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<p>Alisa Vitti is the author of In the FLO.</p>

Health & Nutrition

In the FLO Book Summary - In the FLO Book explained in key points

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In the FLO summary

Name: In the FLO
Rating: 4.4 (79 reviews)
Author: Alisa Vitti

Alisa Vitti

Unlock Your Hormonal Advantage and Revolutionize Your Life

4.4 (79 ratings)

21 mins

Brief summary

In the FLO by Alisa Vitti empowers women by providing a comprehensive guide to understanding and optimizing their hormonal cycles. It offers insights on how to improve their productivity, mood, relationships, and overall health.

Topics

Self-Care Healthy Living Stress Reduction Women's Health & Maternity The Body Diet

Table of Contents

In the FLO
Summary of 8 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 8

What’s in it for me? Tune into your hormonal cycle for a healthier and happier life.

What if you were told that planning your life around your menstrual cycle could help you transform your health, your relationship, and your career? For many women, this might sound bizarre and entirely inconvenient. But when you really stop to think about it, the idea makes perfect sense.

Women’s bodies operate on a 28-day cycle that is split into four distinct hormonal phases. As your hormones fluctuate throughout the month, so do your energy levels, your sex drive, and your metabolism. Hormones even affect the female brain; depending on where you are in your cycle, your mind may be crystal clear one day and foggy the next. So why not use this knowledge to schedule your projects for the days when your creativity and energy levels are at their best – and your nights in for times when your mind and body could use a little TLC?

In these blinks, you’ll find out how to optimize your life by letting your body’s natural “FLO” guide your time, diet, relationships, and career.

You’ll also discover

why women often neglect their hormonal health;
how your menstrual cycle affects – well, everything; and
the ways diet can curb cravings and help you shed those last few pounds.

Improving your health involves changing the way you think and talk about your body.

For many women, getting their monthly period is nothing short of inconvenient. They have to deal with cramps, mood swings, and an increased desire to dive into the cookie jar. To top it all off, they also feel the pressure to carry on with their days as normal, as if their symptoms didn’t matter.

Sadly, women have been conditioned to avoid talking about their bodily functions; topics like periods aren’t always welcome in everyday conversation. Advertising and the media are partially to blame for this: the language used by TV commercials, brands, and even women’s health magazines often depict menstruation as something dirty or shameful that women should hide away and deal with in private.

Sex education also negatively influences the way we think and talk about the female body – something the author has seen for herself. Even as a teenager, she remembers being shocked at the language used to describe the female reproductive system in her biology textbook. Whereas the male testes were characterized as an efficient “powerhouse” of production, the ovaries were described as passive bystanders that were just hanging out and waiting to release an egg. Unsurprisingly, the hero of the story was the sperm that risked its life to find the egg and, ultimately, make the magic happen.

After analyzing these descriptions closely, the author realized that women were always being painted as the weaker sex – even on the level of biology. No wonder they considered their menstrual cycles something to be ashamed of, rather than something to celebrate!

The problems of this go deeper, too. A lot of women assume that their menstrual cycles are unimportant, which makes them neglect their hormonal health. For example, women struggling with issues such as unwanted weight gain, PMS, or acne breakouts look to detox teas, crash diets, and fitness experts before stopping to consider whether their cycle is functioning correctly.

The reluctance of many women to take care of their menstrual health comes back to crummy, sexist sex ed. But, it’s also closely linked to taboos and myths surrounding female periods. We’ll take a closer look at this in the next blink.

Myths and misinformation prevent women from receiving adequate care.

Let’s cut to the chase: there’s so much misinformation about menstruation out there that makes women feel out of tune with their own bodies. It’s time to set the record straight.

A common myth that many women buy into is that premenstrual syndrome, or PMS – which includes symptoms like mood swings, bloating, and acne breakouts – is just a normal inconvenience, like everyday aches and pains. It’s not. In fact, the National Institute of Health’s BioCycle Study shows that severe PMS symptoms that are left untreated actually lead to a greater risk of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and dementia in post-menopausal women.

Two inner clocks govern women’s biological processes.

Ever wondered how we fall asleep and wake up again in the morning? Well, that’s down to our circadian rhythm – our internal body clock that keeps all our biological processes in check.

Our circadian rhythm is set by the cycle of light and dark over 24 hours, and it plays a key role in things like brain waves, hormone production, and cell growth. When this rhythm is disrupted, a lot of processes get thrown off – sleeping, waking, digestive systems, you name it. That leads to problems such as insomnia, weight gain, and depression.

Awareness of your monthly cycle’s four hormonal phases can offer incredible benefits.

If you want to harness the power of your monthly cycle, you first need to understand it. Let’s start with the basics.

During your menstrual cycle, your body goes through four hormonal phases – follicular, ovulatory, luteal, and menstrual. Each has its own challenges and rewards.

Elevate your energy and improve productivity with the POWR approach.

Considering that our biological systems fluctuate in response to our hormones, it doesn’t make much sense to adopt a routine that’s the same, day in, day out. Instead of choosing a one-size-fits-all approach, why not try seizing POWR?

POWR stands for Prepare, Open up, Work, and Rest. As an approach, it’s all about matching your activities with the phases of your cycle – starting with the follicular phase, which is the “prepare” stage. This can help you accomplish more with less effort. It just takes a bit of planning.

Take care of your body with nutrition that supports the phases of menstruation.

For many people that start a diet, the process often goes something like this: they cut out their favorite foods, slash their caloric consumption, and turn to intensive exercise to help them sweat off the pounds.

Not only does this make them miserable, but it also causes many women to have menstruation problems – such as loss of their period or increased PMS.

Improve your sex life by syncing your orgasm with your cycle.

In the same way that your hormonal changes affect everything, from your energy levels and immune system to your cognitive function, they also impact your interest in sex, your ability to get aroused, and the intensity of your orgasm.

Some days, you might find that you’re just not feeling it; you may need more foreplay to get you aroused, or you may just take longer to climax. There’s no need to worry about this, though – your biochemistry is just doing its thing. The more you know about how your menstrual cycle affects your sex drive, the more primed for sexual pleasure – and orgasm – you’ll be.

Harness your cyclical nature to achieve your professional goals.

At one point or another, most of us have been guilty of overworking. Whether it’s climbing the corporate ladder, running a business, or being a full-time parent, we stretch ourselves to the limit – neglecting our health in the process.

That’s what happened to Allie, an entrepreneur that the author worked with to try and get her hormones back on track. Allie burned the candle at both ends. Every morning, she’d wake up, do an intense workout, make a smoothie for the road, and then wash it down with a big mug of coffee as soon as she got to the office. She worked long hours and attended dinners and networking events in the evening, squeezing in time with her boyfriend when she could.

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What is In the FLO about?

In the FLO (2020) outlines a way for women to eat, live, and work in sync with their monthly cycles. Author Alisa Vitti demonstrates how taking charge of your hormonal health can help you unleash your creativity, manage stress, and even improve your sex life.

In the FLO Review

In the FLO by Alisa Vitti (2020) is a revolutionary book that teaches women how to harness the power of their hormonal cycle to optimize their health, productivity, and happiness. Here's why this book is a must-read:

With practical strategies and evidence-based research, it empowers women to understand and leverage their hormonal fluctuations for improved well-being.
Combining personal experiences with scientific knowledge, the book provides relatable insights that make it accessible and relatable.
Its engaging and conversational tone keeps readers hooked, preventing the topic from becoming dry or boring, making it an enjoyable educational journey.

Best quote from In the FLO

We need to learn to leverage our infradian rhythm for our long-term success and well-being.

—Alisa Vitti

Who should read In the FLO?

People with periods seeking to optimize their health
Females of all ages who feel drained or overwhelmed
Women who want to reclaim sovereignty over their bodies, relationships, and careers

About the Author

Alisa Vitti is a women’s hormone and functional nutrition expert and the founder of modern hormone healthcare company FLO Living. She’s also the best-selling author of WomanCode, a blueprint for how women can put their hormonal problems into remission naturally.

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