The PMS and PMDD Balance Diet—What to Eat for PMS
by Dr. Daniel J. Heller
Dr. Daniel J. Heller
Dr. Heller is a family practitioner who specializes in helping patients with hormonal conditions like PMS & PMDD; diabetes and prediabetes; and other chronic diseases. He is the founder, formulator, and clinical director of PMS Comfort. [more]
Don't let the word "diet" scare you off: the diet for PMS and PMDD isn't about counting calories or stepping on a scale or starving yourself to fit into a dress. Diet is a word that simply means "what you eat." It's about feeding your body right so your hormones and your menstrual cycle can get, and stay in balance. That old saying, "You are what you eat" was never more true than when talking about how food can help cure PMS and PMDD.
We're often asked, "What does food have to do with hormones, PMS, and PMDD?" In fact, every hormone and cell in your body is made out of what you eat, and is constantly responding to changes in your body as a result of what you eat. So diet has everything to do with keeping you balanced and feeling like yourself all month long. What's more, a diet that supports healthy hormonal balance, and that helps relieve PMDD and PMS offers the added benefit of keeping your heart and blood vessels healthy, your weight more manageable, and your complexion youthful and clear.
The PMS and PMDD Balance Diet
Our PMS Balance Diet is simple. Healthy plant foods, high-quality proteins, good fats, and very little junk food will do wonders for your cycle and your hormonal balance. Several of our other articles discuss food and diet for PMS and PMDD symptoms, but the PMS Comfort Balance Diet is the blueprint for an optimal health diet. It's based on two foundations: our many years of experience helping thousands of women with premenstrual symptoms get back in balance and feeling well again, using healthy diet; and hundreds of hours poring through old and new scientific research so we could find out exactly what is the healthiest way to eat. No fad diets here, and no confusion about what to eat and what is good for you. We've sorted through all that for you. And the PMS Comfort Diet lays the foundation of a healthy diet for everyone, not just women with premenstrual symptoms.
What to Eat to Prevent and Relieve PMS
The PMS Balance Diet is a plant-based diet: nutrition researchers are now largely in agreement, after decades of controversy, that the best health comes from a diet rich in healthy plant foods, high-quality protein, healthy fats, and minimal junk food. We've made it as simple and portable as possible:
Eat your vegetables. You can't go wrong with veggies. They're great raw, in salads, or cooked: steamed, sautéed, grilled, baked...or just rely on your creativity. Fresh vegetables are best; frozen are second-best; and canned vegetables are a last choice. If you use canned, look for the least amount of salt, and buy tin rather than aluminum cans. Vegetables are a great source of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, antioxidants, and fiber. Grandma was right: eat your vegetables.
Veggie Tip: Go French-fry-free. Choose colorful, low-starch vegetables like leafy greens and cabbage family vegetables over starchy vegetables like potatoes. Also, don't forget, corn is a grain and peas are a legume or bean: they don't count as vegetables. The best starchy vegetables are root vegetables like parsnip, yam, and carrots.
Enjoy fruits. Fruits are fantastic raw or cooked (think baked apples, not apple pie.) Fruit is naturally sweet, and high in the same beneficial nutrients as vegetables. Like vegetables, fresh is best; frozen is second best, and canned is a last choice. If you get canned, get the kind that's canned in water or its own or other fruit juices, not in syrup.
Fruit Tip: Limit your fruit juice. Fruit juice is mostly sugar and water, and doesn't have the fiber of whole fruit. We recommend enjoying it in moderation, four times per week maximum, for most people.
Rely on whole grains: Whole grains are an ideal staple energy food. Whole wheat, oats, rye, barley, brown rice, wild rice, corn, quinoa, millet, and buckwheat contain fiber, heart-healthy plant sterols, plus they're filling. To the degree you can, eat grain as close as possible to its whole form. Thus, brown rice, wild rice, Irish or Scottish oats, and cracked wheat are whole or nearly whole, whereas even whole-wheat flour is highly processed. However, for practicality's sake, whole-wheat and rye breads and crackers are a convenient source of whole grains; are still far superior to white flour and white bread; and they're super healthy.
Grain Tip: When it comes to whole-grain breads, the buyer must beware. Many breads marketed as whole-grain contain whole wheat flour but are made, in reality, from mostly white flour (also labeled unbleached or enriched wheat flour). The first ingredient in whole-grain bread should be whole-grain flour. The best whole-grain breads contain no white flour, and are hardy and toothsome. If you're used to very light white bread, whole-grain bread may take some getting used to—but it's worth it.
https://www.pmscomfort.com/pms-diet/