Is light/no menstruation linked to VEGAN, RAW, or both?

[Hanalei]

I've read tons of stuff about women on a strict raw/vegan diet having much lighter or no bleeding. Does anyone know if that's caused by eating 90% - 100% RAW foods, or changing to a VEGAN lifestyle? Or is it some of both? I can't seem to find anything online. To me, it seems like it would be a mix - mostly raw and vegan - but I can't find it anywhere.

[RawLibrarian]

Amenorrhea (lack of menstrual periods) is probably due to low body weight/low body fat. Amenorrhea is common in women with low body weight--people like gymnasts, serious ballet students/ballerinas, competitive distance runners, and women who diet strenuously. If a raw vegan woman's weight gets really low, she could have scanty periods or no periods, but that isn't a function of raw veganism per se; it's a function of not ingesting enough calories.

From Wikipedia:

"Women who go through significant weight loss, dieting, or perform considerable amounts of exercise on a regular basis are at risk of developing hypothalamic (or 'athletic') amenorrhoea. It was thought for many years that low body fat levels and exercise related chemicals (such as beta endorphins and catecholamines) disrupt the interplay of the sex hormones estrogen and progesterone. However, recent studies have shown that there are no differences in the body composition, or hormonal levels in amenorrhoeic athletes as compared to regularly cycling athletes. Instead, amenorrhoea has been shown to be directly attributable to a low energy availability. Many women who diet or who exercise at a high level do not take in enough calories to expend on their exercise as well as to maintain their normal menstrual cycles."

[Hanalei]

Yeah. I've read a bunch of stuff also (on here, as well) about some people believing that periods are a form of detox, and that truly healthy women don't really bleed because of the lack of toxins in their body. I must say, I agree with it. Makes total sense to me. But I don't understand if the 'truly healthy' part of it - the part that removes enough toxins to not need to bleed - is the vegan part or the raw part.... does anyone know which one that is connected to, or if it's a mix of both?

Thanks for your help!

[aviatrix79]

It makes sense. Estrogen is stored in fat and when you detox and lose weight, you get rid of those excess estrogens.. which are toxins. Furthermore, if you eat raw vegan and particularly raw vegan organic food, you're not taking in those harmful xenoestrogens that cause irregular menstrul flows and other menstrual problems such as endometriosis, fibroids etc. I suffered from bad endometriosis when I was younger and had really heavy painful periods. These days it's so light and I have no pain at all. Contrast that to many years ago when I was so bad, I couldn't walk three days of the month and had all sorts of related endo issues. Getting the endo under control was my main reason for going raw. I went off track a couple of years ago and my symptoms came back. So yeah, I believe having a light period is much more healthy. I don't know about having no period at all though.