Luteal Phase (cycle day 15-28)
Temperatures should be consistently above 98.2 to sustain healthy progesterone levels.
Foods that support healthy Luteal Phase Temperatures:
Curry, Chicken, Chai Tea, Black Peppercorn, Ginger, Cinnamon Bark, Garlic, Chives, Scallions, Leak, Quinoa, Onion, Lamb, Trout, Salmon, Walnut, Oysters, Shrimp, Buckwheat.
All food should be cooked during the luteal phase, even fruit. Your body is trying to raise its temperature so that it can produce abundant progesterone. The body has a fixed amount of metabolic resources. In order to break foods down into usable nutrients, those foods must be digested, cooked, within the body. This process requires metabolic heat. If you eat cold or cooling foods, for example raw foods or fruit, you are diverting some of the body’s precious metabolic resources toward digestion, and away from the metabolic priority of raising the body temperature!
It is very important to stay warm during the luteal phase especially during the winter months. Wear socks, keep your abdomen and low back warm, and don’t go outside with wet hair. Getting cold really steals energy from your basal temperatures.
YANG DEFICIENCY
CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS OF YANG DEFICIENCY:
Includes those of Qi deficiency ( pale face, a weak voice, slight sweating in daytime, slight breathlessness, tiredness, lack of appetite and an empty pulse) plus chilliness, a bright pale face, cold limbs, no thirst, a desire for hot drinks, loose stools, frequent-pale urination, a weak pulse and a pale wet tongue.
USEFUL FOODS FOR YANG DEFICIENCY:
Rice, sweet brown rice, oats, spelt, quinoa, corn, buckwheat and rye.
Sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, fennel, dill, anise, caraway, carob pod, cumin, peanuts, chestnuts, cinnamon bark and pine nuts.
Yellow onions, Chinese yam, Chinese cabbage, parsnip, winter squash, sweet potato, kale, leek, scallion, mustard greens and carrots.
Chives, garlic, ginger, cloves, basil, rosemary, angelica root and parsley.
Lychee, pumpkin, cherry, citrus peel, dates and raisins.
Hot peppers and cayenne (caution: use hot peppers and cayenne in small pinches or they can have a strong cooling effect).
Walnuts (start eating one walnut a day, then add one more each day, not to exceed 20 per day).
Coffee and cocoa (caution: coffee and cocoa damage the yin in Yin deficient persons, and they are contraindicated in insomnia).
Chicken, goat’s milk, beef, lamb, shrimp, mussels, fish (e.g., anchovy and trout).
In general, use warming foods and methods of preparation.
FOODS TO AVOID IN CASES OF YANG DEFICIENCY:
Use fewer cooling foods and fruits and raw foods.
