What are the best foods to eat for PMS?

Recipe of the month - delicious Cod with Red Pesto and Roasted Vegetables

Why not print our blank meal plan to jot down a few menu ideas to try next month.

That time of the month again?

Craving chocolate? Spot on your chin? Clothes feeling uncomfortably tight? Angry or tearful for no apparent reason? If this sounds familiar you may be one of the women or partner of a women who like most of us has experienced the reality of pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) at one time or another. As a Nutritional Therapist, female hormone problems such as PMS, water retention, cramps and mood swings are symptoms my clients often come to me with. Changes to the diet can make an amazing difference, and ensuring you get enough vitamins and minerals especially vitamin B6 and the mineral magnesium can make an enormous difference.

What foods should you eat to help PMS?

Complex Carbohydrates may help to maintain balanced blood sugar levels, increase serotonin levels, so lift mood and reduce cravings, they also provide a good source of fibre, which may help women who suffer from pre-menstrual constipation. Eating a diet rich in complex carbs can have a positive influence on energy levels. Just improving your energy can make it so much easier to deal with PMS. Try to avoid sweet treats such as chocolate, cookies and cakes - even thought these may be what you are craving, they can cause real energy dips, and may it more difficult to cope with a busy life. Have a look at our nutrition and energy page for a more detailed explanation.

Good Carbohydrate Food Sources include

Whole wheat and stoneground bread
Brown Rice
Oats, rye, barley, millet and quinoa
Fruits and vegetables like sweet potatoes, Apples, pears, and raspberries
Beans and pulses

Try our fantastic "Best Ever Prawn Curry"

This fantastic curry includes sweet potatoes, chickpeas, peppers, spinach and juicy king prawns - delicious and good for you to! Sweet potatoes and chickpeas contain lots of soluble fibre to help digestion, and the spinach is a good source of iron, one of the minerals many women are lacking in.

I have recently found a new spaghetti in Tesco, called Pulse Spaghetti, (they often hide it away in the WholeFood section,) but it is worth tracking down as it is made with chickpea, and lentil flour as well as ordinary wholewheat flour, and tastes and looks just like ordinary pasta, but is more nutritious. It is great served with your favourite pasta sauce and some olives and capers, and lots of chopped fresh parsley.

Essential Fatty acids - Omega 3 & 6

These essential fats (so called because our body cannot produce them, and we have to get them from food sources) promote the release of beneficial hormones called prostaglandins, which help to prevent inflammation, and reduce blood clotting. Try to avoid high levels of saturated fat which promote the production of less helpful prostaglandins which can cause inflammation and pain. Eat plenty of:

Oily fish – Salmon, mackerel, tuna Nuts (if not allergic)
Seeds – linseeds, hemp & pumpkin
Vegetable and nuts oils

How Nutritional Therapy can help?

Your Nutritional Therapist will take a detailed history of your PMS symptoms, diet and lifestyle and create an effective dietary strategy to help you make the most of everyday of the month. Many of our clients start to experience positive changes to their symptoms very quickly.

Self help
Changes to the diet can have a positive impact on PMS and may make your symptoms easier to manage. Just eating a good breakfast can give your more energy to cope with your day. Try porridge served with antioxidant rich berries and vanilla yoghurt rich in beneficial bacteria. You could also add a sprinkling of ground flax seed, which not only contains omega 3 fats but also compounds called lignans which may have a beneficial effect on female hormone balance.

Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6 has been used to help control mood and depression, and may help to relieve pre-menstrual water retention, it also helps to release the energy from our food. Good food sources of B6 include turkey, watercress, bananas, tuna, spinach. peppers and asparagus. Why not try a banana and a few almonds for a snack, and large mixed salad with roasted peppers and a fresh tuna steak for dinner, or a wholemeal pitta stuffed with deli turkey slices and some watercress and spinach salad (most supermarkets sell this in ready prepared bags) for lunch, this will help you get a good supply of vitamin B6.

Unless you have been prescribed it, I wouldn't recommend taking vitamin B6 by itself. The B group of vitamins work in synergy and so are best taken as a complex. Your therapist can advise you about this.

The importance of Calcium and magnesium

Research 1 has shown that calcium may have a positive benefit at reducing bloating, cramps, and carbohydrate cravings. Although dairy foods are the best know source of calcium, you can also get calcium from nuts such as almonds and Brazil nuts; green leafy vegetables such as broccoli and watercress, seeds such as sunflower and sesame; and soy products such as tofu. Magnesium is another mineral used alongside calcium; magnesium is useful to relax and calm, and can be helpful to help soothe cramps and period pain, magnesium can be very effective if you experience lower back pain, or dragging pains in your legs during your period. Magnesium is found in nuts such as almonds, cashews, walnuts and hazlenuts'; grains such as millet and wheat, vegetables such as avocado and sweet corn, as well as seafood including prawns. Why not try our blank meal plan to jot down a few menu ideas to try next month.

1 Bendich A. The potential for dietary supplements to reduce premenstrual syndrome (PMS) symptoms. J Am Coll Nutr. 2000;19:3-12