For women, there are always those few days each month... when Aunt Flo pays a visit. The menstrual period isn't overly long, yet it's not short either. During this time, eating appropriately and healthily can not only enhance beauty but also aid in successful weight loss. For most women experiencing menstrual cramps, paying extra attention to diet during menstruation is crucial. Eating the right foods can help alleviate menstrual pain. Today, let's discuss how to maintain a healthy diet during menstruation.
Foods to Avoid During Your Period
Crab: Highly cooling in nature, it clears heat, cools the blood, and disperses stasis. Women should avoid raw, cold, or cooling foods during menstruation, especially those with cold-type dysmenorrhea.
Snails: Highly cooling in nature, they clear heat. Avoid cold foods like snails during menstruation.
Dairy: Dairy products are a common trigger for menstrual cramps. Foods like milk, cheese, cream, and yogurt can interfere with magnesium absorption.
Chocolate: Chocolate can trigger emotional instability. It exacerbates mood swings and sugar cravings, leading not only to weight gain but also increased demand for vitamin B. Simultaneously, sugar depletes the body's vitamin B and mineral reserves, intensifying sugar cravings.
Consuming high-sugar sweets not only fails to alleviate menstrual discomfort but may worsen it by destabilizing blood sugar levels, disrupting hormonal balance, and intensifying discomfort. Pears: Avoid excessive consumption of raw pears during menstruation.
Green Tea: Menstrual blood contains higher levels of hemoglobin, plasma proteins, and heme iron. Consequently, women lose significant iron during their period and should focus on iron supplementation.
Tea contains over 30% tannic acid, which readily binds with iron ions in the intestines, forming precipitates that hinder intestinal mucosa absorption of iron ions. This can cause breast tenderness, anxiety, irritability, and emotional instability, while also depleting stored vitamin B and disrupting carbohydrate metabolism.
Prickly Ash, Cloves, Black Pepper: During menstruation, consume mild, neutral-flavored, nutrient-rich foods. Avoid highly stimulating spicy foods to prevent vascular dilation, which may cause early menstruation or excessive flow.
Recommended Foods During Menstruation
Increase intake of scallion whites, wood ear mushrooms, peanuts, walnuts, red dates, longan, and rose petals.Dr. Liu advises that if you accidentally consume cold foods or ice during your period, drinking ginger boiled with brown sugar can help balance blood circulation and promote smooth blood flow.
Daily Tips
Beyond avoiding cold treats during menstruation, women should prioritize warmth. Steer clear of exposure to cold, wading in water, getting caught in the rain, sun exposure, and cold showers. Refrain from sexual intercourse, baths, and swimming. Maintain cleanliness of the external genitalia, underwear, and sanitary pads.