Definition

     menstrual cycle the process of ovulation and menstruation in
     female primates -Concise Oxford Dictionary

The problem with this definition is that female primates other than
humans or domesticated animals do not exhibit uterine bleeding.
Natural menstruation is evidant as a small mucal discharge. In the
cases of domestic animals uterine bleeding is related to the unnatural
diets the animals are fed by humans and is treated as pathological.

observation 1

     "In dealing with menstruation, women have to worry about wearing
     white, watching embarrassing douche commercials about beach walks
     with mom, and smelling like blood and dead fish. Even worse is
     the common rhetoric defining PMS which generally includes
     emotional rollercoasters and hyper-bitchiness. Instead of being
     respected as necessary evils associated with being the
     propagators of all humankind, the insufferable menstrual
     unpleasantries women endure, unfortunately, are viewed and
     accepted by society as physical and mental limitations." -Anne
     Kitchell, Blood-Scented Perfume

observation 2

     "As for females with amenorrhoea, cessation of the menstrual
     cycle won't prevent you from becoming pregnant. Exercise is not
     an effective form of birth control." -Exercise And Your sex Life,
     Hal Higdon: On The Run

observation 3

     "I, prior to a complete change of diet and way of life, every 28
     days I suffered from 6 days of painful menstruation. It was
     accompanied with depression, loss of emotional equilibrium, loss
     of ambition and personal direction in my life and attitude in
     living, extreme fatigue and many times fever. Since adopting the
     hygienic regime recently, I now menstruate every 40 days for a
     period of 3 days and I expect further improvement. I have very
     little pain and only a slight loss of energy the first day. I am
     no longer driven to bed and isolation. I personally know of many
     who have had similar experiences, when adopting an all raw diet
     of fruits, nuts and vegetables, and living a more natural life. I
     know also several women who have completely ceased menstruating.
     Case histories are on file at Dr. Shelton's Health School in San
     Antonio, Texas, of those who have shown, that, when living
     healthfully in the true sense, menstruation ceases.

     ... I personally know one woman who is the mother of five
     children and she has never menstruated in her life. I know
     another who menstruated during her adolescent period, married a
     man who had changed his way of living to a truly natural life
     style, she joined him in his health regime and became a fine
     specimen of health and ceased menstruating. Thereafter she had
     three children, all delivered naturally and painlessly and never
     menstruated again in her life.

     ... Ovulation, in the healthy woman, occurs without menstruation.
     Menstruation occuring coincident with ovulation is not normal.
     Weak muscles in the abdominal area contribute to the hemorrhage
     condition that the menstruating women experiences monthly. ... In
     the healthy woman the mucous lining is passed out as a very
     slight mucus discharge.

     The woman who does not menstruate will pass off the unfertilized
     ova with no hemorrhage, pain, a loss of vitality, or any other of
     the many symptoms or conditions that are produced by the
     pathological state of menstruation.

     ... The fact that the whole ovulation cycle can occur time after
     time without the loss of blood, and can and does this in so many
     cases, especially in women and whole tribes and races living
     "less civilized", more natural lives, should cause us to doubt
     that menstruation is either necessary or normal. The fact is that
     in the healthiest and strongest women that there is no loss of
     blood and that the loss of blood increases in proportion to the
     decline in physical vigor, should cause us to conclude that this,
     like all other losses of blood, is abnormal.

     ... The observations of Dr. Schroyer, as noted on page 6 of the
     Physiological Enigma of Women are being verified by physicians
     over the world. There is a tremendous increase of "female
     disorders" and pathological conditions among women of meat eating
     and "highly civilised" cultures.

     ... Over feeding especially on protein foods (and of the wrong
     kind of protein) [animal protein], has the tendancy to accelerate
     (stimulate) the growth and bursting of the Graafian follicles by
     creating an excess of follicular fluid. In women this results in
     menstrual discharge.

     ... Undomesticated animals do NOT menstruate, but they have
     periodical mating seasons known as rut, heat or estrus, which
     usually occurs once or twice a year, in spring and in autumn, but
     more generally in the spring time alone. But under conditions of
     domestication or captivity, these sexual periods become more
     frequent, and the genital congestion attending them becomes more
     intense, until it finally manifests as a menstural hemorrhage. It
     is now agreed by most observers that the cause of menstruation
     among domesticated animals is the food they receive at the hands
     of man. In other words, after the non-menstruating animal is
     captured, the pro-estrum becomes transformed into a bloody flow
     as a result of unnatural foods and artificial conditions of
     living.

     That menstruation is an unnatural process is furthermore shown by
     the fact that artificially fed animals menstruate much more often
     than they rut, the greater frequency due entirely to artificial
     conditions of living. " -Is menstruation necessary?, Wendy Harris

observation 4

     "A quarter of the women who used Ecstasy weekly for over six
     months reported lighter or less frequent periods and sometimes no
     periods at all for several months. There is no reason to suspect
     this is due to a direct effect of the drug, but is likely to be
     the result of indirect effects - suppressed appetite, sweating
     and all night exercise.

     ... Menstruation. When women report stopped or irregular
     menstruation, he asks about their eating habits. As a result, he
     believes that menstruation is not effected by consumption of
     Ecstasy but by poor or irregular diet that often accompanies
     Ecstasy use." -E for Ecstasy by Nicholas Saunders -- Appendices.

observation 5

     "A physically active and athletic lifestyle is not only a healthy
     but a fulfilling choice for women. Although there is extensive
     literature on 'athletic amenorrhoea' which implies that exercise
     causes loss of the menstrual cycle, there is inadequate
     scientific evidence for a causal relationship. The reproductive
     system adapts to environmental, nutritional, emotional and
     physical stressors or 'threats' by downward adjustment towards
     the premenarcheal pattern."(1)

observation 6

     "The study demonstrates seasonal changes in the fecundity of
     hard-working Nepali women and a direct link between ovarian
     function and weight loss (negative energy balance), which is
     independent of current nutritional status."(2)

observation 7

     "Severe exercise in young females is a potent cause of menstrual
     irregularity, although the exact pathogenesis is currently
     unknown. We performed a cross-sectional endocrine and metabolic
     analysis of a group of elite athletes and dancers in order to
     establish which variable, if any, was specifically associated
     with changes in menstruation. .... these findings suggest for the
     first time that there is a second peripheral signal, IGFBP-1,
     which may relate the availability of metabolic fuels to the
     control of reproduction."(3)

observation 8

     "However, after menopause female athletes show greater bone mass
     indicating that they do not share the accelerated decline in BMC
     observed in a nonathletic population. ... a number of studies
     sugge (HOME) st that in women long term physical training may counteract
     the low BMC and BMD associated with reduced bone mass. ... The
     differences found in BMD between those who have devoted
     themselves to life-long training and those who have been much
     less active should not be underestimated."(4)

observation 9

     "... the decline in gonadotrophic hormone (LH) secretion after
     exercise may be geared to enhance individual survival over
     species propagation in times of stress, analogous to the
     postulated 'fight or flight' reaction."(5)

observation 10

     "Exercise-related changes in the menstrual cycle can be viewed as
     a functionally adaptive rather than a maladaptive dysfunction. A
     strong case can be made that the changes in the menstrual cycle
     as a result of exercise are an energy conserving strategy to
     protect more important biological processes. This hypothesis is
     consistent with the theory of metabolic arrest that has been
     identified in lower organisms and hibernating mammals."(6)

observation 11

     "Severe reducing diets cause low levels of progesterone, slowing
     down follicular growth, inhibiting the surge of luteinising
     hormone (LH) and preventing ovulation."(7)

observation 12

     "Blood levels of hormones depend on a balance between production,
     metabolism and clearance rates. Intensive physical exercise may
     affect this balance via different mechanisms, such as stress
     associated with competition, dieting, reduction of body fat and
     body weight, production of heat or hypoxia. Women who engage in
     regular high intensity exercise may be at risk, as a consequence
     of these hormonal changes, of developing menstrual disturbances
     such as oligomenorrhoea, delayed menarche and amenorrhoea."(8)

observation 13

     "Late menarche was associated with underweight, and early
     menarche with excess weight. A significant positive correlation
     was found between menarcheal age and final body height.
     CONCLUSIONS. Menarche was not associated with fertility or
     fecundity. Early menarche was associated with pelvic inflammatory
     disease and spontaneous abortion."(9)


(1) Reproduction for the athletic woman. New understandings of
physiology and management, Prior JC; Vigna YM; McKay DW, Sports Med,
14:3, 1992 Sep, 190-9

(2) Seasonality of reproductive function and weight loss in rural
Nepali women, Panter-Brick C; Lotstein DS; Ellison PT, Hum Reprod,
8:5, 1993 May, 684-90

(3) IGFBP-1: a metabolic signal associated with exercise-induced
amenorrhoea, Jenkins PJ; Ibanez-Santos X; Holly J; Cotterill A; Perry
L; Wolman R; Harries M; Grossman A, Neuroendocrinology, 57:4, 1993
Apr, 600-4

(4)Bone mineral density and long term exercise. An overview of
cross-sectional athlete studies. Suominen H, Sports Med, 16:5, 1993
Nov, 316-30

(5) Exercise and gonadal function, Elias AN; Wilson AF, Hum Reprod,
8:10, 1993 Oct, 1747-61

(6) Exercise-induced menstrual cycle changes. A functional, temporary
adaptation to metabolic stress, Bonen A, Sports Med, 17:6, 1994 Jun,
373-92

(7) Slimming and fertility Wynn M; Wynn A, Mod Midwife, 4:6, 1994
Jun, 17-20

(8) Reproductive hormones and menstrual changes with exercise in
female athletes, Arena B; Maffulli N; Maffulli F; Morleo MA, Sports
Med, 19:4, 1995 Apr, 278-87

(9) Recalled menarche in relation to infertility and adult weight and
height, Helm P; M=FCnster K; Schmidt L, Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand,
74:9, 1995 Oct, 718-22

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