Lara Briden - The Period Revolutionary
Leading the change to better periods and hormones
Articles about common period problems including irregular periods, PCOS, endometriosis, painful periods, PMS, PMDD, heavy periods, and perimenopause. From the perspective of a women’s health specialist with more than twenty years of experience. Treatments include diet and lifestyle changes as well as simple nutritional supplements such as magnesium and zinc.
A vegan or exclusively plant-based diet can make periods lighter and less painful, which is good. Over time, however, an exclusively plant-based diet can cause irregular or heavy periods due to impaired ovulation and low progesterone.
The main problem with an exclusively plant-based diet is that it cannot provide an adequate supply of nutrients such as zinc, iodine, iron, vitamin A, and taurine.
Headaches. Anxiety. Insomnia. Brain fog. Hives. Nasal congestion. These are just a few of the symptoms of mast cell activation or high histamine.
Histamine symptoms are more common in women and often track with the menstrual cycle, occurring when estrogen is high at ovulation and then again just before the period.
More than twenty years ago I discovered something: When I stopped having dairy, I stopped having period pain.
Since then, I’ve worked with thousands of patients who have had the same result. For many women (not all), stopping dairy can dramatically improve period pain, heavy periods, endometriosis, acne, and PMS.
Soy contains phytoestrogens or “plant-estrogens,” which sounds bad but by out-competing estradiol, phytoestrogens can have a beneficial anti-estrogen effect in women of reproductive age.
That’s why soy and other phytoestrogens can make periods lighter and improve estrogen excess symptoms such as PMS and heavy periods.