This is a post I’ve been meaning to write for awhile, but I wanted to fully test out my tips and tricks before I shared them with you. I’ve dealt with pretty severe menstrual cramps since my late teenage years and always felt like it was something I just had to accept. But over the past few years I trained to be a holistic health coach and have also done a ton of reading and research on superfoods, diets, holistic healing. My studies have led me to a breakthrough! This summer I finally managed to reduce my monthly cramps from horribly intense to mild or dare I say…non-existent. I wanted to share my tips in case they can help anyone else out. These are not a doctor’s prescription or a cure-all, they are just the things that have worked for me.
1. Chaste Tree Berry Extract – This extract is used in herbal medicine to treat and ease premenstrual symptoms and regulate the menstrual cycle. I take a full dropper of chaste tree berry extract with a glass of water three times a day (between meals) for a few days before and during my period.
2. Raw, Vegan Chocolate – If you know me, you know I’ve been obsessed with raw chocolate for a few years now. Obviously I love the taste, but it’s also an incredibly nutritious superfood. Raw uncooked cacao beans can ease muscle cramping, improve mood, and regulate hormonal changes. I specifically recommend eating a half bar of Gnosis Chocolate’s Sacred Feminine Bar for a few days before and during your period. The bars are not only packed with raw vegan chocolate, they also have chaste berry and other PMS-easing medicinal herbs including shatvari, cramp bark, dong quai, valerian, and more.
3. Vegan Diet - This year I also began experimenting with the vegan diet. Among MANY other health benefits for myself and our planet, the vegan diet has really helped reduce my cramps. Cutting out animal products from meat and dairy means you are ingesting less hormones, and when I studied to be a health coach I met dozens of people who said their menstrual “issues” basically disappeared once they went vegan. When I first started eating a primarily vegan diet back in Spring 2011, it was the first time I ever felt some relief from menstrual cramps. I was shocked. Please note: This was just my experience. I do not take birth control pills or hormones and my experiences are just that, mine. But I definitely recommend making an effort to reduce animal products in your diet. There are no diets that work for everyone.
4. Gentle Exercise – Yoga and bellydancing are my go-to exercises to give me energy, relieve stress, and lift my spirits. While it can be hard to drum up the energy and/or motivation to do even gentle exercise during your period, it’s worth pushing yourself to do it. In short, exercise always makes me feel better.
I hope these tips were helpful to the females who read my blog (or males with girlfriends or wives), or maybe you just learned something new. Have some tips and tricks of your own? Please feel free to share. I’d love to hear from you.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I suffered from bad menstrual cramps all through my teens, and until I turned 21 – when what changed was my diet (I became a vegetarian at the age 19), exercising habits (I started exercising regularly) and my lifestyle (I started venting out my feelings and emotions without suppressing them – it was part of me starting a new phase in life). But I agree with Laurel in that a healthy vegan/vegetarian diet will contribute a lot towards making one’s menstrual cycle tolerable and not tormenting!
Thanks so much for your comment! I’m happy to hear you started feeling better once you started a healthier lifestyle and I love hearing more stories about others would have had some relief with vegan/vegetarian diet.
@miss.smallwonder i have a very good solution of ur problem. and to the people suffering from this problem. Use Anjeer its an urdu roman word. this thing really helps u in recovery from this problem. and i am the normal man jst because of this simple thing. and it should be taken before breakfast. once in 3 days.
Natural Standard (NS) provides high-quality, evidence-based information about complementary and alternative therapies. When looking up Chaste Tree Berry Extract for menstrual cramps, NS gives a rating of “C” which is unclear or conflicting scientific evidence. Chaste Tree Berry Extract received this rating because most of the studies proving its effectiveness were poorly designed giving it little validity. More rigorous studies will need to be performed before we have a clear answer to its effectiveness.
I’m paleo eating hormone- and antibiotic-free meat every day and I’ve seen a great improvement in my menstrual symptoms since switching to natural products. My cycle is more regular when I am eating a grain-free, chemical-free paleo diet as well. My boyfriend’s ex is vegetarian/vegan and he says she always had terrible periods and cramps. Eating natural and chemical free diet w. all nutrients is probably more important.
Hi Caitlin,
I’m happy to hear that switching to safer meats worked for you. I think that everyone is different and one solution won’t work for everyone. There are so many small factors in our health and everyone lives in a different environment. Switching to a MOSTLY vegan diet and adding in the chaste berry and raw chocolate works well for me, but it’s not the solution for everyone.
Thanks for sharing and I hope you continue to enjoy a decrease in menstrual symptoms.
Best, Laurel