Fitness Coaches, alcohol's impacts your client's menstrual cycle & fitness
There are 3 main ways alcohol can impact your clients menstrual cycle:
1. It can impair estrogen detox
2. It can cause a lack of essential minerals that support ovulation
3. It can interfere with fat oxidation
In this video we are going to do a deep dive into each of those factors and how you can support your clients. My name is Omega, I’m the founder of the Confident Menstrual Cycle Coaching Academy where I help personal trainers balance and optimize their hormones while being confident in helping their clients do the same.
Here is one of my clients, Daniella, who created a 4 part course of her own to teach at corporate wellness events. She says, Thanks to you and your course, I hosted my first ever 4- part mini series for a corporate event around cyclical living! Would have never been able to host such a thing without all this knowledge - so THANK YOU!
If you are also dreaming of creating a course specifically designed for women, but feel like you could use an accredited course to do so, learn about the Confident Menstrual Cycle Coach Academy, here.
Alcohol and estrogen detox
Every month starting about 2 weeks before we start our period, our body goes through an estrogen detoxification process. That estrogen detox process is important when it comes to maintaining hormonal balance and having manageable PMS symptoms.
Alcohol disrupts this process by prioritizing its own detoxification process over estrogen. When we drink alcohol our body prioritizes the detox of that over estrogen.
Alcohol and micronutrients
If your client comes to you and shares that they drink multiple times per week, this This study shows us that their body could be lacking some essential vitamins and minerals:
-Vitamin A,
-Β-carotene,
-vitamin E and C,
-Thiamine,
-vitamin B6,
-folate,
-Phosphorus
-Magnesium
-Potassium
-Iron
-Zinc and Copper
Folate, Thiamine & B6:
Oddly enough, most these are important micronutrients for hormone balance. Folate and related B-vitamins are crucial for…you guessed it liver detoxification. Regardless of if your client is ready to give up alcohol or not, foods high in folate and B-vitamins are going to support their liver also!
3 Foods high in folate:
Black-eyed peas
Grass fed beef liver
Garbanzo Beans
3 Foods high in thiamine:
Sunflower seeds
Brazil nuts
Pecans
3 Foods high in B6:
Sunflower seeds
Walnuts
Lentils
Magnesium
Likewise, magnesium is an important mineral to help reduce mood oriented PMS. A lack of magnesium can pre-dispose us to a lower threshold for stress.
Foods high in Magnesium include:
Kelp
Almonds
Cashews
Molasses
Brazil
Nuts and millet.
Zinc
Zinc is an important mineral for promoting ovulation and increasing testosterone production which helps boost our energy (especially for exercise) in the ovulatory phase. And this study shows it can help reduce PMS too!
Foods high in Zinc include:
Oysters
Pumpkin seeds
Ginger root
Pecans
Brazil nuts.
Iron
And finally Iron can impact your clients aerobic capacity and sports performance overall. On average, women lose 1 mg of iron each cycle and require 15 mg of iron each day. Like I said, if your female client doesn’t have enough iron, workouts are going to be harder for her.
Foods high in iron include:
Clams
Blackstrap molasses
Lentils
Beef liver
This next one might surprise you:
Alcohol and fat utilization for workouts
What might make your client more concerned when it comes to alcohol use is their ability to use fat for energy! Alcohol impairs fat utilization. Alcohol impairs your client to use lipid tissue for energy and this also so-happens to also be the first step in fatty liver disease.
There have been numerous studies showing us that alcohol impairs with lipid metabolism both immediately and over time. Simply put, if you gloss over the fact that your client is drinking alcohol multiple times per week, you’re reducing your impact as a trainer.
Alcohol and different phases of cycle
Now this question I get a lot from my students…when is alcohol okay to drink in the menstrual cycle? This really is a case by case thing.
In the luteal phase, if your client has high estrogen symptoms - mood changes, cramps, headaches, loose stool, anxiety or depression - drinking alcohol will be less helpful because your client needs to prioritize detoxing estrogen and alcohol is impairing with that.
If you or your client has none of those symptoms have a drink or two across the two weeks of the menstrual cycle might be okay. I have to admit, I drank a hard kombucha a couple of months ago in my luteal phase and felt completely wiped out by it. I got an immediate headache. It was not fun. Not only that, I felt like my blood sugar was really put through the ringer. It felt like it was more harmful than fun.
But last July, on my day of ovulation my best friend had her wedding and I had a couple of drinks and felt totally fine! So I hope that helps illustrate the point that you / your clients can still have a drink or two throughout the month and stay on track with their goals. In addition to that, you now know how to nutritionally support your clients who are struggling with alcohol use or even drinking less and need more nutrition.
If you want to know how to empower your clients balance and optimize their hormones so that they can make strides in every area of life, learn about the Confident Menstrual Cycle Coaching Academy here.