Weight Gain
Weight. It’s a part of your body that can become all-consuming when it feels wrong, off, or inauthentic. For many of us, our looks contribute to our work or lifestyle in some way and a shift here can feel very triggering and leave us vulnerable, insecure, and tender. Yet, are these feelings and the “weight” real? Let’s look at how the moon can play into not only our weight but how we feel about our weight.
The Moon & Your Internal Sea
Your body has an internal sea, made up of mostly fluids, it is greatly impacted by the gravitational pull of the earth as well as the magnetism of the universe. The cyclical rotation of the moon not only rolls the earth’s oceanic tide forward and back. It also directs the fluids all over the planet, including those inside of you! This includes water, blood, lymph, and all fluid found in between muscles, fascia, and cells. With this in mind can you imagine the shifts that take place inside your body in connection to the earth and moon? You are heavily influenced by the moon’s placement in relation to the planet!
Menstruation is a big player in this relationship. When you bleed and when you ovulate are all ideally in alignment with the moon’s natural rhythms. When it’s off, your body struggles. I’ll save this topic for another moment, but just know that this is a huge part of why the female body is so intuitively connected to nature.
Temporary or Fluctuating Weight Gain
Back to weight… have you ever noticed that during certain times of the month you feel swollen or heavier? You may immediately assume you’ve “put on weight” and begin falling into patterns of reducing food, increasing exercise or your go-to quick solutions. It’s so important to know that your body does not naturally gain and lose true weight that quickly. The state of your body today is a reflection of how you ate, slept, moved, stressed, and emoted 3 months ago. It takes at least 90 days for your body to manifest your lifestyle physically in the body. Meaning that your panic solutions will not ultimately resolve any true weight gain, unless implemented over the next 90+ days. That being said, there is 1x a month where you may feel like all of a sudden you’ve put on a few pounds. Clothes fit tighter, you look a little puffy, your abdomen is bloated…this is not true adipose-based (fat) weight gain. This is simply an imbalance of your internal sea!
Full Moon’s Tidal Rise in the Body
Remember how I explained that your body is full of fluids, like an ocean swishing around in your body? Well, when the moon rises the oceanic tide, any blocks around fluid clearance in your body will be exacerbated. This occurs every time the moon reaches its peak and shines as a full moon. The body can start to accumulate and hold onto fluids up to 5 days before and 5 days after the full moon. This means that down to the cell level you can experience a water-logging effect. If your body is already struggling to maintain proper hydration and clearance of excess fluids, by balancing minerals like potassium and sodium, then you’re really going to think you gained weight! You can avoid this monthly swelling by helping your body process and utilize its internal sea properly.
How to Prevent Fluid Retention Around the Full Moon
Balance your inner sea minerals
Test your levels with a standard Complete Metabolic Panel (CMP) and check your sodium, chloride, and potassium status. I include this in my standard blood chemistry panel offered in my single session with labs. If you’re showing depletion in all of them, then add mineral-rich foods to your diet, think seafood and vegetables from biodynamic or regenerative soil. Please also add a pinch of quality sea salt to your food and water daily or a dropplet of a sea mineral blend. If you’re only showing depletion in one or two, then consume foods rich in that particular nutrient and/or supplement by adding a liquid ionic mineral extraction for that singular mineral. See the bottom of this post for my supplement recommendations. The most common depletion is potassium. Food rich in potassium include:
Dried Apricots – ~330 mg/oz
Sun-dried Tomatoes – ~300 mg/oz
Raisins – ~210 mg/oz
Avocado – ~180 mg/oz
Spinach (cooked) – ~160 mg/oz
White Beans (cooked) – ~160 mg/oz
Lentils (cooked) – ~150 mg/oz
Bananas – ~120 mg/oz
Potatoes (baked, with skin) – ~110 mg/oz
Wild Salmon – ~100 mg/oz
Move Your Lymph & Blood
Rebounding - bounce or jump daily for 5-15 minutes to improve circulation and fluid flow through detox systems
Massage - manipulates fluids between muscles and fascia from top to bottom of the body, improving skin and urinary excretion of excess fluids
Dry Brushing or Gua Sha - directs fluids under the skin toward detox pathways
Heat Therapies: Sauna, Baths, Red Light - enhances skin and cellular release of excess fluids
Keep Your Fluids Thin & Flowing
Support healthy thin blood by eating or supplementing with healthy omega 3s, taking proteolytic enzymes to consume any fibrous blocks in arteries and veins, and supplementing with niacinamide or no-flush niacin to prevent clotting. I included my recommendations at the bottom of this post. I highly recommend booking a 1:1 session with me for support with dosing if you are unfamiliar with this approach.
Keep Bowel Movements Regular
Eat according to your unique dietary needs - start with the blood type diet as your foundation, then personalize from there
Sleep 8+ hours every night
2-4 oz of whole Aloe Vera juice on an empty stomach first thing in the morning
16 oz of spring water first thing in the morning to promote a flush
Supplement with quality magnesium before bed, increase capsule until stool is loose, then reduce by 1 capsule
If backed up, chew a small slice of lemon rind
If trouble continues, look into your thyroid hormone production levels with me in a single session with labs
Emotional Impact of the Moon
Now that you understand how deeply the moon influences your inner fluids, you can make the connection between the internal sea and those tender, vulnerable, and insecure emotions that can rise during a full moon and potentially make you take that unnecessary dramatic action to “reduce weight”!
Dr. Emoto and many other practitioners have come to the conclusion that water (all fluid) is influenced by emotions. If you’re interested in seeing microscopic images of the pattern changes that occur when an emotion is felt or written near water, then I highly recommend Dr.Emoto’s book. If you become fascinated by how water reflects back emotions, thoughts, energy, and more, another fun resource is Veda Austin’s experiments with freezing water.
Your body holds your old unprocessed and present fresh emotions in its fluids. When the moon is at its fullest and your internal ocean is at its high tide, extra pressure is created around your organs, like the brain (the amygdala stores your unprocessed trauma), you will feel a sudden surge as your organs release/face these emotions. If you’re not actively and intentionally moving them through your body, they will involuntarily explode out of you around the full moon. The tale of full moon craziness is not without merit! All this to say, combine a feeling of swollenness/heaviness and emotional eruption and it makes sense that you feel vulnerable, tender, and insecure 1x a month!
This doesn’t have to be your story. Use my recommendations above to support healthy balance and your full moon “weight gain” will become almost imperceptible. Be kind to yourself until then and avoid any harsh or dramatic actions. You’ve got this!
The body is always trying to communicate with you. It’s oceanic rise and fall is here for you. Listen to the body’s cries for help and instead of punishing it, support it. The closer you align with the rhythms of the moon and the earth the easier it will be for you to create effortless glowing health and maintain your authentic weight.