Diet taboos during menstruation

First, let me directly give you the core conclusion that everyone is most concerned about: There has never been an "iron rule" for menstrual diet that is suitable for all women. Currently, evidence-based medicine has confirmed that there are only three types of food that are likely to aggravate menstrual discomfort: excessive alcohol, excessive intake of ice drinks at one time, and eating too many processed foods high in sugar, oil and salt in a short period of time. The rest of the "can't eat mangoes", "can't touch coffee" and "can't eat crabs" spread on the Internet are all based on experiences that vary from person to person. Whether you should avoid it or not depends on whether you feel comfortable after eating it.

Are you a little confused to hear me say this? After all, ever since you were little, whether it’s your mother’s words or online health posts, you’ve always been given a taboo list of one, two, three, and four. It seems that if you take a bite of ice, you’ll suffer from gynecological diseases for the rest of your life. In fact, it’s really not the case.

Take the most controversial ice drink as an example. From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, it is indeed recommended to avoid cold drinks during menstruation. The main reason is that in the past, people generally had average nutritional conditions, and many people had weak and cold constitutions. When low-temperature food enters the body, it will stimulate gastrointestinal contraction, and together with the contraction of uterine smooth muscle, aggravate dysmenorrhea. But it may not be applicable now. I met a girl from the Northeast in 1998 a while ago. In winter, my aunt was still buying ice popsicles downstairs to chew on. When I asked her if it hurt, she was stunned for a long time and said, "I never know what dysmenorrhea feels like." On the other hand, another friend of mine in Hangzhou, not to mention ice, even drinking orange juice at room temperature will hurt for half an hour. In this case, if you let her touch ice, aren't you just looking for trouble? Current research also makes it very clear that the core of the impact of ice drinks on menstruation is the vasoconstriction reaction. If you secrete more prostaglandins than others, and your uterine blood vessels are prone to spasm and pain when the uterine blood vessels contract, then you should touch less ice. If you are usually strong, eating ice will be fine. There is no need to endure that mouthful of ice cream in the summer for the sake of "health".

Regarding the issue of alcohol, the views of both sides are relatively consistent. Both Chinese and Western medicine do not recommend drinking too much during menstruation. Alcohol dilates blood vessels, which causes bleeding during menstruation. Drinking too much can easily lead to heavy menstruation and prolonged menstruation. Many people also suffer from migraines during menstruation. Alcohol can aggravate the dilation of cerebral blood vessels, and the pain can be fatal. But it doesn’t mean that one sip will do anything. During the last company team building, my colleague came to visit my aunt. It happened that the project she had been following for half a year was completed that day. She happily took two sips of mulled wine and nothing happened. As long as she didn’t get drunk every now and then, there was no need to label herself as “not caring about the body”.

However, many people tend to ignore the impact of foods high in sugar, oil and salt. After all, I always want to eat something heavy and sweet during my menstrual period. I was like this myself before. Every time I came here, my aunt's first reaction was to order milk tea with full sugar and fried chicken. As a result, I felt good for half an hour after eating it. After that, I felt flustered all afternoon and my face was swollen like a steamed bun. Later I found out that high sugar caused blood sugar to fluctuate too much, and high salt aggravated water and sodium retention. But that doesn’t mean you can’t touch it at all. If you’re really so greedy that you’re drooling, just take a few bites to relieve your addiction. Don’t show off a whole box of tiramisu with the mentality of “you won’t gain weight if you eat during menstruation”. If nothing else, gaining weight is real, and acne is also real.

Let’s talk about those “pseudo-taboos” that are so popular, such as mango to stop bleeding? I personally tested it myself. After taking DaTainong for three consecutive days during menstruation, my menstrual flow was not reduced at all. On the contrary, because I supplemented with enough vitamin C, the ulcer on my mouth was cured. There is also talk about not drinking coffee. I have an editor friend who drinks two cups of Americano a day as standard. If he stops drinking during menstruation, his headaches will be worse than menstrual cramps. I asked a gynecologist and he said that as long as the daily caffeine intake does not exceed 300mg (about the amount of two medium cups of Americano), it is completely fine. In fact, it can relieve headaches and fatigue during menstruation. As for why you shouldn’t eat hawthorns or crabs, that’s even more unreasonable. If you usually get diarrhea after eating crabs, don’t eat them at any time. It’s okay to eat three crabs at ordinary times. But why can’t you eat one or two during menstruation?

In the five or six years I have been doing women's health science, I have seen the most exaggerated girls. During menstruation, they did not even dare to touch warm strawberries, saying that the fruit was "cooling". As a result, they were constipated for three days. The abdominal pressure was too high when squatting on the toilet, and they cried in pain. It was completely unnecessary. Some people also ask me if I can eat spicy food during my period. I always ask, does eating spicy food give you stomachache and diarrhea? If you don’t know how to eat it, just eat it. If you know how to eat it, don’t eat it. It’s that simple.

In fact, after all, the so-called dietary taboos during menstruation are essentially "don't have trouble with your body." You don't need to check the list one by one on the Internet, and you don't have to listen to others saying "If you don't eat taboos now, you will know you are wrong when you get older."