Hello everybody, I'm brand new here :-)

I've been raw for about five weeks now (and I just crashed terribly after trying to have a fixed cheat day... but I'll stand up and keep going, no problem). Since I've gone raw, my period's missing. I'm not pregnant, and normally my cycle's regular.

Did someone here experience this too?

I'm very happy I found this community. I wish you all a wonderful day :-)

You are not eating enough and your body fat is probably too low. Are you also an avid exerciser?

Thanks for your reply arugula :-)

My body fat is certainly not too low. I'm about 15kg / 33lbs overweight and have lots of fat everywhere ;-)

I don't know if I'm not eating enough. I just eat every time I'm hungry till I'm not hungry anymore. I eat lots of greens, some fruit, and very little nuts and seeds, but I still use oil for my dressings. I don't feel that I'm starving, really not. I'm not hungry and I have plenty of energy.

As for exercise, I practice no intensive sport, but I walk quite a bit (usually 1-2 hours a day, sometimes 4 or 5), I also bellydance every day and do some gardening. I didn't increase the amount of exercise since going raw though.

Maybe I should precise that for a woman I'm very muscular (naturally, no weight lifting) and that I have a feminine figure. I don't know if that information is relevant, but maybe it has something to do with the hormones?

It usually one or more of

underweight
%bodyfat too low
too much endurance exercise (walking 4-5 hours + bellydancing + gardening?)
too much resistance training

Your diet is fine, though, if you are not feeling tired or hungry.

I have no clue as to what it might be. Pregnancy?

Losing one's period after raw is perfectly normal. Read Dr. Arnold Ehret's "The Mucusless Healing Diet". He studied thousands of women and each lost their period since they were no longer encumbering their body with toxins that needed to be released monthly. The womens only released mucus on a monthly basis and were still fertile. I look forward to losing my period.

You can also read here about it: <url>[www.welikeitraw.com];

no, losing your period when raw is NOT perfectly normal, especially not after such a short time. it's a sign to pay attention to right now, i suggest just continuing on eating what you feel like having and paying attention to your body. if after a while you don't find your cycle has stabilized look into it further but at this point it is probably not anything to worry over too much. the change in diet brings about many physical changes, each person has their own unique experience as well.

as for losing your period after raw, this has been discussed on this forum many, many times but i'll say again, if it happens at all it shouldn't be until after many years of consuming a perfect diet. before that it is most likely a symptom of detox or other imbalance, possibly hormonal, and shouldn't be overlooked.

I haven't had mine since july 2007. I just had some blood work done to test my hormone levels and they are perfectly 'normal'. My doctor wasn't worried at all.

I still feel like I have a cycle even tho I don't bleed.

may i ask, redstar..how long were you raw before you starting missing periods? i am so curious about this topic...i've never heard of this before.

yes, i am curious about your diet and lifestyle as well (exercise, clean air etc.). have you been tested to see if you are still ovulating? there are tools you can use at home to accurately chart your ovulation like the ovutrac.

I was 2 months raw before i missed my first period.

My doctor suggested that it may be b/c of my change in diet/weight loss of almost 25 pounds in a year/stress from moving to a new city.

Rose,

Given that you're relatively new to raw, and your body hasn't had a chance to acquire deficiencies from your raw diet, it could be that you are experiencing some detox or healing, and that your body has put it reproductive functions on hold to save energy for healing.

Agreed

seeing as your so new to raw its probably just a detox syptom

however if you had been doing it a year plus, then I would say not to worry. I am in the camp of bleeding isnt normaly. period. if your nose bled for 7 days you wouldnt think it normal.

I have been raw 16 months, dont have periods, have a cycle, ovulate and mucus cycle.

Relax, it will come back.. you may experience some changes to it, lighter, less pain, more pain whilst it settles.

Dont stress

So, once again, in my favorite book right now, Left in the Dark, there is a whole section devoted to speculating about what the female reproductive system would have been like in its ancestral, fruit-based diet state--and it presents an interesting hormonal case that suggests, originally, our systems would always be in a slightly pre-ovulatory state, ovulation being triggered by intense, orgasmic sex.

Raw foods/fruit ease the effects of testosterone on the body, increase melatonin (and do a few other interesting things I forget), often which results in a lessening of PMS symptoms... and, as we know, some people just stop having The Cycle all together on raw (I would suspect this being the cause after a long time, like coco said). Also, semen is full of LH and FSH, which, can induce ovulation... :O

Food for thought! The book basically suggests our systems are operating as they do because of severe environmental/dietary stresses, and stacks up a lot of other evidence to theorize they were originally designed to function differently (no monthly cycle). I can't suggest reading it enough (it's like that love affair I had with durian and coconuts).

Of course, I also just love fruit and sex, so my opinion could be biased...

What you CAN also do is track your cycle manually to see if you still ovulate. I have read other blogs where women who have stopped menstruating claim they still get the temperature spikes. THE PLOT THICKENS! There's something else we've all missed on the subject (as truths are eventually self-evident?), so I think, especially in the raw community, it's interesting to catalogue these different happenings and not just write them off to the same causes that amenorrhea has with a SAD diet.

There's so much more to be learned~!

I also agree that bleeding for days at a time is NOT normal. My daughter has always had heavy cycles. After only two months of eating high raw, her cycles went from 6/7 days long to only 3 days. She's hoping to still improve on that and someday be among those raw females that only report a slight discharge.

i have a good relationship with my cycle, i neither dislike it nor wish it gone. menstruation is something that i consider normal and healthy. cycling with the moon seems pretty darn natural to me.

then again, i'm the one who gives birth to her children painlessly and all alone so... perhaps i have a different perception of the female reproductive system.

I think we need to figure out our wording here, when people say "lose their periods" are they saying they are not having them altogether or are they simply much reduced.....my experience with raw women is that they still have periods but they are much reduced, meaning there's much less blood discharge and the days spent bleeding are much reduced, usually down to 2-3 days.

It's not natural to totally lose your period, if you have a cycle but don't bleed then I can see that but to totally lose your cycle sounds a little off....

Juss ma 2 cents.

F1

Coco....I know you have researched this well....what could I possibly be deficient of? And how can I work on getting my period back?

that's a pretty big question but you could start with some nutrition tracking using fitday.com or another free online site to see what your diet is providing on a daily basis. i would input your info daily for at least a month to get a good overall picture and then check out where you might be consistantly deficient.
you can also see your hormonal cycle with a tool like the ovutrac which i think is a terrific idea in particular for women you have irregular cycles, without the clear indication of bleeding to show you where in your cycle you are the chances of conceiving (if you are indeed ovulating) may be higher just due to not being aware of your timing. this tool will show you if you're ovulating or not as well, if you aren't there is imbalance, if you are then this is right and healthy for you.
in the meantime ask yourself for guidance. tell yourself at night before you go to bed that you are going to dream about the things that are best for you and you may subconsciously give yourself some messages. i do believe that disturbances in the body can be rooted in the mind and uncovering hidden beliefs is a great pathway to healing.
it took a lifetime of diet and lifestyle choices to get to where you are today. be kind and patient with yourself as your body changes and adjusts to this new way of taking care of you. you may experience many different things along the way, all are good, natural, healthy indicators of where your body is at. pay attention, especially to your gut feeling even if it has no basis in fact. trust yourself and address things as they come up as best you can.

I am high raw (80%) and my peiods have regulaarized. I used to have irregular period for years. But it is like clockwork. But when I was all raw, I just DID NOT get my period.

I certainly dod not eat very low calories. I had plenty of fresh fruit and was always full. But no period. When I introduced cooked food (about 20%) I got my period.
I also did all kinds of test and all came back normal.

Take care
A Iyer

Are you sure you miss it? I would be thankful. :p

You can have mine!!! I've been perimenopausal for nine years (yet still managed to conceive at 43), and in the three years since I had my youngest, my periods have steadily gotten worse. I've been up and down with the raw foods thing, and since these past couple of months when I've been getting more serious about not eating SAD at all, they've (and I've) mellowed out considerably. My hot flashes have lessened, my moods are better, everything about them has gotten better. But at almost 47, I'm ready to be done with them. So if I go 100% raw, maybe they'll go!

Missing a period after going raw may not be NORMAL, but there is a body of opinion that believes PERIODS may be NORMAL, but they are not necessarily HEALTHY! eg ovulation = healthy, but periods = not necessarily healthy...

It's a radical view of menstruation, but a very interesting one. You may never worry about missing a period again.

I have a long collection of notes on this that I got from an internet source that, according to others who have tried it, has been 'hijacked' by flashing adverts, and am willing to send them to anyone who's interested.

But, rather than give my personal e-mail, could anyone that's interested contact me via the Contact page on www.rawforlife.co.uk?

hey i have been raw since november and only had my period like two days.
i read on the fruitarian site that fruitarian girls only have their period like once a year. i love fruit and lllloooovvveee not having a period. just think of it as a nice gift for going raw.


.........living to tell a tale of a life it self........

"Hemorrhage is NOT a condition of health…. It is a pathological state and is
always harmful and sometimes dangerous. Hemorrhage in the uterus is no more
normal than is hemorrhage in the brain or lungs. It is less dangerous only
because the uterus is less vital to the immediate welfare of the body."

~Harris, Wendy, and Nadine Forrest MacDonald
Is Menstruation Necessary?
Life Science Publishers, Austin, Texas.
(Reprinted in The Fruitarian Network News, Nos. 16, 17, 18 (1992); back issues
available from
The Fruitarian Network, P.O. Box 293, Trinity Beach QLD 4879)

laurieforti Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "Hemorrhage is NOT a condition of health&#8230;. It is a
> pathological state and is
> always harmful and sometimes dangerous. Hemorrhage
> in the uterus is no more
> normal than is hemorrhage in the brain or lungs.
> It is less dangerous only
> because the uterus is less vital to the immediate
> welfare of the body."
>
> ~Harris, Wendy, and Nadine Forrest MacDonald
> Is Menstruation Necessary?
> Life Science Publishers, Austin, Texas.
> (Reprinted in The Fruitarian Network News, Nos.
> 16, 17, 18 (1992); back issues
> available from
> The Fruitarian Network, P.O. Box 293, Trinity
> Beach QLD 4879)

OPINION!

and my opinion is the opposite. i don't know about you but i don't hemorrhage, just a nice little flow in time with the moon.

i missed one month after i went raw...the second month i had a 3 day very light period..no pain, no bloating...

i'm with the menstruating doesn't mean bad crowd-

after going raw i've had two pregnancies and breastfed for over two years now.

i didn't have consistent cycles before- only six a year- but after getting cleaner and cleaner- i went to a 28 day (moon based) cycle with no bloating or pain, and 3 days of very light bleeding. i also deliver my babies based on the moon's cycle. i think there's something very primal and right about cycling in some form with the earth.

peace-

Hey all, thank you so much for your kind and reassuring words and the interesting thought food

It makes sense to me. It was a big dietary change, so maybe my body needed to adapt. It's also true that after over ten years of very bad health, I guess my body has a lot of healing work to do, now! And I also lost weight very fast (about 13lbs in the first 3 weeks). All this could be an explanation.

I just got my period, and it's an incredibly heavy one, I've never been bleeding so much! Interestingly, since my crashing a week ago, I've been struggling with cravings and eating small amounts of cooked carbs nearly every day. (I'm very unhappy with this situation, but I guess this belongs in another thread.) Maybe I got my period because of my cheating...

Anyhow, I won't worry about my period again ;-) Thanks.