One of the most interesting things that I’ve learned has to do with the fact that PAIN is relative to how many TOXINS we have inside of us. To help make my point, I’ll include a reference to Dr. Max Gerson and his use of Coffee Enemas for Pain, an Experiment conducted by Arnold Ehret and 2 old Threads on a subject that NO man has a right to talk about, unless, of course, his opinion is based on a summary of what other women have to say on the subject and that subject has to do with “Menstruation”!

Dr. Max Gerson knew that all drugs were Liver Toxic and if someone came to his clinic in a lot of Pain, Gerson would immediately get them off their Pain Killers, and he would give them Coffee Enemas as often as needed - up to every 2 hours - 12 times a day VS the 4 to 5 Coffee Enemas that he would give his other Cancer patients. Gerson knew that Coffee Enemas opened up the bile ducts in the Liver so that the Bile could flush away the Toxins. Coffee Enemas were also used during the war for the soldiers who were shot when they ran out of Morphine.

Arnold Ehret believed that the only ones who could evaluate whether a Diet was Healthy or Not were those who were Clean inside, so Ehret would Fast and test various Diets by cutting on himself and document how much it Bleed, how much it HURT and how long it took to Heal. When he ate a meat based Diet, it HURT a lot, it Bleed a lot and it took a long time to Heal. Ehret would Fast again and when he ate Raw Foods, it didn’t HURT very much, it hardly Bleed and it Healed right away.

Once again, all PAIN is relative to how many TOXINS are inside of us and to finish my point, I’ll post those 2 old Threads on “Menstruation” in 3 or maybe 4 separate Posts.

Peace and Love..........John

Here is the 1st Thread on the subject of “Menstruation”…

[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
MENSTRUATION...Looking For Testimonies & Advice...
Author: John Rose (---.dsl.hstntx.swbell.net)
Date: 02-23-05 11:15

I'm doing a 2 hour radio show on KPFT in Houston next Tuesday (3-1-05) from 10:00 AM till noon on women's health and a major focus on an unthinkable topic for a man to discuss...MENSTRUATION. I just updated my preview section on my file on Menstruation, which I am adding below, and I was looking for any additional testimonies. I would also greatly appreciate any advice from all of y’all...men included.

Thanks in advance for all of y’all comments........John

Menstruation

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

...File Preview...

Sit down before fact like a little child, and be prepared to give up every preconceived notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss nature leads, or you shall learn nothing.

It is not uncommon for women to go through some changes in cycles when they change their diets.

In medical school I was taught that a woman should not bleed at all, it was abnormal.

Regarding menstrual pain, I have always been told by my women patients that they have reduced menstrual pain, duration, and bleeding as they improve their diet to vegan and again raw. For some women, all of these symptoms disappear completely.

Menstruation as we know it IS common, so common it is "the norm", and in that sense alone "normal". But it certainly is not healthy - or necessary.

Once I went all raw, my first period was normal, but my second was only one drop. This is what I call normal. The rest of the world is abnormal to me. We are always comparing ourselves to cooked fooders.

No bleeding and not ovulating are two completely different things. ...Normal healthy menstrual cycles, according to my anatomy teacher in medical school, should not be accompanied by bleeding of any kind. In fact, the entire 'period' should only take a few minutes and would be, basically, just a small bit of mucus.

Cessation of bleeding should not automatically be considered a bad thing, most women find it a blessing. Of course, it has to come about for healthy and not unhealthy reasons.

The casual observer may have no idea whether or not bleeding is occuring - you tend only see the outward signs. In many species the flow is "covert" as all the necrotic tissue is reabsorbed. I think humans do this to a small extent, so even though there may be no overt loss of blood, there still may be a period, but just much less.

I can agree with a lot of this, not that I've ever missed a period. But I have noticed that the more things I do right, the lighter my periods are. When I've absolutely gone nuts with cheesecake, all kinds of fried things, overeating, etc., my period has been horrendous. It can fluctuate like this by the month according what I've done.

I once had endometriosis and now I don’t. So, my period hasn't gone away, but it is now not the "curse" people say it is/should be. I have no pain, brest swelling, pms, or any symptoms at all except 3 days of a minute ammount of blood loss. I USED to have pain all month long - random cramps, during my period cramps up to my lung area, breast swelling three weeks prior to my period (out of a 4 week cycle!) constant brain fog, and severe pain that left me unable to work 3 days every month, and a period that lasted anywhere from 7-11 days. The blood was thick, mucusy, clotty, even solid in chunks at times.

However, it is true that they have studied the difference between menstrual blood and regular blood from our viens and found them to be Very different from each other! The menstrual blood was loaded with waste and toxins unlike blood found elsewhere in our body.

In fact ask almost any doctor and they will tell you that woman can still ovulate when they miss there period.

The fact that the whole ovulation cycle can occur time after time without the loss of blood, and can and does this in so many cases, especially in women and whole tribes and races living 'less civilized', more natural lives, should cause us to doubt that menstruation is either necessary or normal. The fact that it is in the healthiest and strongest women that there is no loss of blood and that the loss of blood increases in proportion to the decline in physical vigor, should cause us to conclude that this, like all other losses of blood, is abnormal.

I also don't think that we need a signifier like blood to connect ourselves with our cycle, or with our bodies.

The cycle is not just the blood, although that's what most women in our culture focus on. ...The cycle is the moment of emptiness once the period has ceased... the first stirrings of desire and increased vaginal secretions that indicate ovulation is near... the drying up of desire, and the movement (at least for me) into a more extraverted frame of being until... the body begins to turn inward, insulating itself (fat stores on belly, breasts and thighs) and creating a fierce force... that is eventually un-leashed and let go... I'm probably saying this all wrong. But I was aware of none of this--except for the blood--until I began to pay attention.

The Sabbath of Women By Lara Owen ...I had actually felt cheated because my periods were so light. That was when I realized that for me, menstruating was an important part of my life, a rhythm that I depended on for my psychic and physical health, and that I ignored or suppressed at my peril. In other cultures, rather than being ignored, menstruation has been seen as a time that is special and sacred for women. ...When white men came on the scene, "the world turned upside down." Attitudes toward menstruation changed and young girls were taught by the priests instead of by the elder women of the tribe. "Instead of learning that once a month their bodies would become sacred, they were taught that they would become filth. Instead of going to the waiting house to meditate, pray, and celebrate…they were taught that they were sick" ("Daughters of Copper Woman", Ann Cameron). ...In the nineteenth century, menstruation was viewed by physicians as one more sign of the inferiority and weakness of the female.

I spoke to a woman who went completely raw a year before pregnancy, and delivered the baby completely pain-free, without drugs, and without cessarian, in--if I recall--about 20 minutes.

I am a man but please, there must be a limit to this 'you can't understand' stuff. There are reasons not to ovulate - various conditions all linked to extremely poor health or extremely low body fat - and then there are reasons not to menstruate, usually these are linked with excellent health.

Some women lose their period due to poor health, while others lose it due to excellant health...

It's strange that our instinct is to curl up in pain. This does menstrual pain no good. All the yoga exercises make you open up. Working against instinct is weird, but after doing it once, I totally trust it now. I realise that we shouldn't have period pains so the instinct we use to curl up isn't right -- our bodies weren't designed to have period pain, otherwise we'd instinctively open up into a yoga pose!

Lack of menstruation does not preclude ovulation. Lack of ovulation due to extremely low body fat has been linked to health issues, especially hormonal problems and osteoporosis, IN NON-ATHLETIC WOMEN ONLY! Many world class female athletes do not menstruate, a sign of health, yet still ovulate.

We have actually had this menstruation discussion, ad nauseum, some time ago. The brief recap is this: In medical school I was taught by my anatomy teacher, a woman btw, that menstruation is, by definition, uncontrollable hemorrhage. If you hemorrhage, from anywhere, it is not a good thing, and I don't really care if everyone else hemorrhages too. She said that a normal healthy 'period' would last about 20 minutes and would be just what you said, a shedding of a mucus lining. She said a small volume of mucus would come out of the vagina, usually unnoticed by the woman, and that it could be accompanied by one drop of blood, but not necessarily. Since that time I have heard this same story many times, in many places. My understanding is that the body hemorrhages as a prelude to ovulation, to create new clean red blood cells and clean up the blood in general.

My 100% raw 19-year-old daughter does not get "periods" since she went raw, but will get a very slight spotting if she eats nuts and seeds. She has been 100% raw for 17 months, is healthy, feels and looks great. A woman can stop her periods for either unhealthy reasons or healthy reasons. I know that some people believe it is only for unhealthy reasons.

Other animals who eat natural food have little, if any bleeding.

Many raw foodist women don't bleed - but they do have a mucousy discharge that indicates that they are still ovulating.

Most women, especially those who have been formerly mis-educated and/or have not followed a 100% raw food diet for very long, have a very hard time with this concept. Most women do not know that there is more than one reason why one's menstrual cycle stops. When a woman's body fat % drops below 10-12%, then they will stop ovulating and not have any discharge. This is not healthy! However, it is NOT healthy to hemorrhage from anywhere!!!

"Even after a year on raw food, my body is still very busy cleansing itself of 30 years of toxic eating. I feel fortunate that I'm a woman in this respect because I can see such progress each month. I also think it's lucky for us to have this extra valve to allow toxins out of! Some months have been great, with little pain and little blood, but others have been quite painful. However, for about the last 5 months the pain has been nothing like it used to be. It used to be that I couldn't move for days, with pain raging through my fingers and toes. I haven't felt like that for a long time now, which I'm so pleased about. My periods aren't perfect yet, but that's because I'm not! Hard to believe, eh! As I write this I'm approaching my first period of 2001, I'll document it as I have documented last year's, so stay tuned..."

Also, remember that if you don't have peroids it doesn't necessarily mean you are healthy. However, if you do have periods, it does mean you are toxic. Fact ;-) No other animal (except cooked "pets" haemorrhage like humans in this way.

Women in the raw food movement often notice that their periods become less painful, shorter, that they suffer less pms symptoms, etc. Some even notice a cessation of menstruation, though this is not always (or even usually imo) accompanied by a cessation of ovulation. Those women in the raw food movement who are exceptionally thin (less than 10% body fat and going lower) may in fact be too thin for their own hormonal health.

You detox more around your period, so what's coming out? The chocolate you ate last month, and the month before!

Lots of women quit having their periods when they are on the living food diet and the good news is that you don't run into menopause. I'm 65 and never had 'that' and lots of people who are younger never have their periods anymore because there is nothing left over to get rid of.

I've lost my menses since going raw. Yeah!!! The curse is over! I'm not under weight nor over excersising. I did backslide majorly one time and did menstruate that month.

Some raw women lose their periods because they get too thin, but some lose it and are still ovulating...which is fine. To lose your period due to being unhealthily thin or over exercising is NOT a good thing.

What did it for me was cutting right back on nuts and seeds. I now only have a really minimal amount. I also rarely eat dried fruit, so most of my diet is very high in water. My body seems to like this. After one final *horrible* painful period 4 months ago, I have (for the first time in my life) now had 3 (yes, 3) pain-free periods in a row! My first pain free period was after 6 months raw, but the next one was painful. I had this pattern for the next 18 months or so, up until now ;-)

For me, just going 99% raw and eating whatever I wanted and in any combination totally helped my cramps. When I eat mostly raw, I have much lighter periods and NO cramps (no more Advil and Aleve for me). It's absolutely wonderful. Of course, if I go back to eating the regular SAD, my periods is heavy and the cramps come back. This alone is enough reason to go raw!

I was beginning menopause when I started on the diet. I would skip a period, hot flashes, night sweats, ets, two or three times a year ( age 40). When I began the diet, menstruation became more regular with less signs of menopause. My periods became less painful, and then they became lighter. I had a few periods which were only clear fluid, and some that were scanty brown.

The real solution for menstrual problems is to remove the toxemic condition through a series of cleansing periods, gradually extending from days to weeks on a mainly raw food diet based on fresh vegetable juices, sprouted seeds, vegetable salads and fresh fruit, preferably using organic or unsprayed produce.

Menstruation is about cleansing and detoxifying. If one eats a light vegan diet (fruits and a few greens leafs..hardly any nuts and seeds) and does not overeat, it may stop altogether. Also hot spices and garlic and peppers induces one period as they tend to irritate the body. I stayed away from the above and my period stopped. If I want to have it I can get it back in a few days by eating lots of nuts/red pepper/overloading my system. But that does not make me feel good so I don’t. I never feel any mood swings or have any PMS symptoms and feel on top of the world every day. I have had this experience also when I was eating a very lite vegan diet that was not 100 percent raw but may be 70 percent. Have been virtually period free now for a couple of years being declared healthy by standard Western and Alternative medical check ups.

Been 100% for five months, and I haven't bled for the past few months, and before that it was very light spotting.

I also have had no period for about 4 months, the time I went 100% raw! I still know when I'm ovulating though by the usual discharge so I'm not bothered about it.

The very first time I went 100% raw I lost my period completely after only three months into it. I find that the blood flow is less when I eat less protein foods and am more on a fruitarian type diet. My cramps and moodiness are non-existent on a raw foods diet.

When the average unhealthy or underweight woman develops amenhorea, she stops ovulating, which is not healthy. This may be the case for many women who go raw, because they lose an excessive amount of weight or are undereating. However, it is healthy and natural to stop bleeding with menstruation, as long as you are still ovulating. You know you're ovulating if you get a monthly discharge and maybe a little bit of spotting.

I had amenhorea before I went raw from being underweight. After being raw for awhile I began to ovulate again, while still being underweight though not as severely.

It is a great idea to be juice fasting during this time. Most of the thousands of people that I have coached were women and most of them tell me that they didn't even know that there period was coming because they usually have all of those painful warning signs days before. Many times they tell me that this was their first pain-free period that they have ever had. Boy do I love my job!!!

I stopped getting my period after about four months of 70% raw. I went 100% raw on July 17th, and I still have not had one since. I was not underweight at the time I lost it, and nor am I underweight now. I was and am in excellent health.

However, the evidence strongly suggests that menstrual bleeding is unhealthy and that ovulation without bleeding is what is the natural, healthy state.

So why haven't most of us heard about this before? It is because the lifestyle improvements involved, although simple, are quite a change from most modern women's habits of living and eating. No drugs or even nutritional supplements are required, but what is essential is the adoption of what health writer Leslie Kenton calls a "high raw way of eating". In practice this means that each meal contains more fresh, raw foods than cooked or processed foods; that animal product foods are eliminated altogether, along with salt, sugar, alcohol, refined fats and oils, most condiments, artificial additives and stimulating beverages. Many people say that they "would rather die than give up all that tasty stuff!" And indeed they will -- after living years in increasingly poorer health, through menstruation and menopausal "symptoms", and often ending with heart disease and cancer.

"Haemorrhage in the uterus is no more normal than is haemorrhage in the brain or lungs."

It is now agreed by most observers that the cause of menstruation among domestic animals is the food they receive at the hands of man.

What is not natural however is to experience menstrual bleeding - and this can be eliminated by changing the diet to end the congestion of toxemia and ensure an abundant supply of the nutrients necessary for maintaining strong blood vessels.

What has to change in the diet in order to eliminate menstruation? Foods which contribute to toxemia are no longer eaten. Foods which build health, and especially strong connective tissue, without taxing the digestion are the only foods eaten. The body is helped to eliminate toxic wastes built up over past years of poor lifestyle and diet. Without doubt, the hardest part of this change for most people is the first one. It means no more eating foods which sludge up or acidify the body. This means eliminating animal products - meat, fish, dairy, eggs -- refined sugars and salt, and dramatically reducing grain foods and even processed plant fats (oils). The diet essentially must become "true vegetarian", or vegan, with a predominance of fresh raw fruits and vegetables rather than cooked. In particular, the greater the proportion of raw fruit in the diet, the less likely you are to have periods.

Women who eat a vegetarian diet containing mostly raw food experience only brief periods, scarcely noticeable, with hardly any loss of blood. Dr. H. G. Beiler in his book, The Natural Way to Sexual Health, explains that women experience troublesome periods only because of the toxic condition of their blood brought about by the high fat and protein Western diet.

The fact that the whole ovulation cycle can occur time after time without the loss of blood, and can and does this in so many cases, especially in women and whole tribes and races living 'less civilized', more natural lives, should cause us to doubt that menstruation is either necessary or normal. The fact that it is in the healthiest and strongest women that there is no loss of blood and that the loss of blood increases in proportion to the decline in physical vigor, should cause us to conclude that this, like all other losses of blood, is abnormal.

...when I am off my diet and then get back on it, I will bleed heavier as I get rid of those toxins. But when I stick to my diet, then my bleeding is relatively light.

I still have mine and am 5'10" and 133 pounds. I have noticed that months when I am completely 100% raw it is very scant and short.

When you are clean, your body doesn't stop preparing the lining of your uterus, but instead of expelling it every month, your body reabsorbs it. It's full of nutrients.. and your body will only want to get rid of it if its full of toxins.

I have been 100% raw for 2 years. I have a clear discharge once a month, but have not bled for over 9 months. I am not underweight, nor highly athletic, 5'5 125lbs, body fat of 18%.

I was 80-90% raw for one year and have been 100%for a month and I have noticed that my period went from being clumpy and darker brown (ewwww!) to bright bright red which only lasts for two and a half days. I knew about the pruifying aspect and it makes sense that once we are clean we would just reabsorb it....makes sense.

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.

My experience has been consistent with that described in John Rose's literature. I do not bleed, but sometimes have a lot of mucus. The only times I bleed is when I ate something bad, usually while traveling and better foods are not available. My body fat has ranged 23-26%, so I am definitely not underweight. I have researched this extensively, and it is actually quite common for raw foodies not to bleed.

I've hardly had a period since going raw last year and I have been to the doctor's about it. She wasn't at all concerned. No period does NOT mean that you are not ovulating. We are not all created the same, therefore, different people have different types of periods. It is not totally unnatural to not have a period. Please try to be more understanding and don't scare people with such a strongly worded post.

Coco- I know where you are coming from. When I first heard that raw foodist often don't bleed I was heart broken. I rediscovered my sexuality through honoring my moon cycles and have turned those cramps into waves of orgasms. I have however seen such a change in my menses since I have progressively eaten healthier over the last few years. I now only lightly bleed for a day and a half and maybe spot for another day. ...We can honor our cycles without the blood. Their are our dreams, and our fluids, and the moon and our cycle. Even if there isn’t blood doesn’t mean we aren't flowing.

At the present time there is not enough research in this matter. I met healthy women practicing a raw food diet both menstruating and not. The only thing that all women say is that the blood flow essentially decreased. They practically don't have any discomfort, cramps, or PMS symptoms.

I know that I am a man and I know that I cannot speak from experience, which is why I have this file...I am also a Wellness Consultant and since I do this for a living, I have to be objective and listen to what you women have to say on this subject...thanks again to all of you women for sharing your views.

I saw a huge improvement in my cycle after going raw. As a vegetarian for 7 years, I STILL had intense pain in my uterus and tons of leg pain on the 2nd day of my period. I was also heavy on that day. On raw, I have no uterine or leg pain at all, and my period lasts 3 days.

After several days raw my period came and I had little to no pain. ...THEN after being raw for 5 weeks I started a week early (unusual), but this time my period lasted for ONE EVENING and that was IT! A few clumps, no pain at all. Since then only spotting.

The amount of fluids in the body can change very quickly. Our emotions are strongly linked to the balance of fluids in our bodies and thus can also change very quickly. In fact, changes of emotion are frequently related to changes in the water balance.

The science behind water retention is basically that water is the solution to pollution. Your body decides how dilute various toxins must be kept at the different times of the month. I did not say, "You become more toxic before your period." This may be true, but having no history of you to go on, it is out of my scope to be able to tell. It is just as likely that your body determines that at this important time of the month your toxins must become more dilute, so the body retains a bit more water to do the job.

I have been raw off and on for two years then decided to behave and go total raw about 3 months ago. Well my cycle became very light to almost nonexsistant.

This is one of the most dramatic effects that going raw had on me. Much lighter and almost no cramps.

...eating raw produces less garbage in the system, therefore less garbage to dispose of.

The bowels, bladder, lungs and skin are the primary channels for elimination of toxins. The uterus is used as a vicarious (or alternative) method of elimination. So, if we are very toxic, the uterus is used as well as the other channels.

No pains, no cramps... no nothing. Just a light, clean flow. It was a little heavy for half a day, and then trailed off to nothing in about four days.

I've had nothing for over a year now. Oh, it's bliss (-: Another annoying thing out of my life.

When I first went raw, I lost weight and my period stopped completely. It turned out I didn't have enough body fat to maintain the right hormone levels, so I had stopped ovulating (very unhealthy). Now that I gained some weight back, my period is light, short, and I never get cramps or anything. Very pleasant

Mine only lasts under two days and I have no PMS symptoms. I am 24.

Yes, this is normal and ok. You don't have so many old poisons left in your body as before, and if you completely quit your menses, what a blessing. It happened to me. This will not bother you if you wish to have a baby. The natural hormones will be there at the perfect time.

...End Of File Preview...
[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
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Peace and Love..........John

Now, here are the responses to my Original Post in the 1st Thread on the subject of “Menstruation”…

[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
Re: MENSTRUATION...Looking For Testimonies & Advice...
Author: lisa m (---.range81-155.btcentralplus.com)
Date: 02-23-05 13:30

Hi John
I'm 35 years old and I've been raw 22 months now (in varying degrees from mainly 100% to sometimes about 80%). Since about 4 months of being raw I haven't had a noticeable period. I always used to have quite a light flow anyway, so maybe that has something to do with it? Also, I don't suffer from PMS any more, which I used to get quite bad. My general health is pretty much perfect, so I'm not concerned that anything is 'amiss'. Obviously I can't speak for anyone else, but that's my experience, and I'm very happy with it! I just look at it as another of the lovely advantages of being raw. I found a little box under the bed the other day - it contained a bunch of tampons, together with my old asthma inhalor, and some random pills - for headaches, indigestion etc. All the stuff I used to regard as part of everyday life. I regard the raw life as one of the most liberating things that's ever happened to me, in many ways.

Good luck with your show, I'm sure you'll be awesome!
xxx

If you smile at me, I will understand
Cause that is something everybody everywhere does in the same language
(Crosby Stills and Nash)
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Re: MENSTRUATION...Looking For Testimonies & Advice...
Author: Aviva (---.in-addr.btopenworld.com)
Date: 02-23-05 14:56

Your radio show sounds really interesting, John. I hope it goes well for you.

I can give you a negative testimony about menstruation - it's definitely been a curse for me and has really damaged my health. I wish I could stop it permanently. I had periods so heavy that I became dangerously anaemic and had to have a blood transfusion last month.

When I was 99% raw a few years ago for about a year, my periods were still a little heavy and painful (but they got much worse after I stopped being raw). Maybe a year wasn't long enough to effect a big change and I was eating some nuts and seeds every day which might not have helped.

I want to try going completely raw again in order to help my menstruation problems but when you're very anaemic, it's sometimes hard to eat light raw food because you feel dizzy and nauseous all the time and don't feel like eating that kind of food.

Anyway, good luck with the talk, John.
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Re: MENSTRUATION...Looking For Testimonies & Advice...
Author: nora (---.242.63.25.Dial1.Seattle1.Level3.net)
Date: 02-23-05 17:14

Wow, John, what a compilation. Thanks so much for sharing it. My experiences echo those of many other women who have improved their diets. Although my periods actually got worse (pain) for about 2 years after I went raw, they finally got very light and now are absent completely. About a year ago when they first disappeared I monitored my temp for a couple months and charted the normal spikes on days 12-14 of my cycle, so indications are that I'm still ovulating. I've also had no symptoms of menopause.

Nora
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Re: MENSTRUATION...Looking For Testimonies & Advice...
Author: John Rose (---.dsl.hstntx.swbell.net)
Date: 02-24-05 07:15

Lisa M, Nora, Aviva, and all of the other women from the "Women...another question" thread...thanks so much for all of your input. I just found out last night that the show (Earth 101) that I will be hosting has been changed to 3-15-05...same time and day of the week. I'll also be on the following Tuesday 3-22-05 for another 2 hours. Thanks again for the feedback...please keep your ideas coming.

I'll remind everyone a couple of days before air time and give a link so y’all can listen to it on the internet...it's a call in show so you guys can call in if you like! I'm really excited to be on one of the only free speech radio stations in the country for a full 2 hours talking about all the issues we talk about here. This is a great opportunity for me to get the Pacifica radio stations (there’s 5 stations altogether in this country) to focus on the real problems that face our country…UNNATURAL FOOD ! ! !

I'm usually on the air once a month, but I'm usually interviewing someone else like Dr. Neal Bernard, Dr. Joel Fuhrman or Dr. Gabriel Cousens. They finally interviewed me back on January 3, 2005 and for those interested I'll include a link below.

Peace and Love.....................John

PS Here is that link to my interview on Go Vegan Texas, which aired on 1-3-05 on KPFT 90.1 FM.
< [67.10.85.19] >
If the above link doesn't work, go to the link below and then click on the show...
< [67.10.85.19] >
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[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
Re: MENSTRUATION...Looking For Testimonies & Advice...
Author: Lushlife (166.127.1.---) [Zahra Bandele]
Date: 02-24-05 09:53

Greetings!!
I am in houston as well and will look forward to listening to the show.
My question deals with the use of toxic substances in pads and tampons. Several women I know have experienced lighter periods since switching to all natural methods. If time allows and it is deemed important please share some natural alternatives with the listning audience.
Peace
Sacreddaughter

Increase Peace
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Re: MENSTRUATION...Looking For Testimonies & Advice...
Author: mysteriouz (---.lv.lv.cox.net)
Date: 02-24-05 11:30

the keeper is freakin painful. i do not reccomend anyone buy it. i just returned mine a few days ago...man, it would be nice if it worked so you don't have to pollute, but...just wasn't for me.....
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Re: MENSTRUATION...Looking For Testimonies & Advice...
Author: coco-mama (24.67.223.---)
Date: 02-25-05 09:51

mysteriouz, you might have found it a bit more comfortable if you had trimmed the post right off. i found that bit uncomfortable, even cut very short. also, this is a bit personal, it may have been too soon for you to use one if you are a virgin or relatively inexperienced in that regard. traditional tampons are very slender in comparison.
i love the keeper, it's the most convenient, comfortable thing i've ever used and i highly recommend it. most of the time i forget i'm even having my period, even over night.

live in love
[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
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Peace and Love..........John

Now here is the 2nd Thread on the subject of “Menstruation”…

[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
Re: Female Raw Foodists, menstrual cycle.
Author: nora (---.242.33.179.Dial1.Seattle1.Level3.net)
Date: 04-04-05 08:32

Thanks for posting that link, River. It did work but I had to cut and paste so I'll post a hot one:
[www.rawfoodsupport.com]

S.-- I think it will be illuminating for you to read the above thread, as your concerns are echoed throughout, and there is lots of sensible information which will serve to allay them.

In my 5th year of being raw, I've continued to experience very infrequent periods, maybe one every 4-6 months. I've noticed that I have more periods when I'm eating more fat, although I suspect the increased fat consumption has to coincide with a certain phase of my cycle in order for bleeding to occur. When the body is "cleaner" it is better able to re-absorb the blood and tissues used to prepare the womb for possible fertilization (and I'm sure that's an over-simplification of what's happening). If the body is not able to re-absorb it, it gets expelled. Knowing how economical the body is, it makes sense to me that a healthy body would recycle these materials rather than eliminate them.

Nora
[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
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[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
Re: Female Raw Foodists, menstrual cycle.
Author: nora (---.242.33.179.Dial1.Seattle1.Level3.net)
Date: 04-09-05 07:55

Although monthly bleeding is seen by some as an intrinsic and essential part of womanhood, in reality it's just another discomfort brought on by the harmful lifestyle habits we indulge in. Humans have a habit of rationalizing that which we think we can’t change so as to make the resulting pain or inconvenience easier to bear. My mother always told me that labor pain was the “dues” that women must pay in order to earn the 'reward' of a baby. Painful childbirth, monthly hemorrhage, menopause symptoms, middle age spread and the like are not normal rites of passage for women, as they have come to be seen as, but rather are the consequences of unhealthy living.

Experiencing a decrease or complete cessation of bleeding is so common among healthy raw women that it can't be called 'anecdotal', even though there is no research to back it up since the entities that conduct 'scientific' studies are too busy developing new drugs to pay any attention to the phenomenon. Contrary to popular belief, medical research is not conducted for humanitarian purposes. It is beholden to its investors, either directly or indirectly, so it is driven by potential return. There is no money to be made by proving that menses is not necessary or healthful, in fact there is much money to be lost in such an endeavor.

I do not endorse a wholesale rejection of "allopathic" or any other kind of medicine. When a visit to a doctor can truly offer more benefit than cost, then that is what should be done. If I had an accident and needed to be put back together, I’d want a doctor to do the re-assembling. When it comes to degenerative issues such as hormone imbalances, however, medicine is an absolute, abject, miserable failure. Doctors fail to acknowledge the causes of disease and are utterly clueless about the habits which need to be adopted to restore balance in a diseased body. Further, their attempts at restoring balance artificially only add to the body's burden. If a woman is already working on changing her diet and lifestyle, she can be assured that her health problems will resolve themselves, even though it might take many months. To believe otherwise is to suspect that nature sneaks up on us and afflicts us with disease even as we’re removing its causes. This is the medical view of disease, and it is completely contrary to how nature really works.

Nora
[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
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[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
Re: Female Raw Foodists, menstrual cycle.
Author: nora (---.242.33.179.Dial1.Seattle1.Level3.net)
Date: 04-09-05 09:45

Hi Yogalee,
There does indeed seem to be a contradiction there, at first glance. On one side we have studies or observations of wild animals (studies on domestic animals would not qualify, of course, for obvious reasons) which seem to “prove” that they menstruate. On the other side we have women who exhibit health in every conceivable meaningful way who continue to ovulate but cease to bleed. Of course the biggest problem in relying on studies of any sort is in trying to determine if they are valid, which is nearly impossible in most cases. That issue notwithstanding, we can nevertheless ascertain through logical deduction which side is correct.

We know both sides can't be true, so we can use the simple proof:
If A is true, and B contradicts A, then B is automatically false.

If "A" is that the studies showing that wild animals menstruate are valid and true, then it follows that menstruation is part of the normal healthy functioning of a female body and amenorrhea is always a sign of ill health in women who experience it. If, on the other hand, "A" is that menstruation tends to be more symptomatic and difficult among unhealthy women and that amenorrhea is commonly experienced by raw women as their health improves, then it follows that amenorrhea can be a sign of improving health.

It becomes a simple matter of determining which side requires the greatest leap of logic. In this case, in order to accept that menstruation is healthy and amenorrhea is not, we'd have to disregard the experiences of thousands of otherwise healthy raw women who have ceased to bleed as their health improved. Personally, I'm much more inclined to question the validity of the studies. Amenorrhea doesn’t always happen in raw women, obviously, but it is common enough, especially in long-term, very healthy raw women, that we can make certain safe assumptions.

Nature isn't out to get us. When we have health problems, we experience signals. When we are experiencing great health, we feel good. We can't be experiencing all the other signs of great health and be diseased at the same time.

Thanks for your comments.

Nora
[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
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[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
Re: Female Raw Foodists, menstrual cycle.
Author: nora (---.242.33.179.Dial1.Seattle1.Level3.net)
Date: 04-09-05 12:36

<<<"before letting it go on too long without having her levels checked by professionals."

This bring us to the real crux of the issue. Firstly, the "levels" that are deemed to be "normal" by doctors are derived from unhealthy women. They do not reflect those that would be seen in healthy women (those are unknown, but we know they would be different, certainly). The standards are flawed, so the results of the comparison will be flawed as well. To compound this, once the comparison is made, the next step is for doctors to attempt to "normalize" 'abnormal' levels by administering synthethic hormones or other equally harmful substances. I don't think I need to explain to anyone on this board how counter-productive this is to health.

If it were the case that by visiting a doctor a woman could glean information that would truly be useful, like how to create health, it would be another story. But that doesn't happen. Medicine is where the experimentation is taking place. Nature goes back a lot farther. Doctors cannot create balance in an unhealthy body, in spite of their ill-deserved reputation to the contrary. Only nature can do that. Regardless of whether a woman is healthy or UNhealthy when she experiences amenorrhea, if she adopts healthy living practices thereafter she needn't worry that disease is waiting to pounce on her.

Nora
[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
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[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
Re: Female Raw Foodists, menstrual cycle.
Author: nora (---.242.33.179.Dial1.Seattle1.Level3.net)
Date: 04-09-05 18:30

<<<"How can we be sure that they've lost their periods because they've improved their health, and not because of these other factors?"

Because when the cessation of bloodloss is caused by improved health, women experience all the other unmistakeable indicators of improving health (as I have). The important point is that even if amenorrhea is caused by ill health, a doctor cannot cure the underlying causes. In medicine, great emphasis is placed on diagnosing and testing because for each and every disease, there is a different therapeutic approach. From a hygienic perspective, however, a diagnosis does not alter what needs to be done to resolve health issues, including hormonal imbalances. That's not to say that a diagnosis cannot sometimes be interesting and possibly even helpful. The caveat is that obtaining a diagnosis can be costly if it causes a woman to doubt that she's doing the right thing by going raw and adopting a hygienic lifestyle. Judging by the fact that most physicians regard a diet composed exclusively of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds to be "extreme" and "deficient", there is every likelihood of this happening. When one compares this 'cost' to the marginal 'benefit' of knowing whether your hormone levels match those of unhealthy women, one can begin to see how it might not make sense to go to the doctor.

We like to think that eating raw food is something new, but it's not. In his lifetime, Herbert Shelton alone introduced hundreds of thousands of people to the hygienic lifestyle and its wonderful benefits. The older hygiene literature is full of testimonials from people we've never even heard of, who ate raw food and quietly thrived. Among those were women who reported that as they got healthier, their periods diminished or ceased completely. Natural Hygiene practitioners have been writing for the last century about women who lose their periods as a result of improved diet and lifestyle. Dr. Shelton references some of them in his treatise on menstruation. TC Fry writes in his "Life Science" course:
"Some Hygienists experience no flow at all and this is normal. A sick individual could also experience absence of menstrual flow and this could be due to several reasons. A fast and a change in lifestyle is in order in these cases. After health has been restored, menstruation may or may not recommence. If it does, flow will be light and there should be no pain."

Also:
"Those who have perspicaciously examined and studied the phenomenon of menstruation (the sloughing off of the menses periodically in preparation for ovulation) observe that it is abnormal for this to be accompanied by blood-letting".

Nora
[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
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[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
Re: Female Raw Foodists, menstrual cycle.
Author: John Rose (---.dsl.hstntx.swbell.net)
Date: 04-10-05 07:36

Nora,

Thanks for contributing to this thread.

Obviously, this is a very emotional topic and if I was a woman and if I had a hard time excepting the idea that uncontrollable hemorrhaging and pain in childbirth were unnatural, I might question whether my belief system is accurate and/or whether my emotions were keeping me from thinking logically.

As a raw foodist, I already know that our belief systems are full of inaccuracies, but since I am not a woman, it is impossible for me, based on my experiences, to prove to myself that uncontrollable hemorrhaging and pain in childbirth belong to the realm of cooked food.

I will be the first to admit that I am not a woman, but I have studied this subject matter extensively and have come to the conclusion based on my 200 page file on this subject matter that it is not natural for women to bleed uncontrollably or have pain during childbirth. My file is full of women who are not underweight, who are still ovulating and are able to conceive, who have been checked out by the so-called professionals and given a clean bill of health, and as Nora said, have overall improved health as their periods stopped.

I do not see any reason why women cannot embrace what makes them so special and at the same time do so without the loss of blood. The only thing that I could see that might interfere would be if they stopped ovulating. This appears to me to be the real issue. As long as y’all are ovulating, why do y’all need to bleed to feel like a woman?

Nora, thanks again for sharing your ideas on this subject. Since I am a man, I need to hear from more women like you who understand what's really going on.

Peace and Love.......John
[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
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[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
Re: Female Raw Foodists, menstrual cycle.
Author: infinity (---.bchsia.telus.net)
Date: 04-10-05 13:52

thank you john. sometimes an objective and neutral view is what's needed. women have so many painful experiences/memories (like men) that will take a vast amount of for-giveness, acceptance and compassion to get through. these are tough times and all information is avaiable for us. the truth can now be explained in scientific terms! still, when it comes down to it, we need to communicate from the heart, from understanding. people cannot heal unless they feel safe.

I know when i got my period at age 13 i thought it was the most rediculous thing. i was going to bleed every month until i was 50 and then it would get worse. i was the last of my friends to get it and didn't get it every month - glad for that. i thought maybe i could ellude it, i was more healthy than my friends and thought maybe it had to do with that. tampons are made of fiberglass, pads make you stink... i wasn't into it.

we don't get to sit in the red tent or sleep like we used to. i first became raw (i wasn't eatign many nuts, didn't really like them actually) a couple days before i was expecting my period. i didn't hemorage even after a few days of fruit and veggie salads. and i didn't for another 2 months. the days after i ate cake and pizza at a birthday, i hemoraged. this happened twice to me. i became 100% for a couple of months, no bleeding, then veggie sushi and the next day i bled. i was so surprised that for hundreds of years women had gone through so much pain in the reproductive and sexual organs because of the way we ate and treated the food and land. i really was horrified and upset that i had been born into such backward society full of lies.

i now can understand that everything happens for a reason, but no one can tell me that my bleeding has to happen. i don't what my children to bleed. i remember why i was born. i was born for peace and there is a lot of work to do and a lot of empowering to feel and do.

much love, be courageous and strong at heart. listen to yourSelf and move at your own rythme. when it comes down to it, we all agree.

roxxanne
[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
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[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
Re: Female Raw Foodists, menstrual cycle.
Author: John Rose (---.dsl.hstntx.swbell.net)
Date: 04-11-05 08:13

Thanks Roxxanne,

Another great testimonial...the better you eat, the less you bleed and the worse you eat, the more you bleed. I have heard this from so many women and I can't help but wonder why some women have such a hard time seeing the connection between their diet and symptoms of dis-ease. Indeed, it boggles my mind why some women cling to something so unnatural as uncontrollable bleeding.

Peace and Love........John
[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
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Peace and Love..........John

Good explanations. I usually don't search periods on the net, but while doing so, am shocked at how it's still treated in this era. N how misunderstood it is, how little people know about it, even with the net.