Sara Avant Stover, founder of The Way of the Happy Woman,has this to say about Premenstrual Syndrome: "PMS ... is the first domino that goes down before the rest of them tumble. Another way that you can think of PMS is as a warning bell."
There is a higher likelihood of PMS symptoms occurring shortly before, during, and/or just after your menstrual cycle if your lifestyle and diet are not optimum.
Symptoms can include irritability, tension, mood swings, depression, bloating, cramping, migraines, breast tenderness, lower back pains, and unusual food cravings.
There even a more severe type of PMS, known as premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), which brings about a deep, disabling depression, low self-esteem, with crying episodes and difficulty concentrating.
The following six suggestions can help avoid PMS or at least minimize it.
(1) Sara Stover is very into Hatha yoga herself. Yoga means union, or uniting with the spiritual self or combining your natural energies form a more synergistic you.
Hatha means forceful or willful, and hatha yoga is the physical practice of positioning into different postures or asanas to help unify physical energies and eliminate tensions.
Sara swears by it and recommends it to all. She even offers a free complimentary hatha yoga CD specifically for PMS. You pay only for shipping.
(2) There is a natural herbal remedy for PMS known as Vitex, Vitex berry, Vitex agnus castus, or even chaste tree. The plant flourishes in the Mid-East and Asia, and the medicinal is extracted from its dried fruit.
Vitex is not a hormonal substance. It increases progesterone by stimulating the release of a luteinizing hormone from the pituitary gland, which stimulates the ovaries. Vitex is also thought to normalize excessive prolactin levels and promote fertility.
(3) Avoid alcohol, sugar, sodas, refined carbohydrates, and caffeine as much as you can tolerate. Drink more fluoride free water. Filling jugs from food market reverse-osmosis, carbon-filter water machines is cheap if installing one is impractical.
(4) Add magnesium by supplementing with topically applied magnesium oil or magnesium chloride which can be ordered online. Orally ingested Calm powder, available in most health food stores, or any other assimilable magnesium supplements, such as magnesium citrate can be used also.
Another method is to often soak in a tub of water with a cupful of Epsom salts. Magnesium is vital to over 300 cellular metabolisms, yet it is highly deficient in almost everyone, thanks to our depleted topsoil.
Unless you have a diagnosed calcium deficiency, avoid magnesium supplements that also contain calcium. We are so calcium loaded that supplementing calcium often produces adverse effects.
Magnesium, silica, and vitamin K2 helps your bones absorb excess calcium instead of collecting it in your arteries.
(5) Avoid fast food restaurants, junk foods, and processed foods as much as possible. Try to get organic, bulk produce with an emphasis on greens and cruciferous veggies, nuts, whole grains and dry beans and learn to cook them.
This may surprise you: All soy products are unhealthy, especially when it comes to hormonal harmony, unless they are fermented.
(6) Don't fall for the low-no fat con. Healthy fats are important, especially omega-3 fatty acids that help maintain emotional stability and mental clarity.
Omega-3 sources include organic flax (ground for each serving), chia seeds that don't need grinding, and fish or krill oils. Make sure fish oils come from pristine cold waters and are refrigerated.
Cold pressed organic coconut oil, olive oil, hemp oil, and some other oils that are virgin cold pressed are good sources of healthy fats. Avoid all heat processed trans-fatty acid hydrogenated oils and Canola oil of any type.
