How To Combat Your Pre-Menstrual Hunger!
posted on: March 21, 2018. posted in: Nutrition
We've had a question sent to us...
"How can I combat pre-menstrual hunger?! For the week before I'm so hungry and craving anything sweet!"
Hello and welcome to Rebelfit 😊
You don't combat pre-menstrual hunger.
You go with it and work with it.
A large part of the reason we have an obesity epidemic is that people are battling with our natural, intuitive, instinctive drive to eat and take in calories for survival.
It's a battle we're losing, because millions of years of evolution has shaped this instinctive drive to eat, and dieting / starving / restricting your food intake is only going to increase it!
Pre-menstrual eating is the perfect example.
It all comes down to the "luteal phase" of your menstrual cycle, when your body is preparing itself for a potential pregnancy.
It needs more calories!
And it will take more calories!
Now whether you want to fall pregnant or not doesn't change the the fact that your body and brain has evolved a hormonal pattern that drives up your Appetite, Cravings and Emotions (ACE) in the two weeks before your period.
You can't stop that!
You can't fight that!
And if you fight that...
You will lose!
[Interestingly, as a little aside here, I spent a large part of my early days as a PT not understanding this and battling with my female clients who weren't sticking to their meal plans. One of them physically assaulted me when I tried to suggest to her that a salad was a better idea than her chocolate and now I understand why. Calories are more important to a pre-menstrual woman than the demands of her dickhead personal trainer!!]
So....
Go with the flow.
Plan your nutrition in a way that naturally and intuitively raises your calorie, and chocolate intake, in the lead up to your period.
If the higher calorie / sugar / fat intake is planned into your nutrition and expected, it reduces all the guilt and shame around overeating at this time, which then becomes another trigger for overeating.
"Why can't I stop eating before my period!!! Arrrgghhh!! Stress!!! Now I want to eat more!!!"
Relax.
Give your body and brain what it needs.
And watch how by raising your calories / sugar / fat intake at this time of the month you actually eat less, by stressing less and binging less.
Liam
p.s. If you've experienced this, or have any thoughts on the subject of pre-menstrual eating habits, please comment and join the discussion!
