The Cycle Syncing Method’s creator explains how nutrition optimizes women’s hormonal health

Treating PMS symptoms with nutrition rather than pharmaceutical interventions is gaining traction, addressing the root cause with a safe and healthy approach instead of conventional synthetic treatments, such as oral contraceptives that disrupt the menstrual cycle rather than support it. 

Nutrition Insight sits down with Alisa Vitti, the creator of the Cycle Syncing Method, to discuss how menstrual health can be optimized through nutrition. She delves into what nutrients and diet plans are suitable for each phase, the role of omegas in menstrual cramps, and the health benefits of prioritizing overall nutrition over pharmaceuticals to balance women’s infradian rhythms.

Vitti is also a functional nutrition and women’s hormone expert, the founder of FLOliving and the MyFLO app, and author of WomanCode and In the FLO.

“Cycle Syncing is the method I created after uncovering the infradian rhythm and its impact on women’s systems. Much like the circadian rhythm needs support, our infradian rhythm needs to be supported for it to perform optimally,” says Vitti.

“Since we didn’t realize we had this second rhythm, we also were not aware that we had been dysregulating it by virtue of being unaware and not factoring it into our nutrition and lifestyle planning.”

She explains that everything women have been told to do — eating the same calories daily, working out the same way daily, and waking up at the same time every morning — is based on research done on men, which compounds the issue.

Furthermore, she argues that existing research has actively excluded women and fundamentally disrupts this infradian rhythm, causing all kinds of hormone issues that affect a woman’s cycle, immune response, stress response, brain, and metabolic health.

“This is because women have an unknown second biological clock called the infradian rhythm, which we experience over the course of our monthly cycle, but it affects way more than your period. It affects key systems of your body, from your metabolism, brain, immune response, stress response, libido, fertility, and your cycle.”

“So, your diet is a key tool that you must use to support this infradian rhythm. You have to change your self-care routine to match your changing hormones, while men need to keep theirs the same daily to match their hormonal patterns.”

From the study data on the method, 92% of participants experienced an 86% reduction in PMS symptoms within three months.The Cycle Syncing Method

Vitti says the method aims to optimize women’s health, and it has three main pillars.

“First, change the foods you eat and caloric levels to match the four phases of your cycle — to optimize blood sugar stability and hormonal balance. Second, change the workout type and intensity to match each phase to optimize metabolism while managing cortisol. Lastly, organize your project/time management around each phase to reduce cortisol and stress.”

From the study data on the method, women reported a dramatic improvement in symptom burden and severity, as 92% of participants experienced an 86% reduction in PMS symptoms within three months.

“Additionally, after three months of this intervention, we found 78% of participants reported feeling happier with their body, and 89% reported feeling satisfied with their hormonal health, indicating a significant impact on overall well-being.”

Optimizing with nutrition

The Cycle Syncing Method’s creator provides a breakdown of each phase in the menstrual cycle and its needs, and how the method works on a biological level.

In the follicular phase, estrogen begins to rise, metabolism is slower, and resting cortisol is lower. Vitti recommends that in this phase, women could eat fewer relative calories, engage in slightly extended fasting by one to two hours in the morning or evening, and use lighter food preparation such as steaming or broiling to ease digestion.

In the vulatory phase, estrogen is at its peak concentration and metabolism is slower, and cortisol is lower. At this time, Vitti says it is still possible to eat fewer calories, but due to the surge of estrogen, food should be used “strategically” to assist with the short-term needs of the liver to metabolize this big dose of estrogen. 

She suggests using raw fruits and vegetables to deliver the maximum amount of glutathione and vitamin C-rich foods to support phase one and two liver detoxification.

Meanwhile, in the luteal phase, estrogen and progesterone rise and fall over 10–12 days. In this period, metabolism speeds up, and studies show women need 249 more calories per day to compensate for this shift, explains Vitti. This creates the need for a faster metabolic rate.

“To manufacture the endometrium, which requires more rapid and efficient extraction of micronutrients, women’s bodies make this organelle monthly from the foods they eat. It’s a highly complex tissue with immunological factors that facilitate embryo implantation, and you need nutrients and calories to get the job done,” Vitti details.

Due to this increase in metabolic speed, women are more vulnerable to blood sugar instability during the luteal phase.Changing metabolic speed

Due to this increase in metabolic speed during this phase, women are more vulnerable to blood sugar instability. Vitti says that in order to compensate for both the metabolic rate change and the increase in resting cortisol rate, it’s imperative that women modify their diets during this phase.

“Focus on blood sugar stabilizing meals — root veggies, beans, whole grains, cooked vegetables, good quality fats and proteins. Do not engage in any extended fasting; only the 12-hour overnight fast. Make sure to eat a robust breakfast, lunch, afternoon mini meal, and dinner.”

She stresses that the more proactive women are in eating properly during this phase, the less binge eating they do. This has been stereotypically associated with the PMS phase. Much of that overeating is due to a mismanaged diet and blood sugar.

Vitti continues to explain that in the luteal phase, progesterone slows down transit time in the gut, and the liver still needs to metabolize estrogen. In this phase, all food should be cooked to maximize nutrient absorption for liver detox needs, while also providing fiber to help expedite transit time in the bowel, which helps women avoid constipation.

In the menstrual phase, all hormones are at their lowest levels, explains Vitty. During this time, metabolism transitions from fast to slow, from bleeding days to early follicular days.

“There are many studies that have documented the micronutrient depletion inherent to this phase, such as magnesium and iron. Focus on mineral-rich foods to compensate for this, and easy-to-digest meals such as soups and stews to deal with metabolic speed changes.”

She adds that exercise dramatically affects hormone levels. Strength training is excellent throughout the cycle, while longer cardio is better in the first half, and shorter cardio is ideal during the second half.

Importance of blood sugar stability

Vitti explains that blood sugar stability is a primary requirement for endocrine function and stability, and mismanagement leads to consequences.

“Blood sugar mismanagement wreaks havoc on endocrine function and requires the recruitment of cortisol to offset low levels of glucose. Over time, this dampens progesterone production and can throw off ovulation — both of which result in PMS and disrupted cycles.”

This is most apparent in the luteal phase when women experience PMS, she explains. PMS is only possible when estrogen is higher in concentration than progesterone.

“This is an inverted hormone ratio, as the luteal phase should have higher progesterone levels relative to estrogen in this phase,” Vitti illustrates. “When this happens, there is no PMS. By increasing caloric intake, slow-burning carbohydrate consumption, fiber intake, and meal frequency during the luteal phase, the Cycle Syncing Method ensures greater blood sugar stability during this phase.”

In the short term, this reduces anxiety and cravings that come from hypoglycemic dips. In the long term, this allows the proper production of progesterone, restoring the optimal ratio in this phase. 

Vitti says that over the course of three months, this method reduced the vast majority of PMS symptoms in almost all of the study participants.

Vitti stresses that menstrual cramps are created when there is an excess of PGE2.The role of omegas

In addition to the dietary intervention method outlined, Vitti stresses that menstrual cramps are created when there is an excess of PGE2 (Prostaglandin E2) in the bloodstream. PGE2 is a primary mediator of inflammation and pain, contributing to swelling and fever, and is crucial for reproductive health, inducing uterine contractions and softening the cervix for labor.

“PGE1 and PGE3 create uterine muscle relaxation, and PGE2 creates uterine muscle contraction,” says Vitti. “As nature is designed efficiently, the uterus is designed to expel the endometrium with the least amount of uterine muscle activity as possible and the most rest as possible.”

PGE1 and PGE3 are bioactive lipid compounds that act as local hormones.

Dietary fats such as omega-6s increase the production of PGE2, leading to women experiencing an excess of uterine muscle activity and then menstrual pain.

“As women begin to engage the Cycle Syncing Method dietary intervention, their exposure to these processed fats is reduced precipitously. Meanwhile, omega-3 intake increases, and the restoration of proper levels of prostaglandins (PGE1, PGE2, and PGE3) is restored relatively quickly, and women often experience their first pain-free cycle.”

Cycle Syncing Method vs. pharma

Vitti’s Cycle Syncing Method significantly varies from pharmaceutical approaches to managing PMS. It is focused on modifying the inputs needed for optimal endocrine function and factors in specialized caloric and nutrient needs unique to each cycle phase.

“This is why it is so effective — reducing 86% of symptoms for 92% of study participants in three months,” asserts Vitty.

She highlights the two categories of current pharmaceutical interventions: oral contraception and over-the-counter pain medications.

“All synthetic hormonal forms of contraception shut off ovulation and therefore disrupt the infradian rhythm. Unfortunately, you don’t have any cycle phases when you are on that medication. You are in a sort of pseudo-menopausal state with low levels of all hormones, no ovulation, occasional breakthrough bleeding that is not a real period, and no phase changes.”

“Many women are placed on this medication as a one-size-fits-all approach for every kind of hormonal imbalance. This approach doesn’t exist anywhere else in medicine, and it speaks to the gender bias in research. But from a PMS perspective, there is a small study that shows oral contraception is only effective in reducing PMS by 50% for 48% of the women who used it for that.”

Vitti emphasizes that the Cycle Syncing Method only works for women who do not use hormonal birth control.

“Additionally, most women are unaware that the long-term opportunity cost of going without ovulation has huge implications for bone, brain, and heart health post menopause. We must shift the narrative to encourage women to ovulate as long as possible and to learn how to use diet and lifestyle to support ovarian health and longevity for the direct benefits to our health span as women.”

She notes that using supplements for water retention, skin care for acne, and ibuprofen for cramps and headaches are all temporary solutions that do not target the root cause. Vitti claims these interventions do not “come close to the results” from the dietary and lifestyle modifications from her Cycle Syncing Method.

Excluding women’s cyclical hormonal reality and needs from product development is unacceptable, says Vitty.Push for gender-specific research

Pointing to continuous glucose monitoring, Vitty says it is useful for women to quickly get out of rigid dietary thinking and into data-based observations of their body’s response to carbohydrate exposure and meal timing.

“Most women have been so deeply conditioned to calorie restriction due to the gender bias in research, that they truly believe they should endeavor to delay meals or that there is virtue in skipping meals. It can be helpful to quickly reframe a person from diet culture mentality to eating for blood sugar stability,” she stresses.

“That being said, it is not necessary to use this tool, and even though we used it during the study for data collection purposes, women who have been using the Cycle Syncing Method do so without continuous glucose monitoring.”

Vitty stresses that excluding women’s cyclical hormonal reality and needs from product development is “unacceptable.”

“It not only has the potential to further dysregulate their cyclical hormones, but it also colludes with a gender-biased ecosystem. We must push for more gender specific research, and we must create products that cater to women’s hormonal needs.”

Vitty concludes that the Cycle Syncing Method is a natural, safe, and highly effective treatment for PMS.

“Long-term application of this intervention has a beneficial impact on blood sugar stability, stress level reduction, estrogen elimination support, gut health, and mood. Everything works better in your body when you support your infradian rhythm and cycle phases properly. Period.”