Here’s why science says your PMS cravings are totally fine

Food cravings before your period are the punchline of a lot of jokes. They’re funny because they’re true, like most good jokes.

There are times during a woman’s menstrual cycle when she seems to want chocolate ice cream and potato chips. Every day, my OB/GYN patients talk to me about this.

Researchers have been looking into food cravings for a long time. One of the most often cited studies was done in 1953. Scientists and many other people want to know who gets food cravings and why, what they want, when they want it, and how to stop them. Here are the results of the research.

Hunger and eating before your period

One of the many signs of premenstrual syndrome, or PMS, is a strong desire for food. PMS is most likely caused by changes in hormones and how they affect neurotransmitters, which are chemicals that send messages in the brain. It only shows up in the second half of a woman’s menstrual cycle.

When the egg is released at ovulation, the luteal phase of the cycle begins. It ends when your period starts. Most of the time, the symptoms go away by the third or fourth day of menstruation.

In studies, researchers have found more than 150 different PMS symptoms. These symptoms can be physical, emotional, behavioral, or mental.

Along with mood swings, irritability, anxiety, tension, and feeling sad or depressed, food cravings are one of the most common behavioral PMS symptoms.

A woman doesn’t need to be diagnosed with PMS to say she wants sweets and chocolates. 85% of women have some kind of noticeable premenstrual symptoms, but only 20% to 40% of women meet the diagnostic criteria for PMS.

Researchers have found that normal, healthy women can have cravings before their periods, even if they haven’t been diagnosed with PMS or another disorder.

In fact, one study showed that 97 percent of all women have had food cravings in the past, regardless of when they had their period.

Research shows that women tend to eat more during the luteal phase of their menstrual cycle than during the follicular phase, which is the part of the cycle that leads up to ovulation. Even if you haven’t been told you have PMS, this extra eating can add up to as many as 500 calories per day.

What foods do women tend to want? Carbs, fats, and sugary foods. Not a big surprise. Most people say they want chocolate, which is probably because it tastes good and has both carbs and fat.

Even though women with PMS and women without PMS both have cravings, the cravings themselves may be different depending on whether or not you have PMS.

In one study, women who didn’t have PMS ate more calories and fat, but women who did have PMS ate more calories and all macronutrients.

What makes you want to eat?

Researchers don’t know for sure what causes these food cravings, but there are a few good ideas.

One idea is that women use food unintentionally as a drug-based therapy. Many studies show that women want carbs more when they are in their luteal phase than when they are in their follicular phase.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system that goes up when you eat carbs. This makes you feel better and happier in general.

By eating more carbs, women may be trying to raise their serotonin levels and make themselves feel better. In one study, when researchers increased serotonin neurotransmission in the brain through diet or drugs, people’s eating habits and moods went back to normal.

Another possible reason why women crave food is that they do it on purpose to feel better physically and mentally. Food can make you feel better by taking away the uncomfortable feeling of hunger while making you feel good when you eat.

Researchers have found that the most common thing that makes people want to eat something is “thinking” about it, and that cravings are not always caused by hunger. Women also usually said that they thought of comfort food when they were bored or stressed, which adds to the idea that food can help ease uncomfortable feelings, like those that come with PMS.

Other researchers think that hormones are in charge of these food cravings. Scientists have seen that when estrogen levels are low and progesterone levels are high, like they are during the luteal phase, women tend to eat more.

During the follicular phase, when estrogen levels are high and progesterone levels are low, the opposite pattern is seen in rats.

This idea is also backed up by the fact that birth control methods that only use progesterone, like Depo Provera, can cause weight gain, likely because they make people hungrier.

How can you stop having cravings once a month?

In general, I tell women to learn about their bodies and how they change during their monthly cycles. Your best friend didn’t go through the same things you did.

Being aware of your symptoms can help you realize that they are normal for you right now, so you don’t have to worry that they are strange. If you feel unsure, ask your gynecologist.

Changes to your lifestyle can help keep your menstrual cycle in balance and reduce unwanted symptoms. Try things like regular, good sleep, breathing exercises, yoga, meditation, massage, self-hypnosis, and other ways to relax and reduce stress.

You could try cognitive behavioral therapy or biofeedback. Most of the time, they work best with the help of a therapist or counselor.

And you can make your diet work better to fight cravings:

• Choose carbs with lots of fiber, like whole grains, brown rice, barley, beans, and lentils. White flour is better than whole wheat flour.
• Cut back on fat, salt, and sugar because they can all make you want more.
• Cut down on or stop drinking coffee and alcohol.
• Eat more green leafy vegetables and dairy, which are both high in calcium. One study found that women who ate milk, cheese, and yogurt had less bloating, cramps, appetite, and cravings for certain foods. This could be because the calcium in these foods helped fix an imbalance of the serotonin that makes you feel good. If dairy makes a woman sick, she can take a 1200 mg calcium supplement every day.
• Try magnesium supplements. This mineral can help with bloating, holding on to water, sore breasts, and bad moods.
• Along with magnesium, taking 50 mg of vitamin B6 every day may also be helpful.
• If you take 150–300 IU of vitamin E every day, it may help you feel less hungry.

When food cravings are part of a premenstrual syndrome (PMS) diagnosis, treatment for PMS in general may help reduce them.