April 2012 | TOM OrganicTOM Organic

In case you haven’t noticed, here at TOM we talk a lot about periods, and while some people find this awkward, we firmly believe that we should all be talking about it a whole lot more!

After all, there aren’t many things in this world that ALL women share, that we ALL experience and that we ALL live with every single month! So, for us, we’re all about sharing our stories, our secrets and our tips on how to get through that ‘Time Of Month’.

This week we want to share with you some of our tried and tested natural remedies for dealing with pain and cramps – some of these we pluck fresh from the garden, and others from a jar on the spice rack. We work on the philosophy that fresh is better, but dried herbs and spices are ok too, whatever you have on hand. As always, we recommend choosing organic – it’s better for you, and the planet!

Natural Remedies from the Spice Rack

Fennel. A great cure for cramps for aniseed lovers, fennel can help circulate blood to the ovaries. Crush 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds into a powder, add to 1 cup of boiling water, steep for five minutes, strain, and drink hot.

Basil & Thyme. Basil and Thyme both contain caffeic acid, an effective natural painkiller. You can use it fresh or dried and add it to your meals. Or you can steep the herbs in boiling water to make a tea. Simply add 2 tablespoons thyme or basil leaves to 500ml of boiling water. Let the tea cool to room temperature. Drink 1/2 to 1 cup an hour to relieve menstrual pain.

Ginger. Ginger is a fantastic cramp reliever (this is one of our favourites and works well any time you have an upset stomach!). We’ve even heard that it can sometimes make irregular periods regular! Sweet or savoury, you can use it in baking cakes and cookies or as a spice with vegetables and meat. Once again, tea proves to be the most effective way to consume this spice: fresh or ground, steep in 1 cup boiling water, and drink three times a day – Mint also makes a great addition to this tea – and has soothing properties of it’s own!

Cinnamon. Cinnamon has great anti-inflammatory properties that help to relieve cramping. Again you make this as a tea (it’s yummy with warm milk!), use it in baking or simply sprinkle over yoghurt, onto your toast or in your breakfast cereal.

Mustard. A tablespoon or two of mustard powder (or crushed seeds) in a basin of warm water can help with cramps, but DON’T DRINK this one! Pop your feet in, sit back, relax and feel those cramps slip away!

Next ‘Time Of Month’ try some of these out, we’d love to know how you go!

The health and beauty industry bombards us with words like ‘natural’, ‘green’, ‘mineral based’, ‘eco friendly’, ‘organic’ – but before we make our choices it’s important to know what these words really mean.

Natural: This is a problematic one, the Australian beauty market currently has no regulations around using the word ‘natural’ to describe a product, which means that the definition is broad and far reaching – generally speaking, as long as an ingredient is derived from a natural substance – then it can be called natural (you could even argue that EVERYTHING was derived from nature at some point!).

Organic: When is organic not ‘organic’? – The chemical definition of ‘organic’ is: any compound containing carbon – and since carbon is found in anything that ever lived, strictly speaking, that would make petroleum organic! In Australia for a product to be labelled organic it must use all ‘natural’ ingredients, be free from parabens, sodium lauryl sulphates, genetic modification and petroleum derivatives and contain between 70-95% of organic ingredients.

Certified Organic: There are many organic certifications bodies worldwide and each one has a different set of standards – with some permitting just 10% organic ingredients. The Australian Certified Organic organisation (ACO) is Australia’s most highly regarded certifier for organic food and products – and you can sleep soundly knowing that for a product to display the ACO label it must contain at least 95% organic content (and be free from all of the nasties mentioned above).

Choosing organic vegetables over heavily sprayed ‘natural’ ones is a no-brainer and given that the average woman will use over 12,000 in her lifetime there’s no reason that we shouldn’t apply these thought processes to choosing our tampons, pads and liners too.

Many women make a conscious choice to use ‘natural’ cotton tampons and pads over synthetics, for both health and environmental reasons – but what they may not realise is that this ‘natural’ alternative is in fact the most heavily sprayed crop in the world – the toxic chemicals and pesticides sprayed on cotton not only pose obvious health risks but also cause major environmental concern. So as a general rule – unless the cotton is certified organic – there’s no guarantee that it’s chemical free.

TOM are the first Australian Certified Organic (ACO) accredited organic cotton tampons and pads, all of our cotton is 100% certified organic!