Why Do I Want Sweets During PMS?

Any woman knows that at a certain time of the month, she has an overwhelming desire to eat all the sweets, chocolates and cookies. Even if she doesn’t have a particular love for sweets. First of all, it helps to improve the mood and not to yell at anyone for no reason. Why is there a craving for sweets during menstruation? Let's try to figure it out.

Why do I want to eat so much during PMS?
The appetite and the amount of food eaten varies depending on the phase of the cycle since the sex hormones are directly involved in the metabolism and regulate feelings of hunger. The hunger which occurs on the eve of the menstrual cycle is actually related to the first-born instinct. During ovulation, the body begins to prepare for a potential pregnancy. It requires reserves of nutrients and we often want to eat high-calorie foods.

In the female body, hormones work in cycles. The pituitary begins to work after the menstruation, activating the ovaries to mature the eggs. By the middle of the cycle, estrogen (the main female hormone) is actively produced. This is the brightest time for a woman, the peak of sexual activity and attractiveness. A dominant follicle appears in the second phase of the cycle. Progesterone (the hormone of motherhood) is produced. Calmness and some sluggishness occur during this period.

The peak of changes before the menstruation is like despair about a non-occurring pregnancy and the absence of a placenta with additional hormones. This is the most critical time for the emotional state. Mood and taste swings, tearfulness, irritability, and swelling influenced women’s behavior. Therefore, the body requires sweets as a source of easily digestible energy sources.

The time, duration and severity of hormone deficiency in the body depend on the timely response of other systems:

the adrenal glands,
the thyroid gland
the pituitary
hypothalamus.

If the woman has a shortage of other systems, the PMS flows with obvious mood swings.

Hormone levels change in different phases of the menstrual cycle. During the first phase when the production of the hormone estrogen increases, the woman feels great. In the second phase, the level of estrogen decreases. A woman’s mood and well-being deteriorates and her appetite increases. This condition can be explained by several reasons:

An increased level of progesterone provokes an escalation in the production of adrenaline and noradrenaline. They enhance the secretion of gastric juice. Food is digested in a shorter period.
In the second phase of the menstrual cycle, the substance that regulates blood sugar (insulin) is produced in a smaller amount. Our body compensates for the lack of sugar from sweets, cookies, and cakes.
The desire to constantly eat all kinds of sweets is the possibility of pregnancy. The body receives a signal about the need for the accumulation of nutrients and the woman feels an increased appetite before the menstrual cycle.

Menstruation may be delayed for several days. If it is late for more than a week, you should contact your gynecologist as soon as possible. And yet pregnancy is only one item on the list of causes of a missed period.

What to do?
Include iron-rich foods into your diet. Red meat, fish or greenery will replenish the iron that you have lost before menstruation. If you ate just an hour ago and face intolerable hunger again, wait 20 minutes. Perhaps the feeling of hunger will disappear. If not, do not torture yourself and try to eat healthy food.

Do not limit yourself. This is the body’s natural need for energy whether you like it or not. You can simply increase your calorie intake during the PMS period. Try to replace sweets with something more useful like fruits. Give preference to dark chocolate. Minimize salty foods during the period of PMS. It only intensifies swelling by retaining water in the body.