Moxie for Life

I found this article about PMS and dietary changes that can really help. I’m very interested in this not only because I deal with symptoms but I love learning how to help my body without chemicals (drugs) and even without crazy herbs that no one really knows if they actually work or not.

Enjoy…

Some theorise that an imbalanced diet actually causes deficiencies that lead to PMS.

Here are some basic dietary guidelines for you to follow during your period to help control your PMS and for better overall health:

• Be sure to get enough calcium. Women need at least 1,200mg of calcium every day. Some good sources of calcium include low-fat milk, yogurt, broccoli and salmon.
• If you do not drink milk, you can increase your calcium intake with soy or rice milk, tofu or kale. Look for fermented soy products as certain soy products contain phytoestrogens, which can mimic the natural estrogen found in your body, leading to reproductive health difficulties. Your fertility is significantly compromised if you have too much or too little estrogen in your body.
• Eat more complex carbohydrates. If you are hungry, try eating whole grain breads, fresh fruits and vegetables.
• Keep well hydrated. Women lose up to 80 millitres of blood during a regular period, so you need to keep drinking water to replace your body’s loss of fluid.
• Increase magnesium in your diet. Foods rich in magnesium, like beans, tofu and peanuts, are thought to reduce bloating in menstruating women. Women should strive for 200mg per day.
• Reach for the vitamin E, an antioxidant that helps to eliminate some PMS symptoms as well as aiding the circulatory system. Women need 8mg a day. Food with lots of vitamin E include avocado, egg yolk and liver.
• Eat foods rich in vitamin B6, which aids in the metabolism of proteins and red blood cells and has been cited in numerous studies to relieve depression. Some vitamin B6 rich foods are potatoes, bananas and oatmeal. Women should try to get 100mg a day.
• Make sure to get vitamin C and zinc, as these support the health of a woman’s eggs and reproductive system.

• What Foods to Limit for a Healthy Reproductive Cycle

  So just what should you be getting less of? Here are some things that you should try to cut back on:

• Decrease your sugar intake. Refined sugar, the kind found in cakes, chocolate and baked goods, not only make you gain weight but can disrupt your body’s blood sugar levels. They will initially give you energy but later on you will suffer from an abrupt crash, and even more fatigue.
• Cut down on caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant found in coffee, chocolate and fizzy drinks, causes heightened anxiety and leads to sleep disruption. Caffeine also contributes to decreased female and male infertility.
• Do not smoke. Smoking wreaks havoc on your health. Although smoking is unhealthy for both men and women, it does particular damage to a woman’s body. Smoking can disrupt the female menstrual cycle, causing a woman to lose her period and develop menopause earlier. A female smoker decreases her fertility by 25%, has more wrinkles, diminishes the density of her bones, and increases her risk of heart attack or stroke (especially if she is over 35 and on birth control). The 4000 chemicals present in cigarette smoke weaken your sense of touch and smell, increases the risk of gum and heart disease, various types of cancer, ulcers and blindness.
• Avoid alcohol, which is a depressant, and often makes PMS symptoms worse. Alcohol decreases your chances of becoming pregnant by 50%. Men that drink too much reduce the number and quality of their sperm.
• Be vigilant against the pesticides and environmental contaminants that may be found on fruits, vegetables and water. Rinse all produce thoroughly to avoid xenoestrogens, estrogens that are present in environmental chemicals and other contaminants. Xenoestrogens can cause imbalanced hormones. Know where your water is coming from and what chemicals are present in it.
• Do not consume large amounts of artificial sweetener. Although there has been a great deal of debate, studies have found that artificial sweeteners, like aspartame, may be linked to cancer and weight gain.

Some of the “avoids” are a bit more difficult. I love coffee and I do like a little Splenda. Although, I have pretty much gone solely to Stevia as a sweetener.

Anyway, good luck. I know PMS is a very real problem for may people. Hormones are powerful. It is important to find out all we can and hopefully be able to stay away from the drug remedies as much as we are able.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 23rd, 2008 at 8:25 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.