(for raw food guru's & the ladies..) Menses.

[andesuma]

So, what are your opinions?

 

I have read MANY different stories about why some raw women lose

there periods, and why some don't.

From the fact that it is purely detox, to the fact your body is

unbalanced if you DON'T get your period.

 

 

I would like to know what everyone else has heard on this issue..

and if any other raw women on the form have experienced a pro-longed

loss of there period.

 

thanks!

[princessbee]

I can tell you my experience from being only one month raw.

 

For two years or more I have been on birth control to stop my period... the reason is because I found it very inconvenient with my lifestyle and also very painful... really bad cramps, a general feeling of unwellness, dizziness, lower back pain. Not as bad as some women get, but pretty rotten. I got into the habit of taking birth control and then got too scared to go off it, scared of the pain again.

 

I was pretty pigheaded about it, all I wanted was to stop my period, no doctors ever went into much detail about the side effects... or how it could mess up your body and since I didn't want to bleed I didn't bother to check it out. Now this year I learn it can make you store fat (directly contradicts something a doctor told me, she said it just makes you hungrier so sometimes people gain weight on it!), provide food for candida bacteria and mess up your hormones...

I decided to just face my fear when I started detoxing and went off it one week before my detox started. I was told it could take two months to a year before I got it back.

 

Well, four days into my juice fast (six weeks after detox started and three weeks into being raw) I got it back... last week. Since I'm not taking painkillers at the moment I was prepared for the worst, but the worst never came! I had the mildest of cramps, barely cramps at all really. Just a slight and very bearable discomfort for the first day and then nothing at all. None of the other stuff - the back pain or the head sickness - was present.

 

I really believe it was the juice fast that helped bring my period back on and eating raw that kept it so painfree and stress free. I hope to see this continue next month but already I believe I am enjoying the great things raw can do for your body... the truth is, periods shouldn't be painful.

[andesuma]

I agree.. even being whole foods vegan back in the day, I had

unbareable periods.

Period pain that would leave me bed ridden the entire first day.

 

Granted they were never long, only 3 days, but still very painful.

 

 

As my diet improved over the years (more and more raw foods)

my periods got lighter and better. And after first going raw, I had

some pretty amazing cycles that were light and painfree.

But now, I don't get my period at all.

I haven't for over 6 months.

 

So, I am just curious if this is a good thing or a bad thing. hah

Because I've read very contradicting opinions and 'facts'.

[princessbee]

how can it be normal to be in pain?

it might be normal for our hormones to be slightly out of whack, making us a bit moody, but that pain? i can't believe that is normal or natural... your period should be a natural bodily process that is done painlessly and easily. why some indigenous australian tribes, the women had learned how to control their bodies to the point they could expel their entire period in a matter of hours.

 

so if raw keeps a period pain free, i say that's GOOD!!!!!!!!!

 

as to whether it completely stops or not well... I don't know. could you maybe direct me to some of these theories please. really, i'm inclined to say it's GOOD as well. i mean, it's a lovely indication of the ability to give life, but all that waste, all the time? i have heard of many athletic and healthy women with very light or non existent periods... i find it hard to believe something brought on by a healthy lifestyle is bad... i think there's probably more to it than most people know as yet.

[CollegeB]

maybe you lose too much weight

[Michelle]

From this article:

"Hemorrhage in the uterus is no more normal than is hemorrhage in the brain or lungs."

 

Why do women menstruate - and what's "normal" about it? During the days before a woman ovulates, the lining of the womb - the endometrium - thickens in preparation for a possible conception. If the egg released at ovulation passes through the womb unfertilized, the thickened endometrial tissues are not needed - and in a truly healthy woman, as in animals in their wild state, those tissues are mostly reabsorbed. What remains is expelled over a short period of time as a slight mucus discharge

 

It truly doesn't make any sense that humans would be the only mammal that bleeds like we do.

[princessbee]

great article from an informational standpoint Michelle and thank you so much for sharing it

 

but whoah that chickadee is a negative nelly...

[Tigress]

What % bodyfat do you have ? If that is low it can be a reason for your periods to stop

 

If you have always had regular periods and they have stopped I think it is something you should have checked out, just to make sure that everything is as it should be

[Zack]

From this article:

"Hemorrhage in the uterus is no more normal than is hemorrhage in the brain or lungs."

 

Why do women menstruate - and what's "normal" about it? During the days before a woman ovulates, the lining of the womb - the endometrium - thickens in preparation for a possible conception. If the egg released at ovulation passes through the womb unfertilized, the thickened endometrial tissues are not needed - and in a truly healthy woman, as in animals in their wild state, those tissues are mostly reabsorbed. What remains is expelled over a short period of time as a slight mucus discharge

 

It truly doesn't make any sense that humans would be the only mammal that bleeds like we do.

 

They aren't, female apes do too.

[Michelle]

It truly doesn't make any sense that humans would be the only mammal that bleeds like we do.

 

They aren't, female apes do too.

 

I've read that they do in captivity... but do they in the wild, eating their normal ape diet?

[andesuma]

My body fat % (I don't think) is too low, and neither is my weight.

I've already factored those in as possibilities..

 

And I do not have the money to afford to get anything checked out. :/

 

 

I have read from a number of raw food women this exact thing happening

to them as well (such as Tonya Kay), but the belief they have held

behind it is that ovulation is still occuring, but the body is clean enough

that there is no reason for a period.

 

My periods over the last 4 years of me being raw were always infrequent

(ever other month maybe), and light/painfree.

Just over this past year they have stopped, and I was just seeking

some insight, with the probability of it being a good thing.

[princessbee]

hey andesuma, if you feel comfortable and healthy in your body and this has been widely noted in long term raw women with no effect on fertility, then I too feel it is good.

 

wish I had more insight to share wiht you... let me get back to you in a few years.