Nutrition and the female menstrual cycle

Menstruation, time of the month, periods: A woman’s menstrual cycle has many names. For most, this important function of the female body is a rather unknown phenomenon. Only few women know exactly what happens in their body during the various stages of the month.

You can find out how important these processes are and what they say about your health here.

During puberty, usually between the ages of 10 and 16, girls get their first period. For most of them this is frightening and takes a lot of getting used to. This monthly period accompanies a woman until she reaches the menopause, usually at around 50 years of age.
Menstruation is present (and inevitable) for 2 to 7 days a month. The cycle starts on the first day of the menstruation and ends on the day before the next menstruation. Menstruation signals to a woman that it is possible for her to become pregnant.

For many women menstruation is an inconvenient and often unpleasant and painful time. The female body works towards this “event” for an average of 28 days. Month after month, again and again. A woman’s menstrual cycle is very sensitive and can easily be thrown out of balance. An irregular cycle is therefore not unusual — shorter or longer intervals between bleedings may well occur. Don’t panic, much of the time you can eliminate the cause yourself and can help your body to restore its hormonal balance. But more about that later.

The week before menstruation can be an unpleasant time for women. Many suffer from the typical abdominal pain. However, this is not the only symptom that comes with menstruation. Typical complaints during menstruation are:

• PPMS (=premenstrual syndrome)
• Severe bleeding
• Tension in the chest
• Water retention
• Mood swings
• Hormonally induced acne
• Extreme cramps with nausea and dizziness
• Bad skin

How much you suffer from menstruation varies from woman to woman and can also change from time to time. The symptoms are strongly influenced by hormones, genetic predisposition and external influences, such as everyday behaviour. You can counteract typical menstrual problems by paying attention to a few points:

• Reducing your stress levels in everyday life (professional and personal)
• The right diet (phase dependent)
• Finding relaxation techniques that work for you
• Getting sufficient exercise

Menstruation is your body’s own detox program, which takes place every month. During menstruation your body carries out a monthly detoxification. Sounds good, right?

In order to be able to give your body optimal support, there are tips and tricks for using your diet to help you through each phase of your cycle.

Nutrition has a major influence on a woman’s extremely sensitive menstrual cycle. The optimal balance is when your body is in harmony with your psyche and your natural needs (nutrient intake and exercise).

You should avoid these foods:

Tip: Pep up your dishes by seasoning with fresh or dried herbs instead of salt!

Experts have researched a perfect diet for each phase of menstruation, i.e. for the whole month. Care has been taken to ensure that the woman is provided with all the important nutrients she needs for each phase of the menstrual cycle, thus optimally supporting the female body. Depending on the phase in which you feel unwell, you can use your diet to provide your body with the best possible care. Counting from the first day after your period:

Cycle phase 1 (day 1 – 12):

The body produces the hormone FSH (follicle stimulating hormone), which stimulates increased oestrogen production

Cycle phase 2 (day 13 – 14):

Ovulation is triggered within these days, which causes a sharp drop in the oestrogen level and the hormone FSH

Cycle phase 3 (day 15 – 28):

Strong fluctuations in hormone levels as the unfertilised egg is shed from the uterus. Known symptoms of the female period occur.

Top Nutrient List:

• Vitamin B6: whole grain products, bananas, lentils
• Calcium: almonds, dried figs, pumpkin seeds
• Magnesium: spinach, oatmeal, bananas

Try going Veggie
According to various studies, a vegetarian diet can relieve PMS symptoms. Despite many common myths, there is no problem with following a vegan diet.

Avoid simple carbohydrates
Wheat flour and household sugar are fast carbohydrates. You should reduce or avoid these for the sake of your health. Simple carbohydrates do not make you feel full and cause your blood sugar level to skyrocket. Caution: These are usually responsible for food cravings.

Drink plenty of fluids to prevent water retention
To prevent water retention, try drinking 3 to 4 cups of herbal tea a day. Tip from our editorial team: try nettle and mango tea. For acute complaints you can buy nettle juice or nettle herbs from a pharmacy or health food shop.

Counteract the iron deficiency prematurely
It is important to make sure that you get enough iron, especially if you are on a vegan diet. This is because the human body finds it more difficult to absorb iron from plant products than from animal products. Play it safe and include the top 5 iron-containing foods in your meals on a regular basis.

Replace cow’s milk
There are now numerous plant-based milk alternatives in all price ranges. These range from almond and oat to coconut-rice milk and many more. Try to replace cow’s milk with a plant-based milk during your period.

Reduce household sugar
Women, especially those who suffer from hormonal acne, should strictly limit their intake of household sugar. Ready-made products in particular often contain a lot of sugar.

Unbearable for some, non-existent for others. Menstrual pain is completely different from woman to woman. Cramps, nausea, dizziness, feeling unwell, aches and pains, the symptoms express themselves differently in each of us. They can be influenced by various factors.

The pains a woman may experience during her period can be divided into 2 categories: Primary period pain and secondary period pain.

Secondary period pains are usually caused by organic factors, stress or contraceptives such as the copper coil. They include PMS, both the physical and psychological symptoms. However, these usually disappear as soon as menstruation begins.

Due to hormonal factors, the first 24 hours of menstruation can be a very painful phase for many women, causing extreme discomfort. Factors which cause this can include a very early first bleed, psychological stress, smoking or being underweight.

If you need acute help during your menstruation due to severe pain, we have the following tricks for you:

• Ginger is a natural painkiller and relaxes you from the inside and out. You can drink it as a tea, take it as a shot or apply it externally in oil-form. Hot water bottles can also help, as well as taking a relaxing bath.
• Exercise and movement – as long as it feels good. We do not recommend competitive sports, but relaxed exercises and light activities can help with acute menstrual pain. Some women, for example, find a small, relaxed run helpful if they feel like it. Exercise gets your circulation going and stimulates the blood flow. This has a calming effect.
• Yoga is also a good distraction
• Camomile tea has an antispasmodic and pain-relieving effect
• Massages: massage the painful area with circular movements in a clockwise direction. Use soothing essential oils

I have missed my period – Am I pregnant? This is the question that women ask themselves immediately when they don’t get their period. But if this can be ruled out, a question mark and a certain panic usually set in. No need to worry! Usually there is something harmless behind the so-called amenorrhoea, the absence of menstruation for 3 months in a row. An irregular period is nothing unusual. Especially after you have had your period for the first time, your cycle has to level off and can be very irregular for a while. Shortly before the menopause it is also normal for your cycle to get mixed up.

If you can rule out pregnancy, you are probably wondering why you are not menstruating. First of all, it is important to know that the monthly menstruation is your bodies way of saying “Hey, it’s okay I’m healthy and balanced and feel good. I don’t need to be afraid of emergencies and can reproduce”. Remember: Your menstruation is a good thing and shows that everything is working properly. So what can upset this physical balance in a woman?

The most common causes of amenorrhoea are:

• Extreme, rapid weight loss (crash diet)
• Malnutrition (lack of nutrients)
• Unhealthy eating behaviour (eating disorders)
• Excessive sport and too little regeneration time
• Coming off birth control
• Physical complaints for example: iron deficiency, thyroid diseases or diabetes

If there is still no trace of your menstruation after three months, you can have your blood and hormones checked by your gynaecologist. This will rule out possible diseases.

For most women today, any stress on the body is the reason for amenorrhoea. In this case it is important to analyse your daily life to find major stress factors.

Sophie is a 23 year old, attractive, muscular woman. She is of normal weight. She had her first period when she was 15 and has had it regularly ever since. Spohie’s daily routine includes exercising 4 to 5 times a week, in the form of HIIT workouts, weight training or crossfit. On her rest days (1-2) she treats herself to a relaxed jog around the lake (6.5 km). Sophie’s diet is normal to relatively clean. She has calculated her calorie requirements for losing weight on the Internet, as she wants to lose weight before her summer holiday. Sophie tracks her food daily. Small cheats are okay as long as they fit into her daily requirements. Her daily routine is sometimes stressful, as she works long hours and does her household and daily tasks on the side. But Sophie has the feeling she has everything under control – except her period. She hasn’t had one for 3 months. Her visit to the gynaecologist did not reveal any abnormalities. What is the matter?

• • Cause 1: The extreme amount of sport that Sophie exposes her body to every day. Sport is good, it improves her work life balance. However, sport releases a lot of hormones (opioids) known as happiness hormones. These inhibit the hormone GnRh, which is responsible for the regulation of oestrogen. The sufficient production of oestrogen is important for a regular menstrual cycle. If you exercise too much, your hormones are thrown out of balance. Even in the area of normal weight, excessive training can lead to an absence of periods.
  • Cause 2: Another factor is Sophie’s diet. Eating a low-calorie diet over an extended period of time is also perceived by the body as a stressful situation, as there is a lack of food. The body concentrates on vital functions and finds reproduction superfluous under these conditions.
  • Cause 3: Sophie’s everyday life. Too many appointments, constantly on the road, little rest and relaxation. These are not good conditions for an optimal menstrual cycle.

The connection between stress factors and the menstrual cycle is briefly summarised here:

In the brain, the hypothalamus is responsible for regulating the menstrual cycle, among other things. If there is too little energy in the form of calories alongside a high sport workload, this part of the brain does not release enough hormones. The lack of important hormones means that a woman’s ovaries cannot carry out their tasks completely, if at all. This leads to disturbances in the female menstrual cycle and a missed period.

It is not difficult to help your body restore its natural menstrual cycle. Once you have found the underlying cause, you can try to optimise this area of your life. You don’t know how? We have a solution for every area:

For many women who want to get their periods back to normal, there is often the fear of gaining weight. They ignore the health problem of a lack of menstruation, because they fear a negative physical change due to a change in exercise and eating habits.
Do you have these thoughts? Try to realise that a missed period is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong and has become unbalanced. What is more important to you?

Do not be afraid of gaining weight through exercising less. Your body will thank you for it and your cycle will return to normal. Only you can influence this.

Normalisation of the female cycle can take 3 to 12 months, depending on how long it has been out of balance. The solution is definitely not to artificially create a menstrual cycle with the contraceptive pill. This only postpones the actual problem, which will catch up with you even if not until you have the desire to get pregnant. Support your body additionally with the right food. Try to listen to your body. Try to relax in all aspects of your life, including your diet.