Veganism and hormones?

[dominover]

I often hear that some (some) woman lose their period after some time on a vegan diet. From what I understand this is because after losing allot of body fat, and if that at person has below a certain amount of body fat there isn't enough to feed the production of hormones. I also believe that eating more plant based fats such as avocado's and nuts can correct this problem.

However..... I have also seen vegan advocating YouTube people who seem to have sufficient body fat on them but also lose their period!

Could this be because their insulin levels are too high. From years of eating meat and suffering the cell clogging affects of meat based fats (saturated and polyunsaturated(from the foods the animals eat)) it takes some time on a plant based diet before a persons insulin resistance comes down sufficiently so that a standard sized meal that most can eat, does not perpetuate chronically high levels of insulin?

As an advocate of a vegan based lifestyle myself (and loving it) and as a Man in his 40's, I'm always interested in completely understanding the science behind this a little better.

Whilst high levels of insulin may not be unhealthy for somebody who has a completely healthy body and unclogged cells (minimal insulin resistance), for somebody recovering could it be that high levels of insulin are unhealthy and cause ongoing weight and hormone issues. Weight issues because of the way high levels of insulin can store fat combined with the fact that their insulin tends to remain high (chronically) due to insulin resistance.

So I'm proposing (and i'm probably not the first) that insulin resistance can be at the center of the inability of a vegan to lose weight and loss of hormone production due to the fact that if insulin remains high (chronically high), the body never switches to burning the fat it needs to make hormones.

So, in this case, eating smaller portions as a vegan could go a long way until the body is completely healthy!
I would call Freelee completely healthy as her insulin levels must go through the roof (as should be the insulin levels of the world's Asian population who eat whopping amounts of white rice (never brown)) , but... no weight gain because of healthy and unclogged cell health?

Let's look at the work of Ray Peat and probably many others who advocate the importance of cell health to hormone production, they really do hammer home this point.

I'm interested to see what people have to say about this. Please comment!

 

[Forest Nymph]

Freelee is just an athlete, that's all. She's a long distance biker. She and Durian Ryder both cycled long distances daily. People who do these kinds of activities - running is also another - tend to be thinner. That's all.

Women who lose their periods as vegans usually, like you said, simply have dangerously low body fat. This isn't to do with veganism, but more with not eating enough or having orthorexia (like only drinking smoothies or eating raw vegetables) ...losing periods is a symptom of anorexia.

 

[dominover]

Freelee is just an athlete, that's all. She's a long distance biker. She and Durian Ryder both cycled long distances daily. People who do these kinds of activities - running is also another - tend to be thinner. That's all.

Women who lose their periods as vegans usually, like you said, simply have dangerously low body fat. This isn't to do with veganism, but more with not eating enough or having orthorexia (like only drinking smoothies or eating raw vegetables) ...losing periods is a symptom of anorexia.

That's simply not the case!

She's not an athlete, and has said several times in her videos that if she does too much she just loses too much weight. Not to mention the fact that she eats 3 times what I eat. I'm an athelete, and used to eat meat and once experienced the problems with hormones mentioned above (for men) which didn't initially go away for some time on a vegan diet! The vegan diet did correct it though.

But as my post said, and this was the point i was getting to, I'm trying to establish whether insulin resistance from animal fats can lead to higher levels of insulin which in turn leads to the inability of a persons body to access sufficient body fat to make hormones.

This could possibly explain why some people claim to be on a vegan diet but still can't lose weight!
Please read my initial post if you're not sure what I mean.

 

[Forest Nymph]

Ah...yes well it is true. Its well established that she's a cyclist so...vegans who can't lose weight often eat a lot of vegan junk food. I like to eat so when I actually eat nothing but whole foods or a more bland diet when I'm actually hungry (as in not snacking or feasting) I drop weight pretty easily. I lost 25 lbs as a vegan not even trying ... Still drinking wine and eating oily French fries ....and 10 of that came off in about six weeks the rest more slowly. If I devoted myself to a forks over knives oil free whole foods diet I'd easily be as thin as Freelee as Im fairly outdoorsy and active daily.

I've had no ill effects on menstruation. Only positive ones like less pain or decreased PMS but still bleed normally.

Im not convinced its as complex as you're making it. Most of my vegan friends are in an average range of body weight but a few are thin. I don't know that I've ever seen a morbidly obese vegan of over a year though some are curvy or chubby.

Maybe some people suffer from what you describe but logic tells me its more related to oil, sugar, calories and exercise in the vast majority.

 

[Forest Nymph]

Just as an aside...have you seen pictures of Freelee for the first couple of years she was vegan? She was very much "average woman" and it was obviously some extreme restriction in her diet, an increase in activity or a slow change over time that made her as thin as she is. I've been vegan for a while so I'm well aware of Freelee, Durian and their people. I even saw her in person in L.A. ...I don't think she has extra special insulin, I think she's active. Even people who exercise more moderately had problems with her diet...the binging on fruit, for example, made Unnatural Vegan GAIN WEIGHT, get cavities, just really horror stories, and she was at least walking and lifting weights, doing calisthenics, more like moderate n0n-athletic exercise...and she lost weight as a vegan after stopping the fruit binging. I'm convinced it works for Freelee because of her activity level. I wouldn't want to eat that much fruit anyway. I like salty savory foods.

 

[dominover]

I'm not making anything out to be complicated! I'm simply trying to establish the reason why some vegans can lose weight and some have difficulty with it..

There's definitely a reason for it.. that's without the oil, sugar, and junk food. Anyway, you'll need to understand the basic science behind it to contemplate what I'm proposing.

 

[Forest Nymph]

I'm not making anything out to be complicated! I'm simply trying to establish the reason why some vegans can lose weight and some have difficulty with it..

There's definitely a reason for it.. that's without the oil, sugar, and junk food. Anyway, you'll need to understand the basic science behind it to contemplate what I'm proposing.

Interesting since I have a science degree and am working on a second one...unless you're a dietitian, I'm going to suggest you simply get up off your *** and go for a run.

 

[dominover]

Interesting since I have a science degree and am working on a second one...unless you're a dietitian, I'm going to suggest you simply get up off your *** and go for a run.

There's nothing wrong with me, my health and weight are perfect, and yes I do understand the science quiet well. I'm not asking about this for myself.

It's clear that you just don't read my posts right through. I've told you I'm an athlete but you're telling me to go for a run! You tell me Freelee is an athlete but in fact she's not!

From your responses it's clear that your qualifications haven't taught you to think about what you say or believe!

Thanks for clouding my question with assumptions and incorrect facts, I dare say nobody will want to get involved in this discussion now!!