Eat with your cycle: more iron and magnesium when you bleed
Updated 29 October 2026
Eat with your cycle is an Ojafi plan that runs for three menstrual cycles. In the days you bleed you add foods rich in iron and magnesium, such as beans, lentils, leafy greens, fish and seeds, and take nothing away. After three cycles you know which parts of cycle-based eating make a difference to your cramps and energy.
What it asks
More iron and magnesium in the days you bleed. Lentils, beans, dark leafy greens, fish, seeds. Nothing taken away, and nothing to count.
| Length | Three cycles, about 12 weeks |
|---|---|
| Helps you check | Cramps, energy |
| What you give up | Nothing |
Why three cycles
Each cycle is one try. Three is the fewest that can tell a pattern from a coincidence, which is also why this plan runs alongside a faster one rather than instead of it.
The iron part has a plain reason behind it: heavy periods are a very common cause of iron deficiency anaemia, according to the NHS. The rest of cycle-based eating has had little research, which is why the plan checks it against your own cycles. More on that in does cycle syncing actually work.
How Ojafi plans work
- Every plan has a length and says up front what you will know at the end.
- You log meals and how they sat, about a minute a day.
- At the end Ojafi tells you which of the plan’s claims held for you, and which did not.
- No plan takes a food away. Ojafi suggests what to add or when to eat, never what to cut.
Plans run in the Ojafi iPhone app, which is in review now. The food journal they build on works in your browser today.
Questions people also ask
- Is this the same as cycle syncing?
- It borrows one idea from it, eating for the days you bleed, and leaves out the parts with no evidence behind them. Then it checks whether even that one idea helps you.
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Ojafi gives general food guidance. It is not medical advice and does not diagnose or treat any condition. See our medical disclaimer.