Re: PMS article

[Guest guest]

Minimal animal fat, my foot! I had extremely low levels of

progesterone on a vegetarian diet, and the severe mood swings to

match. Since I've been low-carbing and eating plenty of delicious

good fats, my levels have normalized.

Also, interestingly enough, the few lingering problems I had with

hormonal swings are nearly gone now that I've gone gluten-free and

almost completely grain-free (Thanks Heidi!)

" Barnard observes if there's a lot of animal fat in a woman's diet,

estrogen levels rise all the time and cause a big downward swing when

the time of the month comes for estrogen to drop before a woman's

period. " - Out of curiosity, can anyone point me to evidence that

refutes the theory that animal fats cause this effect on estrogen?

Anne

> Oh GROAN...

>

>

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/25/earlyshow/health/main575181.

shtml

>

> " Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the Physicians Committee for

Responsible Medicine, explains from The Early Show's Washington

bureau on Friday that a low-fat, vegetarian diet reduces menstrual

pain and other premenstrual symptoms. ...He adds that contrary to fad

low-carb diets like Atkins, the dietary goal for women should be to

smooth out the human roller coaster many experience each month.

Barnard advises to cut fat dramatically and try to stick to a low-fat

plant-based diet to keep hormones in equilibrium and lessen the

impact of PMS.

[Guest guest]

> " Barnard observes if there's a lot of animal fat in a woman's diet,

>estrogen levels rise all the time and cause a big downward swing when

>the time of the month comes for estrogen to drop before a woman's

>period. " - Out of curiosity, can anyone point me to evidence that

>refutes the theory that animal fats cause this effect on estrogen?

>

>Anne

Anne:

It might depend on what data he was using. If it is like most studies,

they use " normal " American meat, which may very well be full

of hormones (esp. since hamburger often comes from old milk

cows that have been fed hormones all their life?) or the wrong kind

of fats or who knows what else. " Animal fat " in the US is synonymous

with " grain fed meat " and " Grain fed dairy " and it wouldn't surprise

me at all if there is a correlation.

Now if they are studying New Zealanders from 20 years ago (or maybe

they still eat grass fed?) or maybe women in South America eating pig

lard from free-roaming pigs ...

Also there is a correlation between PMS and low calcium. If you eat

a lot of meat, you need calcium to process it, and many women don't

get enough (and I won't get into how gluten affects calcium usage ...).

Now if you eat good meat AND get enough calcium .... but they probably

didn't test that ...

-- Heidi

[Guest guest]

> > " Barnard observes if there's a lot of animal fat in a woman's

diet, estrogen levels rise all the time and cause a big downward

swing when the time of the month comes for estrogen to drop before a

woman's period. "

Hah, so how did a low fat/vegetarian diet lead me into high

oestrogen/low progesterone I wonder? When I went to Japan and

started eating a Japanese diet including fish, my periods became

regular though were still excrutiating. (this got better when I did

the liver flush). My sister recently introduced red meat into her

diet after only eating fish/chicken/turkey for 20 years and her

periods are much less painful and have suddenly got lighter. This is

the only change she has made to her diet.

Filippa