Why Most Fad Diets Don’t Work For Everyone

by Candice Scott | May 11, 2020 | Health, Womens Health

We have all been there, we have all seen and read about some new diet trend that is popular this week.

This weeks will be different from the one in a month though, and then in another month there might be a new one.

We see people brag about the success, we see people act like it is the win all to our weightloss problems.

But what about long term? Is it healthy? Do you ever see yourself asking – Will I screw myself up if we try it out?

What if I try it and it doesn’t work, what is wrong with me then?

An endless spiral of this diet to that diet, never adhearing to a lifestyle of success with any of them…. Yet some people may claim they have.

Does this relate to you at all? All of this does to me and I am in the health and wellness industry!

I am going to provide some insight to you on to WHY most diets do not work for most women. When some of these things were revealed to me it was like an aha moment going off in my mind because it makes sense.

Stick with me here….

First off lets discuss the three diets I am going to cover in this:

Keto –

This is my all time least favorite for women (I will go into detail more in a bit). Essentially Keto is where you are focusing on getting majority of your calories from fat. Meaning you are putting your body into ketosis where you are essentially tapping into your bodies fat stores for energy. You are not eating much carbs so in a sense your body bypasses what it would typically burn for fuel and goes to fat. So simple – you burn fat then you are going to get leaner right? However, most people do not even adhere to the actual “keto” macro breakdown. You should be eating 75% fat, 20% protein and only 5% carbs! (I am sorry but that is no for me).

Intermittent Fasting –

This is another big new trend. I do not hate this one for the right people. Pretty much anyone can do the 12/12 IF (meaning you do not eat from 7pm to 7am or 6pm to 6am etc). However there are also benefits shown to some by going on a 16/8 route meaning you only have an 8 hour window to eat. Some even go further than that. There are some studies and claims showing that it can help regulate blood sugar and burn fat and reduce risk of disease, however once again most women need to be careful with this ESPECIALLY those with hormonal imbalances.

Raw Vegan –

Please do not attack me for this one. I 100% understand why some people eat this way and support their choices just like any other. However, it can be risky for some based on some research. Please also note I have RAW not just Vegan listed. Essentially vegan diets are when you do not eat any sort of animal product, be it meat, chicken, fish, eggs, dairy. RAW vegan diets are when you do not cook vegetables past a certain heat.

Why may these diets cause issues with women?

As women we function off a 28 day cycle. (or so) once we are of child bearing age. When hormones are regular they will increase during the first part to prep our body for concieving, then in the second half if we do not conceive they will start to drop.

Along with our cycle our metabolism also increases and decreases throughout the month. During our first half, we have a slower metabolism as our hormones are on the rise, we have less of an appetite from this as well. In the second half our metabolism speeds up and we have/want to eat more complex carbs, etc to support this. We are also more at risk for blood sugar dysregulation during this time.

You can see just from those facts that sticking to one way of restrictive eating could potentially harm you at certain times of the month. If you have imbalanced hormones and already have been diagnosed with something like estrogen dominance, pcos, or diabetes, then restriction and causing any other sort of additional stress on our body will only make things worse.

Keto :

when you are eating high fat and protein it can potentially lead to estrogen dominance over time. This is because as women our nature is to hold onto calories during restrictive periods for nutrients due to staying fertility.
For example – If you are in the part of your cycle where your metabolism is already sped up – the restriction will cause more stress on your body. More stress equals more stress response, that stress response (release of the hormone cortisol) . Cortisol is known to help turn the stored fat into glucose to use for energy- BUT if you are in a stressed state already and have a hormonal imbalance this can be a problem. The excess estrogen will signal your body to turn any circulating glucose (that was released) back into fat and as a result it gets stored typically in your hips and stomach.
- Over time this just keeps repeating itself and you will ultimately find that your metabolism slows down altogether.

IF:

If you have underlying blood sugar issues intermittent fasting can potentially do more harm than good.
When you are fasting your blood sugar tends to drop, then when you eat again (and eat more in smaller window) it spikes. This can potentially lead to hormonal imbalance as well because there is a direct tie to blood sugar imbalances and metabolism function.
Too much fasting also can create too much stress on women’s bodies. During our reproductive age we are not functioning on a 24 hour hormonal cycle like men. They can ultimately reset each day, we cannot. The extra stress will only cause our hormones to go haywire and as a result mess with our metabolism function due to excess estrogen and cortisol being released.
- When we have insulin irregulation it can potentially lead to ovulation disruption and slow our metabolism which means decreasing our ability for fat loss.

RAW Vegan

Eating vegetables is great, they are packed with nutrients. However when we are strictly eating them raw or not cooked they are harder to digest. Harder digestion means we do not absorb everything we should from them.
- Not absorbing everything we should means we do not get enough nutrients to even support our natural cycle. We need a sufficient amount of amino acids to produce the right amounts (when we are healthy).
  - This can cause infertility, loss of periods, and PMS symptoms to be worsened.

There are pros and cons to each, however, if you do not have balanced hormones, nothing is going to help until they get in a better place. And they can! If you do have balanced hormones certain diets could be done at certain times of your cycle and could help.

For example:

During your follicular phase – intermittent fasting could be good. This is because you tend to already be eating less because your hormones are rising and appetite is suppressed. So this could be good to help you lose weight.
- Please not though that if you are working out excessively during this phase since your energy is up, make sure you are eating enough to support that!
During your Ovulatory Phase – You could eat Raw. This is because your body tends to be up during Ovulation. You can digest these things better and they can actually help you break down excess estrogen and support your liver.
During the second half of your cycle (think Luteal and Menstrual) you want to eat more warming foods and nutrient dense foods. The first half you may have more energy but your metabolism should increase due to progesterone rising.
- Eat more nutrient dense foods, so possibly trying Keto could be good during your period. You will not have as much energy during this time so nutrient dense fats and proteins could be beneficial.

Of course just eating a well rounded diet including healthy proteins, complex carbs, veggies, and healthy fats is the best recipe. We just have to remember overall to keep changing it up!

Personally I have struggled with this my entire life, I can eat the same thing day in a day out for a while and not get bored. I probably went two years where I ate sweet potatoes every day. Now I try to cycle them in and out because I do realize how restriction of other foods has now made it hard for me to process them. I have been working on cycle syncing for a few months now and its honestly really cool how I can tell what stage my body is in based on mood, cravings, sleep, focus etc. Doing a little everyday makes a difference.

I hope this gave you some good insight on to why you may have not seen success in the past and WHY you need to just focus on YOU and YOUR health!

If you are interested in learning more about cycle syncing and want to try out my program I have two options for ya!

First – hop on a call with me and lets discuss getting you a personalized plan to encompass it all.

Contact Me To Set It Up!

Just try out my four week cycle syncing workout and food guide to get you going in the right direction! You can save $10 off of it with code CHANGEUP!

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Hormone changes and our workouts – how they can work to benefit each other

by Candice Scott | Mar 4, 2020 | Health, Womens Health, Workouts

I may have found a new obsession, and that is involving researching and learning more about how cycle syncing for women can truly help us lose more weight, regulate hormones which can help with decreasing inflammation, and help us feel better, decrease period symptoms and increase our metabolism AND improve workouts!

You may be wondering what the heck is cycle syncing?

I had no idea until I discovered Alissi Vitti’s book “In the Flo”.

Essentially you are working to support your cycle. Your cycle meaning the 28 day or so period we are supposed to rotate through. (here’s your biology talk) It is made up of four phases; Follicular, Ovulatory, Luteal and Menstrual. Each phase consists of a few days where our sex hormones should fall and rise (hormones meaning estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone mainly among others). The first half is composed of the follicular and ovulatory cycles which are aimed more at increasing estrogen and testosterone to help prepare for ovulation when they are at their peak and to make us ladies fertile. The second half consists of the luteal and menstrual phases where progesterone starts to rise and the other two start to drop before menstruation where the lining sheds if no egg is fertilized. With our hormones fluctuating our bodies are going to need different nutrients and things to support them at different times. We should also have highs and lows of energy at different times depending on this. For example it is better to rest during the last part of your cycle (Menstrual) vs. the beginning when you have more energy (Follicular phase).

Cycle syncing works to support these changes we should go through each month.

But what if you are irregular, have been diagnosed with any sort of disease like PCOS, amenorrhea or endometriosis to name a few. That is even more of a reason to try this method. By supporting your cycle when these hormones should rise and fall with foods, the right workouts and movement and self care we can optimize getting these things regulated. We want to get regular, we want to reduce PMS symptoms, by doing so we will increase our ability to optimize our metabolism function among other things.

So now to the good stuff, how does it work with our metabolism and how can our workouts help us???

When our hormones are regulated and working efficiently we are able to absorb the right nutrients, burn more fat, and feel better with less stress on our bodies. We know that less stress leads to less inflammation like I have talked about many times before. If we can get our workouts to aide us in this by timing them correctly within our cycle (or when we should be at x part of our cycle) then we should be able to recover better and get more out of them when timing is right. Here is the low down on that- each phase should rotate between different focuses/energy output for the most part to help alleviate excess stress on us at the wrong times or when we are lacking certain nutrients to recover. Follicular Phase : During this beginning part of your cycle estrogen and testosterone should be on the rise so should you have more energy, meaning you can do more HIIT and intense heavy lifting. This is a time to work harder and push yourself more because you will be able to recover better. Ovulatory Phase : This is when everything is at its peak so you can really work harder here. Luteal Phase: The first half of this cycle (it is longer almost 10 days) can be harder workouts but when hormones start to drop towards the end that is when you want to start doing more yoga, active recovery like long walks, stretching, non intense cardio to preserve your energy. Menstrual Phase – There is a reason sometimes you are fatigued during this part of your cycle.. You have lower levels of everything as your lining may shed (bleed) and if you push yourself too hard then in turn you will feel even worse during this time. Really try to use this time to lay lower doing low intensity stuff and really resting your body. When you preserve your body during this time it will allow you to have even more energy next phase (follicular) where you can go harder again. Try things like stretching, infrared sauna, gentle yoga, easy walks, massage etc. So how can you start implementing this? Easy if you are regular, just pay attention to where you are in it and start adding in these types of workouts accordingly. But what if you don’t know?? If you are like me and are irregular or have been or on birth control and have recently stopped and have no cycle then go with the moon…. yup I said moon… no this is not crazy stuff there is research behind it oddly enough. You can sync with the moon phases (follicular – first quarter , ovulation – full moon, luteal- third quarter , menstrual – new moon) and do week to week and follow those guidelines. I am working with this as a guide, and I am going to be sharing my experiences so stay tuned! Next up will be how foods affect your cycle and what can help 🙂 So if you are going to try this lets aim to have patience, start slow and work on adding in things versus restricting. Keep stress low!

If you want a free guide to help you know the right workouts for the right time of your cycle – get it below!

Get your Workout Guide Here!