When I told my husband how lucky he was that I didn’t suffer from PMS, he gave me the same incredulous look as when I tried to convince him he’d hit the marital jackpot by scoring someone so mellow and low maintenance.
My latest “head-spinning” moment – which was relatively mild on the PMS Poltergeist scale – occurred when my husband asked me to turn up the AC the other night. (I say mild because there have been more severe meltdowns, involving ketchup and keyboards and computers in ovens, but that’s another story for another post - maybe on cooking and technology).
Not wanting to wane to his “bossiness” I jacked up the heat. Of course my body temperature soared simultaneously with the influx of fiery female hormones… needless to say, stubbornness kicks into high gear at the end of every month along with its demonic bride, irrationality.
Elizabeth Somer lists her top three tips on how to turn down the heat on fiery PMS tempers, as well as alleviate the long list of other hellish monthly symptoms (bloating, water retention, headaches… you know the drill).
1. Limit all sugars to less than 3 teaspoons a day – research conducted at Texas A&M University shows that depression and fatigue often vanish when sugar (and caffeine) are removed from the diet. Try to consume more complex carbs such as sweet potatoes, corn, and whole grain pastas and breads.
2. Include one to two teaspoons of safflower oil in your daily diet – although the connection is poorly understood, a special fat found in safflower oil called linoic acid might help to regulate prostoglandins, which are hormone-like compounds that cause some of the abdominal bloating and breast discomfort associated with PMS.
3. Vitamin B6 supplementation (no more than 50 to 150 mg/day) started on day 10 of the menstrual cycle and continued through day three of the next cycle has produced positive results in some women – mood swings and poor concentration are associated with low intakes of vitamins A, B2, and B6, folate, calcium, copper and zinc. However, treatment of PMS with vitamin B6 remains controversial. Some researchers theorize that pharmacological doses reduce the blood estrogen levels and increase progesterone, thus improving hormonal balance.
PMS Smoothie
Ingredients
4 dried apricots, soaked in ½ cup apple juice
½ cup nonfat milk
2 tablespoons orange juice concentrate
1 banana
2 kiwifruits, peeled
3 tablespoons wheat germ
Ice (optional)
Method: Remove apricots from juice. Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend for 3 minutes or until thoroughly mixed. Makes two 8-ounce servings.
Elizabeth Somer, M.A., R.D., is a nationally recognized nutrition expert, an award-winning writer, and a nutrition correspondent for ABC’s Good Morning America. She has also penned several books, including Food & Mood, Age-Proof Your Body, Nutrition for Women, and her latest literary endeavor, Eat Your Way to Happiness.
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Will definitely give this a try next month! And am working on getting down to that 3 tsp of sugar and less caffeine. we’ll see how that goes.