Devon Loftus, founder of Moon Cycle Bakery, and nutritionist Jenna Radomski, founder of Jenna Bee Basics, are set to release The Moon Cycle Cookbook: A Holistic Nutrition Guide for a Well-Balanced Menstrual Cycle, through Storey Publishing. This cookbook empowers women to nourish themselves with recipes for sweets, savory meals, and snacks, organized around each of the four phases of the menstrual cycle, that can be customized to suit their bodies’ fluctuating needs.
The two have also launched a supplementary course called Reconnecting to Rhythms: Exploring the Connection Between Our Inner Vitality + Our Bodies, which allows us to discover how our emotional and mental wellbeing supports in relationship to our physical health.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you ended up writing a book?
Jenna: My name is Jenna and I’m a holistic nutritionist, cookbook author, recipe creator, and the voice behind Jenna Bee Basics, an online space for exploring the everyday elements of a nourished life. I got my first period when I was just nine years old and began to struggle with acne and hormonal imbalance, which led me on a decades-long search for answers. I ultimately found relief through intuitive eating, living in sync with my menstrual cycle, and intentional self-care practices.
This long, windy path led me to study nutrition for both my undergraduate and graduate degrees and help others find relief and joy through the power of nourishing food. During this time, I was taking culinary skills and recipe development courses and began to dream about writing a cookbook one day.
Then in 2017, I randomly stumbled upon Moon Cycle Bakery on Instagram and fell head over heels for the business right away. A few months later, I reached out to Devon about possibly interning as I was buzzing with passion around women’s health and my career path began to appear. We quickly hit it off and my semester internship turned into part-time work as the team nutritionist and then Devon asked me to co-author and create the recipes for The Moon Cycle Cookbook!
Devon: Hi! My name is Devon Loftus and I’m the founder of Moon Cycle Bakery, co-author of The Moon Cycle Cookbook, and writer. Prior to Moon Cycle Bakery, I battled a variety of health issues, some of them hormonal, triggered by work stress and lack of education in regards to my body. While navigating this, I realized I was far from alone — many women felt disempowered when it came to their bodies and their choices. I learned on a deeper level how crucial education is and how important personalized health care is to one’s well being — mind, body and spirit. Soon after, Moon Cycle Bakery was born.
A few years back, I decided I wanted to write a book and found a literary agent. I had brought a different idea to the table, but it was my agent who saw the potential for a Moon Cycle Cookbook and within a few months, we signed with Storey Publishing to write a cookbook. It’s been an absolute dream and set the stage for my next book, Dwell, which is set to release in Fall of 2022 with Tarcher Perigee.
What do you hope your readers take away from this book?
Jenna: When Devon and I began writing The Moon Cycle Cookbook, we set out to create the book we wish we had when we first started our periods. In its pages, we break down the science of the menstrual cycle into digestible bites, give insight into foods for nourishment during each of the four phases to help support hormonal balance, offer simple, nourishing recipes that every home cook can follow, and sprinkle practical and accessible wellness rituals to elevate daily life throughout.
I hope readers feel a sense of empowerment each time they pick up our cookbook and feel less alone in the ebbs and flows of their menstrual cycle. There is so much shame and stigma associated with periods and we want to help shake those. Our emotions, cravings, and personal desires are valid and a natural component of living with a monthly cycle. I hope the recipes embolden readers to experiment in the kitchen and realize that eating to nourish your body doesn’t have to be dogmatic or complicated – in fact, it can be fluid, intuitive, and simple.
Devon: I hope that our readers find a sense of comfort and nourishment when they read our book, like having tea with a friend. I hope they feel seen and can relate to not only the archetypes we meet throughout the menstrual cycle but the science as well. Jenna and I value delivering education in a way that is digestible and easy to understand — I hope readers feel this. I also hope that our book brings back a sense of celebration or acceptance when it comes to their menstrual cycle. I hope it opens the door to a more compassionate relationship with themselves and their bodies and an understanding that there is power in moving with phases and cycles, including those we contain within us.
What are the top three tools you are currently using to write, publish, and promote your books?
Jenna + Devon: We used Google Docs to write our manuscript so we could easily collaborate by making suggestions and edits without having to constantly send the file back and forth (*note: we did have to convert it to a Word document for the final submission, which was no problem.).
We are so grateful to have the guidance and support of our publisher, Storey Publishing, to bring our book into the world. They are incredible.
As far as promotion goes, Storey is heavily promoting our book and we decided to invest in public relations with Lena Rose PR to share our book with as many people as we can. We also use Instagram and TikTok to promote the book as well as the Moon Cycle Bakery email marketing campaign/list.
How have the pandemic and lockdown affected you or your new business?
Jenna: My day job is a Kitchen Manager at a preschool and our school quickly shut down in March when the pandemic started to escalate in the US and after a few weeks, I was furloughed and went on unemployment for the first time. Like millions of others, I felt scared of the unknown. When I was away from work, I really struggled with my boundaries around social media and the news – I would doom scroll for hours to try to wrap my mind around what was happening while also searching for ways to help my community. Over a year later, I have done a ton of work around creating boundaries with social media so that I can still be a part of my community and work to be a better human without spiraling into anxiety about the world’s peril.
Setting and holding boundaries, in general, has been a huge lesson for me since the pandemic began. As an Enneagram Type 2 (the helper) I often put others needs before my own in nearly all aspects of my life. The preschool was able to reopen under Emergency Childcare operations at the end of June 2020, but we were understaffed. I essentially took on an additional role with extra responsibilities all while caring for anxious, overwhelmed children. It was a lot to handle and I recognize I am just now, a year later, starting to slow down and say, “I am not able to do xyz any longer because I am close to burning out”. Without expressing these boundaries, I have seen how my resentment builds, my body holds on to stress and turns it into pain, shallow breathing, and a racing heart, and my threshold for stress becomes almost non-existent. Through a lot of inner work, I am better able to set my boundaries both to protect my mental, physical, and emotional health and also be a better caretaker, friend, partner, and overall human.
Devon: I was a new mother with a two-month-old son when the pandemic hit and was navigating Postpartum Depression and Anxiety (PPD/A). Everything felt scary and hard, as it has for so many people. Having my son alongside Moon Cycle Bakery and my writing was a gift as it helped me channel, process, and ground down. It reminded me that life was still happening in beautiful, joyous ways even when things felt heavy and dark. It also allowed my husband and I to be so present with Kit (our son) in a way I’m not sure we would have been able to if the world hadn’t been forced to slow down. It’s since taught me that I’m a happier, fuller human, wife, and mother when I slow down and stay present.
When it came to Moon Cycle Bakery as a business, we launched our first ever dry mixes of our favorite treats as a means of reaching our customers in a more accessible way. They were immediately successful and continue to be a customer favorite, something I’m so grateful for. It makes me happy to know we can offer a product that still delivers nourishing, satisfying food at a more accessible price point and in a way that allows for creative freedom.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
Jenna: My biggest challenge in entrepreneurship has been wrangling in my expectations around how quickly I should see results. Urgency culture is pervasive and has led me down the road of thinking that I need to immediately pivot my strategy if a post on social media doesn’t gain traction, a colleague doesn’t respond about collaborating, or a course launch did not result in the sales I had projected. I have learned that consistency is key and hopping from strategy to strategy without giving each a fair shot is exhausting and far from helpful. I am working to overcome this by loosening my grip on the outcome and instead viewing every move as a chance to collect data and learn something to use moving forward.
What’s a productivity tip you swear by?
Jenna: The Pomodoro Method is a productivity tip I learned through a friend a few years ago and it’s been a game changer for me. This method involves eliminating all distractions for a specific amount of time (40 minutes is my sweet spot) and then taking a 5-minute break to briefly recharge before diving back in. I combine this method with time blocking, so I’ll plan to work on email for one 40-minute round, then three rounds to write a blog post, then two rounds to test and photograph a new recipe, for example. Using this method has helped me cut back on wasted time as my breaks are frequent and scheduled.
I also love to use the app Forest in conjunction with The Pomodoro Method – I set my timer for 40 minutes and a cute, virtual tree grows in the app. If I allow the timer to run its course, the tree fully grows; if I quit the app to scroll Instagram, the tree dies. The best part is Forest teams with an organization that plants real-life trees, so the more trees you grow in the app by staying focused, the more trees they plant on Mother Earth.
Devon: I have found batching to be so incredibly helpful when it comes to focus. By batching, I mean focusing on one task for however long instead of using a certain length of time to focus on more than one task. So for example, I’ll block off time to read and respond to emails and I’ll only focus on that during the allotted time. The way I’ve heard it explained is that our brain is much better and processing A, B, C, D instead of A1, B2, C3, D4. Focusing on one task and only that task has made such a difference when it comes to my productivity.
I’m also a big believer that if it’s not on the calendar, it’s not happening. I make sure to block off time for every single thing I want to get done, even play and downtime! Even if when the calendar notification pops up, I decide to work on something different entirely (or rest!), it’s still a reminder to me to that it needs to get done and I can reschedule it for another time. These days my brain is filled with so much, this helps me to not forget the things I’m prioritizing and deadlines I need to hit.
Lastly, I find flexibility to be a massive help AND remembering that productivity is not my goal. My goal is to enjoy and learn from the process as much as possible. At the end of the day, it is the process and how I felt while creating that I’ll remember — not how productive I was. Allowing myself flexibility in regards to what I work on and when — even when something on my calendar says it’s time to do a certain task — brings me so much more joy and peace.
What helps you stay driven and motivated to finish writing your book?
Jenna: I am a person who absolutely needs deadlines to thrive. When Devon and I landed our book deal and received our manuscript deadline, we immediately worked backwards and broke it down into small, achievable chunks and set deadlines for ourselves along with meetings to stay accountable. Before going through this process, we felt incredibly overwhelmed with how to begin writing an entire book.
This method worked wonders for us as we were both driven to meet the small milemarkers and celebrate every step of the way!
Devon: Remembering why I get to do what I do keeps me motivated from start to finish. These projects are pieces of me and thinking about the people they will support, resonate with and encourage thrills me. I’m also a big visualizer, so when I feel vulnerable or overwhelmed, I imagine my books helping someone and I feel immediately grounded. I also love visualizing the publication date and celebrating with my people. The process from start to finish is a long, heart-filled and vulnerable one so holding the book in my hand and hearing from others about how it’s helped them or what they love about it is a dream come true.
Can you recommend one book, one podcast, and one online course for entrepreneurs and authors?
Devon + Jenna:
- Book: The Fire Starter Sessions by Danielle LaPorte is an incredible workbook-style guide to help work through confusion and fear to get clear on your desires and personal definition of success.
- The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield is one of my favorites. It personifies resistance and gives tips on how to move through it. It’s a foundational book for all artists and really humans alike.
- Podcast: Goal Digger Podcast by Jenna Kutcher is an amazing resource for anyone looking to take the leap into entrepreneurship but doesn’t know where to begin.
- Course: Hilary Rushford’s Elegant Excellence course and mastermind are incredibly supportive, enlightening, educational and affordable. You learn everything you need to know to start and run a sustainable business plus how to publish a book and more.
What are you learning now? Why is that important?
Jenna: I’m learning to say “no” and prioritize “yes” for when I wholeheartedly mean it. Not only does doing this support my efforts in setting better boundaries in my life, but it also helps me live true to myself and not to appease others.
Devon: To release control and trust in uncertainty. I have found myself and huge blessings in the in-between by listening to my intuition and I’d like to practice this more often. This feels important to me because otherwise my whole life passes me by and if I’m not careful, I will have gotten caught up in managing the “hows” and the “whens” — that feels void of any magic or whimsy and I don’t want to remember life that way. Life and the parts we can’t see or touch,but can feel, is magic and I want to connect with that energy while I’m still here.
What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new authors?
Jenna: Don’t give up before you start.
So often, ideas flow to us and we are filled with excitement and motivation and before we know it, self-doubt and fear swoop in and tell us all the reasons why we should quit. My advice is to give every idea and dream a fighting chance. It’s important to recognize that they won’t all come to fruition, but we can plant the seeds and give them space to grow.
To do this, keep a specific journal or document on your computer as a place to write down all of your ideas and dreams, big and small. Write down as much or as little context you feel necessary to give it life and see what happens. You might forget about it and move on or you might be overcome with more details to get the dream off the ground.
Devon: Believe in yourself and stay open to the process.
Like with anything in life, there will be obstacles, but if you believe in yourself and stay flexible with how your process and journey unfolds, you will not only enjoy the view along the way but your resolve in yourself and your idea will continue to strengthen. Try to release control on how something looks or how it comes together — trust that things will happen in the right time, in the right form, and they will.
What is your favorite quote?
Jenna: “A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms.”
– Zen Shin
Devon: “We write to taste life twice — in the moment and in retrospection.”
– Anais Nin
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
– Ian McLaren
And anything by F. Scott Fitzgerald because he is so romantic and it makes me smile
What is your definition of success?
Jenna: Our society leads us to believe that markers of success look like the higher paying job, the shinier car, the promotion, the more friends/followers/praise, and the jam-packed schedule. But it’s no secret that many people with all of these “successes” are internally miserable.
Success for me looks like enjoying the journey and striving for contentment. I have a few questions I’ll run through as a litmus test:
- Am I setting boundaries and sticking to them?
- How am I showing up for myself and others? Am I present, calm, and grounded? Or anxious, resentful, and overwhelmed?
- Am I fulfilled by this job or relationship? Am I enjoying the experience rather than working solely for the outcome?
Sometimes answering honestly means turning down opportunities one might deem “successful” in order to protect my energy, make space for my relationships, and care for my mental health.
Devon: My definition of success is:
- How well I get out of my own way (and being aware of when I’m in my way in the first place).
- How often I allow myself to revel in life and feel overjoyed and overcome by the moment.
- How much I love and receive love in my lifetime.
How do you personally overcome fear?
Jenna: As Robert Frost puts it, “the only way out is through.”
I spent a decent portion of my life avoiding fear by playing it safe, staying in my comfort zone, and avoiding risks…yet fear persisted. By avoiding fear, it began to feel insurmountable. I would often create these stories in my mind of how anything would be easier than to face the fear head-on, to the point where I would bend over backward to find alternative solutions that were often more emotionally taxing and time-consuming.
Publishing a book has brought up a lot of fear for me – fear of being in the spotlight, fear of failure, and even fear of success. This experience has forced me to live by Robert Frost’s words more than ever before; I can’t (and won’t) avoid publishing this book I’ve poured my heart and soul into in order to feel safe. I am working through the fear every day by talking about it with loved ones, breaking my to-do list up into small, achievable tasks (no insurmountable mountains, here), and repeating the mantra “I am brave, I can do hard things” again and again.
Devon: By feeling afraid and doing it anyway. As Jenna mentioned, the only way is through. I’ve also learned to understand that fear is a useful emotion — it shows me what’s important, what matters and what doesn’t. Anything worthwhile is scary because we’re afraid of losing it. But I would rather go after what makes me happy and feel alive and risk being heartbroken if I lose it than not going after it at all. The latter is a much scarier thought to me.
How can readers get in touch with you?
Jenna: You can follow me on Instagram and TikTok @JennaBeeBasics and connect with me through my website jennabeebasics.com.
Devon: I hang out on Instagram and TikTok at @devonloftuswrites but I really love writing to you through my newsletter that you can sign up for on my website at devonloftuswrites.com.
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