Commusings: Three Rules to Eat Like a Girl by Dr. Mindy Pelz

Dear Commune Community,

I live with three daughters, my wife, and four chickens. I lovingly call this brood of X chromosomes my estrogen footprint.

You could call me the rooster. I do get up before everyone else. My annoying crow is the grind of the espresso beans.

I’ve written extensively about my “biohacking” ways that I dub good stress. It is the topic of my upcoming book (which you will hear more about soon). And, indeed, I am living these protocols at home. I fast, sauna, cold plunge, and meditate, among other esoteric rituals.

While many health praxes have universal application, what I do every day is not necessarily appropriate for women. My body dispenses itself a dollop of endogenous testosterone every fifteen minutes, every day of the month. The other members of my household swim in an ocean of hormones that ebb and flow. (Fun fact: testosterone peaks in women around ovulation, heightening libido at just the right time. Nature is amazing!)

This week, I got to spend a day with today’s essayist, Dr. Mindy Pelz. Mindy has been instrumental in helping millions of women better understand how to eat (and fast) in relationship with their hormones and their cycle.

Some foods (and time-restricted protocols) simply work better when synced with the female body’s natural production of estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and oxytocin.

In our conversation, Mindy called this “bioharmonization” (not “biohacking”). A woman’s body needs to be harmonized, not hacked. This notion is the center of Luminescence, Commune’s new women’s health and longevity summit.

Last fun fact (good for dads with teenage girls). Because oxytocin also peaks around ovulation, this is a time where your girls may be more open to cozying up on the couch and watching a movie.

Stalking the Serengeti of IG @jeffkrasno.

In love, include me(n),
Jeff

 • • •

Three Rules to Eat Like a Girl
by Dr. Mindy Pelz

Excerpted from her new book, Eat Like a Girl

There are three pivotal phases to a woman’s hormonal journey. I call them the warm-up, the main act, and the cooldown. You may know these as your puberty years, childbearing years, and menopausal years. No matter where you are on this hormonal journey, learning what and when to eat will smooth the bumps hormones can often provide.

At every phase of your journey, chemical stressors from the wrong foods can contribute to the dysregulation of the music of your hormonal symphony—something will be out of time or tune, or there may be an aggressive rock song instead of a gentle ballad, or no music at all. The right foods will perfectly tune your hormones and allow them to make beautiful music.

So how do we attune our food choices to the changing rhythms of our hormones? This is where my Three Food Rules for eating like a girl come in handy. If you keep these three rules in mind, you will find less turbulence within you.

RULE #1: EAT TO MAKE HORMONES
Just like a recipe, the making of hormones requires certain ingredients. All three of your sex hormones need some basic nutrients—I call them the Key 24. They come in four major categories: vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, and amino acids. Think of these as categories of ingredients you would need to make bread. Regardless of what type of bread you are making, all recipes require a handful of necessary ingredients: flour, yeast, water, and salt.

Without one of these key ingredients, your bread won’t turn out the way you want it. The 24 nutrients operate in the same way. Regardless of what stage of life you are in, you need adequate amounts of these nutrients to make your sex hormones. If one of these nutrients is low, it can have a massive impact on your sex hormone production.

A key component of eating for hormone production is diversification of foods. We need to eat a good variety of nutrient-rich foods to ensure our bodies get all 24 nutrients. When we consume a highly processed, refined-food diet, not only is it void of these 24, but these toxic foods also pull nutrients out of our bodies. Eating a diverse range of healthy foods ensures that you are getting all 24 of these nutrients. You will see that variety built into the recipes my chefs have provided in this book.

It’s not just toxic food that depletes you of vitamins and minerals—certain medications can too. Ironically, the birth control pill is one of those medications. If you are actively on an oral birth control pill or have spent years on this medication, I highly recommend that you supplement your diet with the following vitamins and minerals, as research shows that these key nutrients are depleted with the use of oral contraceptives.

• Folic acid
• Vitamins B2, B6, B12
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin E
• Magnesium
• Selenium
• Zinc

RULE #2: EAT TO METABOLIZE HORMONES
Ready for this? Your gut health is so pivotal to metabolizing hormones that you have a specific set of good gut bacteria whose job is to break down estrogen. That’s how important your microbes are for your hormonal health. Together, these good bugs are called your estrobolome. Without these key microbes, estrogen can’t get reformatted for cellular use. To support these hormone-metabolizing bacteria, you need to avoid the following things that destroy them:

• A highly processed diet
• Alcohol
• Antibiotics
• Birth control pills
• Environmental pollutants

It’s easy to see every woman’s lifestyle in this list. Our goal is to eat foods that bring back the health of the microbes that metabolize our hormones. These foods fall into three categories that I call the three Ps: probiotics, prebiotics, and polyphenols.

Probiotic-Rich Foods 
Probiotic-rich foods add new healthy bacteria into your gut. Be sure that all the foods listed here are organic and raw. When these foods undergo pasteurization, the good bacteria are destroyed. Here are four of the most powerful probiotic-rich foods:

• Yogurt: Look for yogurt labeled with “live and active cultures” for the best probiotic benefits.
• Kefir: A fermented probiotic milk drink, similar to a thin yogurt, which is made by adding kefir grains to milk.
• Sauerkraut: Fermented cabbage rich in probiotics and vitamins. Ensure that it’s unpasteurized, as pasteurization kills the beneficial bacteria.
• Kimchi: A Korean dish made from fermented vegetables, primarily cabbage, along with a variety of seasonings.

Prebiotic Foods
Prebiotic foods feed your healthy microbes so they get stronger and multiply. To reap the maximum power from these foods, make sure they are organic and come from a regenerative farm. Here’s a list of Four powerful prebiotic foods:

• Garlic: Contains high levels of the prebiotic inulin and fructooligosaccharides (FOS), which support the growth of beneficial bacteria.
• Onions: Rich in inulin and FOS, onions are great for gut health and also have antioxidant properties.
• Leeks: Similar to garlic and onions, they are high in inulin and FOS.
• Asparagus: Contains inulin, which helps promote healthy gut bacteria.

Polyphenol Foods
Polyphenol-rich foods are plant-based foods that are known for their antioxidant properties. A diet rich in these foods regrows the microbes that metabolize hormones for you, helping you feel more hormonally balanced and avoid storing unmetabolized hormones as fat. Four polyphenol-rich foods:

• Cloves: One of the richest sources of polyphenols.
• Star anise: High in polyphenols and used as a spice in various cuisines.
• Cocoa powder: Raw, unprocessed cocoa powder is very rich in polyphenols.
• Dark chocolate: Contains significant amounts of polyphenols, especially in higher cocoa content varieties.

RULE #3: EAT TO DETOX HORMONES
The last eat-like-a-girl rule to properly fuel your feminine body is to eat foods that support your detox pathways. Toxic estrogens come from chemicals in our food, beauty products, and environment. It doesn’t matter how clean your lifestyle is; you will still have some toxic estrogen in you. Your liver and kidneys remove this toxic estrogen, and this is why nourishing these organs with good nutrition is so imperative. Toxic estrogen that doesn’t detox out of your body can lead to hormonal cancers like breast and ovarian.

Examples of Foods That Support Your Detox Organs

• Leafy greens (e.g., spinach, kale): High in antioxidants and chlorophyll, which can help the liver detoxify the blood.
• Garlic: Contains sulfuric compounds that support the liver in producing detoxification enzymes.
• Lemons: High in vitamin C, which aids the body in turning toxins into digestible material.
• Beets: High in antioxidants and nutrients, including betalains, which support liver detoxification.
• Green tea: Contains antioxidants known as catechins, which assist liver function.
• Turmeric: Contains curcumin, which is believed to have liver-protecting and regenerative properties.
• Apples: High in pectin, a soluble fiber that helps remove toxins and cholesterol from the blood.

Eating like a girl is all about eating for your hormonal health, and as you can see, there are many delicious ingredients that go into that. I’m excited to be on this journey with you! Let’s continue to delve into the nourishing power of food.

Dr. Mindy Pelz is a world-renowned women’s health expert on a mission to empower women to believe in their bodies. She is a bestselling author of Fast Like a Girl (top-selling release of 2023 from Hay House Publishing) and The Menopause Reset. Her podcast, “The Resetter Podcast,” is ranked within Apple’s top 20 category of leading U.S. science podcasts. She holds a BS degree from the University of Kansas and a Doctor of Chiropractic degree.

Excerpted with permission from Eat Like a Girl: 100+ Delicious Recipes to Balance Hormones, Boost Energy, and Burn Fat by Dr. Mindy Pelz (Hay House Inc.). Available wherever books are sold.