Eat like this to avoid dysmenorrhea! Remember the dietary taboos during menstruation

Every month when my "good friend" comes to visit, dizziness, headaches, nervousness, irritability and other discomforts also arrive as expected. What should we do to make our "good friend" arrive peacefully and without getting mad? A reasonable diet is an important step. By clarifying the following dietary tips, you can say goodbye to dysmenorrhea.

Menstruation is a woman’s most loyal “friend”. It symbolizes the ability to give birth to the next generation. It is also an indicator of a woman’s health and requires careful care. However, have you ever been troubled by the discomfort caused by menstruation? This good friend who visits you once a month not only causes inconvenience in life, but also the large amount of blood loss and menstrual pain often make women physically and mentally exhausted. How can we maintain our health so that our menstrual period comes and goes smoothly?

Diet adjustment is the first step to get along with your "good friend". Do you know what is the right diet during menstruation?

Q1: Can drinking hot chocolate relieve menstrual cramps?

Correct answer: Warm food can help relieve pain, but sweets should not be consumed in excess.

If it is primary dysmenorrhea, drinking hot chocolate and applying hot compress to the abdomen will have some effect, because warm food can dilate blood vessels and help relieve dysmenorrhea. Relying on sweets such as chocolate to relieve menstrual cramps is mainly a psychological effect on physiology. Eating chocolate can bring temporary happiness and help you forget the pain.

However, experts also remind that although eating sweets such as chocolate can divert attention and make people forget the pain, eating too much can lead to unstable blood sugar, so intake should be moderate.

Q2: Can eating brown sugar or drinking brown sugar water help relieve menstrual pain?

Correct Answer: Yes!

According to traditional Chinese medicine, brown sugar is a warming food that has the effects of relieving gastrointestinal discomfort, promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, warming the meridians and dispersing cold, and relieving pain, and therefore helps relieve menstrual cramps. Warm food can dilate blood vessels, so drinking a moderate amount of warm brown sugar water can help relieve menstrual pain. In addition, when women have menstrual cramps, their bodies consume a lot of energy to deal with the pain, and brown sugar is an easily absorbed refined sugar that has the effect of replenishing energy. In addition, brown sugar is rich in calcium, which can help relieve pain by allowing muscles to contract and nerves to stabilize.

However, because brown sugar is easily absorbed, you should be careful about the amount you take. For example, for an adult woman who consumes 1,500 calories a day, it is best not to eat more than two and a half tablespoons, or about 37.5 grams, of brown sugar a day.

Q3: Can’t eat carrot cake during menstrual period because of menstrual pain?

Correct answer: Heating can reduce the coldness, but a small amount is better.

Generally speaking, Chinese medicine recommends not consuming cold foods during menstruation, such as oranges, pears, and radishes. However, the coldness of food will be reduced after it is heated. Therefore, a small amount of radish soup or radish cake is still within an acceptable range.

In addition, experts remind that you should pay special attention to fat intake when eating radish cake, because radish cake is a high-fat food. Eating too much can cause premenstrual syndrome and various discomforts during menstruation.

Q4: Can eating bananas, milk, and nuts help prevent menstrual cramps?

Correct Answer: Yes!

Before menstruation, you can consume more foods containing "tryptophan", such as bananas, milk, nuts, etc. These foods can make people feel calm and relaxed and keep a happy mood. It should be noted that although plantains are also rich in tryptophan, their calories are twice that of bananas of the same weight. Therefore, special attention should be paid when eating them to avoid consuming too many calories.

In addition, do not overeat on a daily basis to avoid unstable blood sugar levels, which can easily lead to menstrual discomfort.

Q5: Is it best to take painkillers before menstruation to relieve pain?

Correct answer: Yes! But painkillers can damage the stomach, so they should be taken in moderation.

Currently, most painkillers prescribed by obstetricians and gynecologists are NSAIDs, which are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs used to fight prostaglandins that cause uterine contractions. They are therefore very effective in relieving menstrual pain. This type of drug can easily damage the stomach and may cause allergies in a few people. Therefore, whether to use it depends on your personal constitution.

In addition, painkillers relieve pain by controlling uterine contractions caused by hormones, so they are most effective when taken before menstrual cramps occur, and the amount required will be less than when menstrual cramps occur.

Q6: How can I eat during my menstrual period without getting fat?

These are all false rumors. Food contains calories when you eat it, and it is absolutely impossible to eat during your period without gaining weight. Premenstrual edema will cause a 1-2 kg weight gain. After the edema subsides, the weight will also decrease, which gives the illusion that you will not gain weight no matter how much you eat during your menstrual period. In fact, during menstruation, leptin secretion is less, and eating more makes it easier to gain weight. On the contrary, after the menstrual period, the metabolic rate will increase.

Nutritionist's magic weapon to make menstruation more manageable

Pay special attention to maintenance before and during menstruation. For example: a week before menstruation, she would drink more soy milk rich in tryptophan; when menstruation comes, she would eat chocolate to make herself feel good and forget about menstrual pain, but she would only eat about 60 grams of chocolate a day, and choose chocolate with a cocoa concentration of 70% and a relatively less sweet taste. Since the body loses a lot of blood during menstruation, it also consumes iron-rich foods, such as pork liver soup.

Animal iron is easier to absorb than plant iron because plant iron needs to undergo a mechanism in the human body before it can be absorbed. However, animal iron has a high "hematogenous iron" content and is easily absorbed by the human body. For vegetarians, it is recommended to eat more grapes, raisins, brown sugar, black sesame seeds, etc. These foods are rich in iron.