How Does What You Eat Affect Your Period?
#SugarBalancedLiving
Here's how sugary, high carb, and junk foods can negatively affect your period and menstrual symptoms. Ever wondered how your diet affects your hormones and your period? Well, it turns out the two are closely intertwined. Find out what are the best and worst foods for your menstrual symptoms!
There’s no doubt that at some point you’ve heard the age-old saying: you are what you eat! Most of us brush it off as something our parents say to scare us into eating our broccoli. Well, this old saying couldn’t be more true when talking about the serious connection between your period and nutrition.
While a diet full of added sugars and processed foods has been long associated with weight gain and health problems, have you wondered how your diet affects your hormones and menstrual cycle?
Let’s be real about this… when that time of the month swings back around, it truly isn’t our favorite part of each month. While PMS and period symptoms differ in severity for all women, they can range from mildly unpleasant to debilitating.
However, imagine if we could not only ease our monthly menstrual and PMS symptoms but also improve our general well-being and happiness all by using the power of nutrition because turns out diet plays a detrimentally significant role in how you feel.
Can eating a candy bar affect menstruation? Will too many warm bowls of mac and cheese cause your cramping to worsen?
Well, it turns out what you eat daily can reap a whole lot more havoc on your body than the usual skin problems and acne-causing issues from irregular periods to terrible PMS symptoms.
Reducing the number of certain foods especially sugar and processed carbs you eat can cause a shocking difference in the severity of symptoms during your menstrual cycle and surprisingly reduce PMS symptoms.
Ladies, it’s time to a look at your nutrition and start making smarter healthier choices, so you enjoy the amazing improvements in your general health and help crush those nightmarish pesky period symptoms.
Here’s why diet affects your period symptoms and what foods you need to be reducing and why for a healthy successful period each month:
How Does Your Diet Affect Your PMS Symptoms?
PMS, more specifically know as pre-menstrual syndrome, refers to the symptoms that occur on the days leading up to when you get your period. Most women experience a 28-day cycle, however regardless of the length of their cycle, and all menstruating women experience four stages of the menstrual cycle: menstruation, follicular phase, ovulation, and luteal phase. Each stage comes with complex hormonal changes that affect your physical functioning. The body requires precise levels of hormones to function properly. Even a minor change can cause a hormonal change.
The exact cause of premenstrual syndrome is not known however hormonal changes are thought to trigger the symptoms. If you have a hormonal imbalance during your PMS stage, you’ll most likely experience heightened unpleasant side effects like severe cramping, acne, irritation, and a craving for refined carbs and sugary foods. And unfortunately, these cravings only feed into a vicious cycle of unpleasant period symptoms.
How does giving into cravings and eating refined carbs and sugary foods create a cycle of uncomfortable symptoms?
Well to understand why junk foods cause a hormonal change increasing the intensity of your menstrual symptoms… we first need to deep dive into what specifically a hormone is.
What Exactly Are Hormones?
Hormones are the chemicals that are produced by glands in your endocrine system, basically your body's chemical messengers, help control almost every physiological process in your body, and have a seriously profound effect on not just physical health, but also your mental and emotional health.
Even at very low concentrations in the blood, they have a very crucial effect on target organs and are important for regulating most major bodily processes.
When it comes to a hormonal imbalance affecting a menstrual cycle, women usually experience imbalances in estrogen and progesterone levels, while men usually will experience an imbalance in testosterone levels.
Hormones serve as messengers, controlling and coordinating activities throughout the body, including things like your menstrual cycle and pretty much your overall reproductive health.
To accommodate the constantly fluctuating human organism, hormones must be specifically and individually regulated. They must act like a perfect choir. This requires a sort of perfect harmony as these large amounts of hormones interact with each other and other important substances in your body.
Hormones and Your Menstrual Cycle...
Now before we talk about nutrition's connection to your time of the month, let's get into how precisely hormones relate to your menstrual cycle and quickly look at the menstrual cycle of women.
Like I mentioned earlier the monthly cycle of women comprises on average of 4 stages, with each stage being comprised of complex communication and production:
Menstruation: The period—the shedding of the uterine lining. Levels of estrogen and progesterone are low.
The follicular phase: The time between the first day of the period and ovulation. Estrogen rises as an egg prepares to be released.
Ovulation: The release of the egg from the ovary, mid-cycle. Estrogen peaks just beforehand, and then drops shortly afterward.
The luteal phase: The time between ovulation and before the start of menstruation, when the body prepares for a possible pregnancy. Progesterone is produced, peaks, and then drops.
When the balance of reproductive hormone levels loses stability, in this case when we experience low progesterone and excess estrogen, the menstrual cycle will become disrupted and/or symptoms like mood swings, bloating, headaches, anxiety, breast tenderness, cravings, insomnia, etc. will occur.
And while many factors can shift tip the balance between hormones, in particular, the balance of hormones is majorly impacted by diet quality, and a particular area of concern is too much-added sugar and heavily refined and processed carbs.
Whilst the process and machinery behind a stable hormonal imbalance and a stable menstrual cycle and PMS are many and complex, unstable high estrogen and low progesterone can very easily be caused in part to a diet high in sugar and processed foods.
Women who suffer from uncomfortable to intense PMS, most likely are suffering from fluctuating hormones and diet could very easily be at the root of the struggles.
Why does your diet and nutrition play such a detrimental in managing your menstrual cycle and PMS? This may not be something you want to hear, but the best dietary changes to make are the ones we don’t want to make but have been needing to make for a while now.
It’s time to rethink sugar, artificial sugars, caffeine, smoking, and alcohol. Let’s look at a few foods to limit and why, for a healthy menstrual cycle and better overall nutrition:
Foods and Habits to Change for a Better Period
Sugar and Refined Foods
It is crucial to cut down on your sugar and junk food consumption, not just because it leads to weight gain, but also because it disrupts your body’s blood sugar levels in a very not-so-good way.
Your hormonal system, known as the endocrine system, perceives mismanaged blood sugar as a stressor, kicking your body into a stressed state. Your adrenals glands respond by sending out cortisol (the stress hormone) and adrenaline. This begins the hormonal havoc.
Mismanaged blood sugar level spikes also cause a serious condition called insulin resistance!
Insulin is used by your body to process glucose that comes from sugars and carbohydrates. Too much glucose can affect the hormones that control your insulin levels, which can lead to sky-high levels of reproductive hormones like estrogen and testosterone that make your period symptoms more extreme.
Likewise, fluctuating blood glucose levels trigger cortisol production, which is a stress hormone that leads to higher levels of inflammation. In short, the food you eat affects your hormone levels in ways that lead to a less-pleasant period. This means that sugar and periods are not a great combination for helping you feel your best.
The effects of PMS can stick with you for life, even if you’re at the end of your cycle. When women hit perimenopause (the time of transition into menopause), they often find that their sugar cravings worsen as their hormone levels hit new highs and lows.
Women are more likely than men to be at risk of developing hormonal imbalances because they have different endocrine organs and cycles.
The insulin imbalance most importantly when referring to female conditions, can cause polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
For women of reproductive age with PCOS, excessive-high insulin levels cause the ovaries to make more androgen hormones such as testosterone. This can cause increased body hair, acne, fertility problems, depression, weight gain and difficulty losing weight, and infrequent or prolonged menstrual periods.
Other than PCOS, other horrible signs of hormonal imbalance problems seen in woman can be both physical and emotional, like general irregular periods, severe PMS, severe menstrual cramping, skin issues, sleep disorder, tiredness and fatigue, concentration problems, irritability, irregular mood, depression, and so many more.
And to make matters worse, sugar isn’t the only thing you need to worry about eating when preventing mismanaged insulin and blood sugar levels….
If you thought this whole sugar thing just applied to that refined sugar in your Oreo… you might want to think again.
Foods with a high glycemic index, such as white flour and refined starch also raise blood sugar, and on occasion, even more than table sugar.
In short, getting control over sugar means getting control over all of your sugar consumption!
You may have been told that many alternative sweeteners out there – like agave – are ‘healthier’ forms of sweetening. Sorry, but sugar is sugar and it all breaks down during digestion and raises your blood pressure just the same.
Sweeteners like white sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, cane sugar, and high blood sugar level refined white carbs like white bread, pasta, fries, chips, etc, are some of the foods you need to watch out for.
Smoking
Smoking cigarettes has been shown to not only cause a shortening of your menstrual cycle but are also more likely to have painful periods.
According to researchers, smoking may alter levels of estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and other hormones involved in the development of PMS.
Caffeine and Alcohol
While that warm cup of joe is a perfect morning motivator, caffeine has been shown in some people to cause anxiety and may lead to sleep deprivation. Lack of sleep and anxiety, in turn, can cause unstable hormones leading to severe PMS symptoms.
Furthermore, alcohol is an even worse source of imbalanced hormones.
While moderate occasional drinking may not cause a significant change in your period, there is some relationship between high doses of alcohol and menstrual irregularities. Alcohol can raise the estrogen and testosterone levels in the body. This can alter your menstrual cycle leading to unexpected and even missed periods.
In summary, a moderate portion of caffeine and a little bit of alcohol is okay for many, however I do recommend a trial without to see how you feel without it. Otherwise, consume with care.
Fatty Foods and Low-Fat Diets?!
A diet high in the wrong kinds of fats, in particular, bad saturated fat and trans-fatty acids (hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats) aren’t just dangerous for heart health but have also been shown to be a major factor in the increase of PMS symptoms.
Heavy saturated fat and hydrogenated fat ‘bad’ foods like burgers, butter, fried foods, sausages, bacon, and palm oil have been linked to hormonal activity during the menstrual cycle.
Foods that are high in saturated fat have also been shown to increase inflammation in your body. Increased inflammation in the body has been proven to worsen menstrual-related pain symptoms.
Extreme intake of fatty foods has also been tied to obesity, which leads to irregular menstrual cycles and worsened symptoms.
However, on the flip side, a healthy amount of fat in a diet is important to maintain menstrual health. Fats play a vital role in the human body. If you’re on an overly fat restrictive diet and don’t eat enough ‘healthy’ fat, your normal body composition and be thrown off, leading to a hormonal imbalance.
Bottom line? You need a balanced diet to stay healthy – and fat is part of that balance. A daily diet that balances healthy whole grain carbohydrates, protein, fiber, and fat is all apart of a vibrant healthy diet.
I Did It, So Can You!
What we eat matters.
A woman’s body and menstrual cycle is an incredible, beautifully complex, interconnected system, and the way you feed and support it will affect how it works. Diet and nutrition are the basis of health, it's the building blocks of a solid foundation of wellness.
It's true, women are more likely to experience fewer PMS symptoms and healthier cycles when they follow a balanced diet that’s full of fiber, lean protein, balanced fats, and very low in sugar. I have helped not only countless clients heal and re-balance their hormones using the power of nutrition but also saved myself from a severe hormone disorder.
A journey through a hormonal imbalance caused by sugar…
A few years ago I was an avid fitness junkie, but I injured my ankle badly, so badly that I am still affected by it today as I write this. To add insult to injury, that following January is when I started studying for life-changing exams.
You see, back then, I wasn’t the person I am today. I was anxious, lacking confidence, unmindful in my life. I hadn’t discovered meditation and mind-body connection yet.
I became full of stress (and even a kind of depression), but I couldn’t channel my feelings through activity, so I turned to food. I turned to sweets and junk foods.
To comfort myself, I began relying on sugar as a daily pick-me-up. I had no clue that a sweet tooth is so horrible for us as women – specifically with our seriously fragile hormonal balance.
As the physical toll of sugar starts to manifest in the body, I started developing many of the ailments that sugar triggers: acne, hormone imbalances, irregular periods, insomnia, complete body inflammation, etc.
I can particularly remember this one absolutely miserable night.
I was woken up at around 2 a.m. by this weird chest burn, and I couldn’t sleep. The burning was combined with this painful cramping in my ribs – it was literally the worst pain of the sort that I’ve ever experienced.
Looking back, it probably caused by hormones, but at the time I just couldn't figure out why I was going through this.
I couldn't stay in bed anymore – it was hurting too badly – so I got up and studied all night listening to All the Rage Back Home by Interpol blaring away on my headphones. Yep, I even remember the song I listened to – that’s how much that night sticks in my mind.
My family begged me to realize something was wrong – and I was tired of being at war with my body. I knew something was seriously wrong, and something told me that it was likely my diet.
I knuckled down and went on a quest to change my life.
It was hard, and it all started with researching sugar and how to reduce it in my diet. The most difficult thing was trying to cut the sugar cravings – no matter how hard I searched I couldn’t find anything that could help. Out of desperation, I just started sloughing through masses of information containing different ideas, methods, and lifestyle practices, and I began testing them on myself!
Eventually, yes, bingo! I stuck with it and was able to distill what actually really, really worked into one effective and proven plan, and what I turned into my
Break My Sugar Addiction Program™, a program which combines practices like meditation, mindfulness, journaling, and other diet changes – this is what really helped set me free from sugar once and for all.
This journey is actually why I started the website. It leads me to want to create a place where people could get through experiences with care and support, and without all of the trial and error that I had to get past.
Maybe now you’ve heard my story, you’ll understand where I'm coming from. Why I’m writing this blog post, and why this topic is so important for me.
Transform Your Diet for Better Hormonal Balance
You see now? The importance of paying attention to what you eat is crucial. I circle back now to what I said at the beginning of this blog post… you are what you eat, LITERALLY.
While hormones are always in a constant flux, and the intensity of PMS and menstrual symptoms will change throughout your life, clean eating will always make a tremendous difference in the stability of your hormones.
Follow these suggestions related to sugar and menstruation before your next cycle, and you might be amazed by how much better you feel.
Filling up on high-quality, protein-rich foods and essentially eat mostly real, whole food, for the best support of hormonal health.
There are also proven holistic practices you can try for extra assistance in ameliorating symptoms and re-balancing hormones, including meditation, massage, acupuncture, exercise, and yoga.
To summarize, eat less salt, cut down on caffeine and alcohol, limit foods high in solid fats, reduce the sugars, and refined foods and junk foods in your diet – its also important to drink plenty of water and eat a balanced diet full of whole grains, protein, ‘healthy’ fats, fruits and vegetables to create your most vibrant wellness and reduce hormone malfunctions for an easier cycle happier menstrual cycle!
Of course, a sweet treat or slice of white bread every once in a while, or a glass of wine here or there, isn’t likely to cause any significant changes to your menstrual function, what we’re working on here is creating a balanced diet and most importantly here is moderating the foods we shouldn’t be eating.
Cut down on these foods and follow these diet suggestions before your next cycle, and you might be surprised at how much better you feel.
I know that at first, it may be difficult to start reducing all those junky, processed, and refined foods, but trust me your health is always worth it. I’m living proof that you can not only crush that obsession with sugar and junk foods but restore vibrant health and balance in your body!
If you’re ready to take the next step towards healthy hormones? Get my How To Heal Your Hormonal Imbalance Naturally Guide!
Use my eight powerful steps for hormone healing, combined with my 7 super effective anti-inflammatory diet strategies to incorporate into your daily life (heads up disclaimer: side effect- can make you feel happier, more balanced, more energetic, glowing skin, sleep better, better digestion, and some weight-loss!)