What’s Cycle Syncing, and Do You Need To Be Doing It?

Cycle syncing. Hormone balancing. Eating for your cycle. There’s no official (read: Scientific) name for the trend that’s regaining traction across the internet, but the message is simple: If you are a person who menstruates, you should be eating differently at each of the four phases of your cycle. 

More often than not, the people espousing this philosophy are not experts in the field. There are over 55,000 videos using the tag #cyclesyncing and while I didn’t watch all of them, from the hundreds I did watch, I found that rarely is it a registered dietician or a board-certified OB-GYN on your screen.

So we called on two registered dietitians to help address what’s being shared by content creators—is that shaved carrot salad really going to flush out excess estrogen, for instance—and how you can support your cycle through eating.

First, what *are* the four phases to your cycle?

Unfortunately, reproductive health education and research is seriously lacking, so many of us (read: Me) didn’t learn about the four phases of a menstrual cycle until their 30s. Even the Trump administration is considering funding programs to “that educate women on their menstrual cycles,” but their interest is mainly in increasing birthrates, not reducing cramps with a healthy dose of pineapple (more on that later).

The four phases are menstrual, which starts on the first day of your period, follicular, ovulatory (peak fertility and, unironically, sex drive), and luteal (hello, PMS). The length of each phase, and the cycle as a whole, varies and is affected by “ethnicity, high body mass index (BMI), stress and lifestyle factors,” according to a study published in August 2019.

What TikTok gets right about cycle syncing

Whether you did research, or just on an implicit level as someone who has ever menstruated, we all know our bodies (and minds) change throughout the month due to shifts in hormones.

While social media trends aren’t the most trustworthy or safe way to navigate your health, they generally emerge—and, more often, mutate—from a seed of truth. Amy Davis, RDN, LDN succinctly explains this trend: “ The funny little thing is, it's typically just like a healthy diet, maybe with a few tweaks here and there… and I think it’s kind of been rebranded.” She goes on to say that hormone health and balance isn’t just about food. Stress, sleep, exercise, and other health issues all play into how our bodies react to hormonal shifts.

And what we’ve seen in these videos is exactly that: Recommending different balanced food options and meals adequately portioned with protein, healthy fat, and fiber. Additionally, when we listen to a content creator like We Are Sage suggest eating ‘light and fresh’ foods during our follicular and ovulatory phases, more calories and nutrient dense foods during the luteal phase, and focusing on rebuilding nutrient stores while bleeding, their basic takeaways are accurate. 

According to a journal article published by Nutrition Reviews in July 2023, energy intake (read: Calories) is “lower in the follicular phase compared to the luteal phase, with a particular decrease in the days leading up to and including ovulation.” So, eating salads and yogurt and fresh fish are definitely better suited for the follicular and ovulatory stages. 

Yet, the article includes an important caveat: There is not enough “high-quality research investigating the energy intakes of females across the menstrual cycle.” Supporting this claim is an article published by Nutrition Research Reviews in September 2023, which notes there is a lack of consistency in determining menstrual-related symptoms and the quantity of a certain food or supplement to make practical recommendations.

Then how did we arrive at eating light and fresh for two phases and more nutrient-dense foods for the remaining two if researchers ultimately concluded there isn’t enough data? Davis notes that this format relies more on intuitive eating. “ So, during your menstrual phase, you're bleeding, you're going to be losing blood and so eating more iron makes sense.” 

Noting that none of these recommendations are going to hurt anyone, barring any co-morbidities or allergies of an individual that suggest otherwise, a hormone-balancing meal plan is ultimately the marriage of well-balanced meals and intuitive eating.

Where do content creators miss the mark?

On the surface, creators who suggest you eat the rainbow or treat each phase as its own season aren’t lying. But there are some orange flags to consider—the first literally being orange. Remember how we said social media health trends start with a seed of truth? By now, you’d likely seen one of your favorite creators making the viral shaved carrot salad, most of which posthumously credit Dr. Ray Peat. Peat held a PhD in biology and is best known for his theories on the therapeutic effects of hormones, specifically the idea that carrots can lower estrogen levels, linking fiber to estrogen.

The origin of this theory is not clearly outlined in Peat’s self-published research, so we asked Alyssa Pacheco, RD from The PCOS Nutritionist Alyssa, to help us understand why carrots, in particular, have a reputation for flushing excess estrogen from the body. “ Leading up to ovulation your estrogen levels are going to start to rise and then you hit ovulation and those estrogen levels really start to plummet,” Pacheco says. “After ovulation, your progesterone rises and if there's an imbalance in the estrogen and progesterone, you can have heavy periods, more PMS symptoms, etc.” These hormones circulate in the bloodstream and digestive tract, which is where carrots come in. 

“[I]f you're not getting enough fiber in your diet, you can have higher than ideal amounts of estrogen because the estrogen that's in your digestive tract can get reabsorbed into your bloodstream.” Fiber binds to excess estrogen and, as Pacheco puts it, “you essentially poop it out.” The funny thing about carrots is they’re not even that high in fiber. The general idea that a fibrous vegetable can help lower your estrogen levels is correct, but carrots aren’t the best choice for this endeavor—not to mention, in high quantities, they will turn you orange. Instead, try adding more beans, including lentils and green beans, to your rotation.

Another specific recommendation we needed to confront is eating pineapple to alleviate menstrual cramps. In one video by Dr. Kunal Sood, he stitched another video, explaining that because pineapple contains the enzyme bromelain, which he states can reduce inflammation and swelling. In fact, pineapple has been used medicinally in Central and South America and is believed to alleviate arthritic and exercise-induced pain. If you’d like to take a natural approach to pain relief, Davis notes pineapple can help, but reminds us that it’s food and not a drug, so it won’t be as powerful.

Both dietitians agree there’s no general harm in eating for anti-inflammatory purposes, which includes pineapple, but it needs to be considered in the context of one’s general eating habits as a whole. If you suffer from terrible cramps and buy three pineapples after watching one of these videos, your cramps could improve, but your blood sugar would also spike. “ We always [want to] pair carbohydrates, protein, and healthy fats because it really helps to keep your insulin levels more stable, which really translates also into more regular periods, more regular ovulation as well,” says Pacheco. 

What about people with PCOS, PMDD, or endometriosis?

Here’s where the best (and really, only) advice is to speak to a professional like your primary care physician, gynecologist, or a registered dietician. For instance, Davis explains that someone with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) will “want a solid source of protein at each meal because their blood sugar is just naturally [going to] be a little bit more wonky.” 

Some hallmark traits of PCOS include being prone to blood sugar spikes and increased insulin, as well as having greater difficulty in losing weight. She also notes that someone struggling with endometriosis will be more likely to experience inflammation, so a “nutrient rich, plant-based diet,” including foods rich in antioxidants like cherries and spinach should be added to their regular meals.

TLDR; can my eating habits *really* help my hormonal cycle?

We’re going to employ an improv technique here: Yes, and. Of course these cure-all type videos are appealing to people who will spend more than half their lives dealing with the painful and just plain weird things that come along with having ovaries and a uterus, so it’s understandable why someone would latch onto (and, possibly, spread) these “fixes.” But, experts say to proceed with caution.

Both Davis and Pacheco agree that a well-balanced eating plan should be everyone’s starting point, which is an assumption most of these content creators make. If you’re going into this with a fast-food-heavy eating plan, adding any fruit or vegetable into the mix will make you feel good, no matter what phase of your cycle you’re in. But they also reminded us that meal plans, shopping lists, and specific cooking methods—none of which are supported by science—can become restrictive and lead to disordered eating, especially in someone with PCOS who already struggles with weight gain and experiences higher rates of disordered eating, according to Pacheco. 

Additionally, if the cycle syncing philosophy adds stress to your life—be it trying to eat right all the time or concerns over the cost of eating this way—it’s okay to back off. Like food, stress has an impact on our hormones, too. As always, eat colorfully, listen to your body, and, when in doubt, speak to a pro.