Has your period gone AWOL? Tips to help you get that girl back!
Libby Babet held a live Facebook chat about her journey from losing her period for more than 12 years, to finally getting it back and falling pregnant shortly afterwards. You can read the quick summary below and find all resources for your reference.
7 of the most common reasons your periods might disappear:
Coming off the pill
It’s fairly normal for your cycle to disappear, or become irregular for anywhere from 3-12 months after coming off the pill. It’s really important to nourish your body during this time to restore healthy hormone levels.
Stress or illness
Whether it’s emotional, physical, environmental, nutrition-based, or trauma-induced stress, high cortisol levels can definitely chase your cycle away. Consider using relaxation techniques, taking walks in nature or looking at other stress reduction techniques, and reducing caffeine consumption (especially first thing in the morning on an empty stomach!) to restore balance.
Energy availability (under eating / over-exercising)
This is a BIG one – these days women are often exercising intensely, restricting their eating, barely sleeping and expecting their bodies to keep up! Libby mentions having to increase her calories by about 700 per day and swapping some high-intensity workouts out for long, slow walks in order to create a positive energy balance as she worked towards restoring her cycle.
Particular food choices
Very low carb diet – women need carbs to keep their hormones balanced! This doesn’t have to mean flour and sugar though ;) Starchy veggies, rice and other complex carbs should do the trick
Very low fat diet – women need healthy fats to create healthy hormones! Avocado, oily fish, nuts/seeds, olive oil, grass-fed butter, egg yolk will all do the trick!
High inflammation foods – these can definitely disrupt healthy hormone production, so if your diet is high in vegetable oils like canola and sunflower oil (hot tip these are in most packaged snacks!), deep fried foods, processed meats, refined sugar, crappy carbs and fast foods, these can definitely be problematic.
Unbalanced vegetarian / vegan diet – if your vego/vegan diet is unbalanced and lacks variety, this can be an issue, as can eating too much soy and fake meat protein products
Not enough sleep
Most women we work with fall into this category – getting six hours of sleep, give or take, per night and believing that they still feel energised so this can’t possibly be the reason their cycle has gone missing! Trust us, it likely IS! Making the effort to get somewhere in the realm of 7.5-8.5 hours of sleep per night is critical, as that’s the time your body uses to create your sex hormones!
Poor gut health
Parasites you pick up travelling, an imbalance in the bacteria in your gut, these are all things that can throw your hormones out of whack!
Medical reasons
There are a lot of more complex reasons your cycle can go MIA, but it’s worth checking you have the basics in order even if you’re investigating deeper issues!
Reasons you want a healthy cycle:
Healthy moods
Healthy metabolism and body weight
Healthy hair and skin
Healthy bones
Healthy energy levels
Useful resources to help you get back on track:
THE BASICS (food, mindset, workouts)
BOOKS
Period Repair Manual by Lara Briden
Healthy Hormones by Belinda Kirkpatrick
No Period. Now What? By Nicola J. Rinaldi, PhD
The Holistic Nutritionist by Kate Callaghan
WomanCode by Alisa Vitti
Rushing Woman’s Syndrome by Dr Libby Weaver
The Superwoman Syndrome by Marjorie Hansen Shaevitz
GUT by Giulia Enders
FOLLOW
WEBSITES
PODCASTS
How To Get Healthy And Get Pregnant
Wellness Women Radio
Well-Fed Women
The No Sugarcoating Podcast
The Period Party
Don’t Salt My Game
APPS
My Flo
Seed App
Podcasts App
Calm (for simple/easy relaxation)
GUT HEALTH
BioScreen Test (you’ll need an integrative Dr to help you with this)
HELP IN-PERSON, IN SYDNEY
Bourke Street Clinic (in particular Dr Claudia Lee who is amazing, but the others are fab too)
Healthspace Clinics (17 locations all with fab practitioners)
Rachael Haley Acupuncture (amazing!)
NOT IN SYDNEY?
Do the FLO Coach Consultation at floliving.com
Find a good Integrative Doctor, Naturopath, or Chinese Herbalist specialising in hormones/fertility in your area to guide your journey, or book an online appointment with Kate from theholisticnutritionist.com to get started
Ask your doc for a referral to an endocrinologist or gynecologist if required
Happy period hunting ladies!!