iTOVi & Cycle-Syncing

“Cycle-syncing” is taking the wellness world by storm. And it’s easy to see why!

Women all around the world are excited to finally have a wellness system that’s based on female biology (rather than the predominantly male-based biology that has governed wellness advice and medical research in the modern era). 

And, in addition to being powerful and based in female biology—cycle-syncing also brings a unique sense of personalization, fun, and female pride to daily wellness! 

Woot, woot! Hooray for women!

But wait…personalized wellness? Based on your body? This sounds a little familiar…

That’s right! Personalized wellness with iTOVi and cycle-syncing have a lot in common! And they can be powerfully paired together to deepen your feminine wellness experience!

Are you ready to embrace your feminine wellness and power like never before? Tap into the power of your flow, and keep reading!

Download this beginners guide Cycle Syncing PDF at the bottom of this article.

What exactly IS cycle-syncing? 

Cycle-syncing is the practice of tracking your 28-day menstrual cycle and tailoring your wellness habits (diet, exercise, workload, emotional activities, etc) to the current phase of your menstrual cycle.

Each 28-day cycle has four distinct phases and each phase provides a very different hormonal environment to your body—affecting your energy levels, immune function, metabolism and weight gain, skin health, social inclination, stress susceptibility, and more! 

Basically, as women, our health and wellness needs change according to which phase we are in! And how we behave during one phase, either working with or against what our feminine body is trying to do, can affect our health during the next phase! And on and on it goes!

We’re not meant to work against our cycle—we’re meant to be in flow with it! We’re meant to respect the natural cycle of our bodies, the flow of the different phases, and support our body according to its current needs!

Cycle-syncing allows you to harness the power of your natural cycle so you can experience the full amount of energy, power, and wellness you were meant to, attune to your feminine body, and wield the true power of womanhood!

What are the four phases? 

The four phases always flow one after another in the same order (unless very significant stress or illness interferes with your cycle). 

First, there is the follicular phase (7-10 days), then the ovulatory phase (3-4 days), then the luteal phase (10-14 days), and lastly the menstrual phase (3-7 days). 

We’ll review the basics of all four phases in just a bit. (And we’ll discuss how the iTOVi Scanner can be used to help optimize each phase!) But to learn about each phase more in depth, see In the Flo by Alisa Vitti or Wild Power by Alexandra Pope & Sjanie Hugo Wurlitzer.

The Follicular Phase (7-10 days)

The follicular phase begins just as your period has ended. 

This is an exciting phase! It’s a time when your energy levels are increasing by the day! With the rise of estrogen in the body during this phase, your immunity goes up, your appetite decreases, you become more resilient to stress, your metabolism slows down, your gut microbiome gets a boost, and your brain becomes more and more open and eager for new experiences. 

This phase is often compared to the spring season and many women regard it, emotionally, as a time for new beginnings—making plans, starting new projects, taking on more work, feeding their ambitions, and looking forward to good things to come. 

Diet

Experts recommend that women eat a little lighter during this phase, emphasizing fresh produce, probiotic foods, lean protein, and nutrient-dense, energy-sustaining grains. 

Exercise

In terms of fitness, this is a great time to emphasize cardio and other more intense forms of exercise! Just remember 1) Don’t push yourself too hard too fast. You want to match your rising energy as it rises, not get ahead of it. 2) If you are trying to lose weight, improve your mental health, or balance your hormones, it will probably be best for you to focus on shorter, half-hour workouts rather than longer workouts during this phase. 

The Ovulatory Phase (3-4 days)

The ovulatory phase follows the follicular phase.

 It’s a short phase—but a great one!

During the ovulatory phase, your energy should be at peak levels! And apart from your energy, a number of major hormones (including estrogen, FSH, and LH) also peak during this time, stimulating the verbal and social centers of your brain! This, on top of the continuing high immunity, slower metabolism, and stress resilience from your last phase, makes you ready to mix and mingle, connect and communicate, and (since your body has an egg prepared for fertilization) make romantic connections as well! 

This phase is often compared to the summer season and cycle-syncers praise it as a prime time for social daring—including making new friends, deepening existing friendships, pitching ideas, asking for a raise at work, having important conversations, expressing yourself, and filling up on quality social connections! 

It’s summertime! Time for parties, intimate dinners, and maybe a work presentation or two! 

Diet

Speaking of dinner, remember that your metabolism is slowed down—so focus on slightly lighter meals, preferably of raw, antioxidant-rich fruits and veggies, foods that support your liver (your liver is processing a lot of estrogen these days), fiber, and light grains. 

Exercise

With your highest energy levels of the month, the ovulatory phase is the best time to push hard in the gym! You never want to overtrain, as that could lead to injury, but feel free to push yourself a little more during this phase! Spend some time in zone 3, maybe try some HIIT training, cycling, or maybe even a group workout to please your extra-social ovulatory brain! 

The Luteal Phase (10-14 days)

The ovulatory phase gradually gives way to the luteal phase. 

And the luteal phase is truly a gift—IF you know how to appreciate it and work with it. And as it is the longest phase in the cycle, we should learn to appreciate it!

During this phase, your hormone levels are largely on the decline (except for a mid-luteal surge in estrogen and an impressively wide peak of relaxation-promoting progesterone, but even estrogen and progesterone go down by the end) and all of this translates to a gradual but significant decrease in energy across this phase. 

And as energy levels slowly decrease, so does immunity, stress resilience, and, at the end of this phase, even body temperature! Appetite rises and the metabolism speeds up during this phase. 

This phase is very aptly compared to the fall season—a time of great transition. With more energy at the start of this phase, it’s a great time to do detail-oriented, outward-focused work, but as the phase goes on, we will find ourselves needing to transition to a more inward-focused, recuperative, restful state. (Think of the harvest that is done in the fall in preparation for winter). 

Diet

Surprisingly, though you feel less energetic, your body actually spends more energy during this phase, so it’s healthy to eat a bit more during this phase, especially slow-burning carbs, nutrient-dense foods (especially those high in calcium and magnesium), fiber, and root vegetables. You’re not exactly a bear building up internal food reserves for winter hibernation…but kinda. 

Exercise

Your exercise should gradually change during this phase as well. You may start this phase with heavier, more intense exercise, but you’ll want to be doing gentle yoga, pilates, or something similar by the end. 

*Don’t be ashamed to embrace restfulness! It’s easy to attach our identity, image, and self-worth to our outward productiveness. But “rest”, along with “work”, makes up half of a truly healthy life! Try to think of rest as vital inward productiveness rather than as a missed opportunity to do more. Biologically, much of our growth not only depends on but happens while we are resting. 

*A note about PMS and Dysmenorrhea. Premenstrual syndrome and dysmenorrhea, with all the cramps, bad moods, acne breakouts, and more that they usually come with (often starting during the luteal phase) happen as a result of imbalanced hormones! Cycle-syncing will help you take care of your body as nature intended so that your hormones will stay balanced and your luteal and menstrual phases go more smoothly! Don’t think you have to just accept monthly suffering just because you’re a woman! Take care of your beautifully complex, hormone-cycling body and you’ll see a difference!

The Menstrual Phase (3-7 days)

The start of your period marks the beginning of your menstrual phase. 

This phase has much to offer—it emphasizes some of our most feminine gifts! But working with it, seeing past its negatives to its positives, can take a little practice!

Many women dislike this phase because in addition to continuing the lower energy levels, decreased immunity, larger appetite, faster metabolism, and increased stress susceptibility of the luteal phase, it often adds in some cramps and increased PMS symptoms as a bonus! (See note about PMS and dysmenorrhea above.)

However, during this time, the majority of your hormones are at an all-time low. Interestingly, this opens up even more communication between the right and left sides of your brain, giving you an extra edge in introspection, analysis, using your intuition, and looking at the big picture of things!

This phase is often compared to the winter season and cycle-syncers love to take this time of outward rest to do some serious inner work, with meditation, journaling, and other self-connecting practices. Remember, your immune system and energy levels are still low and you are still more sensitive/stress vulnerable, so it’s a great time to curl up, catch up on alone time, and do some deep recovery and intuitive inner growth. (see note about restfulness above)

Diet

The menstrual phase is the time to balance out your low hormones (plus your iron deficiency) with proteins, healthy fats, nutrient-dense foods, low glycemic index foods, as well as fiber, antioxidants, and minerals. Your metabolism is faster and you really need the extra nutrition during this phase, so you should be eating a bit more than usual. 

Exercise

Also, this is the time for the gentlest forms of exercise, like walking, yin yoga, or foam rolling, and plenty of rest. If ever there was an ideal time for an extra nap or two, it’s during the menstrual phase! Too much physical strain can actually backfire on you and your health goals during this phase. 

How To Powerfully Combine iTOVi Scans & Cycle-Syncing

Both cycle-syncing and iTOVi Scan reports help you be present with your body, know your body, and respond to what your body is currently saying. 

And you can go deeper—get even more support and attain even more bodily awareness—when you use these powerful methods together! There are 3 main ways to combine the power of cycle-syncing and insights from your iTOVi Scanner. 

• Use your cycle-synching knowledge to help you read your scan reports!

Understanding your phases—understanding the hormonal, emotional, and physical nature of each of them plus (with experience) knowing how each of these phases tends to present itself in your body—sets you up to have and develop an incredible depth of bodily and emotional awareness!

And this is great! Because self-awareness has always been key to understanding your personalized iTOVi Scan reports!

Did your #1 product come up for an emotional or a physical reason? How concerned should you be if the “Acceptance” or “Respiratory” category in your scan report gets filled up? Why does a certain product keep on coming up in your reports? The answers may lie in which hormonal phase you are currently in! 

Let your knowledge of your current phase help you find answers in your scan reports as well as new relevant questions to explore in your wellness!

Example:

“Immune system” filled up during the luteal phase? Makes sense. Lots of oils for “Love” during the ovulatory phase? Haha, of course! “Trust” always getting filled up during the menstrual phase? That’s surprising…let’s look a little further. 

• Use your cycle-based wellness plan to help you choose which iTOVi products and categories to focus on! 

iTOVi Scan Reports are always a snapshot—an in-the-moment, candid-camera snapshot of what’s going on with your body, emotions, and wellness right this every minute. 

This makes a single scan report (especially the top 10 products and stand-out categories) excellent for checking in with your body! But, because your body, and thus the iTOVi snapshots of it, can change so quickly—a single scan report may not be an ideal basis  for your long-term wellness plan.  

So here’s what we suggest: Build your long-term wellness plan (the areas of physical or emotional focus, diet, activities, etc) based on your cycle and phases and use the iTOVi to 

• support your wellness plan with the recommended products in the emotional and physical categories most relevant to your current phase
• adjust your wellness plan, according to product and category trends that you notice across multiple scans
• check in with yourself occasionally for body insights and little course corrections you can make with your top oils or supplements to keep your day and overall wellness plan on track

This way, you can get the full benefits of the iTOVi Scanner AND support your body according to its current phase and long-term wellness needs!

It may be especially helpful to check in with your body at the times of day most relevant to the current phase of your cycle (see below). And, as you read your scan report, take note of   the categories (fully filled or not) most relevant to your current phase. 

Example:

Luteal phase tends to get you stressed? Pay attention to “Peace” or “Comfort/Console” in your scan report! Worried about your immunity going down during your menstrual phase? Check in with the “Immune System” category on your reports for the next few days! Exercising hard during the ovulatory phase? Look at the “Structural” section of your body wheel to support your exercise recovery! 

• Get to know your cycle through iTOVi Scan Reports

If you feel confident interpreting your iTOVi Scan reports, use them to help you get in better touch with how your body experiences each phase of your cycle!

“Huh, I rarely see the Urinary System filled up. But it seems to happen most often during the luteal phase.” or “The Enlightenment/Inspiration category always seems to fill up more often during my menstrual phase—and Roman Chamomile comes up in that category the most. I should probably study that oil more and make it a part of my menstrual phase wellness.” 

So scan often! And enjoy using these two methods combined to help you get to know yourself better!

**Expert Tip**

Consider setting up 4 different client profiles in your iTOVi app—one profile for each of your phases (i.e. Frances Follicular, Olivia Ovulatory, Linda Luteal, and Mary Menstrual)

Scan yourself using these profiles when you are in the phases of your cycle that “client” is named after! Later, you can go back and study the scan history of each client to get insight into your body in each phase and pick out the best product and categories to focus on during each phase of your cycle!

Final note

Everyone, regardless of their gender, should have the opportunity to get to know their body better and give their body what it needs to function optimally!

With new research on the 28-day feminine cycle available to us, we, in this generation, have been given a unique gift—one that women have sought after for centuries! And how well we appreciate, use, and safeguard this gift of knowledge about the feminine cycle will affect how much of it is made available to our daughters and granddaughters. 

It’s thrilling to be a part of a rising movement of men and women who are seeking to do justice to femininity and the female body. And now that you have some cycle-syncing knowledge under your belt and an iTOVi Scanner to combine with that knowledge—you can be a powerful member of this movement too!

May your next cycle be more wonderful than any before it! And may you continue to explore and enjoy the gifts of your femininity!

Also, learn more about eating for your cycle with So Fresh N So Green!