I impulsively became a member of this forum, because this is the 3rd time I am giving veganism a try and this time I want to do it right. Take it slow, but steady. I need your help.
Sooo, where do I begin...
I tried veganism 2 years ago (I was already 1 year vegetarian) while I was a postgraduate Masters student and I had a very stressful daily routine. I used to wake up at 6 in the morning, did Ashtanga yoga for 1.5 hours (3 times a week, very athletic type of yoga), go to the lab, do experiments (not eat anything, apart from some dates with almonds) and come back home at 6 PM. Then I would begin to eat my breakfast, lunch, dinner all at once and go to sleep by 8 PM. As you can imagine, my physical and mental health went out of whack. I lost my period (which was irregular in the first place), lost 3 kg (I was already on the lower BMI for my height/age) and I felt constantly lethargic, miserable and tense. My parents (I was 24 then) got very worried and they blamed it all on the vegan diet. My blood results showed that I had (surprise surprise!) low iron and below normal cholesterol levels, which partly explained why I had lost my period. Adding my stressful daily routine, it was obvious that my physical health would deteriorate as well.
I decided to go back to being vegetarian for 6 months and my period came back, although it coincided with the fact that I was doing less lab work and more studying at home, so a lot of that stress was gone. My gynaecologist is also against plant-based diets for women and supports the idea that it caused my missed periods.
However, some months later, I still felt guilty eating dairy and eggs, knowing that many animals had suffered in order for me to get my period back (which, again, I am not sure it was only caused by my diet). I decided to try veganism again and this time it coincided with me starting my PhD. This time, since I was in my first year, I didn't have as much lab work, I stopped doing Asthanga yoga every morning and decided to take it easy on the physical stress. Again, my period stopped. Again, though, I was put under a lot of stress because of the new lab environment, administrative requirements, getting along with my new colleagues etc. After 3 months I decided to go back to being vegetarian once more, because I didn't want to go through all this worrying with my period, while I needed to focus on my PhD. Plus I put on some weight and brought my BMI in the middle range. This time, though, my period did not come back immediately, it came after some months and again it was very irregular. I was not surprised however, because I was suffering from depression at the time and I felt unhappy and stressed at my new lab.
Some months ago, I reached a breaking point in my life: I left a long-term relationship that made me unhappy and I quit my PhD which left me emotionally drained. Under all this emotional stress, I ate meat for 1 month (after 3 years of never having touched it) and I came back home to live with my family, during which time my period came back and now it seems normalised. I have stopped eating meat of course, because the guilt and shame I felt during that time was unbearable and now that I am not in a mental haze and a dark place, I can make better decisions. I was not myself back then.
So, now that I feel stronger emotionally and physically, I want to give veganism another go. But this time, I want to do it right. I am very afraid of losing my period again. I don't want to face again a dilemma.. I have read every possible thing there is on nutrition for women and fertility, I try to follow the vegan plate by Virginia Messina and I try to take the advice from Bonzai Aphrodite's post on 'failing health as a vegan', whose experience with menstrual cycles is very similar to my own. I will also join the vegan society in my country and attend its festivals, I joined this forum and I have in mind to maybe go to a vegan nutritionist in the future.
I need your help, guys. Have any of you had similar menstruation problems related to veganism and stress? How have you dealt with them?
Also, how have you dealt with unsupportive family? My family gets very worried every time I cut out animal products from my diet and I can't handle both my own emotional world and theirs at the same time (If you don't know me yet, I stress very easily
).
Sooo, where do I begin...
I tried veganism 2 years ago (I was already 1 year vegetarian) while I was a postgraduate Masters student and I had a very stressful daily routine. I used to wake up at 6 in the morning, did Ashtanga yoga for 1.5 hours (3 times a week, very athletic type of yoga), go to the lab, do experiments (not eat anything, apart from some dates with almonds) and come back home at 6 PM. Then I would begin to eat my breakfast, lunch, dinner all at once and go to sleep by 8 PM. As you can imagine, my physical and mental health went out of whack. I lost my period (which was irregular in the first place), lost 3 kg (I was already on the lower BMI for my height/age) and I felt constantly lethargic, miserable and tense. My parents (I was 24 then) got very worried and they blamed it all on the vegan diet. My blood results showed that I had (surprise surprise!) low iron and below normal cholesterol levels, which partly explained why I had lost my period. Adding my stressful daily routine, it was obvious that my physical health would deteriorate as well.
I decided to go back to being vegetarian for 6 months and my period came back, although it coincided with the fact that I was doing less lab work and more studying at home, so a lot of that stress was gone. My gynaecologist is also against plant-based diets for women and supports the idea that it caused my missed periods.
However, some months later, I still felt guilty eating dairy and eggs, knowing that many animals had suffered in order for me to get my period back (which, again, I am not sure it was only caused by my diet). I decided to try veganism again and this time it coincided with me starting my PhD. This time, since I was in my first year, I didn't have as much lab work, I stopped doing Asthanga yoga every morning and decided to take it easy on the physical stress. Again, my period stopped. Again, though, I was put under a lot of stress because of the new lab environment, administrative requirements, getting along with my new colleagues etc. After 3 months I decided to go back to being vegetarian once more, because I didn't want to go through all this worrying with my period, while I needed to focus on my PhD. Plus I put on some weight and brought my BMI in the middle range. This time, though, my period did not come back immediately, it came after some months and again it was very irregular. I was not surprised however, because I was suffering from depression at the time and I felt unhappy and stressed at my new lab.
Some months ago, I reached a breaking point in my life: I left a long-term relationship that made me unhappy and I quit my PhD which left me emotionally drained. Under all this emotional stress, I ate meat for 1 month (after 3 years of never having touched it) and I came back home to live with my family, during which time my period came back and now it seems normalised. I have stopped eating meat of course, because the guilt and shame I felt during that time was unbearable and now that I am not in a mental haze and a dark place, I can make better decisions. I was not myself back then.
So, now that I feel stronger emotionally and physically, I want to give veganism another go. But this time, I want to do it right. I am very afraid of losing my period again. I don't want to face again a dilemma.. I have read every possible thing there is on nutrition for women and fertility, I try to follow the vegan plate by Virginia Messina and I try to take the advice from Bonzai Aphrodite's post on 'failing health as a vegan', whose experience with menstrual cycles is very similar to my own. I will also join the vegan society in my country and attend its festivals, I joined this forum and I have in mind to maybe go to a vegan nutritionist in the future.
I need your help, guys. Have any of you had similar menstruation problems related to veganism and stress? How have you dealt with them?
Also, how have you dealt with unsupportive family? My family gets very worried every time I cut out animal products from my diet and I can't handle both my own emotional world and theirs at the same time (If you don't know me yet, I stress very easily
).
