About 50% of women suffer from dysmenorrhea, or disorders related to the menstrual cycle. The most common? Insomnia, exhaustion, migraine, swelling, back and stomach ache, cramps, nervousness, hunger attacks. Well yes, those days they are anything but a walk of health, especially if you think that the pains can appear up to a first, making the torture a veritable cross.

Let's say it right away: a magic wand that four-and-a-four makes them disappear does not exist, but – and this is the good news – it's possible relieve them with a healthy diet.

Starting from the basics, the most important advice is from do not overdo it with salt and with the foods that are rich: the water retention near the cycle is in fact greater, and constitutes a severe halt to canned foods, in brine, prepacked and stock cubes.

Same as regards the simple sugars, alcohol and coffee, since they do not ease inflammation – indeed, they favor it – e they prevent absorption of some indispensable nutrients for the control of the ache.

Also fat food high cholesterol intake should be limited, as they are involved in the synthesis of the estrogen, the hormones produced during ovulation.

Go ahead instead to the yogurt at breakfast, accompanied by fresh fruit of the season and a handful of dried fruit like almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts, which help to keep exhaustion and fluctuating mood at bay.

A balanced diet also provides pasta and legumes, which with their zinc content and vitamin E help prevent the typical acne-prone skin of the premenstrual period. An excellent alternative is the brown rice, source of energy and in particular of carbohydrates and tryptophan. The latter, as a precursor of serotonin – the hormone that regulates mood – contrasts the exhaustion of which you are victim both during the days of the cycle, and in those that precede it. A dish of spinach, then, it is ideal to limit irritability thanks to vitamin B6, which can also be found in whole grains, molluscs, white meats in corn and mushrooms.

At dinner it is preferable to opt for del fresh fishsuch as salmon, sardines or mackerel: these types, being rich in Omega 3, fight the inflammatory states and act on the serotonin, keeping more stable the fluctuating mood of which one is victims. If you want meat instead, choose the white one (chicken and turkey), which – as already underlined – contains vitamin B6: being this substance involved in the synthesis of different neurotransmitters, including those involved in the perception of pain, helps to reduce their perception.

Among the vegetables, try to prefer, in addition to spinach, the lettuce (which boasts a high content of tryptophan), broccoli and le potatoes. The latter are an important source of magnesium, which – if lacking – is one of the factors determinants in the appearance of pains and of the muscular contractions that involve the uterus. The reduced presence of magnesium is also responsible for the decrease in the synthesis of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, whose low concentration is responsible for nervousness and abdominal swelling.

The feeling of swelling, annoying but inevitable, can be contained avoiding carbonated drinks, foods that are high in fat and those that are too elaborate, which contribute to the slowing of digestion. Try to maintain regular intestinal motility by consuming yogurt, fennel (to be taken also in the form of teas) e star anise.

And if the prostration it is the master, you have varied your diet with foods rich in iron and magnesium, like legumes, oysters, bitter cocoa, blueberries, dried fruit and red meat. The ideal is associate with a source of C vitamin, traceable in citrus fruits, in the rocket salad and in peppers, to promote the absorption of magnesium.

Marianna Tognini
December 2018

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