During menstruation, resistance decreases and emotions are prone to fluctuation. Some people may experience symptoms such as poor appetite, lower back pain, and fatigue.
Due to menstrual blood loss, especially for those with menorrhagia, each period results in the loss of major components of blood such as plasma protein, iron, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. Therefore, within 1-5 days after menstruation ends, it is advisable to supplement with 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, pork trotters, Gordon Euryale seeds, spinach, longan pulp, carrots, apples, lychee pulp, and cherries.
When experiencing symptoms like poor appetite and lower back pain, the diet should include nutritious, spleen-strengthening, appetite-stimulating, and easily digestible foods, such as jujubes, noodles, and Job's tears congee. To maintain nutritional balance, fresh vegetables and fruits should also be consumed. Food should be fresh, which not only tastes delicious and is easy to absorb but also results in less nutritional destruction.
During the menstrual period, the following dietary points should also be noted.
(1) Avoid raw and cold foods, and prefer warm and hot foods. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that blood flows when it is warm and stagnates when it is cold. Consuming raw and cold foods during menstruation first hinders digestion, and secondly, it can damage the body's yang energy, leading to internal cold. Cold nature is congealing, which can cause poor circulation of menstrual blood, resulting in scanty periods, and even dysmenorrhea. Even during the height of summer, it is not advisable to eat cold drinks during menstruation. The diet during this period should be warm and hot, choosing foods like seaweed, jujubes, sorghum, Job's tears, mutton, and apples, while consuming less of the cool, slippery, and laxative foods such as pears, water chestnuts, water caltrop, winter melon, kale, and hemp seeds.
(2) Avoid sour, spicy, and irritating foods. Women during their period often feel especially tired, with weakened digestive function and poor appetite. Therefore, attention should be paid to a light and easily digestible diet, avoiding overly sour and highly irritating foods such as hawthorn, pickled vegetables, vinegar, chili, mustard, and pepper.
(3) Prevent iron deficiency by combining meat and vegetables. Iron is an essential trace element for 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. Due to significant iron loss during menstruation, it is very important to consume iron-rich foods. Fish, lean meat, animal liver, and animal blood are rich in iron and have high bioavailability, making them easily absorbed and utilized by the body; however, the plant iron found in soybeans and spinach has a lower absorption rate. Therefore, the diet during menstruation should pay attention to combining meat and vegetables, appropriately consuming more animal-based foods to meet the special iron needs of this period.
Pain in the lower abdomen or radiating pain in the waist and legs during or before and after menstruation is called dysmenorrhea. The causes of dysmenorrhea may be due to consuming raw and cold foods, being exposed to cold, or due to qi and blood disharmony with stagnated qi and obstructed blood flow. For those caused by damp-heat accumulation and liver qi stagnation, it is often accompanied by loss of appetite, irritability, fatigue, and a pale complexion. The dietary therapy for this condition should focus on treating the symptoms during an attack, and after the pain subsides and menstruation ends, prevention should be the focus to achieve better therapeutic and beautifying effects. Several dietary therapy methods are introduced below.
(1) Ginger, Jujube, and Brown Sugar Water
Dried ginger, jujubes, and brown sugar, 30 grams each.
Wash the first two ingredients. Chop the dried ginger and remove the pits from the jujubes. Add brown sugar and simmer. Drink the soup and eat the jujubes.
Has the effect of warming the meridians and dispelling cold. Suitable for cold-type dysmenorrhea and chloasma.
(2) Hawthorn and Cinnamon Brown Sugar Soup
15 grams of hawthorn pulp, 5 grams of cinnamon, 30 grams of brown sugar.
Place the hawthorn pulp and cinnamon in a clay pot, add 2 bowls of water, and simmer over low heat until it reduces to 1 bowl. Add brown sugar, mix well, and bring to a boil.
Has the effect of warming the meridians, promoting circulation, resolving stasis, and relieving pain. Suitable for women with cold-type dysmenorrhea and a sallow complexion.
(3) Chive Juice and Brown Sugar Drink
300 grams of fresh chives, 100 grams of brown sugar.
Wash the fresh chives, drain, chop, and mash to extract the juice. Place brown sugar in an aluminum pot, add a little water and bring to a boil until the sugar dissolves. Mix in the chive juice and serve.
Has the effect of warming the meridians and tonifying qi. Suitable for qi and blood deficiency-type dysmenorrhea, and can also make the skin rosy and smooth.
(4) Rose Tea
Use rose flowers picked in summer or autumn. The best choice is purplish-red, semi-open buds that do not have scattered petals and have a delicate fragrance. Steep them as tea.
Has the effect of moving qi, activating blood, and moisturizing the skin. Suitable for irregular menstruation, dysmenorrhea, and other related conditions.
(5) Ginger and Job's Tears Congee
10 grams of dried ginger, 10 grams of mugwort leaves, 30 grams of Job's tears.
Decoct the first two ingredients in water to obtain the juice. Cook Job's tears until nearly done, then add the ginger and mugwort juice and cook until fully done.
Has the effect of warming the meridians, resolving stasis, dispelling cold, removing dampness, and moisturizing the skin. Suitable for cold-dampness stagnation-type dysmenorrhea.
(6) Dark Plum and Brown Sugar Drink
15 grams of dark plum, 30 grams of brown sugar.
Place the dark plum and brown sugar in a pot, add 1.5 bowls of water, and simmer until it reduces to slightly more than half a bowl. Remove the dregs and serve warm.
Has the effect of nourishing blood to stop bleeding and beautify the skin. Suitable for adolescent menorrhagia or functional uterine bleeding.