Nutrition and medicinal herbs for painful periods

There are all kinds of foods that you could use for menstrual problems. You can choose from the offer yourself; there is always a number of medicinal herbs that you like better than others. You can check for yourself whether it works. You can also mix some herbs for a herbal mix against painful periods. You usually drink a cup of tea from a medicinal herb. You can choose to add the herbs to your food. Healthy food and herbs can make it easier to have your period. Hopefully it will prevent you from having to spend a day on the couch once every four weeks. NB! This article is written from the personal view of the author and may contain information that is not scientifically substantiated and/or in line with the general view.

Contents:

• Benefits of food as medicine
• Table of nutrition and medicinal plants for painful or absent menstruation
• Why are you hungry for something?
• Cooking with medicinal herbs
• Sweet herbs
• The miracle called celeriac
• Emmenagogue

Benefits of food as medicine

Inadequate and painful menstruation or the absence of menstruation can be counteracted with food that promotes menstruation. It may seem strange to some people that food has medicinal qualities, but that is not the case. The transition between food plants and medicinal plants is very gradual. Some medicinal plants are even medicinal vegetables such as celeriac. You would do well to read the article for the plant in question. There may be things in it that apply to you. To give an example: if you suffer from both candida and painful periods, it is best to drink star anise tea as it helps against both ailments. Another example is parsley, this herb contains a lot of iron. If you suffer from anemia, it is always a smart idea to eat parsley, and this herb also works for painful periods. The advantage of nutrition is that you do not have to be shy with the dosage; it is 100% safe. Make your own recipe for parsley soup with two ounces of parsley as a base!

Table of nutrition and medicinal plants for painful or absent menstruation

Power supply		Medicinal herbs
Sage	Dragon	Yohimbe	Redi katun	Damienblad	Chinese angelica	Smooth pearlwort
Calendula or marigold	Star anise	Greater celandine	American snowball	Devil’s Claw	Gelderland rose	Thuja or western tree of life
Rue	Marjoram	Angelica	Saffron	Wild man’s herb	Guarana	Mugwort
Ginger	Cinnamon	Kwasibita	Monks pepper	Field screen or khella	Cypress	Aloe vera
Parsley	Dill	Japanese knotweed	Feverfew	Sweet woodruff	Small beavernel	Caulophyllum
Verbena	Mint	Clary sage	Potency wood	Middle evening primrose	Greek alant
Celeriac		Heart strain	Smelly ballot	tansy	Chinese foxglove

Why are you hungry for something?

You crave something because your body is crying out for nutrients. Sometimes you find a herb extra tasty. That’s not easy. People, and especially women because they can ‘feel’ better than most men for all kinds of reasons, have the tendency to like vegetables and herbs better if it suits them well; that is, if the medicinal aspects provide benefit. The body decides via the taste buds which herbs and vegetables you should eat better by finding them tastier. An example of this is a woman who suddenly had a strong craving for beets during her pregnancy. That is the body’s cry for beets; During pregnancy, a woman must eat extra healthy to give the child a good start. Beets contain all kinds of minerals, which makes this vegetable good for building up the blood. Eating beets prevents you from getting anemia. Therefore, listen to your body and try to exclude from your diet the things you eat because they are an addiction, such as sweets and chips. These nutrient-free fillings cloud people’s good feelings.

Cooking with medicinal herbs

Be creative when using the herbs. Not only making tea is an option; you can use the herbs for dishes. Some women love ginger and eat a jar of ginger pickled in sugar in one sitting. If that offers the solution for you, there is nothing wrong with that! You can chop fresh ginger very finely and fry it with an onion, so that it can be added to a vegetable dish. This way you can use ginger in food. You can also use all kinds of herbs to add to soups and salads. You can also sprinkle potatoes with dill, tarragon, verbena, marjoram or sage. Calendula is included in these food types because the leaves are edible as an alternative vegetable. You can plant calendula in your garden and it will look beautiful. But it also produces a beautiful medicinal herb!

Sweet herbs

Star anise and cinnamon are traditionally somewhat sweet spices. You can combine these two herbs for a delicious tea. Add some ginger, black pepper and fenugreek seeds and milk and you have made a delicious chai that also has medicinal properties.

The miracle called celeriac

Celeriac is a beautiful vegetable. You can cook and puree the vegetables to make a kind of bread spread. You can supplement this puree with herbs such as parsley, dill and verbena to give extra flavor and medicinal properties to herbs. You can also fry celeriac and use it as a substitute for potatoes. Celeriac is a cheap and super healthy vegetable with which you can vary widely! We have only known potatoes for 300 years in the Netherlands and Belgium, before that people ate celeriac much more often, and they were right.

Emmenagogue

The medicinal plants mentioned in the table above have the similar characteristic that they are emmenagogue, the medical term for menstruation promoting. Women can use these plants if they have irregular or painful periods. Usually the qualifications go together irregularly or absently and painfully. You can buy the medicinal herbs in this table from a herbalist, but some are easy to pick in the Netherlands. However, it is wise to only use medicinal herbs medicinally in consultation with a naturopath, herbal therapist or homeopath. A regular hius doctor has no knowledge of medicinal plants.