When that lovely time of the month comes, and mother nature lands the 5-7 days of death on me... my daily healthy eating habits fly out the window, and I say HELLO TO ALL THE CHOCOLATE I CAN GET MY HANDS ON!
As you know, I eat really healthy on a daily basis packing in the protein and getting a balanced diet of fruit and veggies.
BUT when the 5-7 days of deadly pain come, my cravings go out of control.
I kid you not, a few months ago I remember eating:
A chocolate brownie with raw doughboy chocolate chip cookie dough on top, crumbled Oreos sprinkled on top of that, a side of chocolate fudge Ben and Jerry's ice cream topped with caramel sauce... for lunch. I won't even mention what I had for dinner!
Needless to say, during that time of the month our hormones go out of control we kick the words "fruit, veggies and salad" out of our dictionaries for a few days.
SO, I've decided to do a bit of research to see if there are any ways to CONTROL OUR CRAVINGS!
Here's what I found :)
1.) Drink Water First
If you CAN'T live with out chocolate everything like me, drink an ENTIRE glass of water before you eat it. Drinking water will not only hydrate you, it will also fill you up a bit so that you won't consume as many sweets as you would have otherwise.
2.) Exercise!
Girls Girls Girls... you don't have to tell me about your cramps. I am the QUEEN of cramps, my grandma had really bad cramps, my mom had really bad cramps, and now I have REALLY BAD CRAMPS. It's hereditary, but I'll live. So trust me when I say I know what it feels like to not want to exercise on your period.
BUT, I also know that if you pull yourself together and do even a mini-workout it will cause your body to not crave the sweets as much! Even a brisk jog around your neighbor hood will do the trick :)
Staying active during your period will undoubtably curve the cravings!
3.) Fill yourself up with other foods!
Obviously you won't JUST be eating chocolate for 5-7 days straight, so for your other meals eat a bit more (especially since you're more hungry than usual) to fill you up. This will leave less space for the unhealthy foods that you would normally be craving!
4.) Substitute out the sweets!
Yes, I know you naturally crave chocolate as your "go-to" sweets, but try substituting out a healthier sweet!
Try eating:
- Chocolate covered strawberries
- Nutella and bananas on whole wheat toast
- Apples dipped in a bit of caramel
- Sorbet or Frozen yogurt instead of Ice Cream
Don't give up, don't give in!!!
If you even try just ONE of these 4 steps, that will be better than before! Baby steps :)
Remember, if you're eating healthy the other 24 days of the month, those 5-7 days won't kill you :)
Xox Brittany,
