Episode 041 – The Intuitively You Podcast

Have you lost your menstrual period and are wondering what to do next? Whether you are looking to improve your fertility, support your reproductive health, or just want to make sure you are doing what you can to meet your body’s needs, this episode is for you. I am joined by Cynthia Donovan, RDN (aka the Period Nutritionist) to talk all things periods, birth control, and what you can do to ensure you have a healthy menstrual cycle.

Remember: this article is for informational purposes only and may not be the best fit for you and your personal situation. It shall not be construed as medical advice. The information and education provided here is not intended or implied to supplement or replace professional medical treatment, advice, and/or diagnosis. Always check with your own physician or medical professional before trying or implementing any information read here. 

Our Guest: Cynthia Donovan, RDN

Cynthia is a registered dietitian nutritionist that helps women get their periods back. She helps them reverse hypothalamic amenorrhea, restore their health, and regain fertility. Cynthia’s life purpose is to help women find balance with food, body, and exercise.

She has over 10 years of experience and founded the Eat to Regain Your Period Program in 2020. She’s helped 100’s of women across the world get their periods and life back. When she’s not serving women with period recovery you can find her travelling and having fun with the two loves of her life, her sons, Brian and Brayden.

Learn more about Cynthia’s services here.

What are the major reasons that people will lose their period?

There are many reasons you may have lost your period, the most common being not eating enough. Where there is low energy available for your body to expend, it doesn’t have what it needs to support all your processes (it tries to protect itself and preserve energy in a way).

A few more behaviour-based reasons you may have lost your period:

• Irregular exercise, exercising too much — not taking rest or active recovery days, feeling guilt about not exercising, counting exercise only if it’s intense (or you sweat)
• “Healthy” eating — limiting portions, calories, macros, diets, only eating certain times, food rules and adjusting food day based on past meals
• Avoiding social situations
• Avoiding certain food groups

You may notice that a lot of these habits are normalized in our society, making it harder to spot the culprit. But this doesn’t mean these things are “healthy” or should be normal.

Physical signs and symptoms of an irregular menstrual cycle or poor reproductive health:

• Labs may appear low to normal
• Ultrasound might look okay, or just thin lining
• Polycystic appearing ovaries — sometimes PCOS is a misdiagnosis for HA 
• No cervical mucous or discharged
• Undiagnosed infertility 
• No libido at all
• Osteoporosis 
• Digestive issues 
• Thinking about food all the time 
• Low body / normal body weight 

Psychological signs or indicators that you may have hypothalamic amenorrhea (no period) or may need to work on your food and exercise mindset:

• Perfectionist tendencies 
• Anxiety 
• Stress 
• Body image struggles 
• Past trauma

Struggling with any of these? Read on to learn what to do next.

Steps to take if you want to get your period back

Ideally, guidance will be individualized as everyone’s experience is unique, but generally here are a few things you can do if you have a goal of getting your period back:

• Start by eating enough
  • What is eating enough? Again, everyone is unique. 2500-calorie diet based on some literature review, could you need more than that? Yes, you could. Could you need less? Maybe not.
  • Remember that gaining weight may be what you need, it’s not going to make you unhealthy 
  • Tracking signs and symptoms of hormones turning back “on”
  • Try eating higher carb, higher fat, eating every 2-3 hours
  • Start breaking food rules 
• Cut out intense exercise
  • Intense = HR below 100 bpms, OR if you can’t have a conversation or sing while doing the activity it might be too intense 
  • Be mindful of frequency and duration too 
• Focus on mental health and stress management
  • Manage stress
  • Live life again– without letting food and your body image hold you back
• Get support from a professional to bridge the gap and receive individualized support

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Interested in learning more and getting your period back? Listen to the full episode

We cover: 

• Cynthia’s journey to becoming a dietitian and period specialist
• Cynthia’s personal experience with hypothalamic amenorrhea (missing period)
• What true health looks like
• Navigating the birth control pill and period recovery
• The most common reasons people lose their periods
• Steps you can take to regain your lost period
• And more!!

AND IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR MORE DIRECTION:

• Take the Free Quiz: I have a completely free why do you binge eat quiz that will help you figure out what’s keeping you stuck in the binge eating cycle and holding you back from food freedom the most at this time.
• Food Freedom Reflection: Get your journal out and answer these questions. How do I feel about my relationship with food right now? What do I want my relationship with food to be like? What’s one small step that I can take to get closer to my goals? 
• Get Support: I have a highly supportive binge eating coaching program that is designed to help you take all the steps you need to so you can embody your version of food freedom. Some other great places to look for support: Intuitive Eating Counselor directory, National Eating Disorder Information Centre (NEDIC), National Eating Disorders Association, and my other intuitive eating coaching services.

This episode is a collaborative conversation with Cynthia Donovan, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (www.periodnutritionist.com), and Host of The Period Recovery Podcast, and Jenn Baswick, host of the Intuitively You Podcast.