For some women in their fertile years life can become a living hell for two weeks of the month – for themselves and everyone around them. Normally reasonable, happy women can become cranky, irritable and irrational. Even worse, you can get physical symptoms too: Swollen bloated tummy, digestive problems and very painful periods. The curse of PMT, or pre-menstrual tension, has been the inspiration for many jokes, but it’s not funny at all if you’re living with it.
Once you know why it’s happening, and what you can do to help, overcoming PMT is very possible. You don’t have to ‘just live with it!’
The hormones from your endocrine glands do a complex dance during the month, some rising steadily while others fall. It’s the dance between your estrogens and progesterone that are the main players in PMT. Estrogen is responsible for causing the lining of your uterus to grow, and after an egg is released from your ovary, progesterone instructs your uterine lining to complete development because there’s an egg on its way. I call progesterone the ‘happy hormone’ because it promotes calm and clear thinking.
But without progesterone to tone it down, estrogen can run rampant, and this is the major cause of your PMT. As you near menopause your progesterone levels can drop even faster than estrogen, so some women find their PMT worsens as they near the end of their fertile years.
Balance between hormones is everything, and there are lots of actions you can take to make a difference. Here’s your task list:
- Fibre from lignin-rich foods like legumes and linseed will help the balance by boosting your level of SHBG, a carrier protein that helps prevent a flood of hormones. Add half a cup of cooked legumes into your daily diet, and two tablespoons of linseed-sunflower-almond mix.
- Regular exercise (getting sweaty almost every day) will help reduce your stress. More stress creates an even greater hormone imbalance. (Ever noticed how your hormones can misbehave more when you’re under a lot of stress?)
- Eat a diet rich in omega-3 oils (like seafood) and low in saturated fat from dairy and fast foods.
- Avoid sugar and sugary foods like soft drink, it will give you blood sugar spikes that can worsen mood swings
- A little chocolate can help. “A little” means about two squares, not the whole family size block!
Remember, it’s what you do all the month through that will make a difference, and it’s harder to eat properly and exercise when you’ve already got PMT; so it’s a good idea to start making positive changes now.
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