How a Vegan Diet Cured My Cramps
I am back from my trip to Hawaii.
In one word…
I am so happy!!
It was amazing.
I could go on and on about it, but instead I wanted to let you guys know something else.
I have had no CRAMPS for the past 2 months.
OK, cramps people…you know what I am talking about!
This is an amazing occurrence for me…as I have always had…well for at least 10 ish years…terrible cramps that seemed to be getting worse.
For the last year or so I would have to take 3 advils continuously for the first 3 days of my cramps. If I timed it slightly wrong, the pain would get so bad that I would just be lying in bed unable to move. The only thing that helped was to sit under a shower or in a hot bath literallly ALL day and as soon as I got out –which I had to do because you overheat in a hot bath–the pain would start again.
Ridiculous!
I knew this was a sign of less than perfect health, but I had tried googling about cramps to no avail.
At one time I bought bucketloads of vitamins after I read an amazon review talking about how this certain vitamin had cured this girls cramps.
Nothing changed. My cramps were still getting worse.
When I went vegan…my cramps did not get better.
When I started drinking green smoothies daily after reading the fabulous works of Victoria Boutenko my cramps did NOT get better.
However
After I read the book 80/10/10 by Doug Graham, which is about fruitarianism, or High Carb Raw Veganism…
I increased my fruit intake by a LOT. I also stopped using oils…
A week before my period I went full on…
well almost
I ate only fruit for breakfast and lunch…and I had a cooked vegan meal for dinner…
The whole month I had been increasing my fruit intake, eating pretty ridiculous quantities of fruit.
I’m talking like ten bananas and two oranges for breakfast. 5 bananas and 6 plums for lunch.
That month I experienced…the lightest cramps I had ever felt.
And only for day 1…on days 2 and 3 nothing.
I just recently had the same experience.
Right before I went to Hawaii I was thinking OH NO, of all the time to have cramps…
I experienced almost NO CRAMPS for the second time in a row. It is a miracle.
I definitely think this is because of eating more fruits, more raw food, and less fat.
If you experience something every month without fail for 120 months in a row and then all of a sudden BAM something changes…and the only thing you have changed is your diet… well…it’s a pretty good guess your diet did it.
What I have learned from this is that
Veganism can definitely improve your health….but veganism alone is not sufficient.
It is a matter of eating crazy amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables…(necessarily vegan) and probably very little fat. If you eat a lot of cooked vegan food you might not see health results.
Supposedly no cramping and light periods are a very common side effect of a fruitarian or high carb raw vegan diet…I just never believe those kinds of claims myself.
It is so cool that I was able to fix a health problem myself. It is really exciting.
I highly recommend the book 80/10/10.
I am so curious to think what would happen if I could go all the way…do it completely. I feel like I would experience amazing results…If I got this from just a month to a week of transitional 80/10/10.
Has anyone else experienced any health benefits from eating a vegan diet or increasing their intake of fruits and vegetables? I am very interested in your experiences.
That’s awesome. I have had the same issue plus vomiting at the beginning of my period :/ for years, and this definitely decreased when I became vegan. I’ll definitely be taking it a step further, including more raw vegan meals into my vegan diet after reading this. Thank you!
Wow. Thanks for commenting. That’s really interesting. Yeah, just add in more fruit and I bet you will notice something. The low fat is a big part I think because I went high fat (lots of nuts and olives and olive oil) as opposed to high carb (lots of fruit) raw vegan for a week before I knew about 80/10/10 and didn’t notice any difference with my cramps…If you do or don’t I would love to hear your results. I’m so glad you found this helpful!!
Hi, I just came across your blog today, 1/1/14. Just wondering if you are still doing the high fruit diet and still not having cramps? Just wondering because usually if I would try something different (like the last thing I tried was drinking ulsulfured molasses every day) and I would have decreased cramps the first month after the change, but then the next month would be hit hard. I’ve been dabbling with the idea of going vegan (starchivore really) and I’ve read about fruitarian. would love your comments. Mine are so bad, taking 4 advil every 3 to 4 hours (plus throwing in aspirin, aleve, tylenol on top of it) and am still in so much pain, just can’t take it. happy new year!
Hi Midgy, hanks for commenting. Your cramps sound like mine were. I feel for you. It’s terrible. Since doing high fruit since May, there has only been 1 month where I felt my cramps were bad again (still not as bad) and I know I had been eating a lot less fruit that month.
I can definitely say that my cramps have drastically improved since I’ve been eating fruit and starch (low fat high carb vegan–high fruit). I now only get them on the first day and taking 1 alleve makes me not feel them. I think If I were full fruitarian things would get even better, as I feel but don’t know for sure, that the higher the percentage of fruit in my diet I eat, the less my cramps are.
I’ve since learned through the banana girl diet Facebook group (a fruitarian 30 day challenge run by freelee the banana girl) that it is extremely common for people’s cramps to completely disappear on a fruitarian diet. There was a thread with like 50 comments talking about how people’s periods had gotten so much better on the lifestyle.
I think you should definitely give it a go. You can do this!!! I know it definitely helped my cramps. Also there are many other benefits as well, you’ll notice. Have you heard of Raw till 4 (I assume?). Basically you eat fruit for breakfast and lunch and starch for dinner with a low fat sauce. (you can look it up on youtube if you haven’t heard about it already). That’s what I did basically for only one week (though I’d been increasing fruit for a few weeks before) and my cramps dramatically lessened, so it may not take much time to see results. Please keep me updated on how it goes/your thoughts/what you decide to do–I’d really be interested to know, and I am going to try to blog about fruitarianism more. xoxoxo
I just wanted to ask if you have heard of generic “naproxin”? In Nz and Aus the brand is called “Naprogesic”. When I was a teenager my period would render me unconscious in the bathroom floor. Vomitting, cramps etc etc. Naproxin unhibits the growth of (pain receptors??) and prevented most of the ugly pain. Now that I am strictly vegan (was plant based 4 months ago) my period has been getting shorter and MUCH less painful. I only needed 1 dose of paracetamol this past month.
hmm very interesting, I have not heard of it. It sounds way more effective than advil or tylenol. How scary that yours were so bad. I am the same way–I still need usually one dose of advil for the first day…sometimes it is worse than other months. but it’s usually just a day ever since i’ve been vegan. thank u for sharing your story.
[…] My cramps also dramatically improved as I wrote about here. […]
[…] PICK. This is what I do. When I started doing this form of veganism, my incurable cramps disappeared after only two weeks. Basically in this diet, you eat only fruit for breakfast AND lunch, and for dinner you make a […]
Hi! I will definitely try to increase my fruit intake because I get extremely bad cramps every second month. Something that I have found to help me is to take Mag Phos (a tissue salt) once a day in the morning, and increase that around ovulation as well as adding non irradiated turmeric to a glass of water everyday. Also to avoid any bad foods during ovulation and just before menstruation.
huh that is fascinating… I will look those things up. Thank you for commenting because if anyone finds this article it may really help them as well.
I’ve been looking everywhere for this topic! I’ve been vegan for years, 80-90% organic vegan for the past 2 years and it’s been mostly a high fat diet lots of cooked food and oil salt etc. just a week ago I’ve eaten solely raw fruit for breakfast and lunch and then a cooked veggie/root meal without any oil or salt just pure cooked plant food. And yesterday I started my period. It immediately occurred to me that it was a week early. This startled me because my aunt who is. Doctor said it could be the sign of a miscarriage but I told her about my diet change and said it could be very well that. Being sexually active, I do use protection and make sure every time to check the condom for leaks, I was still mildly scared of this scenario despite knowing it really wasn’t a possibility for me. Additional to this I noticed right away that I didn’t have the usual pre-bleeding cramps the day before. And my flow was exceptionally light. I used tampons and saw when I changed them at the usual timing I do, they weren’t even completely soaked! Still had white cotton! And I did cramp a little but not anywhere near as bad as it always is! I didn’t have to take medicine! Now it’s day two and I only have to use panty liners! And virtually no cramps at all! I’m both amazed and shocked and excited but also a bit warry and nervous just because my body has never done this before. I ask all of you- do you eventually stop bleeding? I’m a little cared just because I always liked my obvious period because it meant I want by pregnant! How do I go about being used to this? How can you explain the period being a week early? My period naturally would shift by a couple days but never a whole week! Please tell me what you can, thank you.
Hi! Thanks for the question! SO first of all, I never lost my period completely. It is still totally normal, just lighter and less cramps than before. I think it is really common for people eating raw foods to experience improvements with their periods. Like I have seen the subject come up in a couple raw food groups I am in, and tons of people comment that their periods improved as well. I have heard of some people losing their period for a little while on raw food…like freelee the banana girl said that…but then it came back and they were healthier than ever. I have never experienced that though and I have been fully raw for months at a time. So I don’t think you have anything to worry about. However! Can I suggest you get the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility since you seem to be very interested in the subject. It is one of the best books I have ever read and completely explains everything you need to know about your entire cycle. It is such fascinating information I try to tell every woman to read it. It explained so much about my period…like WHY sometimes it comes earlier than other times. And why you can have spotting mid cycle sometimes. And also WHEN is our fertile window and when we can actually get pregnant. I HIGHLY recommend it and it will answer so many questions for you. I don’t think you have anything to worry about at all….but this will give you the fundamentals to never worry again! Here is the link for the book on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Taking-Charge-Your-Fertility-Reproductive/dp/0060937645
Thanks so much for the questions and I hope you continue to get healthier and healthier with raw foods xo.
Do you buy fresh fruit daily?
I used to…but now every couple of days I will order using this app instacart and have it delivered. Before I felt like my whole life was spent hauling around heavy bags of fruit from the grocery store. Also I supplement that with buying bananas whenever I see them slightly ripe in the store or these little fruit stands on the street. It is pretty tricky to coordinate buying all the fruit since they kind of all ripen at different times but eventually you get a better hang of it. Thank you for commenting. Are you looking to try a raw till 4 type thing? Let me know if you have any other questions or I can help in any way.
Going low fat raw vegan absolutely eliminated my severe menstrual cramps. The diet has to be adhered to in order to work. Stop the raw vegan diet and cramps do return, unfortunately. But at least there is a cure for us.
That’s awesome. I am not totally raw vegan and I get one day of cramps now…if I eat mostly raw sometimes they are much less noticeable. I really bet if I went totally raw for months they’d disappear completely. Thank you for your comment. Do you have a blog or any social media like that?
I was just searching to see if anyone else had the same experience as me! However, I don’t eat tons of raw fruits and veggies. I mostly follow the starch solution and eat high carbs, low sodium and low fat!
Oh wow that’s so awesome. Maybe it was more a reduction of the sodium and fat! Thank you for commenting. Congratulations on healing your own health problem.
Yes! I just experienced this, over the last two months I happened to eat a mostly raw vegan diet and after getting into this latest cycle I said “Whoa – wait, where are my cramps??”.
I found your blog by trying to figure out what happened.
Thanks for posting it.
On a side note. It appears that you’ve been going for a few years. Do you have tips for simplifying the raw vegan life – i.e. Instacart? Eating out tips?
P.S. ^^ I say mostly raw vegan meaning no meat at all, 50/50 fruit smoothie for breakfast, likely lunch, and occasionally having a cooked item or occasional bread that may have been made with dairy. I kind of fell into it over the years, so now I’m looking to become more practical and conscious about having a balanced meal plan.
Noticed a lot of supplements and smoothie companies target vegans. Do you use anything in your smoothies? Right now I use chia & hemp seeds but that is about it.
I have been on the 80/10/10 diet less than 2 weeks, and it seems like it’s already had a positive effect on my period! I am trying to heal my gut and overcome potential candida issues, so I purposefully avoided tylenol/midol this time since I recently learned that NSAIDs can damage the gut lining. I was quite worried about how I would manage the pain, so I took white willow bark, red raspberry leaves, along with a ginger, chamomile, and cinnamon tea. I don’t know if it was the concoction of things I took or the high-carb, low-fat vegan diet, but I have noticed a considerable reduction in menstrual cramps without the assistance of any OTC pain relievers. Based on what other women here have said, it sounds like it’s the vegan diet that helps so much. What a relief that we’ve found a healthier, more effective way to deal with menstrual pain!
For sure! I have definitely noticed whenever I am raw vegan my period is the lightest and often completely cramp free or just one single day of mild cramps. What’s weird is when I take advil when I am raw vegan which I would do on the first day of my period if I did have cramps, I threw up the advil. your body gets so much more sensitive, it’s crazy. It rejects the advil. or at least mine did, every time. When I am not raw vegan I am fine though and the advil stays down. But yes I totally believe the vegan diet does soo much for cramps!!
Hi! I just came across your blog and it has been such a relief to have confirmation that 80/10/10 will cure my cramps too… However , my cycles have been plagued with not only debilitating cramps, but debilitating mood swings, severe anxiety, and some kind of weird lack of concentration and poor memory. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this and if it has gone away with high carb low fat vegan? Or only with hiigh carb low fat raw. My cramps have gotten better but the ither stuff hasn’t so far..It’s hard to explain, but it’s like my senses are dulled and I am much less alert, making me very clumsy and for lack of a better word, stupid. I literally overlook the simplest things and my memory is sometimes like I have short term memory loss. And I go through days where I feel very hopeless and severely depressed and then it will go away. But then the anxiety will kick in and I will wake up feeling super embarrassed or I secure for no reason. And my brain won’t stop thinking about all the things that could go wrong or that have gone wrong and I literally can’t turn it off. But then another day I will be the opposite, completely fine. And I feel like I would take painful cramps over these other symptoms any day, that’s how bad they are. And it’s almost the whole month, not just the ten days before my period. I also get cyclical nightmares, heart palpitations, amd random fatigue to where I fall asleep during the day. Please help!! Any comments are appreciated!
are you on a high carb low fat vegan diet now, wanting to try a raw vegan diet in hopes your mood swings, anxiety and lack of concentration etc goes away? Or are you not vegan yet or are you a raw vegan now? I couldn’t figure out what diet you are on now. I have experienced those symptoms on a raw vegan diet actually but it was definitely because I was not tracking my calories and making sure I got in enough food. I wasn’t eating enough but didn’t realize it. Eating more high calorie fruits like bananas made me feel sane again. Could that be a possibility? A high carb low fat plant based whole foods diet is the healthiest possible diet as confirmed by science so you really can’t go wrong by giving it a shot and there is a good chance it will allow the body to heal itself. But tell me more….and are you in any vegan groups on Facebook such as rawtillwhenever for high carb low fat vegans or if you are into raw veganism “vegan fruitarians”? Post your question in those groups and hopefully many more can weigh in.
What do you eat in the winter/fall when most fruit is out of season ?
It isn’t the best time for fruit but you still have bananas, dates, oranges, ok pineapples, apples, frozen berries, papayas, melons, just not the best stuff like peaches, figs, watermelons, fresh berries etc. But I’m also doing more of a raw till 4 type thing now. Bananas are the best staple!
I have always had the same bad cramps since the beginning of time. I needed the hot baths, heating pads, doped up on meds and sometime hospital visits. Usually my cramps would wake me up around 5am and I would think “my cycle has started, here comes the pain” For about two months now I have been vegan and ironically today Mother Nature came without a painful warning. I love it. Being vegan has so many benefits and I can not wait toerience them!
thank u for sharing that. amazing!! I wonder why this happens? Maybe being vegan gives your body time to heal? Maybe ur body is more inflamed as a non vegan? All i know is it also worked for me as well.