Do You Have A Healthy Period? Holistic and Ayurvedic Tools to Reduce Mood Swings, Pain and Cravings

Published Sep 17, 2024, 7:00 AM

Periods can be a pain—literally—but what if we could turn that pain into power?

On this episode of A Really Good Cry, we’re getting cozy and chatting about something we don’t talk about enough—our periods! It’s time to embrace this beautiful, natural process and learn how to love and honor our bodies every step of the way. I’ll be sharing my personal journey from seeing my period as a hassle to viewing it as a time for deep connection and self-care.

We’ll explore how aligning with our cycles can help us live more harmoniously with our bodies, how we can manage discomfort naturally, and why understanding what a healthy period looks like is so important. I’ll also be dropping some Ayurvedic gems on balancing hormones and soothing cramps, plus a few of my favorite self-care rituals (like the magical ovary massage) that’ll leave you feeling supported and nourished.

Whether you experience irregular cycles, or painful periods, or just want to deepen your connection with your body, this episode is filled with loving guidance, practical tips, and a whole lot of compassion for your amazing female body. I promise you’ll walk away seeing your period in a whole new light!

 

What We Discuss:

  • 00:00 Intro
  • 01:34 How my relationship with my period changed
  • 05:32 Why I stopped complaining about my period
  • 07:04 Breaking the taboo around periods
  • 08:05 How do you know if your period is healthy?
  • 10:22 Sync your workouts with your menstrual cycle
  • 12:52 Why your period heightens emotions and what it means
  • 15:44 Foods to eat during your period
  • 20:10 Ovary massage
  • 22:09 How holistic health can help you
  • 24:17 Period acne
  • 26:10 Finding the right period products for you

 

Follow Radhi:

If you are someone who is struggling with your period, whether it's irregular, or it's painful, or it's just not as healthy as it could be. I really hope that this does help.

I'm Radi Wukiah and on my podcast A Really Good Cry, we embrace the messy and the beautiful, providing a space for raw, unfiltered conversations that celebrate vulnerability and allow you to tune in to learn, connect and find comfort together.

Okay, ladies and gentlemen, let's talk about this a beautiful thing that we call a period. You know, till I hit my late twenties, I used to dread my period every single month. It wasn't something I welcomed. It was this annoying thing that gets in the way of life. Or I would think about it when I was going on holiday and try and plan the holiday around it, and that was really the only times I would think about it, so it was never really in a positive way. My hope is that by the end of this podcast, you don't just learn more about your beautiful female body, but you actually love your period. Yeah, I said it. I honestly mean that, deeply mean that that I want you to love every single thing about your period, from the cramps to the desire to strangle someone. You have to love it all because it is part of you and it is such a gift. It is a gift that will keep on giving whether you like it or not. On't flow will keep flowing. So we either have a choice right when things come in our life that feel like a disturbance, we can either embrace them or we can hate them. And the fact is it's way easier to just embrace them. And also, I feel like I've been through such a journey to really understand my body a lot more lately, especially as you get older, when you notice your body changing and things shifting, and certain things become more important than they were when they were younger. I have noticed, especially since being in my thirties, that I want to appreciate more about my body and really have noticed how much my body has to go through to either allow me to live every single day. And you know what, Unfortunately, as women from a young age, we've either been taught ways that we can stop our periods, whether it's just jumping on the pill, or we're told that we should just deal with our feminine biology get on with life. And not let it get in the way. At school, we're taught the biology of a womb and the reproductive cycle, the names of all the parts, or the technical ways that things happen in our body, but we're not taught how beautiful and magnificent is. We're not taught in a way that shows us that the body is just so magical. What it does, especially the female body, is magnificent. We're taught how to adapt our bodies and conform to live according to a male's twenty four hour hormone cycle, rather than living according to our twenty eight day female cycle. And I didn't know this, but our bodies are not meant to live on a twenty four hour cycle. I don't know whether this is news to you guys, but it definitely was to me. We're so used to living on a twenty four hour period, but we don't think how we should adapt things or change our life according to our period or our twenty eight day cycle. A man's cycle is twenty four hours. Their hormones change on a twenty four hour basis, but for females it's completely different. And you know what, Culturally, we're taught how to hide our period rather than celebrate it. Men innately see women as baby carriers, but they don't get taught the appreciation for the process that actually gets them their babies. You date a guy in high school and they want to know everything about you except for two things. That you have a period and that you poop and a few things. Actually started changing my view of periods over the years as I started connecting to my body more again, this deeper appreciation for the incredible things that it does for me. So instead of condemning my body or sending hate towards it, I started trying to appreciate every single body part. And as I understood the process is more and the reason that it happens, it made me realize just how magical the female body really is. I also got really tired of the way periods have been perceived in culture. I thought it was just my own Indian culture, but I spoke to women on my team and so many of my friends from different cultures, and they had the same feelings. Growing up, being ashamed to go to a store to get pads or tampons even when being adults, feeling awkward saying that you're even on your period to any man, whether it's your friend, our brother, your personal trainer, sometimes even your own dad. And the religious restrictions that are that are all man made, not actually from a religious background, but have somehow filtered into these religious institutions where something so beautiful has been misconstrued as something dirty. You know, my dad had three men in the family, me, my sister, and my mum, and from a young age I always felt held and supported, whether it was my period or in anything else related to me being a woman. He really knew what was up, and he would go buy pads for us. He would be more compassionate and loving when we were in our period and it was like the little things like tell us not to do the dishes at that time. He'd be like, go inside, go sit on the sofa, just relax. Or he'd have a sympathetic look when we're curled up on the sofa holding our stomachs, and he'd say, can I make your hot water bottle? And even then, even though he was so welcoming of it, I was still shy of even declaring I was on my period because of how others spoke about it or how other people shared it with me. Another big thing that really changed My view was seeing friends, family, and other people struggle with conceiving women who were praying for the day for their periods to return, women with polycystico through syndrome or hormonal imbalances, and it made me realize how selfish I'd been to be complaining about something that someone else is dreaming about having. And it made me realize just how lucky we are to even have a regular menstrual cycle, because for more and more women these days is becoming rarer and rarer. Irregular periods don't mean much to us when we're younger, because we're not really fed by it. It doesn't affect much, But as you get older it becomes more relevant, especially for some people, because it determines whether you can even have children, and even if you don't want children. It's a bodily mechanism that indicates health in our body, just like breathing, just like our lymphatic system, just like our digestive system, the menstrual cycle is a sign of a healthy body for a female. In Irada, the menstrual cycle is treated and considered a monthly cleanse, and back in the day, getting a period was actually seen as being sacred. It was a time for women to rest and rejuvenate physically and mentally. You know, most women actually back in the day when they lived in villages, there was usually sinc cycles, or the women would actually be on their period together and it would be a time where they'd all gather. They wouldn't work, no cleaning, no cooking. They'd gather together, they'd share stories, they'd rest, they'd look after each other to really allow the body to go through the process. But feel like you've also gone through the process and healed every single month and completed the cycle the way that it's supposed to. I actually don't know where the narrative of a period changed to being something so gross, especially in religious institutes and in so many places, especially in my culture. I remember when I was younger, you couldn't go to temples without if you were on your period, and there were restrictions on being able to do worship based on being on your period. And I always used to wonder, is it really that bad? I remember thinking that as a girl. I was like, is it really that bad? Am I that disgusting that I can't like have a connection with God during this time? And if anything, back in the day, it was a time where women had the most opportunity to connect with God because they had the time and the opportunity to because they were not doing anything else. And so I really think that was a man made construct that came into religion that actually has nothing to do with what scriptures or what God instructed in any kind of way. Because it is a magical thing that gets people babies. We have the ability to have babies purely because of our periods, So there's no way God wanted that, Let's be honest. And if you think about it, these days, we really power through our days not even acknowledging our periods or changing anything during those times. And maybe that's the problem. For a good few years now, along with appreciating my cycle, I've been working out how to have a healthy cycle and what does that even mean? A healthy menstrual cycle. During my abate of training, I learned that there are some clear indicators of a healthy period, and the one that surprised me the most is knowing that a healthy period should not hurt. I said it. It may be so shocking to you as it was to me, because all I saw was people around me with cramps, and I grew up having really bad cramps, but a healthy period should not hurt, it should not be painful. I know it's shocking. I definitely took me a second to digest that information. But as I've worked to be in better health, eating and living to balance my hormones and adjusting my lifestyle, I can honestly say that I don't really get crams that are painful anymore. I may get a few body aches here and there, a bit of bloating, I feel a bit more tired during that time, definitely get a craving for that something sweet, and yeah, here and there, I'll get those mood swings. I'm sure many people in my life can vouch for that. They've definitely had the They've definitely had to experience the other side of that, but not to a point where it stops me from living life as I usually do. Another indicator is that your blood should be bright red in color, no cloths and smooth, inconsistency. It doesn't stay in your clothing, And actually it says that if it does stain your clothing or it's not bright red in color, it's usually a sign or a symptom of having armor in your body. Arma means toxins in our Veda. It says that when your body has any unprocessed substances or just toxin build up in our body, it can end up plugging our channels and creating dysfunction, and that can come through during our period time as our bodies detoxing. And so sometimes your period may be darker in colorist says that that can be a sign of toxin build up. It's regular between twenty seven to thirty days, it lasts between three to five days, it has a mild to no odor, and your mood doesn't actually get too drastically affected. Now you may hear that and think, damn, I have all of the above and then some and that's okay. Honestly, most women don't even know that's what a healthy cycle involves, because the norm is hearing how terrible it feels to have a period and how we all dread it. So now that you do know, let's talk about how you can create a better relationship with your period and how we can help you get to a healthy period if you're struggling with it. So I actually read this book recently called in the Flow by Elissaviti. In the book She speaks about cycle sinking, a method of aligning daily activities, diet, exercise, and even work task with the four different phases of your menstrual cycle to enhance your productivity, health and well being. So, for example, the first phase is your menstrual phase, which is when your period is in full flow. This is the time for rest and reflection, she says, physically or mentally, I know when I'm on my period. If I push myself in my workouts or over exert myself, it really messes me up. I actually remember one time I was on the first day of my period and I decided to do heavy squats, and my back is just always weaker during that time, and I didn't listen to my body, and for a good three weeks after that, I actually couldn't get out of bed. On a normal day, when I would have done that, I would have been fine, but my back, my joints, every part of my body is more sensitive during that time. So since then, I've started noticing whenever I do intense workouts during my period, it actually, instead of energizing me, which it does on a normal day, it will end up feeling like it's depleted me. My energy levels are just lower during that time, and so I don't feel like exerting or pushing myself and actually a hormone, our hormones are already out of whack during that time that when you end up doing strenuous exercise or high intensity training, it actually messes with your hormone levels too, and your quartersole levels, which is your stress and anxiety hormone. And we all know we get anxious during this time too. So essentially, what I'm trying to say is take a day off when it's the first day of your period, or at least just go for a gentle stroll, maybe do some yoga, because you have to remember that during this time your body is managing the shedding of your uterine lining and then you're trying to do a barriers boot pump workout on top of that, it's just not working. You know. The bodies also in more of an inflamed state. Add in a long intense workout that increases inflammation further, and it just puts you at higher risk of injury, more soreness, and longer recovery time. So use this as a sign to take a day off. Also, emotionally, hormones be hormoning. But why do we get so emotional and feel like the entire world is ending When someone says high in the wrong tone, your husband's chewing suddenly makes you want to strangle him, or just the way someone looks at you makes you want to cry. Well, there is a reason for this. Our estrogen and progesterone levels, which are hormones in the body. They fluctuate throughout our cycle, and in the days leading up to our period, both estrogen and progesteron levels drop. Estrogen effects our mood because it influences the production of our happy hormone, serotonin, and as estrogen declines, so does serotonin, leading to sadness and feeling real mad. Progesterone also drops at this time, and that drop can lead to feeling anxious and sad too. I actually get so anxious, as I mentioned before, But I get so anxious before my period. I'm overthinking everything, getting weird dreams of things that I'm worried about. Everything's mixing into this like one nightmare. All the problems that I have in my life, all the fears I have in my life, everything comes into like one dream and it is horrific. I'm like sweating, waking up, sweating, or crying. By the end of it, it's pretty rough. So when you are on your period, take time to just sit with your feelings. I remember this one podcast episode I heard from Dr Gabamarte. I absolutely love him. He's eighty years old and he has some really great insights just from life and observing people, and also is just a very intelligent human And he said that actually, most people think during your period you're just over dramatic and everything is irrational, and it's just like, you know, you should disregard everything you feel during it. But actually, he says, during your period, your body is just heightening what you're actually feeling, so don't ignore it and push it aside. Actually hear your emotions. So yeah, we may have some irrational thoughts, but actually, if the same thing is coming up more intensely over and over again when you're having your period, it may be a sign of your body. Because you think about it, our body is detoxing during this time, so much is a detoxing face physically, so emotionally and mentally. It also becomes a detox phase something that keeps coming up and maybe a sign that you need to acknowledge it and just you know, have a really really good cry, get those emotions out so your body's able to let go physically and emotionally. I'm not going to go through all the phases here, but if you do want to know more about them, then definitely read this book. It was so insightful. It takes you through all the phases after your period and the activities and things that are best to do during those times, even things like what kind of work you should be doing, what kind of workouts you should be doing in each phase, when is good for creativity on the phases of your period cycle Like, it really goes into so much depth, and I learned so much about my body that I didn't know and implementing even just a few of the recommendations, the small changes made a difference to how I felt through my cycle. Now, let's talk about what you should eat on your period. Now, Eating the right foods before and during your period can help manage symptoms like bloating, cramps, smooth swings, and fatigue, all the general ones that we tend to get. And like with most things, it's not only about what you do when you are on your period, but what you do before to prep for it, which is just as important, if not more so so, what you eat leading up to your period. In the luteal phase, that's the phase just before your period. It helps to prepare your body for what's to come. We're going to start off with whole grains, so whether it's things like brown rice, quinoa, oats, just whole grains with a good amount of fiber. It can help stabilize your blood sugar levels and reduce your cravings. Foods that are rich in magnesium, like leafy greens, spinach, and kale can help to reduce cramps by relaxing your muscles. You can also just make sure you take your magnesium supplements or sprays. I find they're really effective too. Cooked foods over raw foods. In Ourveda, it recommends that on a day to day basis, but especially when you're on your period. If you get more gassy and bloated on your period, raw foods are actually much harder for your gut to digest and can cause gas and bloating, so sticking to warm, moist foods that are well cooked. Soups are so great during this time. I love a good soup. Healthy fats like coconut and avocado, and your amigas from nuts and seeds. I love to just sprinkled mix seeds over things, whether it's my smoothies or onto my salads, or I'll just make up an avocado smoothie and throw everything inside. Amigas have been found to help reduce your painful crumps Calcium rich foods. Estrogen actually helps with calcium absorption, so when estrogen production decreases during your menstruation, less calcium is then absorbed. And also it's said that small amounts of calcium leaches out of the body during this time too, so it's good to double up on the calcium, whether it's through dark leafy greens, broccoli, fortified milks, tofu tempe, just all the good stuff now. During your menstrual phase, which is during your period, it's recommended to have foods rich in iron. Makes sense, right, just to replenish the ion that's lost while you're bleeding, whether it's bet fruits, lentils and beans, dark leafy greens, nuts and seeds. Anti inflammatory foods are also recommended. Foods which are rich in antioxidants like blueberries, seeds, nuts, leafy greens, olive oil, and are you ready for this one? Chocolate If you're craving chocolate during this time, there's a reason. Definitely, definitely, it has magnesium in it too. I think so double whammy. Moist water rich foods and veggies. If you think about it, your body temperature actually rises. There's a bit more heat in the body can increase dryness in the body. So having things like cucumbers, zucchini, fruits like peaches and plums, celery, just nice juicy hydrating things, herbal teas and hot water to soothe your digestion. And you know, I talk about this a lot. Hot water does everything from relaxing your nerves to cleanse your digestive system. It's just makes your body just feel so good. And there are nice herbal teas that can help to soothe your belly, like hammer Mile. Spices like tumeric and fenogreek and cinnamon all help with purid symptoms. So you can always throw in some cinnamon into your tea, adding some turmeric in your curry. Oh yeah, And I want to touch on this adaptagen called shatavari. It's really well known. It's an aravadic hub that plays a really important role in women's health, whether it's supporting your reproductive health through regulating blood sugar levels. It's a natural remedy that's been trusted for centuries, whether it's menopause periods or fertility. Chatavar is definitely a go to and aravader for any female health support. Now, let's talk about the foods that you should avoid even though you really really want them. And it's usually the foods that you really really want that are the ones that you should be avoiding at this time. I know it's so sad. Saltium fried foods increase bloating and water retention. Caffeine obviously increases your anxiety. Sugar causes the blood sugar spikes, It can cause your mood swings and your cravings. Really, it's just choosing nutrient dense foods that give your body the extra vitamins and minerals that it usually loses during this time. Just a little extra love and support and look if you are craving a little salty food here and there, look your joy is more important at this time than you know restricting yourself. But just know your limits. That's about it. Next, I actually want to talk about the cramping. If that happens every time my friends tell me they have crambs. I say, oh my god, can I give you an ovary massage? And then they usually look at me funny and they're like, hmmm, I'm not sure about that. What does that entail? I'm like, trust me, it is magical. I then proceed to stand up behind them, put my hands on their hips and give them this ovary massage. And suddenly you hear a sigh and I see relief on their face. When I say it's magical, I truly mean it. Every man should definitely learn this for their women. Foot massage is great by an ovary massage, oh, it is a game changer. So basically, give me done laying down, standing or sitting. Essentially you're pushing in just above your pelvis the crevice of your hip bone. I like to do it standing on the person I'm doing on because then you can wrap around the side and also do a lower back massage at the same time, so you kind of are massaging at the front and the back at the same time with your thumbs. Your hands at the front and your thumbs at the back. I'd actually share a diagram on this or an example video on Instagram because I think it is so useful. It really does relieve the pressure that you're feeling there. It's so good You could do it on yourself, but so much better if you call in a favor from a friend or if someone else can do it for you. Those areas also have pressure points that relieve congestion and energy blockages in the body. So an acupuncture it says that it helps it improve the flow of chia or life energy. The massage targets lymphos as well, helping to drain and detoxify. Also, especially for women, we hold emotions in our hips, and so don't be surprised if five minutes into the massage you are also shedding some tears. I remember learning that in my yoga teacher training where we did a whole day of hip open it exercises and most of us were crying throughout and then for long for at least me, I was walking home crime eyes out. It really does help to release a lot of emotions that we store. I just want to a little note at the end of this. If your period pain affects your everyday life in a drastic way, it is a good idea to get everything checked out. You should be able to still function through your day and it should not debilitate you. And if it does, then I really do recommend going to see a holistic doctor because you know, there's one thing I don't know, you know what, people get mad when I say stuff like this, and I really do see the place for western doctors. Of course I do. If I break a bone, I'm definitely going to go see, you know, a medical doctor. But a GP doesn't necessarily know how to treat all of this from the root. Cause you know, a lot of women unfortunately get told to go on the pill when they have painful periods. So what does that do? Just takes away your period, takes away a function that you really really need in your life, that your body requires to detox to get things out of your body as a natural system that happens. So that really upsets me because amount of people that have got messed up because they decided to be because the doctor decided that they should go on the pill, not thinking of the repercussions of what that's going to be for them. I also think holistic doctors really consider so many other things than just oh, this is what's going on. Let me give you a pill for this. No, let's try and figure out the root. Cause let's try having herbs and natural remedies before we put you on some you know, something that was created in a lab, Like, does that not sound so much better than going to a doctor and being put on a pill that's going to affect so much more in your life. I get really passionate about this because I think sometimes we blindly follow things because it's the norm, versus really thinking what our body needs and also what we're putting into our body, Like would you rather put something in your body that it's been created by in a scientific lab or something that nature has provided. I really believe nature gives everything that we need to heal our body. We just need to know how to use it. And so whether it's acupuncturist by the way it meant to be amazing for cramps, whether it's an ibadic doctor, whether it is honestly, I try anything before I start to popping some pills, So definitely try out. It's such a good investment to invest in your health, and I never think you regress spending money when it's to do with your well being. Enough of that, I wanted to talk about the dreaded period acne next or in my case, the token peaky blinder that shows up on my chin or cheek every single month. It's humbling, to be honest. It's also uncontrollable to a certain extent, because our hormones do shift and sometimes our skin just wants to have a little tantrum. But at the same time, if we do make these little changes that we spoke about earlier, it's less likely that we have such a drastic hormonal shift, and that all the good food and the nutrients that we're eating support our skin to fight back when the spot comes the knockin. But keeping your skin clean, double cleansing, exfoliating gently every day to the lead up to your period, that can be really useful because there's actually more sebam that's produced on our skin during your period, so when you're keeping it clean and a little bit drier to avoid bacteria build up, then that can definitely help. And oh my god, do not do any kind of hair removal or skin treatments during this time. I once made the mistake of going to get like a bikini wax or something, and it was the first day of my period and I didn't realize. No, I think it was a day before my period. I hadn't actually started, but oh my gosh, I was so much more sensitive and I literally was like crying my eyes out, and I was like, it doesn't normally hurt like this, and she said, are you going to be on your period? I was like, oh my gosh, yes, it's coming tomorrow. She was like, never come here when you're about to be on your period. It will hurt ten times more. And then also when I would do face hair removal, because let's be honest, Indian girls are hairy sometimes and we need to remove that hair. We don't need to, we want to. But when I would wax my skin or I would do any kind of facials that are a bit intense, my skin would react in a way that would never normally react. So I usually and it would break out and do all sorts of things. So avoid doing anything too drastic to your body during that time too, because everything's just a lot more sensitive. Lastly, I want to touch on period products. Now. There's so many bits and bobs out there, the cups, the pads, the tampons, the period panties, and honestly, I'm not opposed to any of it. I would just say they're great for different reasons, just depends what suits you best. They all also have their pros and cons, as everything in life does. But I will say, when it comes to paths and tampons, and make sure they are organic, unscented, made with cottsin, not with a plastic insert. You don't want to put any fragrances or plastic up there is just not right. I'm actually obsessed with period pants right now. It's probably my favorite. I wear them mainly at night because I just find pads so uncomfortable to sleep in, and it kind of takes us back to how they used to do it back in the day. You would have cloths that you wash and reuse better for the environment, and also pretty comfortable, like you do have to wash them, and there's a little extra care I needed compared to the one use pads or tampons. But honestly just feels like growing really comfy grinning pants, which is usually what you want to wear during this time. I haven't actually tried cups, but I'm not sure how I feel about them. I know they're made from silicon, I still don't quite have an opinion on it, but I know friends who use them and swear by them. They absolutely love them. I really hope that this episode help you to understand your body a little bit better, which in turn will help you to love your body a little bit more and realize just how I've said this many times in this episode, but how magical your body really is and how blessed we truly are to have a working, consistent menstrual cycle. And if you are someone who is struggling with your period, whether it's irregular, or it's painful, or it's just not as healthy as it could be, I really hope that this does help. And if anybody who's not had a period for a while or has peacos, I'm definitely going to have an expert on to share guidance and wisdom on how to get your period back if you've lost it, because I know it can be so scary, and I really want to help because I know it's possible and I've seen it through holistic ways. Getting your period back is possible, no matter what a doctor tells you. It is possible, whether you've got pecos or not, just know you can get your period back. I have seen it and I truly believe it, and so I will definitely try and get someone on to talk about that. Also, share this episode with some men I think they could really do with some insight and getting over their fear of the period. Let's be honest, the world needs to be a whole lot more period friendly. Sending you all so much love, Thank you so much for listening, and let me know if there's any other topics you'd like to hear about, DM me send me a comment. We love hearing from you at a really good cry. It makes my day and yeah, I have a really, really wonderful day.