Consider this your 201-level guide to all the various leaves, seeds, powders, and potions that get so much buzz in the wellness scene—then discover how to actually incorporate them into your life. So whether you want to power up your smoothie with natural supplements, or you're just wondering how to use the cacao powder sitting in your pantry, you'll get the intel you need here. See All But first, to be best-equipped to consider solutions for premenstrual syndrome (PMS), it helps have an understanding of what's causing your hormonal fluctuations. "PMS is our measure of how happy our hormone levels are," says registered herbalist
Rachelle Robinett, RH. "So, over the course of approximately a month [for instance], if we reduce caffeine and sugar, sleep more, and have a little bit less stress, then our PMS levels may be drastically reduced. It's a little measure for how our hormones are doing—there is a direct relationship between hormone balance and PMS symptom severity," she says. Robinett also reminds us that beyond PMS, which can include
PMS after period, the hormonal system is incredibly vast and complex: "We have other sex hormones, we have sleep hormones, we have stress hormones; we can dig into all of that in future episodes."
On our latest episode of
Plant Based, Robinett teaches us how to make a soothing PMS tea to help you find more hormonal harmony at whatever stage your body is feeling today. "The focus of this blend is to specifically help balance hormones that affect PMS," she says. Sip it as a targeted form of self-soothing treatment during those (ahem) periods when you need a little extra relief from
symptoms of imbalance, or drink it daily as a preventative treatment to help balance hormone levels at any time. According to Robinett, however, "like most things, the more often you use it, the better—but it'll still work on the spot [when suffering from acute PMS symptoms]." And as always, she recommends checking with a healthcare practitioner before implementing any of these herbs or supplements, especially if you're working on fertility treatments, pregnant, or nursing.
The tea is made from a red clover blossom and raspberry leaf base, which Robinett says which provide vitamins, minerals, and estrogen-supporting properties, uterine toning, and smooth muscle relaxing. There's also licorice stick and dandelion root for liver support, plus ginger for more muscle relaxation.
Ready to get started? Watch the video to learn how to whip it up, and find the step-by-step recipe for soothing PMS tea below.
Soothing PMS tea recipe
Ingredients
1/3 cup red clover blossoms
1/3 cup raspberry leaf
1 stick licorice root, broken into a few pieces (you can also use 1 bag of licorice tea)
1/3 cup dandelion root
1 Tbsp ginger, fresh or dried
A few drops of "Cramp Bark" herbal tincture, optional
32 oz. hot water
Fill up a pitcher with the herbs, then pour in hot water, stir, and allow tea to steep several minutes—or overnight for a fuller extraction.
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