PMS: Tell it Like It Is. Your cravings, Babe (Part 1)

[chicagowench]

Oh PMS, how I hate thee.

First it's the need for a rare steak as big as my head and the cheesiest, creamiest potato gratin I can manage to make.

Then it's the overwhelming need for chocolate. In winter I'll bake a batch of chocolate cookies, in summer I'll make a batch of ganache to use as ice cream topping. Oh the shame.

And then on day one, all I want, with ever fiber of my being, is Yung Chow fried rice. Something about it being the equivalent of a giant porky, shrimpy, starchy salt lick is precisely what my body wants.

[megaira]

I had to have thai food.

So I went, and got thai food.

Some fish dish (pla chau chu? sounds like "shu shee") -fried filet in red coconut curry with a few vegetables thrown in for effect and the whole damned box of jasmine rice to soak up the extra curry sauce. I devoured it (normally I'd eat half the whole thing and save the rest). Once that got stuck in my head there was no return. They were selling fresh coconuts, too, so I bought a fresh coconut and had coconut juice.

Brownies and ice cream... *drool* *slobber* dammit. dammit! No, I have made plans, I will not start craving brownies. >(

I'm making tikka masala tonight & gulab jamen, though, for friends who've never had anything indian, so I'll be just fine with the gulab jamen (indeed, who could complain? good stuff!)

The other day I had a craving for a club sandwich, which was easy enough. And chips and a dill pickle, which I had with my sandwich. I bought a cookie, too, becuase I was craving something sweet, but Einstein's Bagels cookies kinda suck. Their club sandwich is pretty decent.

I have been craving pickles, actually, like crazy. There's a lady that lives up in wyoming that has come down for message board get togethers (snopes.com) here and she makes the best garlic dill pickles I've ever had and I'm out. The last time she brought some down, they were chunks in a jar. I had chopsticks out to eat them with and ended up standing there zoning out, eating all the pickle chunks. mrmmm pickle chunks. It's about that time of year though, I have to find some way to bribe her down here for more pickles. %)

[jess mebane]

3 cold squares of Hershey's Especially Dark, chased by a colder can of Shiner.

[petite tête de chou]

I usually crave peace and quiet. "Honey, I love you but please shut up."

Foodwise, it's

liver

spinach

bittersweet chocolate

black coffee

oysters and QUIET!!! Did I already mention that?!

[Pumpkin Lover]

I think someone recently mentioned the effects of the pill on PMS cravings... I can't find that exact line, but I want to agree with whatever was said about cravings subsiding after spending some time on the pill. When I was first on the pill, I'd get MAJOR cravings for two weeks (plus some strange mood swings that I wouldn't know I was having until my period was over). Then, after a few months, I switched pills from Ortho Tri-Cyclin to Nordette. People on the pill, if you want cravings to subside, I suggest monophasic pills--holy lord, did this pill stablize me! I still had cravings for two weeks, but they've subsided significantly (I've been on Nordette for a year now). Plus, no weird mood swings--just the same amount of hormone for three weeks. Glory!

I have had major cheese and pasta cravings, though... pasta smothered in Alfredo sauce. Oh, god, Alfredo sauce, if I could drink a gallon of that, I'd be in heaven.

Edited September 9, 2004 by Pumpkin Lover (log)

[StudentChefEclipse]

There's a theme here: salt, chocolate, fat, spice, starch...

I am wondering if there's ever been a study on PMS food cravings and what makes our bodies torture us for this stuff? Or maybe on PMS cravings and if they occur in places where the diet is fairly limited... say, the Kalahari and those folks who live there? Anybody know of anything? PM me please, 'cause I don't want to hijack the thread, but I am really curious.

Thanks!

[Mssmltzr]

CHEESE!

I have found a canadian bacon and brie baguette usually does the trick. During that time of the month, I feel like I could eat five of them.

[jessice]

Contraceptives got rid of my cramps totally, and most of my cravings, although I do have a few days there where I bump into doorframes on my way through them, can't form a sentence, and sleep. Every once in a while now, I'll get the salt craving, I once ate 5 dill pickles, then poured a tablespoon of salt into my palm and licked it up. All the other cravings (red meat, chocolate) I have all the time.

And may I just say, Nuvaring is fantastic. Although I'm a little excited to go au naturel again (in prep for baby-making; eventually), as someone else mentioned, progesterin et al can wreak havoc on your libido.

[misstenacity]

I have been gifted with limited psychosomatic TOM symptoms - my mood barely changes (I might get a wee bit more cranky); I have only mild cravings for chocolatey sweets; I rarely cry at Hallmark commercials. That's the good.

The bad was years and years of insane cramps. The take-a-day-off-from-school/work-and-whimper variety. I dosed them heavily with Vitamin I, but in my mid-20's they started easing up. Not sure why, but I was eating better and exercising more consistently. Now I can not use any painkillers at all with mere mild discomfort to get through.

However, as the cramps went down, the other half went up. Now I do get crankier, moody, and crave-y. Good thing I've discovered dark dark dark chocolate in the interim. And Haagen-Dazs. *grin*

So have any of you tried PMS and/or Pennyroyal tea to 'induce' yourself? I'm curious how well that would really work. I'm in the middle of some stress-induced amenorrea, going on 4 months now, and thinking its time to end it one way or another.

Off to find some cold chocolate while you mull it over. :-)

Miss Tenacity

http://tenacity.net

[Naomi]

Who needs a diary when you have cravings?

For me it is cakes and baked goodies and cheese and, well, everything really.

Tonight it is baked custard tarts.. I just ate two of those ambrosial delicacies warmed in the oven. They quivered and jiggled delicately like the cellulite they will give me. But who cares when you have all that sweet eggy nutmug-flecked goodness?

I am now ready to start into the brie in the fridge...

Chocolate will be the finale.

[Naomi]

Miss Tenacity. Perhaps you should have a check-up, just to be sure. If you get the all clear, then just listen to your body. It is asking you to be good to yourself.

[Misa]

My cravings during that "special time of the month" are:

Chocolate - specifically fudge, brownies (though I like fudgelike brownies, not cakelike brownies), and "premium" milk chocolate bars... and Snickers which, according to most women I've talked to, is pretty common. We all like Snickers.

Chocolate chip cookie dough, sometimes in the form of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, but I prefer homemade dough.

Rice pudding.

Doughnuts.

And, for some odd reason, celery with peanut butter or cream cheese.

[sanguinella]

ooohhh, dark chocolate with fleur de sel, doesn't get rid of the cramps though, just gives me that lovely salty sweet sensation on the tongue. Cramps, like a snake coiled and ready to spring, savagely slashing insides with a knife in its mouth...that takes premedicating for 3 days with Bextra and then 2 days more into the bloody event. Sigh, I love NSAIDs.

[misstenacity]

Miss Tenacity. Perhaps you should have a check-up, just to be sure. If you get the all clear, then just listen to your body. It is asking you to be good to yourself.

←

Thanks, Naomi. I did just that and they have told me to get some bloodwork done right when it starts up again. There was some condition they were going to check for that I've now forgotten, but it had to do with insulin resistance.

Last night I had to have pho, so I went and did just that, accompanied by luscious steamed buns. Oh, and after I made that last post I had some cheap "death by chocolate" ice cream. It hit the spot with some cold strong coffee poured over it.

:-)

Andrea

http://tenacity.net

[duckduck]

Is this thread still going strong? I need to go get a bag of pretzel twists and a Snickers and sit down to read for awhile.

[suzilightning]

[Chocolate - specifically fudge, brownies (though I like fudgelike brownies, not cakelike brownies

have i got a recipe for you - fudgy bourbon brownies. it's the official taste treat of the picatinny peak hawkwatch. it's on recipegullet but since that has disappeared pm me and let me know if you want the recipe

yesterday - french fries. not those pathetic, wimpy, limp ones that have sat under a heatlamp too long but beautifully cut, ridged, crisp, hot fries not overly salted since i want to have my ketchup with them. i don't need many since i want to eat them while they are smokin' right out of the fryolater. <drool>

[Tmnoland]

I usually crave peace and quiet. "Honey, I love you but please shut up." 

Exactly!!

Some white chocolate covered pretzels

or reeeeally good milk chocolate almond bark

A good book

maybe a shot of tequila

and leave me the hell alone!

-therese

[Bernaise]

Oh my women my womyn my womb!

I should have known what was coming when a week ago I started reading the "what you like to eat on Marijuana" thread - and thoughfully considered some of the options!

Two nights ago I was driving home from work when completely out of nowhere I had an excrutiating desire for a spring roll. And no, not a spring roll made with artfulness and pride in the back of some fabulous out of the way Thai resto by some indentured servent mother-in-law of the owner. I'm talking an oversized filled with cabbage and carrot shreds poorly fried spring roll that costs about $1.39 Can. and squirts grease into your mouth with every bite - accompanied of course with generous lashings of viscous sweet golden plum sauce 'wing wong' - 'wong lee' -'wing on' brand name??

Sadly I could not get one so I settled for a bag of cheeto puffs and a "home burger". While the puffs were very satisfying the burger was like lead and left me cranky-still not understanding why! And then I read this thread and after laughing "hyster"ically, thought I'd add my 2 cents.

This morning I had a sensible breakfast and found myself lusting for the bad spring roll AGAIN! Stopped in at a Vietnames/Thai/Chinese eatery - my first mistake and was shamed into ordering not simply spring roll but the combo (2 rolls, H&S soup and about 2 lbs of spicey fried rice with chicken and pineapple) WHAT WAS I THINKING? The rolls barely hit the spot and the rice just tasted like burnt frying pan -and the soup - don't ask!

Donated my lunch to others and had, yup, another bag of cheeto puffs and a big pile of milk chocolate covered raisins. This provided some small relief until I got home and had a slab of Shepherd's pie and finally pure satisfaction a bowl of apple crisp-sweet, sour, salty and crunchy!

In a related theme I thought I would ask: have you noticed that even though you are aware that Satan will be arriving every month to invade your person and take possesion of your senses before clawing his way out - why is it still always a surprise? i.e. "I don't understand, I'm starving and eating everything in the house and I keep banging into door jambs and dropping things - what's wrong with me?" Oh look at that, I should have known, the P has arrived. The women I know agree, we all feel like goldfish constantly surprised by the damn castle we keep swimming by every couple of minutes!!

PS as a Canadian I would like to tell you that the quality of a great butter tart is not at all like a pecan pie. Butter tarts need to be runny and drip just a bit when you bite into them. The magic is in the perfect PMS combo of salt meets sweet and rich buttery greasy goodness. Let me know if you'd like my recipe.

Off to find more food ciao for niao

[dumplin]

I was in the ER earlier this week. The doctors thought I had appendicitis. It wasn't. Since then I've had stomach cramps. Yesterday I was craving a steak. I settled for hashbrowns eggs and sausage.Today I figured out why I had such bad cramps. I was craving some chocolate. Birthday cake didn't fit the spot, but I had some M&Ms from school that I had in my book bag. I had dumped the bag over in the pocket and a handful had spilled out. Yes, I just went in there and dug out the handful of M&Ms and ate them. They were good, too.

[Jensen]

PS as a Canadian I would like to tell you that the quality of a great butter tart is not at all like a pecan pie.  Butter tarts need to be runny and drip just a bit when you bite into them.  The magic is in the perfect PMS combo of salt meets sweet and rich buttery greasy goodness. Let me know if you'd like my recipe.

As a Canadian, I'd like to say that, although I have a gazillion different recipes for butter tarts, I would like a copy of yours as well.

Yes, the ooze factor is paramount.

[hillvalley]

I'm about 11 days late now (not worries though) and am craving protein like crazy.

It's the first time I have been this late in about 13 years.

This week I ate melted Brie sandwiches, omelets, steak. I never make melted Brie sandwiches or omelets and I can't remember the last time I ordered a steak. Can't figure out the protein cravings, but it's better than fat cravings.

[Kapuliperson]

Right now it's not food I'm craving, but the voice and happiness of a friend of mine :'(

[hayasaka.k]

I had a one-time craving for a pb-smothered oshinko-topped filet-o-fish earlier in the summer.

Otherwise I just get immobilizing cramps and spend the day rolled in an electric heating pad and trying not to breathe. I zone out for about 2-3 hrs before weariness catches up to painfulness and drift to sleep. Sometimes sounds from the "outside" will filter in and make for funky hallucinogenic dreams.

Then I emerge limp and sweaty, soft-spoken and generally dehydrated.

Come day 2 the only thing on my mind is hothotsex. Of which I get none. Which makes me itch oh-so-much more.

Any other time of the year my appetite impresses the big boys.

[Sleepy_Dragon]

.....

This week I ate melted Brie sandwiches, omelets, steak.  I never make melted Brie sandwiches or omelets and I can't remember the last time I ordered a steak.  Can't figure out the protein cravings, but it's better than fat cravings.

←

Might be the iron associated with proteinaceous deadthing. At least, I get that way too. Without red meat during PMS, when the actual event hits, I'm basically wiped out and bone-tired. A slab or three of deadthing keeps the worst of it at bay. The cheese makes sense too for the calcium. Chewable calcium tablets keep my cramps away.

Mmmmmm cheeseburgers, steak and pho.

Pat

Edited October 4, 2004 by Sleepy_Dragon (log)

[Misa]

It's been "that time of the month" for me almost non-stop for the past three months (yes, I've got "interesting" female issues). I've eaten a lot of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream (that new Dreyer's TollHouse is really yummy) and a lot of ice cream. Every couple of weeks, I start really craving meat (usually a steak or a hamburger). If I eat one, I feel okay again and get some energy, until a week or two later...

I should get frequent buyer points from ice cream companies. Really.