Blood sugar gets talked about all the time lately. But how do you actually know if your blood sugar might be swinging more than you’d like?
First, a quick refresher: when you eat carbohydrates, your body breaks them down into glucose. That glucose enters your bloodstream and provides your body with energy. Insulin then helps move glucose from your blood into your cells where it can be used.
Your blood sugar rising after you eat is completely normal.
The issue is when you experience repeated spikes and drops that leave you feeling like you’re riding a tiny metabolic roller coaster all day.
Common Signs of Unstable Blood Sugar
While symptoms alone can’t diagnose a blood sugar problem, there are a few things worth paying attention to:
* Feeling shaky, weak, lightheaded, or irritable when you haven’t eaten
* Getting extremely hungry shortly after a meal
* Intense sugar or carbohydrate cravings
* Feeling tired or sleepy after eating
* Brain fog or difficulty concentrating
* Feeling like you need caffeine or something sweet every afternoon
Here’s the important part: these symptoms don’t automatically mean your blood sugar is unstable.
Sleep, stress, hydration, hormones, medications, and other health conditions can cause similar symptoms.
Instead of focusing on one symptom, start looking for patterns.
How to Support Balanced Blood Sugar
Pay attention to how you feel throughout your day.
Can you comfortably make it from breakfast to lunch? Does your breakfast keep you satisfied? Does eating a carbohydrate-heavy lunch leave you desperately wanting a nap an hour later?
One simple way to support healthy blood sugar balance is to build your meals around protein, fiber-rich plants, healthy fats, and carbohydrates.
And yes, carbohydrates can absolutely stay on your plate!
Pairing carbohydrates with protein, fat, and fiber can help create a more balanced meal while still giving your body the energy it needs.
Blood Sugar Balance Isn't About Perfection
Your goal isn't to create a perfectly flat blood sugar line or become afraid of carbohydrates.
It's about getting curious about the signals your body is giving you.
If you're regularly experiencing concerning symptoms or have risk factors for diabetes, talk with your healthcare provider. Testing such as fasting blood glucose or A1C can provide much more useful information than symptoms alone.
Bottom line: Your body is communicating with you all day long. Learning to recognize those patterns can help you make simple, sustainable choices that support your blood sugar, energy, and overall hormone health.
What to Eat During Each Phase of Your Menstrual Cycle
Have you ever noticed that one week you’re craving giant salads and smoothies, and the next you’re standing in the kitchen wondering who ate all the chocolate?
Yeah that was me, without really understanding what was going on with my body and just how much food can impact you.
But seriously, your appetite, energy, cravings, and even digestion can feel different throughout your menstrual cycle. Instead of fighting those changes, I love teaching women how to start working with their bodies instead of against them.
That’s where cycle-syncing nutrition comes in.
And before we make this weird: you do not need four completely different diets depending on what day of your cycle you’re on.
Cycle syncing is simply about understanding what’s happening in your body throughout your menstrual cycle and making small, intentional shifts in the foods you’re already eating.
The foundation stays pretty damn simple:
Protein + healthy fats + fiber-rich carbohydrates + colorful plants + hydration + enough food.
Then we layer from there.
First, What Are the Four Phases of Your Cycle?
Your menstrual cycle isn’t just your period.
Throughout the month, estrogen and progesterone naturally rise and fall as your body moves through four general phases:
Menstrual → Follicular → Ovulatory → Luteal
These hormonal shifts are part of why you may feel energetic and social during one part of the month and want everyone to please stop talking to you during another.
Instead of expecting your body to feel exactly the same every day, you can start paying attention to these changes and give your body a little extra support along the way.
So, what does that actually look like on your plate?
Menstrual Phase: Nourish + Replenish
Your period marks the beginning of a new menstrual cycle. During menstruation, estrogen and progesterone are relatively low, and you’re also losing blood.
This is a great time to think about nourishing, mineral-rich foods, including foods that provide iron.
Some of my favorites during this phase include:
- Eggs
- Salmon or sardines
- Lentils and beans
- Dark leafy greens
- Pumpkin seeds
- Berries
- Avocado
- Sweet potatoes
- Dark chocolate
- Red meat
- Soups and stews
Think warm, comforting, and satisfying.
An easy breakfast might be eggs with sautéed greens, avocado, and roasted sweet potatoes. For lunch or dinner, try salmon with rice and roasted vegetables.
Nothing fancy. Actual food that keeps you fed.
Follicular Phase: Fresh + Energizing
After your period, you enter the follicular phase. Estrogen begins rising as your body prepares for ovulation, and you may notice your energy starting to pick back up.
This is a great time to continue prioritizing protein while incorporating plenty of fresh, colorful foods and fiber.
Try adding foods like:
- Eggs
- Chicken or turkey
- Fish
- Cruciferous vegetables
- Leafy greens
- Berries
- Citrus
- Avocado
- Chia and flax seeds
- Rice or quinoa
- Fermented foods, if they work well for you
One easy meal is a big bowl with greens, chicken, quinoa or rice, cucumber, broccoli, avocado, fresh herbs, and an olive-oil-based dressing.
Or make a smoothie with berries, your favorite protein source, spinach, chia seeds, and almond butter.
Simple, colorful, and nourishing.
Ovulatory Phase: Fiber + Color
Around ovulation, estrogen generally reaches its peak before declining.
You don’t need to dramatically change your diet for these few days. Instead, continue focusing on the basics while incorporating plenty of colorful plants, fiber, quality protein, and healthy fats.
Some foods I love during this phase include:
- Salmon
- Eggs
- Chicken
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Brussels sprouts
- Bell peppers
- Berries
- Citrus
- Avocado
- Flax and chia seeds
- Fresh herbs
And no, you don’t need to eat broccoli at every meal because you’re ovulating.
We’re supporting your body, not starting a broccoli club (although maybe that’d be fun).🥦
An easy meal might be salmon with rice or quinoa, roasted vegetables, fresh herbs, lemon, and extra virgin olive oil.
Luteal Phase: Satisfy + Support
Welcome to the phase where you ate breakfast two hours ago, but somehow it feels like breakfast happened in 2007.
The luteal phase occurs after ovulation and before your next period. Progesterone rises during this phase and then falls if pregnancy doesn’t occur.
And here’s something I really want women to understand:
Feeling hungrier before your period isn’t automatically a lack of willpower.
Research suggests that energy intake can increase during the luteal phase compared with the follicular phase, although every woman and every cycle is different.
Instead of fighting your appetite, focus on building meals that are actually satisfying.
Think protein, fiber-rich carbohydrates, healthy fats, and plenty of whole foods.
Some foods to incorporate include:
- Sweet potatoes
- Oats
- Bananas
- Avocado
- Pumpkin seeds
- Almonds and walnuts
- Chickpeas
- Leafy greens
- Dark chocolate
- Salmon
- Turkey
- Eggs
This is also a great time to incorporate magnesium-rich foods like pumpkin seeds, leafy greens, nuts, and dark chocolate.
And yes, sometimes you just want chocolate.
Eat the chocolate.
Pair it with some protein, fat, or fiber so you have a snack that actually satisfies you instead of leaving you rummaging through the pantry again twelve minutes later.
Your Simple Cycle-Syncing Cheat Sheet
If you’ve made it this far and you’re thinking, Wait, am I supposed to memorize all of this before I make breakfast?
Absolutely not.
Here’s the simple version:
MENSTRUAL: Nourish + replenish
Think iron-containing, mineral-rich, warm, and satisfying foods.
Think iron-containing, mineral-rich, warm, and satisfying foods.
FOLLICULAR: Fresh + energizing
Think protein, fiber, and plenty of colorful plants.
Think protein, fiber, and plenty of colorful plants.
OVULATORY: Fiber + color
Continue your protein foundation while incorporating plenty of colorful produce, fiber, and healthy fats.
Continue your protein foundation while incorporating plenty of colorful produce, fiber, and healthy fats.
LUTEAL: Satisfy + support
Think protein, fiber-rich carbohydrates, healthy fats, and magnesium-rich foods.
Think protein, fiber-rich carbohydrates, healthy fats, and magnesium-rich foods.
And throughout every phase?
Prioritize protein. Eat plenty of plants. Get enough fiber. Drink your water. Include healthy fats.
And most importantly: eat enough food.
Your menstrual cycle should give you more information about your body not another set of food rules to obsess over.
👉Ready to Understand What Your Hormones Are Actually Telling You?
Knowing what to eat throughout your cycle is a great place to start but it’s only one piece of the hormone puzzle.
If you’re tired of feeling exhausted, bloated, moody, or like your body turns into a completely different person before your period, Hormone Harmony was created for you.
Hormone Harmony is my 4 + week program where I teach you the foundations of supporting your hormones in a way that’s practical, sustainable, and actually makes sense for real life.
We’ll go beyond cycle syncing and dig into blood sugar balance, your four cycle phases, hormone-supportive nutrition, stress and nervous system support, movement, and how to bring it all together so you understand what your body is asking for instead of constantly guessing.
Because the goal isn’t to follow another restrictive diet or complicated wellness protocol.
It’s to understand your body well enough to know how to support it.
Ready for more energy, less bloat, a better mood, and a cycle that doesn’t feel like it runs your life?
This is one of the oils that I use everyday with progressence plus. It's for topical use and is loved for decreasing negative emotions while can also help you feel more peaceful and grounded. It can also be used to support a happy mood! (I don't know about you, but more happiness sounds lovely).
Each of these oils in this blend do something different; geranium helps with hormonal balance while Clary Sage can be helpful with PMS symptoms and when you're feeling a bit grumpy or just downright annoyed. Ylang Ylang gives you balanced male-female sexual energy and encourages feelings of sensuality - basically this is a great one by itself to diffuse during sexy time with your hubby 😉 Now this one is even more exciting, sage lavender has been shown to support the body's estradiol levels - which can be huge for us women as we get a bit older and has been seen to help woman have a more regular cycle.
Bottom line - this oils is legit part of my daily life and it not only does all of this really cool stuff but it just smells like a walk in a flowery garden 😊
Okay, coffee lovers, nobody panic. I am not here to take away your morning coffee. 😂 Because hello it's something I really enjoy too!
But one question that comes up a lot is whether coffee is “bad for your hormones,” and my answer is: coffee itself usually isn’t the whole story. How you’re drinking it matters (and eventually I'll get into how much the type of coffee you're drinking matter too, but one thing at a time)
If your morning looks like waking up already stressed, grabbing coffee on an empty stomach, running out the door, and then realizing at 11:30 that you haven’t actually eaten anything that’s where I want us to pay attention.
Caffeine can temporarily increase cortisol, one of the hormones involved in your stress response. That isn’t automatically a bad thing as cortisol naturally rises in the morning, and we actually need it to. The goal isn’t to avoid cortisol; it’s to support your body’s natural rhythm rather than constantly piling extra stimulation on top of it. If you’re waking up, immediately drinking coffee on an empty stomach, rushing out the door, and already feeling stressed, you may be adding another stress signal when your body is naturally experiencing its morning rise in cortisol.
But caffeine can also make some people feel more jittery, anxious, wired, or uncomfortable, especially when they haven't eaten.
Then there’s the bigger issue: coffee isn't breakfast.
If coffee is replacing food for hours, you’re missing an opportunity to give your body protein, carbohydrates, healthy fats, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and actual energy. By afternoon, that can look like low energy, feeling ravenous, stronger cravings, irritability, or reaching for another coffee just to keep yourself going.
And suddenly we're blaming our “hormones” when our body may also be saying, Hi, could you please feed me? 😂
Instead of immediately giving up coffee, look at the routine around it:
✔️ Eat a real breakfast, or at least something with protein, fiber-rich carbohydrates, and healthy fat.
✔️ Hydrate in the morning instead of making coffee your first and only fluid.
✔️ Pay attention to how caffeine makes you feel: energized and focused? Or anxious, shaky, nauseous, and wired?
✔️ Notice how much you're drinking and how late in the day you're having it. Caffeine too close to bedtime can interfere with sleep and sleep absolutely matters for metabolic and hormonal health.
You don't need to fear coffee or create another arbitrary wellness rule that says you can never drink it before exactly 9:37 a.m.
But if your current breakfast is coffee + stress + running out the door, that's a morning routine worth looking at.
Sometimes supporting your hormones isn't about removing another food or drink.
Sometimes it's about making sure you're actually nourishing your body first.
Crispy Tofu, Lentil & Quinoa Bowls with Tahini Dressing
A nourishing, plant-based bowl with crispy tofu, hearty lentils, fluffy quinoa, fresh vegetables, and a creamy lemon-tahini dressing. You know how much I love tahini - so this is beautiful and delicious!
This bowl is packed with plant-based protein, fiber, healthy fats, and slow-digesting carbohydrates which are all things that can help support steadier blood sugar and energy throughout the day. The tofu, lentils, and quinoa provide protein and minerals, while spinach and tomatoes add antioxidants and micronutrients. Tahini brings in healthy fats plus minerals like magnesium and calcium, making this a really balanced, nourishing meal that supports both hormone health and overall energy. 🌿
Serves 2
Ingredients:
* 10 oz extra-firm organic tofu, pressed and cubed
* Avocado oil spray (you can edit this with avocado oil, coconut oil or even olive oil (just watch the heat point)
* 2 tsp tamari (bonus for organic)
* 1 tbsp cornstarch (also bonus for organic)
* 1/4 cup dry green lentils, rinsed
* Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
* 1/3 cup dry quinoa, rinsed
* 2 cups baby spinach (definitely organic)
* 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
For the tahini dressing:
* 2 tsp tahini (SUPER bonus for buying this raw organic)
* 1 tbsp water
* 1/2 tsp lemon juice
* Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (won't lie, I buy the non-bleached, hoping this makes a difference in this crazy world we live in).
Add the tofu cubes to a bowl and gently toss with the tamari and a light spray of avocado oil. Sprinkle in the cornstarch and toss again until the tofu is evenly coated.
Arrange the tofu in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes or until golden and crispy.
Meanwhile, cook the lentils according to the package directions. Once cooked, drain and rinse them under cold water, then season with sea salt and black pepper.
Cook the quinoa according to the package directions. Once it has finished cooking, add the baby spinach, cover, and let it sit for 2-3 minutes, just until the spinach has wilted. Season with sea salt and black pepper.
To make the dressing, whisk together the tahini, water, and lemon juice until smooth and creamy. Season to taste with sea salt and black pepper (i've done this with my fork if I can't manage to find my wisk)
Divide the quinoa and spinach between two bowls. Top with the lentils, crispy tofu, and cherry tomatoes, then drizzle with the tahini dressing.
Enjoy!
Per serving: approximately 1 1/4 cups tofu, 1/2 cup quinoa, 1/4 cup lentils, 1/3 cup spinach, 1/2 cup tomatoes, and 1 tablespoon tahini dressing.
