Which Book Should You Read?

I love how social media is connecting us as women in a historic way. I love sharing everything I’ve learned over the past 15 years about female biochemistry, functional nutrition, endocrinology, and neuropsychology AND I love hearing from you. Specifically, I love your questions!Recently, I’ve been getting asked one question in particular: “Hey Alisa, I want to read your new book. Should I start with your first book WomanCode? Or should I start with your new book In the FLo?My answer is: Yes, and yes. 😊In all seriousness, I’m honored and thrilled when women read my books. I am on a mission to help move the conversation and the care forward for women for their hormones. I believe we deserve to feel better and I want that for you.These are some of the things that are possible:

• Your period problems may improve, or you may notice your periods become problem-free
• You may experience less PMS, or you may notice that your PMS improves so much that you don’t notice symptoms
• If your period has been missing or irregular, your period may come back or you may experience more regular periods
• Your skin may clear up.
• Your mood may improve.
• Your energy might improve.
• You might experience more presence and joy in your life
• Yoy might notice you are more productive at work (while putting in less effort — a win-win!)
• You might notice that your sleep is more restorative and/or that your fall asleep easier
• Your sex drive may improve.
• Your anxiety may go down.

I built FLO Living as a virtual online health center to help women solve their hormonal symptoms, and that is what my team and I do 24/7 everyday of the year. We offer a variety of programs and resources, from free guides and detox protocols to individual coaching sessions and targeted hormone-balancing supplements.   Why?  Because women deserve more from their hormonal healthcare.  It’s time to finally feel better in our bodies.I invite people with period problems to start wherever they feel most comfortable. For some, it might be a membership in one of our Cycle Syncing™ programs. For others, it might be doing some deep reading — and for that I recommend my books. You can start with either one — or both! Here is a guide to each book to help you choose the best starting place for you.

IF YOU HAVE A MENSTRUAL CONDITION:

Start with my book WomanCode: Perfect Your Cycle Amplify Your Fertility, Supercharge Your Sex Drive, and Become a Power Source if…

• You suffer from missing or irregular periods or other period problems like PCOS, Fibroids, Endometriosis, bloating, acne, PMS, severe cramps, heavy bleeding, or menstrual migraines.
• You’ve been led to believe that Western medicine is the only option you have for healing your hormones
• You’ve tried a bunch of Rxs, like prescription acne medication and hormonal birth control and they haven’t worked — or they’ve made your hormone problems worse.
• You feel off — like you’re weighed down, lacking energy, lacking vitality, stuck — and you want to feel better.
• You want to learn about functional nutrition, exercise timing, and healthy detox

Why I wrote WomanCode

I wrote WomanCode to tell my story. When I was younger, I struggled with PCOS. I weighed 200 lbs. My face, chest, and back were covered in cystic acne. I got my period twice a year. I was exhausted, depressed, and couldn’t concentrate or think clearly. And that wasn’t the worst of it, according to my doctors. I was told that as I aged, I would suffer from obesity, infertility, diabetes, and possibly cancer and heart disease. They could give me drugs, my doctor said, but it would only help with symptoms — maybe — and it would never cure me. I refused to accept this.

I knew there had to be a different way. I dove into the research and discovered that food was the most powerful drug I could use to balance my hormones and ease my symptoms. I also discovered the importance of eating and living in a cyclical pattern, or shifting what I eat and how I exercise and organize my calendar in line with my hormonal shifts throughout the month.

When I figured out the cyclical piece of the puzzle, everything fell into place. I got my period. I lost 50 pounds. My cystic acne went away. My brain fog disappeared. I had energy and less anxiety. I wrote WomanCode to tell this story and, most importantly, to share everything I learned about hormonal healing with you. Whether you have PCOS, another clinical hormonal imbalance, or chronic period problems like PMS, cramps, heavy bleeding, bloating or acne, you can use the same strategy I used to heal and remain symptom-free for the last 15 years.

IF YOU ARE BETWEEN THE AGES OF 18 AND 45

Start with my book In the Flo: Unlock Your Hormonal Advantage and Revolutionize Your Life if…

• You want to deepen your understanding of your female biochemistry and your infradian rhythm, or the innate 28-day hormone cycle that regulates six key systems of the body
• You eat a healthy diet, but you don’t seem to be getting results or what used to work for you has stopped working
• You maintain a rigorous exercise routine but you don’t see results
• You feel rushed, anxious, or exhausted much of the time
• You feel like you aren’t as productive at work as you could be (despite putting in a LOT of effort)
• Your libido has disappeared
• You want to have more energy
• You want to improve your interpersonal relationship
• You want to have a healthier period
• You want to biohack like a woman

Why I wrote In the Flo

I wrote In the Flo to introduce people with female biochemistry to the infradian rhythm. The infradian rhythm is an internal timekeeper, much like the 24-hour circadian rhythm, that is linked to the menstrual cycle. Here is just some of what the infradian rhythm does in the body:

• The infradian rhythm creates a 25% change in your brain chemistry over the course of the month
• Your metabolism speeds up and slows down predictably across the month and that you need to change what you eat and the intensity of your workouts each week in order to optimize your metabolism
• Your cortisol levels are higher in one part of your infradian cycle, so pushing yourself through an intense workout bumps up cortisol levels even further, adding to your stress and inflammation, disrupting your hormones, and making you feel anxious and unfocused
• People with female biochemistry need more sleep than men because we have a more complex brain and it needs 20 minutes longer to clean itself and reset for the cognitive day
• People with female physiology tend to need less in the way of extreme self-care practices because we have more efficient biology.

One of my most significant discoveries over the past 15 years has been that women in their reproductive years have cyclical needs — and those needs shift as your hormones shift throughout your infradian rhythm. Our bodies and brains are different during each phase of our cycle, so our food, exercise, and self-care should be different each week, too. If you’ve been living in a ‘same-thing-everyday’ way, you’re not alone. There is a widespread cultural belief that we are supposed to repeat the same rituals every 24 hours — have the same morning routine, for example, or exercise the same way each week. But this insistence on doing the same thing day-in and day-out caters to the male hormonal biological rhythm.

Men follow the same predictable pattern everyday: the 24-hour circadian clock and only the 24-hour circadian clock. People with female physiology have two clocks, the circadian rhythm and the infradian rhythm.In the Flo is all about the infradian rhythm — understanding it, living in line with it, and optimizing your self care, including your food, exercise, and time management, to leverage your unique strengths during each phase of your infradian rhythm.If you want to heal your hormones, erase period problems, and get more out of your health — and your life — read In the Flo.

Both books complement each other and you will gain that much more by reading both. But if one appeals to you more than another at this moment, start there. You can also have me read to you with the audio books.  And if books aren't your cup of tea, that’s a-okay. Check out one of our other programs, memberships, or resources. If you are suffering from period problems or hormone imbalances, we can help.

My new book In the Flo will help you achieve all this — and more

If you’re ready to harness the power of your unique female biochemistry to look and feel your best, grab a copy of In the Flo and get to look, feel, and perform your best.

Where to go from here?

In The FLO Reviews

Cia⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

"If you are a human with a womb cycle you need to read this! This book has changed my life completely, for the better. Did you know that you can only get pregnant 5-7 days out of the entire month!? This book taught me more about my female body than any health class ever has... I am so so so grateful!"

Kristen Dwyer ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

"This book is blowing my mind. Amazing, science backed information and already helping my body so much. This book should be a mandatory reading in high school!"

Jessie ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

"Total game changer in life, work, relationships and health. I love how the book is broken up into sections so that you can focus on different aspects from health to motherhood to sex, relationships, and more."