A reader asked me to deal with the topic of premenstrual hunger , the desire we have to go overboard, eat more or linger in particular foods (chocolate is a type example) that comes to us a few days before the period, but which often also lasts the first days of menstruation. To understand how to remedy premenstrual hunger, one must, as with any kind of appetite that does not derive from a real hunger, but has other reasons, also understand why it comes. This will also allow us to scale the problem. When I was little and I was on a diet (I started my first diet at about 10-11 years, alas), my mother for example told me that on the days of the cycle you “must” eat more, because during the cycle you don’t lose weight.
And in fact, cycle and weight loss diet don’t get along too well. But let’s see the reason from the scientific point of view.

Everything is in the basal metabolic rate. Basal metabolic rate is believed to be a kind of fixed parameter. In reality, in women the basal metabolic rate “fluctuates” according to the fertile period. The days before menstruation, the basal metabolic rate is higher, until menstruation begins. From mid-cycle onwards, up to a week before ovulation, it is lower. From ovulation onwards it tends to rise again, i.e. in the luteal phase.  

What does this mean? The body responds with hunger naturally when the metabolism rises . High metabolism is always a small biological alarm signal for our body, which needs to rely on nutrition to live, and uses every possible trick to make sure we eat. This also occurs during the day: for example, in the early morning the metabolism is lower than in the middle of the afternoon. Not surprisingly, there are people who crave particularly sweet or salty foods in the middle of the afternoon. Does the same thing happen before menstruation?
Higher basal metabolic rate? The body is as if it were telling us: “I want crap, baby