How you eat during your period could ease PMS symptoms and boost energy. Discover meals that help you feel stronger and healthier.
Nutrition During Periods
Every day is a good day to take care of your body and eat healthier food. During a period, girls can experience low energy, period fatigue, and other PMS symptoms. This is a good time to start adding foods with specific minerals and vitamins that help you to feel better, healthier, and stronger. In this blog, we will be discussing certain foods that can help ease some of the symptoms and start regaining your energy and strength.
Eating iron-rich foods, especially on days when you are menstruating, is a beneficial idea. Iron is an essential mineral that your body needs to keep producing red blood cells, to make hemoglobin (a protein that carries oxygen and transports carbon dioxide to where it should go), as well as making myoglobin, a protein that provides oxygen to muscles.
Firstly, there are 2 types of iron, heme iron, and nonheme iron. Heme iron is the type found in meat, fish, and other animal proteins, and this type is digested quickly by your body. Next, non-heme iron is found in foods such as grains, veggies, beans, fruits, nuts, and seeds. This type takes your body a little longer to convert into iron and nutrients.
Here is a breakdown of how you should eat during your period: Eat iron-rich foods together with Vitamin C (this vitamin helps to absorb iron more easily). Other vitamins and minerals help: such as magnesium, fiber, probiotics, and lean protein (that will be discussed in further detail in future blogs). Iron is found in certain foods such as beef, spinach, dark leafy greens, eggs, fish (tuna, mackerel, salmon), legumes, lentils, and more. It is also found in fortified milk, kelp, pumpkin seeds, dried prunes, enriched white rice, kidney beans, chickpeas, potatoes baked with skin, and white beans.
For example, your meal schedule could look something like this:
Breakfast: Omelette with spinach and mushrooms with a smoothie of banana, strawberries, and mango.
Lunch: Butternut Squash Kale Quiche with Lentil Soup
Snack: Greek yogurt with pumpkin seeds, berries, and dried fruits.
Dinner: Beefsteak, broccoli, mini baked potatoes with hummus, and peppers with carrots.
Another interesting fact is that if you eat foods rich in Vitamin C together with iron-rich foods, Vitamin C can increase your body’s absorption. These are foods such as specific fruits like oranges, strawberries, mango, and pineapples. Vegetables that also contain Vitamin C are sweet potatoes, red and green peppers, chili peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and kidney beans.
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~ Winter
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
https://www.healthline.com/health/womens-health/what-to-eat-during-period
https://www.healthline.com/health/pregnancy/iron-rich-foods-for-pregnancy#importance-of-iron
https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-Consumer/
https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/hemoglobin-test/about/pac-20385075
https://www.healthline.com/health/pregnancy/iron-rich-foods-for-pregnancy#iron-types