WARNING: This may not be a suitable or enjoyable topic for the male reader. In fact, if you are male and the mere thought of the proverbial Aunt Flo gives you the heebies or makes you want to pass out, then it is highly advised that you leave this page by clicking here…
One of the most joyous things I have experienced since going raw is a newly regulated menstrual cycle. In fact, I’m in awe of how quickly and naturally my body snapped itself back together after suffering so long from chronic irregularity and severe anemia. I know that it has only been 2 cycles worth of change, but I am incredibly confident and optimistic that this shall continue!
Rewind to six or so years ago, as I had newly entered my 30’s. Like some kind of bad programming, it seemed that no sooner than I turned 30, my periods began to take on a mind of their own. 28 days, 21 days, back to 28 days, and then sometimes every 45 days. Then there was Spot, Aunt Flo’s dog who would run about my yard erratically and unannounced. (Okay, never mind. . .the Spot thing was really corny.) Anyway, I learned to live with such mutiny and began to accept it as something my body just needed to do. Adjustment, so-to-think. It’s normal. Every woman goes through that.
Oh and forget addressing it with the gyno. The typical format answer for irregular periods and spotting was always birth control pills. Bleck! No way! I had boycotted them more than a decade earlier after not only finding that they didn’t agree with me, but that synthetic hormones are just wrong on so many levels, kids.
Since late last year, as I was in the midst of post-wedding bliss and overindulgences, things really started going haywire. My periods would last 7 to 10 days, only 3 weeks apart, with 2 to 3 days of guaranteed excruciating cramps and a flow so heavy I swore I was going to bleed to death. I’d spot and bleed so much between periods that my cycles just seemed to become one continuous period. Couple this plus my iron and hemoglobin levels progressively plummeting, equaled one very ill and drained Julie – literally.
Between my GP and gyno, neither of them could determine the cause of my periods going ape. But my GP was convinced that the periods were the main culprit for the acute anemia and I’ll give him that. The next step was iron infusions and then acquiescing to birth control pills as a temporary solution to stop my periods so my iron stores could build back up. I believe the Pill did help, but of course in a very temporary, band-aidish way. And then my body decided it was going to bleed anyway and I ended up having the prescription changed twice at over $70 a package!
By the third month of hormone therapy, I had been about one month into the raw transition. Fed up with the ineffectiveness of the Pill and not about to dish over another $70 to change the prescription again, I said screw it! My husband and I were both in agreement that I should just stop taking them and see what happens. I had been going through some pretty intense detox symptoms from going raw but even though, I was feeling much better. We hypothesized that my breakthrough bleeding was my female parts trying to cleanse as well. So I tossed the rest of my pills out on a Thursday, and low and behold, went through a normal 6 day period that ended the following Wednesday.
We crossed our fingers for the next couple of weeks. No spotting! I couldn’t remember the last time I had a normal period. The next came along about 4 weeks later. The cramping was not so bad at all. I started immediately with no long, dragged out spotting. Again, I had a normal 6 day duration. And now, 4 weeks forward to today, I’m still running normally. This time, my cramps were a little more intense, but tolerable. Everything is going just as it has the last two times.
The power of raw continues to amaze me. There is no doubt in my mind that my food choices are responsible for correcting something that many women would endlessly and desperately try to medicate. The impact of our diet on our health is so profound, yet so simple! I am so grateful for this path in my life and just from the perspective of a woman who used to have period problems, raw food will always remind me to mind my menses!
<3, JMK
