Do smoothies help with period cramps?

Of course, they do! Smoothies are the ultimate medicine for that time of the month. You can simply toss some of your favorite fruit and veggies into a blender, blend it up, and enjoy while the smoothie does its job of healing you. You won’t believe just how much smoothies help with menstrual cramps.  

I love smoothies because they offer a lot of flexibility, which means you can easily make the best smoothie for period cramps simply by combining ingredients that are vitamin and mineral-rich, anti-inflammatory, hormone-balancing, and gut-friendly...all in one cup or smoothie bowl!

Dr. Josh Axe, a well-known and respected certified doctor of natural medicine and clinical nutritionist, has an abundance of articles about normalizing periods naturally. In this article on his website, staff writer, Annie Price, a certified holistic health coach, lists natural treatments that greatly help with, and even eliminate PMS and cramps. Among the things he listed in that article that will help are raw foods such as fruits, nuts, seeds, and herbs (like dandelion). These foods all contain natural vitamins and minerals that give your body exactly what it needs to support you during your time of the month. And don’t these foods all combine great in a delicious smoothie?

Well, in this post, I’m going to show you exactly how to do that by sharing one of my favorite smoothie recipes that soothe menstrual pain. And it’s not complicated to make at all. You only need a few ingredients: bananas, pineapple, dates, mango, coconut milk, and some Supergreens & protein powder.

So, stay tuned to learn how to make your own cramp-busting period smoothie!

Note: this post contains some affiliate links and I earn a commission (at no additional cost to you) if you use them to make a purchase.

How Smoothies Help with Cramps

Before we get into the cramp-busting smoothie recipe, let’s take a look at how the ingredients actually help with period cramps.

We’ve come a long way from our grandparents and ancestors who spent a lot of their lifetime pregnant and nursing. Science proves that women today live longer than our ancestors, and this means that we experience more menstrual cycles than they did. And with the changes in time came changes in our diets, our medication (birth control for instance), and our lifestyles, and not necessarily for the better, so it’s no wonder more and more women these days are experiencing the negative side effects of our otherwise natural biological process.

I was most certainly one of those women. And like many women, the pain of my monthly cycle led me to research natural remedies to alleviate pain from menstrual cramps, because I suspected that the over-the-counter drugs I was taking weren’t doing anything to truly help my body with the hormonal imbalance that I was experiencing. I was so delighted when my research found that simple things like eating a better diet a couple of weeks before and during my cycle greatly helped with cramps, even when I had multiple very large uterine fibroids.

My Lean Supergreen Smoothie Queen that I’m about to share with you is one of my favorite smoothies for that time of the month. Not only does it taste amazing, but it’s full of goodness that really does ease the pain of cramps in the following ways.

1. Balances Hormones

It wasn’t too long ago when the cause of menstrual cramps was widely unknown among conventional medical professionals. But these days, more and more research into this disorder has found that PMS is linked closely to imbalanced hormones, particularly between estrogen and progesterone that occurs in preparation for menstruation. The good fat in coconut milk goes a long way toward helping to balance hormones in women because they build our hormones and reduce inflammation. Also, by eating a variety of fruit, we can be sure that we’re getting different nutrients and a wide variety of different vitamins and minerals that works to normalize our hormones during our time of the month.

2. Fights Inflammation

The hormone cortisol, sometimes known as the “stress hormone,” is the primary hormone responsible for stress. In the case of menstrual cramps, it’s released from your adrenal gland in response to physical stress (like inflammation). One of the reasons cramps hurt so much is because of inflammation in the womb, which can cause stress throughout the body. Cortisol is healthy for a short period of time as a protective mechanism (fight-or-flight instinct), but too much cortisol creates more stress and leads to more inflammation in the body. Managing inflammation leads to stress control, which leads to normalized cortisol levels. Food loaded with magnesium such as bananas and dark leafy greens can really help have a positive effect in decreasing inflammation in the womb, and the blend of Supergreens in this smoothie is loaded with dark, leafy magnesium-filled greens, which all helps to do just that.

3. Provides Necessary Vitamins and Minerals in Abundance

When our periods start, most of us eat according to our emotions instead of what our bodies really need at that time. And minerals such as calcium, and vitamins such as Vitamin D, E, C, and K are desperately needed for that oh-so-necessary hormonal balance during that time of the month. And this smoothie provides all of the above. The vitamin C from the pineapple and mango helps to neutralize inflammation in the body, the fatty acids from the coconut milk help to reduce pain and inflammation that makes PMS symptoms worse, and the Sunfood Supergreens provide necessary calcium, Vitamin K, and magnesium which naturally decreases in women during our luteal phase (the time when the lining of the uterus normally gets thicker to prepare for possible pregnancy), and also goes a long way in reducing menstrual cramps and related symptoms.

4. Detoxification

Your period is a time of the natural shedding of the walls of the uterus. It’s a time of cleansing for women so our bodies can start afresh the next month to prepare for fertilization. It’s always a good thing to support this time of cleansing by drinking smoothies that will naturally help cleanse or detox your body. This green smoothie is full of ingredients that help the body with the natural menstruation process such as Nettle leaf powder that’s in the Sunfood Supergreens blend, and the fiber from the pineapple, mango, bananas, and kiwi.

5. Gut Health

It is a solid fact that when you’re addressing any part of your body for health reasons, your gut should be included in the process. Having regular bowel movements leads to a healthy gut, and food that’s full of vitamins and minerals, like Medjool dates and smoothies, can greatly lead to the health of your bowels. If your gut is healthy, then it can properly absorb and distribute the nutrients of the smoothie and all the food you eat throughout the body. The probiotics in the SuperGreens blend helps to replenish the gut of friendly bacteria that fights and kill bad bacteria in the gut. A healthy gut also rids the body of used hormones, which helps to keep skin breakouts at bay during that time of the month, and also helps to cut down on period cramps.

Lean SuperGreen Smoothie Queen Recipe For Period Cramps

Ok, you guys! We’ve covered the basics of why smoothies are so amazing for your body during your period, so let’s put this period cramp smoothie together!

Here’s how to make this Supergreen smoothie:

Ingredients (makes 1 complete smoothie bowl or one full smoothie)

1 ripe frozen banana

½ cup frozen pineapple

½ cup frozen mango

½ cup of pineapple juice

1 cup full-fat coconut milk (I adore this brand of coconut milk). The healthy fats in coconut milk lower inflammation and support hormone production.

1 tbsp Sunfood Organic Supergreens (here’s my recommended brand)

2 dates

Toppings:

1 Kiwi chopped in chunks, 1 sliced banana, shredded coconut

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients into a blender in the order listed.
2. Blend on high until smooth and well combined.
3. Pour into your favorite smoothie bowl or glass and top with the coconut shavings, kiwi chunks, and banana slices.
4. Enjoy!

NOTE:

• I like to let my frozen fruit thaw out at room temperature for about 20 minutes. Makes it easier to blend and gives a smooth texture.  Also, your fruit does not have to be frozen in order for this smoothie to turn out great.
• It can be very helpful to drink at least one or two servings of this smoothie or any other anti-inflammatory smoothie per day for at least a week leading up to your period. When your period starts, monitor the intensity and frequency of your cramps. You can either continue with 2 servings a day or just 1.

Smoothie 2: Acai Berry Fruit Bowl

This acai berry fruit bowl contains a fabulous mix of acai powder, maqui powder, blueberries, red maca, chia, lucuma, banana, and I topped it with berries and granola. Yum! What could be a better meal than this during that time of the month?

Its beautiful purple color comes from the anthocyanins in the acai and the maqui berry powder in this organic smoothie bowl mix. The health benefits of this dynamic duo are due to their valuable phytonutrients (fancy word for plant nutrients), especially anthocyanins, which is the pretty purple pigment that fights unstable molecules called free radicals that damage cells and increase the risk of certain diseases. This is the very definition of an antioxidant.

The smoothie mix also contains Red Maca, a well-known root vegetable known for its ability to enhance strength, endurance, libido, and hormonal balance. Its ability to help with PMS symptoms has recently made this root veggie very popular with women.

The lucuma fruit is heralded as a symbol of fertility in the Incas. There is still a lot of debate about this, but the fruit’s abundance of fiber, calcium and its ability to treat skin problems from the inside out are not up for debate. These are the very nutrients that most women lack during their time of the month, and if you enjoy the lucuma before your cycle starts, it can certainly help to get in front of those annoying hormonal breakouts.

So, let’s make the smoothie, already!

Ingredients (makes 1 complete smoothie bowl or one full smoothie)

2 Tbsp of Acai Maqui Bowl Mix (Get it here)

1 banana (frozen preferably, but it doesn’t have to be)

1 cup full-fat coconut milk or walnut milk (see my easy walnut milk recipe)

2 tbsp of coconut butter

1/4 cup frozen blueberries

1 date

Toppings:

Coconut shavings, Strawberries cut in small chunks, blueberries, and granola of choice

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients except the toppings into a blender in the order listed.
2. Blend on high until smooth and well combined. Add more milk if it’s too thick, or more fruit if it’s too thin. It should be just right, though.
3. Pour into your favorite smoothie bowl or glass and top with the coconut shavings, kiwi chunks, and banana slices. Freeze for 5-10 minutes so it can set (optional). Top with your toppings.
4. Enjoy!

I hope these recipes help you get some much-needed relief.

Keep in mind that there are a lot of different foods that you can enjoy that will help you get relief from cramps. Be sure to check out my free fibroid food list for a list of those foods that will put you on the right track.

Also, my E-recipe cookbook, Meals that Heal is loaded with tasty, plant-based recipes that will help with period cramps.

To your continued health, my Friends,

Sandrell