This is the best way to eat before and after your period

The best diet before and after menstruation: During the menstrual period, resistance decreases, emotions are prone to fluctuation, and some people may experience poor appetite, lower back pain, fatigue and other symptoms. Therefore, attention should be paid to the diet. So what is the best food to eat before and after the menstrual period? Due to blood loss during menstruation, especially for those with excessive menstruation, each menstrual cycle will cause the loss of main components of blood plasma protein, iron, potassium, calcium, magnesium, etc. Therefore, within 1-5 days after the end of menstruation, it is necessary to supplement protein, minerals, and blood-nourishing foods. Choose foods that have both beautifying and blood-nourishing effects, such as milk, eggs, pigeon eggs, quail eggs, beef, mutton, pig wrist, Chinese yam, spinach, longan meat, carrots, apples, lychee meat, cherries, etc. During the menstrual period, it is also necessary to supplement some foods that are beneficial for "menstrual flow", such as mutton, chicken, red dates, tofu skin, apples, coix seed, milk, brown sugar, longan, etc., which are warm and nourishing foods. When there are symptoms such as poor appetite and lower back pain, the diet should preferably consist of nutrient-rich, spleen-strengthening, stomach-opening, and easily digestible foods, such as red dates, noodles, coix seed porridge, etc. To maintain a balanced nutrition, fresh vegetables and fruits should also be consumed. The food should mainly be fresh, not only fresh and delicious, easy to absorb, but also with less nutrient damage. The best diet before and after menstruation should pay attention to the following points during the menstrual period: (1) Avoid raw and cold foods, prefer warm and hot ones. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that blood flows when it is heated and stagnates when it is cold. Eating raw and cold foods during the menstrual period not only hinders digestion but also easily injures the body's yang energy, leading to internal cold production, cold nature condensation, making menstrual blood flow unsmooth, causing scanty menstruation or even dysmenorrhea. Even in the scorching summer season, cold drinks should not be consumed during the menstrual period. The diet during the menstrual period should be warm and hot, choosing foods like kelp, red dates, sorghum rice, coix seed, mutton, apples, etc., and eating less pear, water chestnut, water caltrop, winter melon, mustard greens, hemp seeds, and other cold and laxative foods. (2) Avoid sour and spicy stimulating foods. Women during the menstrual period feel particularly tired, with weakened digestive function and poor appetite. Therefore, the diet should pay attention to the lightness and ease of digestion and absorption of the food, avoiding overly sour and strongly stimulating foods such as hawthorn, pickled cabbage, vinegar, chili peppers, mustard, pepper, etc. (3) Prevent iron deficiency, balance meat and vegetables. Iron is an essential trace element in the human body. Iron not only participates in the synthesis of hemoglobin and many important enzymes but also plays an important role in immunity, intelligence, aging, and energy metabolism. Since more iron is lost during the menstrual period, it is very important to supplement foods rich in iron. Fish, lean meat, animal liver, animal blood, etc., are rich in iron, and they have high biological activity, making them easy for the human body to absorb and utilize; while soybeans and spinach are rich in plant iron, with lower absorption rates. Therefore, it is necessary to balance meat and vegetable intake in the diet during the menstrual period and consume more animal-based foods appropriately to meet the special needs of iron during the menstrual period. Dysmenorrhea refers to the condition where one experiences lower abdominal pain or pulling waist and leg pain before or during menstruation. The causes of dysmenorrhea may be due to drinking cold water, exposure to cold weather, or imbalance of qi and blood, resulting in obstructed blood circulation. Those caused by damp-heat accumulation and liver depression often accompany symptoms such as poor appetite, irritability, fatigue, and pallor. For this condition, dietary therapy can help. When the symptoms occur, it is advisable to treat the symptoms first, then focus on prevention after the pain has subsided and the menstruation is over to achieve better treatment and beauty results. Here are several dietary therapy methods:

(1) Ginger, Red Dates, and Brown Sugar Water: 30 grams of dried ginger, 30 grams of red dates, and 30 grams of brown sugar. Wash the first two ingredients, cut the dried ginger into fine pieces, remove the core of the red dates, add brown sugar and boil, drink the soup, and eat the red dates. It has the effect of warming the meridians and dispelling cold. Suitable for cold-induced dysmenorrhea and chloasma.

(2) Hawthorn, Cinnamon Twig, and Brown Sugar Soup: 15 grams of hawthorn flesh, 5 grams of cinnamon twig, and 30 grams of brown sugar. Put hawthorn flesh and cinnamon twig in a clay pot, add 2 bowls of clear water, simmer until 1 bowl remains, add brown sugar, mix well, and bring to a boil. It has the effect of warming the meridians, promoting blood circulation, and relieving pain. Suitable for women with cold-induced dysmenorrhea and pale complexion.

(3) Leek Juice and Brown Sugar Drink: 300 grams of fresh leeks and 100 grams of brown sugar. Wash the fresh leeks, drain the water, chop them finely, crush them, and extract the juice for standby. Place the brown sugar in an aluminum pot, add a little water and boil until the sugar dissolves, then mix in the leek juice and drink. It has the effect of warming the meridians and replenishing qi. Suitable for qi and blood deficiency type dysmenorrhea, and can make the skin rosy and smooth.

(4) Rose Tea: Pick rose flowers during summer or autumn, preferably half-open purple-red buds that do not scatter petals and have a fresh fragrance, steep as tea. It has the effect of regulating qi, activating blood, and moisturizing the skin. Suitable for irregular menstruation and dysmenorrhea.

(5) Ginger Juice Coix Seed Porridge: 10 grams of dried ginger, 10 grams of mugwort leaves, and 30 grams of coix seed. Boil the first two ingredients to extract the juice, cook the coix seed porridge until eight-tenths cooked, then add ginger and mugwort juice and continue cooking until fully cooked. It has the effect of warming the meridians, resolving blood stasis, dispelling cold, removing dampness, and moisturizing the skin. Suitable for cold-dampness stagnation type dysmenorrhea.

(6) Plum and Brown Sugar Drink: 15 grams of plums and 30 grams of brown sugar. Place plums and brown sugar in a pot, add 1 and a half bowls of water, boil until three-fourths of the water remains, remove the residue and drink warm. It has the effect of replenishing blood, stopping bleeding, beautifying the complexion. Suitable for excessive menstruation or functional uterine bleeding in young girls.

(7) Black Fungus and Red Date Drink: 30 grams of black fungus and 20 red dates. Wash the black fungus and red dates. Remove the core of the red dates, add water and boil, remove the residue and drink. It has the effect of tonifying the middle energizer, replenishing qi, nourishing blood, stopping bleeding, and beautifying the complexion. Suitable for excessive menstruation and anemia, and physically weak individuals.

(8) Lotus Root Drink: 500 grams each of fresh lotus root, fresh white radish, and fresh herba drynariae. Wash the ingredients, crush them, extract the juice, and drink with an appropriate amount of rock sugar. It has the effect of clearing heat, cooling blood, stopping bleeding, and consolidating menstruation.