31 | Why Salads Aren't Always The Healthiest Option (And What to Eat Instead)

We’ve been told salads are the healthy choice...but what if that’s not always true?

 In this quick solo episode, I break down why your body’s needs change throughout your cycle (and why that cold salad might not hit the spot during your luteal phase). Think cozy soups, hormone health, and learning to eat with your body, not against it.

Stay bold, stay balanced, and tune in for a little reality check on what “healthy” really means.

Free Resources:

• Download my 4 favorite hormone-supporting recipes HERE! 
• Tune into my 28-day series on Women's Health on Instagram

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Transcript

0:00:00 Carly Schade: Foreign. Welcome to Coffee with Carly, your weekly wake up call to a happier, healthier life. I’m your host, Carly Shade, and I’m here to uncover how good life can get. Today’s episode was inspired both by a conversation with one of my clients, but also this fun little Instagram series that I’ve got going on. So I just decided November was going to be like education month. And so for the next 28 days, we’ll start on November 1st.

0:00:42 Carly Schade: So for every day of November, I am sharing a tip about women’s health. What I actually am saying is we’re spitting facts, busting myths, and educating ourselves about our bodies. And so today’s episode is just kind of a longer version of of one of those reels that I made. So one, if you do love what you hear on my podcast, definitely also tune into my Instagram because they’re like even more bite sized little clips.

0:01:09 Carly Schade: And for the next 28 days, you’re going to get all sorts of information like we’re talking about today. But yeah, today was inspired by conversation with a client, the weather, and this little series I got going on. I also have a fun free little download of some recipes for you if you stick around for the end. So give it a listen. It’s short and sweet and as always, leave a review, leave a rating, and shoot me a DM if anything lands.

0:01:37 Carly Schade: It is November 6, and the wet season has officially begun here in Washington. I’m not even calling it like, fall or winter. I’m just gonna call it the wet season because that is what it is. We’re experiencing some heavy rains these next or these last couple days. And you want to know what heavy rains make me want to do? Make soup. Just like tons and tons of soups and stews. Obviously. We all do, right? As soon as fall happens, it becomes like soup season, stew season.

0:02:09 Carly Schade: And yet everyone is out here eating salads left and right, thinking that’s going to be the healthiest thing for their bodies, Help them lose weight, help them feel the best. Today’s episode, we’re just going to talk about salad and our diet and food and like, why this very narrow, one size fits all, healthy diet that we’ve kind of been fed and grown up with is not really the best thing for your bodies.

0:02:40 Carly Schade: Okay, I was talking about this with one of my clients today who just like, is really trying to, like, up her nutrition, nourish her body, and she’s just eating a ton of salad and that’s not what her body needs all the time. So this is where I know, I know, I know that health and fitness and nutrition and this like whole industry world can be like, what the heck? There’s so much information out there. You’re telling me one thing, you’re telling me another thing that’s like contradicting.

0:03:12 Carly Schade: This is why cycle syncing is the single most important tool that you’re gonna learn and you can learn for your health because it is the intersection of all different parts of health and well, nutrition, our movement and fitness, how we rearrange our life and our to do list and our work. So but today is just going to be a very short lesson of why your salads might not be as healthy as you think depending on the time of your month, because your nutritional needs change during all four parts of your cycle.

0:03:44 Carly Schade: So if you are new here, cycle syncing hormone health is the foundation of the work that I do as a holistic health coach. And tune back into one of my earlier episodes. It was kind of a mini series called Feminine Freedom. And that there was one episode where we really did a very short breakdown of your hormones as a woman. And so the short story is that your menstrual cycle is so much more than just getting your period once a month. Okay. You actually move through very four unique phases.

0:04:15 Carly Schade: That’s going to be your menstrual follicular ovulation and your luteal phase. And each is characterized by a change in hormones, among many other things. But what this change means is that your nutritional needs also change. So yes, October, November is like soup season, but so is your luteal phase. So based on the fluctuation of your hormones, right, estrogen is lowering, progesterone slowly rising. So just based on this, and to support our body functions at that time, you want to eat things that are a lot more nourishing, a lot more warm, a lot more cooked, like complex carbs like potatoes and soups and stews instead of something like a raw, very high energy salad.

0:05:08 Carly Schade: So this is that common misconception is like, we’ve been taught health like we’re all men, where we reset every 24 hours. And then it doesn’t really matter what you’re eating next day, next day, next day, because your hormones are showing up, your body is producing and trying to work the same way. Your body is not like that. It resets every 28 days. And therefore, the needs that your body has are going to change with each phase.

0:05:33 Carly Schade: Right? The single most important thing you can do for your hormone health is feed it the right Products so that they can then take that food and pump out the right hormones so that your body is running at its optimal, its best. Okay? And so salads are great. There is a time and a place for them that really, like, raw, fresh energy is a great time to eat. When you’re ovulating, think again. Like summer, you eat a lot of salads in the summer.

0:06:01 Carly Schade: Your body creates these little seasons every 28 days as well. So your body is just a lot more prime to, like, use the energy that comes from something like raw salads during your ovulation. Whereas, again, in that luteal phase, think of the weather outside. Right now, it’s soup season. It’s stews, it’s complex carbs, it’s warm things. So we’re not going to dive very deep into all the science of it and, like, breaking down the specific needs of it.

0:06:31 Carly Schade: But today’s just going to be that short lesson, is just understanding that if you eat the same thing every day, all day, every week after week, not only is it just not going to diversify your gut and your healthy bacteria and all of that, but it’s not really giving your body what it needs to function its best. And again, that’s why, you know, holistic health is what I teach. Because so much of this mainstream information, this conventional healthcare is just this like, one size fits all, right? Eat lettuce, eat tomatoes, eat fresh veggies, lowest calories, chew on your celery 8,000 times. Like, that’s just missing the entire mark of how women are built and how our hormones function and how our body is built.

0:07:16 Carly Schade: So little reminder, if you are kind of stuck eating, like, salads and these healthy meals, quote, unquote healthy, let’s change that a little bit. Let’s mix things up. Let’s start to eat in sync with what’s going on on a cellular level inside of our bodies. And if that feels really overwhelming, you’re like, cool. That all sounds great. I don’t even know where to start. Simplify it for me, Carly. I gotcha.

0:07:43 Carly Schade: Okay. So I created four recipes. Each one is specifically designed for the phase of your cycle. So I think there’s like, I made. It was like a ramen, a miso rame, menstrual phase, something like a red lentil doll during your ovulation. So there are specific foods that are going to obviously help the production of your hormones and your body to function best. So don’t worry. I gotcha. I got a little starting point for you. The link to grab those Four free recipes is in the show notes, so click the link and then you’re going to get the PDF delivered directly to your inbox, so make sure you check there.

0:08:19 Carly Schade: We all know that emails can be a little annoying. Hidden in the promotions, the spam tab, whatever it’s coming from. Hello, hello@cearlyshaid.com so yeah, I provided that for you. It’s a wonderful starting point and the best part is you don’t really get sick of it. Even if you only use these four meals right for the next like three months, you’re still eating a new dinner basically every week. So it’s just like it naturally is a way to spice things up, to mix things up. You never get too bored of things.

0:08:47 Carly Schade: The body is a pretty cool guide, so give it a try. The link for that’s in the Show Notes. Again, the series is going to be on my Instagram, so tune in there. And if you are also ready for, like, way deeper support, you’ve been following along for a while, you’re really ready to, like, take a deep dive into your personal health. Because as you can see, there is no one size fits all. I have two spots left for my private coaching in 2025, so shoot me again a DM if you want more information about that. I’d love to hop on a call and chat and just kind of hear where you’re at, what you desire for 2026.

0:09:23 Carly Schade: But the best part is we right now. So lots of stuff, lots of different ways to enter my world. The Instagram series. If you’re already here on my podcast, you’ve probably tuned in a little bit before the free recipes in my show notes or again, that private coaching for absolute next level change. So thank you again for tuning in. And as always, everyone stay bold, stay balanced, and I will see you next week.