The Best Things To Eat To Help Your Cramps And Mood Swings

If you’ve ever experienced PMS symptoms yourself, or spoken or heard about it with any of the women around you, you’ll know it’s different for us all. But it’s pretty sucky for most of us.
We all experience different levels of pain, discomfort and general moodiness throughout our time of the month, but in general, women tend to find pain in the lower back and abdominal area, and have trouble with bloating and indigestion. And here’s where we’ve got you covered.

If it’s during these times that you’re not quite sure what to do – how to ease the cramps and feel a little bit less down, there are a few things you could introduce into your diet and revel at the other health benefits that come along with them:

1. Fruits including bananas, oranges, and even watermelons: catching your 5-a-day and having a little sweet treat might actually help you, as fruits rich in water keep you hydrated, and that could ease the pain a little. Bananas are some of the most well-known for easing cramps, as they’re packed with fiber and a whole load of magnesium which relaxes muscles.

2. Vegetables (we’re really pushing the 5-a-day here): broccoli and kale are also just what your body might need. Broccoli, like bananas, are filled with fibres and kale can reduce abdominal pain and boost your immune system. Not only acting as pain reducers, but the nutrients in the veg will actually impact your hormones too – lowering stress levels and mood swings, and in general making you just that little bit more happy.

3. Salmon: although the vegans might recoil, salmon and other cold-water fish like tuna and trout are full of Omega-3, which reduces inflammation and bloating. [Vegans eat a lot of fiber-containing fruits and vegetables even beans but if the body can't break them down properly due to a lack of micronutrients (likely an unhealthy or unbalanced gut flora) it can lead to a build-up of gases like nitrogen, methane, and others accumulating and causing bloating (and in many cases ultimately flatulence). You can get supplemental help in https://bioptimizers.com/blog/stop-farting/, bloating, and other symptoms, if you want to shy away from Salmon in your diet. Bloating can be caused by unbroken-down gasses. By taking probiotics and prebiotics and potentially even fish oil supplements you can help your body balance and solve the problem. This replenishes healthy gut flora and helps strengthen your gut health. When food cannot be broken down all the way it's usually due to gut flora imbalances. Helping your gut flora also helps with inflammation and cramps.]

4. Dark Chocolate: it might just be okay to let the chocolate cravings win during your period, especially if the chocolate has more than 85% cocoa, to ensure you’re obtaining enough magnesium and fiber, to actually help your cramps rather than satisfy your sweet tooth.



5. Herbal teas: Like the fruits, herbal teas are key to overcoming cramps and mood swings, as the hydration really does help. Ginger is known to be an effective alternative to taking painkillers, and chamomile has quite a calming effect.

Whilst we’ve given you a whole list of foods to indulge in, there are also some you should probably avoid, despite the cravings. Alcohol, caffeine, carbonated and fried foods all will just lead to bloating, and worsen the abdominal pain, so the sweet tooth satisfaction might not be worth the unbearable cramps. 

Next up, The 3 Secrets To Living Longer And More Positively