It seems to be a given on many blogs I tour, and on the forums I browse as well: almost every single woman there will sooner or later complain about PMS and the weird cravings it induces. I’ve been at overcoming my bad habits and replacing them by healthy ones since 2005, so I’ve seen my share of such threads and posts. It always makes me wonder.
A couple of times, I must have used PMS as a justification for a few wrong food choices. There, I confessed it. Well, it was all a lie. It’s not on my period that I’ve had my worst binges. Or the contrary. Or whatever. I’ve looked for a correlation, but I haven’t found any.
Sometimes, it feels like I’m not really a woman in that regards. Like I’m a man, or some kind of neutral organism who just happens to bleed every month. When it comes to losing weight, it must be quite the blessing, because I don’t experience anything special. My moods don’t change. The weight on the scales barely shifts by one pound, two at the very most. I don’t crave chocolate or pizza or any other kind of junk food. I don’t feel hungrier than usual, unless I’ve been stubbornly refusing to turn the heater on, in which case being cold will make me hungry, but this has nothing to do with having one’s period, I suppose.
Granted, getting on the pill fixed my problems of long periods, heavy pains and feeling anemic half of the time, but even before that, I never suffered sudden cravings nor had the urge to eat whatever on those days. I guess I was too busy lying down while some invisible sadist drove nails trough my uterus, one by one, sloooowly, and refused to stop before I had taken four or five painkillers pills and almost fainted at the office or at school because that’s just a stupid thing to do. At least pain is not a feeling that compels me to eat. Joy.
Well. Where was I going? Oh yes. For the reasons mentioned above, if you ever read about me overeating/making bad food choices “because I’m PMSing”? Please immediately call me out on this. Or hit me hard with a virtual shovel. Because it will be a lie and pathetic attempt at justifying what I should, plainly and simply, call a bad choice.
Being lucky in that regards doesn’t mean I have to use what may be a real problem for other women to cover up my silly behaviours.
January 16th, 2008 at 03:23
When I was on the pill I didn’t have any mood swings or cravings either. None, nada, zip. I kind of wondered what the fuss was all about.
Now that I’m hormone-free, I do have mood swings. Dammit!
I haven’t noticed cravings, though. Although my old habit was that when I was emotional I ate, so it’s a challenge in general for that reason.
I kinda miss the days on the pill.
January 17th, 2008 at 11:32
If I’m not mistaken, my most dangerous emotion when it comes to eating is ‘being bored’, so at least I know it doesn’t come from a hormone mood swing (or I don’t think so). ^_^
But I can understand how you miss the days on the pill in that regard. I would probably go frantic and all if I had to cope with mood swings. Things are already stressful enough as they are!