The latest guide to healthy eating during menstruation

There are no absolute dietary taboos. The core principle is "prioritizing individualized adaptation + flexible adjustments in stages + avoiding clearly harmful risk foods." The blanket taboos spread in the past such as "absolutely no ice, no spicy food, no mangoes" have long been overturned by the latest clinical research.

What many people are most concerned about is definitely: Can I eat iced food? There is really no unified conclusion on this matter. There is no evidence-based medical evidence in the Western medicine system to prove that eating low-temperature foods during menstruation will directly induce dysmenorrhea or affect the menstrual cycle. As long as your gastrointestinal tolerance is tolerated, you usually have the habit of eating ice, and you don’t have abdominal pain or diarrhea after eating it. You can eat it. However, the perspective of the traditional Chinese medicine system is more biased towards individual constitutions: if you have a cold constitution, usually have cold hands and feet, are prone to blood clots during menstruation, and have severe menstrual cramps, then raw and cold foods may indeed aggravate qi and blood stasis, so it is best not to touch them. Two friends around me are the most typical examples. One drinks American iced wine as water all year round, even during her aunt's period, and has never had any pain. ； The other one rarely even drinks room-temperature milk tea. Last time he took a bite of ice cream and was so painful that he curled up in bed for three hours and went to the hospital to get prescribed painkillers. So there is really no standard answer to this matter. Your body's reaction is the best yardstick.

In addition to this controversial item, there are several types of foods that both Chinese and Western medicine have reached consensus on. It is recommended to eat them as little as possible during menstruation. Note that "touch less" does not mean "cannot eat them at all". Don't put shackles on yourself. For example, high-sugar foods are inexplicably sweet for many people during menstruation. Last year, during my period, I had a cup of full-sugar bubble milk tea and cheesecake. As a result, my eyelids were swollen the next day and I had a headache for most of the day. This is because high sugar can aggravate the body's inflammatory response and affect blood sugar fluctuations, which in turn can amplify the menstrual discomfort of fatigue and irritability. You should also eat less high-salt pickled foods and processed foods. Too much sodium intake will make edema more serious. This is a real physiological reaction that cannot be avoided no matter what your physique is.

There are also questions that people often ask, can I drink coffee and milk tea? It also depends on your daily habits. If you have 1-2 cups of coffee every day and do not suffer from panic or insomnia after drinking it, you can drink it normally during menstruation, and it will relieve the drowsiness during menstruation. ； But if you rarely touch caffeine, or if you have a fast heartbeat or breast swelling and pain after drinking it, then stop your period first and don’t make yourself suffer.

By the way, don’t blindly believe in the sayings like “You must drink brown sugar ginger tea during menstruation” or “Eat red dates to replenish blood during menstruation”. These are not a panacea. More than 90% of brown sugar is sucrose, with very little iron content and cannot replenish blood at all. Ginger can indeed warm the stomach. It is comfortable for people who are cold and are afraid of cold during menstruation. However, if you have heavy menstruation, long menstrual period, or are prone to oral ulcers, drinking brown sugar ginger tea may aggravate bleeding and make the inflammation more serious. The same goes for red dates. The iron content is not high and it is difficult to absorb. If you really want to replenish the iron lost during menstruation, it is better to eat two taels of lean beef, a small plate of pork liver, and half an orange to supplement some vitamin C. The iron absorption rate can be increased several times. This is a conclusion recognized by the nutrition community, and it is more effective than eating ten pounds of red dates.

There is also the rumor that "eating mangoes during menstruation will stop bleeding" is completely nonsense. The nutrients in mangoes have no effect on coagulation function at all. As long as you are not allergic to mangoes, you can eat as much as you want. Last year, my aunt showed off two pounds of small mangoes during her period, and there was no change in the amount or cycle of menstruation. Don't be limited by such rumors. The same goes for spicy food. If you can eat spicy food normally and your stomach is good, it's totally fine to eat hot pot skewers or something like that. If you usually eat spicy food and it's easy for you to have stomachache and diarrhea, then you should eat lighter during your menstrual period.

In fact, after reading the latest domestic and foreign menstrual health-related guidelines, you will find that there are really not so many rigid rules. In essence, you treat your body as a friend. If it feels comfortable, do whatever you want, and if it feels uncomfortable, adjust it. Don’t be fooled by all the “N things you should never do during menstruation” on the Internet, and don’t insist on being uncomfortable just for the sake of greed. The best way to eat is the one that suits you.