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I suffer from horrible menstrual cramps. I had heard that Pineapple was great for relieving pain and reducing inflamation so I decided to give it a try. At the start of my period (Friday morning) I consumed a smoothie with two, 1-inch thick rings from a fresh pineapple, some greens and a banana. My cramps are usually the WORST for the first three days or so. That first day I had no cramps! (I know it was not due to the greens alone, because I've had all-green smoothies during past menstual cycles, with no relief) The next morning was Saturday and I was slow getting out of bed so I didn't make my smoothie until 11 am or so. I started having cramps, but withing 2 hours or so of drinking the pineapple smoothie, they were gone. I had the idea then that I should consume pinneapple both morning AND evening. Some times I just ate the pineapple alone. I did that and had no cramps until Sunday evening (end of day three). I had not consumed my evening portion of pineapple, when at my inlaws for dinner, I started feeling a twinge of cramps coming back on. My mother-in-law had canned pineapple in an otherwise fresh fruit salad, so I ate all the pineapple that I could out of that bowl. No more cramps. I would be interested to know if canned pineapple would produce the same effects as consistently as the fresh. Bromelain is the compound in pineapple that produces the pain relieving and anti-infammatory benefits and perhaps it survives the canning process (though I know the enzymes don't--right?).

So this was a MAJOR breakthrough for me! I've heard that people become healed of their menstrual cramps after a long while on raw, and I believe it is due more to whole body healing than a temporary pain-relieving response. I don't know if pineapple in itself could heal me of my cramps in the long-term, but it certianly helped short-term. I was SO relieved!! I normally could only survive my cramps by taking 3-4 advil, 4 times a day! It would be so bad, I would wake up in the middle of the night with horrible cramping if I had not taken advil before bed. When I first started eating raw last fall, I tried everything to not take advil--hot baths, warm compress, etc... and took only one advil every so often when I couldn't stand the pain any more. Basically I had to just grin and bear it! So, while I wait for the permanent transformation to take place as my body heals itself on raw, I will certainly be using pineapple to manage the pain in the meantime! I bet it would work for other types of pain and inflammation too! Try it and post your results on this thread!! Again, for me (5'2, 140 pounds--and losing) I needed 2 rings of pineapple, 1-inch thick each, twice a day, to manage my menstrual pains. Hope this helps someone!

mb