14 jul 2022 om 21:37
In addition to the usual cramps and pains, many women will also recognize this before and during menstruation: craving chocolate. Where does that sense of sweetness come from? Two specialists talk about this subject.
By: Isabelle VooisA lot happens in the body during menstruation. To understand this, José Buik-Evers explains how a woman’s cycle works. The nurse is specialized in hormones. “A new cycle starts with menstruation. During the first day of blood loss, new eggs start growing. Eventually one egg grows out, after which you ovulate, which is usually around day fourteen. Then the egg comes to ovulation.”
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“In the first fourteen days that the egg grows, the hormone estrogen is produced from the egg,” continues Buik-Evers, who now works as an orthomolecular therapist. “In the second part, the second hormone, progesterone, rises. During that period, the progesterone level rises. Estrogen stimulates everything in the body to grow and progesterone ensures that the tissue grows well, but does not remain over-stimulated by the estrogen. Progesterone has a calming effect. hormone for the brain and body.”
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A low progesterone makes us more restless and mood sensitive. As compensation we go to fast sugars and carbohydrates.
What do these hormones have to do with the craving for chocolate or other sweets? “At the end of the cycle, women often have a greater appetite for sweets. Then the progesterone should be high, but in many women this hormone is not produced enough and the progesterone hangs a bit halfway,” says Buik-Evers.
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That affects your mood. “Low progesterone makes us more restless and mood sensitive. As compensation we go to fast sugars and carbohydrates, which ensure the production of serotonin and dopamine. Serotonin makes you enjoy and feel like social contact, dopamine makes you confident and decisive.”
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The more balance, the better
To control your binge eating, it is important that your estrogen and progesterone are in balance. “The more you are hormonally balanced, the less you suffer from your cravings,” says hormone and weight expert Francisca van den Berg. “If you eat healthy throughout your cycle and experience fewer fluctuations in your blood sugar level, you will also have less problems in the week before your period.”
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But it always remains a challenge, says Van den Berg. “I also always advise women not to be too hard on themselves in the week before their period. I also advise to include more sweet products in your diet, such as pumpkin or sweet potato, and then make sweet potato brownie with them, for example. That way you ‘snack’ in a responsible way.”
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According to Buik-Evers, stress can also cause the progesterone to remain too low. “When you are under stress, you produce adrenaline and also a lot of cortisol. Cortisol is made from progesterone, so if you have a lot of stress in the second half of your cycle, your body uses the molecule progesterone to convert it into the hormone cortisol. Then the progesterone drops and we become more restless.”
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To compensate, we grab those quick sugars and eat chocolate. “Chocolate with at least 70 percent cocoa also contains a lot of magnesium, which we also use a lot when we are under stress. Magnesium has a relaxing effect, so the body then looks for something to compensate for that magnesium,” says Buik-Evers.
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