Article by Carolina Rodriguez Barros, Dare to Glow, (www.daretoglow.com) and Hiba Giacoletto, Healthwise Health Coaching (www.healthwise.ch)
In Part 1 of our article about pain-free periods, we looked at some spirtual and emotional techniques that we share with clients who suffer from PMS or Premenstrual Symptoms. Part 2 will now focus on nutritional options for helping sufferers deal with a condition that can transform them into a different person in the days before or during your period.
FOOD: NOURISH YOUR BODY IN THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY
In addition to working on the spiritual and emotional side of PMS and honoring your body’s needs at this time, eating the right foods is a powerful ways to turn PMS around.
You don’t need to eat a perfect diet - try instead to aim for at least 80% healthy foods and fully enjoy the 20% of less healthy foods you allow yourself. This is a more realistic way of making sustainable change.
EAT THE RIGHT FATS
Eating enough of the right fats while avoiding harmful fats is essential to hormonal balance.
Increase good fats such as avocados, olive oil, raw & unsalted nuts and seeds, flaxseed oil, coconut products and oily fish such as salmon and sardines.
Eat the best quality animal products you can find and afford: For example, make sure your beef was grass-fed and your eggs come from chicken who live outside and eat their natural diet.
Fats to avoid or reduce as much as possible include trans fats or processed hydrogenated vegetable oils found in deep-fried foods, processed and take away food, margarine and pre-packaged cakes and cookies with long shelf lives. Use real butter instead of margarine!
And no, fats don’t make you fat - at least not the right ones. You can read more about this here: http://bit.ly/1bBNgc4
REDUCE SUGAR
This includes refined carbohydrates (white flour & white sugar), soda (including diet sodas) and refined sugars. Get your sugar from natural sources like fruit and when you need something sweet, opt for natural sweeteners like dates, maple syrup or honey.
UPGRADE YOUR SALT
Change your regular table salt to unrefined salt which is full of beneficial minerals and should be a little grey or pink in color rather than white.
EAT MORE MAGNESIUM & IRON RICH FOODS
Magnesium and iron reduce headaches and increase energy levels.
Foods rich in both include green leafy vegetables, beetroot, legumes, nuts, seeds, seafood and pastured red meat.
Magnesium is known as a natural relaxant and can be found in cacao/dark chocolate -one of the reasons women crave chocolate before their periods! Try to choose chocolate that is at least 70% cacao or make your own recipes using raw cacao.
REDUCE CAFFEINE
Caffeine is strongly linked to painful, lumpy breasts. Often, coffee is just a habit or a pretext to take a break and replacing it with another habit, like a herbal tea, can be very effective.
REDUCE ALCOHOL
Drinking too much alcohol depletes your body of B vitamins and magnesium which makes you more prone to depression. Try to make alcohol an occasional treat only and when you are out, drink a glass of water between each glass of alcohol to pace yourself.
MAKE SURE YOUR BOWELS ARE WORKING WELL
Having a healthy digestion ensures hormones are eliminated from the body. You should be having a bowel movement 1-3 times a day.
If things are sluggish, try increasing foods high in fiber such as whole grains (millet, quinoa, brown rice), chia seeds, hemp seeds, ground flaxseeds, fruits and vegetables.
GO EASY ON THE DAIRY
For some women, reducing dairy, especially in the 2 weeks before their period, can be very helpful in managing symptoms of PMS. When it comes to choosing dairy, always make sure you eat organic, full-fat dairy and avoid fruit yoghurt which is filled with sugar. Add your own fruit to natural yoghurt instead.
Discover delicious milk alternatives such as almond milk, rice milk, quinoa or oat milk which can be found in the non-refrigerated milk section of most supermarkets now. Be careful not to replace dairy with too many soy products like soy milk or tofu though. Unfermented forms of soy tend to be highly processed and mimic the effect of estrogen in the body, leading to hormonal imbalance.
So where do you start with all these suggestions? Start with whichever point speaks to you most and feels most do-able and take it from there, making one small change at a time.
Go Further:
A documentary projection about this subject was held at AVieVa Geneva on Friday 7th March: The Moon Inside You. Find out more here: http://bit.ly/NUpI7M
Womb Healing - awakening to a conscious femininity through liberating old womb memories with Samiel Carolina Rodriguez Barros here. http://bit.ly/14WqqZ6
Embrace Your Cyclic Nature: The Self Actualized Woman cycle starts again in July in Geneva, read more here: http://bit.ly/1cVIQKE
Get the support you need to discover the right food and lifestyle habits for you, so you can have pain-free periods, lose weight, end cravings or simply feel lighter and more energetic. Sign-up for a free Health Chat with Hiba: www.healthwise.ch
Author's bio
Hiba Giacoletto is a Certified Health Coach from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) with a Masters Degree in Psychology
Hiba helps people lose weight, feel more energetic or take control of their eating without diets or deprivation. She believes that no one way of eating or living works for everyone and that it is about experimenting to find what truly works for you. She uses a unique blend of NUTRITION + PSYCHOLOGY + COACHING to help people start trusting their body's wisdom to make food and lifestyle choices that enable them to look and feel their best. She is convinced that regardless of what you might have tried in the past, she can help you get unstuck, overcome self-sabotage behavior and find your mojo!
You can book a FREE 45 minute Health Chat via her website, www.healthwise.ch to find out whether Health Coaching is right for you.
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