• PMS Comfort
• PMS Symptoms
• PMS Food & Chocolate Cravings

PMS Food & Chocolate Cravings

It's a few days before your period, and you feel a magnetic pull to the chocolate aisle at the grocery store. Or you find yourself irresistibly drawn to salty, crunchy, fried snacks—even though you've sworn off of them. Maybe your willpower deserts you at the dessert buffet, ruining the diet you've stuck to for weeks.

Premenstrual food cravings are like that. They can feel overwhelming, impossible to resist, and for many women completely out of character—the rest of the month, staying with a disciplined diet may be relatively easy. Premenstrual food cravings are not imaginary; they are very real. And food cravings before the period is one of the most common PMS symptoms.

Food cravings may be partially the result of messenger molecules in our brain called neurotransmitters: serotonin and dopamine are among the best known. However, these molecules don't act in isolation: hormones, stress, and emotions all play a role in the way your appetite changes before your period.

Fortunately, you don't need to study biochemistry or psychology to take control of your PMS food cravings, no matter what they're for—chocolate or salt or sweets, or just for more food than you usually eat. It will help though, to have plenty of:

• Patience: Because lasting changes don't happen overnight.
• Planning: Because it's all about prevention.
• Willingness: To change your patterns and your diet.

Control PMS Food Cravings by Controlling Your Blood Sugar

When your blood sugar falls too low, your appetite regulation changes and your willpower decreases, too, a combination which can lead to overeating (and of the wrong foods, too). If you find that you become faint, irritable, or tired if you miss a meal or snack, you may have a condition called hypoglycemia—which is a fancy way of saying your blood sugar, and your blood sugar-balancing hormones, aren't working well together. Hypoglycemia tends to lead to food and sweet and chocolate cravings.

When you keep your blood sugar well-balanced with the right foods and overall eating patterns, it prevents premenstrual food cravings before they start. You can go a long way towards overcoming even the most intense food cravings, including PMS food binges, by following these simple guidelines:

• Cut back on sweets and sweet foods; and never have them before lunch.
• Fruits and whole grains are fine; sugary soda, sweets, baked goods, ice cream, and candy are not.
• Most breakfast cereal has added sugar; read the label first.
• Eat breakfast every day; and make sure your breakfast has protein in it.
• Eggs, nuts, seeds, soy, low-fat meats or poultry, fish, and low-fat yoghurt are ideal sources. Salty breakfast meats or meat substitutes are not ideal, though they won't disrupt your blood sugar in line.
• Soy is the bean with the best protein and fat to carbohydrate ratio, which will balance your blood sugar. It offers beneficial phytonutrients, too.
• Fruits, whole–grain breads, or better yet, whole-grain cereals (like cream of brown rice or oatmeal) at breakfast are excellent.
• Eat three meals per day, and up to two snacks per day.
• Going too long without eating doesn't work well for women with cravings or hypoglycemia.
• Every meal and snack should contain at least some protein from the sources mentioned above.
• Don't go to the other extreme of eating all-protein: a balance of healthy protein, complex carbohydrates, and fats, with plentiful vegetables and fruit is ideal.

Eating this way will keep you feeling full and satisfied, help maintain even mood and energy level throughout the day, and make it much easier for you to resist cravings, especially for sweets. We recommend you eat this way all month long if you have the hypoglycemic tendency, or if you get premenstrual food cravings. If your food cravings are mild, they may disappear if you use this approach just in the last two weeks of your cycle (from ovulation to the first day of your period). Our complete hypoglycemia program, part of our PMS Balance Diet, gives you the tools and information you need to get back on track and have stable mood and energy.

Premenstrual Chocolate Cravings

Let's face it: chocolate is good! It tastes great, it makes you feel good, and it's a proven source of healthy, powerful antioxidants. It may even contain chemicals that mimic the ones your brain makes when you're in love. In moderation, it's a healthy treat. And for many women, a little goes a long way: they'll eat a couple squares of dark chocolate before their period, and that's all they need. But not everyone's appetite works this way: extreme premenstrual chocolate cravings undo many a woman's diet, and all the fat and sugar in the chocolate just might undo its healthful benefits.

If PMS chocolate cravings are outsmarting your will power, try this action plan:

• Dark chocolate offers more of the healthful chocolate benefits, and less of the sugar. Try it instead of milk chocolate or chocolate candy.
• Exercise helps satisfy your brain's craving for those feel-good endorphins that chocolate stimulates.
• Follow the blood sugar diet detailed above.
• Identify what you're feeling; sometimes we "stuff our feelings" with chocolate. Take a moment to check out if something is bothering you.

Treating the Cause

Part 2 of this article covers some of the other trouble spots for PMS food cravings, including cravings for sweets in general and for salt. We also explore the problem of overeating and binge eating.

Premenstrual food cravings, binges, and appetite changes are often symptoms of an overall hormonal imbalance that can interfere with your life in many ways. The best approach to premenstrual syndrome is a holistic one that addresses all the underlying causes of hormonal PMS: diet, nutrition, lifestyle, and emotions. In the process of using a holistic PMS action plan, you'll be improving your overall health and wellness.

Feel Better in 60 Days—Guaranteed.

PMS and PMDD misery aren't always taken seriously enough by doctors, family, and friends. At PMS Comfort, our whole purpose is to empower and educate you about premenstrual symptoms, and to provide real, natural relief so that you can feel great all month long. Our all-natural doctor-designed programs are based on decades of experience helping thousands of women recover from what you've been going through. Our programs address both your symptoms and their underlying causes. When you combine one of our programs with our PMS Balance Diet and lifestyle guidance, you're getting a holistic health program created to help you get and stay healthy. Plus, we're here to support you, every step of the way.

To learn more about your PMS and PMDD symptoms, take the PMS Comfort quiz.
Or, get started today and feel better in 60 days—guaranteed.

We want to help. Give us a call at 1-800-731-6327, drop us an e-mail, or send us your question.

• Two Healthy Chocolate Truffle Recipes:Low–Glycemic Dark Cocoa Balls
  Our chocolate truffles, also called cocoa balls, have all the benefits of chocolate but without the bad fat, plus they're sugar-free.
• PMS Overeating & Binges
  Sometimes, PMS overeating and emotional eating overcome all your efforts at self-control. We suggest you be patient and forgiving with yourself.
• 7 Tips for Natural Control of PMS & PMDD Mood Swings
  We've got eight practical tips that you can put to immediate use for getting a handle on PMS & PMDD mood swings.

---