Does Eating Right Cause Irregular Periods?

I just read a highly controversial, really interesting article on Debbie Took’s raw food blog, about the possibility that when a woman eats a vegan, high-raw (mostly raw) diet, she may have irregular periods, very light and infrequent. Evidence is given and a number of professionals are quoted, that indigenous women don’t menstruate like modern Western women do, and that Western women who change their diet also change their menstruation. The question is asked, why are so many who are serious athletes or who eat a superb diet . . . not menstruating?

Because this has been my personal experience as well, I am fascinated by the theory. You have been taught over a lifetime that a period of heavy bleeding once a month is normal and healthy. So this may shake your testimony of that standard “wisdom.”

Although I do always see the obvious, regular signs of ovulation, I rarely have a period; when I do, it’s almost nothing; and the horrific cramps of my 20’s (when I ate a lousy diet) are completely gone.

I offer the link here, as well as a few paragraphs from the article following it, to offer alternative viewpoints and get you thinking–not to suggest this is the hard-and-fast truth:

Periods: They May Be Normal, But Are They Healthy?

“Health researchers and writers Leslie and Susanna Kenton found their periods changed after switching to a diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables:

‘Women on an all-raw or high-raw diet often report that menstrual problems such as bloating, pre-menstrual tension and fatigue improve greatly after two or three months. For some of them the improvement is so dramatic that they are not aware of their periods until they arrive. This is something we discovered ourselves and at first we thought we were unique. Then we spoke to numerous other women who said they had had a similar experience. Heavy periods become lighter – a period that lasts six or seven days can be reduced to as few as one or two. In some women, particularly those who do not eat meat, dairy products or large quantities of nuts, periods even cease altogether.’

Bellgene Chung, who healed herself of cervical cancer, and believes raw food helped her do that, has researched menstruation and diet:

‘Menstruation (bleeding) is NOT a necessity following ovulation…We have been conditioned to believe that menstruation goes hand in hand with ovulation…Most women, including myself, experience menstruation because they are not truly clean on the inside…Menstruation is the body’s desperate attempt to free itself from toxins, and many females experience PMS in addition to the needless bleeding. Abdominal pain (cramping), headaches, fatigue and irritability do NOT signify an optimal state of health, yet most of us brush these symptoms off as the norm. If you feel such symptoms, this is how your body is communicating that it wants you to change what you are doing; we must listen to Nature’s messages…Presently, on a mainly raw diet, I do not even realize that I am menstruating until I feel moist and decide to take a peek’.”

Mull over whether, like so many other things in our education provided by the medical profession, our education was erroneous that irregular periods are something to fear.

Posted in: Health Concerns, Whole Food