Food has energy. In Chinese Medicine Food Therapy, every food has properties that relate and communicate with your body. Foods can warm, cool, move, direct, nourish, tonify and/or transform your energy. Food and drink make up about 70% of your postnatal qi (life force). This is why I'm a huge proponent of food as a first line of medicine. We can use foods to enhance health and also use foods to regain lost health.

You've most likely heard of seed cycling for menstrual health. Just as with seed cycling, we’ll use beans to harness the best potential for each of your 4 menstrual cycle phases. Everything presented here should be taken lightly and not as a strict regimented plan. For example, just because I am listing adzuki beans for the period phase, doesn't mean you can't enjoy them any other time of the month. It's just that adzuki beans, with all of its energetic properties supports the things you need the most during your period phase.

The idea behind cycling foods according to our 4 menstrual cycle phases is based on the idea that your body is very different from one phase to the next. Your hormones change. Your needs change. So, how can we support that with the foods we eat? With certain foods, we can help to support the natural hormonal and energetic needs of each phase.