my periods haven't stopped, but i would be distressed to think that they would going raw, would love some insight too.

Oh how exciting, ive just seen that the baby on my pregnancy ticker has reached the end picture!
Not long to go now...   and counting.

You may have already read it in my magazine post..but if I was pregnant I'm not now
I think my body is just clearing out some stuff.

Jen..how exciting for you that you are nearly at the end of your pregnancy journey and at the begginning of a whole new adventure!  Babe will come when he/she deems the right time. Wishing you many blessings for a smooth blissful ampowering birth. xo

Ok. I really want to put my two cents in on this topic. I strongly believe that menstruation is a healthy and natural biological function. I do not believe that ceasing menstruation is a sign of a completely 'toxin free' body. I think this raw women don't menstruate thing is a bit of a myth.
The theory that says 'raw women will cease menstruating' is saying that menstruation is a sign of toxicity, that the menstrual blood is one of the body's way of releasing toxins. It posits that 'pure' women will reabsorb that blood back into their system and reuse it. I so strongly disagree with this. Mensturation is the body releasing the endometrial lining of the uterus that builds every month after ovualtion for the possible implantation of an embryo. The endometrium is EXTERNAL tissue like the epidermis(skin). Saying that if you don't have toxins you will reabsorb the endometrium is like saying you would absorb your own skin cells rather than sloughing them off. The reality is the body produces wastes every day through respiration and other metabolic processes, the body is constantly detoxifying and is so efficient at doing it , it has many mechanisms in place to excrete waste.

saying this, I do not really believe that the endometrium is a waste product. If an embryo implants, it goes on to form the placenta. I doubt that the body would be filling up the foundation of the placenta with too many toxic waste products to nourish a growing baby. It is well known that the placenta can prevent many toxins from passing over into a baby. When the baby is born the placenta detaches from the uterus and is expelled-it is not reabsorbed.
I believe that the monthly menstruation where the endometrium is expelled through rythmic uterine contraction prepares a female body for the birth process itself. It tones the uterus.

I think that healthy menstruation should be light, relatively short and pain free with bright red, clot free blood. Regular menstruation signals regular ovulation. It has been stated on this forum that ovulation  can occur without menstruation.  I have studied anatomy and physiology and amenorrhea quite a bit and have not found this to be true. Women do often get pregnant when they have not had a period but this is because they have had a long period of non-ovulation and no periods and then ovulate and become pregnant-so there is not a menstrual period, just a pregnancy. Hope that makes sense. Amenhhorea generally means that fertility has ceased. However without intimate knowledge of the signs of ovulation(mucus, temperature and cervical shape and size)-it is always possible that pregnancy can occur because a normal cycle is returning. many women get pregnant again in times of lactational amenorrhea because they are not aware they have ovulated.

Some women, may have ceased to menstruate on a raw diet. I do not know why this is. however, I would strongly question any assertions that this represents the ultimate state of health and purity. Ceasing menstruation would often be a sign of concern.
The doctrine of purity=no menstruation, toxicity=menstruation also concerns me as it harks to traditional views of menstruation being 'dirty' and a sign of women's impurity in various religions.

I feel it is possible that some very healthy women may cease to menstruate because their body has messages that it is not a good time for them to be fertile. For example, they do extremely high levels of exercise. Not saying this is unhealthy but that on a cavewoman level, the body may view that as such a high level of physical activity is required, it might not be optimal babybearing time.

I also feel another advantage of regular menstruation is that we have the ability to control our fertility. We can choose when to reproduce or when not to-the monthly cycle is rich with signs that anyone willing to take the time to learn can develop a high level of control over their fertility.

Thanks for that post Becky, it definately speaks for me and I'm sure many others. 

I also feel really dismayed when I read things suggesting that menstruation is a sign of toxicity or 'impurity'... I think its dangerous to get caught up in that idea.  I also find it sad that some women feel this way about their own cycle considering the massive cultural taboo that already exists around menstruation. 

I'm reading a couple of books about this at the moment actually.  One is 'The Dragon Time' and the other is 'The Wise Wound', both address the societal anxiety and fear surrounding female menstruation.  Reading these books has made me realise how much knowledge has been lost or hidden? from women about their own cycle.  And this suppression of knowledge and acknowledgement of menstruation seems to be just a part and parcel of the general suppression of female sexuality.

Anyway I won't ramble, I just wanted to say I like what you said

My periods had also been extrememly irregular for 10 years before I started a rawfood diet i.e. sometimes I wouldn't get them for 3 months and once or twice I didn't get them for a year.  Now they are like clock work, I get them at every dark moon.  So in comparisson my experience is also totally opposite.

I don't just attribute this regularlity to raw though because they didn't regulate until I started urine therapy.  I hadn't had my periods for 3 months and about 3 days after starting UT I got them and have been regular ever since (about 2 years). So if anyone is having menstrual irregularities I reccomend giving UT a go.

I think the reason why women lose their periods on raw is either because they lose a lot of fat (common precursor to dysmenorrhea) or because they make a dramatic change in diet which stresses/confuses the body. The other consideration is that many women arrive at a rawfood diet already having physical imbalances. Its also possible that fertility shuts down during a detoxification process, it would make sense that you wouldn't want to conceive during heavy detox... thats just a guess though.

didnt have a bleed for 4 years eating raw vegan(apart from jan 07 when i miscarried)....i had a bleed within a week of including steamed fish ,eggs and vegs in my eating regime(at dinner time),the rest of the day is fruit....

mine just stopped when i was eating all raw,now im eating around 80-90% raw....i have a bleed,dont know why,go figure...i am still eating around 10-14%(at the most) fat...so technically still fairly low fat....obviously the protein intake is higher....-around 15-20%??
i guess quite a leap from 3-5% fat and 3-5% protein....