Recipes  /  Menstrual
🩸 Days 1–5

Menstrual

Warm, mineral-rich, cooked, grounding — replenish what is lost

Your body is shedding its lining and losing iron and minerals. Everything should be cooked and warm. Think soups, stews, and broths. This is not the time for raw salads or cold smoothies.

Cooking Principles

Everything cooked (no raw) · Warming but not heating · Mineral-replenishing · Iron-rich + Vit C pairing · Bone broth daily · Sesame and coconut oil for Vata grounding

⭐ Restorative Soup
Red Lentil & Beet Soup
with Coconut & Coriander
Red lentils are iron-rich + oestrogen-building. Beets support blood quality and liver. Coconut grounds Vata. Coriander is anti-inflammatory and supports digestion.
Prep15 min
Cook35 min
Serves4
Ingredients
  • 1 cup red lentils, rinsed
  • 2 medium beets, peeled and cubed
  • 1 can coconut milk
  • 2 cups bone broth or vegetable broth
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp turmeric
  • ¼ tsp cardamom
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil or ghee
  • Sea salt · lemon juice to finish
  • Fresh parsley to serve
Method
  1. Sauté onion in coconut oil until soft. Add spices and stir 1 min.
  2. Add beets, lentils, broth. Simmer covered 25–30 mins until lentils dissolve and beets are soft.
  3. Add coconut milk. Stir and simmer 5 more minutes.
  4. Squeeze lemon, taste salt. Serve topped with fresh parsley.
🩸 Eat this with your iron supplement timing: take your iron tablet in the morning with Vitamin C, then have this soup at lunch — the lentil iron will absorb better in a Vit C environment. Avoid tea within 1 hour of eating.
🌰 Seed Cycling Butter for This Phase
Phase 1 — Follicular Blend

Golden Girl

Pumpkin + Flax Butter
Days 1–16 · Menstrual → Follicular → Ovulation
Ingredients
  • Raw pumpkin seeds — 1 cup
  • Ground flaxseed — ¼ cup
  • Coconut oil — 1 tbsp
  • Vanilla extract — 1 tsp
  • Ceylon cinnamon — 1 tsp
  • Raw honey or maple syrup — 1 tbsp
  • Flaky sea salt — pinch
Method

Add pumpkin seeds to a food processor and blend for 8–10 minutes, scraping down the sides every couple of minutes. Be patient — they'll go from crumbly to a ball to suddenly creamy. Once smooth, add the flaxseed, coconut oil, vanilla, cinnamon, honey, and salt. Blend another minute until combined. Transfer to a glass jar.

Why it works Pumpkin seeds are rich in zinc to support oestrogen production during the follicular phase. Flaxseed provides lignans that help modulate oestrogen levels and support healthy T4→T3 thyroid conversion. The cinnamon helps stabilise blood sugar through the longer first half of your cycle.

bleedandfeed.com