Ladies, we are special! God made our bodies so unique and able to do so many incredible things!
But with that…we also struggle with a lot of problems, it seems. So often we can tend to think it is miserable and a curse to deal with everything we do. It is not easy for us, and so often it is frustrating and looks like we will never be able to get over it all.
While it’s true that we cannot be completely free of struggles or pain in this life, we CAN change our habits and learn to embrace our bodies and look at these things in the beautiful and complex way that God created us.
PMS
Not the most pleasant part of womanhood, and most definitely not the thing we look forward to every month. But why is that? It is supposed to symbolize good things, right? So why do the majority of us dread its coming?
Is it the emotions? The awkwardness and inconvenience? The pain? The hormone imbalance? Or the uncertainty of what and when something is going to happen? All of these things can incapacitate us or at least make it very difficult for us to function during that time and enjoy life and our regular daily business.
These are all reasons to NOT look forward to that time of the month, but we don’t have to constantly be worrying about all of them.
While I understand that there are conventional treatments out there that many women like to use (such as medications, birth control, etc.) due to convenience and ease (I will not deny that those are temptations in the moment), and while SOME of those things can be beneficial in certain ways at certain times (some can actually cause more damage in the long run or have side effects that you just didn’t bargain for), I believe it is even better to work on your body from the inside out. Use the resources that God gave us and feed them to our body. God invented a machine in us that will do a PHENOMENAL job if we give it the right fuel and support!
Here are some practical things you can do on a regular basis to help make the transition, and the whole period, quite a bit better, and make it easier to go about normal life and activities during your cycle:
Water – Dehydration can cause a ton of problems! And no less so during that time of the month. Staying properly hydrated with water can help improve your focus (we can tend to get pretty foggy brains during this time), build up energy and ease cramps. It is also a good way to flush out toxins in your body.
Food – Feed your body with the good foods to give your body strength and nutrients it needs the most during this time. Foods high in the below vitamins, and plenty of fruits and vegetables (make sure they are in season!) are easy on the stomach when you may be feeling yuck, and give you plenty of the nutrition that your body needs. Some favorites to add to your list could be: Berries (strawberries and blueberries especially for their water content and antioxidants), Watermelon (high in water as well), Oranges (can help relieve constipation and are full of water), Leafy Greens (salads are light and easy and chalk full of vitamins and nutrients), Salmon (full of omega-3 to help relieve inflammation, and just plain all around good!), Dill Pickles (Ever wonder why pregnant women crave pickles? Fermented foods can help the stomach and gut, and dill is known to ease nausea), Chocolate (Some good news for everybody! 🙂 Dark chocolate (the darker the better) is full of magnesium, which can help relax muscles and ease cramps).
Vitamins and Supplements – Calcium (reducing cramps), Magnesium (relieves cramps and relaxes muscles), Omega-3 (reduces inflammation), Iron, Vitamin B (Can help relieve symptoms and regulate irregular cycles. Also helps support metabolism and give you energy.)
Exercise – I know it is probably one of the last things you want to do at this time, but hang in here with me! Your core supports your back, and vise versa. If one is weak, it will cause the other to be as well. If you are exercising well as you approach that time, strengthening your core and back muscles, it can actually help your body support itself and give it a better chance at fighting off cramps and back pain. Plus, exercising increases your blood flow and helps to clear the mind and bring a little more balance to your emotions and temptations to depressing moods.
A word of caution: Don’t go over board! Listen to your body. Sometimes it does need a rest during this time. Whether that means taking a day off, or just doing a small bit of your workout routine and spreading it out through the course of the day. Doing too much when your body needs a reprieve can actually wear you out more and make you feel worse.
Essential Oils – Essential oils can go a long way in helping to ease hurt and help with your emotions. I always like to recommend that you muscle test your oils to see which one your body is needing, but here are some favorites to try: Peppermint (for your stomach OR your back), Orange (can help with your stomach and is very uplifting to the emotions), Lavender (uplifting, and may help you get some good sleep, which is vital, if very allusive, during this time), Jasmine (uplifting and ALMOST impossible not to be happy around ;P ), Clary Sage (can help balance hormones and relieve symptoms), Ylang Ylang (very sweet-smelling to boost your mood and can help balance hormones). Again, I highly suggest you muscle test to see what oil you should try. Your body knows just what it needs!
Avoid – Caffeine, sugar and any processed foods. These can cause a build up of inflammation and make stomach problems, mood swings, and depression worse. Plus, they really don’t give your body any of the actual fuel and nutrients that it needs. I also like to avoid gluten and limit my dairy, which can also lead to inflammation and make stomach cramps even worse.
Skin/Acne
Ladies, let’s admit it: Or skin (especially our face) is something we are pretty self conscious about. We love our skin to look flawless and youthful, and when all those spots appear it’s not only annoying it does tend to make us (even if we don’t always realize it) dislike our appearance. No matter how old we get, we struggle with the appearance of our skin. From acne, to blackheads, to dark spots, to wrinkles.
All these things not only make us a bit self conscious, some of them can also point to some underlying health problems. Here are some things you can do to try and get to the root of the problem and start getting your skin on the road to that clear and healthy looking glow that we all strive for.
- Hydration – Water does wonders for your skin. Dehydration can cause dreary skin and even cause breakouts. A hydrated body can produce glowing skin and help to clear up acne. Not only can you get this through drinking lots of water (which you should be doing every day), you can get this through hydrating foods, such as strawberries, watermelon, cucumbers, celery and spinach.
- Food – Heal from the inside out! What you put into your body will effect your outsides. Get rid of the sugar and heavily processed foods and fill up on lots of fruits and vegetables and whole foods.
- Remove Toxins – Your skin is very absorbent. So if you are applying a lot of toxic chemicals to your skin (makeup, cleansers, acne treatments, etc.)…it will take its toll. Start taking out your chemically laden products and begin replacing them with more natural and organic products.
- Hormones and Emotions – Have you noticed more breakouts around that time of the month, or when you are really stressed? Yes, your hormones and emotions can have a rather big effect on the look of your skin. Now, you may think that you can do nothing about that (since those monthly hormones are going to appear, no matter what we do, and it’s impossible to get rid of negative emotions)…but while we may not be able to avoid stress completely or always avoid negative hormone reactions, we can take legitimate steps to minimize them and their effects. I’ll talk about that a little more below.
Hormones
Ladies, as women, we deal with a lot of hormones…and they tend to get out of balance really easily and through our bodies and minds into a whole lot of confusion and turmoil.
Now, we tend to think there is nothing we can do about it. It’s inevitable. We just have to deal with it. While we cannot fix every little issue forever and never have to deal with any hormonal imbalance… through good habits in nutrition, exercise, managing our stress level, and controlling our mental state, we are indeed able to influence our hormonal balance. So it’s not a hopeless case after all!!
How do we do that?
Food – Consume some good: Healthy fats, Probiotics, Bone Broth and Greens. All of these are good for helping to balance hormones…and for your body over all. The nutrients from vegetables, most especially greens, break down an excess of estrogens. Other nutrients like iodine and selenium for active thyroid hormones, zinc and magnesium for the production of testosterone, and amino acids like arginine and ornithine for the production of growth hormone.
Essential Oils – To help balance hormones, you want to get rid of toxins from body care products, synthetic fragrances and cleaning products. Start replacing them with good quality essential oils: Thyme improves progesterone production, which can help to relieve infertility, menopause, depression and insomnia. Sandalwood can reduce stress that leads to hormone imbalance and help promote relaxation. Lavender can help balance and improve emotions, relieve stress and promote good sleep. All of which are important to good hormone health. Clary Sage helps to balance estrogen levels, and can help relieve PMS symptoms and regulate your monthly cycle.
Vitamin D – A lot of problems with our health can be linked to a deficiency in this vitamin. Low levels of vitamin D can interfere with testosterone and estrogen production, and can cause hormone imbalances that can bring on a lot of unwanted symptoms, including unwanted weight gain. You can get this much needed vitamin through some good fish, liver and eggs, but the best way is through actual SUNLIGHT!
Emotions
We women go through a lot of emotions! Sometimes all in the course of one day.
They can cause major mood swings, hurt our bodies physically and mentally. To make us sick, cause our skin to break out, cause depression, OR to give us energy and make us happier and healthier! Often times women can suffer negative emotions a lot easier and more often than men. We go through PMS, menopause, pregnancy, motherhood, etc. And we tend to think a lot and dwell on so many things (our minds never shut off). Plus, God did make us more emotional than men. That does not necessarily mean a bad thing.
But that doesn’t mean we have to let them control us or allow them to damage our health. There are ways we can avoid that, and steps we can take minimize emotional damage and the appearance of negative emotions…though we cannot avoid it completely.
You can check this previous article I wrote, where I go into a bit more detail about emotions, their affects on our bodies and what we can do to improve our emotional health.