Short Luteal Phase

I have been tracking my circle for a year now since I got it back December 2017 as a blessed holiday present. I use ovagraph to track my fertility and read the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility, which completely changed my understanding of how my body works. I feel like every woman should be provided this knowledge. But I digress.

My periods have been irregular and I did miss one month (April 2018). However, my luteal phase has been short. Now you might be asking yourself, “what the devil is a luteal phase???” Well, a luteal phase is the time period between ovulation and your period. This is when the female body produces more progesterone than estrogen to prepare the body for pregnancy if the egg has been fertilized and is trying to embed itself in the lining of the uterus.

My body has either not quite healed enough for it to produce progesterone as it should or I am like some percentage of women who suffer from short luteal phases, which there may or may not be a good reason for. I am trying to see what I can do about it though. My research has shown that increasing your consumption of micronutrients such as vitamin C and B6 can help. Also, avoiding foods containing plant-estrogen’s, though overall research is inconclusive of plant estrogen’s impact on our hormones.

Note: All of the studies claiming foods like soy are bad for our hormones are funded by the meat and dairy industry and the interpretations are questionable when actually read the studies in my opinion. Again, I digress. There are many foods that contain plant estrogens or phytoestrogens, however, so how do I avoid them all?

I am not stressing about it though. I trust my body will heal as long as I participate in supportive activities just as eating whole foods as much as reasonably possible and practicing yoga and meditative exercises. I will keep you posted on how it goes.

Resources:

https://natural-fertility-info.com/luteal-phase-defect.html

https://www.ovusense.com/us/blog/2015/11/03/how-to-increase-your-luteal-phase-naturally