Do you know what exactly superfoods are? And what can they do for your menstrual health? There are still many doubts about the properties of these foods so rich in many nutrients, and for this reason we want to answer all our questions. 
In this article we spoke with Marta León, a chemical engineer specializing in women’s nutrition and hormonal health, and author of the book ‘Feminine Food and Health’, to learn about the benefits of superfoods in the menstrual cycle. You dare? Do not lose detail!
The importance of a good diet in the menstrual cycle
- Before getting fully into the multiple benefits of superfoods in menstruation, before and after it, it is necessary to dwell on the essentials of a good diet for women’s health, in this case for menstrual health. The specialist tells us that the menstrual cycle must be taken care of in a special way, but what is the reason?
- It’s simple, because ” food and a lifestyle that is unhealthy or according to our needs,” Marta tells us, “can lead us to changes, alterations, or imbalances in our menstrual cycle.” Sometimes, eating an unbalanced diet can cause us to have an iron deficit, healthy fats… “or even weight loss”, something quite negative for menstrual health.
- So, any of these situations can lead us to imbalances in menstrual health, in cycles. “For example, we can have changes in the bleeding pattern, or start menstruating less or differently, or even have anovulatory cycles, when ovulation disappears or the cycle stops,” Marta tells us. For this reason, we can conclude that “disturbances or imbalances in the cycle can be related by an infinite number of circumstances, and one of them is also an imbalance in the diet “.
The relationship of superfoods and the menstrual cycle: know its advantages
- To talk about superfoods, we must start at the beginning: what exactly are superfoods? Marta León tells us that they are “foods that have certain nutrients in high doses “. That is why they are so fashionable, because they are usually very antioxidant and usually have high doses of vitamin C among many other things.
- “There are superfoods that interest us throughout the cycle,” he tells us, “one of them that is not so fashionable but that we all have in a Mediterranean diet is parsley.” According to Marta, parsley is a superfood rich in vitamin C and iron. Therefore, “it will provide us with just those two nutrients that are important in the menstrual cycle, for example to try to counteract the effect of very heavy periods.”
- All superfoods (such as wheatgrass, green leaves…) are interesting because they provide us with those nutrients that help “replenish if you have very heavy bleeding, a tendency to anemia, tiredness or exhaustion in the menstrual phase “, tells us the specialist.
- In addition, in her aforementioned book, we can find many other very interesting superfoods to nourish the menstrual cycle. Among them we can talk about broccoli, alfalfa or turmeric, the latter being the most used anti-inflammatory even as an alternative to medications during menstrual pain. Other superfoods that we should know are ginger, black cumin or mustard seeds.
