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Dark moods and tiredness, lack of libido, moving from even-keeled to irascible overnight… As women, our moods often reflect our times of the month – but there are ways to soften the lows and smooth out the highs.

Shatavari – the word means 1,000 (shat) roots (vari) in Sanskrit – possesses a telling double meaning: vari can also mean husband, and the libido-increasing properties of this adaptogenic herb (which ups the body’s production of prolactin) wink to the mythically insatiable sexual appetite of the woman who is lauded as ‘she of 1,000 husbands’. ‘Shatavari is a tonic to the female reproductive system and specifically the uterus,’ says master herbalist and Pukka co-founder Sebastian Pole. ‘It is a naturally nourishing, cooling and moistening herb that provides the required nourishment and strength to support conception, fertility and a healthy reproductive system. It contains shatavarin and sarsasapogenin – the two key constituents in shatavari – which act as precursors to sex hormones oestrogen and progesterone and are thought to be responsible for shatavari’s hormonebalancing activity,’ says Pole.

Taken in powder form, ideally mixed into warm milk or vegan mylk, or blended with ghee or honey, it takes between two to three menstrual cycles to restore hormonal balance, and should be taken every day. There are no known side effects either (although your sexual partner might beg to differ). Amen to that.

balanceplan.co.uk; @thebalanceplan

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