Edited to remove personal comments: Anyone have experience with this? I’ve seen infographics on matching foods and types of exercise to your cycle. I’m wondering if anyone knows whether this is based on science or tradition? Any sources you’d recommend to learn more?
Keeping my eye on this…
The one thing that pops in my mind (it isn’t evidence-based; just a hunch) is to eat a diet rich in iron and vitamin C, due to the typical loss of iron (via blood loss) during a period. Vitamin C helps the absorption of iron. And I can get even more ~woo~ with this (again, just a hunch) — a diet rich in the nutrients you are deficient in should help lift your mood.
OK, so that’s my little hypothesis.
But otherwise, keeping an eye on this thread! 🤞👀
Dr. Stacy Sims is a great resource for the relationship between exercise performance and menstrual cycles. She talks a lot about nutrition in that context as well. I believe she’s done a Ted Talk but I don’t have the link handy.
There is a popular theory to reduce exercise right before cycle and gradually increase right after, but I really don’t know the research behind this suggestion.
I have read few research articles supporting anerobic exercise and fiber rich meals, in their ability to improve menstrual cycle symptoms for a good part of the population. A trial in an Australian university is ongoing to compare the effects of probiotic strains against menstrual symptoms based on prior promising research
There was a trial done recently where woman with difficult symptoms were asked to go on a WFPB diet for one of two cycles, with the plan to go back to their previous diet plan (or a different planned diet). Many women refused to change their diet from WFPB and withdrew from the trial after the remarkable difference they saw. Maybe placebo effect, but interesting nonetheless.