Food taboos before menstruation

There is no uniform list of premenstrual dietary taboos that applies to all women. The core principle is to "avoid foods that aggravate your personal premenstrual symptoms." For most people, high-salt and high-sugar foods, excessive caffeine, and overly irritating foods are the categories that require priority attention. Raw and cold foods are completely different from person to person, so there is no need to blindly follow the trend of taboos.

Don’t believe it, last week I saw two best friends quarreling over iced milk tea. One person said that if he touched a sip of ice before menstruation, he would have a headache and chest swelling, and he would be cautious even if he took a cold drink. ； Another girl from Hunan enjoyed premenstrual iced milk tea and spicy hot pot, but she didn't feel anything when her aunt came. When viewed within different medical systems, both statements actually make sense. Western medicine has never said that "you must not eat raw or cold food before menstruation". The logic is that low-temperature foods may temporarily constrict blood vessels. If you have high prostaglandin secretion, you usually suffer from dysmenorrhea and migraines. Constriction of blood vessels will indeed amplify the pain. ； But if your body has a high tolerance to low temperatures and you don’t feel any discomfort after eating ice, there is no need to force yourself to avoid eating it. The perspective of traditional Chinese medicine is more biased towards long-term effects: raw and cold food can easily deplete yang energy and lead to cold coagulation and blood stasis. Even if there is no reaction immediately, it may increase the probability of dysmenorrhea and menstrual blood stasis over time. It is recommended that people who are usually afraid of cold, have cold hands and feet, and have dark menstruation with blood clots should avoid raw and cold food before menstruation.

I have really stepped into the pit of high sugar before. In the past two years, I was always craving for sweet cheese cakes and snowmere cakes before my period. I couldn't help but buy two boxes of Dafu and ate them all in one go. The next day, my face was swollen like a steamed bun, my chest hurt when I put on my original underwear, and I couldn't even take off the silver ring I wore at work. Later I learned that water and sodium retention is prone to occur before menstruation due to hormone fluctuations. High-sugar foods can cause blood sugar to rise and fall suddenly, which will not only aggravate the mood swings of irritability and fatigue, but also increase cortisol levels, directly amplifying the symptoms of edema and chest distension several times. The same goes for heavy food with high salt content. A while ago, I was so greedy that I ate half a can of pickled radishes. When I woke up the next day, my ankles were swollen and my feet were squeezed even when I wore sneakers. This was really a lesson.

As for the commonly mentioned caffeine taboo, it is not so absolute. The little girl from our department usually drinks two glasses of Ice Cream every day. Even if she drinks it before menstruation, she doesn’t feel any discomfort. ； But another friend of mine is prone to insomnia. He drank half a cup of bubble milk tea before menstruation, kept his eyes open until three in the morning, and suffered from migraine for the whole day. To put it bluntly, it depends on personal tolerance. If you usually suffer from premenstrual headaches, breast tenderness, and insomnia, try to use it as little as possible before menstruation. If you are used to drinking it, there is no need to stop deliberately. On the contrary, sudden withdrawal may aggravate the headache.

There are also many mysterious taboos spread on the Internet, such as not eating mangoes, drinking milk, and eating seafood before menstruation. These are basically rumors without scientific basis. I often eat mangoes before menstruation, and I haven't seen any hemorrhage. As long as you don't have allergies, flatulence, or gastrointestinal discomfort when eating these foods, you can eat whatever you want before menstruation. There is no need to put so many restrictions on yourself.

To be honest, after so many years of research, I feel that the best way is not to check the list of taboos on the Internet one by one, but to spend two or three months simply jotting down small notes: what you ate today, whether you have edema, headaches, or irritability. If you record it a few times, you will know what foods your body is sensitive to. After all, the essence of our taboos is to make ourselves comfortable, not to achieve any hard KPI. If we are not allowed to eat this, we are not allowed to eat that. Originally, premenstrual mood is easy to be low, but it is uncomfortable to hold it in, and the gain is not worth the loss, right?