HEALTHY LIFESTYLE · JULY 2017
TOOL 3: CLEAN UP
YOUR DIET!
Stop your intake of refined
sugars, refined carbs, non-
hormone free meats and dairy,
and try to eat organic as often
as possible. Why? Pesticides
exacerbate this issue. Alcohol
counts as sugar! It also prevents
your body from excreting excess
estrogen. And if this sounds
crazy to you – then do it for at
least the week before you get
your period.
Eat organic animal products to
avoid environmental estrogens
from hormones and pesticides.
Cut out caffeine, stop drinking
alcohol - at least a week before
you PMS and during your cycle.
Balance your blood sugar by
eating protein, and eat more
omega 3’s. Because we get an
excess of omegas 6’s in corn
and everything uses corn oils,
our bodies are out of whack.
We need the other omega 3’s –
specifically EPA and DHA – mostly the EPA. So aim
to take 1000 mg of EPA a day and 500 of DHA.
That’s what I take anyway.
TOOL 4: SUPPLEMENTS!
Take supplements to help your regular metabolism
and your hormonal metabolism. This is a link to
a doctor’s website – Dr. Hyman, no less! Basically,
that site is where the majority of this research
comes from, where he lists more supplements. I
will only list the ones I personally use:
• EPA and DHA – Omega 3 fatty acids. Make
sure you’re buying molecularly-distilled. I buy
the Nordic Naturals Brand, and I take 1,000
mg of EPA and 500 mg of DHA a day. This is
also great for depression!
• Vitex Chastberry, this also helps your cycle
become more regular, which helps is you’re
trying to conceive!
• B6 and B12. All the sources matter so choose
a good brand that’s organic and not derived
from a construction site. I recommend
Garden of Life and Now Naturals.
TOOL 5: TACKLE YOUR STRESS
AND ANY DEPRESSION.
Just like you want to get your body moving,
you want to release your stress, so things like
meditation, yoga, breathing, hiking, laughing,
cooking, nature…do whatever works for you to get
your balance in mental awareness, back. PMS can
also aggravate underlying depression so consider
seeing a therapist and get lots of suns and take
your fish oil!
….And because family and friends are the greatest
casualties of PMS, here are a few ways to warn
them during and before they are injured. Basically,
put your symptoms in the box that separates them 50% mark, you must wait to bring it up til you are
in a calm state. OR give it at least 12 hours. Write
from your personality.
everything you want to say in full form, in an email
and send it to yourself.
TOOL 6: COVER IT WITH
WARNING LABELS!
If you are in a rage state, make sure to cover it
somewhere with your warning: also I am super
cranky! You might want to get out of here because
I’m super hormonal. Another way to remember
this is narration about the state you’re in. As best
you can.
TOOL 7: SOFTEN THE BLOW.
Basically, take some pragmatic steps toward
slowing down your communications. Sometimes
things come out less intensely if you type them
(just because you are not using volume), so for
example, try emailing things when you’re PMS-
ing. If you can create a delay for yourself – I
use Boomerang, this sends my emails out in 10
minutes or an hour. This means I can edit things I
know are too mean. Ask yourself when reviewing
emails: Is this something I can say, tomorrow?
Alternately you can tell someone else to tell a
person, for you. Basically, give yourself a buffer of
any shape or form.
TOOL 8: THE RATIONAL SCALE
OF EXTREMITY.
This is good to use when you’re hyper-emotional
and can’t literally tell if you should be mad or not.
Draw a line on a piece of paper. Make notches
from 1 to 10. Write down the worst thing you
can imagine that would enrage you at 10, then
write the mildest thing you can imagine at 1. For
example, “Giving me a weak handshake.” All the
way to, “Cheating on me.” When you look at this
list, where does this thing fall? If it’s below the
22 HEALTHY MAGAZINE
IN CLOSING…
It is worth changing your diet habits before
moving on to medical therapies because you are
less likely to have side effects. I suggest you try
alternative therapies and try them in combinations
before you go on any meds – mainly because you
have to take the meds forever and the results, in
my humble opinion, are vague at best. Why not try
something like acupuncture, first? Also suggested
in my research were homeopathic treatments,
which I myself, have never tried. But for now, keep
it simple! Try to eat more fruits, vegetables, and
whole grains the week before your period. And
get lots of exercise and rest. Cut down on your
exposure to toxins of all kinds including herbicides,
plastics, bleaches and bleached products, solvents,
etc. And above all, try to let go of the shame and
guilt – remind yourself you are a good person,
coming from love and trying your best in the midst
of a chemical storm.
I wanted to include links to helpful resources in
one spot:
The clue is an app/period tracker that a few ladies
sent me after the podcast went live. I haven’t
tried it myself, but it seems rad! Also, a listener
recommended baths with lavender.
Smile lovely friends! XOX
By Sarah May Bates