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Is Chocolate A Healthy Diet For Women And Menstruators For Painful Periods?

Written By: Tasneem Akbari Kutubuddin
November 17, 2021

Highlights

  • Chocolate is a delicious treat that can also be a healthy diet for women during their periods.
  • Surprisingly, chocolate has properties that are beneficial to the female reproductive system.
  • Chocolate contains the pain-relieving chemicals necessary to reduce menstrual cramps and other symptoms.

  • Full Read
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Menstruators who suffer from painful periods and cramps often turn to over-the-counter drugs as a way to alleviate their pain but did you know that chocolate is a delicious treat that can also be a healthy diet for women? In fact, according to a study published in the medical journal Clinical Nursing Research, up to 75% of people report using medications for menstrual pain. But is there another solution?

Surprisingly, chocolate has properties that are beneficial to the female reproductive system. So don’t give up on your favorite dessert just yet!

For those who experience period pain and cramps, chocolate might be the perfect healthy treat to make your day a little bit brighter. The chemicals in chocolate that produce the “happy” effect also happen to counteract the chemical that signals pain and inflammation. Menstruators who suffer from severe menstrual cramps and pain can find relief in chocolate. Chocolate, which contains natural pain relievers, such as the brain chemical serotonin, can counteract the pain of periods for many women.

Are chocolates really the healthy diet for women for painful periods?

Menstruators who suffer from severe menstrual cramps and pain can find relief in chocolate. Chocolate, which contains natural pain relievers, such as the brain chemical serotonin, can counteract the pain of periods for many women. Period pain can affect women’s health in both physical and mental aspects.

Painful periods are a real monthly issue for many menstruators. The pain can last days and is often accompanied by bleeding between periods, discomfort after sex, pelvic cramps, and mood swings. Period onsets seem to be getting earlier for younger menstruators as well. Painful menstrual cycles are a reality for many, but some dark chocolate could be the key to relieving the symptoms of painful periods.

What causes period pain?

It’s not always possible to pinpoint the cause of menstrual pain. A variety of factors can influence how painful a period can be for a menstruator and also other underlying problems may be the cause.

Period pain is typically caused by contractions of the uterus as it expels blood and tissue from the body. The uterus’s contractions can cause cramps and pain. This is more commonly experienced before and during menstruation. The most common symptoms of period pain are abdominal cramps, nausea, and vomiting, diarrhea or constipation and fatigue. When contractions of the uterus cause nausea and vomiting, some women may feel as though they are going to vomit. While this is not always the case, it does happen more often than not.

What are some other treatments and possible solutions for period pain?

There are numerous herbal supplements that can be prescribed by a naturopathic doctor to help treat period cramps. The main ingredients in these herbs include B-vitamins, omega 3 fatty acids, ginger, and chamomile, which can help to relieve cramps by increasing blood flow. In addition to the supplements mentioned, menstruators can also take magnesium, vitamin B6, vitamin C, fish oil, and l-arginine. However, it’s important to speak with your doctor before taking any of these supplements. The pain associated with period cramps can be excruciating, but there are plenty of natural remedies that can help to alleviate the pain.

There are many possible solutions to this problem. Menstruators can try drinking cups of chamomile tea for menstrual pain, taking a hot bath with Epsom salts, eating foods rich in magnesium, eating cheese before bedtime, eating pasture-raised eggs, or bone broth. I have personally tried the magnesium bath, and I find it very soothing.

Is eating chocolate the new, healthy diet for women for pain and cramps?

Chocolate can be a healthy diet for women and menstruators during their periods because it is a healthier and more natural way to treat pain.

The study, which focused on women over 40, found that women with chronic pain were more likely to eat chocolate than those without chronic pain. The study also found that women who ate chocolate had lower levels of inflammatory markers— particularly C-reactive protein—which can be a sign of other health problems. In fact, the only thing the researchers could find that might have explained chocolate’s health benefits was the antioxidants in the chocolate.

“The positive effects of chocolate are thought to be due to its high levels of antioxidant flavonoids,” said one of the study’s authors. “We found that this was indeed the key factor since it reversed some of the negative effects There are various myths surrounding chocolate and its supposedly healthy properties. For instance, many people believe that eating chocolate can help with menstrual cramps and pain. But does it actually work? The answer is not simple, but it is encouraging. Eating a small amount of dark chocolate can improve mood due to the serotonin released into the brain. However, there is no evidence suggesting that this can reduce cramps or pain.

What is chocolate’s effect on your menstrual cycle?

Processed chocolate bar or sweetened desserts are full of sugar, dairy, fats, and cocoa butter. A single bar has around six grams of sugar, which is the same amount that might be found in a serving of white pasta (remember, half an ounce). More importantly, the wrong chocolate or an unhealthy chocolate dessert can actually make your menstrual cramps worse for this reason. The theobromine, which is found in chocolate, acts as a muscle relaxant to reduce pain. So another problem with this is that it can also cause you to lose muscle tone in the uterus and pelvic floor.

Better than salt and pepper: how does it work?

The chocolate-as-panacea narrative is old, but it’s no less popular. It’s likely to be upsetting for women with painful periods who have been told since they were children that chocolate is good or bad for them depending on the time of the month. Chocolate has its benefits, but it also carries some risks, primarily in the form of weight gain and tooth decay. An excess of anything is always bad. Moderation is key and dark chocolate which has a higher percentage of cocoa is the better alternative and not the milk-based sugary ones. 

For more on menstrual health and a healthy diet for women by Infano, click here.

healthy diet for womenperiod painPeriods

Tasneem Akbari Kutubuddin

Tasneem Akbari Kutubuddin has done her masters in Journalism & Communication and has worked as a senior journalist, editor and columnist for leading publications like The Logical Indian, Deccan Chronicle, Worldwide Media Corporation, The Bridge and Provoke.
With Infano, she hopes to create more awareness about women’s health issues. Suffering with Fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition, she has also been advocating for its awareness through media.

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Infano Care

Pregnancy Blogs 2021: Getting Pregnant When You Have PCOS

Written By: Tasneem Akbari Kutubuddin
August 24, 2021 | 02:59 PM |
1,767

Highlights

  • PCOS does not mean infertility.
  • The four types of PCOS.
  • Exercising regularly, eliminating gluten and sugar works wonders.
  • Stopped using paraben, sulfate-loaded cosmetic, bath, and cleaning products as they disrupt the endocrine glands causing hormone imbalance.
  • Seed cycling is another tool for getting your cycle back on track, balancing your hormones.
  • Quick Read
  • Full Read

Pregnancy Blogs 2021: Types of PCOS

Different types of PCOS also have different symptoms – not all women with PCOS are overweight, or not everyone may get acne or facial hair. This may delay diagnosis and proper treatment. But irregular cycles and missing period affect all women with PCOS and is the most important symptom no matter which type of PCOS is present. To treat PCOS, you need to know the different types of PCOS and identify them. It is also possible that you may have more than 1 type of PCOS.

Inflammatory PCOS

Exercising regularly, eliminating gluten and sugar from my diets has worked wonders by controlling the inflammation in my body and also my blood sugar. I have stopped using paraben, sulfate-loaded cosmetic, bath, and cleaning products as they disrupt the endocrine glands causing hormone imbalance. Seed cycling is another tool for getting your cycle back on track, balancing your hormones Seed cycling is the rotation of different edible seeds into the diet at different times in the menstrual cycle. Consuming this on a regular basis has helped me get my periods on track. Once my periods got regular, I have reduced PMS and cramps, and also the periods are shorter than my usual seven-day cycle. This is a great fix for hormone imbalance, PCOD, and menopause symptoms.

Insulin resistant PCOS

Insulin resistance means having high insulin. The best way to test for insulin resistance is to measure the hormone insulin (not glucose). The treatment of insulin-resistant PCOS is to reverse insulin resistance with diet, exercise, and supplements like magnesium and inositol.

Adrenal PCOS

If DHEA-S is high androgen this can indicate an adrenal type of PCOS.  DHEA-S is an adrenal androgen (testosterone is produced in the ovaries). Adrenal PCOS is not driven by insulin resistance or inflammation. Instead, it’s an abnormal response to stress. Treatments include stress reduction, magnesium, and vitamin B5.

Post-pill PCOS

When getting off birth control pills, you can experience a surge in androgens on called post-pill PCOS.  This is developed due to the pills which suppress ovulation. For most women, these effects do not last long and they resume ovulating after the effect of the pill is over. This can be treated with a healthy diet and lifestyle as well.

 

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As a part of our Pregnancy Blogs 2021, let’s talk about the difficulties couples can have with conception if the partner is suffering from PCOS.

PCOS does not mean infertility. Infertility itself is due to many reasons and PCOS is probably just one of them. But PCOS does not mean you cannot get pregnant. Many doctors are quick to prescribe birth control pills but frankly, this just ends up messing the entire hormone system and the period which you get with a pill is not even a real bleed.

I was diagnosed with PCOS in my teens and my gynecologist gave me hormone pills to induce my menstrual cycles. She told me it is not a problem unless you have difficulty in conception. Luckily, I had no difficulty conceiving my first child but after 3 years of my first baby, my periods suddenly stopped altogether. It had been ten months since I got my period. I had some spotting now and then but no bleeding.

A visit to my OB/GYN ran a series of tests. She told me my PCOS had flared and I may not able to conceive again. I was shocked because I never expected this. And I was put on treatment which included birth control pills to regularize periods, a medication called metformin to prevent diabetes, and exercise to stop weight gain. Luckily I had regular menstrual cycles in a few months and conceived my second baby naturally.

I have gone that road but then side effects started presenting- weight gain, bloating, fatigue, body pains, mood swings, period cramps, inflammation, and PMDD or Post Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder (a type of PMS which causes depression). I didn’t want to get back on any hormone or birth control pills as they gave me a lot of breast pain and mood swings.

Today, my PCOS is in check. All it takes is to identify the type of PCOS that you are suffering from and learn to manage it and bring it under control with a lot of lifestyle changes and this is not a one-time thing. Natural ovulation and a healthy period is key to good fertility and this is what increases the chance of conception. So while on a PCOS journey, the aim should be to improve the overall hormone health, induce natural ovulation, and menstrual cycle.

Pregnancy Blogs 2021: Types of PCOS


There are 4 types of PCOS and knowing which type you have is important to choose the right management protocol. Each type of PCOS can be managed with the right treatments and lifestyle changes. Some of these treatments only work for some women some of the time.

  • types of pcos

Different types of PCOS also have different symptoms – not all women with PCOS are overweight, or not everyone may get acne or facial hair. This may delay diagnosis and proper treatment. But irregular cycles and missing period affect all women with PCOS and is the most important symptom no matter which type of PCOS is present. To treat PCOS, you need to know the different types of PCOS and identify them. It is also possible that you may have more than 1 type of PCOS.

Inflammatory PCOS

Exercising regularly, eliminating gluten and sugar from my diets has worked wonders by controlling the inflammation in my body and also my blood sugar. I have stopped using paraben, sulfate-loaded cosmetic, bath, and cleaning products as they disrupt the endocrine glands causing hormone imbalance. Seed cycling is another tool for getting your cycle back on track, balancing your hormones Seed cycling is the rotation of different edible seeds into the diet at different times in the menstrual cycle. Consuming this on a regular basis has helped me get my periods on track. Once my periods got regular, I have reduced PMS and cramps, and also the periods are shorter than my usual seven-day cycle. This is a great fix for hormone imbalance, PCOD, and menopause symptoms.

Insulin resistant PCOS

Insulin resistance means having high insulin. The best way to test for insulin resistance is to measure the hormone insulin (not glucose). The treatment of insulin-resistant PCOS is to reverse insulin resistance with diet, exercise, and supplements like magnesium and inositol.

Adrenal PCOS

If DHEA-S is high androgen this can indicate an adrenal type of PCOS.  DHEA-S is an adrenal androgen (testosterone is produced in the ovaries). Adrenal PCOS is not driven by insulin resistance or inflammation. Instead, it’s an abnormal response to stress. Treatments include stress reduction, magnesium, and vitamin B5.

Post-pill PCOS

When getting off birth control pills, you can experience a surge in androgens on called post-pill PCOS.  This is developed due to the pills which suppress ovulation. For most women, these effects do not last long and they resume ovulating after the effect of the pill is over. This can be treated with a healthy diet and lifestyle as well.

I had Insulin resistant PCOS. Exercising regularly, eliminating gluten and sugar from my diets has worked wonders by controlling the inflammation in my body and also my blood sugar. I have stopped using paraben, sulfate-loaded cosmetic, bath, and cleaning products as they disrupt the endocrine glands causing hormone imbalance. Seed cycling is another tool for getting your cycle back on track, balancing your hormones. Seed cycling is the rotation of different edible seeds into the diet at different times in the menstrual cycle. Consuming this on a regular basis has helped me get my periods on track. Once my periods got regular, I have reduced PMS and cramps, and also the periods are shorter than my usual seven-day cycle. This is a great fix for hormone imbalance, PCOD, and menopause symptoms.

Medical Treatments For PCOS

  • Medications: Doctor might prescribe medicine to help with ovulation.
  • In vitro fertilization (IVF) may be an option if medicine does not work. IVF has higher pregnancy rates
  • Surgery: Surgery is done only when the other options do not work. The outer shell (called the cortex) of ovaries is thickened in women with PCOS and thought to play a role in preventing spontaneous ovulation. Ovarian drilling is a surgery in which the doctor makes a few holes in the surface of your ovary using lasers or a fine needle heated with electricity. Surgery usually restores ovulation, but only for 6 to 8 months. Source: womenshealth.gov

To read more Pregnancy Blogs 2021 by Infano click here.

PCODplanning a pregnancypregnancypregnancy blogs

Tasneem Akbari Kutubuddin

Tasneem Akbari Kutubuddin has done her masters in Journalism & Communication and has worked as a senior journalist, editor and columnist for leading publications like The Logical Indian, Deccan Chronicle, Worldwide Media Corporation, The Bridge and Provoke.
With Infano, she hopes to create more awareness about women’s health issues. Suffering with Fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition, she has also been advocating for its awareness through media.

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