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!

Buy NOW!