At 10:44 AM 12/14/98 +0200, you wrote:
>Hi All,
>
>I am new to raw-foodism (2 months) and have missed my cycle twice
>already.  I had no reason to believe I was pregnant, but did a home
>pregnancy test last week (to be on the safe side) and it came back
>negative.  I've just read something from "Life in the 21st Century" that
>my nutritionist gave me, saying that menstration is not something
>natural, and that women don't necessarily have to get it (that it is
>another way of the body to get rid of toxins).
Leah,
You should be menstruating unless you are perimenopausal.  Amennorrhea
(absence of menstruation) has various causes but one of them to be concerned
about is that very low body fat and excess exercise can down-regulate
estrogen production.  It is something to be concerned about, although not
deadly or anything.  So trust your intuition here.  It's probably a good
idea to go to an MD to get your hormones checked.  Then if you find out the
cause of your amenorrhea is low estrogen you can take phytoeestrogens
(plant-based estrogens), and definitely increase the amount of raw fats in
your diet, especially your EFA's.  If you have high estrogen levels and
adequate body fat, the cause could be high thyroid levels which can be
rather dangerous.  So again, please get your hormones checked.

I'm not a doctor but I've been through this myself....

Janis Bell