9 Foods for Heavy Periods
Heavy periods, also called menorrhagia, can be a significant burden on your daily life and can make the time of month very stressful. Intense menstrual cramps can usually accompany the heavy flow and make your period even more of a dreaded time. Heavy periods may be common, but they are not normal and shouldn’t be ignored. As a rule of thumb, any uncomfortable symptoms you experience during your cycle is a sign that you may have hormonal imbalances that need to be dealt with. These hormone imbalances are what drive the heavy flow.
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Heavy periods are caused by polyps which are when there is an enlarged tissue growth in the endometrial cavity. Estrogen functions to build up the endometrial wall for menstruation, so heavy menstrual bleeding can be caused by estrogen dominance. Luckily, there are many foods for heavy periods that can lighten your menstruation and balance out hormones, but first, it is essential to know what is a heavy period.
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A heavy period is defined with these symptoms:
A period lasting longer than 7 days
Losing more than 80 mL of blood per cycle (or 16 regular tampons or pads)
Changing tampons or pads every hour or two
Needing to double up on period protection products
Having to wake up to change your tampon or pad in the night
Planning activities around your heavy period
Blood clots the size of a quarter or bigger
Those with heavy periods could be experiencing high estrogen levels and/or poor estrogen metabolism.
Estrogen dominance means elevated estrogen in relation to progesterone.
There are several patterns of estrogen dominance:
high estrogen and normal progesterone
high estrogen and low progesterone
normal estrogen and low progesterone
normal estrogen and normal progesterone, but low progesterone to estrogen (Pg/E2) ratio
LEARN YOUR ESTROGEN DOMINANCE PICTURE AND HOW TO HAVE HEALTHY ESTROGEN LEVELS IN LESS THAN 1 HOUR!
If you’ve gone to your doctor looking for a solution for your heavy periods, you may have been offered birth control.
While there may be a time and place for birth control, you’re wondering: “is there a way to help my heavy period naturally that I could try first?”
Or maybe you’ve tried birth control and it didn’t work for you.
The good news (actually, great, amazing, fantastic news) is YES - there are foods that can help with heavy periods.
So, what foods can you incorporate if you have heavy periods?
The important question we need to be asking is: why is my period heavy in the first place?
This is taking a root cause approach when it comes to understanding our health and hormones. When we answer this question, we are understanding what is driving the imbalance (which is showing up as symptoms in the body).
By addressing the root cause, not simply just the symptom (or the hormone imbalance for that matter), we can find long-term, sustained healing.
I’m here to help you have better periods, symptomless cycles, and optimize fertility (whether that’s now or in the future) all through simple nutrition and lifestyle shifts that feel simple, doable, and empowering (not overwhelming).
PRIVATE COACHING FOR BETTER PERIODS, SYMPTOMLESS CYCLES, & OPTIMAL FERTILITY
As always, I’m giving away my best hormone tips here, answering your burning questions, and letting you in on the what the science says.
This is the kind of insider info I share with all of my 1:1 coaching clients and students in my signature course, Heal Your Period.
I’m so passionate about sharing this info with anyone on a hormone healing journey, so I’m letting you in with all the info here!
So, let’s dive in into it!
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I have so many hormone, period, and fertility resources that it would be impossible to pack it all into this one article!
There is so much noise and confusion around nutrition and lifestyle shifts to healing your hormones with clarity and ease, which is why I’m so passionate about getting this info into your hands!
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What foods can help if I have heavy periods?
Here are 9 foods for heavy periods:
1. Iron-Rich Foods
Some of the foods for heavy periods that you consume should be iron-rich, including grass-fed beef, chicken, turkey, tofu, and spinach. Our blood is composed of a lot of iron because its function is to help red blood cells carry oxygen around the body. If you have a heavy period, you lose a lot of blood and need to replenish iron stores by consuming iron-rich foods.
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2. Cruciferous Vegetables
Another one of the foods for heavy periods includes cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. These foods will help heavy periods by balancing out hormone levels through estrogen metabolism. If you have too much estrogen, this will overproduce the endometrial lining and cause heavy bleeding. Indole-3-Carbinol (I3C) is the main compound in many of these cruciferous vegetables. A study found that participants who were given the I3C, had decreased concentrations of metabolites that would activate the estrogen receptor, which shows that it can lower estrogen naturally.
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3. Vitamin C Foods
Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin that has many beneficial functions like improving immune function, creating scars for wound healing, and maintaining tissue and skin integrity. In addition to this, vitamin C is one of the foods for heavy periods because of its antioxidant and hormone balancing effects. A study found that vitamin C supplementation was associated with higher progesterone levels in perimenopausal women when they were typically low. Additionally, another study found that pregnancy rates increased and progesterone levels increased in those who supplemented with vitamin C and had luteal phase defect (shortened luteal phase). These studies express that vitamin C can balance hormone levels which can decrease heavy periods.
4. Turmeric
Turmeric is one of the foods for heavy periods because it contains a bioactive ingredient called curcumin which is the compound best known for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. It helps to reduce inflammation and scavenges free radicals that can damage cells. Moderate or severe cramping along with heavy periods can be an indication of inflammation in the body. The antioxidant effects are beneficial to reduce the internal stress response which can balance out progesterone and estrogen, which results in decreased inflammation.
Curcumin is not absorbed well in the bloodstream. Combining turmeric with black pepper or looking for curcumin supplement formation with black pepper or piperine can enhance curcumin absorption. Piperine is the bioactive compound found in black pepper that has been shown to increase the absorption of curcumin
5. Fermented Foods
Another one of the types of foods for heavy periods is fermented foods. Fermentation is the process of microorganisms turning one substance into another. In the case of yogurt and sauerkraut, the microorganisms turn sugar into an acid. These foods are very helpful for heavy periods because they help support our gut health. Our intestines make up a large majority of our gut and within the intestines, we have healthy bacteria that aid in digestion and protection. If we don’t have enough diversity or quantity of these bacteria, then our digestion slows down. Estrogen needs to be metabolized and then excreted through the gut to regulate levels. As a result, eating fermented foods will increase estrogen excretion so that levels do not recirculate and rise in the body.
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6. Ground Flax
Ground flaxseed is another one of the foods for heavy periods because it can lower estrogen naturally due to its phytoestrogen component. Flaxseed contains dietary lignans that help to inhibit enzymes that are involved in estrogen metabolism and are a type of phytoestrogen (plant estrogen). Phytoestrogens exert a weak estrogenic effect, so in the case of high estrogen in women, the phytoestrogens can inhibit the existing estrogen’s function which will lower estrogen naturally. It is important to note that flaxseed should be consumed as ground or milled because the whole seed contains a natural coating that our body can not digest fully.
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7. Berries
Berries contain a host of antioxidants which is why they are one of the foods for heavy periods. Antioxidants help to reduce inflammation in those with heavy periods. When you have inflammation in the body and not enough fighters against it, estrogen levels can rise, leading to estrogen dominance and low progesterone. These antioxidants fight the inflammation and balance out hormone levels so that you do not continue to have heavy periods. Our body does make antioxidants on its own but only in small amounts. That’s why it’s also important to include them in your diet as well.
8. Dandelion Root Tea
Another one of the foods for heavy periods is dandelion root tea. Research looking into the properties of dandelion root tea has found it to have estrogenic effects. This is a similar property as the phytoestrogen effect, where if levels are high the dandelion root tea can stabilize levels back to normal. The tea also contains lactones and phenylpropanoids, which have been found to have an anti-inflammatory effect. Some studies have even shown that dandelion can have an anti-fatigue effect which can help with other period symptoms. As a result these impacts of dandelion root tea show that it can help decrease heavy periods.
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9. Salmon
Salmon is one of the few foods that contain optimal amounts of omega 3 fatty acids making it one of the foods for heavy periods. Omega 3s have been shown to produce antioxidant effects which can decrease inflammation in those with heavy periods. With the consumption of omega 3s, research has found increases in luteinizing hormone (LH), which can then boost progesterone production and balance estrogen. Omega 3s have also been found to be beneficial in managing other PMS symptoms in addition to heavy periods.
It is important to mention the best-absorbed forms of omega-3s called DHA and EPA which are found in fatty fish like salmon, sardines, and fish oil. While there are plant foods that contain omega-3s like walnuts, chia seeds, hemp seeds, and flaxseeds, these include the form called ALA, which does not convert to DHA and EPA that well. Since we need these essential nutrients, for vegans or those who don’t eat fish, you can get enough by taking an algae-based omega-3 supplement, a plant-based alternative for fish oil.
FINAL THOUGHTS
There are many ways foods to include if you have heavy periods.
While we chatted through lots of different options, remember that every body is unique and it’s about determine what works best for your body.
Remember: simple shifts build to make a big impact over time!
Healthy estrogen levels are possible for you.
-Krista
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KRISTA KING, MS, RDN, LDN, IFNCP
If you’re looking for individualized support for period problems, PCOS, endometriosis, stopping birth control, and/or fertility I’m your person! I have select spaces each month for:
Krista is an integrative dietitian helping you have regular, pain-free periods, symptomless cycles, and optimal fertility! Together we cover: nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress management, cycle tracking, supplements, navigating doctor appointments, and lab testing.
My signature online program, Heal Your Period is open for enrollment!
This is your personalized solution for regular, pain-free periods, symptomless cycles, & optimal fertility (now or later), without complicated, soul-sucking protocols, lists of foods you can’t eat, or spending tons of $$$ on unnecessary supplements.
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