Commuting home in the city amidst honking horns, sharply turning bicycles, pedestrians crossing, the T, and overall city noise and crowds can be a stressful situation. Add that to the tiredness at the end of a day of work, summer heat, and you have a formula for irritability and a problem:  what to snack on to get enough fuel decide on a dinner that won’t leave you in a carb-heavy food coma afterwards.

If that all sounds like you, consider the 122/365 days of the year when women (either yourself, or someone you know) doesn’t feel like herself – when 150 symptoms of PMS (or pre-menstrual syndrome) descend and prior measures of self-control become less important than getting a piece of chocolate or something sweet to boost a mood or satisfy a craving.

As a nutrition researcher, I’m the last person to latch onto any form of marketing where someone tells you “take X for Y!” I want to know why, and I want to try it and see if it works for me. Food, like medicine, doesn’t universally have the same effects for everyone. Yes, there is a usual way that both act, that is true – but sometimes your biology + the food/medicine just react differently.

So, having experienced both city stress + PMS, I thought I would give it a go and try these PMS Bites, created by local business owner, Tania Green. This go-getting female developed these snack bites out of experiencing the cravings herself, and aimed to make a healthier, craving-satisfying, alternative to a chocolate bar or sweet.

Tania was on Shark Tank on May 20 of this year (so cool!) and has been featured by the press on Forbes, The Boston Globe, Boston Business Journal, NBC, ABC, Huffington Post, Food and Wine magazine, and several more – I’m very impressed with her drive and persistence in bringing her business idea (and awareness about PMS) to the forefront.

SHARK TANK – “Episode 726” – A woman from Boston, Massachusetts, hopes the Sharks will make a deal and sink their teeth into her chocolate treats that are perfect for women who want to satisfy cravings; a season four entrepreneur from Aeworth, Georgia, returns for a second chance to pitch the Shark’s his new business, a line of men’s hair products; a man from Telluride, Colorado, who is desperate for capital, plans to warm the Sharks’ hearts with an app that allows users to electronically send handwritten cards; and a man from Boston, Massachusetts, believes he has created a unique way to break bad habits with self-zapping wristbands. Also, recaps and updates featuring the various entrepreneurs that appeared during season seven, on “Shark Tank,” FRIDAY, MAY 20 (9:00-10:01 p.m. EDT), on the ABC Television Network. (ABC/Michael Desmond) MARK CUBAN, BARBARA CORCORAN, TANIA GREEN (PMS BITES)

What are PMS Bites??

• They’re vegan, gluten-free snack bites that are each 50 calories.
• They come in 3 flavors:
  • Plain Crazy – lightly dusted in cocoa powder and coconut palm sugar
  • Coco-Nutty – Sprinkled with fluffy coconut
  • All Kinds of Nuts– generously rolled in crunchy pecan clusters

• they’re made with date paste, brown rice syrup, almond butter, cocoa powder, salt, siberian ginseng, chamomile, dandelion root, coconut flour, and gluten-free oats.
  • siberian ginseng, chamomile, dandelion root, and date paste are ingredients you may recognize for touted benefits for decreasing bloating and irritability.

Tania sent a variety box of 6 to me to try and give my honest opinions and they arrived just in time for my trip to Washington D.C. I always go on trips with plenty of snacks because buying expensive airport or airplane food doesn’t appeal to me. With a busy weekend of sightseeing and meetings, I knew there would be times when I would be hungry apart from mealtimes, and I wouldn’t be in my comfort zone where I could get whatever I normally wanted to have for a snack.

Here’s what I thought:

These bites definitely saved me from running to the small, overpriced hotel market for chips or baked goods. I usually just had one of these bites when I started to get hungry (hangry) and I was good until an actual meal. That is probably just me, because I eat small snacks between meals, so you may want a couple bites :).

With a cup of herbal tea, I gave them a try.

I liked the All Kinds of Nuts variety the best – they reminded me of a childhood guilty pleasure that I loved a little too much – Little Debbie brownies with nuts. (Any of you like that too? I haven’t had one in years but I still remember the taste. If you liked those brownies, Panera has a pretty good version 🙂. )

The Plain Crazy ones did taste like chocolate truffles. They were less sweet than the candy variety, which I actually like. I’m sensitive to sweet things and they often make me feel heady and sick, so the fact that these were less-sweet (think, dark chocolate) truffles and curbed food cravings makes these a winner in my book.

PMS Bites delivers a monthly subscription box with free shipping (not unlike Stitch Fix-clothes, BirchBox-beauty, or Blue Apron – meals) at a scheduled time. My box came with a promo code, so you can give code “livelife” a try if you’re interested in testing these little bites out!

Check PMS Bites out on their website, on Facebook, or on

Cheers!

BlueBoots