Healthy eating tips during menstruation

Follow your body's tolerance, give priority to stabilizing blood sugar, replenish lost nutrients in a targeted manner, and avoid foods that can aggravate inflammation. This is more effective than copying any "taboo list"**.

I guess the first thing many people want to ask is: Can I drink ice during menstruation? This matter has really been debated for too many years. According to Western medicine, as long as your stomach can tolerate it and you don’t have stomachache or diarrhea after drinking it, you can drink it. ； Traditional Chinese medicine believes that raw and cold food will stimulate the contraction of uterine smooth muscle and aggravate blood stasis type dysmenorrhea. There are two extreme examples around me: My colleague Xiaoxia has a yang deficiency constitution with cold hands and feet all year round. During her last menstrual period, she drank a glass of iced Americano. The pain was so painful that she squatted under her work station and broke out in a cold sweat. It took two hours to recover. ； Another friend who is a fitness fanatic maintains a body fat rate of around 22% all year round. He eats ice cream and drinks iced drinks as usual during menstruation without feeling any discomfort at all. To put it bluntly, there is no right or wrong in this matter. It all depends on whether your body accepts it. There is no need to suffer the consequences of drinking ice cream, and there is no need to endure the irritability even though you clearly want to drink.

Speaking of emotional irritability, it is estimated that 90% of girls have the experience of suddenly craving for sweets one week before their period, right? I've done this before. I couldn't help but buy a whole box of tiramisu on my way to get off work. I felt great immediately after eating it. Within two hours, I felt flustered and my hands were shaking. My mood became even lower and my chest became more swollen. Later I learned that fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone before and after menstruation can make insulin sensitivity about 15% lower than usual. If you eat fast-rising foods like refined sugar and refined rice and noodles, your blood sugar will be like a roller coaster. It will not only aggravate menstrual syndrome, but also stimulate prostaglandin secretion, making the pain even worse. If you really want something sweet, don’t hold back. Instead of eating cake on an empty stomach, replace it with half a steamed sweet potato with a handful of original almonds, or make a cup of warm milk with a spoonful of brown sugar. The sugar level rises slowly and satisfies appetite, making you feel much better.

In addition to being greedy, many people also feel lazy and have no energy during menstruation. When they squat down or stand up, their vision turns black. Don’t take it seriously. This is most likely caused by iron loss during menstruation. Normally, 10-30 mg of iron will be lost during each menstrual period. Girls with heavy menstruation will lose more. If you expect to take spinach to supplement, you will have to eat 3 pounds to supplement it. Moreover, the absorption rate of plant iron is only about 3%, which is far less substantial than iron from animal sources. I used to feel dizzy during menstruation. My nutritionist friend gave me the advice to add a small plate of soy pork liver (about 50g is enough) every day for three days before my period, or eat lean beef twice a week. The absorption rate of heme iron can reach more than 20%, which is more effective than taking a bunch of supplements. If you are a vegetarian, don’t worry. When eating spinach and black fungus, add an orange or kiwi fruit. Vitamin C can increase the absorption rate of plant iron by three times, and the effect is also good.

There are also many people who are prone to acne and backache during menstruation. In addition to the influence of hormone fluctuations, it is also related to diet aggravating inflammation. Fried foods high in oil and salt, spicy foods, milk tea and margarine cakes containing trans fatty acids will increase the level of inflammation in the body, secrete more prostaglandins, and cause more pain. But that doesn’t mean you have to be an ascetic. If you don’t like spicy food in normal times, it’s okay to eat a couple of slightly spicy stir-fries during your menstrual period. As long as you don’t show off half a bottle of Lao Gan Ma at one meal and eat fried skewers for three consecutive days, it’s easier to stick to it than to avoid it completely.

By the way, don’t believe the nonsense that “you won’t gain weight if you eat anything during menstruation”. Many people around me have stepped on this trap and ate all kinds of food during menstruation. Afterwards, they weighed three or four pounds and cried and shouted to lose weight. In fact, the basal metabolism during menstruation is only 3%-5% higher than usual, which is equivalent to the calories of eating one more boiled egg. If you eat a hot pot or a whole family bucket, you will not lose one or two pounds of meat. It will also increase the burden on the gastrointestinal tract, making it more uncomfortable.

In fact, after all, there is no "secret" that is universally applicable. I have been doing women's health science for five years, and I have seen too many girls relying on the "10 things to avoid during menstruation" on the Internet. It is obvious that there is nothing wrong with eating mangoes, but they insist that "eating mangoes during menstruation will stop bleeding" and dare not touch it. There is no need, right? Your own body is always the most accurate. Pay attention to it twice more, write down what you feel comfortable eating and what makes you uncomfortable eating, and you will gradually figure out the rules that suit you. It is more effective than listening to anyone else.