What foods should you eat during your period to regulate your hormonal cycle?
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If there is one thing that influences our periods, it is certainly diet. Beyond eating during your period, It is important to pay attention to your diet throughout the menstrual cycle.
There is a much greater purpose when creating a "meal plan" or "diet" than simply reducing body fat, having a "fit" or toned body, or simply consuming food because you have the need.
A meal plan really needs to be focused on your life in general, to help you improve all the processes in your body such as: your energy, sleep quality, focus, skin quality and your hormones in general . These are part of an infinite number of processes in our body and if you can understand the connection you will make them work in your favor and you will be able to improve any goal related to your health and thus be able to reverse and prevent diseases.
Why is it important to pay attention to your diet during your period?
Food is life and can act as healing medicine to support, naturally harmonize hormones and activate processes or can act as a highly addictive and inflammatory drug. Regardless, it is no secret that what we consume influences the physiological, metabolic and hormonal changes we feel month after month, which determines the quality of our health in order to treat and reverse diseases.
Diet influences almost everything and depending on the quantity and quality of micronutrients you provide to your body, this will start to respond with positive results in your menstrual health. There are foods that promote periods, but also others that do exactly the opposite.
How does diet affect periods?
A woman's body moves through four phases each month (menstrual, follicular, ovulatory and luteal) and with the right foods, you can take your health to the next level, by consuming foods that are beneficial for your cycle and period . As you may know, there is no exact rule on what to eat during your period, but each vegetable, fruit, legume, nut and seed offers us a variety of unique vitamins and minerals that can help our bodies flow with fewer symptoms and lots of energy.
How to regulate hormones during menstruation?
The rules reflect the state of your health , if you have bad habits, your cycle will express it with irregularities and not very pleasant symptoms , such as colic, fatigue, anxiety, among others. If you have good habits and a proper menstrual regimen, your cycle will develop regularly and without symptoms.
Normally, menstrual discomfort and symptoms are due to loss of progesterone or excess estrogen .
These hormones are produced by the ovaries and the two are in a balance, and altering this balance can have a negative effect on women's health and even during the luteal phase where our progesterone drops and estrogen increases.
With food adequate, we can help balance these hormones :
Foods to Increase Progesterone
Increase consumption magnesium-rich foods such as nuts , seeds and dark leafy vegetables and eating foods rich in vitamin B6 , such as tuna, salmon, chicken, legumes, nuts, whole grains or chickpeas.
Foods to Reduce Excess Estrogen
Increase the consumption of phytoestrogens from legumes, seeds and vegetables . Phytoestrogens block estrogen receptors and speed up estrogen metabolism.
Habits to Decrease Excess Estrogen and Increase Progesterone
Reduce or Eliminating alcohol consumption regenerates your gut microbiome (good bacteria in the intestines), avoiding chemicals such as plastics , mercury and pesticides, smoking, environmental toxins, reducing inflammatory foods, such as sugar, wheat, dairy, reducing stress and increasing physical activity.
What foods to eat during your period:
During this phase we focus on anti-inflammatory foods, which help us regulate the cycle by remineralizing and replenishing nutrients that are deficient. The three macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fat) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) are needed to convince your hypothalamus that you are adequately nourished by turning off hunger hormones (leptin and ghrelin). This is very important to be able to ovulate and menstruate regularly.
Proteins
They are essential during periods to stock up on amino acids that help repair and maintain your hormones, muscles, organs, nervous system and immune system.
Some examples:
- Whitefish
- Salmon
- Egg
- Soy and legumes
Carbohydrates complex
These good quality carbohydrates represent an energy source that promotes estrogen metabolism, stimulates the activation of thyroid hormone and calms the nervous system, avoiding excess cortisol.
- Brown or wild rice
- Quinoa
- Potato or sweet potato
- Gluten Free Oats
- Legumes
- Vegetables
Healthy Fats
Your hormones love healthy fats, which are beneficial for the regulation of hormones such as estrogen and progesterone . In addition to having anti-inflammatory power.
Here are some examples of healthy fats:
- Natural dried fruits
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Lawyer
- Olives
What foods should you eat during each phase of the menstrual cycle?
Our menstrual cycle is divided into 4 different phases, so it is important not only to pay attention to our diet during our period, but also throughout each of the phases.
Below, the main key food groups during each phase :
Day 1-14 of the cycle
From the first day of your period, your diet should focus around complex carbohydrates and increase the consumption of healthy fats near the follicular phase (around day 14).
Additionally, you can support your cycle to promote ovulation by consuming flax seeds (rich in phytoestrogens) and pumpkin (which helps prepare the production of progesterone) during the first fortnight.
Days 15-28 of the cycle
From ovulation (about halfway through your cycle), the foods that promote menstruation would be those that help us increase progesterone. For this, it is essential to have a moderate consumption of healthy fats and increase the consumption of carbohydrates during the luteal (premenstrual) phase.
Additionally, you can support your diet to promote periods by consuming sesame seeds (which modulate estrogen levels) and sunflower (rich in selenium which helps eliminate excess hormones) during the second half of the month.
What foods should you avoid during your period?
Sugar
Sugar is one of the foods that negatively influences menstruation because it is a metabolic disruptor and it's also inflammatory.
- Sodas
- Sweets, chocolate bars, desserts
- Sweetened yogurts
- Cereals
- Honey, dates, syrups, fruit juices
Sugar damages tissues and causes insulin resistance (a hormone that takes blood sugar and turns it into energy). Too much insulin causes inflammation and leads to weight gain, diabetes, and heart disease. It also impairs ovulation.
Alcohol
Alcohol is a metabolic disruptor and an inflammatory substance. Therefore, It directly affects the reduction of estrogen , which can increase the risk of contracting breast cancer, cause insulin resistance and damage the intestinal microbiota, preventing proper detoxification and absorption of nutrients.
Normally alcohol is mixed with soft drinks or fruit juice, which causes a double effect because you are adding sugar and alcohol.
Gluten
Although gluten affects people with celiac disease, it can also affect you. if your gut microbiome is not in its optimal state , which is called non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Additionally, it can cause premenstrual migraines and endometriosis.
Gluten is present in: oats (cross-contamination), wheat, barley, rye and spelt.
Dairy products
These foods are digestive disruptors and highly inflammatory . I recommend eliminating them from the diet and replacing them with good quality plant-based alternatives.
The problem lies in lactose (for those with intolerance) and casein protein. Both substances generate too much histamine, which is hormonally harmful, so Ideally, reducing histamine would significantly improve PMS , colic, and heavy discharge.
Habits food
I recommend listening to your body. In an ideal diet for menstruation , we must always pay attention to the portions of industrial foods or eliminate them. and also respect the consumption of foods of animal origin, carbohydrates and fats, increasing the consumption of anti-inflammatory vegetables, legumes, seeds and fruits.
Satiety is very important , and you will feel it as long as you include the 3 macronutrients in your food. Basing our dishes on vegetables and lots of protein, carbohydrates and moderate fats, this will help you to eliminate cravings during the day . Avoiding cravings is essential to regulate our hormones and promote periods.
And, please, don't be rigid with what you eat, listen to your body and eat real foods that nourish and that are beneficial to every cell in your body. I invite you to be flexible and happy when you eat, as long as you choose real unprocessed foods, you can be flexible and at the same time not punish yourself too much if you come across unhealthy foods, remember that you have to get back on track, while you accustom your body to receiving real food, your body will reject the sugars, the cravings and it will become easier for you, choose what is beneficial for you and reject what hurts you.