Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet and Q & A Thursday

One of the questions I needed to follow up from last week’s Q & A Thursday was about diet and PMS – are there any foods or dietary measures that can help reduce PMS symptoms?

There have been many myths, taboos, mistakes and just plain silliness thought and written about women and their menstrual cycle. Among my favourites are Pliny, who in the second century AD thought a menstruating woman would sour wine, make vines wither, kill bees, blunt knives and discolour mirrors – if only we had the power. PMS was first described in the medical literature in the 1930s, but wasn’t generally recognised until the 1980s.

Modern women menstruate for about three years of their total life and about 75% of women experience some form of PMS. Symptoms can include physical discomfort, mood swings, bloating, bowel changes, sugar cravings, headaches, tearfulness, water retention, fatigue, palpitations, dizziness, weight gain, forgetfullness, clumsiness, insomnia, anxiety, aggression, sore breasts, changes in appetite . . . and more. These symptoms can develop at any time from the first onset of menstruation, through to menopause.

What to do about PMS

1. Exercise
Regular exercise is an important part of managing PMS and will ease both your physical and also your emotional responses. Try to do something at least three times a week – walking, swimming and yoga are all excellent

2. Have more fibre
Boosting your fibre intake also helps with PMS. Include lots of fruit and vegetables in your diet, along with LSA (ground linseed, sunflower and almond meal), wholegrains and legumes.

3. Brassicas
The cabbage family are thought to improve the way your liver metabolises oestrogens. The brassica family includes cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kohlrabi, swedes and turnips.

4. Cut back on the caffeine
If anxiety, sleeplessness or palpitations are part of your PMS, then caffeine isn’t helping. Cut back on caffeine containing foods and drinks from about a week before your period.

5. Stress management
Being stressed out can disrupt your menstrual cycle, delaying your period and making PMS worse. If stress is a problem then try to build some stress reducing time into your daily, or weekly life. Take up yoga or tai-chi, try some meditation or take some regular time-out for yourself.

6. Magnesium containing foods
Magnesium helps reduce many of the symptoms of PMS, including breast tenderness, weight gain, fatigue, anxiety, cramping and nervous tension. Include plenty of magnesium foods in your diet throughout the month, eg oats, muesli, rye, brazil nuts, almonds, walnuts, green leafy vegies, dried figs and dried apricots.

7. Essential fatty acids
Essential fatty acids are very useful in relieving the symptoms of PMS. In the body they convert to hormone-regulating prostaglandins and counter-act the pain-producing prostaglandins. Sources of essential fatty acids include evening primrose oil, linseeds, nuts, deep sea fish. There are more vegetarian sources of Omega 3s in this post

How long before you see changes?

Natural therapies are very good at addressing hormonal problems and it’s one of the most frequent health issues I treat in clinic. Note that when trying to improve PMS, it can take at least three months before you see a change. Therefore, you need to persist with diet changes and supplements for a good 3 – 4 months before you can assess whether they’re working or not.

26 July, 2007