How Gwyneth Paltrows Fasting can Impact your Menstrual Cycle

Recently the internet went wild criticizing Gwyneth Paltrow's diet. And I'd like to approach this from a scientific topic because you as coaches might have clients that come to you glorifying wellness influencers like Gwyneth Paltro.

Watch the Full YouTube Video Here - https://youtu.be/l2-JuyqnFM8 

So we need to be informed about how we start talking about these things from a science-based lens. And if you don't know me yet, my name is Omega Zumpano, I am an exercise scientist, menstrual cycle educator and founder of one of the first menstrual cycle health, fitness, and nutrition certifications for coaches. So if you wanna learn more about that, you can click the link below.

So first things first that we need to understand about this interview is that this was an interview that she did with her doctor as a podcast. And it's much longer than the snippets we hear on Instagram or TikTok. Another thing that's important that uh, gives a nuance to what Gwyneth Paltro is dealing with health-wise is her long covid and her MTHFFR gene. And if you don't know what the Mt h FFR gene is, it is a gene that controls detoxification in the liver. And if we aren't detoxifying appropriately, then we are going to have issues with things like estrogen. And as a menstrual cycle coach and teacher, that is very important to realize. I also have the MT H FFR gene and as I was talking to one of my coaches in our weekly coaching call, she also has the M T H FFR gene. But what Gwyneth says in this interview, at the end,

It's really important for me to support my detox.

And what this coach said on a coaching call is something I've heard before, but something that I'd like to share with you because it's really important and it sums up the whole M T H FFR gene thing so perfectly. And it is that the genes load the gun and the environment pulls the trigger. So if we are living a toxic lifestyle, obviously we're not gonna be able to detoxify appropriately. That's true for anybody, even if they have great gene and great hormonal makeup. So detoxification in Gwyneth Paltrow's diet is one of the first things that I want to talk about. So the first thing that she says in this interview, I mean

In the morning I'll have some things that won't spike my blood sugar, right? So I, I have

Coffee, I know a lot of us start our days with coffee, but she has a black coffee and black coffee among wellness influencers is supposed to be better than just regular coffee. I was a black coffee person at one point myself and I definitely thought I was better than anyone else. Turns out I'm not. Anyway, so what co if you've seen my other videos on coffee and hormone balance, then you know that coffee is not good if we have detoxification issues because coffee is metabolized by C Y P 1 A 2 and that is a liver enzyme. And if we don't have the M t or if we have dysfunction in the M T H FFR gene and we are drinking coffee, first thing, that in and of itself is toxic. Not only that but C Y P one A two also detoxes estrogen. And if you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw this post that I made on coffee and how that impacts estrogen detox and PMs.

And if you haven't seen that post or if you don't follow me on Instagram, I'm gonna link that post in the description below as well so you can go check that out to get a better idea of what I'm talking about. Um, I'll also have some videos up here and down in the description about coffee and how that impacts hormone balance. So first things first, Gwyneth Paltrow is not starting her day off right? If she has detox issues. And a lot of us do, a lot of us walk around with the M T H FFR gene and that is why we are perceiving that we have lots of PMs and high estrogen. And I wanna bring up this other study that looked at within day energy deficient deficiency and reproductive function in female endurance athletes. So this was a small study and it showed active women who had menstrual cycle dysfunction were more catabolic, meaning they are using their own body's protein simply to fuel activity.

So if we are eating a restricted diet or if we are doing time-restricted fasting, we are in a catabolic state, we are breaking down muscle tissue. So in no way, shape or form should any woman with a normal menstrual cycle B fasting, that is a recipe for disaster in terms of muscle mass and hormone health. And I have a few other studies to share with you as well. Um, the second thing I wanna talk about is the, well I guess this is tied in is Gwyneth Paltrow's long intermittent fast. So she starts her day with black coffee, but then she fasts until noon and she has her dinner around, I think she said six 30 or seven 30. So she's done eating by either seven or eight. So that's a really long fasting window and there are lots of benefits of fasting, I realize that.

But majority of those studies have been done on men menopausal women, people with P C O S and obesity. And in those cases, sometimes intermittent fasting is really helpful. But you know what, most of us intermittent fast every single day, it's called nighttime baby. And that's like an eight to 12 hour fasting window that we all do because I would say the majority of us finish eating around nine if we have a little dessert. If you're my boyfriend, you finish eating around 10 or 11 cuz he has to have a little Menlo snack, you know what I mean? And then around eight or nine people usually break their fast with breakfast. So understand that we all probably fast and it's actually important for female hormone health to have breakfast and have it at a reasonable time. And I know Alyssa Viti and her book Woman Code and in the Flow recommends breakfast 30 minutes after waking.

And I am a total proponent to that as well. So in the same vein of fasting, I wanna talk about progesterone. Progesterone is negatively impacted by fasting and that has been shown in a few studies, but most significantly in this study on Ramadan, I know that a lot of people are talking about fasting with the cycle. I don't think it's a good idea for reasons that I have shared and will share. And it's definitely not good as our body is building progesterone in our ludial phase. So it's something that we really wanna stay away from, especially after ovulation. We wanna stay away from fasting in other phases of our cycle because fasting impacts gonadotropin hormone, which is impacted by the enzyme kisspeptin in the brain. And kisspeptin is a precursor to luteinizing hormone, which is a precursor to ovulation. So at no point in the cycle is fasting recommended because if we are getting in the way of our body producing lutin hormone, we are absolutely getting in the way of our body having a healthy ovulation.

So either way, you cut it before ovulation or after ovulation. Fasting is not good. If you're getting something out of this video so far, give it a thumbs up and if you haven't subscribed yet, make sure to hit the red subscribe button below this video and leave a comment below telling me what you wanna learn more about. Next. The last study I wanna share with you is on circulation levels of fertility precursor hormones and how they are reduced in energy deficits due to heavy exercise. So how many of us are, how many well-meaning coaches are out there prescribing energy deficits, calorie deficits and doing exercise heavy exercise advising our people to work four to five time work out four to five times per week. It comes from a place that is well researched for men, but under researched for women with a menstrual cycle. So in these chronic situations where we have a client who is in an extreme energy deficit, and granted we may get clients who have been in an extreme energy deficit and you give them more food and they actually start building muscle and losing inches and that's awesome.

And this study shows that as leptin is being restored, meaning that we're actually being satiated, this actually actually helps improve the dominant follicle. So that helps with ovulation. So what these studies like in conglomeration show us is that being in an energy deficit is going to cause us to be catabolic. That's no surprise. And women who had menstrual cycle dysfunction in the first study I shared with you generally also are catabolic because they are in a within day energy deficit. Okay, so those two things go together and if you know some things about menstrual cycle dysfunction, you know, that hints towards hypothalamic a amenorrhea. We, we also know throughout, just by looking at these studies is that ovulation and after ovulation, the ludial phase is negatively affected by fasting because fasting reduces progesterone, which is important to build the lining of the uterus, but it's also important for mood regulation.

It has a rest and relax effect on the brain. And we also know that fasting negatively impacts ovulation via lutin hormone from the enzyme kisspeptin in the brain. It just down regulates lutin hormones so that we are not, we don't have the same surges in estrogen and testosterone and we know that estrogen actually matures the follicle. And when we talk about the follicle, we also have to talk about the study that looked at energy deficits and how that impacts the follicle. If a person is in an energy deficit and then they eat and they have a surge of leptin that actually I wanna say nourishes the follicle and enhances the development of the dominant follicle, which is, if you don't know, that is the soon to be egg that gets released during ovulation. So if you got something out of this video, please like it, make sure to subscribe using the red button below and uh, leave a comment for me. I will see you in the next video.