Today is National Women’s Health & Fitness Day, and we are celebrating it! Of course, for us, every day is women’s health day. We see a crucial and intimate connection between menstrual cycle health, and supporting women in finding natural relief from PMS and PMDD symptoms, and overall health and fitness.
To women who suffer days or weeks a month from premenstrual mood swings, cramps and bloating, depression and the like, this relationship is probably obvious. You can’t feel healthy when you ache and feel overwhelmed before your period; you can’t get on track with your personal fitness program when your back aches and everything feels swollen because of PMS water retention.
Much of today’s activities will focus on diabetes and blood pressure checks; access to mammograms and cancer screening; and discussion of how to balance work, family, and personal health, especially in these challenging times.
We hope, though, that the discussions of healthy eating aren’t sponsored by the chips and fries and soft drinks manufacturers, but are more along the lines of the First Lady’s program to support fitness and health among children: a lot of those principles could easily be adapted to women, too.
We have some suggestions about how you can personally take a stand for Women’s Health & Fitness Day, and support your own menstrual cycle health in the process:
Substitute a serving of whole grains for white bread or white rice: oatmeal, brown rice, or whole wheat bread are great choices. Have at least one serving of cooked deep-green veggies PLUS one serving of raw salad veggies today. In fact, we suggest you do this every day! If you haven’t exercised yet today, get started by taking a walk around the block. You can make it more fun by going with a friend. When some stressful moment threatens to blow up your plans, before you react, take a deep breath and remind yourself that this probably won’t seem so important in a week or a month. This can do wonders for your health, and your peace of mind. We’re posting this too late for today, but if you’re not in the habit of eating breakfast, start tomorrow: it’s the most important meal of the day. Do something nice for yourself. This doesn’t have to cost money, and doesn’t have to involve food or more time in front of a screen: it can just be giving yourself a little extra time today.
We hope you’ll make this the year you achieve natural relief from those PMS or PMDD symptoms. We’re here to support you all the way!
