Okay ladies. I need some suggestions. During my monthly I get crabby, crampy and tired. AND I get severe munchies. It drives me crazy. I ate a handful of peanuts but what I really want is a row, not just a piece, of the chocolate frosted brownies sitting on the kitchen counter.

Make your own LC brownies with erythritol, cocoa powder, butter, eggs, and a couple of tablespoons of almond flour!

Also for crunch - pork rinds off Amazon with no MSG. Great with homemade guacamole, too.

TOM is really hard for me also. I think I'd die if I lived in a house that had chocolate frosted brownies sitting around on the counter!

Basically your options are, white knuckle the cravings. Or make an acceptable LC alternative to what you otherwise are tempted you might fall into. Baking an LC cheesecake is also good around TOM, especially because they also freeze so well.

LC sweets are a slippery slope sometimes though... so I often try to just not give in, and not make any alternatives either.

You still have your usual LC fallbacks of berries with cream for something sweet-but-less-sweet. Or you could just go super heavy on calories and red meat, so that your iron is covered and amino acid profile isn't floundering at this time of month.

High kcals and fatty choices of allowed LC foods are a good choice to make sure you hit your satiety signals, so that you don't feel tempted to delve into the sweet stuff at all.

Here's what helps/helped me:

Drink some tea or water.

Chew a really strong minty sugar free gum until the cravings go away. The one I used to chew would make everything taste nasty for 30 minutes afterwards.

Sugar free jello with a dollop of heavy whipping cream.

1/2 cup of berries with a tsp or two of heavy whipping cream.

Now - my personal fave for when I get a chocolate craving -
Emerald or diamond brand - cocoa dusted almonds. Buy in the 100 calorie packs to avoid over eating. One pkg has 20 almonds and is about 4 carbs. Almonds chew more slowly than cashews. Like candy, but better.

My go to's are-

1) no carb turkey jerky for salty chewy needs
2) peperoni for spicy, salty needs
3) Smoked salted almonds to fill the chip void- pre count out a serving and put the tin away
4) Sugar Free/ Low Carb Ross Chocolate Bar or Russel Stover Sugar Free Peppermint paddys
5) 1/2 cup strawberries w/ 1/2 cup sugar free whip cream
6) Coconut flour brownie w/ cream cheese frosting
7) whey protein cake pops

Non-food options: loud music that makes you happy.
Comedy videos
Exertion that makes you happy
Lovemaking
Performance or other exciting things
Whack a pillow with a bat (one of my faves)
Like roller derby or something like that

This is for the brain chemistry part of satiety.
During TOM the neurotransmitters have a dip too.
Munchies raise them biochemically but so do those other things.

I like this list. I will keep these in mind!

I know this is late to the table, but do NOT let anyone, including yourself, make brownies around that time of the month.

Even LC brownies can destroy a day or two of the LC WOE, if one is as addicted to them as I am!

I highly recommend flax minute muffins (http://www.djfoodie.com/Chocolate-OMM) and chia seed pudding made with heavy cream (http://lowcarbyum.com/simple-chia-seed-vanilla-pudding/) for a nice sweet treat or even a healthy breakfast option.

Other snacks that get me through difficult times, menstrual or otherwise, include Sriracha flavored almonds (rather than peanuts) and Lindt 85% dark chocolate.

I read that a big cheat can stall your weight loss and it could be days before you get back into fat-burning mode. That info right there was enough to curb my cravings!!