4 Tips To Beat PMS Cravings

Photo by: Bigstockphoto
Photo by: Bigstockphoto

You don’t need to be a nutritional expert to know that you can’t eat burgers and doughnuts on a regular basis. Fastfood and fried dough contain heinous amounts of saturated and trans fat, cholesterol and sugar. But it’s especially difficult to keep your diet in check when you’re PMS-ing because everything looks so dang good.

And when you are PMS-ing, you tend to crave for food that are starchy, sweet with an underlay of fat, like double chocolate ice cream. Then hormones go overdrive when you don’t get what you want to eat. You throw caution to the wind, start munching on sugary, savory, generally unhealthy foodstuff in the fridge then hating yourself the morning after. Sounds familiar? It’s normal to lose control over what you are eating when you’re PMS-ing.

But here’s a sobering fact, according to the American Heart Association, food that are high in cholesterol put you at risk of heart disease. Dairy product and meat products are very high on the list of food that contains saturated fats. Baked goods and fast foods pack a ton of trans fat per serving. So how do you will yourself to eat healthy when you’re cranky, hungry and PMS-ing? Consider these tips:

1. Eat Six Mini Meals Rather Than 3 Big Meals

Go totally Angelina Jolie on your diet and eat smaller portions of food each day instead of the usual 3 big meals. Why? By controlling the food portions and taking 6 mini meals, blood sugar levels in the body normalizes. If your blood sugar level is normal, you don’t get the overwhelming desire to finish off two pints of choco mint ice cream in one sitting.

2. Eat Food Rich in Complex Carbohydrates

Food rich in complex carbohydrates take much longer to break down because they contain fiber. Fiber makes you feel fuller, curbs cravings and helps flush out toxins from the body. So plan your meals and make sure they are comprised of whole-grain cereals and breads as well as starchy veggies, fruits and legumes.

3. Add More Protein To Your Diet

Often, we feel hungry because our blood sugar level drops. A slower digestive process helps makes us feel fuller longer and curbs cravings too. On the other hand, if you just have to snack on something, choose food that are rich in protein because they take longer to be broken down and they don’t contain a lot of calories too. Eggs, turkey, peanut butter and fish are great protein-rich foods to eat especially on hard days when PMS is full blown

4. Take Magnesium Supplements

Clinical studies show that women experience a drop of magnesium level a week or two before their period. So taking in magnesium supplements when you’re PMS-ing not only normalizes magnesium level in the body, it could also help minimize cravings.

Chocolate, which is one of the most common comfort food of PMS-ing women, is rich in magnesium. Experts believe that the drop in magnesium levels in the body explains why so many women need to much on chocolate a week or two before their period.

Now, chocolate isn’t exactly health food but if you must, make sure you choose high quality dark chocolates rather than milk chocolates because the latter contain more calories, fat and does not contain antioxidants.