You might have heard before that you should adjust your diet and behaviors according to your menstrual cycle for optimal health. But what exactly does that mean? And where should you begin?

Today, I’m joined by the amazing coach Kela Smith who will break down everything you need to know about cycle optimization. Coach Kela is the CEO and program director of the Hormone Puzzle Society, author of The Hormone Puzzle Method, and host of the Hormone PUZZLE Podcast. In this episode, she guides us through every stage of our hormonal cycles and how to use these phases to our advantage. She’ll help us understand how to eat, exercise, supplement, and do self-care all at the most optimal times in our cycle. She emphasizes that whole food balanced nutrition is always best, no matter which phase we’re in.

Later, we get into Kela’s Hormone Puzzle Method, which summarizes everything covered throughout the episode, including how trauma and our emotional well-being can have an effect on our bodies, even if we’re doing all the right things for our physical health.

She takes all the mystery out of supporting our bodies as women, and leaves us with several helpful tools and routines that we can take with us to begin making small lifestyle changes towards optimizing our own health.