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If you’re anything like me, you retain water whenever Aunt Flow comes to town. I don’t mean a little bit of water…I’m talking stepping on the scale and gaining 5-6 pounds of water. And that kind of thing can make a girl more than a wee bit irritable.

Couple that with cramps, cravings and all the other random PMS mess and you’ve got a formula perfect for all kinds of relationship woes. Being a bitch toward your boo is no good, especially when there is at least one thing you can do to alleviate some of the pressure. That’s where I step in.

Now, I don’t have any advice for cramps other than telling you to try some Extra Strength Advil (Midol and Pamprin suck, in my opinion) and avoid cold substances. I’ve got nothing for cravings either. But for the past couple months I’ve been testing out a new theory of mine that seems to keep the water retention and bloating bay.

About 2 weeks from the time your beloved Auntie is about to come a-calling, stop eating foods with white refined sugars (pretty much anything at a non-organic grocery store). That means water only when it comes to fluids…no sodas, no juices (that goes for that 100% Juice mess too…’cause it’s definitely not 100% juice). For foods: no candy, no chocolate, no cookies, no nothing that you know contains added sugar. A lot of things will say “no added sugar” and it does, in fact, have added sugar. If you have to question it, don’t eat it.

I’ve always been told to cut out salt around that time to avoid water retention and bloating but that seems to do all but nothing for me. Cutting out sugars has been the key. I know it’s tough when you have cravings, but it’s only for a little while.

Natural Sweets To Help Those Cravings

Now if you really wanna beat the system and give into the cravings at the same time, you can go to Whole Foods or whatever your local health food/organic food store is and pick up some candies with natural sugars.

Anything with agave nectar is cool, which tastes just like the bad stuff but doesn’t affect the body in a bad way. Score! Products with stevia in them are okay too, but I’m not a fan of the stevia taste. It reminds me of aspartame. Yuck! I totally recommend Sun Drops. They are wannabe M&Ms and taste almost identical. They come in peanut and plain (just like real M&Ms), but they do cost more (like most anything that’s good for you).

I also get down with Earth’s Best Sesame Street cookies (’cause I gotta have my cookies!) and crackers. These things are soooooooooooo good. The Very Vanilla Letter of the Day cookies taste just like Lorna Doone shortbread cookies and have absolutely NO bad sugars. Plus Cookie Monster is on the box! Two perks in one!

Voila! No more too tight jeans that just fit three days ago. No more rings that are supposed to fit on the middle finger, but now only fit on the pinky due to bloating. No more cursing him out because you’re feeling fat. Try it out for yourself. It’ll help you out with at least one of your monthly visitor woes. You and your boo will thank me.

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