kale, collards, broccoli, and cabbage contain DIM (Di-Indolyl Methane) which is very effective at helping the body process and eliminate excess estrogen. Increase your intake of these veggies and supplement with DIM itself in pill form daily.
• Fermented foods - Sauerkraut, kimchi and pickles will help your body deal with and manage estrogen. A certain set of gut bacteria, and more specifically certain bacterial genes called the estrobolome, produce an essential enzyme that helps metabolize estrogen. Your gut is part of the elimination system that is vital in ushering hormones out of the body. Fermented foods are wonderful for gut health.
• Fiber-filled foods - Fiber helps your liver and digestive system move and eliminate excess estrogen from your body. The best fiber-filled foods for preventing estrogen dominance are pears and flax seeds. Flax seeds contain lignan which prevents the body from absorbing excess estrogen.

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A Flo Living Success Story: Ovarian Cysts

Flo Living graduate Heidi Braun came to us with functional ovarian cysts. Within two months of following the Flo Living protocol, she saw her cysts disappear from her ovaries.

“Mid-April and time to go back for another sonogram. Alisa and I spoke prior to my visit and she told me not to expect any changes…that it was too soon. I was fine with that. I knew I was doing all I could and they were great things for my health nonetheless. So as I lay on the table, with no expectations, the technician tells me, “The cyst on the left ovary is gone” and then “Oh! The one on the right is gone, too!” I’m in shock. I’m elated. And as a tear rolls down my cheek, I’m in awe of the power…the power this body has to heal itself. How amazing is that! If I treat it right (if I treat ME right), then amazing things will happen.”

The Birth Control & Libido Connection

An important scientific study published in 2006 in The Journal of Sexual Medicine revealed that:

Women who have taken the birth control pill may find that, as well as having had low sex drive when on the pill, that this side effect persists even when they stop taking it.

The researchers discovered that the impact the birth control pill has on women’s testosterone levels can cause them to have a permanently suppressed sex drive when compared to women who have never used the birth control pill.

While many of us are well-aware of the fact that the Pill can have the highly ironic side effect of making you less interested in sex, it’s not as widely known that, despite stopping the Pill, some women will not see their sex drive bounce back to what it was prior to the Pill, or to levels comparative to other women.

Now, this might sound pretty scary at first if you are on the Pill or have decided to come off the Pill, but this study is showing what some women will experience if they just go off the birth control pill (as many do in the hope of losing the side effects) and do nothing aside from this to support and boost their sex drive. Although that situation is completely understandable - we assume the impact of any medication will stop once we no longer take it - there are definitely things you can do to make sure you are not one of these women who never see a return of their pre-Pill sex drive. Perhaps you’ve been off the Pill a while even, and you feel like your sex drive isn’t what it was, or what you know it could be. It’s absolutely not too late to turn that situation around and get back the sex drive you want.

We’ve previously looked at the different ways the Pill can impact you sex life (including decreased orgasms and increased UTIs) and your relationships (including the type of men you’re attracted to), as well as the best way to approach transitioning off the Pill,  but here let's look at how to tackle this common Pill-related problem of low sexual desire.

First, let’s look at why it happens so we can understand fully how to fix it.

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How birth control stops your sex drive

The birth control pill suppresses ovulation and replaces your body’s own natural hormone production with a consistent stream of synthetic hormones. As a part of this function, the Pill suppresses your testosterone production. It also increases the production of SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin).

When you go off the Pill, your body can start producing its own (and more) testosterone again, however the research study mentioned above found that women are left with 4 times the amount of SHBG they would normally have. SHBG binds with your “free testosterone” in your bloodstream and lowers the levels of available, free, accessible testosterone overall. Free, unbound testosterone is essential for a healthy sex drive, as well as sexual enjoyment. When you experience your natural cycle, your sex drive will peak around ovulation (and sometimes also pre-menstrually). On the Pill you experience none of these natural hormonal shifts.

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How to bring your sex drive back post-Pill

We recommend a three-part approach to regain your sex drive after the Pill, whether you’ve only recently come off, plan to soon, or have been off the Pill for a a few months already.

This strategy has been effective with many women we have supported in coming off the Pill through the Flo Living protocol.

The first part of this strategy focuses on sex drive-boosting foods, the second part centers around sex drive-supportive supplements, and the third looks at adjusting exactly how you approach sex.

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3 things you can do to revive your sex drive after stopping the pill:‍‍

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1. Let food be your foreplay

‍You can support your endocrine system with the right foods that will help your body produce enough testosterone to give your sex drive the boost it needs. After coming off the Pill, you will be depleted of some key nutrients that will also contribute to connecting issues like low moods and poor sleep. Eating a diet rich in hormonally supportive foods will be key in avoiding all the withdrawal effects of the Pill - including rebound hormonal acne, weight issues, and infertility issues.

‍Focus on well-researched aphrodisiacs like avocados (full of bio-identical testosterone), honey (packed with hormone regulating boron), strawberries (an ancient remedy), and dark chocolate (for feeling energized and content).

You’ll also need to nourish your tired post-Pill adrenals & stabilize your mood - you can do this by avoiding caffeine, eating regularly, and upping essential fatty acids in your diet. Try mixing up Alisa Vitti's signature sex drive-boosting smoothie a couple of times per week - the Passion Pour.

‍2. Get sexy with supplements

‍No supplement will change your sex drive on its own, but as part of a wider hormonally supportive diet, they can work wonders.

‍Try maca powder in your smoothies - a well-researched root extract that will help increase testosterone levels.

Try adding Zinc, Magnesium, Evening Primrose and Rhodiola to your daily routine to improve your energy and mood, as well as increase your desire for and enjoyment of sex. These supplements will support your adrenals, up testosterone levels, and give you bigger and better orgasms. Zinc and Magnesium are especially important for preventing the binding of free testosterone and keeping free testosterone available - the importance of which is shown in the aforementioned research.

‍3. Take it slow

The third part of this strategy is to shift your approach to sex. Taking the birth control pill, especially long-term, can change how we think and feel about sex. When you come off the Pill, you will need to work with your new desire level in ways that will let you have the time you need to feel turned on and ready. The effects of the sex drive-boosting foods and supplements won’t be immediate, and while you’re waiting for your testosterone levels to bounce back, you can start with this. It’s all about building a new pathway towards becoming aroused.

Focusing more on actual foreplay (not just food as foreplay!) including long make-out sessions or indulging in some literotica to get in the mood can help. If you’ve gotten used to not having a lot of sex because you just didn’t feel like it, start practicing being sexual regularly in different ways - partnered or solo. Our sex drive is something that can disappear purely through lack of practice!

You might need to start out small and slow with sexual explorations - the more you do, the more you’ll want! Just start exploring! Self-pleasure can certainly be a part of this. Know that as your natural cycle phases return you may also want to practice Cycle Syncing® your sex life to make the most of your shifting sexuality.

Once you are fully living in your FLO, you will notice that how you feel about your partner (if in a relationship) and your interest in sex changes depending what phase you are in at that time.

You may be familiar with some of the side effects of hormonal birth control, like depression, blood clots, and weight gain. You might also know that birth control pills, which are often prescribed for things other than contraception—like irregular periods or acne—aren’t the best solution for managing symptoms. In fact, the pill ultimately makes symptoms like acne worse.But hormonal birth control has other, more far-reaching consequences. Specifically, taking the pill can wreak havoc on your love life. I know that probably sounds far out or completely made up, but the idea that hormonal birth control has real consequences for your love life comes directly from the scientific research, which I outline in detail below.

And when you think about it closely, it makes a lot of sense. The pill messes with hormone production and balance by introducing a stream of synthetic hormones to our systems—and because hormones impact how we perceive other people and how they perceive us, it stands to reason that our interactions with everyone—and specifically romantic partners— would be tipped sideways by a steady stream of synthetic hormones. In other words, hormones help us interact with the world. When we introduce a whole new set of hormones to our delicate bodies, it can shift our desires and perceptions on a fundamental biochemical level and have far-reaching romantic consequences.

How the Pill Ruins Love

Here are 5 of the ways that the pill might be messing with your love life:You like the smell of guys or girls who are wrong for you romantically. When our hormones are balanced and healthy and when (biochemically speaking) we’re on the hunt for a baby daddy (which means you! It doesn’t matter if you never want kids or if you aren’t attracted to men. If you’re ovulating, your body goes through the biochemical hunt for a good reproductive partner every month), we are primed to be attracted to men to whom we are genetically dissimilar, which lowers the chance of miscarriage and increases the likelihood of having a healthy baby. It also tends to make for more satisfying sex and happier relationships.

Studies show that if you are on the pill, you are more likely to gravitate toward men who smell like you (possibly because the pill simulates pregnancy and pregnant women are drawn toward nurturing and supportive biological relatives, or folks who smell like them). In this way, the pill acts like an anti-cupid, steering you away from your ideal romantic match. You become less attractive to the opposite or same sex. Pheromones are chemical messengers released by the body—and research shows that women’s pheromones can, quite literally, cast a spell over men and women when it comes to romance. Pheromones act as a sort of ‘love potion’ when they are released, increasing a person’s attraction to a women. But studies show that the pill stops production of these attraction-enhancing pheromones, and that might have negative consequences for your romantic and sexual life. It might make your attraction to your current partner disappear (gasp!). If you start a relationship when you’re on the pill then you may find, if and when you come off, that you’re no longer attracted to your partner. One study found that unless your mate is considered conventionally good-looking by evolutionary standards, you may then find them unattractive after you quit taking hormonal birth control. Here is what study author Michelle Russell told Time magazine in 2014:“Women who choose a partner when they’re on hormonal contraceptives and then stop taking them will prioritize their husband’s attractiveness more than they would if they were still on it. The effect that it would have on her marital satisfaction would carry more weight.”

It can suppress your sex drive. A woman’s sex drive should peak around ovulation, but the pill prevents this from happening. Not only that, but the synthetic hormones in hormonal birth control deplete your testosterone reserves, which, along with balanced hormones, is a key to your sexual desire and enjoyment. Research has linked oral contraceptives with female sexual dysfunction, including less frequent sexual activity, arousal, pleasure, and orgasm, and difficulty with lubrication. Oral contraceptives have also been linked with recurrent yeast infections—and there’s nothing like a yeast infection to sink one’s sex drive. It can lower your mood (which decreases your chances of getting in the mood).The pill has been linked to depression and anxiety, particularly in those women who may have a history of mental health issues. And many women are put on the pill for what’s actually a bad case of PMS—which can be addressed naturally—only to find that it makes their mood swings worse. For some, these mood changes manifest themselves as a bad case of the “blahs,” or just kinda feeling “meh” about everything (otherwise known as anhedonia). Women are supposed to feel a range of emotions throughout their natural cycle, and being in touch with the ebbs and flows of your feelings can actually enhance your relationship. Feeling so-so about everything all the time doesn’t lend itself to romance. When you’re feeling blah, you’d just as rather watch TV than make-out with your sweetheart. If the pill’s deleterious effects on dating are making you question the use of oral contraceptives for contraception or as a medical treatment, follow my protocol to transition off the pill. If you’re going to stay on the pill a little while longer, you can start this protocol now to ensure the switch is smooth and that you avoid seeing the return of any prior symptoms.

If you are on the pill for contraception, don’t forget about non-hormonal contraception choices. And if you want to learn more about potential side effects of hormonal birth control, including cancer risk, check out my special FREE Birth Control Rehab report.Always remember, that once you have the right information about how your body really works, you can start making health choices that finally start to work for you! You can do this – the science of your body is on your side!

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to your FLO,Alisa

So, you’ve decided to stop taking the Pill? You’ve just made a huge step towards getting in your Flo and embracing all the benefits of hormonal health!

I’ve supported thousands of women in coming off the Pill successfully and I’m going to share with you the steps they take to make this a smooth transition.

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Coming off cold-turkey, as it were, can be tough. Your body suddenly has to manage and balance it’s own hormones plus any symptoms of hormonal imbalance the Pill was suppressing can, and usually will, come flooding back.

However, I’ve developed a tried-and-tested strategy.

‍Jen is one of those women I’ve helped. Here’s her story:“

After coming off the Pill, I was not getting my period and experiencing cystic acne.  I was put on the Pill by my gynecologist years before, when I was told I had PCOS and was not ovulating.  I knew that prescription didn't feel right, but I was young and had no other options at the time.It was within the first 2 months of following the Flo Living protocol that I actually got a period.  So, that certainly was a positive change! Other smaller changes started happening sooner.  It was great having the support while coming off. I had tried other times to do so before this experience and when it got difficult, I resorted back to the Pill. So, having that support and encouragement to continue was helpful immediately.Learning things like the benefits of honoring my body through it's changes were important keys to my personal balance.  I am coming up on my 3rd anniversary next month and I’m happy to report that I am getting my period regularly!”Why is the Pill harmful to your health? Let me give you a rundown here.

The best way to tackle this transition

First thing of course, is talk to your doctor!  Let him or her know that you want to come off the pill.  Then before you actually stop taking the pill, start following the Flo Living protocol. Cycle-synching your diet and exercise while you’re actually still taking the Pill can make this transition so much gentler on your endocrine system and save you a lot of the post-Pill side effects women report like acne, insomnia, mood swings and irregular cycles.

Your body can begin the process of detoxification and recalibration, readying for a Pill-free lifestyle. The Pill depletes your body of vital vitamins and minerals, eating in a hormonally-supportive way will help correct this.

While on the Pill, you don’t have a follicular phase and you don’t ovulate. Get in your Flo anyway by assuming your “period” (or withdrawal bleed when on those sugar pills) is your menstrual phase, the next week is your follicular, then ovulatory, then luteal and so on.

I hope you’ll see how much better you feel and be excited rather than nervous to take the next step when you will reap the opportunities your natural hormones can give!Once you’ve been in your Flo for a few months it’s time to trash those Pill packets:

Step one: Track your periodIf your periods return quickly and they become regular, great! If not, then it’s likely that there is an underlying health problem that I recommend you address naturally with food changes. Many women do find it takes months for their period to show up and then it is sporadic. Getting in your Flo before you stop the Pill and using my eating plan during the transition will help you avoid this.

Step two: Re-establish gut flora!The Pill has ravaged your internal microbial eco-system. The longer you’ve been taking it the worse the impact on your body. When you’re on the Pill eating good, clean, healthy foods is the best way to start the healing process. Continue nourishing your body in this way as you come off and you’ll heal quickly. Supplements alone won’t help enough as they’re not as easy to absorb when you’re suffering with the intestinal inflammation the Pill creates.  But there are two that really can help improve gut flora and reduce inflammation.The first is a good probiotic - I like Jarrow.The second is a combo of NAC and L-Glutamine. This will help to heal your intestines and so improve absorption of all the great nutrients you’ll be getting from eating in your Flo.

Step three: Make more of your own hormones!

1. Start taking a really good B vitamin complex right now. It’s the one vitamin that will make a difference in a large dose even when you’re still on the Pill. When you come off it will smooth out the inevitable mood changes that follow. You can also mix a lot more buckwheat, quinoa and oats into your daily meals.

2. Eat lots of good quality fats and amino acids - this is what hormones are made from and what your body needs to start making more of its own and fast. If you can and do eat animal protein have fish and organic poultry as well as pasture-fed eggs (including their yolks). Olive oil and avocados too!  You must eat fats in order to stabilize hormones.

Here’s a tip: there are more amino acids in bee pollen than steak!

3. A lot of women deal with estrogen dominance after the Pill. Leafy greens are the absolute best way to combat this problem. Tuck into kale, chard, spinach, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and more (and at every meal if you can!).

Don’t forget! Unless you’re trying to get pregnant, for contraception you’ll need to combine an intimate knowledge of your cycle with using one or two barrier methods (and maybe add in a natural spermicide) every time you have sex. I love L-condoms!!

Where Stress REALLY Comes from

Where does stress really come from? A few weeks before giving birth, I was in the middle of a meeting with my team members, which ran overtime by an hour. Usually the smoothie I have in the morning is enough to last me until right after the meeting, but as the time continued to pass I noticed my blood sugar dropping and my anxiety levels rising. I could palpably feel the cortisol surging through my system during the end of that meeting - I was stressed and anxious and couldn’t think straight. But once I ate, the cortisol flushed out and I felt a sigh of relief.

The moral of the story? So much of our stress is triggered by not eating correctly.

The reality of modern-day life is that you get busy and you get stressed. A lot of that can’t be avoided because you’re trying to achieve as much as you can in your career, social life, family, relationships, and more. And you pride yourself on keeping up with all of it. I get it.

But if you were to stop for a second in the midst of all of this, you’d feel how amped-up you really are! You’d feel the cortisol surging through your bloodstream, keeping you on alert.

When it comes to stress, the problem is not your busy schedule, it’s what happens to your body when you skip self-nourishment in the midst of that busy schedule.

That’s what stress really is.

Your brain can adapt to a big to-do list, but the body - when it’s not given the food foundation it needs to help you with those tasks - becomes really stressed out.

And the good news is, you can prevent this.

I’m excited to introduce the WomanCode way of handling stress in your life. If you’ve taken part in my online premium training program or if you’ve read my book, you’re probably already a bit familiar with this approach, and if you haven’t yet, this is your chance to get in the know.

Start by sharing your biggest question when it comes to handling stress with me below.

Plus, you can join me and start changing the way you think when it comes to stress right NOW in one of my most popular webinars, Address Your Stress the WomanCode Way. We'll cover how to really deal with stress from a functional medicine standpoint, how to heal and support your adrenal glands, the foods and supplements that help with stress, exercising with your cyclical patterns to balance stress, and I'll reveal my favorite stress management practices.

Sending nourishment to your lady parts,Alisa

Need more Hormone Help?

If you’re needing some health upgrading, it’s time you started you looking into what’s going on with your hormones.I’ve designed a 4 day hormone detox and evaluation to help you understand exactly what’s out of whack and how you can start getting back to balance so that your hormones no longer have to suffer.Click here to get your FREE detox and evaluation!

There’s a safety saying in the NYC subway system that says: “If you see something, say something.”

Today I want to apply that very same saying to your hormonal health, in particular, your PMS symptoms!Did you know that relatively harmless symptoms today could lead more serious issues down the road?As it was researched in a study published by the NIH, having PMS symptoms in reproductive years can increase the development to the big four major diseases of inflammation (diabetes, heart disease, cancer, alzheimer’s) down the road.Once again, we shouldn’t just accept the fact that PMS is a normal part of being a woman - We need to acknowledge that when you have symptoms, you must take immediate action through dietary changes.Banishing PMS means more than just covering up your current symptoms. If you were part of the master class on PMS last week then you’ll know why. If you missed it, you can still purchase the class below, and in the meantime here are three of the typical “spot-treating” remedies you might be using and what you can do instead.

3 PMS Remedies to Avoid

1. The birth control pill: While the pill is often a go-to fixer-upper for your PMS and cycle issues, it can be problematic when used over long periods of time just to mask your symptoms. Why is that? Well, the pill is putting temporary artificial hormones in your system that quiet down your body’s natural hormonal flow. You might be avoiding PMS, but you’re likely going to experience other side effects of the pill such as depression, lack of libido, and weight gain. Plus, when you get off the pill, your PMS symptoms are likely to return with a vengeance.

2. Caffeine: Coffee, diet soda, and energy drinks might give you a temporary pick-me-up, but in the long run they are only doing more harm. Caffeine jolts your adrenal glands into a stress response which, over time, will further contribute to adrenal fatigue and thyroid conditions. Modern day life is already stressful, so why make it worse?

3. Midol or other pain relievers: Yes, popping a Midol might be helping to ease the pain and discomfort, but it’s not doing anything to solve the issue from the root of the problem. Over-the-counter pain medications make your liver work harder, as they are another substance that must be broken down and eliminated from your system via your liver and digestive tract. During your luteal (pre-menstrual) phase, your liver is already overworked with eliminating excess hormones your body is producing (as well as sugar, if you’re having those carb cravings!). The liver congestion that this causes puts you more at risk for serious issues down the road.

So what’s the real solution?

You must get to the root of your hormonal imbalances and begin healing through one of the most simple and common drugs we have access to: food.

The food you eat has a powerful effect on your estrogen and progesterone levels, as well as on the function of your adrenals, thyroid, and liver - all major players in this hormonal conversation. There are 3 major food-related changes that will have a huge impact on your hormonal balance and PMS symptoms:

• Blood-sugar balance
• Adrenal health
• Liver detoxification

We cover all of this in more in the WomanCode System, but for those of you haven’t yet joined, let me help you.

You can’t afford to ignore PMS any longer.

Are you stuck in a nightmare of frustrating symptoms and mood swings every month and wondering what’s really going on with your hormones?I’ve designed a 4 day hormone detox and evaluation to help you understand exactly what’s out of whack and how you can start getting back to balance so that your hormones no longer have to suffer.Click here to get your FREE detox and evaluation!

I’m thrilled to share today’s vlog on how to best transition off of the birth control pill.

This is a question we get asked often, and one that I discuss in depth in WomanCode.Here's your WomanCoder’s inside scoop on getting off the pill.

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