Tips for PMS

We want you to think of your PMS period as you trying to be a parent to your little child. You are both the parent and the child.

The child is tired, hungry and is currently acting out. The child means no harm whatsoever to the people around them but they're acting out because they want their needs met.

You, as the parent, can either ignore those needs and deal with this annoying child acting out at every opportunity (talking back, being negative etc.) or you can tend to their needs and make sure they're protected and cared for in this particularly fragile moment.

Would you bring your child to a noisy party right now? Or would you let it sleep and eat in peace? Would you overwhelm your child with work, knowing that they're tired and their attitude probably can't deal with too much right now?

This is how to care of yourself during PMS and find balance!

Take things SLOW: you want to create an environment in which you're not overwhelmed by social outings, public appearances, too many meetings, travelling etc. Your energy levels right now are pretty low and your estrogen and progesterone are plunging. You physically cannot take on too much and if you do, something else has to give!

Plan less outings and more evenings at home, try to take your "remote" work days during this phase and have "no screen time" for a few hours.

Eat, Eat, EAT! You might naturally feel hungrier during this phase, it is so important that you let yourself eat as much as your body needs. Please, please, please do not restrict your eating or monitor your caloric intake! You can definitely make sure you eat RIGHT (incorporating nutrients such as healthy fats, slow cooked foods, root veggies and more protein), but not "less". While we're at it, this is the time to have that indulgent shakshuka breakfast you saw on tik tok.

Watch out for inflammatory foods: it could be different for everyone but generally Coffee is not great if you have PMS, try to switch to tea or ginger shots in the morning (especially before eating). Another food to look out for is sugar, although dark chocolate is a must, try to avoid too many sugary food

Exercise: again, this is the time to take things a little slower. Swap that HIIT workout with a yoga or pilates class. One of our fav PMDD yoga instructors Melissa has some great content on this. Alternatively, if you don't feel like your body can handle exercise, that's also completely fine. Try to incorporate some slow movement like going for a walk in a park, dancing in your room or stretching.

Mindfulness: this is the time to focus inward, what is currently bothering you? Let yourself reflect, journal and heal during this phase, however you prefer to do it is fine! Make sure that you take potential negative thoughts with a pinch of salt and remember that it might be because of your hormones!

KEEP AN EYE OUT - we're going to be posting exercises and recipes for PMS soon!